Outrageous Love: Devoted.

from the mountaintop we will shout your praise to the valley low from the mountaintop we will shout your praise all around celebration we are not ashamed to declare your faith how you die for us [Music] [Music] [Music] generations a generation in celebration [Music] you will lead and we will follow there is nowhere we won't go you will lead and we will follow there is no way we won't go cause you will lead you will leave is is oh [Music] [Music] shaken celebration yes [Music] father you're all i need [Music] you [Music] me [Music] i will trust you keep her off [Music] from [Music] i put my hope in you father you're always good i come not to worship you [Music] [Music] [Music] i will trust you keeper of my heart [Music] i [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] as the deep pants for the water so my soul longs are after you you are alone all my hearts desire and thy long to [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello hello hello welcome good morning welcome to the online every nation rose bank uh we are a church that honors god that makes disciples and that transforms the nations we are so happy that you are joining us this morning um thank you so much to the online visitors that are visiting us for the very first time we're sending a special sound out to you with those emojis with those emoji hands it's really cool but we are really um we value your time and thank you so much for making the time this morning to join us and to spend time with us this morning in fellowship with us please make sure that you do leave a comment in the chat box yeah um you are not alone so make sure that we engage with each other let's chat and tell us where you're from if you are with us this morning for the first time and this morning in our service we have communion which we're partaking together that's a really important time and so if you're at home take a moment quickly go and get your water your juice your bread whatever it is because you don't want to miss participating in that moment of communion with us that's such a great moment if you are watching from home please don't feel like you're alone i mean we're a family we're a church that where your message is never going to be just blue ticks no wait we love to comment reply chat together zlas when you were watching at home like how did you engage you know so when we first started online so i met with my friends and it was really nice because we were all together and watching church at the same time it's a great idea when you're watching it alone oh man it becomes it becomes challenging you know and you don't know who you're engaging with so there were moments where i decided to engage with people on the online in the chat box right whenever i had like something to say like a hallelujah you know hey just type that hallelujah in the chat box you know so that's what i really did to help me engage um with the online i mean the truth is that that's how we know about each other's testimonies right that builds the faith together that's how we know about each other's prayer requests and so please don't be a silent watcher please engage let us know what's up we want to be with you in this experience yeah and i mean talking about experience we're about to enter into a new experience oh hey oh hey we're starting with a new series called outrageous love right and i think we're all excited yeah um to hear what the word says about god's love and how we receive it you know and how that stirs up our faith i'm to go out and to plant churches and to go out on missions you know it's almost like you're receiving god's love and it's just stirring it up it's what god is doing he's stirring us up in his love you know and it's it's really great to hear um from i guess be leaders and people who we look up to that encourage us and remind us of what we need to do when god stirs us up in our lives stirs up our faith to go out and take the gospel to the world absolutely this morning in fact we have pastor kevin york preaching today which is amazing he is the vice president of every nation ministries international and he's come all the way from the us to preach to us today so i'm really excited for the word i think it's going to build faith in people i think it's going to be a really precious and special moment so for everybody watching at home this is we're starting off by receiving god's outrageous love so this is where we're going to enter into worship i want to encourage you to stand up get out of your seats let's engage with god and worship and give all our love to him amen amen good morning every nation rose bank church good morning to all the beautiful people here in the auditorium good morning to you online it is a beautiful day to praise the lord amen amen you guys look so amazing it is so nice to see a filling auditorium i think it's been over a year maybe a year and a half since we've seen the auditorium this fall can you please stand as we get ready to worship god today we will focus our eyes on a mountain moving god amen amen in matthew 17 20 jesus tells us he says truly i tell you if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move nothing will be impossible for you nothing will be impossible so today if you have any mountains that you are facing facing with mustard seed faith with faith as small as a mustard seed i want you to tell those giants those mountains to move from here to there and it will move because jesus said so jesus says if you have faith as small as a mustard seed and a thing about a mustard seed if you've seen it it's so small it's smaller than a sesame seed it is the smallest thing that you can ever see it's tiny now when you close your hand over that mustard seed you actually can't feel it right so even if you come here and you can't feel your faith you can't feel the faith that you have you don't need to feel it you know it's there you know it's there it's not about our feelings but we know that that faith is there so with your mustard seed faith today tell your mountains to move from here to there and it will move because jesus said so amen amen let's praise the lord amen [Music] hey my god [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hey [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] and i will sing my praise unto you my lord i will dance [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] everybody [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] everything oh [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] yes [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] no longer slaves i got potted [Music] indescribable uncontainable wonder god his name is [Music] [Music] hearts are healed when we call on jesus freedom reigns when we call on you power rises when we call you jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus jesus jesus [Music] jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus [Music] jesus is [Music] [Music] [Music] fall down when we [Music] jesus freedom reigns when we call on you jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus [Music] jesus jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus mountains will move mountains will move mountains will move when you're calling jesus mountains will move mountains will move mountains will move when you're calling jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus healing rain healing rains healing rains when [Music] [Music] jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus strongholds when we call you jesus what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is what a privilege to be able to call on the name jesus jesus jesus jesus over all situations jesus jesus jesus [Music] thank you jesus [Applause] jesus jesus jesus jesus [Music] jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus [Music] so [Music] focus on your promise but still i see the giants in the midst of chaos i will look through eyes of faith [Music] even when the waves i know it's not my battle your spirit goes before me so every enemy must bow [Music] cause you make mountains move you pull strong holes down none can stand against you kings lay down the crowns every fear is silenced for your word is true when it seems there's no way you make mountains move [Music] [Music] and in triumph your faithfulness has carried me yes with burning expectations i stand in this so sure [Music] will be the one to overcome [Music] [Music] for [Music] man can stand against you kings lay down their crowns every fear [Music] is true [Music] [Applause] you fulfill your promises [Applause] nothing's impossible [Music] for my god will overcome you turn my doubts to die [Music] nothing's impossible nothing's impossible [Music] today [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] he makes mountains move he pulls strongholds down none can stand against him kings lay down their crowns every fear be silent for his word it's true when it seems there's no way you make mountains [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] mountains are still being moved strongholds are still fingers oh god we believe and yes we can see it that wonders us still what you do bodies are still being raised giants are still being slayed [Music] wonders are still what you do you come and do what you do [Music] [Music] cause we need to move [Music] [Music] [Applause] and yes we can see what you do still being [Music] [Applause] [Music] and raised we can see [Music] [Music] set our hearts on yours [Music] [Music] [Music] cause miracles happen when you move healing is coming in this room miracles happen when you move heaven is calling we recall miracles happen [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] we are here for you only you can do [Music] what you [Music] we do to move [Music] [Music] if you didn't get communion when you walked in you can go to the back and get some now you can raise your hands i think the ushers also have some with them if you're watching online please make sure to go and get some elements where you are at home because we're going to take communion together i want to encourage you not to sit for this moment if you don't mind because this is a faith moment it's up to you i'm just encouraging what i think isaiah 40. why do you say o jacob and complain o israel my way is hidden from the lord my cause is disregarded by my god do you not know have you not heard the lord is the everlasting god the creator of the ends of the earth he will not grow tired or weary his understanding no one can fathom he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak i'm going to read it again and i'm going to read it a little bit differently this time why do you say o jacob and complain of israel my way is hidden from the lord my cause is disregarded by my god do you not know have you not heard that he sent his son to take your place on earth have you not heard that his son died and he raised every single sin that you carried have you not heard that he rose again from the dead conquering every sin every shame every disgrace have you not heard that your god took your place so that you could take his place so that you could be seated in heavenly places have you not heard that he has redeemed you he has redeemed your life he has taken what was heavy on you and made it light have you not heard have you not heard have you not heard that jesus came for you that jesus came for you this this communion represents the death of jesus it is not nearly the equivalent of the power of god but it is a symbol and it is here for us to remember what jesus did for us but it is also here for us to remember what we are giving to jesus that every single day you will live for the glory and the name of jesus christ why because he lived every single day on earth for the glory of you to come and take you out of darkness and bring you to light to give you everything you would need for life and godliness the grace of jesus abounds have you not heard do you not know that the lord has saved you he has saved you a little bit of perspective isaiah was written 7 800 years before jesus was born but isaiah knew isaiah knew that god would save so many of us we pray today and when tomorrow it's not answered we forget we forget that god is a god of generations and the life that you are living the seed that you are sowing unto his glory will produce kingdom and generations after you and some of what you are living for right now is not going to be answered in your lifetime because god is a generational god and he will use your prayers and your faith to produce kingdom around your family your generations your nation in many many many years to come and today as we remember as we say god i choose this is my commitment this is my covenant that i will not forget i will not forget what you have done for me and no matter how difficult it is in this moment i will live my life unto your glory because i have heard that jesus has saved me and i will live my life unto his glory amen so let's take a moment where you are just between you and the lord to take your communion for him [Music] [Music] jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus we thank you for your body that was broken for us lord god your blood that was shared for us lord we will never know the weight of sin that you beared on that cross but we will live every day in gratitude lord god we will live every day giving our lives our time our words our actions to the glory of your name lord i know that you have given every single person in this room an eternal inheritance one that will not fade father we live for that inheritance we will not build up earthly treasures lord we will live for the kingdom we will live for that which is eternal lord god we remember and we thank you jesus