Restored : A Mature People

Hearing with faith is something that we taught some while ago.

I think it's on the website. You should listen to it if you can.

Today we are going to talk about...

Ryan, is this going to be recorded? All good?

Today we are going to talk about this whole idea of what a restored people look like.

And we started this some days ago.

The intro was that God is bringing the world back into a forgiven relationship with himself.

God is bringing the world back into a forgiven relationship with himself.

This has been his plan since the fall.

I'm bringing the world back into a forgiven relationship with myself.

That's what he's been doing for very, very long.

God had planned this and now he's calling the church to be a demonstration of this.

He's saying, hey church, now that you are mine, now that you're a redeemed people, now that you're a restored people,

could you show the world what it is to live like a forgiven restored people

so that they may understand that this is what I'm trying to do?

Can you be a microcosm or a demonstration of what a forgiven people look like?

And then we said, so we need to ask this question,

what does this relationship of a restored people with the living God look like?

What does this relationship of a restored people with the living God look like?

What does it look like?

Because he says, I want to show the world a taste, a sign, a pointer as to what this looks like

so that they know what they're getting into.

Thus far we've finished these three things.

One, we said, people that are restored are forgiven.

We talked about that.

People that are restored are forgiving.

And today we talk about people that are restored are mature.

So we'll start there.

So Ephesians 4.13 is the scripture we'll begin with.

Ephesians 4.13.

And try to define maturity because you'll be surprised at how far off we are from Jesus' definition of maturity.

At least I was.

Ephesians 4.13.

It says that we're trying to define maturity, both corporate maturity and individual maturity.

Ephesians 4.13.

Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God

and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So here's how Jesus defines maturity.

This is what a mature church or a mature Christian looks like.

One, unity in the practice of Christ's teachings and purpose.

Unity in the practice of Christ's teachings and purpose.

This is what mature Christianity looks like.

It's very odd, eh?

Because our idea of maturity is very different from this.

Unity in the practice of Christ's teachings and purpose.

And what's his purpose?

MD, MC.

What's MD, MC?

Make disciples, multiply churches.

That's his end purpose.

MD, MC.

Make disciples, multiply churches.

So this is the first one.

We're trying to define maturity according to the epistles.

Unity in the practice of Christ's teachings and purpose.

Unity in the practice.

So an entire church must learn to be mature.

Guys, these teachings, I was going over it and I was thinking to myself,

how uninspiring of God.

It's so factual.

There's nothing exciting like healing or casting out demons to this.

Because that's what we think as a mature Christian.

A mature Christian is one who can go around and say,

in the name of Jesus Christ, leave, and the demon leaves.

No, that's a gift of the Holy Spirit being exerted through you.

This is very ordinary.

So that's the first one.

The second one is knowledge of the Son of God.

Knowledge of the Son of God.

Knowledge of the Son of God, as in thinking like him.

Thinking like him.

Knowledge of the Son of God.

His way of thinking.

And you can only think like him if you process things through his word.

Otherwise you can't think like him.

Like I said last week, if you're going and asking God,

Father, what do you want me to do?

He will tell you.

And a hearing people are people who can walk well.

But that will require that every time we ask him, he speak and we hear.

There is another way, which is to go back to the Logos or the written,

I'm not connecting them, to go back to the written word and say,

Oh God, how do you think?

Let me read the word.

Let me process things through your word so that I begin to think like you.

The knowledge of the Son of God.

That's the second way we define maturity.

The third one is attaining the measure of Christ.

Attaining the measure of Christ.

How?

By first recognizing that we are parts of his body.

Because no one person can attain the measure of Christ.

Because we are parts.

No one person can attain the measure of Christ.

But as many parts of the body join and work together,

as many parts of the body join and work together,

we get to find our part, our role, our place and our work.

That's how we attain the measure of Christ.

No one man can attain the measure of Christ because he is God.

But his body can attain his measure when each part begins to function together,

join together, finding its place, finding its work,

which is why we come back to this thing again and again and again.

That Christianity without being part of a body, being a vibrant part of the body,

not a prosthetic, but a vibrant, connected, living part of the body.

Christianity without it is impossible.

Because you cannot attain to the measure of Christ,

which is one of the reasons we were joined to the body.

Will not happen if you're not connected to the body.

And the last one, and then I'm open to questions.

The last one is growing and building each other up.

Part, role, place, work.

Can you see me rolling my eyes from this distance?

Oh, okay, just checking.

Are you guys done with your internal conversations?

And then the last one is growing and building each other up in love.

Growing and building each other up in love.

This is what Paul says.

Again, Paul says because he's been inspired by the Holy Spirit,

this is what Paul says is what maturity looks like.

Questions?

Yeah, these are not priority numbers.

These are just numbers.

