WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.439 Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center Podcast. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.080 Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:13.679 For more information on KCC and how to connect, visit us at KCC.net. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.519 Well, now you know the kind of music that I listen to. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:23.039 Takes you back a few years, doesn't it? 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:27.039 How many of you remember that song, We Are Family? 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:38.560 Now, the song actually talks about, you know, me and my sisters, but I like to always include the fact that brothers can be family too. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:39.840 Amen. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:42.880 Well, it's good to be here this morning with you. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:44.479 God bless you. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:01:01.840 We're talking about family vibes this summer or or the uh summer vibes, and I have felt as soon as uh Pastor Brody got a hold of me and asked me to share this morning, the whole issue of family just resonated within my heart. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:06.079 And uh so that's what I'm gonna talk about family vibes this morning. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:21.439 I know Pastor Ed shared about marriage vibes last week, and we've got different things beginning to flow right across, and then at the end of the service, uh during the announcement time, I'm gonna just give you an update on what's transpiring in terms of the front of the property. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.400 So we should have some good things ahead of us here. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:28.079 But as is my habit, you know what my habit is. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:31.680 I like us to stand to hear the word of God, right? 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:36.000 Would you stand with me this morning and we're gonna read the word of God together? 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:40.640 How many of you know that people actually gave their lives to have the book in front of us that we're reading? 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:55.840 I mean, we're talking about millions of Christians, not just, you know, 2,000 years ago, but there are millions of Christians, even in the last century, there were more martyrs in the Christian faith than in any century. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:08.319 So Christians all over the world are paying a high price for the access to the Word of God and access just to gather together. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:16.800 I was on the phone yesterday, just before we read this, on the phone yesterday with a church that we're kind of giving oversight to in Quinnell. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:23.439 Um they've been kicked out uh in the city and being replaced by a cannabis store. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:33.039 And this is the fifth one in the city of Quinnell, of a city of 10,000, and there are five more that are coming in. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:37.840 That'll be ten cannabis stores for a population of 10,000 people. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:55.919 So you don't think that things are going on in the world that is all around us in terms of priority shifting and values being, if we don't get ourselves shifted back to the foundations of the word of God, uh we're gonna lose the culture. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:02.240 And we're gonna lose the Canada that we brought were brought up in and learned to know about when we were very young. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:05.599 So let's read the Word of God with purpose this morning, okay? 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:14.879 From this, is it from Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10 to 20, and I'm reading, and I'm reading from the amplified uh or the message translation. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:16.400 Let's read it together. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:21.360 Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:28.240 The cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:34.960 Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders, and peace to you us insiders. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:40.080 He treated us as equals and so made us equals. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:46.639 Through him we both shared the same spirit and have equal access to the Father. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:48.879 That's plain enough, isn't it? 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.919 You're no longer wandering exiles. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:56.080 The kingdom of faith is now your home country. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:05.039 You're no longer strangers or outsiders, you belong here with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:08.800 God is building a home, a family. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:15.599 He's using all, irrespective of how we got here in what he is building. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:21.040 Turn to somebody beside you and say, You're we're all ex-somebodies. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:26.800 God bless you, you may be seated. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:33.279 We're not nobodies, but we're all ex-somebodies. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:41.279 We all came to this place from a different uh different uh destination or different uh orientation. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:44.560 We've all come here by the grace of God. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.240 We weren't family, we become family by the grace of God. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:52.480 We weren't brothers and sisters, but we are now brothers and sisters. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.000 We may not have had a family before, but you've got one now. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:00.160 It's called the Family of God or His Church. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:07.040 And that's one of the reasons why I chose that song, We Are Family, because being family is very, very important to me. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:24.639 I some of you know our background, but my dad, his dad left him when he was six months old, and his mom raised uh a single boy uh in the midst of abject poverty in the state of New Jersey, a little town called Perthamboy. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:36.000 And family has become very important to me over the years to make sure that our family was strong and stayed together. