what's the Bible's model of leadership we can say some general things but how

was the church governed in the book of Acts like what's Church leadership look
like in the book of Acts actually it's not homogeneous I nearly said monogamous
that would have been a fail it's not homogeneous it's it's heterogeneous okay this
is getting worse it's um there's different ladies so I I and compare and contrast
that to the leadership style of Paul and his community so this is a brand new
leadership lecture we'll see how it goes but let's look at the leadership styles of
Peter and Paul let's begin with their call to leadership and you will find in um
Matthew 4 and I've had a little rant about this before but I may have a rant about
this again uh you've had my round about um feeding sheep and catching fish right
yeah okay that's good um but anyway Peter's commission is kind of a deal
commission Jesus says why don't you come and follow me and I will make you
Fishers of Men He says this to um Peter and Andrew by the shore of the Sea of
Galilee when he finds them fishing and he says you're not any longer going to be
fishermen you're going to be Fishers of Men I'm not sure it's quite as punny in
Greek uh but there you go uh no longer fishermen but I'm going to make you
Fishers of Men so Peter has an Evangelistic commission um to his uh that that's
his initial commission and then later on when Peter is restored Again by the Sea
of Galilee where he's returned to fishing um but Jesus comes and finds him seeks
him out and restores him Peter denies Jesus three times and Jesus restores him
three times Jesus says uh Simon son of John do you truly love me more than these
Peter says yes Lord you know that I love you he says feed my Lambs uh he asked
him the second time the same question and then he says take care of my sheep
and the third time he asks him the same question if you've heard my open day
lecture from a few Cycles ago it was a slightly different question that's another
story but he asked him the same question and Petey gets a hurt that Jesus asked
him the third time wow he said you know all things you know that I love you Jesus
says feed my sheep so Peter has a pastoral call and he has an Evangelistic call but
Jesus is pretty clear with him that he wants him to be a significant leader in the
life of the church we think uh because of that and because of uh the book of Acts
Peter's obviously the first um leader in the church it's Peter who stands up um in
the upper room in Acts 1 and um he's not always a great leader I I mean his
leadership in Acts 1 is not brilliant he seems to miss the holy spirit because he
says there's only 11 of us and we're reconstituting the nation of Israel and there
needs to be 12 of us one for each of the tribes so Judas fell we need somebody uh
who's going to be over that tribe and so they elect Matthias that was a bit of a fail
I mean it maybe it wasn't a bit of a fail but we never hear of Matthias again in the
book of Acts there seems to be another Apostle uh to the Gentiles that God has
chosen sovereignly and that's the Apostle Paul but that's okay um it's Peter who
stands up in the upper room and to elect Matthias it's Peter who stands up on the
day of Pentecost to bring articulation to what the holy spirit is doing Peter is the
first leader in the early church he's um rapidly succeeded by and and look the
church Cycles fewer through a few leaders because his persecution's happening
people get put in prison people get put to death by acts 15 we see James uh is
clearly the leader at the Jerusalem Church and it's he who presides over the
Jerusalem Council that decides um the Gentile question are we going to require
Gentiles to be circumcised and obey the Jewish law and they kind of don't know
everybody's got their opinion but they ask God to speak and God speaks through
the consensus of the council and it's James who dictates the letter to the Gentile
church and says it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us but Peter is the first
leader of the church and Peter exercises his leadership from Jerusalem here is
Paul's commission Paul was a violent man and Jesus was had a violent
confrontation with him um Paul originally as Saul opposed Jesus and opposed the
Jesus movement which was called the way in the beginning and I I was kind of
thinking about this before and and um the Soul's a tough guy he you know it it's a
show of force he wants to intimidate he wants to and he's the one who's
persecuting the church uh and and so on when Jesus meets him for the first time
Jesus is quite aggressive with him there's a blinding flash of light it's a big shock
and awe display he's knocked off his horse it's almost like Jesus um goes out to
meet him and in a show of greater force grabs him by the Scruff of the neck and
says stop it um you're on my team now I jesus basically overpowers him I said
why are you persecuting me and uh this all says oh Lord I don't even know who
you are Lord but he calls him Lord because if he didn't he would be in serious
trouble and then um you remember that Paul is struck blind and then he has to
get led into the City and he goes to see this guy called ananias it's not the same
ananias uh from acts five it's a different ananias it's a a good ananias who got to
stay alive ananias again another story for another day and ananias is upset with
Jesus for picking Saul he says don't you know what this man has done to the
church and and God says to him hey you shut up you I He's My Chosen instrument
to the Gentiles I will show him how much he must suffer for my name so this is
the closest that we get to the call for Saul it seems to be more of an Evangelistic
call and yet we see see Paul in his Apostolic capacity expressing a more pastoral
kind of ministry Peter and Paul didn't always get on is that okay to say I don't
know if you find that unsettling this is one of the I I don't know God uses leaders
leaders like strong leaders seem to be people of a certain type sometimes they
can be a little bit self-assured about what they want to see Paul has a couple of
confrontations that we know about in the book of Acts one is with Barnabas over
John Mark John Mark had deserted Paul in on a Ministry trip and Paul uh doesn't
want to take John Mark along anymore Barnabas disagrees barnabas's name
means the son of encouragement he's the encourager and he says no I'm pretty
sure I believe in this kid it's not going to happen again he's got great potential
God's really going to use him Paul says no Barnabas says yes Paul says no
Barnabas says yes they both accuse one another I'm just imagining it now of not
walking in the spirit you're not being very kind because you don't believe in
Redemption Paul says you're not being very smart because this is an idiotic
decision it says that their disagreement became so violent I'm terrified as to what
that might mean but let's just take it that it's verbally violent their disagreement
became so violent that they parted company and Paul raised up other leaders and
Barnabas took John Mark John Mark got restored the other leaders got raised up
Paul and Barnabas made up in the end um but there you go but one of the other
clashes that Paul has is with Peter by the way it's kind of mutual I'll come to that
in a minute but if you turn to Galatians uh chapter 2 verse 11 we are going to read
about a little leadership dispute in the early church these two leaders in particular
butted heads um and I don't know if you think that's all right in the church but I
just want to kind of assure you that the church in Acts is quite similar to the
Church of today it's that we are continuous with the same organization and it is
set up by God but it is a human organization and sometimes people can have
differences of opinion when Peter came to Antioch Galatians 2 11 I opposed him
to his face because he was clearly in the role before certain men came from
James he used to eat with Gentiles but when they arrived he began to draw back
and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who
belonged to the circumcision group the other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy so
that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray when I saw that they weren't
acting in line with the truth of the Gospel I said to Peter in front of them all wow
so this is the nuclear option I corrected Peter the original leader of the church in
Jerusalem I corrected Peter in front of everybody and I said you're a Jew yet you
live like a gentile and not like a Jew why then do you force Gentiles to follow
Jewish Customs we who are Jews by birth and not Gentiles Sinners know that a
man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ so we too
have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and
not by observing the law because by observing the law no one will be justified so
