REUNION: Day Two - Evening Celebration // Dr Lisa Adjei

Dr Lisa Adjei

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

It really is such an honor to be here with you tonight. I really genuinely do mean that. And so I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I want to honor your leaders, Pastor Ivan. It's so good to see you again. Yeah, let's just honor him. I'm a woman of honor. I believe in honor. Thank you so much to you and your leadership team for your kindness, your hospitality, and the honor of being here with you. You know, the Apostolic Church is one of the oldest churches, Pentecostal churches here in the United Kingdom. We are standing on legacy. And I recognize that we don't just come here and just think that we're starting afresh. We're standing on legacy, we're standing on heritage. And it's a beautiful thing. And so why don't you give yourselves a round of applause? You stayed in the right place. And may the Lord bless your inheritance. May He do you good in all that you do in Him. Amen. I am slightly overwhelmed in a good way because God has been confirming this message over and over and over again. And as the prophets, I don't know where they are, I have never met them in my life. I want to say that now because you're going to hear my message. I've never met them before. I don't know their names, I've never seen them in my life. But he got up and he preached my message in about two seconds. And so if you want to take a nap, you can take a nap. You've heard it already. I'm joking, stay awake. But it shows me that God is emphasizing something to you as a people, as a movement. When he says something over and over and over again, it means he's saying, Hey, pay attention, listen up. And so I want to encourage you to take notes and I want to encourage you to lean in tonight to what the Lord has has placed on my heart for you. And I pray that it will be a blessing. Let me pray. Father, I thank you for the opportunity to share your words tonight. Father, may I be a vessel of honor. I surrender my life under the authority of your kingdom. I pray the words that I speak would be of life and of you. Father, may it do good. Father, to my brothers and my sisters before me. I thank you that you are here in our midst. We give you full raise, full reign in this place. Lord, turn lives around, set the captive free, bind up the brokenhearted, release those who are carrying destiny, Father. To go. We thank you. All in your name. Amen. So if you are taking notes, my title tonight is Kingdom-minded. Say Kingdom-minded. Good, kingdom-minded. That's the message I have for you tonight. And it's quite simple. But I believe that if we pay attention and lean in, I believe that God wants to shift some stuff tonight that we might run even faster than we are now. Amen. We're going to be in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1 to 6. So I'm going to read it for you. We're going to break it down a little bit, and then I'm just going to share some of the things that God has put on my heart. So Ephesians chapter 4, from verse 1 to 6, says this. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your core, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Amen. I want us to pay attention to verse four to six. It says, here is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Now, if we start with the context, you know, the book of Ephesians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus. This church is a church plant that Paul has started himself. He spends about two years there growing it. So you can imagine him, like a missionary, going into this area, lots of different types of gods in this place, declaring the gospel, raising and discipling Christians and starting a church plant. And for some of you who are church planters, you might recognize this. It feels familiar. And Paul is currently in prison in Rome and he's hearing about things that are going on, and he's writing this letter to encourage them to remember the things he taught them about Christ. Don't allow the things of this world to enter in and mix in with your faith. This God that you are serving is one God, and Jesus Christ is the Son of God, not a demigod or an angel nor a type of God. He is the Lord. What's he doing? He's reinforcing the truth about the gospel that they believed. And so, Paul, if you split the book of Ephesians into two, the first half is all about Jesus. This is who Jesus is, this is what he's done for you, this is the works that he has done in your life. He has made you alive again. That reminder of who we are in him. Beautiful prayers in there that you would understand and be rooted in the love of Christ. Amazing. The second half of the book is the therefore. Lovely that you got the first three chapters down, but there's a therefore. Tell your neighbor there's a therefore. Means you can't stop here. If you finish a chapter at the end of that bit, you have only half the message. There's a therefore. That if Christ is who he says he is and has done all of these things, therefore, there is one body, one Lord, one baptism, one spirit. Eager to pursue the unity in the body. These are all the therefore. Paul is intentionally telling them that if you are to follow