I could put A, B, C, D.

So this is what it looks like.

This is not a measure, usually, Paul.

This is not a measure for maturity.

We measure mature Christians by the signs, miracles, wonders,

preaching skills, church size and stuff like that.

But this is Paul's definition.

Unity in the practice of Christ's teachings and purpose.

Two, knowledge of the Son of God, thinking like him.

And you can't think like him until you process things through the word,

which expresses his thinking.

Third, attaining the measure of Christ.

Again, if you want to attain the measure of Christ,

it cannot be done without being part of his body

because only his body attains his measure.

Attaining the measure of Christ.

And therefore, you become a part of his body.

And in doing that, we find out what our part, our role, our place, our work is.

And this is not some kind of function like ushering or sound.

That's not what he's talking about.

Those are just things you are willing to do for two hours on a Sunday.

And then the last one is growing and building each other up in love.

Growing and building each other up.

There is no growing without doing it with somebody else.

I said this long ago.

The idea of a living stone in Jewish teaching is a stone that is connected to another stone.

And therefore, if any stone stands on its own, it is not living.

It is a dead stone.

A living stone is always connected to another stone.

And therefore, the temple is being built up not of living, of dead stones or living stones.

So there is a connection.

And if one chooses not to connect, one remains a great stone, but a dead stone.

And then the other point made years ago is God does not build with bricks.

He only builds with stone.

The last time anyone built with bricks in the Bible was Pharaoh in Egypt.

And he put the Israelites to work.

So you cannot be uniform.

You have to be different and uncomfortable.

Yeah, that's what I meant by processing the word.

You think like him through processing the word and processing it correctly.

That's the other part.

One can process the word through one's lenses or process it simply through the intention of the author

and what the Holy Spirit was trying to say.

So that is the definition of maturity.

And then the next question you need to ask is what has to happen, what has to happen to reach this maturity?

It's all answered in Ephesians 4, 13 to 16.

What has to happen to reach this maturity?

And it's given in Ephesians 4, 12.

What has to happen is one simple word, equipping.

Equipping.

What has to happen to reach this maturity?

Equipping.

Ephesians 4, 12 says that God gave, God appointed some to the church,

and amongst these are apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors,

for the equipping.

These are critical factors.

There's just no way around it.

I won't interpret it through any lens.

No apostolic lens, no charismatic lens, no Protestant lens, just through the simple words that Paul has spoken.

That in a church it is impossible to reach maturity without being equipped by equippers.

And remember, equipping is an external function, meaning you cannot equip yourself.

That's called equipping.

Equipping requires an external source or multiple external sources.

It's an external function.

And be sure that if you have a desire to be mature,

if you have a desire for any of those four things previously mentioned,

then be assured that it doesn't matter which church you belong to,

that God the Father, for the sake of his son Jesus Christ, and to accomplish his purpose on earth,

God the Father will furnish you with equippers.

He'll bring them your way.

They'll knock on your door.

And you have the right to open or to resist.

It doesn't matter which church you belong to, which city you are in, which forest you're stuck in.

A man who desires the maturity that is mentioned in Ephesians 4.13 will always be sent equippers

because you desire something that is God's heart.

Why will he not send?

But the question is once people are sent, will you resist or will you not resist?

My question is, Father, how will I stand before you if I resist the equippers you are sending to mature me?

How will I stand before you?

What answer can I give you if I resist equippers who are sent into my life?

And those equippers will be better than me, will be people who are perhaps more ordinary than me,

but better than me in terms of what they need to equip me in.

And will I resist them or will I recognize them?

Once I recognize them, will I allow them or will I prevent them?

How will I stand before God?

And then I ask you the same question.

In a church like this, how will you stand before God one day and give account for it?

How?

You need to consider this question seriously.

Because of God's interest that the church mature,

and if God sends equippers to equip a church to mature and you are part of the church,

what can you stand and say before God when it comes to the simple question of,

hey, so how did the maturing process go?

And don't for a moment think that equipping will end.

Equipping will cease when the church has become perfect.

So equipping will cease in my life when I have become perfect.

And you should know a little about that.

That I'm not perfect, therefore God will keep sending people into my life to equip me.

Because I am part of this marvelous thing called the church,

and I must be equipped so that I can find my part, my role, my work, my function

in this many splendid thing called the church,

that I may attain the full measure of Christ with you.

Maturity is not something I can attain on my own.

A man who wants to attain maturity on his own will never be able to attain it,

because he'll be like an overgrown elbow or a swollen up nose in the body,

because he tried to go it alone.

I attain maturity with you.

Yeah.

In this church you will never have to wait for equippers to come,

because this church has been furnished with equippers.

God will send them your way, they will knock on your door, they will look very ordinary.