Paul and Peter didn't always get on if you go to Second Peter you'll find that Peter
perhaps a little bit more gentle in his old age but I think the feeling was probably
Mutual uh Peter says of Paul at the end of second Peter second Peter 3 15. bear
in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation just as our dear brother Paul
also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him he writes the same way in
all his letters speaking in them of these matters his letters contain some things
that are difficult to understand uh which ignorant and unstable people distort as
they do the other scriptures to their own destruction it's it it's a very diplomatic
way of putting what he feels so they don't necessarily always get on they are from
two totally different worlds and it's interesting because um Peter comes from
Galilee but he's not educated as a matter of fact the acts 4 will tell us that he can't
read or write he's unlettered uh he's an ordinary man he's just he's any old fool
from From Galilee and yet Jesus gets a hold of his life Paul comes from Tarsus in
solicia it's a Roman province and yet he's a Jew and he studies in Jerusalem under
Camellia it's it's this awesome reversal Paul um begins in the Gentile Province
goes to Jerusalem Peter begins in Galilee and ends up in Jerusalem but Paul is
educated Peter is uneducated but God gets a hold of them both they're both filled
with the Holy Spirit they're both overcome by the power of God they're both
called to be leaders in the church and Peter becomes the leader of the church in
Jerusalem Paul becomes the one despite acts 10 and 11 who takes the gospel to
the Gentiles and plants all these Gentile churches so Paul the Jerusalem educated
pharisaic or Paul becomes The Advocate to the Jewish churches for the Gentile
churches and it's Peter that he has to Advocate to Peter and the whole Council of
the Apostles you'll notice that the church in Jerusalem begins with and continues
with all of the Apostles all of the Apostles are there all of the original 11 Matthias
is probably there who knows we just don't know the Bible never mentions
Matthias again with due respect to our dear brother Tice in college his actual
name is Matthias um you're welcome if you didn't already know that so if you
come with me back to Acts chapter 8 you will find see what did Jesus say his
original commission was you will receive power and the Holy Spirit comes upon
you and you will be my Witnesses in Jerusalem yes but throughout all Judea and
Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the Earth this gospel is going to the very
seat of power itself to Rome but it's also going north to the Goths it's also going
uh it it also continues to go East all the way to India it it also continues to go right
round the place uh even to Australia etc etc um but what happens is the apostles
in Jerusalem have got a good thing going they kind of know who's in charge uh
there's everybody's got their little lane to run in and so they remain in Jerusalem
Jesus has to take some drastic measures and I do think it's Jesus the Holy Spirit
allows this persecution and it says this persecution broke out um against the
church at Jerusalem it begins with the stoning of Stephen again I I need to make it
clear Stephen didn't get stoned Stephen was executed by means of having large
rocks thrown at him until one fortuitously hit him in their head it ended his life
um this was an ancient execution technique so Stephen is executed by stoning in
Acts seven and it says on that day a great persecution broke out against the
church in Jerusalem now isn't that interesting Peter's at the church in Jerusalem
the persecution that breaks out against the church breaks out through the man
who would become the Apostle Paul because it says in Acts 8 1 and Saul was
there giving approval to his death so a persecution breaks out uh against the
church in Jerusalem and all the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria the church is back on track but the apostles remain in Jerusalem so what
do we know about the Jerusalem Church not a great deal except that it's the
original church and all the apostles are there all of the original crew of the
Apostles are there but the church which originally grew it shrinks again and the
apostles are presiding over not much although when other churches and Gentile
churches come into the fold they do tend to report back to the church in
Jerusalem because that's where its rulers are I don't know if you know this or not
churches can grow churches can shrink I don't know if you realize this or not but
in 2000 and 2000 God help me 1906 seven the Azusa Street Revival begins in Los
Angeles through a person called William Seymour that persisted and people came
from all over the Earth to be part of what God was doing at Azusa Street Los
Angeles and I mean all over the Earth that Revival literally touched the globe the
meetings were huge they were unstructured they went for a long time there was
some incredible manifestations of the spirit including some strange
manifestations of maybe the spirit and maybe something else nobody really
knows there are missionaries sent out all over the world a great move of God but
within two years the congregation was down to about 30 people now there's a
couple of historical factors that contributed to that um not the least a little bit of
disunity in the church somebody stole the mailing list which had 40 000 names on
it and went and planted a church down the road but that's probably for history
later or all that to say we see this incredible move of God at the church in
Jerusalem the move of God continues Beyond Jerusalem which was the holy
spirit's intent Judea and Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the Earth but
the church in Jerusalem seems to dwindle after that point because you really only
have the apostle Who Remain there however let's read about the continued
growth of the church in Antioch acts 11 19 says this now those who had been
scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as
Venetia Cyprus and Antioch telling the message only to do to Jews some of them
however men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to
Greeks also telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus the Lord's hand was
with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord now
news of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas
to Antioch when he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God he was glad
and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts he was a
good man full of the holy spirit in faith and a great number of people were
brought to the Lord so now there's been a move of God in Jerusalem now there's
a move of God need Antioch Barnabas after after that Barnabas went to Tarsus to
look for Saul don't forget barnabas's name means son of encouragement he's the
guy that had advocated for uh or sorry he's the guy that Advocates later for John
Mark um but we see him doing that right in the beginning with the Apostle Paul
himself he goes to Tarsus finds Paul uh brings him to Antioch so for a whole year
Barnabas saw met with the church and taught great numbers of people the
disciples were called Christians first at Antioch and prior to that they were called
the followers of the way now I kind of love this they're called Christians first at
Antioch I I keep hearing that we live in a post-christian society in Australia and I
accept that uh I I accept that the church is not in the majority in Australia it
probably hasn't been for a long time we've just persuaded ourselves that it has
because of the census and people write you know Catholic or Anglican or
Presbyterian on the census but don't actually go to church um but I tell you what
uh they were called Christians first at Antioch they're not going to be called
Christians last in my generation uh we um that there has been Christians
consistently from Antioch until now and there will continue to be but they are
called uh Christian's first at Antioch now it says that during this time the prophets
some prophets came down from Jerusalem and there's a guy called agabus um
but now let me ask you this question and you don't have to answer this uh
because I'm probably just gonna keep talking we don't even have a crowd mic but
um who's the leader of the church at Antioch we don't actually know we know
that Peter is the leader of the church at Jerusalem and at some point leadership
of the church in in the next three chapters transfers to James or seems to transfer
to James who's the leader of the church at Antioch we don't know so when we
look at the the leadership Paradigm of Peter Peter is from a very top-down
Episcopal church and when I say Episcopal I don't mean in the denominational
sense I'm just using the Greek word episcopos which we're gonna meet in a
