[Music] thanks for tuning into our gateway church video podcast for more information head to our website [Music] fifty-three years ago there was a couple by the name of David and Mary Cartledge and this is gateway church God's story and 53 years ago about this time of the year who went it's bit cool outside tonight 53 years ago David and Mary cartlidge came to the bluffs Democrat Bluff caravan park in a tent with a nine month old baby and for the first thirteen weeks that they were here they set up they did church they did everything no one turned up but they had a word from God believing that we have a role to play in shaping the northwest of tezi the whole of TV and so they started on that God story and they didn't have a lot to say after one week they didn't have a lot to say after 10 weeks they didn't have a lot to say after 13 weeks and after four years they had 40 people and so they didn't have any sense they didn't have a lot to say after even four years but it goes way beyond four years 53 years later down the track there's a room of leaders sitting in a is a hundred and fifty two hundred people sitting in a room with a with a belief that we can change the state that we're in and so we're going way beyond so we're not waiting for the finished product cuz the finished products never going to finish and we want to roll it back that God is moving and has been and we want to continue God's wanting to get bigger in the lives God can't get bigger but is the the concept of who God is the reality of who God is is to get better bigger without and closer with our neighbors and with our friends and if you want to pick up just this brochure that you're sitting on right now I want to just roll through just really quickly what this is about that that Corinthians said 1 Corinthians 13 it says that there's going to be three things that remain there at the end of the day it's three things that they remain faith hope and love and so kind of our role as spiritual as leaders is to go well we should be investing into those things that are going to remain for Trinity and so those things are remained in eternity is to go how do we grow your hope how do we grow faith and how do we continue to grow love and so what we are doing as a church is continuing a God's story on and and I want us to be really really Precious about who we allowed to speak into our God's story so I want us to be the best praises of and encourages of people's God's stories we take a big step forward in the life of the church and so on the front it's got believed to build a bigger and build to believe bigger so what we are doing I'm not going to run through this brochure but I'm going to give it to you to take home I'm going to bounce through a few things here I want to explain a little bit about why we're doing what we're doing I'm not asking you permission to do what we're doing because I believe this is an ongoing God story this is not my story this is gateway churches God's story and I just get a credible privilege of being a part of this story ongoing as our kids will be and as their kids will be as we continue to go on the journey and so the building what we are looking at doing is the building project that builds our faith in God this is the why that we're doing it it's going to build our faith in God it builds opportunity for miracles which I've already started to hear miracles that are coming in with this already so we're going to have a lot more good stories it builds our love for others what remains Faith Hope and love so everything we're doing is to build that it builds a future for our kids builds room to engage our community and builds a more effective building so why do we need to believe to believe why believe to build bigger it is who we are some people go I'm not coming to Gateway Church anymore because it's too big and my thing is to go we're going to go we're going to go to a smaller Church what are you gonna do when that gets bigger we don't want it to get bigger we're going to do a house church thing because we don't want it to get bigger that's right anyway why bullish tripping or bigger seek the Lord with all your heart 1 chronicles 22 19 it is to go hey we here to seek God and we're here to build a house we're here to build an environment we can't change a life at the best thing we can do is create an environment where the presence of God and the people of God converging and Sat that point of convergence that we believe that lives can be transformed that's what we hear in these God's stories that and what we want to do is to do that building theatres of eternal value so it's a built it's about halfway down the first page there it's about honoring those who have sacrificed given and believed for our benefit so Easter 1994 23 years ago Easter am 1994 there was some people can I just see Jesus give us a wave if you are a part of this building this building here let's have a look around let's honor these people who are part of part of this journey so that's 23 years ago and we want to honor those who had the foresight to this back wall here it's not just a lovely curtain it was built 20 23 years ago to extend so to move out somebody had a thought it can't stay this size it's going to get bigger gotta get bigger and so we're on a journey of pushing this wall out to circular head I'm serious we're pushing this and we're not just going out that far we're going we're pushing the wall right out to circulated as far as this building goes we're going to look at doubling the size of this building and pushing this out to seat around 800 people in here and so it's honoring those people sacrificed I've heard the stories I've heard wayne de Montford and talk about you know the cutting of the timber for this roof of his dad's property and and all the people who gathered around and all everything that happened there and they did it for a reason they did it because it was an ongoing God story they didn't start the story David and Mary cartlidge 53 years ago started a story that they talked serious enough to go we're going to continue this God's story that then there's been the way the I think it was called the annex at that time but when this room the studio was built out this way some of it can't stay this size it's got to get bigger we're going to continue the gods story it's not our God's story we're a part of this story but it's bigger than us and we're just taking another step in the same direction to go it's not our story it's bigger than us we just need the privilege of being a part of it and we're going to take another step and we're going to honor those who have gone before us and who have continued this story on and we're going to show kindness kindness unopp raised 'as the culture of our house so we're going to honor those who have gone before us we're going to show kindness to those in our community right now so we're going to get the benefit of it we're going to be able to show kindness to one another but we're going to be able to show kindness to the community because it's just going to be more room and so kindness honor and we're going to have praise and because there's in generation when your kids and your grandkids are they'll be standing on a stage way