The hardest thing to do is to recognize people who come from Galilee, from Nazareth.

It's the hardest thing to do.

It is not the absence of equippers, it's the inability to recognize them,

because we have a certain image of what an equipper should look like.

And if he doesn't fit the image that the enemy deceives us into expecting,

we do not receive them.

And if he doesn't fit the temperament that you want, we do not receive them.

And neither temperament nor image did Jesus bring with him when he came to Israel.

I was thinking of Bristol today when I was talking about Bristol and Cardiff.

That church in Bristol has done a lot of good for me,

because in that church I found Eddie, in that church I found that...

I mean, let's just leave it at Eddie right now, because it's relevant to what I'm talking about.

And if you saw him, he was the least of the guys who were there at that conference in that church.

He was the guy that you would last go to, because he was the no-drama Eddie.

Everybody else had drama.

I should have gone after those other guys.

They had ministries, they had messages, they had rara,

and then there was this guy called Eddie who was a nobody.

One of the things I appreciate about Dano is his openness to being equipped.

It doesn't matter how badly he's doing or how well he's doing.

One of the things you maintain is the ability to open your life to being equipped.

And therefore, as long as you do, you'll keep increasing, man.

And the great thing is you don't do it when you're just doing bad or need help.

You do it constantly.

Do it constantly.

Anyways, that's on the side, but I knew I had to say it publicly today,

so it's not in my notes, but it had to be said.

What are we being equipped in?

What is this equipping towards?

Towards two things.

Equipping for what?

Equipping for what?

Two things.

Works of service or work of ministry, depending on NIV or NKJV.

Works of service and work of ministry, that's one.

And the second one is building up or strengthening the body.

Building up or strengthening the body.

These are the two reasons we are equipped.

And without these two things happening in our lives,

it's very hard to walk towards that thing called maturity.

Ephesians 4 says that equip us and send for two reasons alone.

To equip us for works of service or the work of ministry

and to equip us to build and strengthen the body.

This is the reason why.

Any questions thus far, guys?

Challenge me, ask me.

Challenge me in the sense, if you think differently,

ask the question pointedly so that I may either have to say,

well, I'll get back to you next week or I'll explain it.

No questions?

No?

Yeah, the reason Diana asks that question

and I would have asked the question myself

is because we don't understand what this means.

Our definition of works of service and work of ministry

is very different from God's definition of works of service and work of ministry.

When we think works of service and work of ministry,

we know what the word ministry means, right?

And yet when you look at Paul's writings,

after this, from Ephesians 4.13 to 19,

Paul explains maturity, equipping.

And then he stops and from Ephesians 4.19 to Ephesians 6.9,

he starts telling you what works of service and work of ministry will look like.

And you realize that all this time you've been thinking of ministry

as something completely different.

At least I did.

And so we ask the question, how does this have anything to do with my vocation,

which is where I spend most of my time?

So how does this even fit and how is it even relevant to me?

Because only ministry people would need this.

Your responsibility, your responsibility is,

when it comes to being equipped and why being equipped,

your responsibility is I have to make sure that my life is about

works of service or work of ministry and building and strengthening the body.

Keep that somewhere in the back of your head and we'll go and see what it looks like.

My responsibility as one who pastors this church

and the responsibility of other leaders that will keep rising in this church

is can I equip people to engage in works of ministry

and in strengthening and building the body?

That's my responsibility.

My responsibility is not to preach.

My responsibility is not to lead worship.

My responsibility is not hospital visitations.

My responsibility is not to make you feel better about yourself.

My responsibility is not counseling.

My responsibility is none of those things, not meeting with you for coffee.

Those are not my responsibilities.

Those are things I do out of this simple thing called I am supposed to furnish you

to do the works of ministry and service and to build and strengthen the church.

In the process, if I have to come to the hospital and say hi to you

or drink a cup of coffee with you or comfort you, so be it.

But that is not pastoral stuff.

That is what we have made it.

And so we have comfortable people who are never furnished to do the works of ministry.

And thank God you don't have that expectation of me.

Any questions?

Okay.

Efficiency for 12 to 16 or 17 has the entire thing.

12 to 19 maybe.

Your responsibility as a leader, a leader of one, a leader of 45, a leader of 2,000,

your responsibility as a leader is if I am a leader, if I am called to equip,

then my responsibility is how can I furnish the people in my charge

with both the knowledge and the tools to be able to be highly skilled

at works of service and ministry and to strengthen and build up the body of Christ.

This is the criteria for churches, guys.

What is the idea of going to a church?

Why do we go to church?

For the worship? Not really.

For the preaching? Not really.

Those are things towards an end.

What are we going to the church for?

I am talking about a church service now.