thank you jesus that strongholds fall when we call on your name thank you jesus thank you jesus amen and amen church can we give god a round of applause a shout of praise a victory shout thank you jesus thank you lord for what you've done thank you for your goodness thank you jesus amen can we give the band a round of applause thank you ben for leading us this morning amen take a moment to wave at somebody near you you can't kiss and hug people this is a long distance holy kiss but give them a high five bluetooth high five and greeting wherever you are great well hello everybody it is so good to have 250 people in the house of the lord [Music] amen if you are visiting us this morning we're so so grateful that you took time to uh spend your sunday with us if this is your first or even second time visiting the service including online we are so grateful that you took time out of your sunday to be with us today and we want to take a moment to honor you and to greet you if you're online please send a hi say hello so that we know that it's your first time if you're here in the auditorium with us would you also do the same wave raise your hand give us a wave so we know it's your first time and we can welcome you great can we give a huge shout out to those who are visiting us for the first time [Applause] we're so grateful that um yeah that you're here with us i mean we are a church that believes in family we believe in coming together we believe that we don't want to neglect the gathering together of believers that as we build corporate faith as we worship together that this this is a move this is where we see god moving and so if you missed registering for sunday this week make sure that you do it next week tuesday you want to be here you want to be part of the services we have various services that you can attend on a sunday so don't miss it don't miss it at all for those who are not familiar with the cover 19 protocols that we follow in the church people who are on the stage are quite a distance from you and so we're allowed to take our masks off but nobody else is so if you are sitting standing going to the bathroom whatever you're doing please keep your mask on at all times make sure it covers your nose and mouth if you are not sitting next to a family member or somebody that you live with please make sure that there are at least two seats between you and other people so that we can keep social distancing we have sanitizing stations all around the auditorium and at the foyer make sure that you sanitize and keep safe we want to keep it at 250 people so we need to all do our bit to keep us safe if you have young children with you we do have kids ministry happening upstairs and i believe we have youth ministry happening as well no just the kids ministry and if you have babies with you then we do have nappy changing rooms at the back there as well as a feeding room for moms who are feeding there is not enough space in those rooms for you to sit and watch the service during the as the service is happening so please make use of those rooms for when you need them and then come back out and join us in the auditorium or you can sit in the foyer if your child is fussing and you need that space for them as well great i want to welcome dr samuel who's going to do our offering message today can we give a huge round of applause [Applause] great you can get that microphone there because that's one sanitized yes we follow those protocols i think this one thank you i can't hear it but i hope you do hear it so good good morning saint i hope you're all well we're living in interesting times isn't it times where i think we are being called to get another gear into action and i think this gear is a faith gear so i used to be a doctor when i was younger and when i was a doctor i remember you have patients die on the tab when you're operating or in casualty or things like that and in a moment i would think it's done right it's done like this is it time of death 10 39 right it it it's done and when i'm in that moment what do i want god to say about my life what do i want people to say about my life and i always thought about that all the time and this has been my compass that one day it will all be done you remember when jesus was asked in matthew 22 about the greatest commandment right the greatest commandment was about love and i say okay so if this is the greatest commandment how do i manifest this in my own life so of late god has been speaking to me about how we all ought to engage the gear of faith for the rest of our days whether you are investing whether you're an entrepreneur whether it's in the workplace whether it's at school the gear that i want to challenge you on today is the gear of love and faith but what does that mean why am i saying talking about faith when i'm supposed to be talking about giving it's because generosity living your life with a heart that is open with uh with open hearts and in an open mind is a life of faith so i to this morning uh when i was preparing for this i read in matthew 6 chapter verse 19 lay not up and faster you spoke about that lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust do corrupt and where thieves break through and steal i'm sure you all know that scripture but what does that mean i want to challenge you to invest over and above the giving that we do at church but in your own life living a life of generosity for those of you who are in business you are wherever living a life of sacrificial giving because there will be that one day where you can't do it anymore remember these colleagues i don't know i'm not here to threaten you as a doctor but i'm saying i want to encourage us right to shift into that gear of generous giving of faith-driven investing of faith-driven entrepreneurship go for it colleen go for it and when you do that a testimony so i've got some buildings in town and you know instead of just running the balance sheet operating whatever cash flow and i take it for myself i've been challenged to actually reinvest some of those profits to how the buildings look to how tenants need internet and wi-fi i'm like no no no no why must i do that no no that's sacrificial giving how should i should get even preschools and play areas in those buildings that exactly so some of you today need to get into another gear of faith of generous giving of giving far and beyond and saying i do hope our lives when it's all done we'll be proud of what we've done may god bless us amen if we can read the tithes and offerings shall we read this with faith saints with faith beloved lord as we give our tithes and offerings today we remember that your word says we are to seek the peace and welfare of our city while we are here and to pray for it because as it prospers we will too thank you lord that we can join our resources and faith to see our city transformed give us opportunities