back there somewhere and they're going to be standing to go thank the generation that took the next step and because there's generations before us the David and Mary cartilage is the Barry Muller's and the teams that built this building and the people who sacrifice to build that the studio and now us it's our turn and we're going to build and be a part of the next journey there so that's why we're doing it and again we're not looking for permission we believe this is what God's asked us to do and not just us that's what David and Mary cartilage all the way through the option is getting smaller and I'm not sure how many of us are up for that if we can give our lives to something let's keep on getting bigger let's keep on they're having a greater influence so how what am I asking you to do between now and the 2050 gene so between now and the 25th of June I want you to do this one thing and it's down the bottom of that first page there is to go I want you to have a conversation with God to go how do you want me to be involved in bringing a financial gift to the house so we can push this building out and make it bigger so the goal is that everybody gets involved a real rough guesstimate is is around a million bucks to do what we need to do we just so you know if everyone in the give to break it down purely mass that we're not about is if everyone gave the people who employed gave three thousand dollars we'd have enough we'd have a million dollars just like that it's doable it's so doable that's math and that's reason what I'm asking you to do is have a conversation at faith conversation because it's not about maths it's about faith so asking God God what do you want so it's not what what's in my savings account it's not what can I think I can give this no it's a conversation it's purely a conversation with God to go god what you want me to give and if God says $100,000 and you haven't got $100 then to go well wonder how God's going to get huh give me $100,000 to give this is going to be exciting so but it's only that's all I'm asking you to do is have a conversation with God how can I be involved the next step then on the 25th of June what we're going to do on that day is um have envelopes so we can put that in and we're going to all come and put that in on that 2015 so it's only it's not the actual dollars it's just what we believe God's asking us to do and we're going to put that in then from the 26th of June through to the 17th of September we're going to believe and we're going to do what we know to do we're going to have a look to go what's God's part in this what's my part in this am I expecting just a check to come in the mail or should I be working some overtime could I sell something what am I going to do so those dollars coming in on the 17th of September we're going to bring the dollars in here we're going to pray we're going to do that between the 26th of June and the 17th of September through that period of time we're going to do everything we know to do to build faith because it's a faith offering building our faith together and then on that day we're going to bring it in and to go great and then on the into September we can start it's pretty much that simple as soon as we were ready to go we can start I've been in and into a church where they borrowed millions of dollars to do this and it became a millstone around the neck of that we couldn't we couldn't buy a Bible it was just got that tight so I've been there and I'm not going there again so it's up to up the journey is then is to go let's ask God lets them believe together and then let's build and so that's the journey of informations on there will there be another building offering next year so this is it was 23 years ago when this was built and so what we is what we're not doing is doing how do we do an annual fundraising for Capital Ventures this is I believe a once in a decade type of deal so I'm not going to I can't say this is exactly when we're going to do another one or not but what I am saying is this is not an annual thing and so what I'm asking you to do is is to help listen to God is to go I'm prepared to sacrifice for this because it we're not asking and I don't believe God's saying um he may be but I'm not thinking that God's going to say sell your house that you're living in and and to put it in the offering he may do but that wouldn't be normal but once you to have a house God wants you to be good so we're still doing that but I'm asking to listen to God and then but being compared to sacrifice but we're not doing it so budgeting wise don't expect another one next year we're all in this together it's a generational thing and then on thee and on that second page another question there does this affect our ability to help the poor just turn to the person next to you and go no no what this will do will increase our ability to help the poor the more people that can that can gather together and the more people that we can put ten dollars a week or more off account we can have a great impact across the globe in giving to the poor so it will not affect our giving to the poor then it goes about what about each and every week and it's a bit out there on just general Tizen and generosity returning a bike that does not belong to you is right but it's not generous the first car got that just because you returned the bike don't go well I'm really generous I returned the bike that wasn't mine what I understand in our giving is the first 10% belongs to God if you want to go that's Old Testament New Testament is like God doesn't want you something he wants you everything and so so what I'm asking you to do is simply this talk to God listening and then let's go on an exciting adventure together over the next 12 months and I believe that and from what we're seeing and understand that certainly around this time next year we can be built we can be in a new building so let's keep breathing this is an ongoing God story so what I'm asking to do and we've talked about this before about how important it is when God speaks to you about something to nurture that so if you're looking for a reason why not when God speaks to you and to go let's pick a figure if God said $10,000 to you and you wanted to get out of that you go to somebody who doesn't believe that we're doing what we should be doing and you're going to have a conversation with them I I get this people who are looking for a divorce come and go who can I talk to about getting a divorce who's got one that in feels good about their life that I can so I can do the same thing who's looking so if we're looking why not we'll find somebody what I'm asking you to do is go to God talk as a family as a husband and wife and go whatever is to go God what are you talking to us about then nurture that conversation and and talk to your coach talk up you know it so please if you've got any questions about this we want to know we want to hear it's not like we want to talk about but I'm asking you to go to someone who's fake filled to have those discussion not someone who's going to bust your bubble we're good informations there we'll have some more time over Mexican so what do we need to do between now and the 25th to June pray and