Understanding the Kingdom of God (Pt 15) : Kingdom Leadership: Breaking Free from Religious Institutionalism to Embrace True Biblical Authority

After Jesus baptism and his temptation, he started preaching. And in Matthew chapter five, he starts his public discourse,

which we know as the Sermon on the mount. Matthew 5, in Matthew 23, he gives his last discourse in the last week

of his human life, before his death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

And what's fascinating is that in both of those two issues, when he starts his ministry and when he completes his ministry,

he's talking to his disciples. So others watched, others listened to others maybe took notes.

But the content of what was shared was aimed straight at the disciples of Jesus, not the masses.

In Greek, they're called the hoi polloi, the masses, the people out there. This was intended for the followers of Jesus.

If you read the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus calls them together and it says he began to teach them.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Never mind crowds and multitudes followed. He taught them because he had a kingdom he wanted to give them.

And they were going to go and preach this kingdom, and they were going to establish this kingdom.

Are you with me so far? They were going to establish this kingdom. So he speaks kingdom principles to them.

At the end of Matthew 23, he does exactly the same. And he tells them what to beware.

What do you watch out for when you're going to take this kingdom to the ends of the earth?

This gospel message needs to go to the ends of the earth. What are you going to. How are you going to package it?

What are you going to take it with? And when Jesus does this, I want you to see, in both cases, he aims straight at the religious establishment.

In Matthew 5. 7, he deals with false prophets, prophets. And in Matthew 23, he deals with Pharisees, scribes and teachers of the law.

And in both cases, he goes straight for the heart and what he's going to show us. Because remember, you need a thing.

For those of you clever people who've studied theology, you study something called sitsam leben.

To any theologians in this room, know what I'm talking about. Normally a second year study sitzim leben, which means your situation in life

when someone is writing, talking, illustrating. Have a look at what is the context that brought the conversation to be your sitzim leben.

Jesus was dealing with people that heard, watched, saw his authority, but refused to listen and refused to submit to it.

Israel had a temple. They had what we call the temple locust. They had temple worship that had been set in place

way, way, way, way, way back by Moses. And there was a way for God's people to worship and remember Moses was a prophet.

And Moses had heard the word of the Lord. He established the temple, the tabernacle, as the place where the Lord would dwell.

He would permanently live among his people. And then there was ways in terms of sin.

There was ways in terms of teaching, of instruction that were given to the people.

That when this wandering bunch of people in the desert needed to become a people, they were given a central focus.

And that central focus was the presence of God, the temple, and how to address God, the law. That's what they were given.

And Moses was a prophet. And Moses ministered. And after Moses, we got the time of the judges.

Remember from Joshua, we had the judges. And after the judges. And some were good, some were bad.

They said, no, no, we want a king. And Samuel still said, but God is your king. No, we want a king just like the other nations.

And Samuel still said, this is a very bad idea. And God said, but give him a king and I'll get onto my notes just now.

Some kings were good, some kings were bad. Then the nation went into exile because of their disobedience.

And they try to keep those two things in place. A temple for his presence and a law for how to engage him.

And both of those got messed up. The temple gets destroyed. And instead of the law, a group of people arose

known as Pharisees, teachers of the law, scribes. They took it on themselves to ring fence the word of God.

They were so scared that a Jew would disobey the word of God that they created laws before the laws.

So if you don't break those, you won't break these. Like South Africa today, Remember, you have barbed wire, security fences.

When you get in, you have Rottweilers. If you get through the Rottweilers, you have security company.

If you get through that, you have barred windows. And if you get through that, welcome to a shotgun and you're gonna get holy.

So that's what the Mishnah was for. But the prophets were no longer there. Who was left? These Pharisees.

And when Jesus addresses them, and I might turn to it just now, he still says, these are the Pharisees who sit in Moses seat,

these teachers of the law, that there was no provision made for in the old covenant.

These teachers of the law have taken it on themselves to sit in Moses seat, to sit in the prophetic seat.

And they don't hear what God is saying prophetically. They want to dumb everything down to a system of laws.

And what Jesus was warning about was the message of the Gospel, the preaching of the Kingdom of God.

The greatest danger to it is if it gets institutionalized. When you've got Pharisees sitting in the seat of the prophets

and they start deciding how things work. And Jesus used terminology like new and old wineskins.

And I want you to remember, these Pharisees, teachers of the law and scribes, were older people.

When Jesus in Matthew 5. 7 addresses his disciples, their average age was 15 to 18.

