Recover Tradition

That's what we'll be doing throughout 2018.

So if you thought you were coming to a really charismatic church, you just realized that

no, we are as traditional as we come.

So the theme for next year is Recover Tradition.

And are there scriptures that bear that out?

Yep.

So if you look at these scriptures, and I'll have most of the stuff today on PowerPoint,

but don't get too enamored by that, it won't happen too often.

So here's what it says in 2 Thessalonians 2.15.

It says, So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions or teachings

we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

And then if you look at 1 Corinthians 11, 2, it says, I praise you for remembering me

and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.

So there is this idea of traditions in the New Testament that isn't negative.

Jesus talked about traditions often as being negative.

But there is this place for traditions or teachings or things that are supposed to be

recovered, are supposed to be passed on.

As I'm sure you guys will have traditions for Christmas, where your family has a particular

tradition.

And it's a good thing.

I've seen three generations sometimes pass down the same tradition with the same amount

of joy that I saw their grandfathers do.

So it just shows you how old I am.

And so these are some scriptures that talk about traditions.

And so what we are trying to do is see if there are traditions in the Bible that we

are supposed to recover so that we become the kind of people that God wants in 2018.

Because at the end of the day, even though we become followers of Jesus individually,

God is always looking for a people amongst whom he may dwell and through whom he may

work.

That's his intent.

And in the Old Testament, you find these two amazing scriptures.

One of them is my favorite.

Go to the next one, Ryan.

This is in Jeremiah 6, 16.

It says, this is what the Lord says.

Stand at the crossroads and look.

Ask for the ancient paths.

Ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls.

I love it.

It says ask for the ancient paths.

There are things that God has shown ages ago.

Ask for them because whenever God wants to do something, he'll always return you to the

blueprint.

He'll say, hey, look at the map that I have given you in the Bible.

In that map, you'll find the way into 2018, whatever you need to do.

So ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it.

But this scripture is one of my favorite scriptures from Isaiah.

Listen to me.

You who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord.

Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn.

Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave you birth.

When I called him, he was only one man and I blessed him and multiplied him and made

him many.

And that's what God is doing now.

There was one man called Jesus Christ who hung on a cross and died.

And now look at the number of followers he has.

Out of one man.

Isaiah 51, beautiful scripture, verses one and two.

So going back and recovering traditions is going to be a theme throughout the year of

2018.

Finding out Jesus, what kind of people do you want us to be?

What are we supposed to go and look and get out from the Bible?

If you want to look for tradition in the New Testament, one of the best places to start

is the book of Acts.

Book of Acts.

Because in the book of Acts, basically, by the way, if you look at the Bible, there's

Luke, the book of Luke written by this guy called?

Sue?

Written by?

Luke.

Yes.

And so the book of Luke was written by Luke.

And then he writes a second book and that is the book of Acts.

And in Luke, Luke says, hey, I wanted to tell you what Jesus did and taught.

And then in the book of Acts, Luke says, hey, now I want to tell you what Jesus continued

to teach and do by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you go to Acts chapter one, verse two, you'll see that there.

Acts one, verse two.

Hey, do you want to turn off this monitor so that there's no?

Yeah.

It's a technical term, Chris.

Acts chapter one, verse two.

It says, in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and

teach until the day he was taken up to heaven.

And then look at what it says.

Jesus continued giving instructions to the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

So Jesus didn't stop working when he went to heaven.

He gave instructions to his apostles and so they continued doing what he was supposed

to do.

So what did Jesus continue to do and teach?

Jesus continued what he would promise.

What did Jesus promise?

In Matthew 16, 18, Jesus promised that he would build his church and that it would start

in Jerusalem, then it would go to Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

And Vancouver is certainly the end of the earth.

After Vancouver, there is nothing.

There is Victoria, but it doesn't count.

So Jesus, you heard that, right, Elmer and Anne?

Okay, just checking.

Yeah.

Okay.

So Jesus continues what he promised.

What is Jesus continuing to do?

Just think of this, guys.

We are going back and finding out what Jesus is continuing to do and what is Jesus continuing

to do?

Very simple.

He is continuing to build his church.

He started in Jerusalem, it went to Judea, it went to Samaria, and now it's reached Vancouver.

So here are the points we need to look at.

And we've been through this over the last four or five months.

So a lot of what we are going to do today is look at what we've already established

so that we don't have to go over this again.

So Jesus is building his church.

He is not building Christianity.

Jesus is not building Christianity.

He is building his church.

And what does church mean?

Church means people.

Church does not mean building.

This is just a building.

You can call it a church.

Tomorrow, if someone buys it, it can turn into a temple.

Day after, if someone buys it, it can turn into a nightclub.

So much for the church building.

But a church is people amongst whom God lives.

Which is why we heard all those stories.

Just think of it, eh?

I think we had 12 people come up today.

And 12 people had 12 different stories in 12 different circumstances of what Jesus had

done.