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:42.800 And you know, when it comes to summer, there's nothing that draws family together than good summer weather, right? 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:48.240 Carlene and I had the opportunity to take a cruise to Alaska with her brother Doug and Judy. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:53.199 That's the first time we've actually been on a uh cruise or even a holiday together. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:06:02.079 And though we live, you know, thousands of miles apart, they live in Oshawa, Ontario, uh, and we're not able to connect very often. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:09.040 Uh, in matter of moments, when you get together, the bond is there because we're family. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.480 There's something about the dynamic of being family. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:23.199 Nathan and Carrie are remodeling their home right now in their kitchen, and they've been the children have been staying with us, all of all of our granddaughters, including their dog Kootney. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:32.480 Some of them have beds and some of them don't, but it doesn't seem to matter because we're family. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:41.519 I get to give some butterfly kisses, and that brings back a lot of memories of growing up with my daughter. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:46.879 Carleen came to me last uh night and she said Ryland had asked her to play a little game called Blitz. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:48.720 Anybody ever played the game Blitz? 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:54.639 And uh Carlene was saying, Well, you know, I'm really not that good at it. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:58.480 She said, Yeah, we want someone at the table that's slow. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:07.920 So you're finding all kinds of stuff about your kids when you start living with them on that family level. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:16.079 I took my my brother-in-law Tronomid fishing at uh Brown Lake uh Terry about uh about three weeks ago, and uh. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.160 We were catching some good fish. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:26.160 Uh, but I used my scout skills to tie up the anchor and uh wound up losing the front anchor. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:39.360 And so we took the anchor from the back of the boat and put it on the front boat, and I again used my scout skills and tied all kinds of knots on knots on knots, and then I realized that our boat was floating. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.920 And I thought, well, it's the anchor's just not on the bottom. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:47.600 And I looked back, there was a rope in the water as my anchor, my second anchor, was going down. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:50.879 But he wasn't angry with me. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:52.160 Why? 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:54.879 He's family. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:59.759 Maybe he wants a part of the inheritance, I don't know. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.160 I want you to listen to a little clip that uh has been prepared for you this morning. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:10.639 It's about a little Chinese girl counseling her mom and dad who are contemplating divorce. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.519 Let's let's watch it a little bit together today. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:17.199 No one else than me. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:19.680 Mum. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.399 Are you ready to be his friend? 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:23.759 Yes. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:29.680 Try not to be that that high up to be friends. 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:32.320 I want everything to be low. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:32.960 Okay? 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:34.000 Okay. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:35.679 Just try your best. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:43.759 I I don't want you and my dad to be replaced and me again. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:49.279 I want you and my dad to be placed and settled and be friends. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:51.440 I'm not trying to be mean. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.080 I just want everyone to be friends. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:01.120 And if I can be nice, I think all of us can be nice too. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:06.960 I'm not trying to be mean, but I'm trying to do my best in my heart. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.039 Nothing else than that. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:13.679 I want you, mom, my dad, everyone to be friends. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:15.600 I want everyone to be smiling. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:17.840 I like being mad. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:21.120 I want everything to smile. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:25.120 Especially when I see someone, I want them to smile. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:28.080 Especially Nana, everyone. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:30.320 I want everyone to smile. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:35.679 And if that's for my dad and you, mom, I think you can do it. 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:43.039 I think you can settle your your mean your mean heights down a little to short height. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:44.879 Then it's both. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:45.440 Okay? 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.720 I'm not trying to be mean, I'm not trying to be a bully. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:55.039 I'm trying to be steady on the floor, not way down. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:00.799 On the straight, on the middle where my heart is. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:03.600 My heart is something. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.120 Everyone else's heart is something too. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:16.480 And if we live in a world where everyone's being mean, everyone's gonna be a monster and be a future. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:28.080 What is there'cause there's a little bit of person anyway, we will eat them, then no one will ever be here. 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:31.039 We need a monster in our face. 