The hope is that in the process through being together with each other,

joining ligament to ligament, bone to bone,

and in the process of the preaching and the worship and stuff like that,

the intent is can we attain maturity and the full measure of Christ

so that here on earth there is a people who will show the world

what it is to be in a restored relationship with the living God.

And if that becomes a criteria for you finding a church

and founding yourself in a church, great.

If it is anything else, including how your kids will have Sunday school

and stuff like that, it's a problem.

Not a problem. It will still be fine, but it's not the real reason.

Like with this Cardiff thing happening and a new church plan starting,

some of the people who have to move from Bristol to Cardiff

may have to abandon their churches to move to another church.

And some of the questions are valid and yet invalid.

The question is, so where will the kids have youth

or where will the kids have Sunday school?

Which is a valid question.

And yet, that is how we measure whether a church is good or not.

It is important. It's important. Trust me.

It's good to have your kids being taught,

but I'm saying that is not the most important thing in the world.

Ralph quoted, I'm sorry, I'm using Dano as an example.

Just make, I'm using his example again.

Not that he's a great guy or anything, but can someone pull this off me, please?

Okay.

Ralph asked Dano when he was in Bahrain,

so what about Sunday school and all that stuff?

And Dano replied to Ralph saying,

my hope is that I will be the father and that we will be the parents

that will show our kids what church looks like

so that they don't need a Sunday school,

two-hour Sunday school class or stuff like that

for becoming believers.

But that I hope that through doing church this way,

my kids will learn what church actually should be like.

Guys, I'm not promoting Acts 29, huh?

This church has a lot of faults and problems.

Mostly because of the one in charge and he's working on it.

All I'm saying is you're going back to the scriptures

and seeing how things should be done.

Yeah.

So what is works of service?

What is works of service?

What is the work of ministry?

What is works of service and what is work of ministry?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I agree with you where perhaps I would see differently, Gisela,

is it doesn't say the pastor, it says the priest.

And the moment it says priest, it includes all of us.

On the lips of the priest shall be found knowledge.

And the moment we say that, then we all are responsible.

Because I have certainly come to this point in my life

where I do not see you as anything less than priests 24-7

playing different roles during the day in your vocation.

I do not see you as anything else but that.

I really cannot.

It's not something that I have to struggle with.

It is settled in my mind.

It is settled in my mind that the flow and the measure of the Spirit of God

that is upon you is the same as is upon me.

That you will hear as clearly as any other minister.

That you can operate the same way.

It is settled in my mind.

There is no clergy lady difference here.

There is authority and order.

But there is no other difference.

There is a common priesthood here.

And if there is, then take advantage of it

because God raises and places and helps put and work things together.

Nor do I see you according to the present function that you are engaging in.

If I were to see him in the present function he engages in,

then all he is is a drummer.

And by the same token, if I remove Chris from the piano,

it means she's got nothing to do.

Because all she is is a pianist.

How sad would that be?

Our priesthood is far beyond the talents that we have.

Our priesthood is limitless as the life of the Spirit of God

who both resides in us and works through us.

What is the service?

What is the works of service or the works of ministry?

If you read Ephesians 4.17 to 6.9,

you'll find that Paul details what God expects his people to display.

First one, and we'll only take one today, the first one,

but I'll list the others.

First one is, he says,

Take the development and stewardship of your lives seriously.

Works of ministry, eh?

Works of ministry.

First thing he says as you go down the next two chapters,

he says, take the development and the stewardship of your own lives seriously.

Take the development and the stewardship of your life seriously.

Just touching on the word development and stewardship.

Development meaning make sure, guys, that if you want to engage in works of service,

that you pay attention to your growth.

You pay attention to your growth.

You pay attention to your growth.

Pay attention to the seed so that out of it will come whatever it is supposed to produce.

Pay attention to your growth.

And the second thing he says is, besides development,

make sure that you pay attention to the stewardship or how you take care of it,

how you administer, how you nurture, how you do with what you have,

how you take care of it.

It's still not the right definition for stewardship.

That's the first one.

The second thing he says is, care for and selflessly serve others.

Care for and selflessly serve others, doing everything you can to help others mature.

Now you see it goes beyond the two hours of church or ministry or stuff like this.

This is what he begins to explain.

He does this in Colossians.

He does this in Ephesians.

He touches on it in Philippians.

He touches on it in...

He talks about it in Galatians.

He says this is what mature Christians look like.

This is works of service and work of ministry.

It is caring for and selflessly serving others,

doing everything you can to help others mature.

Third, men, nurture your wives.

Nurture your wife.

Train your children.

Train your children and young men.

Train your children and young men.

Realize your life work.

Realize your life work.

Realize your life work.

Pouring out your time and strength.

Pouring out your time and strength for others.

That's what he says to the men.

Episode after episode after episode he talks about works of service and work of ministry

because he knew that not everybody will be doing ministry.