to create wealth and wisdom to create jobs thank you holy spirit for divine power to witness so we can see many souls saved and set free and our city a place that glorifies you may we honor you lord make disciples and transform nations amen hello every nation rose bank join us for worship night which will be in person and online on the 7th of october we will be celebrating our ep launch always jesus that will be launching on the 2nd of october every first thursday of the month at 6 00 pm we come together for a time of corporate prayer join us for this amazing time as we bring our requests before our lord the next every nation disciplinary is going to be on the 2nd of october in the encounter room from 9 00 to 2 o'clock this year's biz plenary has a little bit of everything you will be challenged you will be inspired and you will make connections so firstly you'll be inspired by a keynote address that is really faith stretching secondly the job summit 2020 part two continues where we look at ways to alleviate unemployment in south africa and lastly you will make connections through the biz community register today from the 11th to the 15th of october we are running equip training this is a week of drawing near to god and discovering more of what he has planned for you we will be covering topics such as emotional wellness discovering more of scripture purpose and gifts sign up today water baptism is a physical act where you die to yourself and are raised again in christ this is something that you do when you have decided for yourself that jesus christ is your lord and savior have you been water baptized if you haven't and would like to then this is something that you should be doing sign up today people in the house welcome welcome welcome so good to see you here and uh those who are joining us online thank you for joining us online can i just say when we had 50 people in here it didn't feel the same it didn't feel the same there's 250 thing we are reaching the city and we want to see more souls come in amen we want to see more souls come in so let me just remind you two things uh next week we celebrate our heritage day on sunday so you can come up dr come dressed up in your african regalia like tony and katie already modeling how you should come dressed to church next week they are modeling for us and then also even though springbok has lost please bring your regalia next week even you though you're a kansas chiefs fan orlando pirates fan only on that sunday you're welcome to wear your orlando pirates jersey that sunday once a year we allow orlando pirates in the house of the lord right all right awesome awesome i want to welcome a few people uh peter and alain lee just wave all the way from every nation bloomfontaine thank you for joining us today you know i told them that kevin york will be here they drove all the way for church this morning i mean peter and anali they lead part of what we do in terms of prayer in the region every morning 6 a.m we pray on zoom and peter is there leading us in prayer and we've had so many testimonies that's coming out of that time of prayer for the nation i also believe some things are not happening in the nation because of the prayers of the saints so may we continue to pray for our nation amen it is now my joy and honor to introduce our speaker today who needs no introduction uh some of you will already know pastor kevin york he is the vice president of every nation global like all the nations of the world you understand what i mean vice president of every nation he works closely with pastor steve morale who was here in may uh he gives oversight to what we call our church planting strategy abc cubed in case you think the church doesn't have a strategy abc cube means assessment we assess those who are called to plan churches we do a bootcamp i've been to a boot camp that kevin and david ran in the u.s and boy it's a serious boot camp i don't know john have you done that boot camp okay you survived it uh but amazing amazing training that happens there tiam and natasha they've just been to an assessment center for church planting and they've got a green meaning they can go and plant a church kevin york was assessing them this last week they were grilled they were really really gross and then the three seas is we coach those who are planting churches and we consult for the churches to make sure that they break the growth barriers and then we do cluster meetings where we care for the pastors so kevin young gives oversight to all of that he's got a master's in intercultural studies so we are in good company i'm gonna pause here for a little bit dr samu who will be speaking at the bills plenary the last time i checked she had two phds she had three master's degrees including something from harvard so you don't want to miss that buzz she'll be speaking and she runs her own construction company and a few other businesses on the site that's why she said when i was a doctor when i was young and i was a doctor so at that disciplinary we're going to have dr samuel speaking and you want to hear from her so pastor kevin masters in intercultural studies when he introduces his family you'll understand why he needed a master's in cultural studies and one last thing i want to say about him married to renee for 43 years 43 years one wife they have three married children who live with them in nashville with 13 grandchildren when i grow up i want to be like kevin york let's welcome pastor kevin oh yes there we go thank you simon that is our that is our family from all over the world we have ethiopians in that bunch we have filipinos in that bunch we have latins in that bunch we have polynesians in that bunch and we have north americans in south america and everything in between so we have mocha latte chai tea every color of skin dark white so when we walk into a restaurant everybody's confused nobody knows who's with who it is really odd and so um what we do with my grandkids is my favorite thing is every time they come over and all of those grandkids they love each other so they're not standing by their siblings they're all mixed up and when they come over the last thing we do is we take all the furniture out of the living room we turn on music and we have a dance off and i have no dance moves but we have a dance off and so it's just a great time but that is my stunning family and i'm missing them badly have been gone for a long time well it's such a privilege to be here with with you um i want to first of all thank you for the input that you have into our movement globally uh pastor simon and lindy pastor roger and nicola and the rest of your team we draw on you at the highest levels of our leadership to help us shape and form our movement you're a large part of the reason that we do the things that we do and so i was here actually but the south african team was actually leading the