When he addressed them in Matthew 23, they were between 17 and 19 years old. His audience, but his opposition were much older.

And Jesus knew that the greatest threat to the church would not come from outside. It would come from inside.

Even Paul knew, when I leave, savage wolves will come among you. Even Paul knew it's not the enemy, it's from inside institutional church.

So I want to ask you this question. When we look at the kingdom of God and we're looking at kingdom leadership or biblical leadership,

Jesus goes straight for the issues of the heart. Straight for the heart. Do you know the currency of the kingdom is your heart?

He goes straight there. Matthew 7:17. A good tree. Jesus says, I'm going to open my Bible to Matthew

Matthew 7:17

because we're going to be in there for the morning. In Matthew 7:17, a good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.

Matthew 7:17

A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that doesn't produce good fruit

is chopped down, thrown in the fire. And yes, these lines should be underlined in your Bible.

Just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. And an action reveals a heart.

Jesus was emphasizing fruitfulness as the measure of a person or of a ministry.

In other words, it's not so much what you say, it's what's following you. And in context, verse 17 has just come after verse 15,

which says, Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really vicious wolves.

You can identify them by the fruit, that is, by the way they act. And then it carries on to the part I've just read to you.

You see, fruitfulness in the kingdom is determined by a factor that no one else except you can see, because it's your own heart.

It's what's happening inside you. So what happens inside you by the Spirit of God produces an outside response,

which is how people are supposed to measure you. And that's why Proverbs 4:23 says, Guard your heart above all else,

Proverbs 4:23

for it determines the course of your life. Guard your heart above all Else. And we're going to see here how even as God

has called this church to plant churches to plant, connect groups as beachheads into our communities.

We were told the other day that Johannesburg is growing by 70 people an hour. 70 people an hour.

We're already the biggest city in South Africa and we're going to double in the next six years.

But the rich people are going to Cape Town. Some are going to the north coast of Natal.

The rich people want to go to the Western Cape where there's no potholes. They want a boring life where everything works.

Mini heaven they call it. Okay, I made that up. But you know what I'm saying. But people are coming into Johannesburg.

Migrants, people looking for opportunities for. Because we still the hub of the country in terms of our financial base.

And can I tell you that when God is going to add 70 people per hour to Gauteng, this church needs to plant churches.

We need to figure out where they're going to live. And we need to go there so that you can find us on every street corner.

We need to grow. Folks, you need to take yourself beyond we attend church on a Sunday to the fact that there's a call and a mission on us.

And then I want you to take it back to this passage where Jesus is telling the same thing to a group of guys.

I want you to take this gospel to your own Judea, your own area, Jerusalem, your Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

I want you to take this gospel out. But in it, above everything else, you're going to have to guard your own heart

because it's going to be attacked at every level. And you know what happens when you give up? You just go with the institution.

Because the institution's rules have been set for years. We just go with it. We don't ever question.

And Jesus is saying, watch your heart. Matthew 12:33. Jesus carries on with these Pharisees.

Matthew 12:33

A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.

You brood of snakes. Can you imagine I said that some of you want to leave church if I call you snakes.

But it's okay if Jesus is allowed to, eh? And he's not talking to you anyway. He's talking in context to other people.

You brood of snakes. How could evil men like you speak what's good and what's right?

In other words, you stand in Moses seat and you tell everyone what's right and you tell everyone what's wrong.

But what Gives you the right, he says to them, to decide what's good and what's right.

What you're going to discover is that they're hanging onto a man made authority. There's no call of God,

for whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart.

And an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this,

you will give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.

Then, as I say, if I've got the time, you go to Matthew chapter 23. And then Jesus begins to deal with these Pharisees,

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

these teachers of the law. He deals with them strongly in terms of heart attitudes. And the context is that God,

Jesus understood that way, way, way, way, way back in the times of Moses, when God revealed himself in fire and in glory

and in deliverance and in miracles, through the Exodus and the signs and the wonders.

When God revealed his heart to his people, were they not meant to go and be a light to the Gentiles?

Were they not meant to go out and proclaim to everybody, you need to know this God, you need to fall in love with him.

Jesus knew that the call of God upon Israel was to demonstrate the heart of God, to communicate the heart of God to the world.

But by the time of Jesus, it was nothing but laws, hundreds and hundreds of laws, bigotry and bitterness.

And Jesus wanted to undo the institution that held the name of his Father. And he wanted to bring life.

