Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:09 We have been over the summer, looking at a theme called equip the saints. And it has been a really simple theme, but I believe really profound. And the simplicity of it is this, that every single person in the body of Christ, which is another name given to the church, every single person has been given a gift or a grace from God to be a part of a team to make a difference, not just in a sort of a slightly aspirational way that we can do a little bit more, but together we can see a miracle happen on the face of the earth. Yeah. Amen. As the body of Christ demonstrates the glory of God to the nations. And so we have been looking at the key scripture in Ephesians for which talks about God giving five gifts or graces to the church to equip the saints.
Speaker 0 00:01:03 That's you and I, to equip the saints for works of service, if you've not been part of those previous weeks or you've missed one. And I wonder, we've really encourage you to watch back on YouTube or Facebook and catch up with all of the previous series. It will help you no end. And it will be a key part of the development of this church for years to come. So it's not just like an interesting thing. It's an important thing. So you might, those of you who've been around over the summer, you might say, well, mark, week one, he did an introduction and then weeks 2, 3, 4, 5, and six. We've looked at the five, a pest gifts, which are apostle profit evangelist, shepherd and teacher. We've been through all of those. We've taken one a week. What are you gonna do this week? Well, I had a bit of a summary all prepared and, um, in my mind as to how this was gonna work out and normally in a Sunday, I would have about 10 pages on my iPad of notes today.
Speaker 0 00:02:14 I have a title and four lines <laugh>. And the reason for this is I, when the news of the last few days began, became apparent of how this was stirring. So many people, I thought maybe I should just postpone the end for another week, but I decided as I saw some things that were happening around us, that there were some really helpful and interest in imagery that we could draw from to conclude this series. Also, I've noticed that everybody in the last few days outta fear of saying something wrong or making a mistake has pretty much read word to word, word for word by word, from notes. And I've decided today that I would speak from my heart and that it would be spontaneous. And that it would be something that I believe is not, I'm just not making it up as I go along.
Speaker 0 00:03:17 I've been living with this stuff for a long time, but I hope that it'll just be a bit more of a natural flow just to connect our hearts together today. Church has become so different to God's intention. Yeah. It has become a victim of so much of the ways of this world. Yes. The biggest enemy that you and I face, the biggest idol that we challenged with, no matter what your age, what your culture, what your background, the biggest nemesis that you and I face in our own lives is consumerism. Yeah. It's the, what I want, what I need. That's not a new thing. It's been there for generations. In fact, it was that that seemed to go back to the garden of Eden. And there was a sense of eating of the fruit that was told you shouldn't eat about, well, I want to, I want to, I want to do things, my work and in a sense we've created and structured churches that allow consumerism to be rampant.
Speaker 0 00:04:27 Because now, please don't hear this as a condemnation. I'm talking to my own heart. I have the inclination as much as you to be a consumer, but we've created structures where people attend services to get something. Yes. Yeah. What did, what happened to Chessman? I got really blessed. They sang my favorite songs. They, someone prayed for me or someone recognized my ministry and encouraged me. And we used the benchmark of whether our experience is good or not. By how much we got. Yes. If I was to put a service on that said double blessings available next week, come along. It probably would be more well attended. Yeah. Than, Hey, what about coming next week? And interceding for our nation? Why would it be different? Well, one meets the needs of consumers. That's right. And the other calls us to die. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And the realities are that you and I struggle dying.
Speaker 0 00:05:34 Yeah. You and I find it difficult to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Yeah. You and I find it difficult to claim. I have been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I that live, but it's Christ who lives in me. We're much rather quote, I am a new creation. The oldest gone, the newest come. I am blessed, blessed on every side to a thousand generations. I'm blessed. I'm blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Jesus. We love quoting those things. And those things are true and wonderful and, and just beautiful in the favor and the grace of the Lord. But there is also a call before you step into the truth. You have to die to the lie. Amen. It's impossible to live with the lie and live with the truth. It's impossible to live with the blessings of the kingdom of God and to live with the blessings of the things that minister to us, from the things of this world.
