Prevailing Church (part 2)

All right, yeah. Do your thing, man.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

The title is prevailing church living today.

Prevailing church living today.

No other name.

Other name of Jesus.

No other name.

Other name of the Lord.

You know the guy who wrote No Other Name, the name of Jesus, he wrote it in 1988.

That's a 30 year old song. Some of you were not born then.

And No Other Name.

And it was written by a guy called Robert Gay.

I remember coming here to Vancouver in 1993 and meeting him in Surrey.

I didn't know he had written the song. So when I was looking at the song today,

I thought, my God, Don and Jeevan and Derek and half the crowd here wasn't even born when he wrote it.

Nazi.

Beautiful song.

Name is exalted, far above the earth.

Wayne, are we good to go?

Okay. Guys, last week we were talking about Matthew 16, 18,

where we said that a prevailing church is what we'll be focusing on.

Because Matthew 16, 18 says that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And then we talked about some of the characteristics of a prevailing church.

And we said a prevailing church, these were the six or seven points we gave,

a prevailing church contends for the gospel.

We said a prevailing church wars against the satanic.

We said a prevailing church battles through traditions and internal mindsets.

We said a prevailing church violently establishes the kingdom.

We said a prevailing church stewards or administrates ancient doors.

And finally, we said a prevailing church wrestles with God.

And today we'll take the first point in the whole thing,

which is how does a prevailing church contend for the gospel

by pouring out their lives to proclaim the gospel and make disciples?

How do we go about that?

How can we work towards becoming a church that is a prevailing church,

as in a church that contends but does not collapse,

a church that contends and stands strong,

a church that contends and pours out its life, empties itself for two main things,

for Christ and the good news that Christ brings and for making disciples.

How do we become a church like that?

And then one of the verses that really caught us was Revelation 12, verse 11,

Revelation 12:11

where it says that they overcame the devil with the blood of the lamb

and the word of their, the bold word of their testimony.

But it was the second part that I said was amazing.

It says, they defeated him through the blood of the lamb and the bold word of their witness.

And then it says, they weren't in love with themselves, they were willing to die for Christ.

They were not in love with themselves, they were willing to die for Christ.

They were not in love with themselves, they were willing to die for Christ.

So that's what we want to look at today.

How do I live a life, how do I live a life that is at once bold and joyful

and is being emptied out?

This is the kind of life that Jesus Christ lived.

This is the kind of life Paul lived.

This is the kind of life that if the head lived, the body must live.

If Christ lived this, then the body must live like this.

It is not sufficient to empty yourself out if you're not joyful and not bold.

It has to be all three.

Therein lies this amazing Jesus-like balance where your life is bold, your life is vibrant,

your life is joyful, your life is happy, not based on circumstances,

and your life is emptied out or being poured out because you are not in love with yourself.

That is the question. How do we go about living a life like that?

And so the answer, if you want to look at three words that you can remember easily,

is to live, love, die.

That's why I've titled the thing, Living to Die, Prevailing Church, Living to Die.

Live, Love, Die.

We look at what it is to live, we look at what it is to love,

and we look at what it is to die for a Christian from a Jesus perspective.

What does it look like?

So first let's look at live.

Guys, everybody wants to be happy.

Please don't think that God had any other plans either.

God had plans for man to be happy.

We have made that different.

We've made that, we've changed that because of our present earthly plight.

But the truth is, we have changed that.

Because of our present earthly plight.

But God, from the very beginning, had a desire for man to be happy.

So the first thing is, if you live, live life with the core conviction,

live life with the core conviction,

live life with the core conviction of being hilariously happy,

of being hilariously happy.

Live life with the core conviction of being hilariously happy

and increasingly satisfied with God, and increasingly satisfied with God.

See, the very concept is alien to us, even in this church.

Because this church is relatively a happy church.

Or at least I want to think that, if I don't look at your faces when I say nice things like this,

live life with the core conviction of being hilariously happy and increasingly satisfied with God.

I'm not talking about a little bit of happiness.

I'm talking about hahahaha kind of happiness.

Hilariously happy.

God intended this, eh?

Happiness was given to us in Eden.

You know what the word Eden means? Delight.

Delight.

He named the place where they would live, Delight.

It must become a core conviction of our hearts.

A core conviction is something that you will go to jail for.

Beliefs are things that may change, like opinions.

But a conviction is something that is so deep that you will go to prison for it.

There must be a core conviction in my heart that I was born to be hilariously happy in God,

satisfied with Him through the different ebbs and tides of life, unfortunately.

