Follow Me

Okay, guys.

Saying this may sound a little exaggerated, but I think I should still say it.

Because I almost never say this, but I think if we grasp or get a hang of what I'm teaching right now,

it might be perhaps one of the most significant teachings in the last year and a half, two years.

If we grasp it,

it'll help us as a church and it'll help us as members of the body.

Because it's so simple and yet so strategic that if we grasp it, it'll really help.

I just thought I'd say that so we are aware that this seems to be a little more important than usual

and when really everything is important.

So,

WWJD is What Would Jesus Do? So we're not looking at what would Jesus do. We're looking at what is

Jesus doing.

Okay, not what would Jesus do. What is Jesus doing? So what is Jesus doing?

Yeah.

I mean you can't get it wrong.

So what is Jesus doing?

Many things.

Helma, you haven't lost your touch.

What else?

Pardon?

Bringing its people back. You can't get this wrong guys. So,

Okay, establishing his kingdom.

Healing.

Anything else?

Interceding.

Reaching the nations. Yeah, you can't get it wrong. May I suggest that

it's best to use Jesus's words. He said,

I am building my church.

Yeah, and so one of the things Jesus is doing is building his church. Matthew 16, 18 says that. It says

Jesus turns to Peter after Peter has this

revelation from the Father and he says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not

prevail against it. So what is Jesus doing? That's one of the things he's really engaged in.

Building the church and in Acts chapter 1 verse 2 you see him

Acts 1:2

after he rises from the dead before he ascends. He talks to the

apostles about it. He commanded them what he needed to do.

Acts chapter 1 starts this way that dear Theophilus

Acts 1 · chapter mention

and this is Luke writing to this friend of his called Theophilus saying, I wrote about what Jesus did

when he walked the earth and now I want to tell you that

since then he's

commanded the apostles and told them what to do and so Jesus continues to build a church

by the power of the Holy Spirit through the people that

are willing to obey.

So he's still building the church. It's one of the things that Jesus is completely

interested in and if that is the case, I'd suggest that everybody here be completely interested in it too.

Because this is really what you're here on the earth for.

This is why I said if he grasped this it'll really help

the church and I don't necessarily confine it to Acts 29. Anyone who grasps this will

will be located where Jesus wants them located because at the end of the day this is what he's doing.

He's building his church.

And so if he's building his church and you're his follower and if he says to you follow me then this is

this is

something that you need to follow him in.

The apostles carried out his mandate through the acts of the Holy Spirit.

I sometimes think the book should be named the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

They carried out his mandate throughout the world by the acts of the Holy Spirit and strange we name ourselves Acts 29.

Surely this is something that we need to do.

This is your primary calling. Your primary calling is never to something. It is to someone.

As a Christian your calling is always is never to something first. It's always to someone.

And this someone is building his church.

And if he's saying to you follow me and I'll make you fishers of men Matthew 4 19 then his intent was not just fishers of men.

It was fishers of men who would become something. Go therefore and

make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit in baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit.

He's already baptizing them into something.

First Corinthians 12 13 says that you're baptized into the body.

And so that's what we look at today.

Jesus is building his church. So how do you define church then?

Many ways to define it. Today we'll define it this way.

Church of people.

Redeemed by.

Redeemed by.

The finished.

Works.

By the finished work of Christ.

People redeemed by the finished work of Christ.

And after I write it down we'll talk about it.

People redeemed by the finished work of Christ.

Called out of the world.

Called out of the world.

Transformed into carriers.

Transformed into.

I know it's a long definition but

transformed into carriers

of his nature and his spirit.

His nature and his spirit.

Sent back into the world.

Sent back into the world.

By the spirit.

Sent back into the world by the spirit.

Why?

To

demonstrate the kingdom.

Call people into the kingdom.

Call people into the kingdom.

Call people into the kingdom.

Openly.

Making disciples of all nations.

Making disciples

of all nations.

Next Sunday I might add stuff to this

because it's not easy to define the church.

But this kind of would take care of most things.

So when we say Jesus is building the church, what do we mean?

Jesus is building the church. It sounds so vague. Yep.

Yep.

So how do you define the church?

The church is a people redeemed by the finished work of Christ.

What do we mean by the finished work of Christ?

His life here on earth, his death, his resurrection, his ascension

and the coming of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost

and the formation of this community called the church.

So the church is a people redeemed by the finished work of Christ.

Guys, these are definitions that we should learn

so that if anyone prods you in the middle of the night

it may not come out exactly like this, but you'll know it.

And it's only learned through repetition, eh?

So you'll have to go home and go over it again and again

till it becomes your words but it brings out the same truth.