minute um but that is a particular type of church governance that frankly still
exists in the church today there are some churches that are very top down in the
way that they are governed and so you'll find um there's I I forget the the right
terms but at the diocese level you have a a priest or whatever presiding over a
congregation and then the church is in the area you have a bishop presiding and
then an Archbishop or whatever all the various roles are called this is um an
Episcopal Church structure but in Antioch we have a very almost Presbyterian
Church structure and I don't mean in the denominational sense I know there are
Episcopal churches and Presbyterian churches today but I'm not talking about
that I mean that it's kind of governed by Elders we don't know who the senior
pastor of the Church of Antioch is I'm not saying that they don't have one but it's
it's just not important enough to mention who sits in that office what's more
important to mention is that there's prophets the gifts of the Spirit are in
operation Saul and Barnabas are there unless you think that Saul and Barnabas
themselves are in the senior leadership there because they're the kind of the
most important names that are mentioned come with me to Acts 13. that says
this in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers Barnabas Simeon
called Niger Lucian of Cyrene manaian who had been brought up with Herod the
tetrarch and Saul um while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting so there's
at the very least the church is presided over by this group of people while they
were worshiping the Lord of fasting the holy spirit said set apart for me Barnabas
and Saul for the work to which I have given them so after they had fasted and
prayed they placed their hands on them and they were sent off if you really
permit yourself to believe that Saul is somehow the senior pastor of the Church of
Antioch this is a pretty devastating thing for the Holy Spirit to say because he's
literally cutting the head off the church I don't believe that's what uh what's
happening at all it will be like in our church the holy spirit's saying you know we're
all praying and the Holy Spirit just says set aside for me Russell and Neil for the
work that I have called them to and while you're at it maybe Rudy and Andy just
in case there's any confusion whatsoever no I don't think that's what the holy
spirit's doing they've been fruitful in in that season but they've not in an office of
leadership in that church except in the the company of these teachers so we find
two distinct forms of church government in the early chapters of the book of Acts
you've got this kind of Episcopal top-down model and you've got this kind of
flatter charismatic kind of structure so when Paul comes to talk about leadership
in the church think about First Corinthians 12 13 and 14 he says well there's Jesus
is the head of the church but the church is the body and the Holy Spirit is active
and Jesus runs the church by the gifts of the Spirit that's why we would call it a
charismatic church structure nevertheless there are certain terms that are used
for leaders in the New Testament and for the rest of the lecture I I want to just
have a look at what the Bible says about these various Church offices Apostles
prophets evangelists pastors teachers Bishops or overseers elders and deacons if
we can get a handle on that we can get the Fuller picture not just of church
governance in the book of Acts but the implications for church governance now
and and by the way in case you're wondering why this is um relevant is number
one this is a leadership lecture and we're in the church so it's helpful to know how
churches like ours are governed but I did mention in our last class that I was
talking to a reporter who's asking questions about big churches and one of the
questions is about governance what do you do about governance to prevent
abuses of power and and all that kind of thing so it's something that we need to
have an apologetic for and our model comes from the New Testament okay and
it's probably somewhere between what I'm saying is Peter leadership and what
I'm saying is poor leadership which I think uh the rest of these terms will help us
to clarify let's go to Ephesians 4. um and when you're there I want you to raise
your right hand if you're left-handed you can raise your left hand uh that's fine
they say one in ten but I guess I can't count unless everybody's putting their hand
up when you're there I want you to raise your right hand if you're left-handed you
can raise your left hand just a matter of interest for me really at this stage yeah
very good okay um it's in order from the thumb Apostles prophets uh just
evangelists you don't need to isolate that finger you can just touch it with your
thumb that'll probably be safer Apostles prophets evangelists yeah see that works
uh pastors and teachers notice how the thumb touches all of those fingers what's
the ministry of the Apostle and we'll talk about this a little bit that's the probably
the one that we have the most biblical data for but the ministry of the Apostle the
apostles in the New Testament were prophetic they prophesied right see your
thumb is the one digit that can touch all of the fingers actually if you really
concentrate or maybe if you play the piano or the guitar other fingers can do that
too but your thumb is the one that can most easily touch all of the other fingers
so we think of the ministry of the Apostle like is it a prophet yes they're prophetic
uh are they evangelists absolutely they're evangelists are they pastors yep quite
often they have a pastoral Ministry are they teachers they've got to be able to
teach yeah they're kind of all of those other things that's why I asked you to uh
give me your hand okay uh so I'm going to talk about Apostles a little bit more
after that remember when we did the spiritual guest lecture we said of this list of
gifts that the person is the gift so we have these kind of offices um not officer uh
like they're members of the police force or border Force office says um and I don't
mean real estate upstairs but I mean a person who occupies a position of
leadership in the church in the church in Antioch they were uh sorry they were
prophet and teacher heavy I don't think Paul had yet emerged in his apostleship I
don't think Paul could have said that he's the Apostle of the Church of Antioch he
certainly didn't plant it Barnabas didn't even plant it but Barnabas went and found
him it was probably his first real go in leadership but he did move in prophetic
and he moved in teaching um prophets the um the foundation of Apostles and
Prophets is spoken about here and elsewhere in the New Testament and at this
point and in the context of this lecture I'll say only this we want to be a prophetic
people we want prophets represented in our leadership we want prophets
represented in our church and I don't just mean prophetic people because I
sincerely believe that we are all a prophetic people we all carry a prophetic
message we are all called to declare something um about God and about his will
for this generation but there are prophets and there are prophets in our house
that function in that office there are evangelists in our house who function in that
office and obviously I'm thinking of Pastor Tim Hall but Pastor Tim Hall is nearly 74
years of age and I really don't want for him to be the only person that we think of
when we talk about evangelists I want to see another generation of evangelists
raise up and take a hold of that Ministry and I believe they are by the way we see
you know some of you emerging in the uh the missions trips and and really
grabbing a hold of this mantle of evangelism um again are we all called to preach
the gospel yes are we all called to win souls yes but I want to see uh like who are
the Tim halls in this generation we have one answer to that at the moment and
that's Pastor Daniel Bates Pastor Daniel Bates is not really your generation he's
not really my generation he's kind of in between those two he's a probably a
fraction younger than us and it's great to see that generation having picked up
this mantle of evangelism but you know what um I would love to see that just
multiplied in your generation you know um Abraham has Isaac and Ishmael and
the sons of kachira but we'd never talk about them Abraham has Isaac Isaac has
Jacob Jacob and Esau but you know really only Jacob but Jacob has 12. so we've
got Abraham Isaac and I would love to see you know 12 emerge I think I missed a
generation but you know what I'm talking about I'd love to see that multiplied in
our generation so Apostles prophets evangelists pastors I want to spend a little bit
of time on this one and hardly any time on teachers because I think that's kind of
