Church & Culture

Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center podcast.

Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you.

For more information on KCT and how to connect, visit us at KCT.net.

God bless you.

God bless you.

God bless you.

How many of you were praying this week after you saw the smoke come into the Okanagan?

You're like, not today, devil, not today.

We're not gonna have that today.

How many of you are grateful for blue skies out there?

Yes, that's awesome.

Another summer.

You know what?

I think there's a when we were talking about the, we were singing actually about the uh his breath in our lungs.

I think that there is always someone else who's wanting to contend for the breath that is in your lungs.

There's someone who's contending for that breath that's in your lungs.

Will it be praise?

Will it be blessing, or will it be cursing?

Will it be just empty talk?

And the scripture says very clearly, like to avoid that empty talk, to avoid that type of talk that leads to nothing.

But today, in celebration of the Lord, we just praise Him.

That's the voice, that's His breath in our lungs.

Amen?

That we use today to celebrate who God is.

I love what the scripture says.

I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.

I was glad.

Turn to your neighbor, give him a big smile.

Give him a big smile.

Come on.

I know you can do it.

And you know what?

At KCC, we we celebrate, we celebrate Sunday.

Amen?

We celebrate Sunday because it's a place where we come together, we gather together, and we know that God is here to meet with us.

Amen?

God is here to reach out to us, and it doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done or where you've gone or where you were yesterday, God can take a today and bring salvation.

Amen?

Today is the day of salvation.

So that's why we express our heart in gratitude to him.

That's why we express our heart in thanksgiving to him.

That's why we express our love for him in praise.

And because it comes out of a heart that's uh that knows how fortunate we are because we know him today.

Um, I'm gonna start this morning's service with a scripture reading out of 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9 and 10.

1 Peter 2:9

And it says this it says, you are a chosen race.

Would you say chosen?

I'm chosen today.

I'm chosen.

You are the chosen one.

You are the chosen race, a royal priesthood.

Would you say royal?

This is something who you are.

You are kings and queens, you are ambassadors and representatives of God today in the house.

A holy nation.

Would you say holy?

I'm getting you to say a lot of this because it's gotta get in your guts.

You are chosen, you are royal, you are holy.

If you could just meditate on that all week, that would be enough.

You are you just wake up, if you're you wake up next to your spouse, you are chosen, you are royal, you are holy.

That's like how many of you would love that if that was your your wake-up confession?

You are chosen, you are royal, you are holy.

This is who you are.

You are a new person in Christ.

It says, and this is it, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

How many of you are grateful for the mercy this morning?

Amen.

We need to praise God.

Would you just clap your hands together?

This is this is this is something to be happy about.

How many of you when you come to church, you're coming to church to celebrate that you have mercy.

I love mercy.

I am so grateful for the mercy of God.

If you were to lean on my mercy, you'd be in trouble.

I I'm not very, I took a strength finder course, and um my lowest strength is mercy.

And I oversee the houses of mercy here at the church.

It something's wrong with that.

We've got to talk to somebody.

But the thing is, mercy, if it was up to me, mercy doesn't go very far.

But thank the Lord that his mercies are new every morning, and he's faithful to new mercies towards me.

Amen.

He's merciful to us.

Peter's words here.

He's talking to the church, he's inspiring the church, he's reminding the church this is what you are called for.

You're called to be holy, you're chosen, you're royal, you're his possession, you're his people.

You've been chosen for mercy.

You've been called out of darkness and put into light.

You where you were running confused and lost and in chaos.

God pulled you out of darkness and he planted you into a place where the lights came on.

And that's what communion celebrates earlier today.

The lights came on.

And all of a sudden, people can see clearly now.

I'm not gonna go there.

You can just hear it in your own.

Where you can see clearly now.

Because the darkness is gone, and you're walking in the light.

Amen.

So Peter's words are there to encourage you.

We are ministers equipped, commissioned to proclaim God's goodness to the rest of the world.

So not all not as church is not just a place where we gather to just revel in the fact of how great we are, but it's it's to celebrate how great God is.

And the Bible says it's like praise that sits in your in your belly that no matter where you go, it's gonna just spill out.

Spill out into whoever you're in contact with, whoever you're rubbing shoulders with, whoever you're in touch with, you're you're rub the shoulders of the person beside you.

Like, don't if you don't know them, don't do it.

But it's like it you're connecting, you're in contact with that person.

It should be spilling out of you the praise that's in your heart.

The church is called to engage.

Now we know this because, and there are two different trains of thought.

There's like you can engage in terms of uh like the church's position in terms of just disengaging from the world, but we believe that Jesus actually called us to engage the world.

