Priests

Okay, guys we've been talking about the topic that we'll continue on for weeks on end

Which is that we are priest-kings

We are priest-kings living out

Righteousness

Power

What's the third one

peace and

Joy

here on earth

Not in the sweet by and by here on earth which is oh

in the Holy Ghost in the

Holy Spirit

Which is the evidence of the culture of the kingdom

So

This is what we'd be exploring for weeks on end

That we are priest-kings we are called to be priest-kings that Christ called us to be priest-kings

living out righteousness

Peace

righteousness power peace joy, and you'll find that in first Corinthians 420 and Romans 14

17

Righteousness peace power and joy in the Holy Spirit, so we're not trying to

Fabricate or generate this ourselves. It's in the Holy Spirit and thank God

He is present in everyone who's a believer and

We'll do this here on earth not in heaven

Because this is the evidence of the culture of the kingdom if you go to Saudi Arabia, there's a culture there people dress a certain way

Behave a certain way. There's a culture to

Every kingdom and there is a culture to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is the evidence of it

This is the evidence of it not worship songs not churches

Not stuff like that. This is the evidence of it

Hey, you know Angelica, right? This is Angelica in case you forgot her name. Yeah

She's been here a few times, but just in case some of you weren't here

Yeah, which is the evidence of the culture of the kingdom

So that's where

we'll be going for the next few weeks and today we just want to pick on one word and

It's this one

priest

Exodus 19 six Exodus 19 six

Exodus 19 six

Here's what it says

Exodus 19 six although the whole earth is mine you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation

Although, the whole earth is mine you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation

Although the earth is mine. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God spoke this to Israel ages ago and

We are the new man

Jews and Gentiles put together in a new man since Christ, this promise still

holds good. So here's the thing guys, I love the way God says it. He doesn't say,

if you notice, he doesn't say you will be for me a kingdom of priests. He's saying

listen, just so you know, I rule the entire world anyways. It's not like I need a

kingdom now to be carved out. That's why he says although I rule the earth, it's

almost like saying although I own all of Vancouver, I'll appoint you to be the

governor. It's almost like saying listen, I don't need you but I want you. I don't

need you but I want you. It's the heart of the father king. He's not just a king.

Guys, remember one thing, you can never separate fatherhood from anything God

The moment you do, you will get a God who is not fully God. I know that sounds

almost blasphemous but that's the case.

Yeah. So you cannot remove the fatherness of God from anything. Even when you think

of him as king, you have to remember him as father. So here's the heart of the

father saying although I own or rule the entire earth, all the earth is mine,

you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And so guys, as we

approach this, think of it this way, that I have a fearful, I have the fearful

privilege and responsibility, I have the fearful privilege and responsibility of

being a priest to the most high God. I have the fearful privilege and

responsibility, whatever I mean by fearful privilege, as in both revered and yet

handled with care. It's a call upon your life. It's a call upon your life.

It's like, I mean, let's take again the king of Saudi Arabia. He says to you,

listen, I own all of Saudi Arabia but even though I own all of Saudi Arabia,

here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to appoint you as my regent or as one who

conducts things on my behalf, even though I can choose anybody and you are not

skilled at all, Matt, but I will appoint you. I'll appoint you and therefore then

you have in that kingdom the fearful privilege and responsibility of serving

the ultimate king who can be a tyrant if he wants to, a despot if he wants to, or

benign and benevolent if he wants to. Fortunately our king is super benevolent.

Though the very idea of the word Lord, which comes from this Greek word

Kyrios, means despot and yet he is not. We call him Lord because we want to say

you are absolutely sovereign and he calls us not vassals or servants, he calls us

sons. Strange God this is. You can never remove fatherhood from him. You remove

fatherhood from God in any aspect that he is and you will ruin who he is. This

is why Israel could not get Jehovah right. They could never understand Yahweh

because they didn't have the concept of Yahweh as father. I have the fearful

privilege and responsibility of being a priest of the Most High God. It'll take

a while before that marinates in me but that is something you or I can do. So how

must we be if we are called to be priests? So here are a few things that we

can go over. You'll be surprised at how quickly we may finish but then again

you never know. First thing priests are, and I'm sure we'll visit priests again

but this is just like basic priest stuff. First things priests are, they are

incarnate. Priests are incarnate. As in they live in the midst of a people.