And if I'm hilariously happy and desire to be satisfied in God, glorifying Him will be the easiest thing.

Costosa said and then C.S. Lewis said and now Jacob says

that when you are most satisfied with God, you will most glorify Him.

Why are we mourning about the Canucks?

We are highly dissatisfied with them.

Why don't we think highly of fried zucchini?

Because it doesn't matter what you do to zucchini, zucchini is still zucchini.

Moving on, bad example.

What is our problem with cats? Why don't we write poems about them?

Moving on, bad example.

The point is this, guys.

We wrote, you wrote a book about it, my God.

My Lord, six more to go and then we'll be done, hopefully.

So the thing is this, guys, that we easily glorify or boast about the things that we are satisfied with.

And I must have a core conviction.

And this is a hard thing to go for, but it must be gone for if you're a true blue salt of the earth believer.

Because your Savior was like this.

He was a man of salt.

He was a man of saurus in terms of bearing sorrows, but he was a man who portrayed the joy of God.

For it is clearly said in the Psalms that I have crowned you with joy that is more than your brothers.

So when we think of Jesus as a man of sorrows, we're not thinking of Him going around glumly.

It says in the book, in Psalms that you have been crowned with or poured on such gladness that goes beyond all your brothers and sisters.

Happiness was a gift given to us in the Garden of Eden and it will one day be fully restored.

It says so in Revelation 21, 4, that there will no longer be any pain.

Imagine a child who is born in the Garden of Eden.

Imagine a time where there is no pain, where there is no crying, where there is no sorrow, where every tear will be wiped away, where there is no fear.

For some of us who are going through difficult situations this week, imagine a time like that.

Yeah. Yeah. Psalm 16, 11 puts it this way.

You should read Psalm 16 whenever you get time.

Psalm 16, 11 says that in your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures at your right hand forevermore.

Listen, listen to what God is saying.

Hey Jacob, in my presence, and the word presence there is panim. Panim means face.

In my presence, when you look at me face to face, you have gladness, happiness, delight, and you've got pleasures at your right hand.

This is God saying this. This is not some kind of non-tangible stuff.

Happiness must be, being hilariously happy and increasingly satisfied with God must be a core conviction.

A core conviction. When you have a conviction, you will work towards it.

But Jacob, you don't know how difficult my life is. Absolutely.

And my life in certain areas may not be as difficult or may be more difficult than yours.

But so what? So what?

If you have a core conviction, we start marching towards that end.

We always have divided happiness and joy and we've said happiness is dependent on circumstances.

Joy is internally brought by the Holy Spirit. Jesus never said so.

Jesus never said so. That's our way of dividing it because we've confused both the words.

Jesus is as happy about happiness as he is about joy.

Be enthusiastic about happiness. It's great to be happy.

One of the strong points in my life is happiness. I'm happy.

The more alone I am, the happier I get.

But then you have to live with people also.

And with those circumstances, I'll still have to press through.

I mean surround me with cats and zucchini and I will still survive and be happy.

You should have seen Derek's face. He went to White Spot.

And Derek's been on this sometimes on, sometimes off diet.

Where occasionally he'll feel like he's got to be on a diet.

So I was meeting with Heidi at White Spot and Derek was there.

And we ordered decent White Spot meals like burgers and stuff like that.

And Derek says, no, I'm on a diet. So I said, eat something.

He says, okay, I'll eat zucchini.

It was as bad as when Jeevan bakes vegetables.

So moving on.

Now that we've had enough insults thrown towards inhabitants of 725 West 70th.

Secondly, guys, live a life.

Every afternoon when I'm preparing for the message, I think to myself and I say to myself,

Father, help me not to take pot shots at people today.

And it just is somehow it's a prayer that's not answered yet.

I did that today to as a father, help me not to go off on wild goose chases down rabbit trails

and say things that aren't funny and just help me to stick to the script.

So that's what we're going to do.

Live a life that allows history.

Live a life that allows history to interrupt and break into lives through your story.

What are we aiming at here, guys?

We are saying that if you learn to live a certain way, love a certain way and die a certain way,

you will be able to live a certain life.

What are we aiming at here, guys?

We are saying that if you learn to live a certain way, love a certain way and die a certain way,

you will be able to contend for the gospel,

that you will be able to lay or pour down or empty your life for the sake of Christ

and for the sake of making disciples.

But there is a way to go about it.

There's a pathway.

Follow this pathway.

So here's the second thing that I want us to remember.

