A Calling Of A Nation | Part One

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 KTC and how to connect, visit us at case d.net.

Hey, we need to give special uh recognition to those of you who are wearing red and white today, all right?

Even if you got a little hint of it, come on.

You're showing your colors, you're showing your pride today.

Um representing Canada.

You know, you're in the company of uh great Canadian Patriots today.

You're in the company, some of you were born here, uh, others have been welcomed into our great nation from First Nation and represented here, and and we see people from Africa, people from the UK, people from the US.

Oh, we'll welcome you in.

Uh China, uh, the Caribbean islands.

We got people represented from all over, making up our great nation.

We should just welcome all of them, celebrate our country, celebrate the people represented here today.

I love our country and the fact that there is a diversity in our nation.

And together we're better.

When we're working together and we're together, we fall under the mandate of God's given call over our nation.

Together, we're better.

And we're working together, and the strengths from different nations coming together make Canada who we are today.

Um, every country has a destiny, and just as a personal calling that every individual has, a nate uh the person is responsible for their calling.

Just that way, a nation it has a call, and the church and the people of that nation are responsible to fulfill that call of that particular nation.

Now, how many of you have the a call of God on your own life today?

You've got one, and you've got to recognize that first that God's called you, that God has a plan for you.

Turn to your neighbor and say, God has a plan for you.

God has a plan for you.

And you're you've got to fulfill it.

This is your your your duty.

This is your duty as an individual, is to find your purpose.

Discover that purpose, that God-given seed, that seed that God has planted in you, that particular design that God created you with, and allowing it and nurturing it and cultivating it to be able to develop so that you can do what you are called to do in this place.

You'll never find a better place to be than when your spiritual gift, your passion, and your style of leadership all meld into that one particular sweet spot, and you're living out of that sweet spot of your gifting.

Then that really is the place where you're living your dream.

And so to find that place is really important for an individual.

And then likewise, in a nation, we need to know what our nation stands for.

We need to know what our nation's sweet spot is in the world.

When we're looking at the world players, where does Canada fit in that role in the world?

Um, every person has that responsibility, and our nation is called to be a healer of all nations, of other nations.

Represented by the maple leaf on our Canadian flag.

We are the leaf that that brings healing to the nations.

Uh, represented by the the the um the pillars on the left and the right of our flag, from sea to sea, God will have dominion in our nation.

So sometimes, like uh personally, we go off track at times, uh, nations at times can even go off track.

And when they go off track, they they they remove themselves from the place where God had called them to be.

And in doing so, they they they don't suffer for it, but they lose traction and their momentum forward.

And today in our this message, I'd like to talk about moving Canada forward.

We talk about moving the church forward, moving your life forward.

Today I want to talk about the church's role in moving Canada forward.

But there are times in the in Canadians' history where the church is actually not engaged, government hasn't engaged in fulfilling our mandate, and in so doing, the church hasn't moved forward, the church or the Canada hasn't moved forward, Canada moved backward.

One of those situations was uh realized um in 1939 when Canada uh chose to deny entry to 900 German Jews escaping genocide in Germany.

Uh, this made the news approximately 10 plus years ago, and Stephen Harper, our prime minister, actually decided at that time to really reconcile this space in Canadian history and actually bring peace to the nations of the world by by repenting and confessing this error in Canadians' past, in Canada's past.

And this ship called the St.

Louis uh was carrying these Jews who had realized that that life in Germany was going to become much, much more difficult.

As now looking back at history, we realize was a fact.

And they came to the Canadian shore looking for refuge.

And at that point, Canada denied its destiny and instead bowed to fear, bowed to selfishness, bowed to prejudice, and said, Listen, we don't want you in our nation, and closed the door to the potentiality of operating in their destiny, in their calling, in what they were called to do.

And the ship actually had to turn around as they found no safe harbor from places from all the way from Havana, all the way up the coastline, coming to uh uh into Canada, they were denied the whole way and they were told to turn around and go back to Europe.

And thankfully, their their ship captain was so uh so determined to fulfill his calling in actually uh bringing safety to these passengers that he said it it he would not take them back to Germany exactly, but he would actually take them.

