Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / What Caused It? | Ps Jon Eaton
Transcript
- 0:02Hey welcome to the city point Church podcast.
- 0:04Thanks for joining us every day is an opportunity to take hold
- 0:07of so we hope this message inspires you and build your
- 0:11faith that it helps you have more of a God perspective for
- 0:14your day enjoy so we're. In February.
- 0:19February. Strange word.
- 0:22And who has been successful at keeping the New Year's
- 0:26resolutions? Oh, good.
- 0:28Very good. My wife and I, we had this
- 0:33really deep conversation leading up to New Year's Eve, and she
- 0:38said to me, she's like John this year.
- 0:42This year I want to be more thoughtful about what I say.
- 0:47I really want to watch my words. I want to take people's, like,
- 0:53being into consideration before I say anything to them.
- 0:58And then she said, and obviously your New Year's resolution
- 1:01should be to lose weight. That's a joke.
- 1:05She didn't say that, right? Oh, my gosh, just don't send
- 1:10emails. But the reason why I wanted to,
- 1:14you know, wake you up was because there is a very big
- 1:18difference between a New Year's resolution or even a plan for
- 1:22the year and a cause for your life, because the cause for your
- 1:27life is for your whole life. And can anything good can come
- 1:32out of Cabo. Of course it can in philosophy.
- 1:36Actually, for those who like philosophy.
- 1:39Yeah, I like philosophy. It's pretty great.
- 1:41Bit weird sometimes. But Doctor William Lane Craig
- 1:45back in 1979, he made a profound what's called a premise and it's
- 1:50been argued for decades now about it's reality in life.
- 1:55But this is what this is what he said in his premise.
- 1:58This is called the Calum cosmological argument.
- 2:00Alright, for those who like notes, it says this whatever
- 2:03begins to exist has a cause to the universe began to exist.
- 2:10Therefore the universe has a cause.
- 2:15So then if existence is only by 'cause then your existence, your
- 2:21existence has a cause that you can choose to ignore it.
- 2:27But I'm telling you, you have a cause.
- 2:31And let me tell you, your cause is not to be a passive witness.
- 2:35People say, you know, oh, in Hebrews 12, it says that we're
- 2:38surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses.
- 2:41I'm here as an observer. No, OK, that whole Greek, the
- 2:47whole context actually, actually relates to Hebrews Chapter 11.
- 2:52Who were the people in Hebrews Chapter 11?
- 2:54Great men and women of faith who had a cause and who were active.
- 3:00So that great cloud of witnesses were not a bunch of people just
- 3:04watching. It was about a bunch of people
- 3:07who knew there was a cause in their life and they were doing
- 3:10something with it in faith, getting out there and doing it,
- 3:15getting out there and do it. Another thing about 'cause cause
- 3:21is not comfort. Thank you, Pastor Rachel.
- 3:24Look, I have no problem with comfort, Rachel and I just
- 3:26bought a Pastor Rachel. I just bought a spa for
- 3:29Christmas. Sweet.
- 3:32I would much rather be in my spa than I'll be at preaching in the
- 3:38flesh. But there's a problem with that
- 3:44concept, John. Let's look at Genesis 24, verse
- 3:4767 very quickly. This is about Isaac.
- 3:52Isaac, this is Abraham's son. You know, Abraham tried to
- 3:56sacrifice him. If you look at the Judaic
- 4:00writings about him, they believe that Isaac went into massive
- 4:05PTSD in Melbourne terms and had a serious childhood trauma.
- 4:10It's like, how was your childhood?
- 4:11My dad tried to kill me on an altar.
- 4:15OK, lousy traumatic childhood, right?
- 4:17Anyhoo, Genesis 24 verse 67 says this.
- 4:21And Isaac bought her into her mother's Sarah's tent.
- 4:25OK. This is when he met Rebecca,
- 4:27married Rebecca, and it says that he took Rebecca and she
- 4:32became his wife. That's nice, Isaac, Rebecca.
- 4:34Fantastic. This is the important part, it
- 4:37says. And he loved her.