If anything you can add stuff to it later, but this covers a lot of it.

A people redeemed by the finished work of Christ

called out of the world.

Called out of the world.

Ecclesia.

Called out of the world and then what happens?

You're transformed into carriers of his nature and glory

and that's where the discipleship part comes in.

Where you're called out of the world, why?

So that you don't stay conformed to the world, but you're changed, you're transformed.

To be what?

To be vessels that carry his nature.

And vessels that carry his spirit.

The Bible talks about it, don't you know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?

Holy Spirit.

And then once that happens or while that is happening,

you're sent back into the world.

You're called out only to be sent back.

Sent back into the world.

Why is being, why are you being sent back into the world?

So that you can demonstrate the kingdom.

As in you can demonstrate what the rule of God looks like in your marriage,

in your home, in your workplace, in your life.

What does it look like?

What does the rule of God look like?

We're supposed to demonstrate it.

And once we can authenticate his rule in our lives through demonstration

or while we're doing that, we also call people into the kingdom.

This is what Jesus did.

Why did he come down to the earth?

He began to demonstrate who his father is and then he began to proclaim,

Hey, the kingdom of God is here.

Come in, come in, come in.

So we call them too.

And we do this openly, not secretly.

Secretly never works, man.

Secretly is a way to stay out of this.

Openly.

But wisely.

But openly.

And in the end, you make disciples of all nations because it's not confined to any cross section of society

or any ethnicity.

It's making disciples of all nations.

This is the church and Jesus is building his church.

And if you are a follower and if that is who you are, then you have no choice.

I have no choice but to follow him in this particular enterprise that he's so absolutely engaged in.

Any questions?

Any questions?

Any thoughts?

The definition or big mandate?

Yeah.

But once you break it down into little pieces, you see that he does most of the work.

I will build my church.

Brilliant, eh?

Not I need you to build my church.

I will build my church.

But because I'm your father, I'll take you along with me so that you can paint the fence too while I'm painting most of it.

And you can take the credit after that.

I will build my church.

This is your reason for existence.

It doesn't matter what you're doing.

It doesn't matter that you may be jobless.

It doesn't matter that you might have a job.

It doesn't matter that you're retired.

It doesn't matter that you are a pastor, which is the same as being retired.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you're doing.

This is the reason for your existence.

Please understand, it is the only reason you exist.

To join your master in what he is building.

Because this can apply to any area, right?

This is not for pastors or churches.

No questions?

Any disagreements?

Cool.

So how is the Lord Jesus building his church?

How is the Lord Jesus building his church?

How is he going about it?

Through us.

If you turn to Acts chapter 2, we'll eventually end up reading from 42 to 47.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

But let's take 46 and 47 first.

Acts chapter 2, 46 and 47.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

How is the Lord Jesus building his church?

Guys, anytime you want to build anything here on earth, look at the blueprint.

Look at the blueprint.

I don't understand why we don't go to the blueprint.

We go to experts who have written books because their church was successful.

By usually North American standards.

Don't understand that.

Go to the blueprint.

It's very obvious there how it was built.

So go to the blueprint.

Go to the blueprint.

Acts chapter 2, verse 46 and 47.

Acts 2:46

It says that they continued to meet in the temple daily.

They broke bread in homes.

They ate together with glad hearts.

And the Lord added to their numbers.

Let's pull out three simple things from that.

One, Jesus is building his church daily.

Not just on Sundays.

Not just on Sundays.

Building his church daily.

Not just on Sundays.

Sela.

Because one of the questions you have to ask yourself is, are you a part of a church building?

Are you a part of a church or are you building, are you a part of building the church?

Are you a part of a church building?

Are you a part of building the church?

Are you a part of a church building?

Meaning you've been coming for 40, 50 years.

You even know your spot.

You could go there if you were blind.

Are you part of a church building?

Are you part of a church?

Part of a church is, you can't get to your place blind.

You have to see.

You're part of a church.

You take part in sufficient activities.

Or are you part of building the church?

Are you part of building the church?

And we'll talk about that.

Not today.

Over the next few weeks.

But how does Jesus go about building his church?

One, he builds his church daily.

Not just on Sundays.

Guys, please don't think that turning up here on Sundays constitutes some kind of Christian living.

It doesn't.

It doesn't.

It has never been that way.

And so why pretend that it is?

That's not Christian living.

That's just turning up on Sundays.

Two, he is building his church in homes and not always in public or sacred places.

Spaces.

Not always in public or sacred spaces.

Not in public or sacred spaces.

We have church buildings like this building.

This is where we gather.

This is a public place, a sacred space, if you want to call it a sacred space.