He said, if necessary, I'll run the ship aground on the shores of Britain.

He says, I'll run this ship ashore, I'll beach it so that you have to be taken in and you will find refuge in Britain.

And thankfully, some of the Scandinavian Isles and France and Spain took in these 908 uh Jewish refugees.

And unfortunately, however, through this process, the ship returning back to Europe still put them in in distress.

And only 25% of those on board actually survived through the war.

Now we know in Canada, Canada wasn't touched by the European disputes.

Like, other than our soldiers traveling across the Atlantic, we didn't experience the same type of uh internal warfare here on our land.

And so there would have been safety here.

But Canada denied that entry.

And so when we think about moving our nation forward, it is, and there is always the potentiality that instead of moving our nation forward, we are part of the process where we move the nation backward.

We are, and that's why this the prayer in our anthem is that we move the church, that we stand on guard for our nation.

We stand on guard that every step we take is a step towards righteousness.

Every step we take is a step in the right direction.

And in our nation, what determines that is our people.

Our people living in a democratic society.

We can actually determine where our nation, who our nation's leaders are, and who uh and the direction by which our nation takes.

Now, in our nation, there are three peace towers, or there are three sides of this peace tower which display scriptures.

And it's on our parliamentary building.

On the east window it says this, he shall have dominion from sea to sea.

On the south window it says, Give the king thy judgment, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.

And on the west window this says, Where there's no vision, the people perish.

When he has dominion, when God has dominion in our nation, when he is the rule based on the righteous influence on our nation, then we can stick to a vision that will have a desired end.

Listen to what Psalm 72 has to say about Canada.

It says this, Canada, a foundational scripture in Psalm 72, it says this: they'll deliver the needy who cry out.

It says they'll take pity on the afflicted who have no help, that they'll save the needy from death, they'll rescue those in oppression from violence, that grain will abound.

That's pretty relevant to our nation.

Crops will flourish, and that people will pray and bless them all day long, that kings will bow down to him, and nations will serve him.

All nations will be blessed through him, and nations will call our nation blessed.

How many of you desire that?

That Canada is called blessed from the nations.

The nations look at the nation of Canada and go, I want to be there.

Why?

Because that nation's blessed.

I want to be a citizen of that nation, because that nation carries a blessing with it.

Now, the church is responsible for pushing the nation forward by helping Canada move forward.

And we know this because the only way we find life is if we find Christ.

The scripture is very clear, he who finds the Son actually finds true life.

If we don't have the Son, we don't have life.

And if we don't have that life, how can we move our nation in a direction that actually is towards life?

So we have an opportunity as believers, as citizens, to speak and compel the world towards righteous living, to reach a nation and lead them to Jesus, to help people find this life.

So what we've learned from the scriptures that the people are searching, that the woman at the well was searching, and that she and that Jesus' response to her was this: He says, I am that living water.

If you're thirsty, I am that living water.

And if you drink from me, you're never going to have to thirst again.

So we know that we have something to offer our nation.

We know we have something to offer every individual in our nation.

We know we have something to offer the nations of the world.

But together we need to work in terms of moving the nation forward.

So the church is critical and essential to Canada fulfilling its destiny.

Without the activism of Canadian citizens, Canada will not achieve its destiny.

You and I are responsible.

Now this isn't meant to be a heavy message, but the fact of the matter is that there's a responsibility for the Christian believer.

And the Canadian Christian believer.

I can't do too much about Venezuela.

I can't do too much about Korea, but I can do something about Canada.

I can do something now about my nation.

And the fact is that Canada needs the righteous citizens to stand up, to stand on guard, to represent our values, our moral beliefs, and to hold a plumb line of truth in our nation.

And we need to celebrate those who are stepping out and actually doing it today.

So it is true that we need that in today's society.

Some people are saying, well, Brody, it's not like we're living in really dark times.

And it's true.

Like if you look back at the scripture, there were like temple prostitutes and public stonings and there was death in the streets, and there were crucifixion and internal wars, and racism was significant in that time.

It's true we're not living in that time, but the principle remains the same.