listen to what God's asking is to do 26 - June - 17 - September we're going to believe together we're going to pray we're going to do what our part is to bring it in on the 17th of September and go from there we're good we could just get old you know we could just get old and boring or we can make a difference does a building make a difference to someone's life building a building without building people of faith without building disciples without building Jesus followers is a waste of resource if it's just about building a building we're wasting our time and wasting your money but if we about building a building and building faith that building Christ follows and then they are going to have a god story to tell their kids and their neighbors and their friends in their school then that's what I'm in for that's welcome change it comes up and speak to us tonight the great privilege and honor that same ruler all right all right thank you very much you could be seated the type likes to follow along at an actual Bible Jonah chapter four and get there in a second can't wait to share this with you tonight as always it's been an honor and privilege to be with you all weekend with one of my favorite churches in the whole world I know I wouldn't say anything negative from a stage but but I wouldn't make up something positive either if I didn't mean it I traveled this world and I reckon you're one of the best churches in the whole entire world and and the reason for that is because of who's in this room and it's all of you and it's under obviously the the leadership of the Lord Jesus and and and the people he's put in charge here the people that I would consider some of my best friends in the world and I mean that I mean I travel I travel I left my house January 4th I'm not back home till November 26th and I see everything in the middle and this is one of my favorite places to come because of the energy and the culture and the life and the celebration always kind of honor to be here with you as always our resources are there at the back but not as always I'm not going to leave it open very long tonight because I've been here all weekend and I'm assuming if you wanted something you would have already gotten it but if this is your first you know first go this weekend I want to leave that open for you but but out of just sheer compassion for my host we'll stay back there about 10 minutes and because I don't want to be here all night and they don't want to be here all night because you know we're flying out at 6:00 a.m. and so you know it's just one want to be nice so I'm come back there and check this things out so I want to talk to you about a winning sort of culture I want to talk to you about questions winners ask and I want to talk about lessons underneath that the stories underneath that here are some things here are four questions that you need to ask on a regular basis because these are questions winners ask all the time it's what I'm doing intentional or accidental so MMI is what I'm doing today serving an intentional purpose like I know exactly where this is supposed to lead or am i waiting for life to come to me successful people live intentionally that Jesus said it this way Broad's the road that leads to destruction and narrow is the way that leads to life if you will find it that has nothing to do with heaven or hell the context of that has nothing to do with heaven or hell it's actually a repeat of an ancient rabbinical teaching that essentially was was with this if you don't plan beforehand to live intentionally you will never get where you want to go you will end up if you live accidentally you will fail in other words let's say this way you don't have to plan to fail you just have to have no plan and failure will be a part of you you don't you don't have to try to be obese you just have to not try to be fit and obesity will overtake you you do not have to try to be broke you just have to have no financial plan and brokenness will overtake you so am i living with a plan what am I trying to accomplish the second question is is what I'm doing at a priority or out of prejudice is it priority or is it prejudice is this is this an intentional action that is accomplishing one of the top three things that God has put on my life to do or am I trying to manipulate a preordained outcome that I think is best for my life so intentional or accidental priority or prejudice clear expectations or vague perceptions is the way I'm living and leading do I have clear expectations or am i living with vague perceptions leadership can take a lot of different roles a lot of different things and can have a lot of different flavors and a lot of different personalities but a proper leadership culture always has two things clear expectations and built-in accountability clear expectations I travel the world do you know many times I something like this has happened I fly into a place the pastor sends the youth pastor to come pick me up from the airport I say hello to the youth pastor we get in the car the relational person I'm not a jerk or anything like that I'm like hey how's it going the youth pastor says something like this it is going awesome I said that's great tell me what's awesome about it Oh last Friday night in our youth service we had 210 teenagers in shame you're going to love this your love this over a hundred of them don't go to church anywhere they wouldn't know Jesus at all look at all these people who don't know Jesus coming to church on a Friday night it is going often and I mean some of that like tattoos up their neck these people are rough but they're loving our culture and what we're doing and in three weeks time we have a retreat and over 300 people are already signed up for it and two-thirds of them are unchurched people it is going fantastic then the next day the pastor takes me to lunch and the pastor says Shane I need your advice I think I have to fire my youth pastor I'm like I'm thinking myself the guy that's doing so good why would you do that and I don't say that I say well tell me about that why and he says you know what you wouldn't believe what this guy's done he has filled our youth ministry with hooligans he has filled our youth ministry with like gang members and people who are dangerous he said I handed him 65 great teenagers from great families and what I wanted him to do was disciple these kids and now what is it now those people their parents don't want them to come to church because they feel unsafe in such an environment with all these dangerous people around I'm going to have to get rid of know who's right and who's wrong actually neither neither it is the senior pastors prerogative if he wanted to youth pastor to disciple 65 kids that's what he should be doing the problem was communication the pastor never told him what he expected I asked the pastor I said well you know what did you tell him when you hired him he said I just assumed he knew this is what I wanted him to do that's a lack of clear expectation with no accountability the youth pastor thinks he's doing a great job but the senior pastor wants to fire him not because either one of them are right or either one of them wrong it was a lack of clear expectation