Speaker 0 00:06:38 It's impossible. We need to die to the old self before we come alive with a new self. Yeah. And we've created this sort of halfway home. We've created this culture, this ability to be able to have a, a proclamation of truth, but without the living reality of it really stirring our own soul. And so, as someone who struggles with these, with these things myself, as someone who knows, I need to die, I need to become less. And he needs to become more. Amen. I appeal to us as a church, as a community of God's people to die. Amen. To our selfishness. Yeah. Amen. To our consumerism. Yeah. Amen. Selfish. You know, most people. And, and I, again, I don't decry this at all. I don't condemn you for it, but most people join a new church because of what they get. Yes. Right. I like the worship. I like the kids' work. I know we want, we want to do our best. We want all of these ministries to bless people who are participants, but that's, that's the doorway. It's not the content.
Speaker 0 00:08:06 Let me tell you what the content is. My belief from the scripture of how I interpret this into a picture and an image around this theme of equipping the saints is that there are, there are going to be, if you like five fields. Now, if you are into a little bit of knowledge around agriculture, you know that there are certain things grow better in certain sorts of earth, with certain sorts of nutrients and so on. And I see a vision of the church having five fields and in one field is all the nutrients to grow. The first of the fiber of the AEST, the apostolic and that the apostolic is fed with nutrients and the things that are required to help those who have an apostolic grace on their life to grow. And then another field is cultivated to grow the prophetic that the prophetic gifts rise and flourish.
Speaker 0 00:09:14 Another field is cultivated for the evangelistic to grow, and then another field for the shepherd in gifts to grow another field for the teaching graces gifts to grow. So my question to you is, if we said, the only way to be part of this church is to choose which of those five fields you're gonna be in. There's no six field. There's no, like let's just hang out here, see what happens. There's no field of rejection. There's no field of inferiority. There's no field that says I'm not good enough. Come on God. When he calls you into his kingdom, he has implanted upon you grace. Yeah. To be able to walk into one of those fields that, that live the call that God's placed on your life. Amen. Come on. And here's the analogy from these last few days we see, and those who would be critics of the Royal system that we have, the sovereign system, they will say it's undemocratic because they, we never voted for our queen or our king.
Speaker 0 00:10:35 And they will label that as a critique and a criticism and allude to a better way. Now, I, I don't know the ins and outs of the better or the worse way of politics. It's not my area. And I keep out of areas that I'm not knowledgeable about, but I do know this, that to be able to be appointed as king or queen, that there is never been a time in our recent history where that happens, because someone has been lined up and chosen as the best candidate or somebody has been voted by popular vote, or someone has been through an interview process to be tested as to whether they are the best person to take on that role. There's only one way that someone is appointed, come on as royalty. Yes. And that is, they are born, born to it, into it. Yes. Born to do it.
Speaker 0 00:11:35 Now, did you know when Nicodemus came to Jesus, he was a very well respected teacher and he came to Jesus at night. So others wouldn't see him quiz in this strange man that was doing all sorts of spectacular things in the community. And he asked how he could inherit the kingdom of God. And Jesus said, these words to him, unless a man is born again. He cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nicodemus responded to that phrase, born again, by saying, are you saying to me that I need to go back into my mother's womb to be born a second time?
Speaker 0 00:12:30 Of course that's not possible. And Jesus said, no, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Did you know that your Royal priesthood from God has been conferred upon you? Not because of merit, not because of you coming through some selection process, which decides you are the most worthy, but simply because when we come to Christ, we are born again. Amen. And as a result of being born again, you are conferred with all of those Royal rights of the kingdom of heaven. Now that might sound like an interesting bit of information, but it is way more than that because you have been granted by God in Ephesians one, it talks about being blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Jesus it's been conferred upon you. It has been given you. Yes. So I wonder if I asked how many of you here feel like your imposters in the kingdom? I wonder if I was to ask, how many of you feel rejected in your life? Second clause, inferior. Inadequate. I wonder if I was to ask you to honestly admit if you sensed any of those feelings and to stand, I wonder how many would stand. I think there would be quite a lot of you.