Jesus said to every Christian, he says, listen, at one point in time, you will experience persecution.

2 Timothy says this, chapter 3, verse 12, it says, in fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

The question is, the point is, if you're in this room and you represent Christ, in your life, the question isn't if you will be persecuted for what you believe, the question is when you will be persecuted for what you believe.

And what the effect of that will actually be.

Persecution shouldn't be something that we're surprised about.

We should be ready and accept and prepared for the fact that there will be persecution against our values because we're anti-establishment, we're anti-culture.

We live by a different culture.

We don't even live by particularly the Canadian culture code.

We, as Christians, live by a kingdom culture code.

And this kingdom culture code sometimes goes against the directives of our city, directives of our nation, and that requires us to sometimes dig our heels in and stand on guard for what we truly believe based on the scripture and based on Jesus' teaching.

So when Canada is in crisis, it's important that the church does not shrink back.

That the church, in fact, needs to engage in those times.

It needs to step up.

I believe the only hope for mental fatigue, broken relationships, confusion and depression is coming into an alignment of God's principles, coming into unity with the way God thinks, the way God acts, the way God rules, and trusting God and coming into alignment together as a church to say, you know what, together we will stand together on guard for our nation.

So when the church begins to speak and act with one voice, united, we can make a difference.

So the perspective of the nation may look dark at times, but it's in the darkness that the light actually shines brighter.

And I'm not sure where you find your spark.

But uh when you go to the media, it's pretty depressing.

You go to Facebook, you go to uh any place where people are conversing, you sit down at a coffee shop and you just instead of drink your coffee and talk, you just stop and you listen to what people are saying.

It's a different presentation of what we believe.

They would have you believe that the nation is going to hell, that there's no hope, that the obstacles of the giants that you have to confront are too big, and that there's nothing that you can do.

And I'm here to unwind all those lies.

You are big.

You can take down any giant, you can unwind any lie and bring truth to the nation of Canada, truth to our place.

We need to press into our call.

Amen.

We need to press into our nation.

And we need to do this by like actually moving forward with an attitude.

Put on this attitude, put on these attributes of approaching our nation.

And we have to do it properly.

We have to do it with the right spirit.

But I believe that there's a way that we can do it so that we can stand on guard, put our shoulders back, lift our chin up, and actually walk with our head held high, communicating what we believe so that our nation is actually protected.

So here are some of the attributes that we need to carry together.

The Church in Canada needs to carry a spirit that is humble.

Humble.

Humility is something that we've always, and I think we're always going to be working on.

I don't believe we ever reach the finish line when it comes to humility.

Um I'm humble.

You know, when do you act when can you actually say that?

It's just a constant place where you're having and space where you're having to remind yourself of the fact that I need, I need God every second and every minute.

I need his ability beyond my own.

I need to lean on him even more than I lean on my own capabilities.

And now, humility is often seen as being small.

And I think this is the lie that people have taken on, is that they think it's a spiritual attribute to be humble, which it is, but it does not mean to be like a worm.

It does not mean to be small, insignificant, passive, quiet, uh, low.

It doesn't mean that at all.

In fact, humility means to rise up in who you are, and it's more, and it's putting others before you.

It's saying, I'm going to use the strength that I have to actually lift someone else up.

My humility is going to be walking strong to come into an arena, and I can get under other people, and I don't care if they elevate higher than I am.

That is humility.

That's saying, I want you to succeed today.

I want you to grow stronger.

I want you to shine brighter.

It's coming underneath, it's elevating.

Now, some people say, well, you know what, I've got that.

You know, just give me the opportunity.

And I always find, I always find people who are humble, say they're humble, have never really had anything to be proud about.

And so, but as soon as they get money in their account, as soon as they get a following, as soon as they have something to like In your face, that's where the question lies.

That's where things get tested.

That's where the heart gets tested.

The attitude gets tested.

What am I going to lean on?

What how am I going to use my resource?

How am I going to use my rep my uh my uh ability to capture an audience to actually elevate others?

Humility in today's world, in today's culture is actually an attribute that's looked down on.

We want people to have a large following.