so if you're going to win you got to ask these questions intentional accidental priority or prejudice clear tation or vague perception and is this built out of generosity or is this built out of greed am i building something that is hoarding because hoarders never win or am i living generously there's a great book called The Millionaire Next Door which was a social study about actual millionaires and what he did was is he he surveyed like 10,000 actual millionaires about what they do and then he surveyed 10,000 non millionaires about what they think millionaires do and he published the difference between perceptions from non millionaires about how millionaires act and what millionaires actually do for instance the average non millionaire thinks that a millionaire buys a brand-new Mercedes Benz when they buy a car but the actual millionaire by the three year old Toyota Camry on average why because actual millionaires don't put their money and stuff going down in value so there was a huge difference between perception and reality in The Millionaire Next Door he said the average millionaire gives away 13% of their income every year to causes that can give nothing back to them in other words they give 13 percent of their income on average away to things that cannot build more revenue for their kingdom they are generous people Bill Clinton wrote a book about that thick on why generosity was the key to everything in his life generosity is the key so you got to ask four questions all the time is what I'm doing intentional or accidental and all these all four of these questions deserve their own 35 minute talk but we're not going to do that tonight intentional or accidental priorities or prejudice clear expectations or vague perceptions and is this generous or is this greedy now as all good teachers strive to do I want to take something that profound and that broad and I want to dumb it down to one or two thoughts that you could take with you when you leave tonight and apply it to your life and I want to do so by looking at a very ancient story in the Book of Jonah in the Book of Jonah now because I'm going to read a passage from the end of the book I need to briefly summarize how we got to where we got so that when we read it we know what we're reading here's essentially the story there was this one time there was this guy his name was Jonah he was the son of a Matata okay and he was called by God to preach to Nineveh okay now there's some debate about whether or not the Book of Jonah is history or whether or not it's parable I personally think there's elements of both there's parts of Jonah that is obviously historical narrative there was actually a guy named Jonah he was the son of Amitai he was called to Nineveh not narnia okay so so there's aa there's there's parts of it that are actually obviously historical narrative there's a couple parts of it that it seems like they might have put a parable in the middle of the historical narrative which was totally appropriate to do so Jonah gets called to go to Nineveh now here's the problem with being called to preach to Nineveh the Ninevites were run by a Empire called the Assyrian Empire and the Assyrian Empire were very very notorious for doing something to people who spoke against them namely they skin them a lot that the Assyrians were had mastered the art of peeling people skinned off at just enough to where it doesn't kill you particularly your face they had mastered the art of how to cut just certain places around your face so that they could peel one's face off without actually killing them there's this one story from history about assyrian king named kid glass policer now could you agree with me if your mother named you tiglath-pileser you'd have issues right right and so there was there was a small rural farming community and supposedly they were going to revolt against a class pleaser so take that pleaser took an army into that small rural farming country he he found the leader of this community and he held him down and he peeled his face off enough to leave him alive he then found that man's wife he killed her he then took her chill he did took his six children and he didn't kill them he cut their ears off he cut their nose off and he put their eyes out and he left them alive as an example this is what happens when you mess with us that is just one story from history of the Assyrian Empire so can you understand Jonah when God says I want you to go preach to nineveh jonah go no thank you I'm going somewhere else Jonah was partial to keeping his skin okay now it says that Jonah went to Joppa and then to Tarshish it's a play on words the Hebrew word Joppa and the Hebrew word Tarshish means beauty and wealth so here's what's happening Jonah is running from what God has called him to do in a pursuit of beauty and wealth that doesn't apply to us at all Jonah ends up on a boat that there's a big storm and pagan sailors are willing to throw away their profit to save his life but his attitude was just throw me overboard so in Jonah chapter one the pagan sailors are acting like Christians and the prophet of God is that being like a pagan we've never seen that before anyway Jonah gets thrown overboard and a giant fish comes and swallows him as God's salvation Jonas says that the fish was his salvation my Sunday school teacher taught me that the moral of the Book of Jonah was if you don't do what God's called you to do you're going to get swallowed okay not the point and as if as of a fish swallowing you is the judgment of God Jonah calls it the salvation of God why because when you're thrown out into the open ocean and God just happens to prepare a fish to save your sorry behind from drowning even though you're doing the exact opposite thing of what you're supposed to be doing that's called grace not judgment anyway Jonah is in the belly of the fish for three days he prays in Jonah chapter 2 he tells us what he did in the belly of the fish he just so happened to pray 10 perfect prayers from the book of salt which I look sleazy to this observation yeah right right now he he probably who else was there nobody he probably left off all the swear words he was saying on the way down the fish's gullet and he goes okay this is what I did I prayed 10 perfect prayer anyway the fish throws Jonah up and Jonah ends up going to Nineveh he preaches the worst sermon ever preached five words long five words long in Hebrew it's eight words long in English here's all he says he stands in front of Nineveh and says hey forty days from now you're going to be destroyed see you later right worse sermon ever right and and he's messin with him in Hebrew 40 days 40 is just a metaphor for a really long time essentially you've got a while before God judges you carry on it backfires on him and it says that every person in Nineveh repented from the greatest to the least and even the animals fasted this ticked Jonah off because Jonah wanted God to destroy the Ninevites why because in Jonah's perception and Prejudice they were evil and God is supposed to get evil people right we don't struggle with this at all Jonah wanted God to get people that he perceived was evil and he actually tells God that he says I knew it