obvious what that is and teachers is kind of the little finger is teachers are lucky to
to be included in this list at all and I actually love that about this list and about
New Testament leadership because you understand Judaism exalted its teachers
the Pharisees the teachers of the law people love to be called Rabbi or my teacher
that was the coolest thing you can be called in Judaism so but the church doesn't
really exalt teachers it has a teaching function but the church kind of has the
anointing and in first John it says you have an anointing you don't really need
anybody to teach you anything that's why Christian teaching is a different
function we speak we don't impart new information we're we're really calling out
information that God's already deposited in people's Spirits in seed form so I I
don't need to talk about teachers too much suffice it to say that's the little finger
that's the end of the list there but pastors I love love love love love the fact that
we use as a title of Honor something that was a dirty job in the New Testament a
dirty and low-paying job to be a pastor in the New Testament is not an
aspirational job and I get that it's an office in the church in the New Testament
but the word itself means Shepherd a pastor is a shepherd Shepherds uh and you
remember it's beautiful um Jesus says I'm the ship the Good Shepherd that lays
down his life for the sheep and this doesn't imply great things about us because it
means that we're sheep but people kind of are um but you know the message of
the birth of Jesus is announced first to Shepherds and and Jesus cares about the
the cruddy job people as well um so much so the I mean shepherds are basically
homeless in that time they live outside uh and they smell they smell like sheep
they smell like they've been living outside sleeping in their clothes because that's
literally what they do um and yet we use as a title of Honor we say oh it's Pastor
Russell it's Pastor Andy it's Pastor Scott um to remind ourselves that God doesn't
value the things that the world values I find that kind of cool anyway let's go on
and talk a little bit more about the ministry of the Apostles and how that kind of
plays out in the New Testament Peter and Paul about whom we are speaking are
both called apostles the Greek word apostello is a verb which means I send and
the original Apostles have this in common that they are sent they are
commissioned by Jesus himself Jesus says go into all the world he says are all
authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me therefore go as in I am
sending you apostello means I am sending you out so Apostles are commissioned
and because of that they carry Authority now when we talk about Apostles in the
New Testament context we're not just talking about the original 11 there are
others which we're going to come to that are designated Apostles and so this this
Authority can be renewed in subsequent Generations it can be it can be conferred
on others but the original 11 have a commission from Jesus himself and so they
carry his authority in a in a unique and perhaps special way it's like do we carry
Jesus Authority as well yes absolutely uh we do are we sent as well yes absolutely
we are but are we Apostles in the five-fold sense no I don't think so very few
Apostles in the room even if there are and if there are we don't know who they
are just yet um that's okay I I suspect that there may be by the way Apostles in
the room but Apostles that we we may not know about for 20 years but we're all
sent we all have authority so it says in uh in Acts 243 and 5 12 that many signs
and wonders were done by the apostles so we find that that Authority it invested
uniquely in them we also find by the way that Miracles are done by other people
in the book of Acts who are not Apostles and I think they're going into all the
world is is something that's given to the whole church but they are marked by
signs and wonders and also as it says by great power and great grace let's look at
um some other things the New Testament says about Apostles Matthias is called
an apostle and designated an apostle in Acts 1. you remember the story you wake
up okay that's good just just just making sure sorry this is the sorry for our online
people this is the post lunch lecture I just wanted to make sure everybody was
paying attention um you remember the story in Acts 1 Peter gets up and says
there's 11 we talked about it there needs to be one more so they cast lots which
is this weirdly Old Testament way of hearing from God because in the New
Testament you're supposed to have the Holy Spirit and you're supposed to be
able to hear from God kind of more directly uh casting lots I'm not quite sure how
they cast lots whether they're rolling dice or drawing straws or whatever you
know the game of drawing straws and and somebody holds all these straws of
different lengths or all these pieces of grass are different lengths or whatever in
their hand but such that the tops are all aligned and so you draw straws and
whoever draws the shortest straw loses um and is the one that gets picked for the
yucky job or whatever I don't know if it had that negative connotation but weirdly
they're rolling dice to see who gets to be the leader of an entire tribe in this new
Humanity that they envisage that's Matthias Paul is called uh to be an apostle and
all of the marks of apostleship and it's a bit sad that he has to tell us himself um
but but but he does he says all of the marks of apostleship are observed in the
ministry of Paul signs and wonders great grace great power Paul is somebody who
plants churches that that is like an Apostolic thing to do he's going into all the
world preaching the gospel he's actually establishing churches um and yeah if you
come to it's not just Paul because I like to think that Paul is God's choice whereas
Matthias is rolling the dice uh choice but if you come to Thessalonians what we're
going to find is we're going to find Thessalonians for starters first Thessalonians 1
uh it is um yeah let's go to two six let's go two six uh as Apostles of we were not
looking for praise from men nor from you or anyone else as Apostles of Christ uh
we could have been a burden to you but we were gentle among you like a mother
caring for her children we loved you so that much that we were delighted to
share uh with you the gospel etc etc it's it's we and who's the way if if you read it
you'll find that it is Paul and it is Silas and Timothy Paul elevates Silas and Timothy
to the rank if you will of Apostles such that Silas and Timothy uh are used to
establish churches when Timothy sets up Elders in the church on behalf of the
Apostle Paul he's doing so in the in the capacity of an apostle not of a senior
pastor of those churches foreign so we find uh Paul we find Silas and Timothy but
if you go to Romans 16 you're also going to find and this is a bit contentious but
I'm just reading the Bible here we're going to read the Bible together if I can turn
there if you go to Romans 16 and verse 7 you will find it says greet andronicus and
Junior my relatives who have been in prison with me they are outstanding among
the apostles and they were in Christ before I was and so these people who are in
prison are counted among the apostles now hands up if your version uh says
Junius with an s on the end give me a wave if yours says juniors okay give me a
wave of yours says Junior okay a few of us uh so Junior if you say genius genius is
the masculine form of that word junior is the feminine form of that word and
you'll find that the translations disagree because some of the translators just can't
get it into their heads that a woman might be an apostle but the simple data of
the New Testament is that there's other Apostles outside of Paul and the eleven
and even Paul's Ministry team that are mentioned a lot one of which is
andronicus and one of which is Junior if you just take that on a simple reading
there's at least one female Apostle in the time of the New Testament I don't have
a problem with that I don't know if you have a problem with that but it is what it
is if you have a problem with that you can you can Retreat behind that s by the
way that uh some of the Bible translations will do but I think it just it seems to me
that there are people called apostles who uh not guys they're actually women one
of them is named in the New Testament we also have to contend with false
Apostles self-appointed Apostles or so-called super Apostles Paul seems to be in
contention with people who have appointed themselves Apostles and are trying
to draw people away uh towards themselves elsewhere in the New Testament we
might talk of false Shepherds uh false prophets so there are false Apostles false
pastors false prophets or whatever who are self-appointed and don't really carry