We value people who have a lot of people looking at them.

And they're proud.

But the Bible is very clear, God resists the proud, but he gives grace and ability to the humble.

And this is a place where as Canadians, we need to be in a position where we as the Church of Canada need to approach our world in a humble fashion, but not cowering in any form or way, any posture.

But we approach our nation and we say, we want to come under you and we want to lift you up.

We want to lift up the people in our community who are the most vulnerable.

We want to lift you up.

See, the community would have us say this at times.

The way you're going to deal with the homelessness issue is to give more of yourself.

You learn to live with less so that they can live with more, so that you can even the level.

Elevate.

Humility is coming under and lifting up.

Canada has that opportunity.

Now in Canada, we've been blessed with resources.

We've been blessed with the capacity to actually embrace the world.

And so together we actually can come into a place and actually support others who are wanting to come into our nation and actually join in our nation and actually supporting people who are in need.

The fact is, Canada, Canada, and here I have to just back up just a moment here.

Perf.

I'm not perfect.

Perfect.

I deal with this.

Because I have a lot, I have a lot.

Like most Canadians, I I've got a roof, I've got money in my bank account, I've got the ability to actually, I've got an education, and I can look at the rest of the world and I say, come on.

Come on.

And I don't know where they're at.

I don't know that what their current state is at.

And and I actually have to sometimes pull back and go, you know what?

I need to learn from your context, learn from where you're coming from, so that I can actually come underneath you and help you.

I can't approach you from a place of pride.

I have to come underneath you and help you.

And so there are times when I'm like, I have to apologize for what for how I've treated people or how I've treated a situation.

Because even though people don't understand my context, I need to stop and just realize the context that that individual is coming from.

And I need to make sure that I'm at least approaching someone with the sensibility that I'm approaching them with humility and saying, you know what, I don't know your story.

Communicate that with me, share that with me, and together we can grow stronger.

And so the fact is that the Canadian Church and Canada would rather see a Canadian church that is real and says, hey, we're not perfect, but we're working on it, than a Canadian church that's always says that they're right.

And that we've got everything perfect.

We're working on it.

We're working on it.

Tell your neighbor, we're working on you.

Like we're working on you.

Like there's a place of humility there.

Um it's okay to say that that you're you're still working on it.

The Isaiah chapter 30 says this.

Isaiah 30 · chapter mention

It says, it uses this example in verse 13.

It says, a high wall.

Um, Isaiah says, your sin will become like a high wall, and you'll think you'll become proud of this high wall that you're building.

This high wall that you're building, and it will become cracked and bulging that suddenly collapses.

In an instant it will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found.

There are things that we do that we try and build up and we build this big platform that we can stand on.

And Isaiah has been warning the people, he's saying, be careful what you're standing on, because that high platform, that high pedestal that you built, could come down in a second.

So walk humbly, walk light, walk light with people.

So, second attitude, stay hungry.

This is what is your mission?

I I look at the previous builders in the church today, and I'm just so grateful for those who built before us.

My grandfather, I went to Evangel uh this week, and uh some of our team were there, and we met with the mayor and the city council for lunch, and we had this gathering of pastors, probably about 45, 50 pastors that were there.

And we were able to, and I sat in Evangel, and I was walking through there with my dad at the dad, and we talked about our a bit of our history at Evangel, like not particularly mine particularly, but his, which um I guess I'm a part of at one point.

But his his history and my grandfather's history, and looking at the buildings that were built on that property and the impact that that church has had in the city, coming to this location here, the property, the building, the schools, I just value those people who stayed hungry for the cause.

And they said, you know what, we're not just gonna sit back on our heels and actually just revel at, wow, look at what we were able to accomplish, but they just kept on pressing in, kept on sacrificing, kept on building.

And they kept hungry because of the mission that was on their on their plate.

They had something to do, they had something to accomplish.

Now the scripture says this it says that if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and then seek my face.

And that word seek literally means to go after, to drive after, to get hungry for.

There has to be a hunger in the church.

Has to be a hunger in the church to go after something, get hungry for our nation, get hungry for what's going on.