The church is to rise up to its calling and engage culture, and engaging it really is critical.

We can't be those who just bury their head in the sand, close off the windows, and even though there are no windows in here, shut the doors, bar the doors, and just stay in a holy bubble.

Instead, this our position as royal, chosen, selected people is to go out and share that good news with others.

So this is what we learn.

The church is the hope.

And we learn from Jesus this model of ministry because Jesus didn't just stay in one place, he went from village to village, he talked to people groups and people other people groups, he crossed racial lines, he crossed gender lines, he crossed uh financial lines, he crossed religious lines in order to communicate the truth of the kingdom of God, the truth of the gospel, that mercy is new, that salvation is here, that the repentance, if you want to repent, you can repent.

And there'll be forgiveness for your sins.

Believe it or not, we take that for granted, but that was a that was a radical message of Jesus' day.

You just need to repent.

Say, I'm sorry.

There was no sacrifice required.

It was just like just put your heart on the line and just say, God, I'm sorry for what I've done, and I repent, and you find forgiveness.

Isn't that a wonderful, wonderful message?

So we've been called to this engagement culture because it is like Christ in us.

And because Christ cared, we need we care as well.

John chapter 15 says this.

John 15 · chapter mention

It says, The Fathers loved me, so have I loved you.

Now remain in my love.

If you keep my commands, you'll remain in my love.

Just as I've kept my father's commands and remain in his love.

I've told you so that your joy, my joy, may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

Will you say joy today?

These are like big words.

I want you to gain them in your gut.

You're royal, you're chosen, you're his possession, you're you're you're a new creation, and you're full of that joy.

Amen.

You you know what?

You can't be without joy without it being expressive.

So I'm just gonna tell you one more time.

Turn your neighbor, give him a big smile.

Tell him the joy.

I've got the joy in my heart because of Christ and what he's done for me today.

Amen.

So we celebrate what God has done.

It's like we celebrate what God has done in you.

Joy in your heart.

Man, you know, uh, like God's still working on you, God's still working on you, I can tell, but it's it's gonna come.

That smile's gonna crack.

And it's like I tell my kids, I'm like, don't be, don't you smile, and they just can't help it.

They're just gonna smile because it's in them.

We've got it in us.

There's no like excuse.

This isn't like, well, I'm German or I'm Dutch or I'm Scottish.

Hey Henry, if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much.

And if uh it doesn't matter who you are or where you are.

We like I don't smile very much, I'm not expressive very often.

No, we're expressive because Christ is in us, and that new kingdom is alive in us today.

We live in a different kingdom, we live in a different space where his love is in our heart, his joy is in our heart, his passions become our passions, his desires become our desires, and that's what compels us to move forward.

That's what compels us to actually reach the culture.

And so when you come to church, you you can sometimes be caught in a conflict.

And really it's a it's an inside the walls conflict of church because you have to make a decision who you want to serve and how you want to serve.

And the the best way I've found to demonstrate this is through a metaphor of uh uh one of them being a cruise ship.

Now, let me tell you about the cruise ship mentality.

How many of you love cruises?

I wouldn't know because I haven't been on a cruise, but my parents are actually on an Alaskan cruise right now, and I'm sure they're just like coming back heavier.

Don't mention it, but I think there's a lot of crab being eaten and a lot of salmon being eaten and a lot of room service.

But the cruise ships are not supposed to be what the church is all about.

The cruise ship exists for people to get away from the stresses in their life, relax.

In fact, uh, one of the major cruise lines, the Princess Cruises,$20 million was spent just last year to promote a little quote or a little ideal brand that they announced that says, Come back new.

Come back new.

Come back new.

Come let the wind and the waves just wash away.

Let our food and our you come back heavier, but you come back, you will be new.

You have a few new pounds.

But similar sentiment has been expressed with the church.

You know, I go to church to just get refreshed so that I can survive the next week.

I go to church, and that's not always bad.

It's great that you can come to church and feel refreshed and feel relaxed and feel comfortable.

And that's what the that's what church really is about.

When we gather together, we encourage each other, we support each other, we speak life into each other.

It's called a spirit of prophecy when you walk into a room and someone just looks you in the eye, and it's kind of weird.

Like I grew up in the 90s, right?

Where you'd walk into church and someone would grab you and just look you in the eyeballs and prophesy into your life, and you're like, Are you looking into my soul?

Like it's so deep and intense, right?

And you're like, okay, but there was something that was life-giving in your heart that when you come to church, you should feel that life.

But you can't expect to live on just relaxation mode as a church.

You can't expect to live on the mentality, you know.

Did I like the music that was playing in the ballroom tonight?