that Authority wake up just just making sure yep that's good it's my new strategy
for this class I'm really sorry we'll just like we'll just make sure we get through to
the end of the class together um I hope you're enjoying this I'm enjoying this but
like I say I enjoy a lot of things okay let's talk about let's talk about Bishops I um
was in Korea recently and I met this guy who um I said what's your role he's a
Zambian fellow tall Zambian fellow and he said I am the presiding Bishop of
Zambia and I'm like my goodness what does that mean and he said well there's 2
000 Pentecostals in uh churches in Zambia and I oversee those churches actually
it's a funny story because he and I and he's nearly 20 years older than I am but
really hit it off because I was um at this conference talking about Revival uh in and
through boom and what God's doing and he really connected with that really
resonated with that he's like hey we need to talk I love the sound of what God's
doing in Planetshakers I'd love to talk to you some more in so I had dinner with
him uh that night and I I literally name dropped I said I feel a little bit silly doing
this but the stats are a little bit better in the church you know it's a small world
but I get that there's 22 million people in Zambia but can I just name drop the
only Zambian that I know and just test this um I said in 2007 I used to live next
door to a Zambian guy in California when I went to Fuller Seminary and I studied
with him he went straight away I know him my daughter and his daughter
together in the US at the moment they are our close family friends and I went
okay that is hilarious the only Zambian I know that I used to live next door to we
used to mind their kids they used to mind our kids uh is literally this guy's family
friend anyway he's he says he's the presiding Bishop of the churches in Zambia
that's not a title that we use but it's a good solid New Testament term um and I
actually joked with him a little bit which I'm sorry appreciated um my Australian
sense of humor um he certainly appeared to laugh but I said yeah you presiding
Bishop I'm pretty sure that that just means Archbishop doesn't it but you guys
don't want to use the term Archbishop because it sounds too Catholic and he said
yeah pretty much I think that's what it's uh that's what it ought to be so uh Bishop
means overseer Epi is on scopos that's where we get the word scope by the way it
means to look over this word is sometimes translated in the New Testament as
um visitation the time of your visitation came and so what we we get the picture
of a person who oversees uh an area that's larger than what they can see in one
glance so they are visiting uh and an episcopos oversees a number of churches or
churches in a region so they'll visit other churches uh and see so this person is a
person who directs but I've said also inspects and corrects there is a time of
visitation where the overseer comes now you may or may not realize this we um
probably in in our church and in churches like ours have a loose-ish charismatic
structure we do have elders and deacons within the church which we'll come to in
a minute we have a senior pastor who happens to be an apostle we use the term
pasta but outside of this church they would use the term Apostle to describe
Pastor Russell because of what he carries his authority and his impact on other
churches um but we would also see this role of overseer probably more Loosely
than in churches like Roman Catholic or Anglican churches where this term is
more at home it's more used but we see people in the role of overseer because
we don't want in our house anybody to be unaccountable we don't want anybody
to be the highest guy that's not accountable to anybody so we have this
accountability which is external to Planet takers which we would call an Apostolic
oversight board but for us it's at bosov it's Sammy Rodriguez I can't remember
because I don't really relate to that board Pastor Russell relates to that board it's
really none of my business but that's just to say we have the safety of this
Episcopal function in the church they don't really get involved in the Affairs of the
church but they're charged with the responsibility of overseeing his life and
making sure that he he's on track so that he's accountable to somebody I think
that's a great balance for churches like ours so he's not accountable to somebody
within our congregation because we want to look to him to his authority and to
come under that Authority apologies if you're not from Planetshakers but many of
the churches that our students are from have a similar sort of structure and
Pastor Russell would preside as a bishop we don't use that term but as Apostolic
oversight for other churches he's he's on other Apostolic oversight board does
that make sense a little bit of nuts and bolts uh Christian leadership uh today so a
bishop um uh overseas the person who looks over now First Timothy 3 1 says that
anybody who desires the office of a bishop anybody who wants to be an overseer
desires a noble task that's a good thing to desire wake up and so if we go to uh
First Timothy and let's do that right now let's go to First Timothy it's actually great
nobody's falling asleep I I I just should say remain awake but it's just not as
Snappy it doesn't pop um if we go to First Timothy and I actually want to read this
out first Timothy three um it will give us the requirements of an overseer so in
church leadership and we use this as a kind of a as a framework for leadership
standards these are the sorts of things we look for in leaders but we get them
from the overseer and Deacon list it says this uh three first empathy three two
now an overseer must be above reproach the husband of butt one wife some
people would say for that reason an overseer can only be male I'm not sure that's
what's in view here I think the wife of just one husband would substitute fine but
that's not my call I just just think monogamous right by the way on monogamy
just have a little think about what this implies why is it that Paul needs to say this
because in the church in his day there are Christians good faithful Christian
Church people who are polygamous who are not monogamous so those family
situations I know it's a bit weird to some of us others of us it's not uh weird too
but it's I'm telling you it's not foreign to the church in that day the only thing that
Paul will say is what we put in the leadership and this probably polygamy is not
not the biggest issue for the church at least in Australia it is in some Churches in
other parts of the world um but I think it's a good principle what you put in the
leadership is what you multiply what you elevate is what you multiply so people
can serve in the church they that they can have good standing in the church or
whatever but we don't want to multiply uh certain things in the New Testament
and this would probably be one of those things it's like well you can't be an
overseer if that's your family situation I'm sorry that I'm not being stronger on
that I get that Australia has a very uh firm set of cultural expectations on that but
I'm just acknowledging the global church is a big place and that there are places
where this is not as foreign as it may feel to many uh of you and as a matter of
fact if you're from this church you probably know somebody who is from a
polygamous family my wife comes from a on her father's side her father was part
of a polygamous family back in China it was kind of accidental but it is what it is
uh the they were separated by War he remarried she held on they were reunited
and then he had two wives and to this day we have a Christian set of relatives in
Singapore from the Christian wife and a non-Christian set of relatives in Singapore
from the non-Christian wife and our great hope is to see their cousins in this
generation get saved and work its way back up the non-Christian leg and see
them see that whole family routine but anyway uh the husband a butt one wife
temperate self-controlled respectable hospitable able to teach not given to wine
or to drunkenness not violent but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money he
must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper
respect if anyone doesn't know how to manage his own family well how can he
take care of God's church I love that parallel because the church is a family it is a
household he must not be a recent convert or he may become conceited we have
celebrated examples in church history of where we've violated that principle and
that has happened uh and might fall under the same judgment as the devil he
must also be of good reputation with Outsiders so he will not fall into disgrace
and into the devil's trap okay so that is Bishops or overseers we probably would