And it was going to be through these young men. But because Israel has worked away from the mandate,

they're developing systems, laws, beliefs, leaders who work against God while actually trying to work for him.

And there's a parable I'm not going to read now on the workers in the vineyard, if you remember.

And a guy goes away and he leaves workers in the vineyard, then he sends a prophet,

he sends someone to go and get some of the produce and they kill him and they chase away.

And then the end he sends his son. Surely he'll listen to me because it's mine. And they kill the Son.

And when Jesus tells the story, the Pharisees don't know exactly what's going on. He's talking about them and he's saying,

you are looking after the vineyard of the Father in heaven, but you're killing the prophet.

You're dealing with those who try to bring the word of God. You're not helping you standing in Moses seat. But you're not helping.

You're far more concerned with yourself than you are with the people. And when Jesus prophetically said,

then they killed the son, guess what happened? They did kill the son. And Jesus was giving a warning

that there are people who can sit in a seat where they exercise God's power and God's authority,

but they're not with him in their hearts. And if you take that into 21 1st century Johannesburg,

the church cannot be in the place where she speaks for him, but her hearts are not with him.

That's why we need revival, because we need our hearts to get back to a king where we're not institutionalized,

but our hearts are good. And revival starts in the heart. And I got like eight points

of which obviously I'm going to get through one, maybe two this morning. But the first place where Jesus wants us to look is by their fruit.

Because the heart produces the fruit that you see. You can't hide it. Jesus points out fruits and says,

if you know the fruit, you know the tree. So you identify people by their actions. And then Jesus talks about false prophets.

What he's doing is he's contrasting the difference between the inner and the outer person

and saying that Christianity actually starts on the inside. It's a religion of the heart.

The root of of Christian faith and behavior is found in your heart. It doesn't matter how much good behavior you project.

You haven't got the real thing. If you haven't got a good heart, it doesn't matter what the outside looks like in public.

Are you okay? God is talking about inside. Say, watch out. And remember, you're going to find now

that the religious leaders had judicial authority, they had institutional authority, but they did not have a call from God.

They couldn't do a thing that Jesus did. Remember, they marveled about Jesus teaching, they marveled about his actions.

Jesus didn't have their qualifications and it hacked them off, but he had the spirit of the living God.

So they had an institutional authority with no power. And they didn't see it because their hearts were wrong.

And you know how many churches are praying for a Bible? They're saying, God, do something with our churches.

But the problem is it's never going to change until the hearts change. And so that's what we've got to go after.

The fruit is a sign of the heart. So you go to churches that are struggling, closing, not doing well,

you meet with people that is a sign of a heart that's already sick. And if you want life back in the institution,

you've got to get to the heart. And if the heart can change, that's why, remember to Jeremiah,

he will give you a new heart. He will take out your old hearts of stone and. And put a new heart inside you.

That's where this needs to go. So the first sign that institutionalism has set in is that the hearts are sick.

The second sign is instead of feeding the sheep, they eat the sheep. Now, look, I'm all for some lamb, okay?

Personally, lamb chops right up there in my top three things, along with my other two, lamb chops.

And out of the heart, you either benefit people or you derive benefit from people. It's one or the other.

And leading up to this discussion of good and bad fruit, Jesus said, watch out for those false prophets. Watch out for them.

So what Jesus is saying is, watch out for those who are leading because just because they're leading,

you don't know where they're leading to. You don't know what their goal is. You don't know where they're pointing at.

And as you and I plant churches and do the things we do, we need to remember that the heart reveals

your inward desires, mannerisms, motives, and traditions. What you are inside actually governs you.

That whole thing of the toothpaste tube, when you squeeze it, what's in comes out.

You can't have Bluetooth paste to squeeze it and ping comes out. What's in comes out under pressure, what's in comes out.

And he's warning us that we want to be a kind of a church where when people squeeze us, they benefit from us.

But he's talking here about prophets that seem to be sheep, but they're actually ravenous wolves.

They're among the people to derive benefit from them. You know, we have the privilege of ministering

in different cities in different countries around the world, and I get to see this all the time.

You got leaders who speak Christian lingo. They read Christian Bibles, they act Christian in public.

But Jesus says, look for their fruit, look for their way of life, look for their testimony,

look for their ministry results, their effectiveness. Look at their relationships,

look at their ability to replicate themselves in others. Can I give you just a few tips to look out for

when you're in the place where we want to go and do good and we want to help. These are warning signs to what Jesus was showing us.