Was the sound at an adequate uh decibel rate?

Is the service good?

Was I greeted at the door?

Uh is it comfortable here?

If it isn't, then I'll just find another cruise line to join.

Everything is always under review.

And there's a mentality when you go to a church to kind of see that from that perspective.

Hey, we're just gonna cruise.

Wherever the waves take us, we'll just go.

Or you can be a part of a battleship.

Now, church in this perspective is a different perspective.

It's a little ugly, it doesn't look the same.

It's steel, it's loud, nothing's like it.

How many of you would rather be on a battleship?

I don't know, cruise right now would be.

But I'll tell you this battleship, life is on the battleship.

People understand their position, there's experience, they're working together to accomplish a task, accomplish a mission.

They're completing an assignment, and in the end, everyone serves in this great mission.

And the questions you ask when you get on the battleship is like, who's in charge?

And who's that person accountable to?

Do they have a higher authority?

Who's their authority?

Who determines that mission?

How are they contributing?

How are the people around me working together?

Are they linking arm in arm?

Are we working together to move forward?

Move the mission forward.

Now, this shift is really important because it's not about just a loose mission, it's about a dedicated mission.

It's about a clear and a noble mission, where the church is going to be moving to.

And some people don't like this report because they think it's too radical.

It's like looking at a radical Christianity.

And some people would prefer, and I I see the idea of it, it's like, no, the church is in a cruise liner, the church is like a fishing ship.

It's like it's a fisherman, like we're all fishing for men, right?

From that perspective.

But I don't think it's one or the other.

I think there is a fact that we are actually engaged in a spiritual battle, and we can never separate that fact that spiritually we are challenged from we've got people, we've got ideas, we've got ideologies, and we've got ourselves that are contending for what who and what has dominance in our life.

Who becomes the main influencer?

Who has our attraction?

There's so many things.

I'm telling you today that there are so many things that are out there that are trying to pull the attraction and seduce your heart away from God and away from your relationship with Him.

And we are on we are on alert, we're on red alert, and we're on a mission to actually complete the cause.

But we can't win on our own.

We must work together under the authority of God's word to to reach our world.

So, how do we do this?

What do we need to do in order to make an effect?

Because the idea of this mission is really uh great, but the question still remains to people, they're like, okay, so how how and where are we gonna go?

What are we gonna do?

What's our what's the plan?

What's the strategy?

And the fact is that God has given each of us a purpose.

What do you say, purpose?

A purpose, an ideal for yourself, an internal, personal purpose for you to complete.

And so, what are we gonna look at here are a few points that I've just written out as to identifying your purpose.

Number one, you must look be informed.

In fact, they all begin with the letter I here.

We were gonna call it four eyes, but there were actually five points, so that didn't make sense at all.

But it it's it's the first place for engagement is that there must first be information.

Information is critical.

We live in what we have today, we call today the information age.

And information is available to all of us, but in order to engage culture in your world, you must be informed, not on everything, but on the area and the place of your greatest influence.

So, where is that place of your greatest influence?

And become a master of the information in that area.

There's no real there's not really an excuse for actually being uh being one who's not educated.

The question today is really if school, and I know we're a huge educational institution here, with our campus school HCS, and our online school, uh, HCOS, um we we do believe in education, but I'll say this to you today that education is less becoming less and less about information and more and more about desire to be informed.

The desire for information.

What is it that you are actually hungry to go and find and desire that information in order to achieve the mission that you've called you've been called to?

So find out that information and become a master of your craft in that area.

If you become a master of your craft in that area, and you're informed, you're you're looking for the information that's actually going to help move your mission forward, that's the first step.

The Bible says this in Mark 12, 30, it says, Listen, this is the way we love God.

We love Him with our heart, our soul, and with all of our mind, and with all of our strength.

There's a place where the mind engages.

And if you're to move your mission forward in life, into the area where God has called you to move the church forward, because each of us have a part to play.

Then you need to be informed.

You need to have the information.

You need to have your craft down.

You have to have that message in your heart clear and concise.

And not realize that that, or and realize that information is critical.

But it doesn't just stop with information.

The scripture says this information, it puffs up, knowledge puffs up, but it's love that builds up.

So we know that knowledge, it just doesn't stop with information, but it's where it starts.

So firstly, we're informed.

But now we move from just information to what we call integrity.

Today it was really interesting.

I was talking to uh uh one of our former members of parliament the other day, and he he mentioned that uh he mentioned that the the newscasts were just so varying, they're just varying across each station.

You can hear a different rendition of what's happening in the world.

And the question now isn't about information.