They live in the midst of a people and I love this phrase and they telescope God.

They live in the midst of a people and they telescope God. They telescope God.

They bring God who is distant into near sight. That's what telescopes do. Look at

stars that are super far away that are speck in the sky and then suddenly you

see everything in the star. Priests live in the midst of people and they

telescope God through a display of who he is in your own lives and the moment

you do that what happens is it begins to draw people around you to want to know

your God personally. What do you think happened to Kamal? Ages ago, nine years

ago, Anne came to this church when we used to meet at Richmond and she said

okay can you perhaps have a Bible study in our house? And pardon? Not exactly. No

so I said that's good Anne but I won't have it till Kamal I take Kamal's

permission so then I called Kamal up and Kamal had already spoken to Anne about

it but there was no question of going to Anne's house without taking Kamal's

permission. Kamal was pretty into about it so Kamal started just coming for the

Bible studies nothing else and then we used to go for hockey games together

which used to be a lot of fun. I remember once I was sitting next to him and I had

popcorn in my hand and I offered Kamal some popcorn. There was this really yuppie

looking guy on my right thought should offer him popcorn too so I offered him

popcorn but the bag was a little heavy and it fell all over him and I looked and

Kamal sitting this way. He's not even looking at me. So I went through many a

persecution before we got to where we got to but so we used to go for hockey

games together and every Bible study you could see him beginning to grasp

because God was being made evident through his wife, through his daughter-in-law,

through the people who were coming for the Bible study and through

your wonderful pastor. We must throw his name in too and so at one point I

remember this was four or five years ago we were... Pastor was very humble

Thank you, I sometimes forget my qualities and so we were at Ross Street and we

are having this church service and suddenly Kamal stands up and says so

what does it take to become a member here? Out of the blue and we don't know

how to answer that question because no one had ever asked that question and

then he gets baptized and now you should see him how active he is and how

heartfully he prays. The point why am I picking on Kamal because he was someone

who came from a different faith and then has moved now to being someone who

belongs to Christ. What was it that changed him? Wasn't a sermon man, he never

attended any sermons. It was simply telescoping God to the point where he

became... to the point that he was attracted to this Christ. That's what

changed him. He was attracted to Christ. That's one thing priests do. That's one

thing priests do. Guys think of this, what attracted people to Jesus? If you do a

study of the Gospels you will see four things that attracted people to Jesus.

You go through the Gospels and these four things you'll see are the reason

why people came to Jesus. Every time you read you'll see aha this thing, aha this

thing, aha this thing and I forgot the last aha, aha this thing. These were the

four things that kept attracting people to Jesus. People would gather around

him for these four reasons and so moving on to the next point. So the

first thing that you'll find in the Gospels that always caught people's

attention was... always guys, power. Jesus exuded, exhibited, allowed power to flow

out of him and... isn't it... we'll go there later. The next one. They'd be fascinated

as his knowledge or his wisdom. They would say stuff like... I mean people would

gather around him just to hear because he would speak like... I mean there were

many trumps in those days but he would speak with such wisdom. I had to throw

that in. Thirdly, compassion. This was something that moved people. I mean as

you look through the Gospels you'll see this eh? And the last one. Yeah, joy. Four

things that really drew people to Jesus. He was the ultimate priest. They called

him a priest after Melchizedek. After the order of Melchizedek. Which we'll talk

about another time. But here are the four things that are vital to priesthood here

on earth. And isn't it such a shame that perhaps the only thing that we are known

for as priests... I'm not talking about us necessarily but the church at large...

that we are known for is this. Christians are known for compassion but

they're not known for power or wisdom or joy necessarily. In fact these score

pretty low man. And you'll find this was literally the order in which people

were attracted to him. Many went to him because they had... they knew he had the

power of the Spirit present on him to set them free from the harassment of the

devil. They knew he had wisdom that they never heard of that seemed to give them

answers and lift them up from their misery. They knew he had joy even though

he was a man of sorrows. He was joyful. Fishermen don't hang around the fat

people. And then they knew he had compassion. And these four guys are so

important to being priests incarnate here on earth. Cultivate these eh? PWCJ.