this is why I want to come here I knew that you were going to forgive him I knew you were compassionate gracious slow to anger abounding in love God I knew it I hate this about you right anyway he ends up going outside of the city and pouting because God doesn't want to get his enemies which leads me to a few observations before we read the passage because we're caught up to it next slide when we run from God we run to the strangest places Jonah ran to a boat that's weird if you're going to run from God stay on dry land a little easier to control it's less subject to the weather I remember I remember this 19-year old girl she was all ticked off she came to me to see me in my office one time and she said shake tired of everybody telling me what to do tartar my dad tell you what to do Carter my mom telling you what to do tartar the pastor telling you what to do Charlie you try to tell me what to do I'm tired of God telling me what to do I'm going to show all of you and I'm going to go get married and I thought to myself so your solution for being tired of being told what to do is to enter into an institution that is designed to have someone else tell you what to do when we run from God we render the strangest places even say uh I'm sick of God I'm gonna go and I'm gonna start doing drugs oh yeah because that works out for everybody right thank you forty five-year-old drug addicts you know we're happy you know oh yeah that's going to get you that's going to get you when we run from God we run to the strangest places we also learned from this book that God is generous with His grace Jonah is doing exactly the opposite of what he's supposed to be doing and God saves them from drowning Jonah is doing even when Jonah appears to do what he's supposed to be doing he does a terrible job at it forty days from now you're going to be destroyed see you later right God ends up intervening and people start repenting anyway why because God does what he wants to do in Jewish culture Jonah is the example of what not to be not what to be what you find in the stories God is generous with his grace let's say it's like God wants to get you back without paying you back God is always reaching out to get you back but never out to pay you back what you learn in this story is that God is not nearly as interested in getting your enemies as you are and God is not nearly as interested in getting you as your enemies are God is just nice let's say this way great moves of God start with a genuine revelation of the love of God for us and others and others what you have in this story this irony a guy that was just rescued from the belly of a fish forgets where he comes from and wants God to destroy somebody else you can't celebrate your deliverance from a fish by hoping everybody else gets swallowed it doesn't work like that you can't want mercy for yourself and the justice for everybody else it doesn't work like that okay so we're caught up let's read the story this is the very end of the Book of Jonah this is what it says and Jonah went out and sat down in a place east of the city there he made himself a shelter and set in a shade waited to see what would happen to the city he still is sitting there wanting God to destroy the city then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and eases discomfort and Jonah was very happy about fine but at dawn the next day God provided a worm which chewed the vines that it withered when the Sun rose God provided a scorching east wind and the Sun blazed on Jonah's head said he grew faint he wanted to die and he said it'd be better for me to die than to live so he goes from very happy to wanting to die in less than 24 hours this man needs medicine but God said to Jonah do you have a right to be angry about the vine I do he said I'm angry enough to die it's a bit over the top but the Lord said you have been concerned about this vine that you did not tend it or make it grow it sprang up overnight and died overnight but Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well should I not be concerned about that great city that's how the Book of Jonah ends that's the last line of it it is I know where died what it ends with a question it ends with a question that Jonah needed to wrestle with and so do a 120,000 people in there and you're worried about this plant what's wrong with you you're worried about a plant and there's 120,000 people in there that is not okay all right so let's explore this a little further next slide we can run from God but we can't outrun him we can always run from God you can you can resist you can resist God as long as you want you could go pray till June 25th and God could put something on your heart and you can run from it and you know what God will reach out to you to reach out to you he doesn't want to pay you back he just wants to get you back you can run from God but you can't outrun him he'll always be in front of you you could do your own thing for as long as you want but God is out in front of you you can run from God but you can't outrun him God wants to get us back without paying us back this is the most important point that I want us to see that it is possible we can surrender to God's moral will for our lives and still miss God's redemptive plan for the whole world it is possible thank you it is possible it is possible to submit ourselves to God's moral will for my life I'm press is our language around this I'm pursuing my personal relationship with Jesus Christ it is possible for us to submit to God's moral will for our lives and yet missed the redemptive point for the rest of the world that's exactly what happens in this story does Jonah end up obeying and preaching at Nineveh sort of he shows up reluctantly he preaches the worst sermon ever but you got to give it to him by the letter of the law he did what God asked him to do he went to Nineveh and he said something forty days from now he's going to be destroyed God Jonah theoretically submitted his self to God's moral will for his life but had he lost sight of God's redemptive plan for the whole world he went there this is what it sounds like I did what God told me to do that's enough but his heart never changed to embrace God's love for those people in that city it is possible to embrace what God is saying to you and yet lose sight of what this church's role is supposed to be in this entire city and also in the country and the world it's totally possible to do your Bible study to come to praise and worship to meet with your coach to be a part of discipleship to be a part of the conversation it's perfectly possible to seek God's will for your life and yet lose sight of our role to play in God's redemptive plan for everything around us that's exactly what Jonah was doing next slide this reminds me of a story from the New Testament that has to do with Jesus and I wonder if we can find ourself in this story this is what it says then they came together to Jericho as Jesus and His disciples together with a large crowd we're leaving the city so one of you I want you to get this picture Jesus is being followed by a crowd what is the crowd doing they're following Jesus now Jericho in the first century was the rich place this was this was