- 4:38And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death, so he found
- 4:44his comfort in his mother. And then when he got married to
- 4:48Rebecca, he placed his comfort in her.
- 4:51Sounds nice. That's lovely.
- 4:52Great marriage. Except the fact that you do not
- 4:56hear anything from Isaac for 20 years literally was like, I'm
- 5:05good now I've got my spa, I don't need to do this anymore.
- 5:10I've had a lousy, traumatic childhood.
- 5:12I have an excuse to find comfort and to drop the cause.
- 5:20This job's too hard. Have you heard that?
- 5:24Interestingly, Abraham, his dad, understood the true 'cause and
- 5:30he also understood that the cause has a cost and comfort is
- 5:35pretty much cost less, isn't it? Now, two chapters later, Genesis
- 5:4126, this is what happens. 26 one to 33.
- 5:46In that passage, God fires that back up the cause in Isaac back
- 5:53in his belly. And once again Isaac received
- 5:57God's appearance and a renewed promise from God of blessing and
- 6:01land. Wonderful.
- 6:02God fires up the passion back in Isaac.
- 6:05How does he do it? Well, the bad news and the
- 6:08painful news is that he did it through a famine.
- 6:13Sometimes God's got to get a famine in your life to get you
- 6:17up off your butt. We're talking about 20 years of
- 6:25melancholy comfort. Maybe there's a famine in your
- 6:30life and God's just trying to wake you up.
- 6:35Maybe look, if you can't think of a 'cause, if you think, well,
- 6:39what is my 'cause then because I'm in a famine, I need to find
- 6:42it. I can tell you right now that in
- 6:44Psalms 133 it says that there is blessing in finding and being
- 6:49part of the unity of the brethren.
- 6:52So if you're thinking to yourself, well, I don't know
- 6:53what the cause of God is in my life, I can tell you what it is.
- 6:56Get here, get activated, get into unity.
- 7:02If you're causeless, I wonder if your unity with the church is a
- 7:09problem in your life. So .1 I know that was just the
- 7:14intro .1 yes. So everything begins with a
- 7:19'cause we're going to bring up on the screen our, you know,
- 7:23Scripture for the year, which is in First Samuel 17, verse 29.
- 7:28And of course, it's about David. Great passage.
- 7:31We've been preaching about it for last few weeks.
- 7:34So there's a battle going on and life is, you know, blaspheming
- 7:38and going on about Israel and God.
- 7:41And David rocks up to the Big Brothers and he's like, hey,
- 7:45I've got food. And they're like, go away, you
- 7:47little creep. And he says this.
- 7:50He says, and David said, what have I done now?
- 7:53Is there not a cause? First part?
- 7:56What have I done now? Is there not a 'cause you can
- 8:00see there's a correlation between done activity and A
- 8:03cause, because the cause always has activity.
- 8:07In fact, cause breathes activity.
- 8:11In creation. All things are actually moving.
- 8:16It's like dirt. Dirt's got no 'cause it's not
- 8:18moving. Have you looked at anything from
- 8:20a subatomic level? Everything is moving, all of it.
- 8:28When there's a cause and when God spoke the universe into
- 8:31being from a 'cause, you can't help but have activity when you
- 8:36pick the cause up, because every 'cause breathes births activity.
- 8:43And get this, every cause has a corresponding action and every
- 8:49action has an equal and opposite reaction.
- 8:57So let's talk about both Goliath and David.
- 9:00Because you see, both of them had a cause.
- 9:04Goliath believed his cause was to speak against God, to
- 9:10overcome Israel and to enslave them.
- 9:14He, he had a cause, wasn't godly, but he had, he had a
- 9:17cause in his heart that he wanted to do.
- 9:20And then David is like, I've also got a cause because is
- 9:26there not a cause? What was David's cause?
- 9:28What's the difference between these two causes?
- 9:31One was selfish intent and one was from the living word of God,
- 9:39the living word of God. Because David could actually go
- 9:41back to the promise of Abraham. He was like, what was the word
- 9:46here? What was the cause here?
- 9:47Oh, there's promises from Abraham.
- 9:49What else? What other word was there?