It used to be who's got the information is important, is valuable, but it's now moved from the information age to what they're calling now the reputation age.

In other words, it's not being able to acquire information.

The question is, is your information reliable?

Reputation means everything.

Reputation will be your greatest currency today.

For those of you who've been living clean and living right and living integral, you're gonna, you've got currency, you've got a bank, you've got it, you've been depositing for years.

You you have something worth offering to the world today.

But those of you who've just been living like quick, quick on like on a superficial uh image, it's gonna break down over time.

And you've got to just remove it and start over.

Integrity is so important.

If you want to move your purpose forward, not only have you got to be informed into what you're into your craft, but you've got to be operating it from a place of integrity.

Integrity is so important.

Um, today we're finding that that really you can't hide anything.

They're digging up, there are people this week who lost their jobs over uh comments that were made in 2009 online on social media, 2012, comments that were backed up, people lost massive jobs, even though they were making their companies millions and hundreds of millions of dollars.

They lost their jobs over comments that they had come they had made online because they were they realized the the employers realized that the person that they had employed wasn't who they had said they were.

They wasn't their true self.

So we watch what we say, we watch how we operate, we operate with an integrity towards others and towards the Lord.

And you're saying, Lord, you judge my heart, challenge me, uh cause me to question everything, assess me, and then my brothers and my sisters around me, whoever are around me, my friends, sharpen me up.

Excuse me.

Get me to be a part of a small group where others can actually challenge how I think and challenge what I believe so that I can grow.

Um, Proverbs 21, 3 says this do what is right and just, and that'll be acceptable before the Lord, even greater than sacrifice.

Do what's right, do what's just.

That's more important than sacrifice.

Integrity.

We're moving into the integrity age.

Are you ready?

Number three, we move in terms of cultural engagement.

You move from information to a place of integrity.

Out of that position of integrity, you can begin to have a measure of influence.

Influence.

Everyone has influence.

Whether you know it or not, you have influence.

Your words define worlds.

What you say will make a difference, if not for the people around you closest to you, but for your children and your children and the people that you come into contact with.

Um, your circle of influence is somewhere important that that really is a place where you actually have your greatest place of concern.

Uh, going back a number of years, there was this seven habits of highly effective people.

And he he acknowledged there was a place called a metron that each person has.

And in this position, this metron, there was a circle of your influence.

I am not an influencer of female fashion.

I just am not.

I know that's hard to believe, but it just isn't gonna happen.

I'm just not in that place.

Um, I'm not an influencer in terms of natural health factors.

And I'm not in that place because I don't have the information and I don't have the integrity to be able to influence that area.

But those of you who have been building information because you're concerned about an area and you've become informed, and now you have the integrity, you now can exhibit influence in that area of your life.

Now, influence now is influencers are now more important than celebritom.

Celebrities are are secondary to influencers today.

Influencers are more valuable, and an influencer could be like my kids are watch Minecraft, want to build on Minecraft.

And so they go online onto YouTube, and their greatest influencer is Squiddly, what's his name?

Squiddles?

I can't remember right now.

And there are no kids in here to help me.

This guy who's literally making millions and millions and millions of dollars, or or uh my kids who enjoy like Fortnite or something like that, you know the floss?

You you've probably seen it.

Yeah, I did it on stage.

That's right.

But you've got the you've got the uh influencers that are there are pulling down three million dollars a month, influencing kids.

They're not celebrities, they sit behind a computer, but they're making a difference because they found their space, they and they have integrity and information, they've become a master of their craft in that area, and they're making a difference.

The church has to realize where is your area of greatest influence, and your greatest influence is going to be circled by the area of your greatest concern.

I cannot stand up here and say, hey everyone, write to Castanet about this issue.

Because some of the writings may be terrible, to say it nicely.

It might not be good because that's not your place of influence.

You're not informed and you don't have the integrity to write in that area.

But those of you who do have the influence in an area related to an issue, go ahead and write.

And let us support you, but you gotta do, you have to do something.

Influence is important.

The Bible says that the good influence of good citizens will make the, will cause a city to prosper.

But the the good flu and the same way goes the good influence of good churches will make the city to prosper.

We want to be a good influencing church.

Would you say that word with me?

Influence.

Influence.

Influence is important.

Wherever we are, and that really, that that's why it's so important that you represent the integrity of the heart and the DNA of Kelowna Christian Center.

That you're out there representing us, you're representing each other.

And so as you represent each other, you're actually helping build the kingdom in Kelowna.

Fourthly, and I'm nearly done here, innovation.

Innovation is critical.

Once you have that place of influence, you begin to innovate.