He knew that in the Roman times people would slog their backsides off

as slaves and employees of a cruel Roman Empire.

He knew.

When I say he knew I mean Paul knew, yes, but God knew too.

And yet God is raising up a community on the face of the earth

that brought down the Roman Empire.

There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people

that were crucified in Judea and Jerusalem.

But there was one tiny cross on which an average looking man hung

who happened to be the Messiah.

Nobody paid attention to it.

Rome didn't care.

But that one tragedy, that one single act at Golgotha

is responsible or greater than all the empires put together.

Nothing stands against him.

And he is raising up a community here on earth.

And he says to them, hey, you want to know what works of service and ministries?

These are the ordinary things that make up works of service and ministry.

And these are the very things that present-day Christianity pays scant attention towards

because it focuses on all the other good stuff.

Wives.

Ephesians 4.19 to chapter 6.9.

From 9 onwards it talks about the armor of God.

And by the way, the armor of God was for the church.

We are the ones who individualized it.

And so we have individual Christians who stand with the armor and get beaten about

because they're not part of this thing called the body.

It doesn't matter how well you dress up your elbow with armor

and leave it on the ground, it will get trampled about.

You can put all the stainless steel you want around your nose,

leave it on the ground and someone will melt it.

The reason I sound angry about it is one, because of the years I've wasted not knowing this.

And two, at the enormity of how different Christianity looks

than from the Christianity that should be.

It's just too massive a task to change this.

But if you start changing a ship's course just by one or two degrees

over a period of time it completely gets to another port.

Wives. Honor your husbands.

Oh, don't use that honor word. I will.

Honor your husbands and follow them.

Assuming that the husbands are nurturing.

Honor your husbands and follow them.

Not assuming that the husbands are nurturing, I'm assuming that all your husbands are.

Serve your homes.

Train or nurture your children.

Train younger women.

And then these two things that are asked of men.

Realize your life work.

Pouring out your time and strength for others.

This is what is required of wives.

So if you're not a, this is what is required of women.

So if you're not married then you can knock off the first few things.

Blessed are you.

If you are then you've got more than enough to do.

Men. If you're single then you don't need to nurture your wife or train your children.

And why waste letter upon letter upon letter on these things?

And then the last one.

Faithfully work.

Let me write it here.

Faithfully work with a good attitude, with good attitudes.

Faithfully work with good attitudes towards authorities and employers.

Towards authorities and employers.

And employees.

Towards authorities, employers and employees.

So that your witness is strong.

And you are able to supply the needs of others.

So that's the last one.

Comments, thoughts, arguments.

When I'm treated badly not to treat them back badly.

When nobody is watching not to slack off on my work.

When, oh sorry.

Yeah, if you go back there's a teaching on the website called Order.

If you go back to the teaching on Order you'll find that when the authority

is established on earth establishes a principle that contradicts what God has established

then you owe your allegiance to the primary authority who is God.

So you'll find that in that sermon there.

Yeah.

Any questions guys?

Applies to the women here.

I just didn't want to take the effort of writing it.

Yep.

Yeah.

The Bible says that God appoints to the body people who will equip it.

So one of the easiest ways to find yourself in the wake or the wave of equipers is to be vitally connected to a body.

That's one.

Two.

Equipers are not short-term guys who are trying to help you fix a computer problem.

These are guys who can teach you a language so that any time the computer breaks down you can rewire the whole thing.

Equipers are not parachuted in.

They are long-term.

There are ministers and there are equipers.

Jesus was both someone who ministered and one who equipped.

He ministered to people and they recovered from sickness.

He equipped his twelve and they lasted a lifetime and they could now take care of their sicknesses and the sicknesses of others.

This is why it is vital to be connected to a body because it is to the church that Christ has appointed equipers.

And therefore if I'm not vitally connected to a body, what happens then is...

Please don't take this as a remark against you because you just went to a conference this weekend.

What happens then is...

But so did Jeevan.

What happens then is you'll have an even for promise keepers.

And so what happens then is, if I may get on with my point, is that you will have to go from conference to conference to conference to conference.

The intent of equipers is can I bring into this person all that God requires so that this person, the entire person grows.

And it is very effective to go to conferences because in conferences, ministry happens that takes care of immediate things that need to be taken care of.

So I'm not saying don't go to conferences.

I'm just saying it's both.

I can't hear you Dhanno.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because guys, if you keep reading Ephesians 4.30-19, it says,

I appointed them to the church so that it may all connect together.

Each may find its part, its work, its role.

And it's not functions.

It's part work role.

It's different from functions.

It is the ability of my elbow to predict what I'm going to do and therefore get into a position to be in whichever angle it needs to be so that

be it Jacob the thinker or Jacob the head scratcher or Jacob the nail chewer,

my elbow is already figuring out how to position itself.