- 9:51I Balaam. Balaam's prophecy that, you
- 9:54know, whoever blesses Israel will be blessed and whoever
- 9:57curses Israel will be cursed. Goliath doesn't have a chance
- 10:02because there's a 'cause there's a word.
- 10:05In fact, one of the very first words that I learned in Hebrew.
- 10:08Geez, I was trying to look it up yesterday, how long ago it was.
- 10:10I think it was like 20 years ago.
- 10:12One of the first words I ever learned in Hebrew was the word
- 10:14devar. Devar means word.
- 10:18I know, pretty silly. Hey, it's true.
- 10:20It's like, yeah, I thought so too.
- 10:22The first word was word divar. I want to show you something in
- 10:25this verse in First Samuel 17, verse 29.
- 10:29All right, It says, and David said, what have I done now?
- 10:31Is there not a 'cause that word, their 'cause is the Hebrew word
- 10:38divar. People like, Oh yeah, cool,
- 10:43let's take up purpose. Rah, rah.
- 10:44That's not what it says. He's staying here.
- 10:48Is there not a word devah? Because on his heart he's like,
- 10:54I know the word of God. I know the promises of God.
- 10:58I know that Byron, Abraham, patriarchs, promises of God are
- 11:06true and you can stand on the word of God.
- 11:10And I wonder, do you have a word of God for your life?
- 11:16Because whilst Goliath spoke words, Devarim spoke words
- 11:21against Israel. David just simply stood on the
- 11:25word. There's a massive difference
- 11:28between the two. And what word are you living
- 11:33for? I wonder .2 You are the 'cause
- 11:39you are the cause. Like this in Job 5 verse eight,
- 11:43Job says in the depths of despair.
- 11:46But As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my
- 11:53'cause. I already mentioned that A cause
- 11:55has a cost. Abraham saw that there was a
- 11:58true cost in the cause and Job here he paid a high price for
- 12:03his testimony. If you are the cause, then your
- 12:06testimony is the 'cause as well. Testimony is so powerful.
- 12:13People can come and hear us preach and do all sorts of
- 12:15wonderful things. They say healings and say
- 12:17miracles and they walk out and they're like, great, that was a
- 12:20wonderful experience. I years ago I had a chat to his
- 12:23full blown spiritual Satanist dude and he told me that he went
- 12:27to a Billy Graham's crusade. I thought, that's great.
- 12:32Yeah, kind of odd that you now worshipping Satan even though
- 12:35you went to a Billy Graham crusade.
- 12:36I said what what happened to the Billy Graham crusade?
- 12:38And he's like, oh man, we thought the presence of God, he
- 12:42says on the floor, he's like, oh, amazing feeling.
- 12:46And so he wanted to keep that feeling up, saying was more than
- 12:50happy to keep giving him that feeling.
- 12:56But you know what does transform people more than just the
- 12:58feeling? Your testimony, seeing the power
- 13:05of God transforming your life just like we, it's why you're
- 13:10going to hear a lot. We want to see spiritual and
- 13:14social transformation in the city.
- 13:17We don't just want to preach the gospel.
- 13:19We want to also for it to impact their life and make changes.
- 13:22That's why that's why I love the internship thing and what you
- 13:25were saying earlier. We want to see into intentional,
- 13:30intentional transformation in themselves so that they can
- 13:33intentionally transform the city.
- 13:39But the cause of Christ, the cause for Christ is costly.
- 13:43The cause is not the final destination.
- 13:46It is also a here and now moment of view because the cause can
- 13:52have these transcendent moments. In Exodus 24, verse 12, I really
- 13:57want you to get this in your heart.
- 13:59In Exodus 24 verse 12, then the Lord said to Moses, come up to
- 14:04me on the mountain and be there. Weird thing to say, hey, like
- 14:08where else will I be? Come up to the mountain, the
- 14:12mountain and be there. The yeshem in Hebrew, the
- 14:15yeshem, and it means this. Come up to the mountain and just
- 14:20exist. Just be there.
- 14:27Just be there. Didn't they come up on the
- 14:31mountain? Yes, there was a 'cause yes, God
- 14:33was about to give him the 10 commandments, but it it's so
- 14:37bizarre, so wonderful that in your 'cause God also just wants
- 14:43you to be there and exist. Be in the moment.