One is live a life where the core conviction is that of being hilariously happy and satisfied with God

because we will glorify him easily then.

Second, live a life that allows history to interrupt the lives of others through your story.

You know, someone is saying this to me.

I don't know if you watched Billy Graham's funeral.

It was phenomenal.

It was like four or five messages put into one.

I think that was a...

It was like his last crusade.

It was awesome.

If you haven't watched it, watch it.

But here's what someone said to me.

He said, Billy Graham's preached to 220 million people, many of them in the U.S.

And yet, when you look at the U.S. today, how come it is where it is?

He brought up another example.

He brought up another example.

He said, Nigeria, 53% of Nigeria is Christian.

Why is it then the corruptest country in the world?

How can a country that claims to be 53% born again...

I'm not talking about nominal Christianity.

I'm talking about believing Christians.

How does a country that has 53% of it saved still come up as one of the most corrupt nations in the world?

You can't blame the 47 for that.

So, guys, in the same way, 53% of good apples should bless the whole box too.

Because we reverse these things.

Salt must be used on rotting meat.

We'll go there later.

But here's the thing, guys.

It is insufficient to profess and proclaim the Gospel if you cannot model it and show it.

And you can only model it and show it by engaging in the lives of others through occupations,

through good works, through meeting their pressing needs.

It is absolutely incumbent on Acts 29 to actually be involved in lives out there.

We have to.

I'm not talking even of households or church meetings.

I'm talking about actually getting into the nitty-gritty of the lives of people.

You must.

Some of you will retire in a few more years.

Percolate yourself throughout the working place that you're at.

Because once you retire, you lose that radius of influence forever.

Live a life that engages in good works, in good occupations.

Let your story, let his story in your life, interrupt the life of others.

When people get to know you, they experience Christ.

I'm not saying they must.

I'm saying to Acts 29, your lives have reached a point

where when people get Täto know you, they experience Christ.

When people get염 him, they experience Christ.

I'm not saying they must.

Experienced. I'm not saying they will experience.

I'm saying you've already got to that point where when people get��ùعán,

people get to know you, they experience Christ. You're already there. Therefore go

out of your way, out of your way to allow yourself, your life to interrupt and

break into other people's lives because his story is being written brilliantly

in your lives. Meet pressing needs, meet pressing needs. When you see a need in a

unbeliever, do not shirk away, do not run away, meet pressing needs, meet the needs

of believers, of unbelievers, needs like parenting, needs like employment, needs

like counsel, needs like finances, needs like bereavement, so that people get to

know you and in that context Jesus Christ becomes real. I see this happening

through you. I'm just encouraging you to really put your foot down on the pedal. I

see this happening through you. I marvel sometimes when I go down to the tenth

floor and there'll be Sheldon and there'll be Prashant and there'll be

Derek and there'll be Jeevan and there'll be Dawn and there'll be a half of

action here and it's there. And then it's only a one-bedroom apartment, it's

already too full. Like there are so many shoes in the corridor that I usually

stumble and then from different parts of the building more young people come.

These are not ones who know the Lord and they're not coming there because there's

a church meeting there. They're coming there because Derek may help them, help

them with a resume, Jeevan may help them with some kind of programming, Sheldon

may help them to learn a bit of music. Different things happening. Engage with

lives, engage with lives, especially because there are pressing needs in

people's lives and they don't have your elder brother Jesus.

This is the kind of life that God would like to pour out. If these aren't

active, he isn't very interested in pouring things out. It'll only fill in

terms of quantity not in terms of quality.

Yes, live lives that engage in good works, good occupations, meet pressing

needs. My God, meet pressing needs. I marvel at how you do it. I marvel at how

you do it. You example it. I learn. I learn because I'm humbled by it or I'm

ashamed of how much you do and how much I don't. It's marvelous. Keep going down

that road. Nobody will know about it but that is the life that will be poured out.

You want to become a prevailing church? Put your foot down on the accelerator.

Keep going down that road because those are the lives that are going to be

poured out by God. When you read Titus 2 verse 7 and 8, it's a beautiful verse.

Titus 2:7

Titus 2 verse 7 and 8. Here's what it says. It says, in all things show

Titus 2:7

yourself. It doesn't say in all things tell. It doesn't say in all things

preach. That's part of it but in all things show yourselves. Show yourselves

what? Show yourselves to be a pattern of good works. My God, a pattern of good

works. Not an occasional good work, not giving soup downtown during Christmas

but a pattern of good works. Show yourselves to be a pattern of good works.