have that function uh and we apply those principles broadly speaking to
leadership functions within the church uh here is another here is another um I
guess level of leadership that is deacons now I love this one because the the word
Deacon literally means waiter uh it means waiter wake up so in Acts seven you
have this you have this situation in the church where the leaders will say um that
because this dispute arises in their Empower Ministry basically it's in their
empowerment they have a food distribution Ministry and um this argument as to
how the food's being distributed and it's interesting it's along racial or ethnic lines
they have a little racist issue when they're in power kitchen praise God we don't
have a racist issue in our Empower kitchen but they did in the church uh in acts so
certain people were being preferred over certain other people so it's just a spit
that arises and the apostles say we need another level of leadership it's not right
at this point in the growth of the church for us to compromise our focus on God
on the word of God and on the broader Church to wait on tables so we need to
employ some waiters that's what the term Deacon actually means so why okay
when we come to translate the new testimony to English do we not translate this
as Waiters any thoughts on that I don't know if you realize this but the term
Deacon is a Christian ease another one of these christianese words you'll only find
in the church that's because the word was never translated it was transliterated
in other words it's just a Greek word sitting there in English kind of spelled with
English characters the akanos Deacon it's the same word it's left untranslated and
I'll tell you why because by the time the Bible was translated into English it had
become an elevated office in the church so you can't say waiter or servant or
table attendant which would be the more natural translation because what you're
doing would you would be destroying and deconstructing the structure of the
church at the time when the Bible was translated to English that's why we have
the word Deacon in the English language but it literally means waiter somebody
who Waits on tables there are um the these Seven original guys Stephen Philip
procarus nicenor Timon permanus and Nicholas of Antioch what do we know
about these guys not much we know that they uh had to be full of the spirit and
full of wisdom um and there are some other qualifications here for them uh in
verse 8 the first Timothy 3 verse 8 is likewise it'll be men worthy of respect
sincere not indulging in much wine uh the the episcopos is not given to wine at all
this guy is not in indulging in much wine there's a difference in terminology there
which I think is an important one uh so not given to to much wine not pursuing
dishonest gain they must keep hold of the deep truths of the Faith with a clear
conscience and they must first be tested uh why why do you think it is that we
test people by serving because really as servants in the house we are functioning
as deacons we're functioning in the office of deacons lots of churches have uh the
office of Deacon we kind of don't like this word because it is a little bit religious
and we're trying to reach a generation that doesn't have the same vocabulary and
I don't really care whether we call them customer service or guest services or or
ashes or whatever but we are talking about deacons but can I tell you who else
we're talking about we are talking about our board by the way our board are
deacons of a of a special rank in our church they are charged with the
responsibility of Distributing resource that is a waitering job and I don't say that to
disrespect them because we know that Jesus elevates the the lowly things and so
Deacon is a high office uh in the church but that's what our board uh and and our
management board do uh Elders which we're going to come to govern the
spiritual side of the church deacons govern the resource side of the church um
okay in the same way wives are supposed to be women worthy of respect not
malicious talkers temperate a deacon must be the husband about one wife
manages household and children well it's quite similar to the office of and
overseer now we know about Stephen because Steven gets martyred in the next
chapter so obviously they had to raise more deacons um that didn't last very long
for him uh but he did preach the gospel before he got mad Philip um Philip is a
guy that we find preaching the gospel in Acts 8 and honestly having this weird
spiritual gift which we don't see anywhere else in the Bible it's kind of a it's a bit
of a Star Trek type Vibe because he's taken from one place he disappears and he
reappears somewhere else it's the only place that I'm aware of in the Bible
correct me if I'm wrong but it's the only place I can think of right now where that
actually happens but he disappears and he reappears somewhere else I love the
reminder that God is not limited by space and time it's just I need you to preach
the gospel to the um the Ethiopian eunuch and because we need to get Africa
saved and that guy takes the gospel back to Africa um but I now I need you to
preach the gospel somewhere else and you're just going to disappear and
reappear I don't know if I want that gift I don't know if I want to be used in that
way but we do lead surrendered lives I don't know if we probably need it
anymore because we can kind of do that it just takes us a few hours on an
airplane and you can appear anywhere on Earth but um there you go this ax is a
funny place all right we also know of Nicholas of Antioch because there's this sect
in Revelation called the Nicolaitans so he was not a good leader he managed to
draw people to himself and he had this immorality thing and you can read about
the Nicolaitans and about what Jesus thinks about followers of Nicholas when you
get to Revelation it's it's not good so leaders do fall for good and bad reasons
Stephen for good reasons Nicholas for bad reasons okay let's talk about elders
and then I want to just talk about the elders in um I want to talk about some
different Elders so we're going to talk about Elders this is our last New Testament
office then I just want a little bit of I want to zoom out and get a little bit of
perspective if we can uh but let's talk about elders the uh Greek word for Elder is
a comparative adjective as you would expect because that's how we translate it in
English Elder is just a weird English term that means older so your elders are the
people who are older than you it is attested in Greek I'm I'm not trying to Crusade
on a particular Point here I I hope I'm understood in what I'm saying and what I'm
not saying but I just want to represent the data of the bible really well it's it's a
tested in the New Testament in the masculine and The Feminine form it's uh
Elders or older men it's translated as when it's in the masculine form in the
feminine form it's almost always only translated as older women but I think that
there may be a fraction of bias there because it's it's simply the term can occur in
both genders but what are we talking about we're talking about our elders by the
way this is a society that knew how to respect its Elders some of you are from
cultures that do way better than Australian Society at respecting Elders we tend
to make fun of Elders a little bit um they don't say it anymore but there's this
dismissive term which always used to make me laugh because it's also
coincidentally uh the name of a person who attends our boom Ministry so we had
to stop um calling people who attended boom Boomers um because there was
this dismissive term that that we would use of Elders with whom we disagreed
Australia's not great at respecting Elders uh but but there are other cultures as I
said represented that are but the church what we when we talk about Kingdom
culture Kingdom culture is a place where Elders are respected simply because
they are older than us you don't have to you know find in an older person
somebody whose life you want to emulate but thankfully the family of God's big
enough that you will find in older people somewhere somebody's life who whom
you want to emulate but um as Elders are to be respected but there's also this
category of Elders that are spiritual Elders they may be older people they may
simply be older in the Lord but we all acknowledge that they are spiritually
mature and able to lead and these become a Council of Elders in the church then
and now at our church and every Church represented here has an eldership it is it
is a body a council of spiritual Elders that that govern the spiritual aspect of the
church um You probably don't need to know this but when certain things come up
in the life of the congregation we we have this little term we'll say that well that's
an eldership issue in other words that's not something I'm going to speak to that's