- 14:48That's literally what it means. Be in the moment.
- 14:52You know, there's an old saying that says your days feel short
- 14:57because you are not truly present in any of them.
- 15:03I love what Pastor Dan said just a few weeks ago.
- 15:05He said you can be a Christian for 50 years, but you're only a
- 15:08one year old Christian. You've just lived the one year
- 15:1050 times. Told you I'd write that down.
- 15:12I was like, great, kind of preach that if you're living the
- 15:19same thing day by day over and over, it's this is actually
- 15:22psychologically true. If you're living the same thing
- 15:25over and over and over and over again, you know, your brain
- 15:28actually deletes it. You know why Think about when
- 15:32you're driving home and you go on auto pilot and you get home
- 15:34and you think, how did I get here?
- 15:37You have done it so many times. Your brain literally deletes
- 15:39part of it because it's like, well, that's not essential
- 15:41information anymore. You've learnt that habit.
- 15:43Go for it. And unfortunately, sometimes we
- 15:47live our everyday like that and we look back and I don't know
- 15:51where the last year went. You did not leave in the moment.
- 15:54You did not. But yeah, Sham, you weren't not
- 15:57there to just exist. There's a time and a place when
- 16:05you're in the 'cause we also need to know how to just remain
- 16:08in the moment, remain in God's present.
- 16:11And this might surprise you because whilst the cause is
- 16:14absolutely about other people, the cause is absolutely about
- 16:18you. I think sometimes we forget that
- 16:22God's relationship is with you. Sometimes I think that no one
- 16:27else exists. God just loves me.
- 16:29I love what? Yeah.
- 16:30You feel that way, too. I remember Pastor Rick saying
- 16:32I'm God's favorite person. It's just like, you know, you're
- 16:35not. Oh, I need God more than all of
- 16:40you to put together. That's probably why he's so kind
- 16:44to me. But yeah, there's a duplicity
- 16:48going on. It's like God treats you like
- 16:50you are the actually the only person in the world.
- 16:53At the same time, God sees his whole church and he works it all
- 16:57together. Even in the Old Testament times,
- 16:59there was a community sacrifice and a personal sacrifice.
- 17:03It's God. There's a duplicity.
- 17:05It's like, well, this whole community sacrifice should be
- 17:07enough with the body of Christ. Yeah, but God wants a personal
- 17:11relationship. Come up here and just exist with
- 17:15me because your cause is for others, but your cause is also
- 17:20just for you. Sometimes actually God really
- 17:22does think that. Let your testimony, let your
- 17:26life be the cause of Christ. But here guys, really important
- 17:29point. Yes, exists in the moment, but
- 17:32also realise that the cause has a cost.
- 17:35Your life has a cost. You might not know this, but
- 17:42Mount Sinai, the word, the Hebrew word Sinai means thorny.
- 17:47Thorny. Mount Sinai literally means
- 17:49mountain of like massive thorns. You don't, you don't call a
- 17:53mountain Mount Thorny unless it's got like some serious
- 17:55thorns. Right.
- 17:57Mount Thorny. Has Pastor Sharon ever shown you
- 18:01this? The thorns in from Israel?
- 18:04Yeah. The thorns on the thorn trees
- 18:05over there. They're not the little ones.
- 18:06Hey, Pastor. No, they're like this big hay.
- 18:08Yeah. So when they when they looked up
- 18:10at this mountain, they were like them some nasty, nasty thorns.
- 18:14So they called it now thorny. Anyway, massive thorns.
- 18:20God caused Moses up firstly to spend time in his presence and
- 18:24just exist with him, but also because Moses had a job to do.
- 18:30But here's the thing, on Moses trip up the mountain, he would
- 18:35have had to slash through a ton of thorns.
- 18:41Moses knew there was a cost. He looked up and he goes, oh,
- 18:44that's going to hurt. That's going to hurt a lot.
- 18:46And he fights his way up this mountain of thorns because he
- 18:52knew the goal was to exist in the presence of God.