In what? In teaching, in integrity, in reverence, in incorruptibility, in sound

speech that cannot be condemned so that one who is an opponent may be ashamed

having nothing evil to say. Hallelujah! This is where we are going. Please get

excited a little. That's a great verse.

I've written in brackets Shabbak as in Jacob at this moment shout and hope the

church will shout with you. Maybe I should take the brackets off.

In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works in doctrine or

teaching, showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot

be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say

Hey, Nick was here. Has Nick disappeared? Yeah.

Any questions before we move on? This is how we live. We'll talk about love next.

This is how we live. Very simple. These are two very, very simple things.

Hilariously happy, a core conviction. And second, live a life that allows his story

in your life to interrupt the life of others and you can only do that by

engaging in good works and good occupations, taking care of the pressing

needs of people around you. I just threw a few of them. Any questions? Any comments?

Any thoughts? Yeah. Yeah. Not at all. Oh, I mean, when did Jesus make a demand that

was relatively easy? Why is it difficult? Because it goes against the grain of my

individuality, my wanting to be alone, my this and that and the other. That's why

it's difficult. But these are the lives that are worth pouring out, guys.

Yeah, this is kenosis, Philippians 2, where Jesus says he emptied himself. This is the emptying of oneself by staying alive.

That is real death while you're alive. Emptying of yourself while you're alive. Dying sometimes is slightly easier.

Because you can't threaten a Christian with heaven. So living and emptying yourself is harder than dying sometimes.

Yeah. Yeah. It's harder when you do it alone. Okay, let's talk about love.

Matthew 22, verse 39. Matthew 22, verse 39. And Jesus said, And the second is like it.

Matthew 22:39 Matthew 22:39

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. See, we think Jesus is saying, Love your neighbor instead of loving yourself.

That is not what he's saying. Christians get so frightened when it comes to loving your neighbor, because the moment you say love your neighbor as yourself,

we hear it as Jesus is saying, Love your neighbor instead of yourself. No, Jesus is saying, Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

He's not saying instead of yourself. This is why we avoid the words. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength and the thing that we know is not possible.

So we say yes to that. But the second one is possible. So we run from that. But he's saying, Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus is not saying, Seek for your neighbor the same things you seek for yourself. Jesus is saying, Seek for your neighbor in the same way, with the same zeal,

with the same passion, with the same creativity, with the same perseverance that you seek for yourself. Now seek for your neighbor.

He's not saying if you seek a car, seek for your neighbor a car. He's not saying that.

This scripture has so much guilt loaded on it. There are so many layers of guilt on the scripture. Have we avoided?

See, the opposite of love is not hate. In Christianity, the opposite of love is indifference. Our problem is not that we hate our neighbors.

Our problem is that we're indifferent to our neighbors. And so if Jesus wants a life that needs to be poured out,

he wants a life where a person understands that Jesus is saying to me, Jacob, just as you would seek something for yourself, you now have to seek it for your neighbor.

And by neighbor, who can your neighbor be? I'm not including any of you because I like you. I'm including people that I don't yet know.

Therefore, this is what it would look like. Just as I long for food when I'm hungry, I must long to feed my neighbor when he is hungry.

Just as I long for food when I'm hungry, I must long to feed my neighbor when he's hungry.

As I yearn for a nice home to live, I will desire and do what is possible to help my neighbor live in a nice home.

As I seek to be secure from disaster and violence, I will seek security for my neighbor.

The Levite, the priest, and the whoever who walked past the Samaritan, who walked past the man beaten up by the bandits in Luke chapter 10, verse 29 to 37,

Luke 10:29–37

did not seek for that man lying on the road, that which they sought for themselves.

They knew it was a bandit infested territory. They knew that they had to rush through that territory to get to a place of safety.

So they left the man where he is and went on. And then comes along a Samaritan who does not have the same pedigree as the guys who walked past,

and he gives this man what he would have wanted for himself.

Just as I yearn to be secure from disaster and violence, so I must yearn for the ones in Syria which seem so distant.

That's what I mean by indifference.

Indifference is the opposite of love, it's not hate.

So I should now seek security for my neighbor.

I love the next one. When I wrote this down, I thought to myself, wow!

As I delight in seeing God's goodness, even when I have no need, I must long to extend that goodness to others by favoring them even when they have no need.

Let me read that again. As I delight in seeing God's goodness, even when I have no need,

I'm surprised at how I won't have a need but God will still be good to me and give me stuff.