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.559 We need everyone to be any person. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:41.679 Everyone everyone. 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:18.879 God is building a family. 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:24.399 And he's using us to do it. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:27.039 No matter how we got here. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:34.720 You don't know how many times I've said what that little girl has said. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:38.639 You gotta calm down. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:41.919 Don't so high, go low. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:47.519 You gotta humble yourself, right? 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:52.080 And everything, don't don't be so mean, be nice, smile. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:12:05.360 I'm looking back at, you know, 40 years of counseling and going, that little one, she's on her way to becoming one of the top psychologists in the world. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:12.720 Right from the very beginning, God's heart was to establish a family. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.159 Paul even makes a prayer that way in Ephesians chapter 4. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:26.799 He says, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:36.559 Christ, like this little Chinese child, came to earth to help us get the human story right and to provide a good outcome. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:45.919 He came to bring a revelation to us of God the Father, a good Father who only wanted a great family. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:55.600 And in the garden, you don't see an abstract presence of God sort of sitting in heaven and wondering about what's going down on earth. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:09.440 He's a God who's on a mission to connect and to communicate and to care for a man and a woman and then to establish a covenant so that he could continue to care for their children forever. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:13.759 That's a wonderful picture of God from my perspective. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:19.279 The Godhead has actually been described as the first family. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:26.559 Because throughout Scripture we see Heavenly Father referred to primarily in masculine terms. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:36.799 And the Holy Spirit, and I won't get into all of the dynamics of this, but the Holy Spirit is referred to primarily in feminine terms. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:42.720 And then Jesus is referred to in the term as the child. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.000 So when you study Scripture, you see families in the heart of God. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:14:00.720 He wants to see, because we were made in his image, male and female, families in the heart of God, marriages in the heart of God, right from the act of creation. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:06.399 And he wants to see men, women and children functioning in their true identity. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:09.519 Men reflecting the heart of the Father. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:19.279 Women reflecting and expressing the heart of the Holy Spirit and children functioning according to the heart of obedience as a son. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.399 You see it in the Godhead. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:31.279 So Christianity is not about a religion, it is all about getting our relationships right. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:35.679 Where do we practice that? 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:37.519 How do you practice it? 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:43.919 The fear a lot of people have about getting marriages, they want to try it out first just in case it fails. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:15:03.440 Because they're afraid that when they start connecting and relating as a husband and wife without having all that potential practice time, which we used to call dating and engagement, hello, that somehow they will fail in the relationship. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:08.559 And the fear of failure in the relationship is greater than anything else. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:21.200 But when we begin to understand that God's intention is to get our relationships right, the Bible says he puts the solitary in community, in a family. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.600 And so you may have not been part of a family before. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:28.240 Maybe your family is functional or dysfunctional. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:29.120 It doesn't matter. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:39.279 But when you come to the body of Christ, and I'm praying for this, that the Lord will make his church functional and healthy in its relational strengths. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:50.000 But when you come in the door and you're met by people, hopefully you're not finding hypocrisy, but you're finding transparency and openness and a heart to be there for you. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.480 And you've maybe found family. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:58.559 I was just meeting and greeting a few people before the church service this morning, and I met Patricia. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:15:59.360 Hi, Patricia. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:00.799 Wave your hand up high. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:04.639 I said, Patricia, give me a little bit of a background. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:09.519 She said, I was in the church 34 years ago when you had black hair. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:13.279 Welcome home. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:32.720 But we're talking about the dynamic of men becoming men and women becoming women and children understanding their own identity and God getting involved in the situation by placing us in a marriage, placing us in a family where we have to work out our issues. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:37.200 You know, there's no perfect marriage and there's no perfect family. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:39.120 If you found one, get out. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:42.080 There's no perfect church. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.399 You found one, get out because you're imperfect. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:45.759 You'll mess it up. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:52.720 The fact of the matter is that this is a proving ground for us. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:17:05.119 In marriage, there are things we find out about ourselves that we didn't like, things that we have to sacrifice and lay down and have to compromise and work things out, and that matures us. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:12.240 Hopefully, it matures us into uh to a husband and wife that are capable of raising a child. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:14.720 Then a child comes on the scene. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:18.720 You know the difference a child makes in your life. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:23.680 A child comes into your life, and all of a sudden that child is not giving into your life. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.480 You're waking up on their beckon call, hello. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:29.119 You're feeding them when they're hungry. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:32.960 They're not getting up and saying, Hey, can I make you something to eat? 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:42.880 You're having to learn what it means to lay down your life, and your whole life is circulating around the idea of another child that's coming to the home. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:45.920 Then add another one, and then another one, hello. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:52.799 And you've got a perfect environment for you to grow up and mature. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:18:08.400 And so when it comes to the body of Christ, and this is why the uh the church is such an important factor in this, is because when you come to a church, and as many people do, the church of their choice, they come in and try it out and check it out, right? 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.400 But they don't commit. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:21.759 And it's in the committing of yourself and the willingness to be held accountable in a corporate environment that causes growth. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:32.079 We can always check out, you know, we made a covenant in marriage, and so that holds us together a little longer, but we don't ask you to make that covenant when you walk in the church. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:36.240 So if you get upset one day and you want to find another church, out you go. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:39.920 But that doesn't help you grow up. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:53.200 Because God puts you in a family, and it's in that family that God's working out the issues in your life, and you go, Oh Lord, I didn't realize that that it's all about me now. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:57.680 I've got some things I've got to deal with in my own personal development. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:01.759 That's one of the hardest things, and I'll tell you this from a pastor's heart. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:05.519 It's one of the hardest things as a pastor to stay so long in a church. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:21.599 It's easier just to go for a three-year honeymoon with the people that are saying, hey, we want you, we voted you in, here's some money, help us for a period of time, and you build up the church and they all think you're doing great, and then you take another church for a little bigger salary and a little bigger congregation and go on. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:32.799 I came to this place 37 years ago to lay my roots down, to buy my burial plot, to grow old with you. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:40.000 And it's easier to kind of check out than it is to stay the long term and be known. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.200 You know all kinds of things about me. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:47.920 You know, the things that I've struggled with in my personal life and development. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:52.079 I've been very uh transparent from this pulpit as a pastor. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:20:12.720 But just as pastors have got to be willing to pay the price of growing old with a uh with a church family and becoming a father in the house, so people have got to be willing to say, okay, I I'm whether I they're, you know, I don't like, I can't always choose my brothers and sisters. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:17.200 Have you found that? 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.960 You can't always choose your brothers and sisters, right? 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:24.319 They they they're yours. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:27.680 God gave you to the uh gave them to you. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:41.279 The body's the Bible says that we're one body with many members, all being placed together and assembled by him, and God puts you exactly together with individuals that'll help you grow up. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:44.000 And we say, I'm out of here. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:57.119 And then when you're entering heaven, you find out the same people are walking in the door with you, and then you're asking for your destination and what hotel you're in, and he's got you bunking with them for eternity, the people you couldn't handle down here. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.039 Come on. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:06.799 Those are the dynamics uh that we're having to deal with when we're trying to create family. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:08.559 Family just doesn't happen. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:18.319 Family is a day-to-day, you know, moment by moment, hour by hour, day-to-day commitment to each other that we're gonna we're gonna become family. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.319 And whatever it takes, I'm gonna be a good family member. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:25.200 Hello. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:36.559 So Christianity is not about religion, it's about getting our relationships right, it's about getting our relationship with God right. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.000 Because God never rejected us ever. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:43.599 We rejected him through Adam. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:50.160 And the one that has to turn back is us. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.799 God hasn't wronged us, we've wronged him. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:59.759 And but God is positioned towards us in such a way. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:01.440 And we sang about it this morning. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:05.119 It's his loving kindness that leads us to repentance. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:09.759 And we go, God still loves me, and he hasn't turned his back on me yet. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.960 He's here still to be in relationship with me. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:15.039 If I'll just turn around, I'll see him. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:33.839 Religion's all about Christianity is all about getting your relationship right with a rejected heavenly Father, with a grieving Holy Spirit, with a despised Son, all because of our sin and what we did, not because of what he did. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:45.759 We rejected God, he never rejected us, and Jesus came to reconcile us to the heart of the Father and to the Holy Spirit, from which we are born again. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:47.839 Become part of the family. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:23:00.000 And Jesus becomes our elder brother, but we become brothers and sisters together, all born of the same Father, born of the same Spirit, born of the same blood. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:01.359 Hello. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:15.200 Christ paid the price for our hostility and paved the way for us to be reconciled back to the Father and re-enter the family. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:18.559 The cross got us to embrace. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.960 Jesus didn't do anything wrong. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:26.400 He took our wrong on himself and died in our place. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:28.000 That's what it means to be a Christian. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:29.839 That's what salvation's all about. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:40.319 And we recognize that it's the cross that opened up the door for us to have relationship back with God, our Heavenly Father, and precious Holy Spirit. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:45.839 The church is called to be a spiritual family. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:54.319 How often has it needed the wisdom of a child to speak to it about its true character as a family? 00:23:54.640 --> 00:24:01.440 I looked at some of the words that this little girl was saying on the clip. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:04.400 Everyone, settle down. 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:08.960 Be nice, don't be mean. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:09.920 Right? 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:13.279 Because if we're mean, it's like we're monsters. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:14.799 Did you hear that part? 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:22.720 And we eat each other up, and then if we eat each other up, monsters do, then there's only monsters left. 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:26.000 And you know what? 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:28.319 She's actually quoting the scripture. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:31.920 Because the apostle Paul basically said the same thing. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.519 He says, Why are you consuming each other's flesh? 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:40.160 Why would I hit on my wife who is my flesh? 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:44.559 If I hurt her, I hurt myself. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.799 If I wound you, I wound me. 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:50.240 That little girl was right on. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:54.400 It made me not quoting scripture, but she was quoting principle. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:56.319 And you hear her heart. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:59.759 Try to do the best in your own heart. 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:04.480 You can't control everybody else's heart, but you can do the best in your heart. 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:06.799 I want everybody to be friends. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:13.039 How many times as a pastor over 45 years have I said, can you just be friends? 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:14.480 Start there. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:22.000 I think we're going to have a rude awakening when it comes to entry into heaven. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:37.519 When we take a look at the friends we've rejected and God's not rejected us, or maybe the embitterment and the unforgiveness and the stuff we've not dealt with here may be undermining our ability to get into heaven. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.440 Maybe we need a reculturation course before we can enter. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:47.119 Are you ready to be each other's friends? 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.279 Remember what she said to her mom? 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.039 Are you ready to be each other's friends? 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:55.839 And then she followed it up with this. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:58.000 I think you can do it, mom. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:00.319 Come on. 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:08.319 I mean, it breaks your heart when you hear a little child saying that from the depths of their beings, saying, I just want us to be together. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:12.960 And I think that's why God created heaven, because he gets us all in there and you can't get out. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:14.720 Right? 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:19.279 It's all about family. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:23.279 It's all about God wanting the family to be together. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:26.319 Say with me, God is building a family. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:28.880 And he's using us. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:32.400 Irrespective of how we got here. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:34.319 Amen. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:35.920 You believe that? 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:44.640 Years ago, I remember, you know, I've been involved in the church ever since I've been a baby. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:49.119 I was placed under the pews when my mom and dad were pastoring. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:53.200 I lived on top beside and underneath the church and I listened through the vents. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:58.160 You've heard me tell this story, and I I heard the good, bad, and the ugly about people in the church. 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:03.759 I heard them talking bad about my mom and dad, and then greeting them with a nice smile on Sunday morning. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:07.759 And I said, I don't want anything to do with that. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:23.200 But I I couldn't deny God, and I couldn't deny I needed I wanted to be saved, and I couldn't deny that the Word of God was true and the principles were true, but I really didn't like church and I didn't like the family. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:33.440 And I remember when when actually God called me into the ministry to be a pastor, I thought I rebuked the devil. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:37.200 I thought it was the devil talking, not God. 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:39.599 Because he wouldn't want me in the church. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:48.400 I would go into church, and I've told you this story before, but a little bit like White Earth cleaning up Dodge City, I'd be shooting bullets every Sunday morning, right? 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:49.519 Come on. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:57.359 And I remember one older lady in the early years, in the early years, Patricia, she came up and said, Pastor, that hurt me. 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:00.079 What you said this morning, it wounded me. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.799 I said, I'm sorry, I I missed. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:04.799 I was planning on killing you. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:12.640 And I realized, oh God. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:25.279 I was trying to clean up the church from all the stuff I saw, the dysfunction when I watched it, when I was growing up as a cat as a kid, and I realized that I need to be shot myself. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:27.920 Hello, we all how do we all need to die? 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.319 There's too much of us alive. 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:36.960 You know, the self, life has got to die for God to emerge. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:47.759 And uh I remember how that brought a little bit of a revelation into my own heart as I looked at it and I went, oh Lord, I I don't want to be involved as a pastor. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:53.680 I I don't even feel that my calling is pastoral, is to be a spiritual dad. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:29:01.119 And I began to realize that right from the very beginning it was all about the father establishing something. 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:05.119 When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, what did he say? 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:07.119 This is how I want you to pray. 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:08.400 What did he say? 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:09.759 Our Father. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:10.960 Isn't that incredible? 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:19.599 He didn't say, say after me, my Father, and we'll figure it out whether you're involved or not, or connected, or whether you're accepted. 00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:23.039 He said, pray this way, our Father. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:28.400 Because his heart was to direct our attention to the Father. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:32.400 He came to reconcile the world back to the Father. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:42.160 Jesus, when he was in his earthly ministry, he went around and said, I've got to be about my father's business. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:45.200 I've got to go to my father's house. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:50.640 In a very real way, this is the Father's house. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:54.160 It's where the children of God gather together. 00:29:54.400 --> 00:30:11.680 And we're here because of what the Father's plans were, and because of the heart of the Holy Spirit giving us birth and the work of Jesus at the cross that pulled down all of the hostility between us and made enemies friends. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:15.519 That's a powerful thing. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:28.480 That he could gather us from all places in the world, and not only that, over 37 years of ministry here in Kelowna, there's probably not one nation in the world that you can go to that we can't find friends. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:37.599 God has given us an opportunity to touch over 35 to 40 nations of the world. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:42.240 We've sent a lot of our spiritual sons and daughters globally. 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:46.079 We've got the body of Christ. 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:49.839 We've got the family of God universal. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.200 There's not a, there's no family. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:57.440 I remember sitting in the plane one time and the person was asking me who I worked for and what I did. 00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:00.480 I said, I'm part of the largest organization in the whole world. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:05.279 Oh, Microsoft, Google, you know, like uh, you know, Apple? 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:06.720 What are you talking about? 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:09.759 I said, uh no, no, no, ours is bigger. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:19.759 They began to talk, and they got more and more interested, and finally I said, listen, I'm part of the church of Jesus Christ. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.160 We've got family in every nation of the world. 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:27.599 We've got people at more churches than any outlet you can possibly think of, including McDonald's. 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:28.480 Come on. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:38.240 He began to teach me and talk to me about being a father and building a family. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.160 Not building an organization, building a family. 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:49.759 And yes, I've seen some of our brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles who have passed away. 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:55.200 Many of them laid a legacy to enable us to be where we are today. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:01.119 They paid the price that we can actually sit here in this facility. 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.279 Very grateful for that history. 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:16.319 Many pastors they see their congregants as students or soldiers or servants. 