PWCJ. And don't make any excuses for this. Oh you know when revival comes power

will come. No revival is not coming. Reformation is coming. We'll talk about

that another day. I want to show you this really cool verse that I came across. I

didn't know it was in the Bible though I knew it was in the Bible. Go to 2nd King

17. I haven't read this verse for I think 15 or 16 years. 2nd King 17. 24 to 28.

24 to 28. 2nd King 17. 24 to 28. Okay reading from the Aniwi. The king of

Assyria brought people from Babylon, Qutah, Abba, Hamath and Sefarwaim and

settled pardon all those places and settled them in the towns of Samaria to

replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. When

they first lived there they did not worship the Lord. This is how the Old

Testament will always portrayed as God sending lions because they didn't know

the character of God. So he sent lions among them and they killed some of the

people. It was reported to the king of Assyria the people you deported and

resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the God of that country

requires. He has sent lions among them which are killing them off because the

people do not know what he requires. Look at what the king of Assyria says. Then

the king of Assyria gave this order. Have one of the priests you took captive

from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the God of the

land requires. So this king comes empties some Israelite towns and brings in his

own people and the lions start ravaging them and he doesn't know how to solve it.

So he says hey go back to those captives that you took get some priests from

among them and send the priests back into this land because the priests will

teach the new people how to live in the land so that they can worship the God of

the land and so that peace can come. What do you think you're being sent for man?

Let the priests go and dwell there and teach them the law of the God of the

land. There's a simple thing that I saw recently which really bothered me so I

wasn't going to present it right now but I will.

This is your house or your workplace or your work table or your whatever wherever

you spend most of your time and the question asked by this man was do you

know the people around you? And I was trying to figure it out and realized I

don't know all the people on my floor man. So if this is Jacob's house where

he spends most of his time because let's not go into why. So does he know the

people around him because priests are sent back to the land that they live in

so that the people there may not be ravaged by lions but maybe brought to

know the ways of the God of the land. The God of Vancouver is the same Christ we

just worshiped eh? Priests being sent back to the land. I love that verse. Any questions

before we move on? Cultivate these things though. Power, wisdom, compassion, joy.

Compassion ain't enough. The Rotary Club does that too.

Any questions guys? Power as in being able to let the power of God flow

through you to set people free. So if you go to Acts 1038, Acts 1038 you've got to

put your name in there. Acts 1038. Beautiful words. Answers Shreen's question.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he

went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil

because God was with him. How God anointed Jacob of Marple with the Holy

Spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were

under the power of the devil because God was with Jacob. That's how it works.

Any other questions?

Yeah I guess Gisela our problem is we know all that but the power is not

flowing and so we need I think it's much more than that. I mean you think I have

you have any hesitation in wanting this to happen and yet do we see it happening

the way we want to see it happening? No. I want to do whatever it is that the

father requires of me to come into that place. Whatever it is so that

we begin to work like that. Guys where we are at ain't enough. This is ankle deep

water. This isn't good enough and it's not a God's report card for us is not

negative guys but God is saying come up higher come up higher because the

ultimate intent of God is not that we be better than somebody else. The ultimate

intent of God is conform to the nature and the stature of Christ himself and

therefore when that is the ceiling trust me we are ankle deep water right now.

We praise God that he there are two ways you can teach a dog a trick. Either hold

the stick this low and say jump Fido jump and Fido will jump and you'll clap

and give him some stuff to eat but you'll never get to the Westminster dog

show and then there is you hold it this high and you teach him how to jump higher

those dogs win. I pray God that we never have people jump here. May we always be

stretching beyond our ability to do things. There's no way you can birth a

baby if you don't stretch that's what people tell me. Go ahead Diana.

But praise God now that we've been around for 10 years.