assessment process and you have just such remarkable leaders that's all i really know how to say and it was great to see tiam and natasha corsai seeing half of tiam he's not half the man he used to be um so it was a little surprising when i walked in and i thought where is the rest of you have gone to somewhere else besides where we are at right now so uh it was a thrill to get to spend more time with you guys through the years we spent time together tony leaned over by the way in the uh right in the beginning and leaned over and i want to say this to those of you online and those of you here he said thank you for coming to the really good service this is where all the great worship people are at how many of you think that's true okay good well that's that's good so good tony i'm glad you said that now the first service might have issues with that in the next one but we're going to say that for right now and then john and jan seison such a privilege to see you again all the way from the us have moved here and he was on our staff for many years our mission our missions process in the us was all the design of john and his amazing mind and so it's always a privilege to be back here in rose bank and simon has given me in case you're wondering why it's such a long introduction but simon gave me a drop dead time so i will drop dead um at in 24 minutes simon i will i will drop dead would you take your bibles out and open them to the book of acts chapter 2. we're going to begin in verse 41. outrageous love is the series outrageous love outrageous love we are supposed to as a church have outrageous love for the world in the society that we live in how many of you think we're supposed to be that as christians we should absolutely be outrageously in love with south africa with johannesburg with pretoria with midrand with every square inch of the planet but to do that means we must be transformed we must be transformed and so i want to take a look at a passage of scripture uh that really is insight into the first christians the very first group like us that hung out so let's read there in the book of acts and i forgot to open my bible so let me get since i'm the guy reading acts 2 starting in verse 41 so those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3 000 souls and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and to the prayers jesus we invite your presence today jesus i pray that you would speak to us that you would speak to every person watching online that jesus you would talk to us through your word and just like the people that were in this passage of scripture as they heard the word they were cut to the heart may you cut us to the heart not to harm us but to heal us not to deform us but to transform us so that we can be the kind of people that have outrageous love for the people in the world in which we live in jesus name and everybody said amen amen rome was really messed up when this passage of scripture was written i know we think that we look at south africa and we think south africa is really messed up i know when i fly home i mean i know all of you view american politics i live in a crazy nation right now we are crazy and no one knows how to fix it no one no one knows how to fix south africa and no one knew how to fix wrong john wesley coined the phrase a long time ago as he opened the door in london and looked at the massive depravity and poverty in london and it it so overwhelmed him he couldn't find words for it so he coined this phrase complicated wickedness how many of you like that phrase to describe what you find out that we're supposed to love outrageously has complicated wickedness you try to touch the poverty issue and it's connected to every other issue and you can't fix that because of this and that and then you can't touch the racism because it touches this and you can't and you just step back and like oh jesus help now this passage of scripture was written right after jesus came and inserted himself to pull off redemption of the great rebellion of humankind that creates the complicated wickedness so when i step back and i say why is the u.s messed up it's not because of our presidents or our congress or our senate it's because of the great rebellion against god the father and when you rebel it creates complicated wickedness in your marriage and your family and your kids and your society and your jobs and race and everything else it's complicated jesus had just completed the act of redemption to save humanity from their great rebellion now remember he had just done it two months and it just just happened rome was burning rome was horrific you think south africa issues rome got issues on top of issues on top fishes let me give you kind of a window into because because jesus is coming to fix it so wouldn't we want to look at like he's only been dead like 60 days raised from the dead proving he was god so what is his first move i mean he started in right there so i want to know what was your first move if we're supposed to have outrageous love for rome what is your how are you going to fix it i mean my son-in-law trains nba basketball players when he looks at a d1 college player and they have a dream to go in the nba and he works them out he looks at him and sometimes he says and that's all you got how many of you know what i'm talking about you think you want to play in the nba and that's all you got like you need to go work for walmart baby you need to probably get some other drink and when i read this passage of scripture honestly i look at jesus and i say in light of rome that's all you got for what lies out there that's all you got but the reason is because we don't understand what that is that he got and he brought a guy named rodney stark wrote a book the rise of christianity and you said this is a long introduction listen i'm just going to preach that i get to the end of the time and i'm just going to drop the mic and i'm going to walk off okay now i don't know if i drop this mic i might drop an ear it my age and ear could fall off so i i'm a little concerned about this but i've got a doctor in the house with two phds and whenever in the heck you were a doctor you must have became a doctor at 10 because you look 20 now wow i leaned over to simon i said when she was a doctor i said she looks like a 20 year old when you were a doctor keep drinking the water in johannesburg it's doing you very well i need to get me some of that big time so back to jesus i kind of got sidetracked back to jesus and so here rome is burning few problems in rome first of all they hated women they hated the gender female so what they did for those of you that think gender hatred is new they would just take girl babies and set them outside and let them die it was called infanticide abortion was rampant in rome because the gnostic view of human flesh was really the view of human flesh that human