Even as I delight in seeing God's goodness when I don't have a need, I must long to extend that goodness to others by favoring them even when they don't have a need.

We only help if someone is in need. Thank God, God is not like that.

Either people have to deserve it or people have to be in need.

If they don't qualify for one of those, then they are not worthy of our help.

Good, Gisela. You've always been like that.

Praise God, you've always done that. Bless you for doing that.

As I seek that my life be significant, I desire the same significance for my neighbor.

When I sometimes see what these boys do for boys in the building, they have reached places where they have jobs, they're engineers and stuff like that.

And along come these students who've come from India who don't know how to do things.

As you seek significance for your life, you begin to long to seek the significance of your neighbor who you didn't know before but now lives next door.

And you stay awake a few more hours so that you can work on their resume.

These are the kind of lives that God is waiting to pour out.

It breaks us out of our highly individualistic, self-absorbed lives.

And you are doing this already, which is why I'm saying to you, when they meet you, they experience Jesus.

And I'm deliberately leaving out will or must. They experience Jesus.

I'm just saying, come on, man, contend. We must become this kind of a church. You must always think like this.

It's a 24-7 lifestyle. It's not a Christian thing to do. We don't do Christian things.

Christ lives in us. He does things through us. This is what he wants to do here in the world.

As I seek that my children do better in life, I will seek to help my neighbor's family.

As I like being welcomed into strange company, so I'll welcome neighbors among strangers.

As I like being welcomed into strange company.

I mean, I've seen Wayne do this, where you put him in a strange place with people he doesn't know,

and he'll go around making people who are new comfortable.

While I will try to find the one or two friends I know and sit with them and not move.

Seeking must translate into sacrificial action. Seeking must translate. Seeking must translate into sacrificial action.

Oh, but what if we get taken advantage of? Let me assure you, if you start living like this,

you will be taken advantage of a few times before you learn some tricks of the trade and you'll get smarter.

But if you expect to navigate through loving people around you without getting taken advantage of,

you'll have to wait to get to heaven because it'll happen.

Oh well, but you don't know how many times I've been taken advantage of.

Well, I hope your wounds turn to scars and that you continue.

Otherwise, you'll be bleeding yourself to death.

I'm sorry I'm being harsh, but my God, we need to build a church that Jesus can pour out.

It's like a kettle he wants with a little spout that he can pour things out of.

And like Wayne said, one person can't do this, man, but when enough people are like this,

he's got a kettle or teapot or whatever the Brits call it.

I meant that in the nicest way.

My self-seeking must become the measure of my self-giving.

That's how Luke 631 translates in the message. It's so well put.

My self-seeking must become the measure of my self-giving.

Oh God, I pray that you would help me become like this.

Oh God, I pray that you would make Acts 29 like this,

that the measure of our self-seeking will become the measure of our self-giving.

Luke 6, verse 31.

Luke 6:31

The measure of our self-seeking becomes the measure of our self-giving.

So don't feel guilty when you buy something and your neighbor doesn't have it.

But once you know that your neighbor has a need, pursue helping him achieve it

with the same zeal and passion and perseverance that you poured into getting what you needed for his sake too.

Otherwise, every time you buy something, you'll feel guilty.

That was not what Jesus planned to induce with Matthew 22, verse 39.

Matthew 22:39

There's always this fear. If I devote myself to pursuing someone else's happiness,

then my own desire for happiness will be threatened.

There's always that fear. If I start looking out for others' interests, then my interests will be threatened.

Or my happiness will be threatened. And therein lies the root of all sin.

And therein lies the root of all sin.

And therein lies the root of all sin.

And therein lies the root of all sin.

The root of all sin is simple.

It's my desire for happiness,

A, outside of God,

B, at the expense of others.

All sin falls into these two categories.

There's always this fear that if I pursue the happiness of somebody else,

if I love someone to a point where I'm devoted to helping someone else,

then my happiness or my desires will be threatened.

And therein lies the root of all sin.

Because the root of all sin is the desire for my happiness apart from God,

or outside of God. Apart is a better word. Apart from God.

The root of all sin is my happiness apart from God.

And secondly, my happiness apart from the happiness of others in God.

This is why Jesus says that,

he says in Romans chapter 13 verse 8 and 10,

Romans 13:8

the law and the prophets are summed up in this one command,

love your neighbor as yourself.

Go to Romans 13, 8 to 10, and you'll see why this,

this that has been written on the board holds true.

Romans 13 verse 8 and 10.

Romans 13:8

Guys, you don't realize how, how tremendous these truths are.