Yeah I agree Diana. The next one guys is invite. Priests invite. Priests invite. Hey Matt

for me too please. Two would be fine. Invite. Guys priests proclaim the truth

of God revealed in Christ and the cross. Priests proclaim the truth of God

revealed in Christ and the cross. This is something Gisela is very good at. Priests

proclaim the truth of God revealed in Christ and the cross. We can't avoid.

Guys here's the thing. Thanks Matt. Fill the blanks. Good. Diana is on a game

today. She's not even asking questions just giving answers. Oh for days like

this. Good news of great joy. Rarely do we think of the gospel as

we think of the gospel as it's good news. Do you want to hear it? No no good

news of great joy. Great joy. Good news of great joy. Hey we know it because you

can see how our lives have been completely great joyed. I used to be

pretty there are still days when I'm miserable but I used to be pretty

miserable before I became a believer man. Good news of great joy. I was I was

reading that just a couple of days ago John Piper had written an announcement

to myself, father I have stopped thinking of good news as good news of great joy. I

just think of it as good news in a world of bad news but it changes a person.

Priests have to revisit the proclamation of the truth revealed in Christ and the

cross which we can't avoid. Modern churches avoid and by modern churches I

mean Acts 29 avoid Christ and the cross. We've got to get back to being able to

say it. I know we've talked about this before. Invite people from the nations

to accept, confess, receive Christ. 2nd Corinthians 520 says but don't you know

that I have appointed you to be ambassadors who go out and appeal on my

behalf that the earth may be reconciled to the father. That's not exactly what

it says. 2nd Corinthians 520. It says 520. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors

as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's

behalf be reconciled to God. Guys if you take out the foolishness from the

gospel it will not be the power of God unto salvation. Hear me again. I'm really

trying to learn this in my life at present. If you take out the foolishness

of the gospel, what do we mean by the gospel? What does the word gospel mean?

The words and the works of Christ. The good news of Christ. The words and the

works of Christ. If you take out foolishness from the words and the works

of Christ it is no longer the power of God unto salvation. May I suggest to you

that guys like Joel Osteen and others have taken the foolishness out of the

works and the words of Christ and therefore it's no longer the power of

God unto salvation. It is the power of God unto living a better life and

feeling nice about yourself.

Refuse to remove foolishness out of the gospel guys. Refuse to remove it.

1 Corinthians 1.18 says to some it is foolishness to others it's the

power of salvation. If you remove foolishness out of the gospel it is no

longer the power of salvation because a wise God has used absolute weakness and

foolishness to save the world and he will not change his method. He will not

change the method. Next one. Intercede. Intercede. Priests intercede. Priests

intercede. And guys there's this beautiful verse in the message version

of John 17.19. It says be truth consecrated in your mission. Be John

17.19. Be truth consecrated in your mission. Be truth consecrated in your

mission. Or in other words be separated to the truth in your mission. Be

separated to the truth in your mission. Be truth consecrated in your mission.

Because what often happens when it comes to intercession is we intercede based on

the need we see. While God is saying if you want to intercede you must identify

with my truth and my intent in people's lives and not with perceived needs.

John 17.19. Yeah. Intercession is not intercession unless it

intercedes according to the will of God. It cannot intercede according to needs.

I had this strange healing thing that it wasn't even healing. This 16 year old in

a remote village in Indonesia comes up with a mother and she's got migraines

and she comes up and she says can you pray for my daughter? She's got these

splitting migraines and so normally when you summon as a splitting migraines you

pray for the migraines but here's what God's answer was. All he said was ask her

if she was prescribed glasses. So I asked the mother whether she was prescribed

glasses and she said yes. But the mother said she does not like wearing them

because she thinks she looks ugly. And I surely heard the Lord saying tell her to

wear her glasses and her migraines will go away. I'm thinking to myself but can't

you heal her migraines? But it doesn't matter. Intercede according to his will,

not according to perceived needs. We intercede according to perceived needs

and our knowledge is so limited. Our knowledge is so limited. We intercede

according to the will of God and if people don't like it too bad they can

find another intercessor that will scratch their itching ears but not you.