Now, I realize the problem in today's culture.

Uh, we don't know where to go to actually get informed.

The media, good luck.

Uh the media is up for sale.

Whoever pays for it, that's what you what gets promoted to you.

That's the whole problem with our media system today.

Whoever's paying for the media gets the media, gets their perspective communicated.

We don't know where to go.

They were wrong.

I'm the part about the U.S.

election that I don't, the part that I enjoyed about the U.S.

election was that the media was completely wrong about Trump's position.

Like, they were completely wrong.

This last time, I'm like, well, maybe they learned.

But then you go and you listen to Ontario's election.

How many of you followed that a few weeks ago?

Oh no, the Conservative Party will never make it, never make it.

The Liberal Party's gonna take this, or the NDP Party is gonna take it.

The Liberal Party didn't even receive enough votes to continue to remain a party.

The the media was totally fabricated.

So where you find it's hard to engage when you don't know how to engage.

It's hard to get hungry when you don't know what to eat.

What am I gonna eat here?

Is this fluff?

Is this just like is this nothing?

What is it?

So you have to find a place.

So you know what a lot of people do?

They say this.

I just don't watch the media at all anymore.

I just turn the TV off.

I just shut down CNN.

I don't go to these places, I don't go to these sites, I don't get hungry.

And there's a problem with that because you're disengaging from your nation and with the impact that's happening in your nation.

Now I realize it's difficult, but there's still a it's still a necessity for us to actually engage with our nation.

So here's what I challenge you to do: go to prayer before you go to Facebook.

Hear what God has to say about your nation.

Hear what God is saying to you about your city, hear what God is saying to you about your community, about your school board, about your the state of education.

Stop for a moment and say, God, what is your word?

What are you saying?

And then go looking for it in the media.

Then go walking around going, okay, I see that, I see that, I see that, I see that.

Ask the Lord what he wants to highlight.

And I trust me, the Lord begins to put like a beacon over things that the media may not even be touching on.

Like, man, the communities that we've we've seen God touch on right now, that God is doing such a great work in the First Nations communities, the even in our own city, the Jamaican communities.

I I love what God is doing in our city.

Don't forget all the other media brainwash.

Allow God to fill your heart and your mind with what is actually happening.

So stay informed.

And hunger requires you to be able to engage, to lean in, to actually say, you know what, I'm gonna step in and actually connect.

So don't get tired in doing well.

Fill yourself with what God is telling you to do.

Um, the last one here, always hustle.

Always hustle.

It's the be humble, stay hungry, always hustle.

It's these H3 attributes that are actually good for actually developing you in your personal directive, but also a national directive.

And here's the hustle aspect.

The hustle aspect is that once you have that hunger in your heart for where God is wanting you to go and what God's heart is for the nation, put the name put that vision first.

Put that vision in front of you and hustle towards it.

Make a difference.

You don't have to be in Ottawa to make a difference.

This is the joy of being in a Canadian culture, is that in a Canadian culture, we can actually make a difference by just simply being in our own community.

We can make a difference here and now.

You can use the internet, you can use your own political processes, you can use your own engagement processes to actually hustle.

Now, hunger is internal, hustling is external.

This is saying, you know what, I'm not just gonna talk about it, analyze.

They call it uh where people create all these discussions and points and references, and they create an analysis, but there's a death, there's paralysis by analysis.

It's just like you talk about it for so often that you don't do anything about it.

So the point of the hustle is actually saying, not only am I gonna talk about something, I'm actually gonna go out there and do something about it.

I'm gonna move out of a place of apathy, out of a place of procrastination, out of a place of just talking and actually going out and doing something.

But more than doing something, I'm gonna do it well.

I'm gonna do it to that place where other people do 90%, I'm gonna do 100%.

I'm gonna make the, it's gonna make the difference between good and great.

I'm gonna push that extra percent that that pushes us into a place where not only are we making a difference, but we're leaving a legacy and making an impact.

And the world is looking at the testimony of the church and saying, wow, look at what they're doing.

They're not just whining, because that's what it can become.

Complaining, whining, all this kind of grumbling, and we know the scripture that talks about that, right?