where the rich people live so here's what's happening affluent followers of Jesus are following Jesus who does that sound like sounds like all of us we are affluent followers of Jesus you might say Shana don't feel very fluent if you live in Australia you're affluent okay alright if you drove a car here tonight I don't care if it's the cheapest piece of crap in the entire parking lot you are in the richest seven percent of the whole world if you left your other car at home because you and your wife drove together you're in the richest 1% of the whole world if that home is built on concrete foundations you're on the richest pointone of 1% of the whole world we are the affluent followers of Jesus so what is happening in this story is affluent followers of Jesus what are they doing following Jesus they're doing nothing wrong watch what happens then a blind man named Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus was sitting in the roadside begging when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to shout Jesus son of David have mercy on me and then he rebuked him what Jesus son of David have mercy on me and the crowd following Jesus shush the beggar megha shut up you're disrupting our hour following Jesus many rebuked him and told him to be quiet but he shouted all the more son of David have mercy on me and Jesus stopped and said call him now what's what's weird about this story is the followers of Jesus were shushing the beggar they were shushing the beggar and what ends up happening and I want to point out something none of them were rebellious when Jesus said no no don't don't shush him call him to me none of them none of them is this that they're like oh you actually want to see him oh great hey beggar it's your lucky day come on man right the beggar is sort of weird the beggar it says the beggar starts tripping the beggar takes off his outer garment and start ripping which is weird if you read somebody just a little bit too excited to see you right and so the baker takes off his outer garment well why would he do that why would he do that in the first century you were not allowed to beg on the street without a license you have a license to beg like if you ever if you ever had somebody approach you and beg for money and something inside of you it's not that you don't want to help but you're thinking I think you're going to go buy booze with this or somebody somebody comes and begs for money and they're like 25 and able-bodied right and you're thinking you're 25 and able-bodied why am I what's going on here in the first century you were not allowed to beg without a license you had to go prove to the city officials that you were actually hopeless okay so blind in both eyes counted and if they deemed you actually helpless right they would give you a license to beg and your license to beg was a different colored prayer shawl a different colored outer garment so when Jesus says call him I want to see him the first thing he does is he throws off his license to beg he's like okay I'm not going to need this anymore throws off his license to beg in other words in other words he throws off the most important thing to keep him alive in this world that's called faith right there that's called moving right which leads me to all kinds of questions about what are we holding on to that Jesus is calling us to release right so so he does this but here's my bigger point for tonight the crowd following Jesus we're shushing the beggar in their own pursuit of Jesus which leads me to this question next slide are we overlooking the beggar in our own pursuit of Jesus is there any place we're stepping over the very people that God that matter to God the most in our own pursuit of Jesus so in our own pursuit of our of God's moral plan for my life I'm stepping over any idea or opportunity that Jesus has called me to help somebody else we're in my own pursuit of God am i doing nothing wrong but I also am stepping over the very person that matters the most let's say this way are we pursuing God's will for us while ignoring his will for the rest of the world let's say it maybe that's it this way maybe pursuing Jesus and loving our world is the same thing maybe pursuing Jesus and loving our world is what maybe you can't separate those two things see people say oh it's all about Jesus shame it's all about Jesus it's all about Jesus it's all about Jesus is that true sure but Jesus is all about people so if it's all about Jesus and Jesus is all about people then maybe we should be all about people right and at the end of the day only three things remain faith hope and doctrine no faith hope and Bible study know they hope and love all these things are nice but if all of these things don't produce a character that notices are called to minister article mmunity to be community involved - to build faith in people for the purpose of together reaching more people than we have missed the point Jonah missed the point completely sold out to God's moral will for his own life but yet didn't see the hypocrisy and hoping God destroys people that is not okay a crowd following Jesus willing to step over the beggar in their own pursuit of Jesus it's all about Jesus but Jesus is all about people so to be about Jesus we must be about people say this way next life a couple things how does the Book of Jonah end the Book of Jonah ends with Jonah sitting under a plant a plant that was big enough to give him shade and he's hoping that God will destroy a city why because in his values they are evil and I don't think we can really argue with that a group of people known for skinning people alive falls into the category of evil but Jonah wanted God not to be nice to them he wanted God to get them and here's what's happening he sitting under a vine giving himself comfort while hoping God destroys people that is an odd ending to a book what is the first and only description of Jonah being happy in the whole book of Jonah it's when he was sitting in his own comfort in shade that's it he was very happy about the vine it's so weird isn't it there were so many opportunities for Jonah to be happy in the book and God called Jonah to be a part of a major move of God in another country and Jonah was happy about that nope no and Jonah found a boat to take him somewhere and he was happy about that no no and a massive storm came up and God saved Jonah from the storm by providing a fish to be at the right place at the right moment at the right time and Jonah thought man I'm glad I didn't drown I'm glad I lived through that I'm happy about that nope and God told the fish to throw up look they'd be two ways out of a fish an option to sucks this weighs much more pleasant God taught God told the fish to throw up that are waiting for Jonah to pass through his bowel Jonah was very happy about that no and Jonah preaches the worst sermon ever and it worked he was very happy about that no and Jonah was a part of the biggest revival in the history of the world up to that time he was very happy about that no he was sitting by himself underneath the plant and he was thrilled next slide maybe this is what we're supposed to learn from this passage such a weird message God says you care about a plant