- 18:59Now when he gets to the top, you know what he didn't do?
- 19:06He didn't get up there and start rebuking the thorns.
- 19:11God, I just pray that you remove the thorns.
- 19:15I pray God that you smite those thorns.
- 19:17Almighty smiter. Sometimes we want to pray away
- 19:24the cost. We are absolutely allowed to
- 19:29pray in the Lord's presence in the Lord's Prayer.
- 19:32Lead us not to temptation. It also means their temptations
- 19:35and trials. That's fine, but there are some
- 19:38costs you are just going to have to pay.
- 19:41Think of Jesus in the garden, right?
- 19:44He says the Godfather. If there's another way, can we
- 19:47do this a different way? Because that cost is that.
- 19:50That one's brutal. What does the Father say?
- 19:54Nope, that's the cost. There's a time and a place to
- 20:01rebuke the thorns for sure. The other thing he didn't do is
- 20:04he didn't beg God to look at all these cuts and bruises.
- 20:08I'm bleeding. What's wrong with you, God?
- 20:10Why would you let me suffer this way?
- 20:12You know you must hate me. Oh, be quiet.
- 20:17So. Because sometimes when it comes
- 20:23to the cause and the cost, you just simply have to pay it, not
- 20:28pray it. Have you ever wondered why Jesus
- 20:33wore a crown of thorns? It wasn't for decoration.
- 20:38It's because that crown of thorns in His head relates
- 20:40directly to Mount Sinai. He was breaking the bondage, the
- 20:44fear, the condemnation, the pain and the bruises and the death of
- 20:52Mount Sinai. Now look, I'm all for prayer
- 20:57meetings. Absolutely.
- 21:00I'm more for breaking down strongholds, buking the enemy of
- 21:03people's lives, shun the devil down 100%.
- 21:06In fact, you know, especially since we're having a 630 prayer
- 21:09meeting tomorrow. Yeah, throw, throw your plug in
- 21:14there, babe. You know, totally, totally for
- 21:18breaking enemy 100%. I'm also very keen on
- 21:22petitioning God to see miracles and signs and wonders.
- 21:26And that is Rachel's course after the prayer meeting.
- 21:29So no problem, babe. The thing is, guys, over my
- 21:36experience of decades of Christianity, you know, I've
- 21:38noticed sometimes people come up to me and they say, John, I get
- 21:42up at 3:30 in the morning and I pray every day, which is great,
- 21:46keep that up, fantastic. Or they will say to me, you
- 21:49know, I've just been fasting for a whole month.
- 21:50I think that's great, fantastic. But then I look at them and
- 21:54their life afterwards, and they've come out of it angrier,
- 21:58more critical, and just worse. I'm thinking, what did you do
- 22:03for 30 days? I'll tell you what they did.
- 22:06They spent 30 days jumping up and down, getting angry at the
- 22:09thorns. And they're getting angrier and
- 22:11they're getting hungrier. And that's means they're hangry,
- 22:14right? And I just wish that at some
- 22:19point they would just sit in the presence of God and just exist.
- 22:25I love that song. I was telling you that I love
- 22:27that song Empty, just making space.
- 22:34You know what it says? It says that stop the talking.
- 22:40Then it says, let my mind be still.
- 22:44And then we just, we just make a space for God.
- 22:53And when you make a space for God, then you breathe in his
- 22:58grace and kindness. Over the years, I've also had
- 23:02people say, you know, and I've heard them pray.
- 23:05They're like, God show this church the truth.
- 23:09Like maybe if you spent time actually existing with God, he
- 23:13would bring out the truth in you that needs to be dealt with.
- 23:17I've heard people say, yeah, you know, I'm praying that the the
- 23:19darkness is brought into the light, not expecting for the
- 23:23darkness to be in their own life, to be watched the light.
- 23:27Maybe that's why we don't like to quiet with God because he
- 23:31might just whisper something that we don't like.
- 23:34Like, you know, that person you really should forgive.
- 23:39Maybe that person you really need to apologize to.
- 23:42Oh, I'd rather, I would rather keep praying so the words that
- 23:45I'm hearing drown out that horrible noise of God.