The first would be weak devolution of authority, where authority and decision making sits with a person or a family only.

And. And it's never shared among. Do you see, Jesus sends 12, two by two and he says, you go out.

All authority's been given to me. I give you authority. When the hearts are good and it's for the benefit of others,

there's a devolution of authority. You're teaching people to stand by themselves.

You're not the father, mother in the home, always having to tell everyone, I'm the father. And obviously you are.

But the more you say I'm the father, the more you act like you're not. Even when you are,

those of you who play sport will know there's a thing called losing the change room.

And when a coach has lost the change room, it means that the players no longer support, they're out.

And by now in Israel's history, they just didn't want to be rejected. That's why they stayed. But in their hearts they were out.

And then Jesus and his disciples come preaching a new gospel from a good heart.

And the people flow locked to them because people know instinctively if you are there for their benefit or to use them.

The benefit of the church is servant hearted leadership. We got to watch out for those who hijack authority

to exert dominance over people. We want to get and keep God's people free.

While we were in Nigeria recently, we went and met a rather important person in one town, one city.

And when I walked in, I didn't know the protocol obviously, and I've known him for 20 some years.

So I walked in, shook his hand, gave him a big hug, said how good it was to see him.

I then stood aside and Uri and Tom were with me. They'll back this up.

Everyone else who walked in the room, literally, the men got down on their knees and the woman got down on their faces before him.

I remember specifically in the Bible, in it being condemned in the Bible and there was this thing and I felt sick inside.

I thought, what's going on here? Why do I bring that up? Because you see what Jesus was getting at

is the heart of insecure leadership, fake leadership. In marriages, the more you shout,

the less authority you have as a husband. I would have said wives, but they shout for nothing.

Except mine. Mine never shuts ever, ever. Where is she? Hi.

And you know what happens when a church loses its authority is when it takes benefit from the people

instead of benefiting the people. And he tells us, wherever we go and whatever we do from here on out,

our goal is to look at people. And number one, we bear good fruit from a good heart.

And then we make sure that we're There for the benefit of others. It's the whole goal. We're never there to eat the sheep.

We're there to feed the sheep, to make sure that they are well looked out for. Are you okay?

And that means sometimes we've got to behave a bit like Jesus to benefit people. I just looked at how Jesus treated people.

He said he is gentle and lowly in spirit. That's the yoke we take on ourselves.

He said to turn the other cheek. He said to forgive. 70 times, seven times a day.

He welcomed children, the broken and the lost. In fact, the only times we see Jesus angry in the Bible

is at the religious establishment where they stop the people from getting to God. Do you remember?

He got angry with Pharisees, teachers of the law. And then he got angry in the temple, do you remember?

And he wound himself a nice whip. Remember? Jesus was so measured. He goes in the afternoon, he goes to the temple,

he has a look, checks everything out. All right, I'll be back tomorrow, boys. Has a quiet time that night,

makes himself a long whip, goes back the next morning, turns over, all the money changes.

And what was the issue there? When you can't sell a book at the bookshop? Because that's what it's trying to say. Rubbish, man.

If you know where they were offering these animals birds, turtle doves, goats, lambs, cows,

where were they offering them to be sacrificed? In the first court where Jesus chased them out,

which was the court of the Gentiles, because remember, only Jews were allowed into the inner place.

The Gentiles had to be in the outer courts. So what do the Jews do? We're going to start our stuff at the outer courts where the Gentiles are.

And Jesus said, it's a house of prayer for all nations. And the Gentiles, for whom this gospel is intended,

have got to get through all your buying and selling to get there. You stopping them coming to the king.

And that's what made him so angry. And outside of that, he was gentle, he was kind.

And can I tell you, people in South Africa need kindness. We need a lot more kindness.

And that's the church being a bit more like Jesus. Number three. And we'll close of eight of my introduction.

Anointing based authority and ability. Anointing based authority and ability.

In other words, what I'm asking is, what's powering your heart? If your heart is a battery or an engine this morning,

what's powering it? In that parable I told you about the workers in the vineyard where Jesus goes and says,

can you give us some of the produce, please? And the managers say, no. And they beat the prophets and all of that.

The context in that last week of Jesus ministry is what he's trying to say is this.

There's a joyful way the common people and some of the leaders accepted Jesus. They're very excited.

They gather around him. They want to know more about him. Even Nicodemus comes and everyone wants to know a bit more about Jesus.