And so whenever we think church, we think of something like this.

And yet throughout the New Testament, it was common practice to gather in homes.

It doesn't matter whether you were the church in Rome or the church in Ephesus.

People gathered in homes.

Because Christianity had to be practiced during the week too.

Not just on Sundays.

So let me put it this way so that it really hits home a little harder.

If you're only turning up on Sundays at Acts 29 and not doing anything else during the week,

engaged in any way, connected in any way, drawing in any way from the body,

then may I say to you that that brand of Christianity is not really Christianity.

It's not.

Never was.

Never will be.

Third, he's building his church numerically.

He's building his church numerically.

Building his church numerically.

As in, he adds the numbers.

He adds the numbers.

He adds the numbers.

He adds the numbers.

The number of books and programs you have that tell you how to grow your church.

It's just ridiculous, man.

In the Bible, it was always, always God who added numbers.

Man's efforts are efforts of flesh and they'll result in multiple people with poor, weak leadership.

You cannot build a house till you craft the pillars.

You cannot build a house till you craft pillars.

Crafting pillars takes years.

Years.

Wisdom has hewn her pillars, Proverbs 16, I'm not too sure.

God adds numerically.

You know, acts when Iran would not be able to handle a hundred new people?

We wouldn't be able to handle it.

If we had a hundred people, we wouldn't be able to handle it.

Suddenly a hundred extra people came.

Because you're not ready for it.

Oh, we can seed them.

Questions, comments?

Anything you want to add?

Yep.

Yeah.

I'm talking about Acts 29 at present.

Yeah.

No, I understand what you're saying.

I would say that twelve were hewn by Christ himself and had the ability to do it.

And it took him three and a half years.

At best, Jesus, who was highly talented, could handle about twelve families and twelve people.

I don't know why we think that we as pastors can handle more than twelve families at a time.

It takes time to invest in people, man.

This is why I'm desperate that some of us really step up at Acts 29.

You have all the potential to be a leader.

If you can only say, all right, put it on me.

Because the more the leaders, the more the number of people we can handle.

So, yeah, when I read three thousand added the first day, five thousand a week later, I'm thinking, gosh, man, how did they do it?

And one of the things they did is break up into little households where you would meet.

And most of the households are pretty small.

In those days, a two-bedroom apartment was not exactly a two-bedroom apartment.

And they were very small.

And they were very small.

And they were very small.

And they were very small.

In those days, a two-bedroom apartment was not exactly a two-bedroom apartment.

And so they would gather in little households.

Years later in Rome, it was the same thing.

Go to Rome, go to First Corinthians, Chapter 16.

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

It talks about gathering in this household, gathering in that household.

And these were homes and which five to seven families would gather.

That was capacity in an environment that wasn't necessarily friendly.

In Ephesus, it was different. Ephesus was the hub.

And you would have these different churches that would gather in small groups, not large groups.

Sorry?

First Corinthians 16.

Paul is writing to the different households, say hi to this household that meets in this person's house and so on.

We have a tendency to think, oh, that's a first century model.

It doesn't have to work right.

Now, at the end of the day, remember this.

It is impossible for anybody to handle with any degree of personal relationship more than five to seven families.

It's impossible.

This is a church of maybe 60 or 70 people on a good day.

I can't handle 70.

Nobody can.

And therefore, during the week to be able to connect vitally with the church is critical.

Any other questions?

So he would build a church numerically.

Those that were being saved.

That's what the Bible says.

So what is our role in it?

Our role.

Hey, guys, just because I'm just because his message is not exactly sounding friendly doesn't mean you can't ask questions.

What if I'm wrong?

So feel free to ask questions.

Oh, I didn't mean you, then I meant everybody else.

We had a funeral at Emmanuel Baptist yesterday and someone I knew from 20 years ago asked me, is Diana giving you trouble?

I said, yes.

So nothing has changed.

Moving on.

What is our role?

What is our role?

What is our role?

I'm going to ask you after I'm done to come up and I'll ask three or four of you to come up and explain this thing again to us so that it's repeated twice to you.

So you don't know who I'm going to pick on.

One will be a guest who's here for the second time.

No, I'm just kidding.

It'll be but I'll ask you to come up and explain it.

Is that OK?

We learn through repetition, right?

Even what is our role?

What is our role?

What is our role in joining Jesus in his enterprise of building the church?

Acts 2, verse 42 and 43.

Acts 2:42

Acts 2, verse 42 and 43.

Acts 2:42

It says, and they continued in the Apostles doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayer.

Let me turn to that.

Acts 2, verse 42 and 43.