And if all of us were forced, we would all have stories of what Jesus had done.

Deacons in the US carry guns.

We don't.

So it's voluntary here.

So imagine, deacons carry guns nowadays.

Heidi is packing, by the way.

Just so you know.

So Jesus is building his church.

The one guy we would not give a gun to in this church is Wayne, because he might actually

use it.

So Jesus is building his church.

He's not building Christianity.

That's point one.

Point two, Jesus is building his church daily, not on just Sundays.

We went over this.

Coming to a building on Sunday is just a lot of people gathering together where direction

is set.

But this is definitely not what Jesus had in mind.

When he said, I'm going to build my church, he definitely didn't mean two hours on a Sunday.

That's absurd.

So Jesus is building his church daily, not just on Sundays.

Thirdly, Jesus is building his church in homes, not in sacred places or public places.

He's building it in homes.

This is called recovering tradition.

If you go back to the book of Acts, you'll find that there was no place called the church.

They would say stuff like the church met at someone's home.

They never would say, and so they went to church.

Not once in the Bible will you hear the words, they went to church.

And words are important.

We shouldn't even talk like that.

Where are you going?

I'm going to church.

You can't.

So Jesus is building his church in homes, and that's one of the things we've been talking

about for the last little while.

This is the New Testament pattern, recover traditions.

These traditions are not always convenient.

Jesus is building his church in homes, not just in sacred or public places.

Next one.

Jesus is building his church numerically, meaning he does add people.

When Bob Kran came up to speak on the Christmas potluck, the bald guy, for some of us who

don't know, and he wouldn't mind me saying that, when he came up to speak, I was remembering

the first Christmas potluck we had.

It was at Chris and Heidi's place, and there was Chris, Heidi, Bob Kran and his wife,

Denise, Wayne, Doris, Rob, and a lady called Betty.

That's it.

And Chris and Heidi are still around, and Denise and Wayne are around.

Everybody else has gone different places.

But surely God does grow the church numerically, because I'm seeing a whole lot of new faces.

The last point is, he's building it numerically of people that are saved.

He's not building it numerically by people who turn up.

He's building it numerically by people who are willing to say, Oh God, we just heard

that your name is Jesus.

Oh God, we heard that you are a father.

Oh God, we heard that you are King and Lord.

And dear Jesus, I would like you in my life.

I would like to have the same stories that were spoken here happening in my life.

When that happens, Jesus begins to build his church numerically.

And the last point is, Jesus is building his church, and he has a role for us to play.

That's a cool thing.

He just doesn't build it and says, you guys just attend, I'll build.

No, he says, in building this church, you have a role.

You have a role.

So we're just going over stuff that we've already established in the past.

So what is our role in building the church?

What is our role in building the church?

Ryan, that's your cue, man.

What is our role in building the church?

And here is our role.

I'm defining our roles in building the church.

Now remember, who are we accompanying in building the church?

Jesus, the King of the universe.

I mean, it just boggles me.

There was a guy called Joseph, if you want to look at that wall.

There was a guy called Joseph who took a woman called Mary on a donkey, and she was pregnant.

And they go and inside her, God sends his son, conceived in a womb, supernaturally,

not by human methods, to be born into the world, to grow up, to grow up to 33 years

old, to die on a cross, to save the entire world, take the world back and introduce them

back to God.

He's been doing this since the beginning of time.

And now he looks at us and he says, hey, you now have the privilege of joining me in making

this happen.

Then he says, let me define your role.

And he begins to define the role.

And first part of the role is, you've got to be rooted and planted in his teachings,

and you've got to grow in God's house or God's family.

Let me just stay on that for a while.

Rooted, rooted means you got to go in deep, man.

It can't be a superficial understanding.

Can't be a superficial understanding.

Paul used to say this to the church in Corinth or when he was writing the book of Hebrews,

the letter, he says, I wish you would chew meat, but you're still drinking milk.

So be rooted, be planted in what?

In his teachings and grow in God's house.

Grow in God's house.

You cannot be a Christian living an individual life rooted in Christ.

The growth happens in God's house.

At some point, plants have to be removed from their pots and planted into something larger,

I believe.

The second thing is, manage our family well so we can open our homes and in due time mature

to become leaders over God's family, the church.

That's the second thing God wants us to do.

Manage your family well.

Manage your family well.

What does that involve?

Manage your marriage well.

Manage your spouse well.

Manage your children well.

Steward your finances well.

Manage your family well.

Because if God is building the church through your home, then the home better be a place

that is managed well.

And here's the other thing God is saying.

Everybody sitting here has the potential to be a leader in the church.

When it comes to God, there is no distinguishing as she's not a leader, she's not a leader,

he's a leader, she's not a leader.

It is everybody can through maturity lead others.

That's a cool thing.

Every child in a house will become mature.

You can have three children, they'll all grow up and they will mature.