flesh really didn't matter again note jesus incarnated himself in human flesh he said human flesh is a temple of the holy spirit you see throughout all of church history human flesh is sacred and so is the womb because the activity of god shows up in the womb and they made babies and abortion was rampant in rome and the recipients of that abortion were females and if they survived the abortion most of them were sterile so babies were not being born in the roman greco society to neither romans nor the greeks because they had the gnostic view of the human body not being that big of a deal well in christianity and in in biblical theology the body is sacred it's always been sacred and so christians bury the dead in rome when a pandemic would hit the the city would leave and let their family members die and rot the christians rushed in because the body is sacred and they would take tend and care for the sick because the body is sacred so the first christians when they stood up and they looked at rome they said we're not going to kill female babies because they are sacred and they're equal to men we're not going to kill the babies because that's infanticide is murder we're not going to present so they immediately were so counter-cultural why do you think there are so many women written about in the new testament in an anti-female world the reason is because they were valued they were sacred and it was shocking to that society how do you fix it well we'll get to that in a minute rodney stark says that part of the reason that in 300 years christianity brought down the entire philosophical construct of roman turned it into christianity is because christians begin to have babies and women were honored their population exploded why did rome have to conquer the barbarians because they had no people so they had to fill their cities and their armies and their businesses with barbarians it was wicked i mean we could go on and on and god's first move was to change the heart of the people that said yes lord and shift their devotion from one thing to another that was his first move from being devoted to your self-centeredness and your stoic epicurean philosopher ideas and the greek god ideas and the worship of caesar ideas and the worship of yourself ideas and the worship of everything else that you are devoted to the first move is i'm going to change your devotion and i'm going to move your devotion from this to that because we have to have outrageous love and the only way to change that is for me to change your devotion now this is a bizarre twist to me rome is burning and god's first move the impulse of the holy spirit is and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching now let's talk about that for just a minute why would that be i mean roman's burning and you're going to have a meeting and listen to simon laravel preach you've got to be kidding me let me tell you something when you say yes to jesus you have to be transformed or you have nothing to say to that world nothing to say to that world i remember when i first walked into mid-city's church in midland texas i mean nasty sea was in my head now i thought it was bible i thought dts was like in the bible are you tracking with me but i had just said yes to jesus i just said yeah but imagine me sitting down in a church service and the apostles teaching disagreeing with nasty see i'm sitting there thinking you got to be kidding me but i was cut to the heart i was cut to the heart and i left and i couldn't wait to get back again to sit down to be under the apostles teaching and i was cut to the heart and for 40 years i still am cut to the heart when i sat under the preaching of the word because if i'm going to love them i have to be transformed by the renewing of my mind and it cuts through layer after layer and year after year after year now this word means devoted means with intense effort it means every day you cause because this is what his presupposition was it's going to be hard to devote yourself to the apostle teaching how many of you know it's hard to come and listen to simon every single week preach the idea is this that to devote yourself from something is an intense work how many of you know if you're going to be devoted to health like yes was it a devotion every day did you have to sit up in your chair and say no to cheesecake did you have to do that to be devoted to something means every day it's going to be hard there's going to be obstacles it's going to be difficult there's going to be opposition satan himself is going to come to stop you but if you want to love them outrageously you have to change your devotion and move from nasty sea to simon l [Applause] that's how you change what is in your mind that's how you change what's in your soul and then when you walk out to the world because you are devoted to the apostles teaching now you got something to say that they aren't hearing at all this little group of people were saying things that the romans had never heard before in fact one caesar wrote those christians love us more than we love ourselves when lucinius and constantine sat down and pinned the edict of milan in 300 in some odd bc just 300 years after jesus death it was a political decision because those christians had changed rome and this was what they said their god is the most powerful amongst the gods why because the apostles teaching cut to the heart the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword it pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and joint and marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart and to get there you have to set under the apostles teaching over and over and over and devote and redevote and read a vote when i get home i've been gone a long time i cannot wait to sit in front of pastor james lowe to hear him preach as a professional preacher dude the second thing that is strange to me is it change your devotion from nasty sea from dts to the apostles teaching i'm gonna change your devotion because to love them there has to be something special here and they're going to devote themselves to the fellowship shared life now let me tell you something my friends were so messed up and so far away from god when i first said yes to jesus i looked at them and i knew i didn't know but i knew the crazy group of christians i was building family with they knew i knew i'm not the body of christ so don't ever say i'm the body of christ no you're not you're a member but you're not the body when we come together we're the body how many of you are glad we got one another how many of you know if you get stumped by something nasty she says how many of you know somebody you may not know but somebody knows he says and they devoted themselves to the fellowship and listen building spiritual family is hard how many of you know just a black person a white person to build family is hard then you