Or the story related to that.

That's what happened when the church, the Hebrew people, looked at the promised land and they started to complain and grumble and whine, and in their heart it became toxic, and God just said, forget it.

You're not getting the promise.

I don't want to be that people.

I want to be the people that enter into the promise, and that's gonna require a hustle.

So, whatever you do, work with it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

Do it as unto the Lord.

Become a master of your craft, become a master of your sweet spot.

What God has called you to do, become a master of it.

I don't know about my grandma, if this was her call in life, but I'll tell you, she could make the perfect pancake.

It was like she had the perfect combination of flour and whatever else goes into a pancake.

And she made it like this was an Aunt Jemima, this wasn't out of the box.

She just threw it together, mixed it up, she grilled it perfectly, it was fluffy, the edges were perfectly cooked, it was brown, like you know, that golden brown pancake.

And I remember as a kid going, she was like the queen of pancakes.

I'll have another one, I'll have another one, I'll have another one.

And she knew she just how many of you have someone in your family who just knows how to do something really, really well?

It just sets them apart from everyone else.

Not that your pancakes were good too, mom and others, Natalie's are okay, gluten-free.

It may be healthier for you, but my grandma used butter and a lot of butter.

And then they were hot on the plate.

It wasn't like they were sitting in the oven warming.

They were like came off the grill onto your plate, and she just threw even more butter on it, and the butter just kind of melted.

Oh my goodness.

She's like, enjoy.

And I'm like, okay, you've ruined me for pancakes forever.

The hustle needs to be there.

Hustle, hustle.

Sometimes the church remains so humble, just small, small, they back off, back off, back off, that there's no hustle.

And then there's the other extreme where they're hustling so hard and they're putting themselves out there and they make this big organization or ministry over a name, there's no humility.

And so the enemy has two ways of stopping you.

He can slow the train down and put the brakes on so you're not moving at all.

Or he moves you so far and so fast forward that you go right off the tracks.

And the church today needs to re have that hustle, but it still needs to have that humility.

And what happens is there's got to be that balance, that tension that just holds us together, and together where we grow in our faith, and together we make an impact in our nation.

So I want to tell you today be humble.

Stay hungry and always, always hustle.

Look for that place.

Our nation needs the church.

Our nation needs a church that's strong and capable of approaching any question, of taking on any scenario that they may have questioned in, and being a voice to our nation.

And the nation deserves it.

The nation deserves a church that's strong, a church that's capable, a church that's vibrant and dynamic and full of life, and has the ability to actually pass it on.

So he who has the son has life.

And he who has the son knows the truth.

And it's the truth that sets people free.

So together we we move forward.

Amen?

Would you bow your heads with me?

Father, we thank you today for this nation.

We thank you for this nation of Canada.

We thank you, Lord, that we're not alone in this nation, that the that uh there are other churches in this community that are fighting the fight alongside of us, that are holding the banner.

Jehovah Nisi, holding the banner up high so that others can come towards it, that others will be attracted to it and find healing.

Lord, we just lift up the other churches in our community.

Lord, from the north, the south, the east, the west, we bless.

We bless these churches, we bless their pastors, we bless their congregations, Lord.

Those who are on your are are on the side of righteousness today, Lord, stir in them, Lord, a fresh hunger, Lord, to for righteousness, a fresh hunger to impact and build a nation, Lord, that's ruler is the Lord.

I thank you, Lord, that we're we are a part.

Uh we're not alone in that.

Not only have we got the church, but we've got you on our side.

Lord, that you're there to help us.

You're there to enable us, you're there to give us grace and empower us, Lord, in places that are weakness.

Lord, you're there for us.

And we thank you, Lord, that we serve a saving God, uh, a God who saves.

Even when we've moved backwards, Father, you're there to help us again move forwards.

So today, Father, we just commit to moving Canada forward, moving Canada in the direction of righteousness, in towards a closer alignment with your way, your kingdom way, in the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, we pray for that heartbeat, Lord, for our nation.

That's in your heart for our nation.

Lord, just stir it up in us.

In the name of Jesus today.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

God bless you.