We can't intercede based on expectations that come from our history or perceived

needs. Sometimes we intercede based on expectations that we have based on our

history. When I had this disease I took this and that and this and prayed and it

worked. So now that this person has a disease I will go and advise this person

saying do this this and this because this happened to me and this happened

to that person and it worked out so you know do it too. That's not

intercession. That's coming up with expectations based out of your history.

Since when did your history count when it comes to intercession? It doesn't. I'm

sorry I'm coming out a little nasty but it doesn't. You intercede on behalf of

the person according to the will of God. Different strokes for different folks

man. It's amazing how different God is in solving situations for people. Only then

can we reform and heal and restore people's situations nations. Only then

can we reform and restore people's situations and nations. Guys this is

important. You are priest kings. Consider it a fearful privilege and

responsibility. Half the time I don't... I don't know why I'm confessing too many things today.

Half the time I don't take calls from certain people and I'm not talking

about you him calling me that was different. Don't think of any calls that

happened this week. I'm talking about other calls. Half the time I don't take

calls from people because I know the question they're going to ask and I don't

have the answer and I need time. So when I receive a call or an email I won't

answer because I am so scared to give an answer that is pointless. I have to know

the answer that the father has. Otherwise what do you give man? You can

give people nice verses but really anybody can do that. You are a priest

you have to answer according to his will. The other thing with intercession guys

priests shared a commonality with the people that they were with. You can't

intercede unless you have a commonality with people. Just remember that. You

cannot intercede unless you have a commonality with people. Jesus was like

that. It says in Hebrews 5 verses 1 & 2. Hebrews 5 1 & 2. Every high priest is

Hebrews 5:1

selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to

God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He's able to deal gently with

those who are ignorant and are going astray since he himself is subject to

weakness. Beautiful. Commonality with people. Yesterday

Ranita's sisters had invited a whole lot of relatives and friends and some of

the guys from Acts 29 for a surprise 50th birthday for Ranita. So I was

there and Anne and Elmer were there and the sisters did all the inviting and

Wayne and Bernice were there and my mum was there. So one of the things that

really caught my eye and as soon as I saw it I started doing the same thing

too was you had the relatives huddled together, you had the young people huddled

together and then you had Acts 29 huddled together. But there was one guy

who kept looking for people to talk to and that was Wayne. He wouldn't sit with

us. He would go plonk himself in the middle of a conversation and he'd start

guffawing with them telling them how... I wasn't eavesdropping but Wayne

refused to huddle in the holy huddle. Once I saw that I thought to myself,

man you're the pastor. What are you doing sitting here? So I got up and I started

moving around. The point I'm trying to make is this guys, as priests we must

have a commonality with ones who are not like us.

There's an empathy that begins to come up then. Go ahead Diana.

As in...

The world has to see a Jesus through you that is so normal and so not holy and yet holy.

Where we don't have enclaves where this is us and this is them.

Where there's an easy movement. Yesterday what Wayne was doing was exactly that.

He was going and sitting with people he didn't know and then acting like he knew

them for about 10 years. So had to do the same thing. Got to do that.

Christians are... Remember that thing I read out ages ago that the perception of what Christians are?

That they are an inclusive homophobic bunch of guys who think they're always right and think that

the rest of the world is going to hell and are actually gleeful about it.

I think there's so much truth to that. At least in some areas and that's not who we need to be.

Priests are to empathize those that they represent. And we're not representing ourselves, right?

Christ does that for us. We're representing him to ones that don't know him yet.

Any questions before we move on?

I look at Jesus as friends. He chose the wrong company man.

Hey what he used to do was scandalous huh?

If you went and did stuff like that I would question. Really? That's what he did? But stuff he did was...

He was so wrong.

I was talking to the young adults and telling them what if you were at Mark and Rhonda's place?

Or what if you were at...

Where do we normally go for things? Yeah doesn't matter. It matters.