Christ, he has to affect every single area of your life. Not just one bit, absolutely every single area. That all that God has made possible in Christ is not just a theory, is not just head knowledge, that it has to impact the way that we do life. And so we come to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1 to 6. And here in verses 4 to 6, we're seeing this theme of one, one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. And I decided to look up that word one in the Greek. What did it mean? You know, sometimes when you read it in the English, it doesn't quite translate to what the original word meant. And so I looked up that word one, and if you look at it in the Greek, it's the word his H-I-C-E, and it means one. Light bulb moment. One means one. Singular. Only. There is only one. It is beautiful tonight that I can come and worship with you, and it feels like home. Why? Because we're one body. We're one. In heaven, there will be no factions for the Apostolic Church and the Baptists over here and the charismatics over there. It will just be one. Sons and daughters worshiping the king. One. Paul goes on to talk about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 when they're arguing over gifts. You are one body, one people. You know, it's really interesting that we live in a very individualistic society. The ideas of individualism are raping, hey, wow. Sorry, are rampant English. English is actually my second language, I want to say to you. I came over to England when I was five years old. I could speak absolutely no English whatsoever. The fact that I have a PhD in anything scientific is a miracle. It's the grace of the Lord. And if English is your second language, there's hope for you, okay? Hear me. The individualism is running rampant. And sometimes we have to be honest that we've also adopted some of that in the church. You know, the definition of individualism is the idea that freedom of thought and action for each person is the most important quality of a society or a people group rather than shared effort and responsibility. According to statistics, the world population review, the most individualistic nations are. You want to hear them? The USA. No comment. The UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Belgium, Norway, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland. Societies where each man for himself is how the society does life. Jesus is saying it should not be so with you. You are one body, one people, one baptism. Which means the cares of my neighbor are the cares of mine. The challenges of my neighbor are the challenges of mine. I'm just, this is my introduction, I'm just laying the foundation for you. This is part of your, therefore. If you have received all that in Christ, therefore, live as one body. Paul is teaching you that you belong to a collective faith. It's not yours. It's ours. It's not mine, my precious. It's not. It's our faith. And sometimes the world understands this better than us. Because when things go wrong, they don't separate us. They call us the church. They see us as one. And the reality is that we are. It is our faith, our body, our baptism. That we are a people, not I. And so what does this mean for us if there is one body and one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. What does that mean? There are four things that the Lord just put on my heart for us tonight. First one is this we must mobilize many. You know, in Luke chapter 6, Jesus calls the 12. The 12 disciples, each of them individually coming to him. Come follow me, pick up your cross and follow me. 12 of them. And we journey through their life, them following Jesus or throughout the Gospels. When we get to Luke chapter 10, Jesus sends out the 72, they've multiplied. They don't just stay as 12, they've multiplied by the time we get to Luke chapter 10. By the time we hit Acts chapter 2, there are 120 in the upper room praying and waiting on the Holy Spirit. By the time Peter finishes his first sermon, 3,000 are added to their number. What am I saying to you? It starts at 12, but then it became 72. And then it became 120, and then it became thousands added to their number. There's multiplication going on. I'm telling you that you need to train many. I'm on assignment tonight. We have to be in the mindset. If we're talking about kingdom-minded, we have to be in the mindset that we disciple many. We train many, we build many. Which means everyone's going to be involved. It can't just be Pastor Ivan on his own. Everyone's going to be involved. This is so important. For where we are right now in the season where we are, the Apostolic Church, I want to encourage you. I've came to stir you tonight. Disciple many. That means, mums, we need you. Dads, we need you. To disciple your own children in your own home, but to also be ones who goes to mums and baby groups and disciples the women around you and the dads around you. That this isn't limited to the four corners of the church. It means every one of us, disciple makers wherever we go. Why? Because there is work to be done. I'm telling you, people are searching for Christ. They're hungry. We just moved into a neighborhood and we invited our neighbors over a couple of days ago. And one of