I care about people Jonah you care about your plant I care about people and maybe we say this way Jonah you're happy when your plant lives and angry when it dies I'm happy when people live and angry when people die Jonah how you feel about your plant how I feel about people which leads me to this question what temporary things have we allowed to infiltrate our lives that we allow it to rule whether we're happy or angry what kind of things hey I want you to notice what I'm saying here I'm not saying bad things plants aren't bad they're not plants a temporary that's the issue what temporary things do we allow ourself to get angry about and replace people I'll give you one doctrine we love it we love our doctrine here's the thing about doctrine temporary almost every doctrine is temporary if we go back to what the church believed 400 years ago how much of it is still around today none of it Jesus is the Christ he was crucified the resurrection true that's it everything else has moved to chase do you realize that 400 years from now they'll look back at what we thought was true and go ah no way doctrines come doctrines go people stay God bless people we let we let temporary things get us angry we let temporary things get us happy God today how you feel about your plants it's how I feel about people let's let's say this lady next slide so how do we think about our enemies as as leaders in this church that is bent to to affect Devonport in our world we have to ask ourselves how do we feel about people we think are evil what we learn from this passage is that God is not nearly as interested in destroying them as you are and God is not nearly as interested in destroying you as they are God loves people let's say this way are we still stuck in us and them thinkers are we still stuck as us in them thing do we think about our world as saved not saved God people not God people that is not the way to think about our world Ephesians 1 says it this way that God put him in charge talk about Jesus over everything for the church which is his body we've all heard that one next line the fullness of him who fills everything in every way I love that Paul's definition of the church with the church was the fullness of him who fills everything in every way I wonder why we've never heard that definition of church I've never heard that definition of church but it's been there all along what is the church it's the fullness of him who fills everything in every way why don't we hear Church talked about like that I think it's because it doesn't make a good bumper sticker hey follow me to church where the fullness of him who fills everything in every way I think better bumper stickers are us and you turn or burn they're more quippy you know they're more exclusive what Paul is insisting is that the Spirit of God is already at work in every single person in Devon or because they matter to God the problem is it's such as we think about sometimes we'll say things like this and I know I know people mean well but here's what we say gateway gateway exists in Devonport to bring Jesus to Devonport well that's dumb and arrogant you do not exist to bring Jesus to Devonport the spirit of Jesus is already at work in every single person in Devonport you're you don't exist to deliver Jesus like a pizza hey you know what you didn't have Jesus I just walked in your life so let me give you some Jesus no it's crazy stuff no no no the spirit of Jesus is already at work in everything in every way our job is not to deliver belief in Jesus like a pizza our job is to pay attention to where the Spirit of God is at work already and participate with that instead of trying to manipulate it there is no us in them it's us we're people God loves people let's say this way are we acting for temporary pursuit or for permanent progress are we living for things that are temporary there's lots of things that aren't bad but they're temporary I love a good steak I love it but in my experience even the greatest steak in the world is temporary there's this such thing as permanent steak you eat the best steak in the world two hours later at once out five hours later you got to eat again tempering not bad just temporary where do we live for temporary things making more money temporary money comes money goes people stay promotions come promotions go people stay where have we built our life and we can rationalize it real easy there's nothing wrong with making more money true there's nothing wrong with eating good steak true but when our life revolves around temporary things instead of permanent people there is a pro oblong and it's an easily rationalize double problem because there's nothing wrong with these things like our sports da whoever you cheer for in sports I hope they win but in my experience if you're a FL team wins the Premiership that buzz is gone by the next season because you have to have them win again it's a good thing but it's temporary a question we must ask is my life built around temporary things or the permanent things let's say this way is there any place we've forgotten our fish let's say this way where would you be tonight had Jesus not touched your life if Jesus had not touched your life where would you be tonight because if we ever lose sight of that we run the risk of forgetting where we came from and if we ever forget where we came from we run the risk of looking down on people who aren't where we are and that would be terrible you can't celebrate your deliverance from a fish by hoping other people get swallowed it doesn't work you can't want mercy for yourself and then justice for everybody else if you've received mercy we should hunger and thirst for every person to know the mercy of God that you have received may we never forget our fish maybe less ask it this way next like do we believe or do we really care is there a difference between faith and caring is there a difference between believing the right things and caring about what we say we believe the answer is yes let me illustrate if you go home tonight and there is breaking news on the television and the breaking news is this ANZ Bank is bankrupt do not bother going there tomorrow they literally have no money how many of you would believe that it's believable in certain financial climates it's believable that a bank could go bankrupt no problem at all how many of you would care about it anybody with that money in ANZ Bank you would care about it if you have your money in in some other Bank you would just go all those poor people click write you would just change the channel right you would act like you care but you don't care you believe it but you don't really care until it affects you here's the problem with doctrine and remember you're talking to somebody or you're listening to somebody who's given its life to studying the Bible and give this life to communicate okay I care about the Bible but here's the problem with doctrine doctrine has the ability to create a culture where we believe all the right things and it totally bypasses the feelings of caring about the things we believe in I'll give you a great example how many of us would believe with all of our heart that we're forgiven by God we believe it we believe it