add the green person the mulatto person the mixed up person the good dancers and the bad dancers the opinionated and the sweet the mean vicious vile it's a miracle it's an astounding miracle i remember i i felt this impulse by the holy spirit i had never had christian friends in my life ever i had to hunt you down and i remember going and telling my wife see you got to change your devotion you got to stop doing some other things because you got to devote yourself to the fellowship you have to so i remember i was asked to play softball and i love sports but i didn't have any time like i was in the marketplace they sucked up all my time and then my wife wanted my time those women just want your time why do they want so much time my goodness they want all your time they suck up all your time i mean they sit down to say something now three hours later you're still going uh-huh uh-huh it's time simon time so i looked at my wife and i said honey they want me to play softball she goes great i said no it's not great i don't have any time i looked at her and i said but i'm signing up she said oh you're kidding me because how many of you know my wife actually wanted me to get saved i mean i was so messed up i was not a good husband i said because i am desperate to build in with these men it's not about baseball you have to devote yourself to the fellowship and then then people sinned against me some of you christians sinned against me i've hurt my feelings how have you ever sinned against one of your brothers and sister at rose bank how many of you forgave him somebody's still working on it fellowship is hard isn't it but you know what the world needs to see people sin against one another and forgive confront reconcile and stay together still thinking dog how's that going to fix rome that how you got and then he says this and he said they devoted themselves to the common meal the breaking of bread how many of you love that he said eat together [Music] sorry tiam he did not say vegetarian he said eat together i told tiam i said look tion when you get to heaven they're not gonna let vegetarians in so in heaven they're gonna have a burger stand and they're going to look at you and go yeah you but you got to eat a burger and this is not a vegetable burger it's like an animal diet for this burger god killed an animal in the garden of eden so he led i'm following his lead anyhow breaking of bread what was the breaking of bread in mediterranean society um a relationship had a dynamic shift when a meal was had it's still that way today dynamic shift in fact in those days and in that culture and it is still that way today if you break bread together you would never betray that person ever again because you are now in a relationship bond why do you think that jesus waited for the betrayer judas iscariot to be seated at the common meal to look at him and say betray me now betray me now it was at the common meal betray me now today you know the feeling you know a couple and you go hey let's get to know each other let's go out to dinner to break bread to come together to have a common meal jesus when he sat down to have communion with his disciples that was the common meal with one exception there was no lamb there was no lamb at the meal why do you think there was no lamb at that meal because he was the lamb of god so the breaking of bread if we're going to change the world we need to devote ourselves to the breaking of bread to pull people into our very lives and break bread with them and say i not only bring you in as a friend but i will never betray you finally he ends and sorry i know i'm dropped dead right now uh five more minutes um then he says the prayer this is so odd the prayer they devoted themselves to the prayer there is no way we can figure out how to fix i mean i couldn't fix my marriage let alone fix the world cry out to god in prayer you know in psalms when you're reading the book of psalms there's when a psalm begins with oh lord or my god you know what that's called that's called an invocation that's actually called an invocation you're invoking god into the situation because ain't nobody know what to do now so psalm 3 the first psalm that david wrote that's the complaint or the that psalm he starts with my god his son is chasing him to kill him he lost his kingdom he had sinned against bathsheba there was incest and rape and murder in his family and his kids and his kingdom was gone and there was no way a human could figure that out and he said my god many are my enemies many are rising against me and many more arising my god my god and then he just said but you're my shield you're my glory you're the lifter of my head you're the answerer of my prayers uh we can't figure it out we can't the church is probably more than what we just talked about but it's never less than that it is never less than devoting yourselves to the apostles teaching it is never less than redevoting your lives to the fellowship to the breaking of bread and to the prayer my god we come to you we invoke your presence now my god the reason that we have hope is not because of our government my hope is built on nothing less than jesus blood and righteousness i dare not trust the sweetest frame of my life jesus the best of days is not what i put my trust in i dare not trust that lord jesus we don't put our trust in good days we don't trust in any of that we trust in you we have gigantic hope for south africa because our hope is in you and nothing less will we ever build our own pen god help us to have outrageous love and may we be a place that you can trust to bring the broken world in jesus name amen amen thank you so much wow as pastor kevin was speaking i could not resist but realize that our city is on fire our nation is on fire in case you didn't hear the mayor of johannesburg passed away last night in a car crash the new mayor who's just been a mayor for about a month passed away yesterday morning the same mayor was with the president in soweto and in the evening he passed away our city is on fire our nation is on fire as we stand to pray i've asked peter coffey to pray for us as a church but to also pray for us as a city please stand please then we're going to pray and trust god to stand in the gap as believers may this provoke us to devote ourselves with intense effort to prayer to devote ourselves with intense effort to apostles teaching to with intense effort to fellowship and to the breaking of bread please pray for us peter yes lord can we all just raise our hands to god as a sign of consecration as a sign of lord we look to you to solve our problems [Music] lord we want to ask you to intervene in earthly matters you know lord we are different we come from different backgrounds we all have different mountains to move today but but we agree that we have one god and therefore we want to lift our faces to you god and we want to say