- 23:54But there is a time and a place in the cause where we just need
- 23:57to come into the presence of God and just be.
- 24:02I've been told over the years that I'm not a woman, so I don't
- 24:04know. You can absolutely like shoot me
- 24:07down for this. But when it comes to 1st dates,
- 24:10you know, I've been told that the first date for a lady should
- 24:16preferably include lovely things like flowers, candlelight,
- 24:20dinner, chocolates, maybe music in the background while there's
- 24:24a sunset. Is that OK?
- 24:26Is that, is that good so far? Yeah.
- 24:28Yeah. It's wonderful.
- 24:30Do you know what works for a male on the first date?
- 24:34She should just show up. But in my room, guys, you, you
- 24:55are the love of God's life. He just wants you sometimes just
- 25:00to show up. But, yeah, sometimes showing up
- 25:09has a cost. And one of my favorite
- 25:12evangelists, actually, her name's Catherine Kuhlman.
- 25:14Has anyone heard of Catherine Kuhlman?
- 25:15So good. Yeah, she was such an anointed,
- 25:18amazing woman of God, great preacher, healing evangelist, a
- 25:23lot of controversy, right? Because like, wait, she's a
- 25:26woman. She's preaching.
- 25:27God hates that. You know what I've what I've
- 25:30noticed over the years and I've sowed the Bible a little bit is
- 25:33I've noticed what's not in the Bible is your opinion.
- 25:36So. So God can just do whatever he
- 25:40wants and if he wants to annoyed a woman, he's happy for that,
- 25:42right. Anyway, so Katherine Kuhlman,
- 25:45right, the reason why I'm bringing her up, not just, not
- 25:47just to make people mad, OK, is because she reconciled the cost.
- 25:54Really, genuinely, I'm going to read out something from her, OK?
- 25:56It's not going to be on the screen because it's a little bit
- 25:58too long, but she reconciled the cost.
- 26:00How did she work out the cost? Because she spent so much time
- 26:05in the presence of God. They're related.
- 26:08I'm sorry. Maybe that's why people don't
- 26:10like spending time in the presence of God because the cost
- 26:13is the thorns and the pain and the anger and the bitterness.
- 26:16God dealing with things in your life.
- 26:19This is what she said because she took the words of Jesus very
- 26:24seriously in Luke 1428 where He says before you go on your
- 26:28cause, count the cost. This is what she said when she
- 26:33found her 'cause it's called the seven prices paid for the
- 26:37anointing. You can look this up, number
- 26:42one, this is what she said. I paid the price of absolute
- 26:45surrender. Nothing in my life was mine
- 26:48anymore. Another thing, you're like, oh,
- 26:50I don't like this cost very much.
- 26:52Where's my spa? I love my spa.
- 26:54But nothing in my life was mine anymore.
- 26:56Not plans, not dreams, not reputation.
- 26:59The anointing cost me the ownership of myself #2 I paid
- 27:05the price of obedience even when it hurt.
- 27:08There were instructions from God that broke my heart, but delayed
- 27:12obedience threatens the flow. Three, I paid the price of
- 27:18loneliness. There were places God took me
- 27:21when no one could follow or even wanted to.
- 27:25Depth required separation. 4 I paid the price of being
- 27:31misunderstood. Many judged what they could not
- 27:34discern. I learned to let God explain for
- 27:37me and not have an explanation at all.
- 27:41I like that one. Yeah, because she was.
- 27:43She was hated on for a fair bit. They're like, get off the stage,
- 27:46woman. Five.
- 27:48I paid the price of brokenness. Success did not heal my
- 27:52brokenness. It deepened it.
- 27:55Brokenness kept me usable. 6 I know.
- 28:00That's why I wanted to read this amazing stuff.
- 28:02Look this up. Put it on your wall or
- 28:03something. All right. 6 I paid the price of
- 28:06discipline, guarding my time, my words, my emotion, and my focus.
- 28:13Carelessness was too expensive. Seven I paid the price of
- 28:23letting God take all the glory. I gave up the right to defend
- 28:28myself. That's a tough one.