What else?

Our role in building a church, identify the unique role you have and engage in fulfilling

it together.

Identify the unique role you have.

This is something that will be recovered in 2018.

Will be recovered for each person here.

The six questions I gave you two weeks ago was towards this end.

Just the beginning of moving towards this place where each person who is willing will

find their unique role.

Why am I still on earth?

What am I supposed to do?

Why am I this age?

Why am I in this context?

How am I to use my resources?

What is the vision that you have for me?

What is my calling?

What is the plan?

What is the dream you have or God for me?

Each one identifying the unique role and engaging in fulfilling it together.

Engaging in fulfilling it together.

This is my only problem with PowerPoint.

When you have PowerPoint you look at it and you read off it.

When you don't have PowerPoint you can just talk.

So I don't like PowerPoint.

If I became the President of the United States I wouldn't use those reader things.

I'd have to just wing it.

He doesn't here.

Yeah, that's gotten him into a lot of trouble.

So this is something that will be recovered this year.

Look forward to it.

Look forward to it.

It doesn't matter how old we are.

This is something we'll recover.

And engage in fulfilling it together as a church.

It's impossible to do it individually.

Impossible.

You do it together as a church.

It's odd that God has us enter the kingdom individually but he's looking for a people

of God that are united but diverse.

Just the way he's been doing things.

And the fourth one in this is reflect Christ to the watching world through our lives and

as a community attracting many to Christ.

Matthew 5.16 says, let your lights so shine before men.

Ephesians 4.16 says that you are different parts of one body coming together, each part

supplying joint and ligament so that the entire body works together.

So reflect Christ to the watching world through our lives and as a community attracting many

to Christ.

Guys, I'm going over this so that we don't have to go over this next year.

In this you have a summation of everything we've been talking about over the last three

or four months.

What else is our role in building his church?

This is something we've been talking about.

Just one second.

Remember who we are.

It just boggles my mind.

We are partnering with the one who 1st Timothy 6 calls the only sovereign, the only king

and the only Lord.

That's what 1st Timothy 6 calls Jesus.

It says you are the only sovereign as in there is no other ruler besides you Jesus.

That you are the only king as in you're the king of kings.

That's what it says in 1st Timothy 6 and you are the Lord of Lords and this is who we are

partnering with.

There is no other reason for being a Christian.

Like I've said many sermons ago, if you and I call him Lord, what business do we have

doing anything else but that which he's engaging in?

You can do it as a carpenter, sailor, pastor, teacher, retired person but what business

do you have doing anything else?

Any questions on that?

Because he's the only sovereign.

He's the only king.

He's the only Lord.

There is nobody else in the universe.

Every other God is false.

Everything else is not true.

There is only one sovereign.

There is only one king of kings.

There is only one Lord of Lords.

There is no other.

You can't have two fathers.

You can't have two kings in one country.

And if Jesus is king and if this is his mandate and he's saying hey Elmer, hey Rachel, I want

you to join me in what I'm doing in the world.

Count it a privilege.

It's not a task.

It's not a responsibility.

It's not a duty.

It is not a, oh man I didn't know once you get saved you got to join him.

No this is our privilege man.

It's our privilege.

Charges me every morning man.

Oh God I want to learn how to do this well.

So one of our roles is go and make disciples.

Go and make disciples.

How?

We talked about it.

I'm just summarizing it.

Go and make disciples.

How?

First we seek.

We seek.

We look out for.

We search for.

We seek.

We become aware of.

We pay attention to.

We seek out those that Christ has paid a price for.

Which means everybody in the world is ours to seek.

And remember what we said about seeking.

Seeking is to pay attention to.

Genuine attention to.

We seek.

Secondly, every day we do this eh.

Secondly we build authentic relationships.

We build authentic relationships.

It takes time but we build relationships.

Thirdly we open our homes.

So Jacob where did you get all this from?

Go to Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Go to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Go to Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Go to Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Go to Acts chapter 28.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

And go to Acts chapter 28.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

And go to Acts chapter 29.

Don't.

Stop at 28.

We open our homes.

I mean this was recovering tradition.

This is what recovering tradition is.

Going back to the blueprint and searching and seeing is this what they used to do.

And this is what they used to do.

We open our homes.

The next one is we minister and pray.

Every opportunity you get.

I believe there is nobody sitting in this church who cannot pray or cannot minister.

I think everybody here can.

I was listening to your story that you came up one by one.

If those stories can happen to you it's because you prayed and because you can minister.

Minister is to do whatever you can to help another one come out of their circumstances.

I was thinking of Joel the guy who had a brain operation that Mark and Rhonda know.

I was praying for him today that father you could take away my tooth pain.

How is the brain any different from my tooth?

I mean I know there's a big difference but really for God it's just as easy.

Removing the swelling on is the same as removing a swelling in your brain.

For God it's no big deal.

And to hear of that girl who got healed of what Mark?