Acts 2:42

Acts 2, verse 42 and 43.

Acts 2:42

They devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as they had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.

So we're just going to look at 42, where it says they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

So what is our role?

Our role is to be a part of the church.

So what is our role?

Our role is to do exactly what they did.

Apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer.

Let's just look at it quickly and then move on.

We are supposed to continue in this too.

Always go back to the blueprint.

So what do we mean by Apostles teaching?

Today it would mean common set of teaching, common set of teachings, a common set of teachings.

We've got these house churches going, right?

In Vancouver, in Langley, in Richmond.

One day these house churches will be Acts 30, Acts 31, Acts 32 or whatever you want to call it.

But the idea of these house churches is that we go and learn during the week.

You have about 40 minutes here which won't be sufficient for Christian living.

There is a need to go beyond just a day a week.

And during summer even that is missing.

It's impossible to sustain our lives like that guys.

And as a leader, there is a responsibility to say it again and again and again.

My responsibility is very simple.

Discipleship, to bring you into sonship and then send sons out to build the church.

That's my responsibility.

Discipling, raising sons, sending sons out to plant churches and sons is a gender-free term.

Discipling, raising sons, sending sons to build the church.

That's exactly what Jesus did.

Disciple them, raise them up as sons, send them out to build the church.

And if you resist it or are lazy, then there's nothing anybody can do.

But if you embrace it, think of this guys.

This is exactly the reason you were born.

You were born, you exist for one reason alone, to join Jesus Christ in building what he is building.

There is no other reason for your existence.

Everything is an add-on.

Matthew 6.33, seek first his rule and reign and all other things shall be added unto you.

And we don't have to wait for retirement before this happens.

I love it that we don't have any other choice.

I love it that we don't have any other choice.

I love it that we are facing such a hard thing today.

That it's in our face and we can either reject it, dilute it, but we can't walk away from it neutral.

All we can do is say, we'll do it now or we'll do it later.

But we can't move away from here today without facing the fact that this is a reason for your existence.

Yep.

Discipline is transforming a person's thinking so that it aligns with the ways of God.

Raising sons is when you pour your life.

A pastor can teach members, a father can pour his life into his sons to the point where they become everything that they are supposed to.

As God had initially ordained it.

One a teacher can do, the other only a father's heart can do.

Churches have teachers, apostles, pastors, prophets, evangelists.

Churches have very few fathers.

Which is why Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians 4 that you have tons of guardians.

You've got thousands of guardians but very few fathers.

Fathers raise sons, teachers raise students and disciples.

You've got to do both. You've got to teach so that you have disciples who are fully informed of how God thinks and how God acts.

So that we can think like God and act like God here on earth.

But fathers raise sons where they begin to walk exactly as they are supposed to.

Not like you but in their frequency.

The way the heavenly father wanted it.

Ah!

Fascinating that Paul rarely uses the word disciple.

He always uses the word son, children.

Let me send you my son Timothy.

My son Titus.

Pouring out his life eh?

Teachings are easy to pour out man. Just get a CD.

So apostles teaching is a common set of teachings that which is what is happening in the house churches that we have.

And I deliberately call them house churches. They're not Bible studies. They're not house groups. They're house churches.

They will walk independent in a little while.

Enter it. You'll find life happening.

A Sunday will not sustain you. Even though you've got a brilliant preacher standing here.

Secondly, fellowship.

Fellowship is one anothering. One anothering.

One anothering.

Fellowship is one anothering. What do you mean by one anothering?

You'll find that the Bible is full of love one another, honor one another, esteem one another, accept one another, serve one another, show compassion to one another, spur one another to good works.

That is the essence of fellowshiping.

Fellowshiping is not summer barbecues and coffee and cake.

Fellowshiping is not canoeing as a young adult group.

That's great. I'm glad Derek paid for it and Rachel organized it.

But it's far more than that.

Fellowshiping is one anothering.

And this is why it is critical that we have occasion to do this more than a Sunday.

Hey, we're out of here about 20 minutes after the service.

If you're single, if you're married, you leave in five minutes.

One anothering cannot happen if you're not a body 24-7.

Sunday does not afford you that precious privilege.

I don't have the references, but it talks about love one another, honor one another.

I mean, it is possible to honor one another and love one another over the phone.

But I think real life flesh is better.

Love one another, honor one another, esteem one another, accept one another, serve one another, show passion and kindness to one another,

forgive one another, spur each other to good work.

This is what happens in the context of a family.

Hey, this is what you're called to. Please understand.

The reason I said this is important is because if Acts 29 is not about this,

then Acts 29 is spinning its wheels and shouldn't continue.