them sticks around and she tells us that she's searching, she's on a journey searching for the Lord. She just walked past the church one day, decided to walk in. She just said she doesn't know why. We know why. She just decided to walk in. Something told her to go in. It's called the Holy Spirit. She needs someone to get alongside her and say, I know who that person is. Let me help you. What am I saying? There is work to be done, and it can't be for a few. We all got to be disciple makers wherever we are. It needs a gear shift from coming to consume to being ready to go. From coming to sit to say, I'm coming to charge up to get back on the field. Do you see the shift I'm talking about? It's got to be all of us. Disciple makers. Some will be pastors, some will be teachers, some will be evangelists, some will be prophets, some will carry the apostolic, some will do it in the full corners of the church, and some will do it outside, some will do it in business meetings, and some will do it on a stage, some will do it when nobody sees them. But everyone, everybody has to go. Everybody. Maybe the Lord has a new assignment for you. Maybe the Lord has a new assignment for you. That you might have been a striker for a long time, but maybe it's time to coach and get alongside and teach others to pray, to read their Bibles. This next generation is hungry, I'm telling you, but they need discipleship. They're courageous, but they need discipleship. So that the ancient truths of our faith remain. That we don't look in 50 years' time and find some funky Christianity. Passionate, but it's wrong. It needs discipleship, it needs some wise people to get alongside them and say, I see you, I see your heart for the Lord. Let me help you and unpack the scriptures. Let's do it together. What am I saying? There's a role for everyone. Everyone. He has an assignment for you. I said, My first is that we must mobilize many. Live ready to be used. You know, we're going through the Old Testament at the moment, and um I realized that when God gives them the instructions for Passover, they're to take Passover fully dressed. Ready. Don't come sit. Come with your belt on, your shoes on. You come to Passover fully ready to go. There's something in us that has to learn to live this way. Not in comfort and relaxing, but ready, on edge, ready for whatever the Lord might say and do. Because God is always on the move. Always. Always. Always. And so I want to humbly encourage you that we need to get over ourselves. God bless you. I'm going to turn to a person next to me and say, she said, get over yourself, please. Add the please. Okay? For me. Some of you enjoyed that a little bit too much, okay. She said, get over yourself, please. Okay. I said please. Why? Because there is too much to do. There is too much to do. There is a world out there searching for Christ. We have no business in here fighting about who gets to be on a platform. No business. No business. There is too much to do. And so may we be stirred again to be reminded of what God might call us to do, the part He's calling us to play. In seeing people set free, in seeing people delivered, in seeing people find the Father and come home. My second thing is this our unity is under a kingdom vision. Our unity is under a kingdom vision. This unity, this oneness is not about kumbayars and holding each other's sweaty hands. You know, I work in racial reconciliation, and um I remember when I first started, someone said to me, please don't make us hold each other's sweaty hands. I said, Don't worry, you're you're good. Sometimes we've had enough of that. This is not what the unity that we're talking about here. We're talking about unified around a mission, unified around the vision of God. That's what keeps us together. Anything else is not enough. Trust me, you'll get bored halfway through. You'll get tired, you'll get frustrated, you'll get fed up. It has to be under the kingdom vision that we have been called to go and make disciples. Matthew 28, verse 18 to 20. Then Jesus said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. For the sake of the kingdom vision, you can get over offense. For the sake of kingdom vision, you can bypass being overlooked. For the sake of kingdom vision, you can sow again. Do you see what I mean? It's gotta be a unity around kingdom vision that it's not about my personal preference, it's not about. It's not about my own agenda, it's not about my own team. It's what is God doing and saying in this time? I'm getting behind that. You know, I I uh served at a summer camp for young adults, and I taught them this declaration. Um, and I'm gonna teach it to you tonight. You up for it? Okay, I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet. You said yes, so it's too late. Are you ready? Okay, so the declaration is this you have been commissioned by Christ Himself and the kingdom of heaven to make disciples and share the gospel. You have been commissioned by Christ Himself and the kingdom of heaven to share the gospel and make disciples. Are you hearing me? You ready? Okay, repeat after me. I have been commissioned by Christ Himself and the kingdom of heaven to share the gospel and make disciples. Now that was okay. I feel like I