If it was a function, then every time I want to scratch my head, my elbow will go this way.

And that's why you end up not being able to scratch your head.

All these things wouldn't translate audio.

You wonder what I'm talking about.

Guys, any questions on this?

Do you realize that this is so different from our version of the work of ministry and service?

I feel bad for not paying more attention to men being this and women being this,

but instead focusing on the whole idea of ministry, ministry, ministry.

When this is a vital part, you know why?

Because very few, I mean, really think of it in the last one week,

how many here were ministering to the sick and preaching and casting out demons?

Really? And if you did it, how many hours did you do it?

A week has how many hours?

168 hours.

How many of us did that?

Or is it worship? How many of us were able to lead worship?

Or play an instrument or play the drums?

If that was what it was, work of ministry, then boy, most of us aren't doing squat.

And yet, why is God saying this is work of service and ministry?

Because he's aiming at the two or three or four things

that makes this community radically different from the rest of the world.

Good homes, good marriages, good works, good lives. Why?

Because if God says, if you have these, now when you speak the good news,

it is authenticated.

The four things the world does not have.

Good homes, good marriages, good lives, good works.

This is why, yeah, I just find this fascinating.

I thought the work of ministry was healing and casting out demons,

planting churches, praying and counseling.

No, that is the activity of the Holy Spirit through you,

but it's not the work of the Holy Spirit through you.

It's the work of the Holy Spirit through you.

And the work of the Holy Spirit through you.

And the work of the Holy Spirit through you.

So that is the activity of the Holy Spirit through you,

once a week for most people.

Good homes, good lives, good works,

authenticates the good news of a God who dwells amongst the people

and has commissioned us to bear witness to him.

What has God done that has changed your life 20 out of the 24 hours a day?

Four hours, let's assume, we are all ministering.

20 hours, what has he done? You should come and see.

This is why it is so difficult for us to live our marriages transparently

because the actual condition of Christian marriages

is sometimes the same as non-Christian marriages.

The actual condition of a Christian home is the same as a non-Christian home.

There is no real difference

other than bookending our problems with prayer,

and God is still merciful.

The actual condition of our good works

is actually less than the good works of United Way.

Let's just look at one and then we'll end.

Guys, at the end of the day, you have to think of this as displaying God's life.

In your home, work and lives.

Take the development and stewardship of your life seriously.

That's the only thing we look at.

Care and selflessness serve others, doing everything you can to help others,

make sure this happens at work everywhere.

Men, nurture your wives, train your children.

When was the last time you heard of men training their children?

For some reason we think it's the woman's job.

I train your children, I'm the breadwinner.

I go and work and make bread. You take care of the kids.

And yet the Bible says otherwise.

Men, train your children and train young men.

Realize your life work, not your work life,

your life work pouring out your time and strength for the benefit of others.

Wives, honor your husbands and follow them.

Serve your home, nurture your children, train up younger women.

Realize your life work pouring out your time and strength.

And lastly, faithfully work with good attitudes to the authorities, employers, and employees

so that your witness is strong and you are able to supply the needs of others.

Ralph made a statement. I'm sorry, I'm referring to Ralph now too often.

Ralph made a statement to his group of people gathered on Friday night.

He said, the 40 to 60 people at Acts 29 are more potent than a church that is 500 people strong.

Because he says in those 40 to 60 people,

there are people who could have chosen any kind of life they want

because they're not people who don't have the means or don't have the avenues.

But they have chosen to walk a certain way and they're more potent than a church that has 500 or 600 people.

Why am I putting that in right now?

This message may sound strong, but it is not because we lack, it is so that we get better.

I stand here and you have no idea how I weep during worship to find a church that is worshiping.

I have longed for days like this.

I sometimes tell God, Father, I know how you feel about me when I do well.

I stand here and I sometimes go back and look and I see a church that is worshiping

and it doesn't matter that there are gaps between songs,

whether it's silence and where Ryan has to pull out a song out of his boots

and things are happening all around because he doesn't even know which song may come next,

but a church that worships.

And then it breaks my heart to see in a good way,

Chris and Marcus and me not there,

but a whole set of people who seem to know what they're doing even though half the time they don't.

It blesses my heart. I weep watching worship.

I used to weep watching worship in Bahrain.

All to, I'm sorry I went down that trail, all to say this guys,

this message is not to point out our lack, this message is to bring us to a place which is so much better

because I'm telling you something, for whatever reason,

God has chosen this small church to shake nations around the world

and it has nothing to do with Jacob,

but God has chosen this small church and it will revolutionize how church is done in every continent in the world.

I haven't found anyone in the Antarctica yet,

but every other continent will be shaken by this small church.