Melanoma.

Yeah.

Next we make known the gospel.

We make known the gospel.

We talked about this yesterday.

We make known the gospel.

After that we lead people to faith and baptize them into Christ and the body.

We lead people to faith and baptize them in Christ and into the body.

Remember that guys.

We baptize people.

I pray God that you will be able to baptize someone that you led to faith in 2018.

And then the last one is we model and we teach.

We model and we teach them to observe Jesus' commands.

This Jesus said is a reason or the way the church must function.

Any questions?

And he didn't say this was a realm of pastors or professional clergy.

He said this is what you are joining me in.

I did this.

You do this.

Yep.

Any questions?

Any thoughts?

Any arguments?

Guys, this is not boring.

This is critical to our existence.

What is the use of being healed, making some money, having good lives, going to heaven

If we don't join him in the one thing he is doing here on earth, what would be the use?

I like being healed.

I like having purpose and destiny.

I like having money.

But really what is the use at the end of the day if I have all that?

If I have all that and then at the end of the day don't have this.

This is a critical part.

This is why Jesus didn't put such a heavy emphasis on I needed to be healthy and wealthy

and wise.

It was I needed to be disciple makers.

If there's anyone who loves healing and prosperity and stuff like that, it's me.

I may not preach it, but I really like it.

But trust me when I say that that isn't the reason we were saved and made into a people

of God.

That wasn't the reason.

What was Israel's reason for existence when God called Israel out?

His reason was can I use you as a nation to show the rest of the world what it looks like

when God lives amongst the people?

Oh, by the way, scorpions won't bite you, snakes won't strike you.

I'll provide manna and water and I'll be a shade over you during night and day.

But that is not the focus guys.

I want them.

I want the nations to know that I live amongst you.

Any questions, comments, any thoughts?

Okay.

Go ahead, Ryan.

The fundamental building blocks of his church.

That's what we need to look at next.

What are the fundamental building blocks of the church?

If Jesus were to build a church, what would he use?

What would he use?

And these are some of the things he uses.

In Acts chapter 2 verse 42, and this we should never let go of.

Acts 2:42

In all our meetings, be that on Sundays, be that home groups, be that households, be in

the outposts that we have in different places.

These are things that cannot be changed.

Worship happens out of this.

Singing happens out of this.

Nothing else happens out of this because these were five things that were given to

the New Testament church right at the back.

And the first one was the Apostles teaching.

Let's simplify the word apostles.

Let's just call it the teaching by those that Jesus appointed.

These are traditions passed down.

Doesn't change.

In 2017 and 2018, it still stands the same.

That one of the critical things in building a church is teaching that has come down the

Bible, go examine the blueprint.

Second, fellowship, as in one anothering.

Fellowship where there's loving one another, spurring one another to good works, admonishing

one another, encouraging one another, building one another up.

And if you want to do it with coffee and cookies, that's great.

Third, the breaking of bread.

Every time you meet guys, there's a household break bread.

Oh, it'll get too common.

The people who lose the meaning know it's up to you to keep the meaning.

It's fascinating how when you're in love, you can keep doing the same thing 50 times

in 30 days and it means something marvelous.

I mean they celebrate anniversaries like it's been two weeks since we met.

This is our third week anniversary.

And I'm like thinking really?

So how long does this go on for?

But it seems like when you're in love, everything has meaning.

This is our first anniversary after our first fight and then we made up.

We just want to celebrate it.

Really?

So the breaking of bread, practice it every time because every time you break bread and

partake of the juice, you're declaring that Jesus Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ put us together.

Jesus Christ healed us.

Jesus Christ introduced us to his father.

Jesus Christ has now allowed us to be adopted as sons.

We are not devotees.

We are sons of the living God.

Jesus has taken away fear.

It goes on and on and on and on.

Prayers, critical part of who we are as a people.

A people that don't pray are as good as atheists.

A people of God who don't pray actually don't approach God.

That's why when we pray, make a record of it so that when he answers, you can come here

and testify.

And then the last one is giving.

These were five fundamental building blocks that Jesus Christ introduces in the book of

Acts right off the bat in Acts chapter 2 verses 42 to 47.

Acts 2:42–47

And I say to the leaders here, the leaders of house groups, the leaders in the church,

keep this precious.

Do not abandon this.

Do not allow me to abandon it either.

These are building blocks of the church.

Guys, I'm telling you, we are rich in learning this, being taught here, memorizing it.

You are rich.

This is not even taught in Bible schools and high funder conferences.

Embrace it, wrestle with it, marinate in it, practice it.

And I can't even claim this to be mine because I got it from someone who got it from someone

who got it from someone.

But now it's yours.

We have no idea how rich we are in terms of the teaching that has come into this church.

And I'm not really giving myself credit.

I'm just telling you about the teaching, not the teacher.

Next one.

Here's the intent of the church.