I mean, I think it's a good thing that we're not in a place where we're not going to be

Where do we normally go for things? Yeah doesn't matter. Imagine you were at Mark and Rhonda's place and suddenly

we're having this barbecue outside in the yard and suddenly in walks this

prostitute. You know she's a prostitute. She has a reputation there and she just falls down at your

feet and pick on any other guys and falls down at your feet and then starts wiping your feet with her

hair. The rest of us would freak out man. It would be like scandalous. What's wrong with you? Tell her

to leave or stop. Don't let her do it. Move away. Stuff like this would happen. What do you think

people thought when that happened to Jesus?

They were thinking. They were thinking exactly that.

We've sterilized Jesus. Our Jesus is a very sterile version of who he really was and I pray God that

Hebrews 5, 1 and 2 resounds again. Can someone read it from the message? It might come out actually

looking, hearing, sounding really good. Hebrews 5, 1 and 2 as loud as you can.

I feel good saying I was talking to the young adults.

Hebrews 5, 1 and 2 from the message please loudly.

That kind of puts it very succinctly. That's all? Hebrews 5, 1 and 2? I guess it doesn't have 1 and 2

right? Because it's a message. Yeah just go a little more. Okay I think the NIV is better.

Thanks May. Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in

matters related to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He's able to deal gently with those who

are ignorant and are going astray since he himself is subject to their weakness. I love it. That's

how we're supposed to be. Moving on. Two more and we're done. Instruct. Instruct. Priests are supposed

to instruct. Matt I need some help. I don't know what I'm supposed to do or what you're supposed

to do but if you can help that's great. Okay.

Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you Matt. Thanks Matt. Thank you. Can I have some more volume please?

Thank you. Yeah okay. All right guys. Instruct Malachi 2, 7. Beautiful verse. Malachi 2, 7.

A priest is a messenger of God. Can you even imagine thinking of yourself like that? That

I as a priest am a messenger of who? Of who? Of this most high God. A priest is a messenger of God.

We have a common priest today guys. This is applicable to every believer. That's a crazy

part because we don't normally think so. Malachi 2, 7. A priest is a messenger of God. Then it says

his lips should guard knowledge and teach the truth. His lips should guard knowledge and teach

the truth. In other versions it says instruction must be founded on his lips so that people can

seek instruction and guidance. Hey where are we at in that guys? I pray God that every day we

increase. Where people come and they find knowledge and instruction and guidance on our lips.

That's what we're being called to. Any and every believer here.

And this is God speaking to Malachi and telling him this.

How do you guard and teach the truth? 2nd Timothy 2, 15.

2nd Timothy 2, 15. How do you guard and teach the truth? 2nd Timothy 2, 15. 2nd Timothy 2, 15.

Here's what it says.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. A workman who does not need to be

ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. I can't guard what is false because there's

no point. I can't speak the truth and give guidance and instruct if I don't know how to divide the

word correctly. One of the benefits of being in a church is that you get to learn the truth so that

you can instruct others. You guard and teach the truth by correctly handling and dividing the word

of truth. And there's only two things necessary for that guys and this applies to all of us.

Teachability. Where in Galatians 2, 2. I love what Paul says. Paul says he had a revelation from God

and so he had this revelation from God and 14 years after he first starts having these revelations

from God, he decides to go to Jerusalem. Why? Not because he wanted to see Golgotha and stuff like

that. He's going to Jerusalem because he wants to speak to the apostles there. Why? Because he

wants to make sure that the revelation he saw is actually from God and that he wasn't running his

race in vain. And so he goes to Jerusalem, sits with the apostles, talks to them saying, hey is

what I'm preaching right? One of the first signs of falsehood entering anyone's life is when they

are no longer teachable. Guys guard against that. Wolves in sheep clothing are first identified by

falsehood that comes and begins devouring. That's how wolves devour.

A lack of teachability or instruction, be it the pastor or anybody else, the moment you see that

Jacob is unteachable, find another church.

Because you cannot guard the truth or instruct if you are not teachable.

Any questions guys?

Hey, am I saying something wrong? Everybody seems very quiet.

Check your teachability quotient. Check your teachability quotient as in how to teach

are you. Instruction will be found on your lips and you will be able to guard the truth when you

are teachable. And the second question is, if you think you are teachable, who is instructing you?