don't really believe you, okay? So we're gonna do it again. Are you ready? You guys are Pentecostal, okay? Yes, I'm ready. Yeah, thank you. I have been commissioned yes, by Christ Himself, and the Kingdom of Heaven to share the gospel and make disciples. I have been commissioned by Christ Himself and the Kingdom of Heaven to share the gospel and make disciples now go do, and the reason why I told them this is it's in the verse. You don't need to wait for a preacher to come tell you to go and make disciples. Jesus has told you to do that. You don't need to come and say, I'm not sure what my purpose is. Your purpose is here. Share the gospel, make disciples. Use whatever gift you can to do it, but it's the same mission, it's the same purpose, it's the same call for all of us. Share the gospel, make disciples. You might sing it, you might play it, you might act it, you might write it, you might draw it, you might serve it, you might business plan it, but it's the same mission to share the gospel and to make disciples. I challenge you, if you get busy doing that, there's not much that can stop you. There's not much that can trip you up, there's not much that can get you fed up. Why? Because heaven backs that. You hearing me? Good. You can take your seat. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 3 says, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Means you want it. Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Why? Because we've got work to do, we've got stuff to get done. So I can sort stuff out because I know that we're getting somewhere. The third thing is this overcome the temptation to settle here. So the first is that we need to disciple many. Second, under a united kingdom vision. The third is overcoming the temptation to remain here. I'm not talking about Bethel Convention Center, it's a lovely convention center. You might not want to live here, you know. But this, I'm not talking about the room. I'm talking about this place, this season, wherever God has brought you so far in your journey. And for a movement like this, it can be so tempting to say this is this is cool. We've done well, and you have. You can give yourselves a round of applause. You've done well. This is nice. You've got a nice view, people come, it works well. But I want to encourage you that in God there's always more. In God, there's always more. There's a brilliant book by um someone called Gilbert Rendel, and it's called Quietly Courageous, Leading the Church in a Changing World. I highly, highly recommend it. And in it, he talks about the temptations that we all face in a changing world. And this is what he says about temptation before I give you the three. He says, temptation is almost always delicious because it feels as if you're quickly rewarded. However, the rewards eventually do us in, reducing us to a skeleton because we've actually been feasting off of ourselves. Our own purpose, our own hope, our own future. So it's nice, it tastes nice at the beginning, and slowly you realize that actually you're doing away at the very core of yourself. There's three temptations that he names, and I want to share them with you because I think they're brilliant. The first is this nostalgia. We must overcome the temptation to remain in nostalgia. And I'm not talking about looking back with thanksgiving at what the Lord has done. That's important. That's godly, that's kingdom. That we celebrate what God has done amongst us, the many lives that have been touched, the people that have come and been transformed by his power, that we take stock and we say, God, thank you. We look back at the things we did, the things that we overcame, good. But there's a different kind of nostalgia that makes us wish for the glory days. Do you remember when the choir used to sing like this? The people used to serve like this, people used to preach like this, it used to be like this. And the thing about past glory and the good old days is that it can make us stuck in the past and miss what God is doing here and now. And so we're reminded by Lot's wife, who turns into a pillar of salt that looking back doesn't always have the same reward. The Israelites who are in the wilderness and who asked God to go back to slavery for cucumber. Are you okay? That thing is majority water. But in the middle of a season of unknowing, it can be so tempting to live in nostalgia, to live in the glory days of old. The second is this overused empathy. He actually calls it Christian empathy, where we become so aware of the needs and the issues and the stuff around us that we lose courage to do what's right. We lose courage to take the steps that we need to. You become so aware of the finances, so aware of the issues with the children, so aware of the needs, those who are struggling, those who can't, those who won't be able to, that you lose courage to be obedient to what God is actually calling you to do. We place the needs that we see above his grace. And so then we end up sometimes excusing our disobedience. The third is tiredness. And now, if this isn't, uh I don't know, how many times we all I do it. I'm so tired, I'm so tired. Well, the thing about tiredness is it's hard to dream when you're tired, hard to catch vision when you're