Speaker 0 00:14:24 And yet the realities are that God confers his call and his opportunity and his inheritance upon it. Let's look at a verse from Ephesians three, verse seven. It says this by God's grace and mighty power. Yes. It's really important that you see that, that it's not because you've earned it or you've been voted it's by God's grace. Our ability to be born again is by God's grace. Our ability to do anything for the kingdom of God is by God's grace. And we see the stories of the last few days fit in our new screens of the sense of diligence and duty and service that our queen gave because she was born into this inherited, call it this inherited responsibility. And she would often say, pray that God would Grammy his grace to do this well. And it's by God's grace and mighty power. I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this good news, the privilege, the privilege.
Speaker 0 00:16:07 There are many critics of royalty who talk about their unfair privilege. Let me tell you about the privilege of the kingdom of God. Let me tell you about the goodness of God that's in your life. Let me tell you what the faithfulness of God that you've never discern. You've never earned. Yeah. You've never fully grasped for you will never do enough to repay the kindness of God. And yet you have inherited it. Yes. By gods grace. Thank you Jesus. By God's grace. Amen. And every lie that tells you, you're not good enough. You need to say those words. This is by God's grace. I wonder whether prince Charles King Charles, the third. Now I wonder whether he needed to see the headlines in the morning, newspapers with the pictures. I wonder if he needed to hear the declaration of the trumpets before he believed it himself. I wonder what trumpets you need to hear. I wonder what headlines you need to see. Listen, the only headline you need to see is God saying by his grace and his mighty power, he has given us the privilege. Yes.
Speaker 0 00:17:27 And then he said, well, I've got that privilege. Let's look at verse 20 to 21 in Ephesians three, which is the chapter before our key text that we've been looking at, it says now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power to work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might or think glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Now, if you keep the verse up, please now all glory to God. The purpose of God's people is to bring glory to God's the demonstrate this world, how great our God is. We're called to be a sound system. Yes. That not amplifies our own music or our own sound. We're called to be a sound system where Jesus is at the microphone, but we are making him loud in the earth. Yes. That's what the church is called to be. And we're called to do this with humility, with no desire for our own selfish ambition, but to bring him glory. Now, all glory to God who is able through his mighty power, where's the mighty power of God
Speaker 1 00:18:47 To the church.
Speaker 0 00:18:49 It's the right answer. It's in the church. The mighty power of God is at work through his people. But why do we live? Like it's inferior today compared to the book of acts? Why do we live? Like as if there's a diluted version of God that's present in the earth right now, I tell you why it is it's because we are living with, with sack, cloth and ashes and not putting our Royal robes on. And we don't know our authority. We don't understand what God has conferred upon us. It's a moment I was hearing when queen was cor when the coronation took place 70 years ago. And there was that moment. When in the ceremony, she was taken behind a screen, she was anointed with oil. And this was that symbolism of God, let your glory and your presence and your wisdom surround up queen.
Speaker 0 00:19:56 And you know, the reality is the glory of God is present through his people, the church, and he an annoys us. Amen. He paws himself upon us. Amen. Amen. It's time to rise up and to come out of the sixth field of your rejection. Yes. Or, or to take away your DFS couch from the six field and enjoy lounging around and start to pick up your responsibilities and recognize that God has placed Royal robes upon us and said that we are to give him glory amen. For all generations, forever and ever Lord, we pray that there will be glory in the church. I pray in the ahead that there will be thousands of apostolic ministries that rise up. Amen. Mark. Did you say thousands? I did. Yes, because this goes beyond what we do on Sunday. Yes. This is the people of God rise it. I pray that there will be thousands of prophetic ministries at rise up. Amen. Thousands of evangelistic ministries. Thousands of shepherd in ministries. Yes. Amen. Thousands of teachers teaching ministries. And I believe that as we all rise into that call, suddenly the jigsaw begins to piece together. And you know, the image on the jigsaw it's Jesus. And as the church pieces together, the world, see the Lord in his glory. Amen. So come outta the sixth field and finally, a conclusion. This come back to Ephesians four. Let's look at verses one to three.
