WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:04.559 I'm gonna start in Proverbs chapter 11. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:06.719 So if you want to turn there, that's great. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:11.199 We're gonna start in the middle of the of the Bible today, but we're gonna go all over the Bible. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:16.719 The theme of this message today is all through the whole Bible. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:17.519 It's everywhere. 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.000 So are you okay with a lot of scripture this morning? 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:21.679 Great. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:28.800 By the way, I I have compiled a list of books that have been really helpful in my Christian life. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.320 And um I want to make that available to you guys if you if you want it. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.439 You can message me or message the office and we can get that to you. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:41.200 Just look just books that I have read through the years that have made me a stronger Christian. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:42.880 And um it's pretty simple. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:44.320 There's 66 of them. 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:51.039 And um there's 37 in the Old Testament, and there's 29 in the New Testament. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.119 And these books, I promise you, if you read these books, you can do it in about a year. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:58.560 If you read these books, it will make you a better Christian, I promise you. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:01.039 So if you want that, you can you can get that. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:05.359 So okay, chapter 11 of Proverbs. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:07.040 Wisdom of Solomon. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:08.560 Most likely Solomon wrote this. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.120 The wisest man who ever lived. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.280 So we should we should hear this, right? 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:14.719 Let's hear his words. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:19.280 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:24.560 Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.000 A generous man will prosper. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:34.239 He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:38.799 That's the wisdom of the Word of God. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:49.120 So I'm going to go from there to the very first part of the Word of God, right after, right after creation, in Genesis chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:50.000 And let's read this. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:56.959 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:03.120 The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge and of good and evil. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:08.159 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:11.439 And there it divided and became four rivers. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:22.240 So in the beginning, in God's paradise, one river multiplying into four rivers, flowing outward to the surrounding lands. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:25.360 And we're going to go from the front all the way to the very back of the book, okay? 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:30.960 The very last chapter, chapter 22 of the book of Revelation, verses 1 and 2. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:44.400 And the angel showed me a river of water, of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:57.840 Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life, with the twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:12.479 So at the end of the book, when all is restored, God is causing all things to flourish by a river that flows from underneath the throne of God, blessing the nations. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.639 Okay, so rivers are really important in the Bible. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:22.400 So you can, in fact, you see this image of a river, if you will, flowing through all of Scripture. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:23.680 It's everywhere. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:30.639 We're going to be in maybe uh maybe 10 or 12 of those books, those 66 books during this sermon. 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:33.120 We're going to refer to or read from a bunch of it. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.479 And you're going to see this river motif is all through the Bible. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:41.520 And God reveals part of his plan for mankind through this metaphor of a river. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:48.159 And in the Bible, rivers signify life, they signify healing. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:04:00.560 They signify spiritual nourishment and divine presence and comfort and a place of cleansing and a fresh start. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:07.439 A line of demarcation from the past and the present and the future, rather. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:14.319 A line where the past ends and the future begins and destiny is changed. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.959 This is all this is in that symbolism of a river. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:29.199 And in Ezekiel, we won't read it, but in Ezekiel chapter 47, the prophet sees a river flowing out from the temple of God. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:34.720 And the water is flowing, and everywhere the water flows, it flourishes. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:36.720 It's just teeming with life. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.040 There's many fishes, it says, many fish. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.240 And it's caused the lands all around it to flourish. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:46.800 So from the garden of God's perfection, a river. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.639 From the throne where God reigns in the inn, a river. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:05:03.680 From the temple, this picture in Ezekiel, which is the uh significance of the temple, is it's God's presence on earth flows a river. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:12.399 And when we look at the Gospels, in John chapter 7, Jesus said that out of every believer flows a river. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.439 There's a river from out of you. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.240 If anyone thirsts, Jesus said, Let him come to me and drink. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:25.199 Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:28.000 And this he said concerning the Spirit of God. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:29.519 Out of us comes this river. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:34.000 It's not for us, it's out of us, it's for others. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:36.800 So what do we know about rivers? 