We did well for 12 years. Let's not continue.

Because it's either this or there's no point.

This is the only reason for our existence, guys.

I mean, what would be the point of serving the king if you're not following him and doing what he is presently doing?

In the olden days, he'd lop your head off. But thank God he doesn't do that nowadays.

No, he was always very kind and benevolent. I'm talking about the other kings.

Third, breaking a bread. So how does breaking a bread fit in this?

Breaking a bread, it's a peculiar people.

I mean, that's such an archaic word. So let's think of weird people.

No, that doesn't sound right either.

It's a people that are different. It's like a counterculture.

But I'll use the word peculiar now because it's said so in 1 Peter 2.

A peculiar people proclaiming the grace of a crucified and risen king.

That's what breaking a bread does say. And they do it openly, publicly.

The breaking of bread, why was it thrown into these four legs of church growth or whatever you want to call it?

Why was it involved? Why was it included? Because we break bread once a month.

And yet that was such an essential part of the early church.

And they would meet in homes and they would break bread, not once, twice.

They do it almost every night in their dinner parties or they used to call it love feasts.

And it was very normal. And what were they doing?

They were declaring that they were a distinct people.

And it reminded them of the days when in the Passover,

God made a distinction between the people of Israel and the people of Egypt,

where in Goshen there was light while Egypt was dark.

A distinct people, a peculiar people doing what? Proclaiming.

The breaking of bread is always a proclamation. To whom?

To the devil and the demons that watch.

To the people around who are watching.

To the people sitting around the table.

And what are we proclaiming? We are proclaiming the grace. The grace.

What is this? Mana. Grace. Bread. Eat. Grace.

Jesus Christ dying on a cross, giving grace, unlimited grace, saying,

Hey, all of me for you.

That's what we are proclaiming every time we break bread.

Which is why I so enjoy it when every time I go to one of your house churches,

you're breaking bread.

I love it.

Oh, to miss out on stuff like this and settle for a miserable Sunday.

For a glorious Sunday, sorry.

Glorious Sunday, I meant that.

What I meant is it's so miserable to settle for just one such occasion.

Build a church guys. This is what Jesus is about.

This is what you don't have a choice, though you have a choice.

Proclaiming the grace of a crucified and risen King.

It was difficult in those days to not partake or in the feasts that were dedicated to Caesar and Roman Gods.

Because they had the same principle. Come and eat.

You're part of this guild of merchants. Come and eat.

And as you eat, you're declaring the lordship of Caesar and you're saying,

We owe our allegiance to Caesar.

And then they begin to desist that and they had their own meal where they would say,

No, no, no, no, we don't eat at the table of demons at the table of the Lord.

First Corinthians, Paul talks about it.

Practice this publicly.

Honestly, don't have to be a pastor to do this.

Don't need a degree to do this.

When you meet in restaurants, practice breaking a bone.

Declare the benefits of the death and resurrection of your risen King.

It must be done openly. These walls shield us and keep us so insulated from...

We can hear everything outside.

Yeah, true.

And the last one is prayers.

And what kind of prayers?

Prayers that would establish his kingdom and his will on earth as it is in heaven.

That's the kind of prayers they prayed.

Acts chapter 4, verse 28 to 30.

Acts 4:28–30

They just were reprimanded by the leaders and they come together and they begin to pray.

They begin to pray and they say, Oh God, stretch out your hand.

And grant us the boldness and stretch out your hand to do science miracles and wonders.

And the place shook because of the power of the Holy Spirit.

So what prayers are we talking about?

We're talking about prayers that establish the will of God and the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven.

That kind of prayer, man.

This is what we're being invited into.

This is what we're being invited into.

Everybody here is being invited into this life.

Questions? Comments?

Do you pray in the household?

We do in the household, I believe.

From what I know.

No, it can't be whatever.

It's either or.

So either we are and if we are not, let me know and we should reinstitute it.

I fully agree that if it is missing, it should be reinstituted because once we have the house churches, then the prayer started happening there.

So and I sometimes hear reports that of answered prayer.

But if it's not happening, yeah, then you have a valid point.

We should have it happen again.

I agree.

Then I'm going to.

OK, I'll I'll I'll make sure that I make a note of it and ask the leaders about it.

Go ahead, Dan.

No, but it's just talking about how we used to meet once every two weeks and pray here.

We don't do that anymore.

So I was assuming it's happening in the house, but I'll check and even in a lot of trouble.

So guys, be rooted and planted in teaching, teaching, get worship, can never replace teaching.

See, how can you?

Here's the thing.

If you don't teach the truth, you don't know the truth about God and therefore the God you worship ain't the real God.