If only I can now begin to somehow make it part of my life on a regular, regular, regular basis.

Romans 13 verse 8 to 10, and I have a desire too, and you do too,

Romans 13:8–10

because we want to become a teapot.

Huh, teapot doesn't sound right.

I'll come up with some other word.

And now all these words go together, teapot, cat, zucchini, they all come in the same category.

Look at Romans 13 verse 8 to 10.

Romans 13:8–10

Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another,

for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.

The commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,

and whatever other commandment there may be are summed up in this one rule,

love your neighbor as yourself.

Why? Because love does no harm to its neighbor, therefore love is a fulfillment of the law.

Very simple.

You live like this and you will fulfill the commandments, cause.

All sin lies within these two categories.

Happiness apart from God, happiness apart from or at the expense of your neighbor.

All the Ten Commandments are listed out of these two.

Any questions?

Yeah.

Any questions guys?

This is doable guys.

See, we got saved instantly, but we are continuously being changed.

Continuously being changed.

So let's change in this.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I can be a little more like this.

You have no idea how often I'll go over my notes again and again in my head.

I have the advantage of having the real notes, I don't have to listen to some guys speak.

And I go over and over it again.

Because maybe by next year this time?

Any questions?

Any comments or thoughts?

Okay, last one. Die.

Thank you.

You just avoided probation.

Dawn was almost writing a memo out to you.

It's top shot.

Guys, live, love, die.

Die.

You know, in Luke 14, verse 28, Jesus says,

Luke 14:28

Jesus begins to speak in parables and he says,

there was a king who had 10,000 people,

and he found that there was an enemy king coming against him who had 20,000.

And now he has to count the cost.

He said there is a man who wants to build a house,

but he has to sit down and count the cost first.

See, when Jesus in Luke 14, verse 28 says, count the cost,

Luke 14:28

his intent wasn't to say to us,

No, his intent wasn't to say to us,

guys, before you follow me, count the cost and then follow me.

No, his intent was, through those parables,

to say that it doesn't matter how much you count the cost

and how many resources you may have and whatever you want to lay down,

I just want you to know that your assets are insufficient

to attain the status of discipleship.

That's what he's saying.

He's not saying count the cost and follow me.

He's saying count the cost and you'll find that you just don't have

what it takes to become my disciple.

That's what he's saying.

So laying down, this is why Paul at one point says,

I can bring all my stuff and lay down.

And yet if I don't have love, I'm nothing but one of those instruments

that Jeevan was playing today.

Symbols, yeah.

So the point is this, guys, that you can count the cost

and lay down all your resources only to find out

that you do not qualify to be a disciple.

Because to be Jesus' disciple is to lay down your life.

You can lay down all your money, you can lay down all your cars,

you can lay down all your degrees.

You can, like Paul, say that all this is garbage and rubbish.

And yet it ain't enough to become his disciple

because the one thing Jesus laid down that is required of every disciple to lay down

is their lives.

And here's the bad news.

Even your life ain't your own to lay down.

This is why the word living sacrifice is such a paradox,

such a contradiction.

A living sacrifice?

A sacrifice is supposed to be dead.

But it is a living sacrifice.

What a cool contradiction.

A living sacrifice.

A living sacrifice.

Count the cost.

And Jesus was intending to convey that no matter the resources you lay down, Jacob,

those assets are insufficient to secure your status as a disciple.

Therefore, alternative action is required.

And what is the alternative action?

Consider unworthy or of less value the things of life

so you can abandon yourself to me and I'm a good master

and then you can be counted as a disciple.

So here's what Jesus is saying.

There's nothing you can do to become my disciple by giving up stuff.

So don't even bother.

But here's what you can do.

Begin to hold in less worth or less value

the things that the rest of the world chases after

so that you can abandon yourself to following me.

I'm a good master and then you can be a good disciple.

That is dying.

Where you begin to hold unworthy or in less value

the very things that the world chases after.

That is dying.

Pardon?

Have a loose grip to the point where you don't even know it's being taken away.

Live as though others are taking it away.

Know it's being taken away.

Live as though, I wrote this line and I've been trying to figure it out in my head.

I've been trying to imagine, I've been reading up stuff

but I still haven't gotten to the heart of it.

But live as though condemned to death.

Live as though condemned to death.

Live as though condemned to death.

As in live as though you are a man or a woman on death row.

I found out that there were 3,426 people on death row in the United States.

They live oblivious or completely dead to the pursuit of status,

to the pursuit of success, to the securing of their future,

to stockpiling possessions.