- 28:30Or promote myself. If God used me he would be seen
- 28:35in him alone. And she finishes it with
- 28:39anointing costs everything, but gives you Jesus in return.
- 28:46Nothing but the name and blood of Jesus.
- 28:50Oh musicians, you should come up.
- 28:51That'd be great. Thank you .3.
- 28:55Don't clock out. Don't clock out guys.
- 29:00It's a lifelong cause, a lifelong cost.
- 29:03It's a Great Commission. In Matthew 2819 and 20, it says
- 29:08go ye therefore, good Lord King James Version, go ye therefore
- 29:12teach all nations baptized in the name, in the name of the
- 29:15Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
- 29:19all things whatsoever I've commanded you and lo, I am with
- 29:23you always, even unto the end of the world, that very first term
- 29:28there where it says go therefore and teach into all teach the
- 29:34West Fort. Sorry guys, teach all the
- 29:36nations baptizing them. The Greek word, there's matateo.
- 29:39It it isn't just teaching Matateo is a personal
- 29:44relationship where you interact. We would call it discipleship.
- 29:48That's why in some translations it says and disciple.
- 29:51All right, it's probably a better translation than teach,
- 29:55but it still has a teaching aspect of it.
- 29:57So people are like, you know, we want to do a discipleship thing,
- 29:59but you know, we don't want it just to be social.
- 30:01Great. We don't want just social get
- 30:04togethers. Do do that whenever you want.
- 30:06But discipleship is getting together, having relationships,
- 30:10then teaching and learning Matthew Teo.
- 30:14But the next one, verse 20 there says teaching them to observe
- 30:17all things. That word there is Didasco.
- 30:19So yes, to teach Scripture separates the two.
- 30:24The difference between discipleship and teaching is
- 30:27very clear in these two words, in these two verses.
- 30:31So we do discipleship so that we can build each other in a
- 30:35personal one-on-one, one on 4, whatever, but a small way.
- 30:39Yeah. But then we will start teaching
- 30:42internship, the courses. Next step course, prayer course.
- 30:45Yeah, let's do this. Interestingly though, this is
- 30:51what I want to go with this. If you ever get a chance to have
- 30:54a look at this, this passage right way back in the original
- 30:58Greek, you'll find really weird stuff.
- 30:59Like for example, there are no gaps in any of the words you
- 31:03know, We have gaps between the words in like really proper
- 31:07traditional Greek, there aren't any gaps.
- 31:10You have to guess where the what this is from, practice where the
- 31:13words start and finish. Bizarre.
- 31:16There is no punctuation at all. So when Jesus gave this Great
- 31:22Commission, you could read all of this in one context.
- 31:28Now we always, we always stop a little bit short.
- 31:30We say, yeah, go into the world, preach the gospel, rah, rah,
- 31:33rah. But what's the last part?
- 31:34Say I am with you always. You're a part of the Great
- 31:41Commission is discipleship that is life long.
- 31:53Discipleship isn't a course that's just 8 weeks.
- 31:59Discipleship is a lifetime journey.
- 32:03So the Great Commission isn't to I'm going to go out there and
- 32:06just do a thing and then everyone will be fine.
- 32:08I'm going to do my Sunday preach and move on.
- 32:10No, no, discipleship is I'm going to be with you through
- 32:14this journey. We actually see this in
- 32:17marriage, yes, the vows for better, for worse, for richer,
- 32:21for poorer. That's discipleship, actually
- 32:26growing together, learning from each other, teaching each other.
- 32:33So for us to take on the challenge of being more Christ
- 32:36like, then we also have to make and take up the promise to never
- 32:41leave or depart the cause of Christ for each other.
- 32:47Preach the gospel, disciple and then create spiritual and social
- 32:53transformation in our city and dedicate yourself to it.
- 33:00This is my lifelong course because discipleship is
- 33:05longevity. The cause is for life.
- 33:08And if you're alive, you have a cause.
- 33:15You know Elijah, one of the great prophets of the of the
- 33:18Bible, he was on course till his last breath.
- 33:26It even says in scripture that his final illness did not stop
- 33:31him. Age was not an excuse.