tired, hard to hear well when you're tired. Why? You're just so tired, and sometimes we need to pause and ask God, what is it? What is it that's stealing my strength? What is it that's emptying me of strength, of joy, of movement? Is it because I need more sleep, or is it because I have to spend more time with you, or is it I need to get away from something? Whatever it is, it's worth addressing that. Because we can be busy and flapping but going nowhere. And I want to say here that staying in step with Jesus is hard. I don't want you to hear judgment, I don't need to hear condemnation, I don't want you to hear that I have my life figured out and I've come here to tell you about no no no no no no no no no no no no. What I'm saying to you is pay attention. We have to pay attention to stay in step with him. Remember that over a million ancient Israelites left Egypt and only two made it into Canaan. Two. Two. Not because the rest were dumb, not because the rest were just foolish, but because our hearts are fickle. We have to stay aware, we have to stay on it, we have to lean in. We need courage to stay kingdom-minded, keeping our eyes fixed heavenward, and lastly, my last thing is this intergenerational unity. So, first is that we need to train many. The second is that we need a unity under kingdom vision. The third is that we must overcome the temptation to settle here, and the fourth is that we need intergenerational unity. I loved that during praises there was an older lady who joined the youth. And when it was time to, she got down. I mean, even mind means I can't really do it for you now because I wouldn't be able to get back up and finish the preach. But she went and I just said, yes, that's it. It's not about age, it's about spirit. Come on, man. No matter how old you are, about seeing what God is doing in a room and just jumping right in. Grandma, God bless you, wherever you are. God bless you. May the Lord give me more strength. That we see this unity between the generations. We need it. Malachi 4, verse 5 to 6. Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of their children to their fathers. The hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. This is what was ringing in me as I was preparing to come to you. And I don't know why, I'm just being obedient. It actually doesn't even fit the rest of the three points. Turning the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of their children to their fathers. And sometimes that break in intergenerational relationships, it causes more damage than we realize. Sometimes there's wisdom that doesn't get passed on, there's heart that doesn't get passed on. There's principles and rhythms that don't get passed on. Good, godly things. But also sometimes we miss out on the blessing of the seed. You know, God in his wisdom has a way of putting the future right beside us. If you go to Genesis chapter one, everything creates according to its kind, and in it is contained the future. And when we see this gap between the generations, both sides miss out. Everybody loses. Some of the answers to your prayers are in the youth. It just comes in a funny package. You have to discern and work with and have patience. But the things that you were praying for, God puts it in them. The hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Sometimes we have to be humble enough to say, God, we need to repent. Give us a fresh heart for whatever you might be doing amongst us as one body, as one people. Yeah, I would love the opportunity, first okay, to pray for some people. And I want to encourage you to just be courageous. If you see me on a normal Sunday, you will always hear me say it doesn't matter who's watching. Who cares? We're all in need of Jesus. But if you're here tonight and something stirring in you around arise and obey the call of God wherever you are. I'm not talking about you becoming a pastor and a preacher. That might be it, but it might not. But you sense that God is stirring in you to get up and be obedient and to make disciples. I would love the opportunity to pray for you. And if the prayer team could join me as well, please, please do. The second is for those who might feel stuck. You know, I wrote on my notes, stuck in the mud. Do you remember that game? Where you would run and run and run and run, and someone would tap you, and you'd have to stay stuck right where you were. And sometimes those temptations can cause us to get stuck. Looking at the glory days, looking at the past, looking at what was before instead of what God is doing now. If that's you, again, I want to ask you just to come, come. Who cares? Who cares? There's grace tonight. And the third is for those who need healing for those relationships. It might be your own family, it might be in a church context, it might be a leader that you tried. You tried. And maybe things didn't go the way you thought they were gonna go and you gave up. Again, I just want to pray that the grace of the Lord would encounter you tonight. So I want to encourage you to come. So if any of those three just resonate, or the Holy Spirit is nudging at you, I want to encourage you to be obedient. For the sake of kingdom, may we do what we must. For the sake of kingdom, mission.