And it was established over and over again by Luke, by Matthew, by Mark, three of the

guys who hung around either with Jesus or with Peter.

This is the intent of the church.

There is no other intent in the church.

This is the intent of the church.

Again and again and again, Jesus kept repeating it, kept repeating it, kept repeating it.

Why am I going on saying this?

Because it does me no harm and it does you good.

You must and I must understand that this is the reason we exist.

Every other thing is secondary.

This is the reason Jesus says we exist.

He says in Luke 24 verse 47, the last chapter of Luke, he says, repentance, here is why

Luke 24:47

I'm putting you together as a people.

Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in my name to all nations beginning

in Jerusalem.

And then he turns around to all of you and he says, by the way, you, you, you, you are

my witnesses.

This is going to happen through you.

That is why I'm putting you together as a people.

When you are rooted and founded in me, when you have discovered your unique roles, when

you decide that those are the two points, then you'll be able to be my witnesses very

easy.

And so that's Luke's recording.

You go to Mark and it's the same thing again.

Mark says in Mark 16 15, hey, by the way, now that I put you together, go into all the

world.

Who is he saying this to?

There is a tendency to believe that he was only saying this to the 12 apostles.

Really?

What about the 72?

What about the 120?

Why did the Holy Spirit fall on 120 people so that 12 could go and 108 could stay behind?

I need an anointing in math.

Yeah, 108 could stay behind and 12 could go?

No.

What about the 500 that he appeared to?

He appeared to 500 others.

Why?

Because he wanted all of them to understand the reason they exist as a people now.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation, all creation.

There's enough guys.

We won't have to fight about this.

No, no, that's my no, no, no, there's plenty of go around.

And then he says the same thing in Matthew 28, 19 and 20.

Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them.

Baptizing them into what?

Baptizing them into the body of Christ as in the church.

Baptizing them into the church.

Teaching them to observe all I've commanded.

This is the intent of the church.

Would you please, would I please never question again the intent of the church and why Acts

29 exists?

This should be settled once and for all.

Who said this?

Jacob?

No.

Bob Kron?

No.

Jesus.

That's the fundamental intent of the church.

But see, if you want to do this, there's a cost.

It was all good till now.

It was all good till now.

That ah, this is the intent of the church.

But now if you want to go around doing this and following Jesus, there's a cost.

There's a cost to following Jesus.

If you want to leave, leave now.

Because you had a dinner or something.

That's true.

Chris, Chris was quoting scripture.

Where shall we go Lord?

So you have the words of eternal life.

To follow Christ, the cost of following Jesus, to follow Christ is to obey his commands,

obey his command to go and make disciples.

To follow Christ is to obey his command to go and make disciples.

So how are you doing in that area?

Don't answer because I'm asking myself too.

The cost of following Jesus, to follow Christ is to obey his command to go.

You cannot follow if you don't go.

Could Abraham have followed God if he didn't go?

Could David have followed God if he didn't go?

Could Paul have followed God if he didn't go?

Could Noah have followed God if he didn't go?

Could Gideon have followed God if he didn't go?

Could Peter have walked on water if he didn't go?

To follow God is to go.

But Jacob, that's the job of pastors and stuff like that.

Who said so?

Not Jesus.

But Jacob, I am now 75.

So there was no age limit.

That scripture is from Luke 9, 59, 60.

He said to another man, follow me.

But he replied, Lord, first let me go and bury my father.

Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom

of God.

Sounds cruel, huh?

What is really happening there is this man comes and says, hey, Jesus, I'll follow you

once my dad has died and I bury him.

That could take 20 years or that could take two days.

And Jesus is saying, if that's your idea of following me, it won't work.

Because at the end of the day, we always postpone stuff, right?

When I'm retired, when I've made enough money, when my work is over, when my vacation comes,

then I will go.

You go when God tells you to.

Not when Jacob tells you to.

When God tells you to.

And if he isn't telling you anything for 20 years, then I would suggest there's something

wrong.

Next one, Brian.

The cost of following Jesus.

Here's another cost which really grates us in the Western hemisphere particularly.

You cannot follow, you cannot serve, you cannot be part of Jesus Christ without serving or

being part of the body of Christ which is the church.

You cannot follow, cannot serve, cannot be part of Jesus Christ without being a part

of the body of Christ, the church.

That's the first part.

The second part, which is even stronger, is if, is you cannot be a disciple of Christ

if family, work, money and possessions take precedence over Christ and the body.

This is why I loved what Azza said that she and Ouk decided as a family.

And Nagi.

I mean, I forgot that she's part of the family.

And so they decided that they will not bend to work or to money.

That money and work will not take precedence in their life, but God will.

That's part of the cost you pay to be a disciple of Christ.

You cannot be a disciple of Christ if family, work, money or possessions take precedence

over Christ and His body, and His body.

Like I said, you cannot follow Christ without following His body.