You and I are privileged to be part of a remnant,

don't even want to call it a remnant, it sounds special.

You and I are privileged to be a part of something that we have not earned

and we have not discovered.

Blessed are we.

Blessed are we.

Blessed am I to have you.

And blessed are you to have me.

It's both ways.

Yeah.

Let's just touch on the first one.

Is this light supposed to be red or is it supposed to be green?

Okay.

So let's just take the first one.

Developing and stewarding your lives seriously.

Developing and stewarding your lives seriously.

Just that one.

What does that look like?

Very simple.

Very simple.

First, and this is again from all the letters, including Ephesians 4 to 6.

One.

This is so simple, I think to myself, if I can focus on this, I might just make it.

Edifying speech.

As soon as Paul finishes talking about how the church is to be strengthened,

he immediately goes into what that looks like.

And one of the things he touches on again in Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, and in Galatians, is edifying speech.

And what does he mean by that?

Speech that builds up.

Speech that builds up.

That's what the word edifying means.

Speech that builds up.

And he includes in that, no lying, no slander,

no lying, no slander, no crude humor,

no lying, no slander, no crude humor,

or pointless arguing.

Pointless arguing.

Instead,

gentleness

and speaking the truth.

Just three requirements.

Three main requirements.

Three main requirements.

That he brings up again and again in every letter saying,

guys, just stick to this if you want to develop your lives and steward it seriously,

then remember your speech.

James put it this way much later when he said that,

listen, a man's tongue controls his life.

It's like a rudder.

And he says, edifying speech, no lying, Jacob.

No slander.

No crude humor.

No unnecessary arguments.

Instead, Jacob, may your words be full of gentleness

and may you speak the truth in love.

Because if it's gentle, then speech cannot be genuinely gentle

unless there is love in it.

Okay?

Next one.

Edifying behavior.

Edifying behavior.

Edifying behavior.

No bitterness

or envy.

No greed

or covetousness.

No stealing

or deception.

No immorality.

Instead,

instead, forgiveness,

fruitful deeds,

forgiveness, fruitful deeds, honest work.

Beautiful, beautiful.

No bitterness.

Bitterness is when there's a mixture of anger

and sadness

and hola, I don't know.

No bitterness.

No anger and malice.

No bitterness.

Doesn't matter whether you're married or not.

Bitterness is so easy.

No bitterness or envy

or covetousness or greed.

These are absolutely workable.

Come on, guys.

Surely there are days when we don't go down this route.

No stealing or deception.

Because the stealing or deception will end up having to be,

deception will take its form in words.

That will include lying and slander.

No stealing or deception.

We don't steal, but there are ways we

deprive or rob someone else of something for our own benefit.

No immorality.

No immorality.

Focusing primarily on sexual immorality.

No immorality.

You know, the problem with pornography,

and there might be

men and women in this church who watch porn,

the problem with pornography is it is

impossible to indulge in pornography

without disregarding God.

You have to disregard God

to indulge in pornography.

You cannot regard God

and participate in porn.

One has to be disregarded.

And that's one of the,

see, John Piper puts it this way.

Most Christians think they are addicted to porn,

but if they were given a million dollars,

or if a terrorist came and put a knife to their friend's throat and said,

stop porn, otherwise I'll kill your friend,

or stop porn and I'll give you a million dollars,

you would respond and say, okay, I'll stop it right now.

So he says, in a sense, it's not addiction.

On the other hand, he says,

that it is impossible to

regard God

and practice porn.

You have to disregard one

and you have to disregard one to practice the other.

So,

edifying behavior.

And from the experience of people in this church

who can tell you one on one,

one of the easiest ways to get out of porn

is to bring it to the light first.

Everything starts there.

Men to men, women to women.

As in talking about it.

I needed to touch that because I'm sure like in every other church,

this church is not free of porn.

I'm talking to both men and women.

This church is not free of porn.

And therefore, edifying behavior becomes difficult.

Because if I have to disregard God

every time I indulge in porn,

there are moments in my life that God is completely have to be shut out

so that I can indulge in my...

addiction.

Addiction.

But I said we can't call it addiction.

Anyways, that's edifying behavior.

Any questions before we go on?

Any questions?

These are not very difficult guys.

It's not difficult.

The last one.

The last one.

Life stewardship or personal life stewardship

or however you want to call it.

Stewarding your life.

Life stewardship and what does that look like?

Living wisely.

Living wisely.

Living wisely.

Living wisely.

Living wisely.

Stewarding your time.

Living wisely by

having

having

God's

priorities

and living wisely by

stewarding your time.

Both ways.

You live wisely by having God's priorities present.

I mean,

for a woman who has

a small baby,

living wisely is prioritizing

the baby over

maybe

hockey.