no problem so all of us believe we've been forgiven how many of us have felt guilty in the last week so you believe you're forgiven but you feel guilty how does that work at some point our belief has to cross over into our feelings or it doesn't do us any good we can believe that Jesus called us to minister to the poor but if we don't feel for the poor and we're willing to step over the beggar in our own pursuit of Jesus our belief and our feelings have not crossed all of us should believe that we are called to Gateway Church in Devonport to partner with the risen Christ in his current activities around our city in order to make a difference we should all believe that but if that hasn't translated into feeling then we can believe in something that we just don't really care about and that would be a tragedy my question to you tonight is this do you believe you're supposed to be a part of this church that was uninspiring that didn't work do you believe you're supposed to be a part of this church then has that belief translated into caring what team are you on what part do you play listen this is a family families act together if you had an issue you would call this church and you would expect them to jump my sons in the hospital I can promise you somebody from here is going to be at the hospital my mom is having a surgery I could tell you somebody from here is going to jump but there's somebody on my street that legitimately has no food somebody from here is going to jump and you would expect that it's sort of rightfully so why because you're family and Families act together and when there's a need families act and if you had an issue you would want this church to act and rightfully so but the other side of that is true when the church needs your help families act together and this church has a need and that need is it needs more space it's one of the greatest churches I go to in the whole world and it needs more space and it's such a small amount of money I'm talking minuscule considering the amount of people in this room I'm talking so small it hardly seems worth believing for it is incredibly small you start dividing the total need divided by the number of people in this room and it is small I'm talking if for most people in this room if you just quit doing $5 gourmet coffees for a certain amount of time you could play your part and shove in that wall all the way to thanks Rory Cove or wherever supposed to go it's the difference between believing and actually caring about what we believe in listen dude to a fifth I'm gonna call my friend and there shouldn't be a shortfall they should be so easy good grief when the twenty five hundred three thousand dollars a piece or something good lord he you seriously would spend that much a year in coffee tree I'll call it makes you slightly more alert for fourteen minutes then this would be a bit of a crash twenty minutes later you're going to have to pay seems awesome we spend that much every year creating pee are you serious we could all do our part double the space in here and you know what's next I'm going to tell you what's next because and I ain't asking your permission to say it I'm just telling you what's next is it is doubling the capacity in here and then building Nickelodeon in there because I'm telling you right now if you're the first church in Tasmania that built Nickelodeon for children here's the thing about Nickelodeon it draws children and here's the thing about children they need a ride and here's the thing children will bring their parents to church if you don't believe me ask McDonald's McDonald's most terrible food in the whole world yet very very profitable why because of Ronald and what's so big about Ronald children love Ronald here is here is the scam with Ronald and all the times you've ever been to McDonald's have you ever seen Ronald never he's never there but the kids go and you have to eat that crap why because that's what the kids want you to do I'm telling you kids make more decisions for families than people ever ever imagined you build Nickelodeon for children and the families will come 85% of people who accept Jesus do so before the age of 16 build Nickelodeon it matters do you believe that do you believe that then may we care about it let us translate our beliefs into care I'm gonna tell you what I'm going to do I'm going to tell you why I'm only here three days I'm only here three days a year because that's all I can fit into the schedule but you're my family so I'm going to give the first thousand bucks I'm gonna do it out of my own pocket I'm gonna give $1,000 I'm going to tell Robin tomorrow to wire $1,000 into your and you're offering for this because I want you to know I'm just not if you're spouting off things I believe in and once you know I actually care because it matters what this church does in Devonport and you need to play that part maybe maybe maybe the the best way to remember tonight all four questions intentional accidental priorities prejudice clear expectations are vague vague perceptions generous reading maybe it can be summed up in one question plant a where my question go plant or people are you living for plants are you living for people plants come plants go people stay God bless people what's the last thing you got angry enough about to change something father's weeds in my garden did you make those weeds did you tend it or make it grow or go away God cares about people as much as you care about this wheat oh I'll shame my business is sort of did you build that business did you tend it or make it grow or is everything you have from God you what you how you feel about that is how God feels about people all Shane is this yep did you have anything to do with that no God gave you your life God chose where you were born God gave you the life that if God gave you the gift to tell us when you're like do you have any right to be mad about those things no it's a rhetorical question by the way when God asked that do you have any right Jonah to be met other things no you care about your plant God cares about people here's the best way to some right here's a question we should ask every day of our life was today living for my plants or am i living for people is it plant or is it people not is it right or wrong is it plant or people plant or people so may you my brothers and sisters of Devonport may we be people who ask the right questions to get to the right places may we not just believe the right things may we actually care about what we believe in may you my brothers and sisters at Devonport may we be people who live every single day for the permanent for the people and the plants come and the plants go enjoy your plants nothing wrong with enjoying it you should enjoy it but realize their plants never get angry about them never get too worked up about them because God loves people may you my brothers and sisters may we be people who live every day for the people and let plants come and plants go may we be people who participate with the infinite possibilities every day that the risen Christ is brought to our lives thanks for watching this video podcast for more information head to our website WWE search net dot au or our social media you