This is, I know we've talked about it many times, but it's worth drumming again and again.

Jesus Christ is invisible, His body, the church is visible.

You cannot be part of following Christ without being part of His body.

Impossible.

It is unbiblical.

We are recovering traditions.

Next one, Ryan.

I took this from the message.

Look at how starkly it's put.

Anyone who comes to me, but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters,

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

Very plainly put.

Or listen to the next one.

Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, by the plans of people,

and kiss it goodbye, you can't be my disciple.

He's not even saying, then you'll be half a disciple or we'll have to work on it.

No, he's saying, you can't be my disciple.

Any arguments with that?

The solution is, you can't be my disciple.

What?

Just remember you're not arguing with me.

Any thoughts?

Come on, guys, talk back.

Yeah, he's saying you can't have both on the throne.

You have to choose.

Meaning, he's saying, love your wife as much as you can.

But if it came to a choice between doing what is right and doing what your wife says, choose what is.

Choose what is?

Right.

Love your work because I gave you the work.

But if it is a question of choosing me or choosing work, you choose what God has to say.

So he has to take precedence.

That's what it's saying.

It is not saying you've got to dismiss the other.

That would be irresponsible.

Jesus took care of his mothers and his brothers and his sisters for almost 20 years.

He didn't do much ministry then, or if he did, it wasn't worth writing down.

So it's not doing what many pastors in some countries do where they treat their wives as if they're not married to them.

And the church has to take care of them because the husband says, I'm married.

I'm not.

I'm literally like one who's not married when he actually is because his wife gets pregnant.

His wife gets pregnant every now and then.

That happens, eh?

But they don't take care of their wives.

So God, we're not talking about that.

God is not that kind of a God.

But he's saying, man, there has to be no, there shouldn't be a contest.

Jacob, when it comes to things in your life, there should never be a contest between obeying me or obeying your mom when it comes to certain things.

Your obligation to Acts 29 should never overpower your obligation to me.

That's why the first one puts it so well.

Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go.

Let go.

The cost of following Jesus.

Let's look at another one.

Because this is the cost.

Next one.

Therefore, in 2018, rally, as in gather the troops, gather your strength, unite your heart, raise as in come on now, raise up a banner towards us, commit, as in dive fully in.

Rally, raise, commit your family, your work, your money and your possessions to serve Christ in the body.

And let me say this to you.

To the extent that you do, you will find God doing a mystical, mysterious, miraculous thing in your life.

Where 2018 will be a year that I have never seen before.

My intent is, oh God, oh God, oh God.

Even today when I was saying, raise your prayer requests to God, my request was simply this.

And I'm not trying to present myself as the model example because you know better than that.

But my request is, oh Father, give me a 2018 where everything I have in terms of possessions, work, wealth, family, reputation, dignity, everything is laid on a plate and presented to you.

So that you mystically, mysteriously, miraculously work such a work in my life.

To your glory, your kingdom, your power, your glory.

Let me experience it, taste it.

Let it be evidence through my life.

Not for my sake, but for the sake of those that you're sending us out for.

Rally, commit, raise yourself to this.

So what if your past experience sucks?

How long are you going to stay there?

So the last church that you were in who demanded this of you, let you down and you got burned.

Well, this church ain't your last church.

You've been given honorary vice-presidentship now, Wayne.

Thanks, Wayne.

For these are the very things that have diluted, compromised or blocked out the life of Christ in and through the church in the last century.

These are the very things.

Guys, I'm so grateful that I can preach this here and you are not rebelling against it.

At least your faces don't show it.

Because it is very difficult to preach this in churches.

It is and thank God it's coming from Jesus.

How can you argue with him?

I mean, how can you argue with him and win?

You think he doesn't know how difficult it is?

He does.

But there's a cost to following him.

It's a, it's a, and after you pay it, you have to go and say, but we have only done that which is reasonable.

We are still unprofitable servants.

So what do you want us to do next, people?

Because there's this tendency in our head.

If we do this, what's my reward?

What's in it for me?

Really nothing. All you get is Jesus.

Ain't he enough?

So displace all elseguys.

On the New Year's service, if there's anything we'll do.

Diana, since you asked for it, it is that we will lay down our work, our possessions, our family, our money and ourselves.

Saying Jesus, as we enter this New Year, have more of us so that you can be more through us.

Have more of us so you can be more through us.

Not for our sake, but for the sake of those that you want us to be witnesses to.

This is where we're going.

Have more of us so that you can be more through us.

Have more of us so you can be more through us.

Displace all else.

Restore Christ and the body to the center.

I want you to look at these pictures.

I know I've drawn this before and Chad had drawn this long ago for some of us.

Guys, this is the picture of the New Year.

I can't use a mic stand to hold it because my hand may hurt.

Marcus, I'm using a drumstick.

But I'll still be too short.

Okay.

Yeah, this is a life centered around the

We're talking about Christians now.