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:42.959 Rivers always are flowing out, but they're constantly replenished. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:46.560 And there's life all around a river. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:52.000 And the flow keeps the water cleaner, and so it's able to sustain life. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:56.639 Rivers are always taking their blessing further downstream. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:00.240 They're taking it to other places. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:04.399 And so by the rivers, we find centers of life. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.920 We see cities, we see communities all around the river. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.600 Why do they build cities on the river? 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:11.120 Because there's life there. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:17.279 There's life and there's transportation, there's movement, there's prosperity, and they affect people. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:26.079 I mean, the river here affects people in the next county, in the next state, and sometimes it in the next country. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:32.480 But Ezekiel in chapter 47 also wrote of a different kind of a body of water. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:39.839 One that doesn't flow out, one that holds itself, its water in, and we could call it a bog. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.360 You know what a bog is? 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:44.639 Yeah, it looks more like this. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.720 So a body that's an enclosed body of water. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:55.360 It is stagnant, it's dirty water, because there's no flow outward, so it's it's just not healthy. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:02.240 When you're in a bog, the water is murky, which means you you don't have any clear vision. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:13.360 There's layers of decayed plant debris on the ground, so the floor of it is not solid and it's too soft to support a body. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:19.360 If you go into a bog, you go into a bog, you sink, you get stuck. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:20.959 That's a bog. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:28.800 And I was with Philip Adams a few weeks ago in France, and he told a story about a bog that I want to share with you. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:44.240 And about 25 years ago, they were in um uh Belfast, Northern Ireland, and from his church, a group of fathers got together, 12 or 14 dads, and they decided to take their teenage sons camping. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:52.160 So they went up into the Moorin Mountains, which are gorgeous and wild, and they camped for a week. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:58.240 And he said, as they were going up toward the end of the week, they were going up one of the peaks. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:01.360 Uh they they had their equipment, they were walking together. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:06.079 It was a great time together with their sons, but there's no trails in these mountains. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:12.639 And uh oftentimes there are these bogs, just bogs everywhere, large bog fields. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:17.040 And so they were jumping from tuft of grass to tuft of grass. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:21.360 They were like trying, you know, doing what they could to not get into the bog. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:30.240 Um, one of the young boys, a 15-year-old boy, slipped off of a tuft of grass and fell into the bog. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:37.919 And he went up to up to his waist, one leg up to his waist in the bog. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:39.519 Because this is what happens. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:41.360 It's just there's no real bottom to it. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:43.919 You just sink all the way up to here. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:48.080 The problem is his body weight kept going forward. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:53.759 The forward motion of his body weight went forward and his femur snapped. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:56.159 That's a bad story. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:56.559 I know. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.960 But it you probably will never forget it. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:18.960 But and Phil said it was just it was gruesome and it was horribly painful, and it took multiple men to work his leg out of that bog, and then they had to carry him, take turns carrying him down uh the mountain to the ER. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:24.720 You get stuck in bogs. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.399 You can break bones in bogs. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.639 Bogs are dangerous places. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:36.720 Bogs also do have life forms in them, but they're parasitic. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:38.480 They're leeches. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:43.200 They're the kind that grab onto you and suck the life out of you. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.879 It's not a place teeming with life. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:52.399 It's a place that's turned in on itself and it's unhealthy and it's infected. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:53.600 It's ingrown. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:54.879 Everything's nasty. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:59.120 Do you see the wisdom of Solomon now? 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:03.519 There's one who gives freely but grows all the richer. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:11.759 There are those who hold back more than what they what they should give, and they suffer want or they tend to poverty. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:16.799 So, what I'm telling you is we have to decide how to live our lives. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:21.120 If we're going to live ourselves, live our lives as a river or as a bog. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:27.120 And this principle applies to individuals, it applies to me and my own life. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:33.200 Am I going to live with my hands open or with my arms folded and my hands shut? 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:40.399 Am I going to allow what God has blessed me with to go through me out to others or not? 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:42.960 It applies to my family. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.080 Going to the culture of my family. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:48.000 Is it going to be hospitality? 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:54.960 Is it going to be generosity in the way that we bless people or we've uh we give our finances? 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:57.120 It applies to our business. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:02.159 Is my business, does my business have a serving ethos? 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:03.759 Is this what we do? 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:04.960 We bless people. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:06.799 This is what we're here for. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:09.519 And it also applies to our church. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:11.679 Our church can be a river or a bog. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:16.320 And let me just stop a minute and say we are not taking an offering up at the end of this sermon, okay? 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:19.600 Let me just let, okay, just you can just breathe. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:20.080 All right. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.399 This is not what this is about, okay? 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:23.519 Let you know. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:25.279 Well, it would be a good time too, wouldn't it? 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:25.759 I know. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:26.799 You're right. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.480 But we're not going to do that. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:29.519 That's not the point. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.639 But I believe God has a word, particularly for this church. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:37.919 I I want to it up it applies on different levels, but I think it's specifically for this church. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:43.120 In this season, I believe this church is supposed to be a river church. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:48.159 And those of you who have been here a long time, you know this has been a prophecy over this church for many years. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:49.840 This is a motherlow church. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:51.600 This is a resource church. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:54.720 This is a church that's not for itself, it's for others. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:56.559 It's it's to flow out. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.279 God wants it to be a river, not a bog. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:05.679 So I want to uh apply this principle of being a river to our church. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:17.360 And I also understand we have to be sensitive because there is sometimes as church, as a church, and sometimes as uh individuals as well, we have to be sensitive to our seasons. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:22.639 There's sometimes when we're going through difficult times and we have to circle the wagons. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:38.399 And we have to kind of pay attention to our families or pay attention to the health of our church and allow God to strengthen us and dress our wounds, and we abide in Him and He prepares us, He repairs us. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:44.399 Um, you know, that's that's what happened to me personally, you know, five years ago when Melissa died. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:56.399 I had to just, okay, circle the wagons, allow Jesus to heal me, allow Jesus to shepherd my soul into a healthy place of grieving. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:57.519 And he did. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:12:58.799 He's faithful. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.000 Uh, but I don't believe we're supposed to stay there. 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:04.559 There are those seasons, okay? 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:07.840 So, and I I acknowledge that, but I don't think we're supposed to stay there. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:12.000 I think he heals us so that we can be healing to other people. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.360 I believe God will not allow us to stay there, actually. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:17.600 I think he won't let us do it. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:20.399 So maybe a look at the book of Acts will help us. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:21.039 Is it okay? 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:21.679 More scripture? 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:22.320 Is it all right? 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:23.360 Okay, good. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.879 When we think of the early, it'll help us understand it if we look at the early church. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:32.240 But when we think of early church, maybe you're thinking of the Jerusalem church, right? 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.840 The very first church in the earliest years, right? 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:48.000 Um, and we read about that in the first half chapters of the book of Acts, but but that church, for whatever reason, that church did not actively do what Jesus told them to do. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:50.480 Which is strange. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:53.840 Because he said, Go and make disciples, go into all nations. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:56.639 He said, Go and outward. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:57.840 And I don't know why. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:13:59.679 I've been thinking about that this week. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:04.879 Maybe it's because they were just trying to manage the explosive growth that was happening. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:06.320 This never happened before. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:12.000 Everything was new, and now suddenly you got thousands of people you have to deal with. 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:21.120 Or maybe they were trying to handle the new problems that came up, like you know, the the widows not getting the right kind of uh help and all this stuff. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.480 And they had to, there were some things they had to tend to. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:36.000 And and or maybe they just still had this mindset of Judaism because the the whole idea of Jewish worship was there's a place and there's a manner in which he worship. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:37.919 You all come to the temple. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.559 People came from other places to the temple. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.919 The temple was the centralized place of worship. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:49.600 So there was a centralized mentality of Judaism right there, the way they worshiped. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.559 That was their world built around the temple. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:15:11.360 And the church in Jerusalem had power, they had miracles, they had amazing community, they shared what they had with one another, they cared for one another's needs, but they did not obey the command of Jesus to go to all nations. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:25.039 But what God knew, and the leaders of this church did not know, is that in just a few years, that centralized mindset is going to be blown apart. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:33.200 Because in a few years, that temple in Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, which nobody saw coming. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.279 Nobody could imagine the temple being destroyed. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:48.960 The centralized place, the place where God dwells on earth, the place where we come to meet him in a prescribed way is going to be destroyed. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.679 And you can't do it that way anymore. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:53.679 And God knew that was going to happen. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:57.759 In fact, I think it happened because God wanted to do a new thing. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.320 He wanted to bless the nations with the gospel of his son. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:09.600 So if you look in chapter 1, verse 8 of Acts, it says this. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:27.360 So outward, as a river flows, God wanted the message of his son to go out to the nations. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:30.960 And yet they largely stayed in Jerusalem. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:33.120 So that's chapter 1, verse 8. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:37.039 Let's look in chapter 8, verse 1 of Acts. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:39.919 And Saul approved of his execution. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.919 That's Stephen's execution. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:54.399 And then there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.519 They had become a bog, and God wanted a river. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:09.519 So God came with his earth movers and he drudged up that bog so that water could get out of there. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:19.039 And if you study church history, it seems that periodically God allows things to happen or causes things to happen. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:27.359 Certain people, certain events that instigate change inside the church, and it gets the church from where they are into where God wants them to be. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.880 I call it God's Ways and Means Committee. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:32.720 Whatever it looks like. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:36.319 It looked like persecution, which it seems like a bad thing, right? 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:40.079 Persecution doesn't seem like the blessing of a God. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:41.680 But this is what God wanted to do. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:43.359 He wanted them outward. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:44.880 So I have a question. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:54.720 If if um it were left up to the Jerusalem church as they were functioning, would any of us have heard the gospel? 00:17:57.599 --> 00:17:58.720 Probably not. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:00.880 Because this is their mindset. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:02.880 They were all bogged up. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:05.519 But you know, God had a plan. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:07.359 He had a ways and meets committee. 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:08.400 It was fine. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:16.240 Um they didn't have any clue in the Jerusalem church that this was for Gentiles as well. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.480 Although God had been saying it forever. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:29.039 If you go back to the very beginning in Genesis, well, when Jesus when God called uh Abraham, he said that you will be all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:38.079 And in Psalm 67, it calls for God's salvation to be to be made known among the nations. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:44.480 And in Isaiah 60, it says, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.000 And Jesus also quoted that. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:53.519 And Jesus was prophesied in Haggai as the desire of the nations. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:59.119 So the nations is always on God's mind, and yet they're bogged up. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.799 The Jerusalem church turned inward and taking care of itself. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:06.160 No thought about God's bigger mission. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.880 So we go a little farther in the book of Acts. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.920 In chapter 11, we see another city. 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:16.960 It says that the gospel was scattered, they were scattered out, and they went as far as Antioch. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:19.920 Antioch is a different kind of church. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:23.119 So those that were persecuted went to Antioch. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:31.039 But it says if you read there in chapter 11, they still only spoke the word of the gospel to the Jews only. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:36.319 They didn't speak it to the Greeks, to the Hellenists, the Gentiles. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:38.720 They spoke it on, isn't that strange? 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.480 Okay, they're forced out, but they're still only speaking to the Jews. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:44.799 They're speaking the gospel, but to the Jews alone. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:53.039 And it says that later those people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene came and spoke the word to the Hellenists. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.839 Cyprus is an island, Cyrene is northern Africa. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:04.480 It took those people from outside that little bog paradigm to understand this is for everybody. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:08.160 This is actually for the nations, this message. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:20.559 But why did it take outsiders from a small island and from North Africa to break the mold and start preaching to those from other cultures? 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.279 Because Jerusalem had become a bog. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:26.400 And Antioch things began to change. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:32.000 So Antioch is a center of operations. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:45.359 If you read in the book of Acts, it says, Many people believed in Christ, and so Barnabas was sent down to encourage them. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.279 And Barnabas encouraged them. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:48.400 He saw the grace of God there. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:57.920 And so Barnabas went and got Saul, and he brought Saul, who is Paul, and Paul was there for a year, and he laid this foundation in Antioch. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.839 And it says that the people, the believers in Christ were first called Christians in Antioch. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:11.920 And so you see this life starting to function there, this growth, this healthy mindset. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:14.559 And look what happens in chapter 13. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:16.000 More scripture, okay? 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:16.720 Is that right? 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:17.440 Okay, good. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:18.559 Chapter 13. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.640 Let's see what a river looks like. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:24.960 Now, there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:34.960 Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menaeon, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:44.000 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:50.000 Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:55.279 Okay, so there was diversity in the leadership in Antioch. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:57.200 It's beautiful. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:58.720 Multi ethnic. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:06.240 We see people from Probably looks like three different continents here in this leadership team. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:12.559 There was also multi many different socioeconomic groups. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:17.200 There were some who were friends of the king, some that were not so much. 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.279 Differing spiritual gifts. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:20.880 There were prophets, there were teachers. 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:21.279 Okay. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.160 It's multi multiculty, right? 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:28.079 Multicultural church leadership team, right? 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:31.759 They were faithful to pray and fast and minister to God. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:33.839 And when they did, God initiated the call. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.640 Okay, send me out these two. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:41.839 And I don't know the other guys because we don't know that much about them. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:46.240 But I know we do know a lot about Paul and Barnabas, right? 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:50.079 And you don't want to lose them. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:54.559 If you got Paul in your church, you don't want to let him go. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:23:01.839 You got Barnabas, he's the one who came first and encouraged him and saw the grace of God upon him. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:06.079 He was a says a man of faith, full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.319 You don't want to let those people go. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:12.960 It's like, Lord, just take the other guys. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:17.839 Can you just take, like, we have other people and the other leaders, they're pretty good. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:19.680 Could you take them and use them? 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:24.640 And Paul's or God said to through the Holy Spirit, separate these two. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:26.400 I want your best. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:28.960 That's what he was saying. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:31.200 And you know what they did? 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:36.960 Because they were spiritual people, they were good leaders, they let them go. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.000 They said, okay, hands laid on, send them out. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:44.319 Because we're a river. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:46.160 We're not a bog. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:52.240 We're not gonna get all clogged up and nasty. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:57.200 We're gonna let our people go. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:03.759 God gave them great resources. 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:09.119 This church, men and men and women, in order to bless others. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:13.759 Antioch was the base from which the gospel flowed like a river out to the to the others. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:19.039 So Jerusalem had become a bog and God made it into a river. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:22.079 But then Antioch, like they got it from the beginning. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:24.160 They were a river. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.839 And I thought about that this week. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:36.400 How could the Jerusalem church, which was led by some of the heroes of our faith, Peter was there, James was there, John was there originally. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:43.039 These are people who literally physically heard Jesus' words. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:45.359 You'll be my witnesses. 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:47.839 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, utterance. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:50.880 They heard him speak it from his lips. 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:53.440 How could they not obey? 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:01.200 But maybe we shouldn't be too critical because it's pretty much a normal mindset, isn't it? 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:05.680 I mean, it's why should we say, yeah, those people, why did they not? 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:11.279 Because we understand it's safe to stay like you are, right? 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:18.960 Our tendency is to play it safe to hang on to what we have, bog ourselves up, bog our churches up. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:21.039 Don't take chances. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:22.480 Don't release. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:27.200 Don't release our best, at least. 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.000 So this has been an issue for thousands of years. 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:37.119 God has worked with his people throughout the generations to enlarge their thinking so it fits his. 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:40.480 So I'd like to end with going more scripture, all right. 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:41.519 Okay, good. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:42.720 We're gonna go to Zechariah. 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:44.559 We're gonna go to another prophet, okay? 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:45.839 The book of Zechariah. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:48.880 I want to look at an example of how God did this. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:53.519 What his mind, um what I want you to see this morning is the heart of God. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:26:01.839 Okay, not just individual um stories, but the heart of God is to expand. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.480 It's to take this message out to others. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:10.160 So God had taken Zechariah, just a little quick uh historical tour here. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:14.480 Zechariah had six six visions in his little book. 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:17.039 And they're pretty crazy visions if you read them. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:28.160 But he had taken, uh God took Zechariah on this journey of visions that described how he wanted to reorient his people uh for the future and for his purpose. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:40.319 And this was like two generations after Jerusalem's wall and the temples, wall, the wall around the temple had been broken down, and her, the inhabitants were dispersed. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:44.720 Now God wants to rebuild, but he's not gonna rebuild it the same way. 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:51.359 The visions that God gave to Zechariah were about enlargement and about reorientation. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:54.319 It ain't gonna be the way you think it's gonna be. 00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:56.640 It ain't gonna be the way it was. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.240 That's basically that's my paraphrase of the book of Zechariah. 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:09.279 Okay, so we're talking about rivers and bogs today, but but in the first vision, God spoke to Zechariah about trees. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:12.079 He said, There's two kinds of trees. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:13.680 I want you to look at Zechariah. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:23.200 There's the there's the the cedar, and the cedars of Lebanon were like huge, really tall, impressive, solitary trees. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:28.640 And so, I mean, you could think like a giant sequoia, they're not that big, but think about that. 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:34.240 It's like this is oh my, this is an amazing tree all by itself. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:38.720 But he said, the cedar tree has to go. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:41.839 I want you to think differently. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:44.000 I want you to think like a myrtle. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:45.279 A myrtle? 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:46.640 A myrtle. 00:27:46.960 --> 00:28:01.839 A myrtle is a small, unimpressive tree that is almost shrub-like, and it grows its roots together under the ground so it's strong, so it can actually thrive anywhere. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:07.599 It can thrive in the desert, but it thrives because it's interconnected in its roots. 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:15.519 Okay, and God was saying, okay, it's not singular, solitary, impressive cedar tree. 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:19.359 It is uh it's and it's a redistribution. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:29.680 And so in the second vision, or actually Zechariah's third vision is what I want you to read about here in Zechariah chapter 2, and we'll start at verse 1. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:37.839 So I lifted up my eyes and I saw, and behold, it was a man with a measuring line in his hand. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:39.920 I said, Where are you going? 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:46.000 And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:47.599 That makes sense. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:48.559 We're going to rebuild. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:51.759 Yeah, let's look and see where were the foundations originally. 00:28:52.880 --> 00:29:12.960 And behold, an angel, the angel who talked with me, came forward, and another angel came forward and met to meet him and said to him, Run, say to that young man, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and the livestock in it. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:18.720 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:21.359 I will be the glory in her midst. 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:33.440 Up, up, flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:37.519 So God said, Stop. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:40.319 Don't build it like it was before. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.000 In fact, you're not gonna have walls. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:50.880 In fact, I'm gonna be your wall. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.640 In fact, I'm gonna be the glory that lives in the midst of you. 00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:57.680 In fact, I'm spreading you out. 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:05.119 Because God wanted Israel to be a witness of him to the nations. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:07.440 He wanted them to be a river. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:16.079 And they were in this vision, they were this guy was like digging out this bog, the same bog that was before, this little place. 00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:20.400 And and God said, No, I'm gonna spread you out. 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:22.720 I will be your walls. 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:24.799 It sounds a lot like the book of Acts, doesn't it? 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:33.279 It's not this one single solitary tree temple, but I'm gonna spread you out. 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:41.359 I'm getting rid of the temple as a reference for God's presence, and your reference point is going to be different. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:43.519 In fact, you are going to be my temple. 00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:45.440 This is the message of the New Testament. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:56.640 God is building with living stones, all of us, a new temple, a dwelling place for Himself, so that wherever you go, you're carrying the presence of God. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:58.880 This is what a river is like. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:05.039 And that's us. 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:05.359 Okay. 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:23.519 So when we're going through just a personal application, when you go through personal times, like devastating times, sometimes the most dangerous challenge is the temptation to think that God wants to rebuild us the way we were in the past. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:27.599 You know, I He wants to just restore us the way we were. 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:38.720 When God wants to do something bigger, greater, He wants to lift our eyes up so that we can see His vision. 00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:41.519 And it's change. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:43.680