And can you heal this one? And can you minister here? And whenever he even goes out to the wilderness, thousands follow him.

The people loved him. They were open to him. Remember Palm Sunday? Hosanna. Hosanna.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They celebrated. Is this possibly the Messiah?

The local people loved that Jesus was there. But Jesus knew where his opposition was going to come from.

It was going to come from the power structure of Israel. You see, Jesus threatened the entire power structure

of Israel's leaders because he didn't care for their institutional authority at all,

because he knew it was man derived, not from God. They opposed him. They had an authority structure.

And the problem is Jesus wasn't part of it. So they couldn't coerce him to do what they wanted him to do.

And if you look at our nation, there are power structures that you and I are not a part of,

and we don't want to be a part of that. From a good heart that seeks to benefit people,

we need to know that the authority we carry comes from the Lord himself, that God has called you.

You don't need institutional authority to do so. I bet there's ladies in this room who can cook the most amazing meals.

And you've never went to chef school. How dare you? There are guys in this room who fix their own cars,

they fix their own bikes, and you don't even have a license from Toyota to do so. How can you? Because you have an ability.

You have an ability. And I want to tell you that when you called by God, when your heart is in the right place

and you want to live for the benefit of others, God comes to a church and he says, I will give you my authority.

And my authority is not dependent on an authority that's institutional. You can go and do what I've called you to do.

I give you authority. And I think what hacked them off was that Jesus had more influence than they did,

and he could do more than they did. There's an authority, an anointing that comes from God that he wants to give.

I believe in my Spirit God is going to raise up now a nameless, faceless people across all age groups

who have determined, I'm going to keep my heart clean, I'm going to live for the benefit of others

and I'm going to trust God for an authority that comes from him. And when you go to lay hands on the sick,

if anyone asks first, what are your credentials, you just say in Jesus name, In Jesus name.

We have been part of discussions which never worked out to go and be part of an institutional church group

in another country where the average Sunday attendance is around 30, 40 people, average age 65, 70.

And one of the first things they discussed with us was what are the things that can change and what are the things that can't.

Institutional authority always wants to hold on. The problem is when God is not in it, it just dies a slow death, you know.

In the United States of America, the average age of a pastor in 2000 was 50.

The average age in 2025 is 57. It's gradually aging because no young people are coming into ministry

because they don't trust the institutional church anymore. Average age of traditional churches in the United States of America is 60 to 70.

And half the workforce is 60 and older, which means they're not going out at night,

they're not packing chairs anymore, they don't want long church services. And the institutional church

is on a decline in every country in the world. But modern charismatic Pentecostal Christianity

is growing at a rate it's never grown in the world before. For the simple reason that there are guys and girls

who are saying, I will keep my heart clean, I will live for the benefit of others and,

and I'm going to trust for a supernatural anointing from my God to go and benefit people.

And I'm going to walk with like minded people who see what I see. And that is Kingdom leadership in the church.

Jesus took this group of young guys who were wild when one lot weren't accepted in a town.

They literally asked Jesus permission to burn the town. And Jesus laughed and teased them,

called them the Bogenes, the sons of Thomas, Thunder, John and James. We preached, they didn't want to let us in.

Can we kill them, Lord? Listen, 17 and 18 year olds say things like that, it's okay.

And Jesus was preparing them for a world, showing them that Kingdom leadership will be about those three simple things.

Can you keep your heart clean, that your fruit can be clean? Can you live for the benefit of others,

not to derive benefit from them? Will you feed the sheep rather than eat them. And then thirdly,

can you trust God for an anointing from him? Where do you start? I said two weeks ago, we all live.

We've been given a kingdom over which we rule. Start in your own life, get up in the morning on time and seek God first.

Start to be king of your time instead of your watch or Netflix or something else.

If you're a husband, look after your wife properly. If you're a wife, look after your husband. Probably kids, parents, etc.

Start where you are and say, I'm going to take authority in this place. I want to have a kingdom, authority in how I lead.

And it's to serve and to lay my life down. And it's to bless and it's to honor. It's to be like Jesus.

I'm gentle, I'm lowly. Take my yoke upon you. I need you to hear this morning that our city doesn't need more horrible people.

Our city needs good people. People have heard the voice of the Lord. Matthew 7:28.

Matthew 7:28

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed. His teaching, for he taught with real authority,

quite unlike their teachers of religious law. Mark 1:27. Amazement gripped the audience and they began to discuss

Mark 1:27

what had happened. What sort of new teaching is this? They asked excitedly. It has such authority.