The more you teach the truth about God, the more you're in awe and the more you will worship.

Worship should never replace teaching.

It's absurd to replace teaching with worship.

The more I know about something, the more I'm in awe of it.

So be rooted and planted.

What is our role?

The first thing is to be rooted and planted in teaching.

And like I said, 40 minutes of brilliant teaching on a Sunday won't do it.

Be rooted and planted in teaching.

Grow so that we are no longer children carried about by every wind of doctrine.

Ephesians 4.14 says that.

So we are no longer children.

May your week be filled with vital connections to God through the body and the spirit.

So Jacob, what about work?

What about the fact that I work till six and seven and come back late and don't have time for that?

Yeah, there'll be days when you can do nothing but go to bed.

But then there are days where you make the effort to do what is necessary.

Oh, that doesn't work in today's world.

Trust me, it was worse in the first century.

But Jacob, you're a pastor.

You have no idea.

I used to work a regular job till I got this cushy job.

And I used to love doing what I do at present, only I didn't get paid for it.

Now, for some strange reason, you pay me.

And God bless you for it.

Just keep doing it.

But the point is, guys, this should become such a magnificent obsession.

Consumes.

But I'm aware, I love the fact that Heidi goes meet with people.

She does an empty number of things that I haven't asked her to do.

She's a nurse.

She works crazy schedules.

Why does she still do it?

Because she's getting paid.

Unless she's taking from the bank account I don't know of her being paid.

She isn't, right?

Well, she's not.

She's not.

She's not partially doing the work.

Okay.

Ah, so we're safe now.

Alrighty.

So, but I can think of a few others, man, here.

I can name people, but...

The next one.

So first is get rooted, get planted in teaching.

Two.

Manage your life.

Manage your life and family.

Manage your life and family.

For Paul this was really important.

For God this was really important.

That hey, before you aspire for leadership,

before you go and talk to people about how wonderful God is,

get your family in order.

Manage your life and your family.

Manage your life and your family.

And then open your homes.

Open your homes.

And by open your homes I'm not just saying open your homes for,

as a place where you can host or be hospitable,

but open your homes as in become more transparent.

Become more transparent.

Open your homes.

And then mature into leadership.

This is mature into leadership.

Who is this required of?

All of you.

Why?

Because there are a hundred coming next year.

Who will lead them?

Not me.

That's above my pay grade.

Manage your life and family.

As in if you're a single person, manage your life well.

Let them see your good life.

And by good life I don't mean rich life.

I mean regardless of whether you have a million or two dollars,

let them see your good life.

Let them see your good works and glorify that.

Father, manage your life and your family.

If you have a family,

Paul talks about it in 1 Timothy 3.14.

He talks about taking care of your family.

Manage your life and family.

Open your homes.

Open your homes.

Open your homes.

Let people be able to come and see how you live.

I know I've told you about this,

but it's worth repeating just for the sake of the CD.

There's this guy sitting here who came and said to me,

he asked his wife, his wife for some strange reason said yes.

And so he turns up at my house at 9 o'clock.

And doesn't leave till 11 p.m.

Open your homes.

It was a little excessive.

But then Sheldon does do weird things.

So open your homes and mature into leadership.

Mature into leadership.

As I look around, man,

look at Betty, look at Renny, look at Aaron, look at Matt, look at Rachel.

I go down this church.

It is so full of people who I know without a shadow of a doubt have the ability to lead.

Not based on my preference for you or my prejudice towards you.

Based on what I know the Spirit of God shows about you.

You just look at the prophetic words spoken over you for the last two years

and you'll see the richness that dwells in you,

the substance that dwells in you that is waiting to be drawn out

so that another hundred can come.

Mature into leadership.

Any questions on that one?

Diana, your time has come to step into a larger role.

To step into a larger role.

With your questions and all your flaws.

Your time has come.

And that wasn't God, that was just me.

But it is time for you to step into a larger role.

You've been found faithful.

You've been found consistent.

And God is saying, alright, I'm expanding your boundaries now.

So get ready.

Get ready.

Because it's time for you to start leading from the front,

not being the one who supports from the side.

Because you've been consistent.

And your time has come.

And God's saying, well done, daughter.

Time for you to now step up.

Amazing, eh?

Doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are.

God finds you faithful, he begins to expand your boundaries.

And when you open your homes, guys, something else happens.

God blesses your home.

Obeyed Edom, 2 Samuel 6 verse 11.

2 Samuel 6:11

He allowed the ark to come into his house.

And for three months that guy began to draw out of heaven.

It blessed his home.

And when I say blessed his home, I don't mean money.