They don't live like that anymore because any day,

unless the governor calls for a last minute pardon,

they know which day they will die, they know how they will die,

they know where they're going to die.

They live as once condemned to death.

Paul said this, he said, I live knowing that every city I go to,

the Holy Spirit has said to me that you will suffer and you will one day die.

Jesus lived under the condemnation of death for our sake.

So what happens in the process?

When I begin to understand what it is to live as if condemned to death,

I begin to become oblivious to the status, the success, the pursuits,

the securing of the future and the stockpiling of possessions

because they don't matter as much anymore.

Now you have a church that can be poured out by Christ

as if he were pouring things out of a teapot.

Live as though condemned to death, unaffected by the things that the living craved for.

Live as though condemned to death so that you may be unaffected

by the things that the living crave for.

There's an old Hebrew story where a young student comes to his rabbi and says,

can you show me what it is to live for God?

And the rabbi says, go to the cemetery and pick up some stones

and start cursing the dead and throwing the stones.

So he goes to the cemetery and he picks up stones

and he starts cursing the dead and throwing stones at them.

And he comes back and the rabbi said, what happened?

He said, nothing happened, none of them responded.

And so he said, okay, tomorrow go and stand in the same cemetery

and start praising them.

And so he stands there and goes grave to grave

calling out their names and praising them

and saying amazing things about them.

And he comes back and the rabbi says, what happened?

And he says, nothing, they didn't respond.

And he says, go and live like that.

The point is, live as though condemned to death

so that Jacob, you are not affected by the things that the living crave for.

These are the lives.

This is the kind of church that God wants

where he can pour them out of a teapot

because they weren't in love with themselves.

And for whose sake guys?

For the sake of him, the Christ, the King who we stand for today,

who is worthy of our lives guys, worthy of our lives.

Oh, I would want to give it to him with great joy,

not even as a sacrifice.

It would be, if only I could do more and more to please him.

Oh my God, you and I would be only thrilled to do that.

And as you pour out your life, a strange thing begins to happen.

You enter into hilarious happiness.

Practice putting aside competing securities

so that you might refashion life radically.

Practice putting aside competing securities.

So that you may refashion life radically.

That's a modern way of saying what Jesus said in Luke 14 26.

Anyone who comes to me but does not hate his father, his mother,

his spouse, his children, his brothers and sisters,

yes even one's own self, cannot be my disciple.

Let me say this again.

This is not a cult teaching.

This is Jesus who said this.

You can't put this on me.

Here's what he said.

Anyone who comes to me but does not hate his father, his mother,

spouse, children, brothers, sisters, yes even one's own self,

can't be my disciple.

Now do you see why building a prevailing church is hard?

And guys, to hate is not a feeling.

To hate is to renounce primary allegiance

and to rearrange your valued loyalties.

To hate is not a feeling.

To hate is to renounce your primary allegiances

because you are into a new family now.

To hate is not a feeling.

To hate is to renounce primary allegiance

or to disavow primary allegiances that you had

and to rearrange your valued loyalties.

And again, to hate self is not self-hate.

Self-hate is something God doesn't promote.

To hate self is to say I value myself less.

That's what it means.

I value myself less.

That's what hate self means.

Please understand, if you have an issue with these words,

if you have an issue with these words,

you have someone you can take it up with

and it ain't me.

I want us to live like this, guys.

It doesn't undo our relationships,

but it refashions how we live.

So here's the question I'm asking myself.

Can I rearrange my heart and my head

so that the high value that I place on family,

that I place on culture,

whatever culture it be, Canadian or East Indian or German

or whatever it be,

can I rearrange my heart and head

so that the high value that I place on family,

that I place on culture,

that I place on status,

that I place on job,

that I place on security,

that I place on possessions,

that I place on the pride of life or my id or ego

or whatever you want to call it,

can I rearrange this?

Because if I don't, they will dictate and influence my choices.

I want to rearrange this so that at the drop of a hat,

I'll say like many say before the presidents of the United States,

I serve at the pleasure.

I serve at the pleasure, not of the president.

I serve at the pleasure of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords

who laid down his life, poured out his life, emptied his life

for a wretch like me,

for a wretch like me,

for a wretch like me.

He, the precious, priceless, one of unsurpassing word,

the King of the universe, the Son of the living God,

holy, holy, holy, he laid down, poured out his life,

emptied his life for a wretch like me.

Why will I not at least try to rearrange my heart and my head?

Why will I not?

And daily we shall walk towards his end.