Speaker 0 00:21:56 Therefore I a prisoner for serving the Lord. I beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling. Those of you that saw prince Charles, sorry, king Charles first address to the nation's king will hear him say something along the lines of, you know, the things I've been committed to and the things I've done prior as prince of Wales, I'm no longer going to be able to do. I recognize that this new office, this new throne that I'll be taken up is going to require change in my life. Do you know that the Lord requires change of us? Yes. In line with our calling, yes. That there are duties and responsibilities that he infers upon us that are in line with the worthiness of our calling. I beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling. Come on, apostolic people and prophetic people and evangelistic people and shepherding people.
Speaker 0 00:23:04 And teaching people live a life worthy of your calling. Yes. For you have been called by God. This is not a rediscover initiative. This is a kingdom initiative. This is not a call from mark at the front of the church on a Sunday. This is a call from the spirit. Come on. This is a call for the spirit that he gives plays grace upon people. And he is saying, come on now, rise into that. Grace grow and live a life worthy of it. It's been a lot of talk over the last few days about this word, humble humility. We've been shown story after story of how the queen could have used maybe her powers to have led in a different way, but there was often a humility about her. I believe the world is sick and tired of pride. Yeah. Sick and tired of arrogance.
Speaker 0 00:24:01 Yeah. The church. Hey, listen. If you are in the prophetic field, the issue is not for you to rise up and say, Hey, I'm a prophet. Come on. The issue is to be a prophet. Come on. There's a story that one of the Queens, former advisors tells that he was in bowel moral with a queen and they went out for a picnic and they went to a fairly remote location. They'd been there previously a number of times and normally no one's around. But on this particular day, they're sitting down in their picnic and they see two people in the distance walking towards them. So as they come close, they begin to talk and it becomes apparent very quickly that these two Americans on, on a walking holiday are completely unaware that this lady is the queen. And so they're talking to her and she asks them what they're doing here. And they say, they're on holiday. And they begin to talk about some of their life back in the states. And then they say, do you live here? And they said, no, no, no. I'm, I've got a holiday home here. And we come here once a year. And they said, you come every year. Wow. Have you ever met the queen? <laugh>
Speaker 0 00:25:21 And the queen said, I've never met her, but he's met her loads of times. <laugh> and they look to the guy in there saying you've met the queen. Wow. That's amazing. What's she like? And then they say, could we have a photograph with you to take back and show our friends that we've met someone who met the queen here? Would you take the photograph for us? Here's the queen taking the picture <laugh> she never did break her cover. When they went, she said, I love to be a fly on the wall when they get back to the states <laugh> and they find out who it was that took that picture. But you don't need to tell people who you are. Well, you just have to be it.
Speaker 2 00:26:13 Yes.
Speaker 0 00:26:15 Too many people with titles, too many people trying to get positions. Yes. You don't need it. You just need to be it. Come on. She didn't need to say she was queen. You just needed a be queen. You don't need to say you're a prophet, just profit. Just prophesy. You don't need to go around telling the world you're in apostle, just apostle. You don't need to tell the world that you're a shepherd. Or do you know that church don't recognize me, got a gift of shepherd on my life. And they haven't invited me the pastoral team. Just stop it and just love people. Come on. Just care for them because it's not for your glory. God is looking for humble and gentle leaders. Our goal is not to create these five fields. So we've got people saying, oh, we are the apostles in the church. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come on. No, be humble. Yes. Be gentle. Yes. Because it's a grace. Yes. That you've never earned that you've never deserved. Amen. But it's on your life. Let that grace flow all over you and let it work its way out through you and let your life be diligent in serving that inferred, graces upon you. Amen.