Even evil spirits obey his orders. The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.

Don't you want people to talk excitedly? Because we talking about Jesus. Don't you want the news to spread

that there are churches out there who actually just love Jesus and want to demonstrate him to the world around them?

That people can come and find hope and life and joy again in a place where the spirit of God

is allowed to be the spirit of God. Biblical leadership, keeping your heart clean, feeding the sheep,

and trusting God for His authority. You need his anointing before you need any other.

I have ministered in churches with people who have more certificates than I'll ever have,

and they've never done a thing for God. A piece of paper doesn't make you anything.

It just means you can go to SARS and get permission to open up a church. Honestly, that's what it means.

Remember? I might get to it next week. Go into Jesus. Who gave you this authority? Who?

Who gave you this authority? What did Jesus say? I got a question for you. John's baptism, was it from man or from God?

Hey, these ox are going to talk to each other. We've got a problem. How are we going to answer this?

Well, I don't Know, because if we say it's from man, they're going to kill us. Because all these people have repented.

Thousands went to John for repentance. Thousands. If we say this is man, we show that we've missed the boat by mile.

But we've got a bigger problem. If we say, yes, it's from God, then we have to acknowledge Jesus.

Because when John saw Jesus, he said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John said, it was told me that the one on whom the spirit descends, he's the Son of God whose shoes I'm not worthy to untie.

He told this to everyone. And then when Jesus came, he acknowledged him. So Jesus goes to these Pharisees and said,

I got a question for you. That baptism of John's, was it from God or from man?

In other words, where do you see real authority coming from? What did those chickens say? We don't know.

So Jesus said, then neither will I tell you where mine comes from. I don't have to justify it to you.

And then he comes to his church and he says, all power and all authority has been given me.

I now send you into a broken, lost, crying world. And I'm going to ask you to watch your heart.

I'm going to ask you to feed the sheep. And I'm going to ask you to receive my anointing.

And I'm going to ask you to go and do good to a world that needs you. Stand with me now as we close.

For the rest of us, I feel God wants to release a fresh anointing. I really do. A fresh anointing upon our lives.

So can I pray for every single person in this room that God move upon all of us now?

Raise your hands with me, Lord, we don't even have words. But your authority came because the Holy Spirit descended on you.

Because your father said, this is my son with whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him.

And then you said to your disciples, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. And I send you.

And so we stand with arms raised this morning. Guys and girls, moms and dads, children, parents,

employers, employees, people in the workforce looking for work. And we call out to you together

and we ask you for an anointing from heaven to come upon us even now, Lord, work on our hearts.

Deal with any issues in our hearts. Help us bear fruit according to the inner state of our hearts.

Help us feed the sheep, Lord. Not eat them, let's feed them. And we leave this place this morning knowing this

we have an anointing and an authority from God to go and make much of the gospel of Jesus.

We thank you for the Holy Spirit's anointing upon us, Lord. And we go out of here in the fullness

of the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus. And may circumstances and situations around us this week

change for the good because we're in it. Bless us as we go to communicate your word with your anointing in Jesus name.

And God's people said, Amen. God bless you. Thank you so much for being a part of our meeting today.

Can I just ask two things? The first is if today the message has in any way been useful to you,

would you mind just maybe liking it or putting perhaps a statement down or a comment down

that we can know how the ministry has helped you, Maybe a thumbs up, maybe you can subscribe to the channel,

do whatever, just so we can know what impact this message may be having on you.

And secondly, you may be someone who's saying, greg, I hear you and this hope that Jesus has for us

can come into my heart and it can change me. But the reality is that I don't even know if I know Jesus.

I want to say two things to you right away. The first is he's near you right now.

The Bible says if you believe in your heart that he is the Lord, and if you confess him with your mouth, you will be saved.

Which means you just need to where you are. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ even now and just say, lord, here I am.

I recognize who you are. I confess my sin to you. I acknowledge you as Jesus Christ, the Lord of all,

the Son of the living God. And I want to follow you. I want to become a disciple of yours.

I want to give my life to you, Lord. And you can pray that prayer right now between you and the Lord.

Secondly, you can get hold of us. We could either send you some material, we can put you in touch

with a really good church near you. If you live in our area, you can come to us, you can follow us on YouTube.

But it is good to get connected into the family of God, to get connected into a local church

that your life changes being surrounded with the family of God. Please stay in touch. God bless you.