This is a life centered around ourselves.

So this is how one-fourth of the church lives.

Or maybe a higher percentage.

You have, yeah, much higher percentage I think.

You have you and your family at the center.

And life is very nicely compartmentalized.

You do go to Christ and the church.

You have your work cut out.

There's a time for that.

You have time for making money.

You have your possessions and you have you and the family at the center.

This is how most Christianity is lived.

And the church encourages this.

As long as you divide your time so that church also gets some time, work gets some time.

It's nicely compartmentalized.

May I suggest to you that what is true of churches outside is also true for Acts 29?

It's not like this isn't happening with us.

Next one.

This is this is so subtle.

This is so Acts 29 in the past.

See how this one works.

It's still centered around themselves.

But now there's a nice little godly twist to it.

Me and my family now put the church in the middle of the world.

Me and my family now put Christ and his church first.

When we put Christ and his church first, we expect him to bless our work.

Because that scripture, seek first his kingdom and all other things shall be added unto you is no longer about God.

It is about, okay, if I seek church and the if I seek Jesus and the church first, then Jesus will bless me.

And so he blesses your work.

When he blesses your work, you will have more money.

When you have more money, you will have more possessions.

And your possessions then enrich you and your family.

And so you give more tithes now.

This is the prosperity gospel subtly wrapped up in godly garments.

I've preached this.

So I know.

Is there something wrong with this? Yes.

It's still me at the center.

That's what's wrong with it.

There's nothing wrong with God blessing your work.

May he bless your work.

Deuteronomy says that.

There's nothing wrong with you making money.

May you make tons and tons of money.

There's nothing wrong with having a few cars.

And if may you have many cars.

Derek has two.

And then may you increase in your tithing.

But it's still about you at the center.

So let's go to the next picture.

This is now beginning to work itself towards recovering tradition.

It's beginning to work itself towards recovering tradition.

Now Christ is at the center and your family wants to serve Christ.

Your work, you use it to serve Christ.

Your money is to serve Christ.

Your possessions are to serve Christ.

But the thing wrong with this.

And we've, Axe 29's lived here too and I've taught this.

What's wrong with this is, this is individualistic.

It is me and Christ.

My family and Christ.

My work and Christ.

My possessions and Christ.

My money and Christ.

It is Christ centered.

But it's still ain't the complete picture.

Because we've got to recover tradition.

And now the last one.

This is the real one.

I rally, build, commit my family to serve Christ and the church.

Because it is easy to serve an invisible God.

It's easy to say to an invisible God, here is my work, my money, my possessions.

Because you know, an invisible hand won't come down and take anything.

Now you rally your family to serve Christ and the church.

You rally your work.

As in you commit even your work saying, Jesus, I take my work and I lay it before you.

For the sake of you and for whatever the body would require from my work, I lay it before you.

My money, it's no longer 10%.

All my money is for you and the church.

And yet the church won't legislate it.

The church won't say bring all your money.

It's you are saying to God, all of it, not 10%, not 20%, all of it is at your disposal.

Whenever you want to God, when you direct me, I will.

I won't hold any back.

And finally possessions.

Yes, Father, you've blessed me with possessions.

But having had all these possessions, I want you to know that they are at your disposal.

At your disposal.

At your disposal.

Guys, I'll tell you one thing.

When it comes to this, I don't have any possessions, so I can't talk about that.

When it comes to this, every couple of months I'll go tell the Lord, Father, all of it is at your disposal.

All of it.

And it is.

Otherwise I would not be able to do what I'm doing.

It is at his disposal.

So what when you turn 65?

That's still far away.

And you guys will take care of me anyways.

That's why I'm getting you all into the same building.

I already have three families in the building.

I'm hoping that you take out three meals and then we'll work.

No, I'm just kidding.

Like Chris is reminding me.

The Lord takes care of you, right?

Okay.

Any questions on these four pictures before we move on?

Man, this jacket is anointed, but it's also warm.

I'm just kidding.

Okay.

Any questions, Sats?

Arguments.

Come on, guys.

You're taking this too easily as truth.

It is true, but.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm wondering, do we own, like, how do we enrich the church with position money, work,

and family?

Do we do that like just on our own accord or would they ask for?

Mark, how do you want to answer that?

Okay.

So, regarding work, my response is that you're always asking God, okay, what am I doing today,

God?

Where am I going?

How am I doing this?

And that you, you're always asking God, okay, what am I doing today, God?

Where am I going?

How am I doing this?

And that you offer up your day to God first thing and be surprised by how smoothly things

flow.

Not only that, but once you have a smoothly flowing day that you have time to talk with

your coworkers, you have time to interact with others, that suddenly you have a life

that people look at and say that when things go smoothly that other people want to know

what you're doing and how you are able to know about these things.

Lots of praying.

Oh.

I'm not sure what.