god come we call upon your name we say god come and intervene in earthly matters in the name of jesus i'm going to lead us in a very well-known prayer the pray that jesus gave his disciples and i want to ask you to pray with me as we call on him [Music] our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name [Music] your name is above all other names lord [Music] you are the everlasting self-existing god [Music] we pray to you and we ask god come help us let your kingdom come let your will be done on earth here in joburg as it is in heaven lord let it come to my household [Music] lord let it come to my church to my community to my heart right now god father we pray give us today our daily bread lord we are hungry for you for your righteousness but lord the poor we always have with us and therefore lord we pray for the poor and the needy in our country here in this city lord there are poor people close to us every day lord we see them we pray god fill our lives to such a place where we can be generous lord forgive us our sins our debts as we stand before you god forgive us and help us to forgive others help us lord to forgive others give us that outrageous love [Music] give us the grace that you have the mercy that covers in jesus name lord i pray that that you will bring a deeper unity in every family represented in this building today in the name of jesus we pray for prodigals kids who ran away lord we pray we call them back in jesus name we say to the north the south the east the west bring them bring them back to the house of god in jesus name lord and father we pray lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil oh god deliver us [Music] let the strongholds come down the imaginations lord at everything that we are will be focused on you in this world there will be tribulation god but we know we have you with us and therefor we will go and we will make disciples in jesus name lord father yours is the kingdom yours is the power yours is the glory let's just give him glory there you are just give him glory we give you give him praise we give you praise god we give you praise lord we give you praise thank you lord jesus name amen amen thank you peter god bless you god bless you as we end the service what an amazing time an amazing time to be alive but i think that was such a great word that was shared by kevin york on how we should devote ourselves um sometimes it is so hard when you are distracted by not only life right but you're distracted by like work your passions and things that you really want to do but um i think one thing that i'm really just taking away um from the sermon is how to be devoted you know and the fact that um even after jesus christ is dead that there's still an instruction to still be devoted not only to his word but there are things that we do that accompany um the love that we received and what has helped us to propel the gospel um to the ends of the world and i think it's really great and as i don't know jess when you are going into into the week when you're devoting yourself what are you thinking about i mean where's your where's your head i mean i think it's so there's so many distractions especially in this time where family has been attacked right and there are people that need you and if we look at that scripture that pastor kevin preached on being devoted to the apostles teaching that's sundays but it's also mid-week and i feel like for me if i just rely on sundays i lose the momentum halfway through the week and then i'm done you know and it's it's an it's a struggle and it's a it makes it difficult so there's the apostles teaching sunday's entering the week that's the fellowship part breaking bread together the spiritual disciplines we remember to take communion to read the word to pray i know for me that's been really challenged lately i make time to try a gym in the week i try and go to work i try and do the things and i'm like okay jesus you know i love you still we'll see each other soon and and it affects you and i think that this teaching is so incredible to remind us to be devoted and that devotion it takes a cost we have to pay the price if we are going to be filled with that outrageous love and i like what kevin said from nasty sea to salmonella from nasty sea to salmonella nasty c to simon put the nasty sea behind you from nasty seats to simonel and i think it's just that it's just a great reminder that um keep your eyes locked guys on god keep your eyes locked on his word on what absolutely what he instructs us to do and that's the safest and i guess the best process to go for that's right there's so many other things that we can hear but we need to be devoted for next week sunday we are celebrating heritage day so make sure that you register on tuesday guys you don't want to miss your spot in the service there's eight o'clock service 10 o'clock 12 5 you can check the times the exact times online but make sure that you come geared up for heritage day whatever your heritage is pastor simon said we are allowed to orlando pirates or kaiser chief shirt next week so i mean i would never wear pirates but you know i might come in chiefs we'll we'll see we'll see if the books are doing okay maybe it'll be the box it depends it depends shame what happens during the week but come if you're watching online send photos we want to see how you celebrate heritage day yes look i mean even if you're having your coffee and it's got like those tribal printout stuff all over it bring that mug as well take a screenshot and say hey i got my coffee in my travel mug you know what i mean but guys i think i'm looking forward to next week i know it's going to be heritage day a lot of us are going to come in our different apparels please make sure that you are prepared because the swagger needs to be dripping okay cultural drip that's what we're looking for cultural drip we hope you guys have a great sunday enjoy the week ahead be devoted to prayer be devoted to fellowship and the word we'll see you next week yes and also don't forget if you do have any um any prayer requests there is a number discipleship number that you can get a hold of so please make sure that you do send through your prayer requests if you do have any inquiries also please send through that request or need to join a connect all you need to join a connect yes it's very important we need to try to connect um but we do hope and trust that you guys have been blessed that you guys are going to enjoy a fabulous week and have a blessed one be devoted i'm trying to think of another word that rhymes with devoted devoted no yeah that's not working it's not working from nasty seed to salmonella hey [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Every Nation Rosebank

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Length: 107min 46sec (6466 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021