something that that goes to our eldership to to discuss and to decide on because
of its broader implications uh it becomes like a ruling Council in the church so acts
15 2 Paul and Barnabas take the question of the Gentiles to the apostles and
Elders Jansen you could come um acts 14 4 Paul and Barnabas lay out their case
to the apostles and Elders acts 15 6 the apostles and Elders meet together to
deliberate and acts 15 22-23 the apostles and Elders reach a decision and issue a
ruling the apostles and Elders send their greetings so there's this presiding Council
which comprises of Elders okay in summary of Where we've gotten to so far we
see see because it's these terms that are used differently by the church in
Jerusalem and the church in Antioch that the notion of apostle and episcopos or
Bishop is going to be much more uh familiar to the Church of Jerusalem but some
of these other officers are going to be much more familiar in the Church of
Antioch but hopefully with that little comparison and contrast and laying out
those terms you have the whole of uh New Testament the understanding of New
Testament Church governance which I think is helpful I want to come to two final
scriptures and we're actually going to just worship for a bit you don't know why
yet but remember back in Mark 10 you can go to Mark 10 with me uh if you'd like
let's see where is it Mark 10 35 says James and John the sons of Zebedee came to
Jesus teacher they said we want you to do for us whatever we ask this is a this is a
very childish strategy this is what kids do to their parents it's like can you promise
me to do whatever I ask for this is like the the blank check request [Music] um
and Jesus says well what do you want me to do for you he doesn't say sure I'll I'll
sign a blank check it's like it's just what what do you want me to do they said well
when you come let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left in
your glory Jesus you you just you don't know what you're asking you you have no
framework to understand what you're asking like who gets to sit at the right of
the left of the throne um in heaven because they're still thinking National which is
weird after the resurrection and uh sorry this is not after the resurrection but
they're still thinking uh National even after the resurrection as evidence um in
Acts 1 7 they're still thinking National but at this stage they definitely still think of
national right so I see the throne in Jerusalem there's a son of David going to sit in
it I'd like to be the guy that sits on the left and him be the guy that sits on the
right Jesus says can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I'm
baptized with they both answer in unison yeah we can Jesus said to them I hate to
tell you this but you will drink that cup and you will be baptized with the baptism
I'm baptized with that much I can grant you and both James and John are
violently martyred in the first century for preaching the gospel Jesus came
through with that promise but to sit at my right or my left is not really for me to
Grant these places belong to those for whom they have been prepared always
used to reflect on that scripture and just think you'll probably let him sit there I
mean they're the guys that ask for it I mean when I get to heaven I'll probably see
James on one side and John on the other side that's who I'll know who they how
I'll know who they are but actually the Bible does give us a picture of the throne
and it's not James and John that is seated um next to him on the throne and I just
want to read this um I'm sorry if you find like I said this is the first time I've given
this lecture I I'm sorry if it's come out a little bit disjointed but I wanted to show
you new testament leadership from that contrast of Peter and Paul hopefully
that's been the right way of seeing that contrast but I also wanted to zoom out a
little bit and put it in context because we don't get to take any of our titles to
heaven that just functions to serve the church on the Earth and see Jesus is is
radically connected to heaven in his perspective he's been there he's from there
he's returning there and so he understands when he says to them you don't know
what you're asking he's not saying there's going to be a human contest in the end
and and the two blokes that win they get the spots [Music] saying you have you
have seen all of church history it's gonna be reserved for revivalists and reformers
I've got one for bloke up Martin Luther and one for a guy called John Wesley but
you wouldn't know that because we haven't had that part he's not saying that at
all he's just saying you've got no idea you have no idea what you're asking in
Revelation 4 we have the scene of the throne room in heaven and John I love that
it's John because he gets it now he sees it and he's I I can imagine he's like oh
wow cannot believe I was such a presumptuous fool to even request that this
wow he lacks the vocabulary to even articulate it I've had our Greek students
translate this passage for their final assignment because I'm just so wrapped in
this passage at the moment and I want to read you all of Revelation 4. after this I
looked and there before me was a door standing open in heaven a door that
nobody can shut don't forget what it's after this means because it's after
Revelation 3 it says I said in front of you an Open Door nobody's going to shut that
door there's a door standing open in heaven and the voice I'd heard at first
speaking to me like a trumpet he just doesn't have the China he's trying to
represent these crazy realities that just blow his mind a voice like a trumpet I
know trumpets aren't cool anymore I used to be brass bands I'm not even sure
they're cool then um but at least I have a framework to imagine this but this clear
loud piercing voice I don't know commanding voice said come up here wake up
and I will show you sorry I just inserted that bit I'll show you what must take place
after this and at once I was in the spirit and there before me was a throne in
heaven with someone sitting on it John gets to say the leadership Paradigm in
heaven and the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian a
rainbow resembling an emerald I told you he was struggling rainbows don't
resemble emeralds but this one did resemble an emerald maybe it was post 2022
and he went no it's not that kind of rainbow it's a green one I I don't know but it's
a rainbow and it resembled an emerald encircled the throne surrounding the
throne there were 24 other Thrones that Seated on them were 24 Elders this is
the elders I want to talk about not not the Earthly elders and who gets to be an
elder you know for five minutes down here this there's an eldership in heaven
and all of them are sitting on Thrones there's 24 Thrones surrounding the the one
Throne that matters they were dressed in white I I'll try to get our great students
to see the grammar of that they were dressed in its passive voice they didn't dress
themselves in white they were dressed in white they were clothed somebody else
had clothed them in white these elders they had crowns of gold on their heads
they had symbols of authority on their heads maybe those crowns were conferred
and given to them maybe those crowns were were one you know to him who
overcomes I will you know give a crown I'll give a white robe I'll give him the right
to sit down blah blah blah to him whoever comes because crowns can be given
and crowns can be taken sometimes crowns are taken in battle right like the guy
who uh brings the the crown to David and says you know this is the crown and I I
found it and and here I'm now giving it to you because you deserve the authority
so crowds can be taken in battle because the king's the last guy that cops it in in
the losing Army but see we're all engaged in a battle aren't we we're all in pursuit
of crowds we're all in pursuit of authority and I don't mean crowns for us to make
us look good but we are all in the overcoming business because we're all engaged
in a Warfare but at the end it's not about your Authority or my authority there's
only one person who has all the glory and all the power and all the authority and
so we find these guys with Thrones with crowns and from the throne came
flashes of lightning Rumblings and peels of Thunder I can't even imagine it John
saw it he couldn't really articulate It Before the Throne seven lamps were blazing
that these were the this is the Sevenfold spirit of God and also Before the Throne
there was what looked like a sea of glass clear as Crystal again he's just struggling
to comprehend the beauty of it in the center and around the throne now we get
to see there's four living creatures don't even know what they are what they're
just called living things these were the one by the way that Jesus could see clearly