So, at one point Mark decided that, okay, if this is true, then the rate at which he

and Rhonda were working was so excessive that there was absolutely no time for anything

else.

So Mark went up to his boss and he said to his boss, okay, so I don't want to work a

five-day week anymore.

And I'd like to scale back so that I can set time aside for the other things that I'm called

to do and the reason I came to Vancouver.

And so the question was now, is he going to lose his job or is he going to keep it?

And his boss said, you're the kind of worker who in three days does what most others take

five days to do.

So go ahead.

Which is a radical step to take.

Or here's another example.

So, when Derek knew that his job was, his life at present was tied to Vancouver, then

despite having six months of no job, when he gets a job in Toronto, he decides not

to go.

Or Heidi, where many times she can make a lot more money if she takes a few shifts and

she decides not to because of the role she plays at present at Acts 29.

And so change her schedules and let's go off her work, suffering financial loss in terms

of work, but not really.

This is how the work-God contest is sorted out.

And you might think that is so scary, that will bring a loss to me.

I don't know how it doesn't work out that way.

Mathematically, you should be at a loss, but that's not how it works out.

I'm sure there are stories around this room where you chose not to do something or chose

to do something because you knew that there was a demand that was greater than work and

money.

All the way Prashant went around approaching his bosses saying, I must go to Kenya.

But initially he was told not to.

This is the radicalization of the church.

Whether three or four things that the world and the church has told you is super important

now becomes less important.

Why?

Because it's not the church that has become more important.

Christ has become more important.

He takes on precedence.

And there is no contest.

There is no contest.

It's not a struggle because it's settled in your heart forever.

Let's go to the next one.

I'll conclude.

The cost of following Jesus.

These are Jesus's words.

Guys, every time you think that what Jacob is saying or what is being taught here just

goes against common sense.

You are absolutely right.

It does go against common sense.

But then listen to Jesus as the financial advisor.

His financial advice was look at the birds of the air and the flowers on the fields.

That's what is his financial advice.

I don't think it will fly with any Christian counseling today.

But look at what Jesus says in Mark 10, verse 29 and 30.

Mark 10:29

Truly, I tell you, Jesus replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother

or father or children or fields or throw in homes, work for me and the gospel will fail

to receive a hundred times as much in this present age.

Homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, along with persecutions and in the

age to come eternal life.

And this is the context of that last line.

Many who are first will be last and the last refers.

What does it mean?

It means that many here, many here, even at acts 29, will spend hours invested in work,

in possessions, in money and will be first here on earth.

Will even preach, will do well and find out that at the end of the day, that was not what

mattered, that you have very little to show in life.

All those things that he's asking us to lay down are the very things that moth and rust eat.

And it is in this context that Jesus says many who are first will be last and many who

are last and who were stupid and who were in, who seemed to lack common sense, who laid

down these things for the sake of Christ, the gospel and the church are the ones who

are first.

At the end of the day, think of this guys.

What is 70 years in the span of a billion years?

70, 80, 90, 94 years you spend here on earth.

What is that against a billion years?

And after that billion, there's another billion waiting.

What is it?

My God, take you to the next level.

Take your eyes off the fields.

Take your eyes off the work.

Take your eyes off possessions.

Take your eyes off.

I've got me and my family.

Take your eyes off that because we got an eternity where there will be no marriage,

no this taking care of babies like Anton has to do or Matt has to do.

I'm sure Rachel and Yuri are involved too.

There is an eternity waiting for which we must prepare ourselves and prepare the world.

I am glad you guys are not going to Victoria for another year.

I am glad you're not going to Victoria for another year.

I just needed to say that publicly.

Next one.

I'm ending.

It's not a prophetic word.

It's just gladness.

Yeah.

So how do we do this guys?

Jesus is making such a demand on us.

He's saying, hey, you got to be disciple makers.

He says, go therefore make disciples of all nations.

Go preach repentance.

Go preach the forgiveness of sins in my name.

Begin Jerusalem.

How?

How?

And that's when he says, I'm going to be a disciple maker.

That's when he says to the guys in Acts chapter 1, 8, he says, let me tell you how.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And then he tells them that all this is accomplished through one simple thing, man, the Holy Spirit.

Go to the last slide.

What you shall receive?

Power.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And once that happens, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

So next week, having established these truths that we've been talking about for the last four weeks, next week we'll talk about, OK, so how does it look?

What does it look like?

What happens when I receive power?

When the Holy Spirit comes upon me?

What's this whole idea of witnessing to Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea, and the end of the earth?

What happens?

We'll talk about that next week.

Because at the end of the day, it's the Holy Spirit who ignites this passion of disciple making.

He's also the one who sustains it.

It's all by him.

And so you can have all these points together.

But if you have not tasted or received, or it's been a while since the power of the Holy Spirit came upon you, the next week is the week to begin to look at that.

Because that's what ignites and sustains this whole thing.

Any questions?

Any thoughts?

OK.