I don't mean bread.

I don't mean meat.

I mean it blessed everything and everyone in his home.

Open your homes to what God wants to do.

Because God is building churches through homes.

God is building churches through homes.

He's always done it.

He'll continue to do it.

In every country where Christianity is difficult to practice publicly,

it is God is building churches through homes.

It is us who have the convenience and the lazy luxury

of spending two hours on a Sunday and calling that church.

Let there be an end to that in our lives.

It's not right.

We serve a king who demands more and must be given more.

And your home will be blessed when you begin to open it.

I mean, I think of Anne and Kamal.

Years ago, six, seven years ago, Kamal and Anne opened their home.

It was the first place we would meet during the week.

One by one by one, Anne's family started getting saved.

Sons, daughters, then had children, grandchildren.

Even her dog was healed.

You know that.

You know how the tumor disappeared.

You don't know that?

Oh shucks.

So Kumbha had a tumor.

So they took him in and they did a biopsy and they found that Kumbha had a tumor.

So they needed to operate on the tumor.

I didn't know dogs can go through a cat scan, but I believe they can.

So they found the tumor.

And so the next after a week, Anne decided to take the dog in for the surgery or whatever.

And so they take the dog in and the doctor and we had prayed for the dog saying, Oh God,

I can understand how you feel about cats, but surely you can have mercy on dogs.

And so took the dog in.

Took.

Bless the Lord anyhow.

So took the dog in and the strange thing is the doctors start feeling for the tumor

and they can't find the spot where the wound of the biopsy was.

And so they check him again and the tumor has disappeared, man.

Praise God.

And Anne has this huge dog in her arms and she's running around the doctor's office saying,

My dog is healed.

My dog is healed.

And people are thinking she needs help now.

This actually happened.

This actually happened.

You can ask her.

It's surprising how you, when you open up your house to the enterprise that God is presently

involved in, how we begin to bless your house.

Moving on.

It's called mercy.

Guys in the Bible, you had so many people who did this.

Aquila and Priscilla were brilliant at this.

I mean, they were in Rome.

They opened their house in Rome.

They were in Corinth.

They opened their house in Corinth.

They were in Ephesus for a while.

They opened their house in Ephesus.

There was this lady called Nympha in Colossus in Colossians 4, verse 15 or 16.

Colossians 4:15

They talk about her where Paul writes to the church that meets at her home.

There was a guy called Philemon who opened his home.

There was a guy called Jason who opened his home in Tessalonica and it caused him problems.

They came and dragged him out because he was harboring the people of God and they beat him up.

You won't get beaten up if you call me and a few people to your house.

It's a good deal.

But open your homes.

And when you open your homes, you have to become a little more transparent.

Third thing.

Identify your unique role in the body.

Identify your unique role in the body.

Identify your unique role in the body.

Guys, you have talents, gifts and the ability to do things.

Guys, you have talents, gifts, as in spiritual gifts, graces, as in the equipping grace that Christ appoints in the church,

apostle, prophet, teacher, pastor, evangelist.

You have calling.

You have vocation.

You have vision that is basically God's dream for you.

You have these things.

And when you came into this church a year from now, when you go into some other church, regardless, identify your unique role because this church is poor.

But if you don't identify, discover, explore, present and build us up with your unique role,

You don't hijack the church and center it around your role.

But you come and say, this is what I know I was born to do.

Use me, use me, use me, use me, exploit me.

And if you do that, you'll never be volunteered for anything.

Most churches volunteer people for things that they're not good at because we nobody knows their rules.

So you find really angry old men and women teaching Sunday school.

And Jonah always gets swallowed up by the whale and they never tell the kids that Jonah then pukes them out.

And if they do, the puking is really horrible.

The point being, guys, identify your unique role in the body, your talents, gifts, your graces, your vocation, your what is this?

Calling and vision. Identify it.

And once you identify it and guys, go listen to the teaching from two weeks ago on vision.

That is such good teaching.

I mean that very genuinely.

This is for us.

All your talents, your gifts, your vocation, your what is this?

All your talents, your gifts were meant not meant for you.

They were meant for us.

They were meant for us.

Paul puts it brilliantly in Ephesians three.

He says, I've been given stewardship of the revelation of God.

I know mysteries.

I've been made who I am.

And he talks about how wonderful he is.

And then he says, I've been made wonderful for you.

Your talents are for us.

Your gifts are for us.

Any questions?

We'll explore each of these in detail.

But please, this is what this church should do.

If this church doesn't do this, I pray God that he removes me and takes me somewhere and the church disappears.

Because we should have a reason for it.

And if we don't have a reason for existence, then why should we continue?