- 33:36Sickness was not an excuse. So I'm going to read this out to
- 33:41you. Just stay with me.
- 33:43It says this, it's on the screen because 6 verses 14 this is our
- 33:48second kings 1314 and 20 it says this, Elisha had become sick
- 33:52with the illness of which he would die, which is nice way of
- 33:56saying he was deathly sick. But he was still on purpose with
- 33:59a 'cause then Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept
- 34:05over him and said, Oh father, my father, the Chariots of Israel
- 34:08and the horsemen. Very poetic nice.
- 34:12But Elisha said to him, because Elisha knew what he wanted, he
- 34:16said take a bow and some arrows. So Joash took himself a bow and
- 34:22some arrows. Then Elijah said to the king of
- 34:26Israel, put your hand on the bow.
- 34:28So he put his hand on it. And Elijah put his hands on the
- 34:31King's hands and he said, open the east window.
- 34:34Then Elijah said him shoot and he shot the arrow of the Lord's
- 34:40deliverance and the arrow of the deliverance of Syria, for you
- 34:43must strike the Syrians at APEC till you have destroyed them.
- 34:47He's so, so Elijah, he's so sick.
- 34:50He's literally dying. He's in his later years and here
- 34:53he is prophesying a great victory over the enemy.
- 34:57So that's exactly what happened. So he then said to the king,
- 35:04take the arrows, strike it on the ground.
- 35:06So he struck it three times. And then Elijah was angry.
- 35:09He's like, why do you only strike it three times?
- 35:12If you kept going, you would have defeated everybody.
- 35:15You can imagine. When you're sick, you know,
- 35:16you'd get a little bit grumpy. Yeah.
- 35:21Elijah's like, I'm literally like so sick I'm dying and you
- 35:25couldn't even take up the 'cause you couldn't even put in the
- 35:30effort to see your enemy overcome.
- 35:33And he says if you struck A5 or six times, Syria would have been
- 35:40wiped out, but now you'll only strike Syria three times.
- 35:43It says then Elisha died and they buried him.
- 35:47However, a while later there was some raiding, raiding bands like
- 35:53Enemy from Moab. You know, people got killed and
- 35:56they were burying a man and they actually ended up throwing this
- 36:00guy into the tomb of Elisha. And when they threw the man into
- 36:05Elisha's tomb, guess what happened to the man?
- 36:07He came back to life. Elisha was on course even after
- 36:12his death. What's your excuse?
- 36:21Look, if you haven't taken your last breath, I'm going to let
- 36:23you away. I'm going to be kind.
- 36:25He's like, if you're dead, maybe you're not Elijah, OK, that's
- 36:29fine. But if there is lung breath in
- 36:33your lungs, that's just challenging.
- 36:38Take up the cause, count the cost.
- 36:42And just like Catherine Kuhlman said, he's like, well, what, You
- 36:46know, what's the reward? It sounds very painful.
- 36:48Your reward is Jesus. You know, people talk about
- 36:54heaven and I got a mansion, this sports car.
- 36:57I'm like, just give me Jesus. Like genuinely like, like man,
- 37:05God has saved me from me so many times.
- 37:07I'm pretty sure in heaven I've got this little patch of grass.
- 37:11I'm fine with that. I will sit on that patch of
- 37:14grass and just standing. All of God forever starts with
- 37:23'cause I just want to give everyone an opportunity right
- 37:26now. Maybe you haven't begun your
- 37:28cause with Christ yet. You've come here first time,
- 37:3310th time, 100th time, doesn't matter.
- 37:40And you're thinking I need something more significant in my
- 37:44life than just the daily go to work or don't go to work life.
- 37:51It's like you need a cause. The best 'cause you will ever
- 37:55pick up is the cause of Christ. I like what Rachel says, Thomas.
- 37:59Sometimes she's like, you know, like not doing this rah rah is
- 38:03hard. You know, there's like life is
- 38:05hard and you get to choose your hard because no matter which you
- 38:10choose, a causeless life or a life full of 'cause it's still
- 38:14going to be hard. So why not pick up the chords?