That's what just came to mind.

But I'm sure there are more important things than hockey.

The point is living wisely by

one prioritizing

God's priorities

and two by

using your time well.

In the Psalms I think it says

and oh God,

teach me to live wisely by numbering

my days.

Second, putting on Christ.

Putting on Christ.

And for putting on Christ we go back

to edifying speech and edifying

behavior.

Putting on Christ. And then the last one.

Exploring

and realizing

your life work.

And for those who don't

remember, let me quickly

define life work.

The sum total

of all

the things

that God prepared for you

before

the foundations

of the Earth

for you

to walk in.

And He's made you

a certain way.

And He's made you

a certain way

to accomplish it.

The last word there

that you can't read is accomplish.

Check, check, check.

It's okay, it's okay.

It's okay.

These are the three things that will help us

steward,

develop and steward our lives

seriously.

What happened?

Okay.

Pardon?

Oh,

He moved the stand.

Any questions guys?

Edifying speech.

Edifying behavior.

Stewarding life.

Edifying speech.

No lying.

No slander.

No crude humor.

Words that build up.

Edifying behavior.

No bitterness, no envy.

No greed, no covetousness.

No stealing, no deception.

Instead, honest work.

What else?

Honest work, forgiveness and

fruitful deeds.

Personal stewardship.

Exploring and realizing

your life work, which is a sum total

of all the things that God had planned for you

before you were born. Basically, it's

efficient, stute and good works that you're supposed

to walk in and that you were made a certain way

so that you would walk and fulfill

them for His sake, so that His story

becomes more evident. That is your life

work. Besides that,

putting on Christ as in edifying

behavior, edifying speech,

walking this world like He did.

And third,

living wisely by doing

two things. By

stewarding time well and

by finding out His present priorities

for us,

for me. This is

how corporate and individual maturity

happens. This is how a church ends up looking

like the microcosm He wants it to

look like. This is how we become an alternative to

the world. These words may sound heavy, but they

are true.

Any questions?

Ask shucks, it's 4.30.

Got to stop. Guys,

now you can realize why Matthew

7.22 is kind of sobering.

Many will come and say to me

in that day that in your name, we cast

out demons. In your name, we healed the sick.

In your name, we did miracles. And Jesus

said, I will say to you that I did not even

know you. Because that's

what we thought a works of ministry was.

While His idea of works of ministry and works of service

is completely different.

This is why Matthew 5,

13 onwards, makes so much sense.

Just go there and we'll end with that.

Matthew 5

was

13-16.

Matthew 5, 13-16.

Beautiful scriptures.

Some scriptures,

they just sum up everything. Matthew 5,

13-16.

Okay, here's what it says.

You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt

loses its saltiness,

how can it be made salty again?

Can you see it now?

If we lose those five things,

then it doesn't matter how

many miracles, signs and wonders you do.

The salt has lost its saltiness.

What is it good if I cast

out demons from you when I demonize

my wife at home? When I can't

treat her well? When I can't nurture her?

When I don't train up my children?

What is the use?

And there are thousands

and thousands doing it, eh?

Because the focus has shifted completely

from shine your light to show your power.

Jesus' insistence was shine your light.

Our insistence is show us your power.

Showing power is easy because it's

someone working through us. Shining your light

is difficult because it is someone in us

who has to now shine forth.

And so Matthew 5,

13-16.

You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness,

how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything

except to be thrown out and

trampled by men. You are

the light of the world. A city on

a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp

and put it under a bowl. Instead

they put it on its stand and it gives light

to everyone in the house. In the same way,

let your light shine before men

that they may see your good deeds

and praise your Father in heaven.

And so it comes it all up.

And so I bless you

men who are nurturing

your wives,

training your children, taking care of

your homes, investing in

younger men. I bless you.

You're doing more ministry than I do most days.

I bless you

wives who are taking care of homes,

who are honoring and following your husbands,

who are taking care of your children,

who are doing everything in your power

to help younger women.

You do more ministry than I do

in a week and you shall

be rewarded for it. Bless you for it.

I bless you men and

women who are paying

personal attention to your growth

and to how you

steward your time and money.

You're doing more ministry than I could ever do.

I bless you

employees and employers

and those of you who

respect government and leaders.

Pray for them and pay your taxes.

Because you are doing more ministry

every day, every year for year on

year on year than I could

do in the same year.

You're doing much more and it's much

harder in very secular

situations.

Now we see

works of service and work of ministry different.

Do not quit your jobs.

Do not join ministry.

Join ministry only as the

Lord tells you to. Otherwise, do not

leave.

Do what you're doing because

it is out there that this is required.

This is easy.

Equipping you is difficult but this is easy.

Just in case you're getting carried away.

Bless you. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for unpacking.