Speaker 0 00:27:36 Be patient with each other, make allowances for each other's faults because of your love. That's beautiful. Be patient. I've been in ministry a long time. Now I find it challenging to always be patient with people. Do you thank you for leaving me high and dry. And now making me think that I'm the only person in the room. Come on guilty. <laugh> some of you sat in my office telling me stories. I know you struggle with it.
Speaker 2 00:28:24 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:28:29 We're not perfect. There's no one perfect. Except Jesus. Yeah. And it's gonna require us to be kind to each other. Amen. Patient to each other. Amen. It's gonna require the teachers to champion the apostles for the shepherds to champion the evangelists. It's gonna require us not to get stuck into our echo chambers, but for us to love one another to celebrate and to say, I see the hand of God upon your life. Be patient, make allowances for each other's faults. You know, when we don't do that, we are highlighting ourselves as better than others. You know that cause you have faults.
Speaker 2 00:29:20 Yes.
Speaker 0 00:29:21 I have faults. If we are taking a position where we are not making allowance for other people's faults, we're saying I don't need anybody to make allowances from mine. And I'm sorry. They do. And as a result of taking such a position, pride grows in our heart and we stop making space for the spirit of God to have his way in our life. It's really deeply important. Make allowance and make every effort to keep yourselves United in the spirit, binding yourselves together with a piece of God. Yeah. Remember that old song bind us together. Lord bind us together with chords. The can be bro. Get your lighters out. Find us.
Speaker 2 00:30:15 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:30:19 Okay. Don't going anymore than that.
Speaker 2 00:30:22 <laugh>
Speaker 0 00:30:26 But there is a, there is a truth to that. Making a decision that we are not gonna bring scissors with us to cut those chords of peace. Yeah. It's deeply spiritual.
Speaker 2 00:30:40 Yes.
Speaker 0 00:30:41 It's more spiritual than putting your hands up on a Sunday. It's more spiritual than running to the front and kneeling and crying out to God for a moment it's deeply profound. Deeply spiritual. Yes. It's what kingly men and women do. It's what Royal priesthoods do we care diligently for the peace of the body of Christ. Amen.
Speaker 2 00:31:06 Yes.
Speaker 0 00:31:07 And we choose not to be offended. Amen. We choose to not allow others and their words and their clumsiness sometimes and their foolishness and their naivety. And even sometimes they're bad motives. We choose not to pull out the scissors and say, that's the end of the piece, binding yourselves together with peace. So we have an inherited opportunity. We have an empowered strength and we have a call to service. That's real. I'm gonna invite you to close your eyes, bow your heads. I know that was a real ouch moment. At the beginning. When I talked about consumerism, I felt it. Lord grant us the grace to repent of our pride. May we be a church that serves, you have equipped the saints for works of service. May we steward that beautifully in the fear of God, may we steward the service to which you've called us, knowing that we will give an account and an answer for how we have stewarded. It, it soften our heart. So God, and at this time a great change in our nation. Lord, we know the world needs the church to reveal the glory of God to this world. And we pray that all of us will find our place in the fields. We will grow under the gr gifts and the grace that you have bestowed upon us and together we will reveal Jesus.
Speaker 0 00:34:14 This is a so moment. This is a moment where I could imagine similar weight when it suddenly occurred to the former prince, Charles, that he's now king. This is a moment where it dawns upon you. You are heavenly calling.