And if you say the Holy Spirit, then my next question is, who is he using?

That's a way to find out.

Okay, the last one. Yep.

Well, we want to go, you know, it's going to be really hard to give it like that.

But anyway, let's all strike at this.

Okay, good talk.

True. Yeah, be a Berean. Where on one hand, anything that is taught has to match up with

the word. Two, go and before you commit to being taught, find out if the place or the

person that you are learning from is kosher. And you can only learn that again by being

a Berean, as in going back to the word and seeing does this match up with the word. And

if it doesn't match up with the word, and you can't find it in one shot, you cannot go to a place

or sit with a person for one Sunday and find out whether this person is preaching the truth or not.

You've got to be at a place for a while before you begin to figure out, huh, this doesn't match up.

Shucks, this doesn't match up. Man, I'm seeing a pattern over a few weeks now. This doesn't match

up. And then you know, okay, I've got to be guarded in my ability to take everything that is being

spoken. But once you find a place like that, then there will still be errors. But at least you know

that the progression is always towards truth, because you cannot learn from a person who is not

teachable, guys. You cannot learn from a person who is not teachable. You will not prosper if you

learn from a person who is not teachable. So if you think I'm not teachable, you must find another

church. Because at some point, I'll lead you astray. Does that answer your question? Kind of? Okay,

last one, increase. Act 6-7. Act 6-7. You know, NIV says, so the word of God spread. But you know

what it actually says? The sense of it is, and the word of God continued to increase. And the word

of God continued to increase. How does the word of God increase? That's what they've said. NIV says

spread, but the actual sense of it is, the word of God continued to increase. How does the word of

God increase? Greater understanding? Power to change? Revelation? I'm looking for one more. You're

right on all three, but one more. I didn't understand. Explain some more. Nice. That's one more

thing that we need to add to the three things that were said. Guys, the word of God increases

through the faith of those that believe the word and prove it. The word of God increases through

the faith of those who believe the word and prove it. Because it has to be seen, guys. The word has

to be made flesh. Jesus made the word flesh. Now it is the turn of Jesus's body, you and I, to make

the word flesh. The word of God increases when those that believe the word prove it.

Yeah, that is how it increases, guys. The word of God increases through all the things you

mentioned and the faith of those who believe the word and prove it. That's one of the things priests

must do. The word must become flesh. The message must become the messenger. I know these are

cliches, but they are good cliches, man. The word must become flesh. One thing Eddie keeps repeating

every time, every second time I speak to him, the word must become flesh in you, Jacob. The word

must become flesh in you. Priests must display the word. And the last thing that falls under

the word of God is the power to increase. Guys, you and I have the... You don't know how powerful

we are in this, guys. You don't know how powerful the weakest Christian in this room is in this.

And I don't know what qualifies you to be the weakest Christian or the strongest. We have the

powerful... We have the power to bestow upon people increase through blessing them. There is great

power that every Christian possesses to bless. One of the reasons I immediately agreed to sing

the Lord bless you over Isaiah and Finn was because it was something that was given to Moses ages ago

in Numbers chapter 6 verses 26 to 28 where it says, and listen Aaron, this is the priestly blessing

that I want you to declare on Israel. And as you begin to speak these words, Aaron, this is what I

will do. I will put my name upon them. And so say to them, the Lord bless you. The Lord keep you.

The Lord be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you. And may the Lord make

his face to shine upon you. And as I spoke this priestly prayer over us right now, God says,

here's what I'll do Jacob. I will put my name upon everybody that you spoke this over. And what does

he mean by put my name? As in I will put my influence upon them. Guys, you don't know the

power of the privilege or the privilege of the power we have in unleashing blessing.

There is a moment in second Samuel 6 where David does something so

you should not do it. He's a king. He's just brought the Ark of the Covenant through the streets of

Jerusalem and set it up under a tent on Mount Zion. And then he disrobes while he's bringing the Ark

in. He takes off his kingly garments and now he is only dressed in linen. And linen was worn by

priests. This has never been done before because there was a clear demarcation between kings and

priests. Kings would never mess with priestly stuff. Priests would never mess with kingly stuff.