when James and John are asking the question he's like you don't know what
you're asking when I when I'm seated again there's there's these living creatures
and you've got no idea even when I show you in the years to come personally give
you a personal revelation you still won't know what they are except to say that
they're living things living creatures they're covered with eyes in the front and the
back the first living creatures like a lion the second like an ox a third had the face
like a man the fourth was like a flying eagle and each of the four living creatures
had six wings and was covered with eyes all around it sounds monstrous but it's
actually just wonderful it's too wonderful for him to comprehend they could see
360 uh three-dimensional 360. you know what I mean like whatever that is they
could see all around even under the wings day and night they never stopped
saying holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and isn't is to come
they're the ones that are closest to the throne in the center and they're the ones
who carry the greatest Revelation and they literally it's it's not that that's their job
and they're employed to do that they just can't say or do anything else because
he's so unbelievably and compellingly holy whenever the living creatures give
honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever
the 24 elders they all fall down before him who sits on the throne they worship
Him who lives forever and ever and they take their crowns off their head and they
lay the crowns down before him that by the way is our reward because whatever
crowns whatever accolades we get in this life whatever is conferred on us as an
honor whatever is one by us in a battle um by his strength and in his power and
for his glory at the end we get to take it and we get to lay it down and they would
say this he can sing the bridge for us Jensen you are worthy our Lord and God to
receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they
were created and have their being I don't know maybe we can get the words up
instead of these dumb slides um I don't know if you can by the way it doesn't you
don't have to do you want to just sing the bridge for us foreign [Music] [Music]
[Music] below because [Music] [Applause] [Music] I can't by the way I'm not a
visual person I've made much of that but I could feel it I could sense it some of
you could see it the emerald rainbow that encircles the throne the living creatures
with the weird eyes that just see all around and the 24 elders just give Glory and
everything we talk about in college and everything we talk about in this class and
how to be a leader and what you might get called what you function in the church
might be and how to how to Shepherd other people it's all [Music] this and the
purpose is that in the end we would be able to somehow be part of that scene
maybe we say with the with the four living creatures holy holy holy is the Lord
God Almighty who was and is and is to come we didn't have a second bridge in
the song maybe we're going to be same with the 24 Elders As We Lay Down our
crowns all blessing all glory all honor belong to you all authority belongs to you
and here's the coolest thing about the picture [Music] see in the Old Testament
they would slaughter a lamb on the altar I mean that poor thing it was the
weakest thing really the most despised thing because it carried all of the sin in
some kind of real sense it carried the sin they put the sin on the land then they
killed the lamb this is poor lamb you know it it was incredibly vulnerable and
Incredibly weak and Incredibly pure and it had done absolutely nothing wrong but
in the end everybody looked down on the lamb and it became just a piece of
meat that you put between bread and and your you know ate a what do they call
it non-vegetarian Falafel I I the word escapes me right now you find it at the
Greek shop and it's not Euros I'm thinking of the other word anyway that's what it
becomes they'd look down on it but now is John and he's the guy who said to
Jesus when he doesn't get it and he's just thinking in human terms what do I get
to be called maybe if I suck up to you I can get to be one of the close ones I could
get to be one of the ones that sits on either side but now as he looks up he sees
and he gets it it all just locks in for him and he sees what he had spent his entire
life under Judaism looking down on on the altar as they slip the throat of that
thing and they they killed the lamb and they sacrificed and they all breathed the
sigh of relief because God's Wrath was poured out on the on the on the poor
lamb which is signified by the the fire and then you know everybody ate and this
Fellowship was restored but as he looks up and as you go into the next chapter
we find [Music] we find that the one who's sitting on the throne the one who's
worthy to open the scroll whatever that is so we're not doing Revelation right
now is the one who looks like a slain lamb and what they'd always look down on
he now looks up to you and I don't know maybe we can stop talking because
some of you can't see this scene and you you've gotten enough but I just want us
to focus all of our attention on that scene just for a moment lift ourselves out of
what we're learning and why we're learning it and recognize that it's all for him
and you can take the song from the top the one who is sitting in the center who's
enthroned in the center the one that it's all about and let's just let's just give him
our worship and give him our surrender freshly [Music] the land [Music] s almost
raised to life again holy [Music] name of you it's you I will praise [Music] I will join
with the angels declaring your name [Music] again holy [Music] by far too it's all
about you he's always been about you it's only about you [Music] for your name
[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] 24 Elders maybe you could just fresh
surrender and and I mean you could come and fill the Altar and as it were fall
down before him but and just just unburden yourself of your crowns everything
that you and passed present future fall down before him and lay that down
before him and all belongs to you your home your word awesome flowers [Music]
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
Snow White [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] it's all about
you it'll always be about you [Music] see our Jesus we just we're just laying down
we want to bring you our crowds we bring you all of our achievements we bring
you the privilege into which we were born if that applies to you we bring you the
the opposite of that if it applies to you we bring you our accomplishments we
bring you the esteem in which we're held the positions which we hold we bring
you our aspirations for the future admitting and recognizing that it's the temporal
future the this worldly future we just want to declare all over again it's all for you
so that you could be king of kings and Lord of lords and Lord of everything that we
will overcome in our lives everything that we have overcome in our lives you said
all authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to you therefore go we've gone
and we go in your name and we go as an army to conquer and to overcome but as
we do we bring it we bring those crowns back to you and say you're now Lord of
that area you're now Lord of this school you're now Lord of this family line in our
lord of this life you're now Lord of these institutions we give it all to you Lord all
the praise all the glory or the honor as to sing that bridge one more time glow
Empire [Music] your your way I fall I found where [Music] the when there's no
raining forever [Music] you know of all flowers [Music] for those of you who are
streaming live online you feel free to go ahead and cut the stream now but um
Jensen I'm going to get you to just continue to minister for a few minutes because
I just think and especially in a leadership class it's it's an important moment
because with this perspective with this perspective with this surrender this is the
kind of moment that God may speak to you in about the temporal future and
commission you for what it is that he has for you in this life and I I really believe
that um I'm not going to cheapen this for you by trying to do that on his behalf
but I just believe that God's breathing fresh commission and fresh Vision into
many of us right now so you can just feel free to remain in this class dismiss from
that perspective you can feel free not to remain in this it's it is okay but I really
believe that God's going to begin to speak to you as we just um cry out to him and
make him the priority he's at the center he's at the center of this picture and
really the picture is just all about him [Music] over to you Holy Spirit [Music]
foreign [Music] thank you