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:21.039 But the Lord said you're not to talk about them that way. 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:23.519 You're to talk to them as sons and daughters. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:26.319 Do sons and daughters serve? 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:27.119 Yes. 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:29.680 Do they learn and study? 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:30.160 Yes. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:31.440 Are they soldiers? 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:33.039 Are they willing to fight together? 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:35.920 My my son called me this week. 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:42.559 I came back from the cruise and I passed a kidney stone when I was away. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:43.599 Isn't that wonderful? 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.640 I think I can now identify with women. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:33:00.559 And then I came home and started work on, you know, was here in Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning, woke up with my right foot as double the size with gout. 00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:09.119 So saw the doctor on Thursday morning with my wife, and he said, Listen, you're gonna have to be off that at least two weeks. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:10.640 You couldn't fit my foot. 00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:17.599 It's all part of uric acid, and I guess I had a lot too much lobster when I was away on this cruise. 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:20.720 Too much meat, too much seafood. 00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:30.640 So I told my son, because I was supposed to minister this morning, he said, okay, Dad, I I'll start working on message. 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:31.920 And I went, great. 00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:34.720 Then he called me back and he said, You know what, Dad? 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:36.880 We need to fight this. 00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:44.720 He said, Dad, we need to fight this. 00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:48.880 And I'm in my mind, in my heart, and I think I even said it to him, who's we? 00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:57.599 I've got a foot I can't even put on the ground, and there's nothing, there's no shoe or whatever for me to wear. 00:33:58.160 --> 00:33:58.960 But you know what? 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:01.680 The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, You need to fight this. 00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:09.119 Because sometimes you get so fatigued and weary, it's just God, the fight is out of you. 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:11.199 You just relapse. 00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:17.199 So I said, Son, by the grace of God, I will be standing in the pulpit on Sunday morning and I will be preaching. 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:25.920 That is not supposed to happen. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:28.320 I'm not supposed to be here. 00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:36.480 But my heart was to raise sons and daughters because sons and daughters have an inheritance mentality. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:44.000 Someone can come over to my home, take a look at my fence, and go, hey, you need to repair your fence. 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:49.519 But my kids come over to the house and they go, hey, dad, we need to fix the fence. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:51.599 And why do they say that? 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:57.599 Because they're thinking that when I'm dead, the house needs to be in good repair. 00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:00.800 That will increase the inheritance. 00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:03.760 Come on. 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:06.480 You know what it's like. 00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:08.639 You know what it's like being family. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:14.480 I remember marrying this beautiful woman that will be married 47 years together in a couple weeks. 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:20.239 Still as beautiful to me today as it was when I married her. 00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:24.159 In love with my wife. 00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:31.199 But you know what it's like when you're together and you haven't got anything? 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:43.039 And I remember when the first bed was just a piece of foam with as many blankets that were given to us when we got married, wrapped around this foam, that became our bed. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:50.320 We didn't have a table, but we had an ironing board that was given to us when we got married. 00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:52.400 And it had one seat. 00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:55.440 And the ironing board became our table. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:59.840 So one could sit and eat and then change up, and the other sat and ate. 00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:00.960 Come on. 00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:02.320 Hello. 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:03.840 You know what? 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:07.039 And we never thought there was anything wrong with that. 00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:13.519 We didn't have a fridge, so our milk and cheese went on the outside of the window. 00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:17.039 It didn't matter. 00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:19.199 Because we're married. 00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:21.440 We're family, right? 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:23.199 We could handle it. 00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:34.719 But man, when you start thinking about adding a child, you go, oh God, now we have to get the motorcycle will not work. 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:36.639 We've got to do something more. 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:38.880 And then we got to take care of that child. 00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:45.840 And the child grows up and that child marries, or three of them, you know, or all of them marry, and they've got family too. 00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:51.360 And all of a sudden you're realizing that there's a corporate inheritance that's been increasing. 00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:59.519