We saw that with Saul. Saul offered a sacrifice he was not supposed to offer. And yet David in

this moment of favor and knowing the mind of God decides that he's going to wear linen. And then

what does he do? In second Samuel 6, 17 onwards he begins to offer sacrifices. And God is okay with

it. God doesn't do anything. He begins to offer sacrifices. And then what does he do? He gathers

all the people and he begins to bless them. How? He blesses them and then he digs loaves of raisin

and cake and bread and distributes it. It was like serving communion. Man, and who's doing it? Not a

priest but a king. And who are we? We are called to be priest kings. We looked at that four weeks

ago. The privilege we have of blessing and increasing people just through words of a mouth

that come from the heart of God. It's a form of intercession. Guys, I heard Charles Stanley say

this recently. Jesus didn't say I want you to become the light of the world. He didn't say I

want you to become the salt of the earth. He said you are. You are the light of the world. You are

the salt of the earth. Guys, go forth this week and be light and salt not to Christians but to

ones who do not know Christ yet but whose price has been paid and who are made in the image of God.

Become light and salt and bless. Be priest, eh? Be priest this week, man. Be priest. Go ahead, Rhonda.

I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian.

I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian.

I really try to help when I'm talking. My Christian education is on Friday and I have a professor

but I don't know. It's just to the QA and how you can make a space for people to make places for others.

Yeah, what's the name? Okay, that's a brilliance of those guys. We get opportunities every week.

It's sad how we, is the word commiserate? Yeah, with the misery a person is in.

Oh really? City Hall did that to you. Man, you know, I've heard some stories about City Hall and you just put a little more fuel and then he starts really ranting.

Oh really? That's what ICBC said to you. Ah, oh really? That's what the teller's operator said to you. Ah!

So, so that's what we do. That's not where we should go. We should go the other way.

Guys, move in the opposite spirit of the world. The world cannot do it. There's only a small group that is growing larger every day called light and salt that can do it.

Amen. Now pour it out, eh? Because it's an inexhaustible inheritance.

After Diana, just one sec. She lifted her hand. Yes, she did.

Yeah, sorry. I didn't know that. Thanks, Diana.

Yeah.

Awesome, awesome. Well done. Well done. Go ahead, Sue.

Yeah.

Ah.

Praise God.

Shoulder.

So, okay. Praise God, man. These seem impossible. But praise God. Praise God. Praise God.

Guys, do this with the power of just blessing, eh? It's a simple thing to do. Simple thing to do.

So, Father, we thank you for the fearful privilege. And by fearful, what I simply mean is we come and take it not as granted, but with great reverence we come and wear this privilege.

This fearful privilege and responsibility of being priests who can have a commonality with the people around us, yet be truth consecrated unto you.

To be able to intercede for people not according to perceived needs, but according to your will so that your good plans will come to pass for them.

To be able to invite people without removing foolishness from the Gospel which must reveal the cross in Christ.

To be incarnate-aba. To be incarnate. To understand that you have sent us into this land to bless people.

And then to open our mouths and find opportunities this week to bless. To go beyond God bless. To say something a little more than that, Father.

Because even rap stars when they receive awards at the Grammys say God. No, no, no. Say a little more than that, Father.

And then, Father, to be teachable so that instruction and knowledge can be found on our lips so that we can be ones who can guide people into greater truths in you.

And so we bring this Liza to you, Father. We bless her. We thank you that your plans for her are to thrive and not to survive.

We thank you that you always have a Father's heart even to those who don't know you.

And so we ask, Father, that in your Fatherness, in your kindness, in all that you are, would you now open doors for her?

And yet while the doors are opening, would you give her the strange peace that comes from the blessing that Rhonda has pronounced and that we now pronounce over her?

We pronounce it on behalf of the God of the universe in whom all things are consisted and whose Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of people before we even pray.

We thank you. Nobody that crosses our paths this week will be an accident. These are divine encounters set up by you for us to deliver what you want.

We are your delivery system this week. We are God's delivery system this week. And we will thrive in it, in Jesus' name. Amen.