Because a church when it gets to 10 or 12 years of its life can settle.

Can settle.

Don't let that happen to us.

Last two points.

Next, reflect Christ in your life.

Last two points.

Next, reflect Christ.

Reflect Christ.

Reflect Christ.

Reflect Christ.

To the watching world.

Reflect Christ to the watching world.

Hey, you know how it's pointless individuals reflecting Christ.

One individual reflects Christ.

The cameras are focused on him.

It's only a matter of time before he falls.

And then it's all over the news.

Reflect Christ as a people.

This thing can work.

Where you got what?

50, 60 people here.

All of them, because they subscribe to common teachings that begins to turn into a reality.

All of them aren't bricks.

They are stones.

But they seem to have a way of behaving, a way of responding, a way of acting in faith.

That is so countercultural that the world knows that, oh, these guys must be from there.

I mean, just think of this.

If all of us wore yellow for the rest of the week.

Starting tomorrow, everybody wears yellow.

And then we're going to be able to see the world.

And then we're going to be able to see the world.

Starting tomorrow, everybody wears yellow.

And you have a small Axe 29 on your back.

And so for the next week you wear yellow, the week after you wear yellow, the week after you wear yellow.

In three weeks, I guarantee you, people will know that these guys belong to this cult called Axe 29.

So if clothes can do that, then why not forget the clothes and begin to behave a certain way?

Where people immediately identify you as, ah shucks, they come from this.

That's what happens with hockey fans.

Rabid.

A common set of teachings does this.

Two hours in the church will not do it, will not do it.

Please, dismiss from your heads this two-hour thing unless you're pregnant.

That is about 58 of us.

Reflect Christ.

And how do you reflect him?

In good works, in good works, in good lives, and in good homes.

Good works, good lives, good homes.

Every time Paul would emphasize this, every letter would close with how to build a good home.

Doesn't matter whether you're a slave or a freeman.

How do you build a good home? How does order work?

Every letter is about, hey, build a good home because people look at your home.

Build good lives.

Learn how to live as a slave, as an employer, as one who circumcises, one who's not circumcised.

Scythian, barbarian, Greek, Jew.

Live a life that people look at and say, wow, this man is different.

His principles are different. His integrity is different.

Good lives.

I've heard your stories. Some of your stories are brilliant.

You work in places and you come and tell stories here at Axe 29 and we've heard it.

To continue this and good works.

Guys, I guarantee you, based on 1 Corinthians 9, you indulge in good works and you will abound.

Abound. Why?

Because it says that God will give you the grace and all sufficiency in all things to abound at all times.

That you may indulge in good works.

God loves it when his people begin to engage in good works.

We've talked about that in the past.

It's CD 432.

So it might be on the website.

And the last point, reflect Christ to the watching world.

Reflect Christ to the watching world.

Reflect Christ to the watching world.

I don't know whether you still do this, but I remember telling us this some time ago.

Carry $10, $20 in your pocket every week.

Find someone to give it away to.

I was in Dubai last week.

This waiter came to serve, pulled out $20 and gave it to him.

It became such an issue because now his name was Cameron.

He is from Cameroon.

And he found out he was a believer.

His brother is a pastor.

Gave him the money, someone saw it.

They went to report it.

So now the manager and the manager's manager came.

Now we have an audience.

And so now with the audience there, we got a better opportunity to tell them about what we do,

why we do and why we gave the money and all this stuff.

All got solved.

Guys, carry stuff in your pocket to give away.

Make friends with Mammon.

Make friends using Mammon.

Make friends using Mammon.

Carry money in your pocket.

Make friends using Mammon.

Counterculture.

Last point.

Go and proclaim.

Go and proclaim.

Go and proclaim.

Because once you have good lives, good homes and good works,

the good news that comes from your mouth is authentic.

Go and proclaim the good news.

Because it's authenticated by your life.

Make disciples of all nations.

Baptizing them.

Bringing them into the body in the full circle now.

You join Jesus because he's building the church.

You become who he wants you to be.

You go out now.

Which is why I said earlier, what's my desire, passion, intent at Acts 29?

Father, help me to disciple.

That's the easy part.

Help me to raise sons.

That's the hard part.

And then help me to send sons to join you in building the church.

And that's the hard part for you.

Questions?

Because I'm going to ask two guys to come up and explain the whole thing.

Questions?

Because we still have ten minutes.

Questions, thoughts, challenges?

1 Corinthians 9 or 2 Corinthians 9, 6 to 8.

Or 1 Corinthians 9, 6 to 8.

One of those.

Any questions, guys?

Okay, so I'll ask questions then.