Innovation is a way to actually shift and dominate a place or an industry.

Now, I'm not called to certain places, but you can be in that space and actually innovate and influence in that area.

The Bible talks about this word innovation and relates it to the word wisdom.

Wisdom is a creative force.

The Bible says it was out of the wisdom of God that he spoke and something appeared.

He created out of nothing.

It was wisdom that formed the world.

It was wisdom that made things work together.

Read about it in the first few chapters of Proverbs.

The whole scripture there is about getting above anything and everything, get wisdom.

Get wisdom in order to be able to innovate.

Get wisdom to be able to think differently.

The top, what they call today FAI, the top four major uh disruptors in society, Fang, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, Fang.

This group, they said, didn't even exist 15 years ago.

15, 20 years ago, no one was even looking in this area of in of influence.

And now they lead the economy in um in the United States and actually globally in that area.

By get find wisdom to be able to be uh to be a proper cultural shifter, because the church has got to move from just passive thinking to active thinking.

And it's not gonna happen just by accident.

We're not just gonna wake up this morning and the church is actually making a difference.

It's gonna happen because each of you, from the young to the old, wherever you may be in the room, we need everyone to engage culture.

Jesus did it.

We can do it, we need to be in that place.

Lastly, in order for us to make impact, we need to make impact and we can be proactive in our impact, or we can be reactive in our impact.

Proactive is where we make a difference and we actually decide, Lord, give me an opportunity and let me run with this.

So we want to be impactful.

So you asked the question here today.

How do we and what do we as KCC believe in terms of reaching other people for Jesus?

And I'm gonna tell you today, uh, it's not what it may have been.

It's not about crusades, it's not about uh camp meetings or tent meetings or whatever kind of meetings there may be.

We've got uh an idea that that had its space and it even still has its opportunity today.

But we believe winning people to Christ, you need to number one, accept personal responsibility.

Take your finger and point it at me.

You, you, not me.

Point you.

Responsible.

You can't look at like the pastor of the church or our leadership team to be able to reach people for Christ.

You're responsible.

Number two, build personal relationships, find those people in your life that I don't have in my life.

I love our Jamaican community that's attending this church.

There is no way that I can reach into the Jamaican world the way the Jamaican, our Jamaican community is reaching into the Jamaican world.

They have an influence in that place, they have relationships in that space that actually make a difference.

So you each have a personal relationship to reach out there, reach out.

Thirdly, share your story.

Each of us has a story.

We don't have to make something up, we don't have to build anything.

It's called your testimony.

And the Bible says each and everyone's testimony is powerful.

You have a story, I have a story.

Share it.

Share it.

Talk about it, say it, speak it out loud to someone at some point this week.

Share your story.

The more you share it, the more opportune uh the more ears will open up to be able to hear what you're saying.

And lastly, give a personal invitation.

Everyone in this room can invite someone, can look out and make an invitation to say, hey, come on out to church, come on out to a small group, come on out to one of our connect groups, come on out to one of our meetups and actually be a part of the church.

So we connect together, we uh we um invite together and we make a difference.

Amen.

The Bible says this it says these words are real, these words are life, these words are spirit.

And today, if I if anyone in this room today has been feeling that that that call on your heart and saying, you know what?

I feel like I'm called to a higher place.

I'm called to actually make a difference.

I'm called to actually reach out beyond a space where I'm currently reaching out.

I believe the Lord wants to work with you today.

How many of you have received the message this morning?

Been challenged by that message.

Amen.

Would you just bow your heads with me?

Father, we thank you today for your presence with us.

We thank you that your word is life, your word is power.

We thank you, Lord, that there's no place where we can go where you're not going to go with us to reach a world that you care for and you love.

Whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

And today, Father, we just open up our hearts to you.

And Father, for anyone in this room today who has never received Christ as their own Lord and Savior, has never made that shift and that change in their own heart, Father, I just open this moment today for them to turn their life towards you, to turn their eyes towards you, to confess their sin, confess their wrong doing before you, and just receive that life that you have prepared for them.

In Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

If you would just pray this prayer with me today, church, just as a on behalf of just everyone here in this place, just to make even those who may be praying this prayer for the first time just comfortable, we just pray, Jesus.

I thank you for giving your life that I might have a new beginning.

I confess my sins to you today, that I've lived after my own desires.

And some of those desires have led me away from you.

Today I turn my desire towards you.

I receive the new life that you have for me and the new beginning for me.

And I receive it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's give the Lord a round of applause this morning.

Amen.

Trisha, come on up.

Amen.

I want to be a battleship.

Anyone else?

So we can make an impact.

We're not checking out.

What are we doing?