Speaker 0 00:34:56 May we say yes to serve you? Lord, no hiding space, no back road. Just say, yes. May we all run to you or God and say, yes, just while you're praying, I wanna speak to anybody in the room. That's never experienced being born again. Or indeed anyone online. It's in that situation. You've heard me say, unless someone is born again, you cannot receive a kingdom of God. Jesus gave himself on the cross so that you and I, through that we could do bring our old lives to him, to the cross and receive his new life. That's what being born again is. And it's now allowing him to live his life through you.
Speaker 0 00:35:53 The entrance way to that born again. Experience is a prayer of repentance. It's a prayer of decision. It's a prayer of humbling yourself before the Lord. If you'd like to pray that prayer, then as you have your eyes closed, please follow me in these words. And it says this, Jesus, I thank you that you offer me new life. I know I've left you outta my life, but right now I say, I want to be born again. I want to receive new life, Lord. I'm so sorry for going my own way. And I come to you and ask that you will now live your life through me by your grace in Jesus name. Just while you remain praying. If you pray that prayer, would you just lift your hands where you are when I've seen it? I'll ask you to put it down. If you're online, just set someone in the chat. Thank you, Madam. Is there anyone else give your life to Jesus if I've not seen your hand, just keep it up long enough so I can see. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else less you're born again? Cannot receive the kingdom of God. Someone online, I think. Amen.
Speaker 0 00:37:28 Lord Jesus. We thank you for new life. Thank you for these precious brothers and sisters that have identified that they wanna follow you. And Lord, we pray that right now, they will just know your love. Just pouring out all over them. And Lord, I pray that whatever hold their past has had on them, Lord, that you will deliver and set them free and cause them Lord to know this new life in abundance, the life of God, hallelujah, the life of God, the abundant life of God. He has come that you might have life in all its fullness. And I pray that right now they will know that they're Royal priests, that they are, they are brought and inferred Lord to a place of receiving your kingdom in their life and all the power and the wonder and the joy of your kingdom is present within their lives. Fill them with your holy spirit. I pray to overflowing in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen. Amen. Yes. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Just in our final moments, would you stand praise God,
Speaker 0 00:38:37 There's a catch up that you can get all these previous episodes series online on our Facebook page or our YouTube, but there's also a test we've been inviting you to participate in and many and many of you have already done this and it's a test. We haven't written this. We haven't created it. It's by another organization. And uh, the money that it costs 10 pound to do it. We, we don't make any money from that that just gets passed on to the company who do, who have organized the test and you can get it by going to rediscover church.com/a pest. And by doing that and signing up to be, to do that test, it allows just through very clever things to try and discern in some way what the graces are on your life. And we really encourage you to do that. That's number one, you can get that through that web URL.
Speaker 0 00:39:30 The second thing you can now get through that web URL is the next stage. And on this next stage, we are gonna invite you to come and join us for one of five Sunday evenings. One Sunday evening will be for all of those. Who've done the test and the apostolic. Grace is one of their top graces. Another week will be for all of those whose prophetic. Grace is one of the top graces and we're gonna have five Sunday evenings. And we invite you to sign up to the one that relates to the graces that you have. If you have more than one sort of grace, that's quite close to each other at the top, you can come to either or both. If you want to, it's up to you. But these will be really important nights of us trying to cultivate. These feels for the five graces to grow in the body of Christ.
Speaker 0 00:40:16 Now let me tell you something about those nights. If it's just you, me and one other person, I will give my best to that evening. And I will cultivate the two people that come I'll do it diligently, but I'll have a heavy heart because I'd love you all to be in this. I'd love there to be no backs back row, no sixth field, no hide in place. I'd love it to be a commitment by us as a body of Christ that we will receive the call of God diligently. Amen and faithfully. So church in these final moments, I wonder whether you can make a decision, whether you're gonna do that just as you stand before we have tea and coffee. Can you be part of that?
Speaker 4 00:41:07 Yes. Yes,
Speaker 0 00:41:08 Lord. I pray that the grace that we need to live this out, we will allow to be operational in every part of our lives. Hallelujah. In Jesus' name, I pray and all God's people said. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen.