Daily we shall walk towards his end.

The transaction was ridiculous.

It just doesn't make any sense.

He for me doesn't make sense.

I know how base and corrupt and sinful I can be and have been.

I know.

I'm under no illusion.

But for me, if he has done that,

then there is that him that talks about

I will give away all my crowns.

I will give away everything that I, that people,

what's that him that has that verse which says,

demands my life, my something, my all.

What is it?

What him is that?

I was trying to remember.

When I survey the wondrous cross, and what's the last verse?

It says something like,

no, can someone pull it out of the him and let me end with that.

That is how we need to live, guys.

Can you rearrange your heart and head?

Yeah.

When you find it, Chris, just give it to me.

Guys, rearrange your heart and head

and the high value you place on family, culture, status, job, security, possessions and the pride of life.

If not, they will if they have already not

started, start dictating and influencing your choices.

Here's the other newsflash.

I heard this from a guy last week.

I thought this line was something else.

He said it and I thought,

He said that you as Christians are not called to serve the lowest and the least.

He said you as Christians are not called to serve the lowest and the least.

He said you as Christians are to become the lowest and the least.

And therein lies the struggle with the pride of life.

Don't worry about that, guys.

Listen to this line because it will influence you.

You are not called to serve the lowest and the least.

You are called to become the lowest and the least.

Christ was not called to serve the lowest and the least.

Christ became the lowest and the least.

We have changed it a little.

And that is why I need to rearrange my thinking

so that the pride of life does not dictate how I live.

This king that we spoke about,

the one who was the king of the world,

this king that we spoke about became the lowest and the least.

He didn't come to serve the lowest and the least.

He came to became the lowest and the least.

Once you become the lowest and the least,

you will have no choice but to serve everybody else.

These are giant truths that we'll have to

grind and think and squeeze and do things that we do with kale.

And so,

yeah,

that's another thing to add to that list.

But we need to do this, guys.

This is the definition.

What I've just given you right now over the last few minutes

since we started talking about dying,

is the definition of bearing your cross and following after Jesus.

This is bearing your cross and following after Jesus.

This is what it looks like on a daily basis.

And that then qualifies you to be a disciple.

I just can't understand how Jesus says stuff like,

you can't be my disciple

if you're not like this.

Then what are we?

Quasi-disciples, followers, believers, what are we?

A prevailing church is a church that has this kind of people.

What's the song, Ryan? Can you just put it up?

Were the whole realm of nature mine

that were oppressive, far too small?

Love so amazing, so divine.

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

My richest gain, I count, but loss.

And poor contempt on all my pride.

Man, some of these songs from yesteryears

that we set aside because it ain't got the

Hillsong jive

have words that sometimes a super rich man

and we are revisiting them.

Even, I mean Hillsong comes up with super songs.

There wasn't a stab at them.

But perhaps we'll end with singing this.

Yeah?

John 15, verse 11 to 13.

John 15:11–13

John 15, verse 11 to 13.

John 15:11–13

Kind of sums up, live, love, die.

John 15, verse 11 to 13.

John 15:11–13

Kind of sums up, live, love, die.

Here's what it says in John 15, verse 11 to 13.

John 15:11–13

These things I have spoken to you

that my joy may remain in you

and that your joy may be full.

That is the live part of it.

Living with the core conviction that I was

put here on earth to live

in hilarious happiness.

Satisfied with God so that I might glorify him

and that my life may engage with others

so that his story may intersect

the lives of others through me.

The second, the next verse says

this is my commandment that you love one another

as I have loved you.

And that is the love part.

This is my commandment that you love one another

as I have loved you.

And then the die part is where he says

and this is true love or this is

is greater love has no one than this

than to lay down his life for his friends

and takes care of the die part.

Three simple verses in which Jesus encapsulates

how he would like us to contend for Christ,

for the gospel, and for making disciples.

And all I'm saying is when we begin to practice these

it is critical to contending and it becomes a pathway

so that we can then stand and live Revelation 12, 11.

What does Revelation 12, 11 say?

They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb

and the bold word of their witness.

And Jacob wasn't in love with himself.

And Jacob was willing to die for Christ.

Acts 29 wasn't in love with themselves.

They were willing to die for Christ.

Living sacrifices, eh?

Can we sing this?

Sing it in response to the teaching.

Sing it in response to the teaching

and then at the end of it we'll stop.

And after that I'm going to ask

Jillian and Sue and Jeevan and Joan to come up

and if you need prayer, people will pray with you.

Thank you.