Sermon – Living in Dialogue with God - China – 4/19/09

Slides of Trip through Latin America. 

God said to me to go live out the story of the book I was writing. I only had an Outline. But as we traveled through Mexico, Central America, and South America living out the story, two things happened:

1)   God provided for all our needs. Each day we had to trust him to guide us to the next meal and bed, and to guide us to the people we needed to meet for the book.

2)   God revealed to me the details of the storyline. How and where things should happen to the characters.

This trip taught me to depend on God for daily needs and to let him show me day-by-day how the story of my own life is to be filled in. Our trip was a living analogy for how we are to live with God and he show us how the outline is to be filled in.

The Outline for All of Us:

Dan 12:9 –Dan 12:13 NIV

He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.

Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.

“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.

“As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”

We are meant to live in dialogue with God for each moment and each day.

What we do instead is try to understand God’s ways from the Bible then go and live a Christ-like life. There is so much more to a full life in Christ. We are meant to live moment by moment talking to, hearing from, and living out of God’s provision.

How many of us ask God what shall I eat for this next meal? How will you provide it?

Instead we go to Aushan Market once a week and store up many things for the future days, then we eat out of our resources. We never stop to ask is this what you want me to do and is this what you are providing.

We do this in so many areas of our life. In career choices, school choices, healthcare, how we spend free time, and so many more areas we are Christians living independently from our God.

What kind of husband would I be if I lived in a different house from my wife, or if I only spoke to her once a day, or once a week. “Honey, sorry I can’t talk to you until Sunday, the one day I have set aside to talk to you.” Yet that is how we treat God.

Verses about living in dialogue with and dependence on God.

Ps 145:15 –Ps 145:16 NIV

      The eyes of all look to you,

      and you give them their food at the proper time.

      You open your hand

      and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

Isa 30:21 NIV

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Jn 10:27 NIV

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Matt 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

A key in this passage is where it says, O you of little faith. The reason we do not live in dependence for daily needs is because we do not have enough faith that God will provide.

Faith is a muscle that must be exercised. The more we trust God, the stronger our faith will grow. So begin trusting God for one area of your life then once you see him provide, use the increased faith to trust him in yet another area. Keep adding new areas.

Another problem we have that we say because God did not answer before, he will not answer now. But we fail to understand why God did not answer before. The reason God did not answer as we wanted is because we do not understand what is truly Good. We don’t ask for the right things.

Jas 4:2 –Jas 4:3 NIV

You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

When we ask God to take our problems away we are not asking for the best. The best is that we would grow closer to God because of the problem. Greater dependence on him is far more important than removal of the problem.

God is a truly good God and want to give us the best from an eternal perspective. So stop praying, “God remove this problem,” and start praying, “God help me grow from this problem.”

This is what happened to Paul:

2Co 12:7 –2Co 12:9 NIV

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

1Pet 5:6 –1Pet 5:7 NIV

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Jn 14:1 NIV

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

Jn 10:27 NIV

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Challenge

Whatever your level of dialogue with God has been, my great challenge to you is to pray, “God, I will trust you in new ways, with more areas of my life.”

Then go and start talking with him through every little thing. Wait on him for his answer. Learn to distinguish between true eternal good and temporal good, and expect God to give you the best in each situation.

Spirit Led Leadership

All through the Bible are shadows and fulfillments. Examples:

1. Adam type of Christ (1 Cor 15:45)
2. Noah type of Baptism (1 Pet 3:20-21)
3. Jonah type of Christ (Mat 12:40)
4. Joseph type of Christ
5. Moses type of Christ
6. Snake Moses lifted up type of Christ (John 3:14)
7. Abraham’s offering Isaac type of Christ
8. Solomon type of Christ
9. David type of Christ
10. Melchizedek type of Christ  (Ps 110:4, Heb 7:11,17,21)
11. Egyptian bondage type of bondage to sin
12. Passover lamb type of Christ (1 Cor 5:7)
13. Pharaoh’s pursuit of Israelites type of evil forces pursuing believers
14. Israelites passing through the sea type of baptism (1 Cor 10:1-3)
15. Israelites wilderness type of Christian deliverance from old nature
16. The struck rock type of Christ’s provision (Nu 20:7-11, 1Cor 10:4)
17. Jewish temple type of our body as temple of God (1 Cor 3:16)
18. Rebuilding of the wall type of growing in Christ

Ex 25:9
Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

Ex 40:34-35
34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Veil is Torn
When the temple was relocated to human hearts, all these barriers and distinctions were removed.

Matt 27:50-51
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

The reason God said to make the temple exactly according to the pattern is because we are the real temple. The temple was the most important shadow of the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit in us is the fulfillment of that shadow.

God gave us this beautiful truth in prophecy long before it came to be:

Ezek 37:26-28
I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.'"

Jer 31:33

   “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel

      after that time,” declares the LORD.

      “I will put my law in their minds

      and write it on their hearts.

      I will be their God,

      and they will be my people.

We Are the Temple of God

1 Cor 3:16-17
16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. 

Temple Tour
Now, I want to take you on a tour of the temple in your heart. First, you have an outward physical body. This is the outer courtyard of your temple. Just as the Jewish temple had an outer courtyard and that is all others could see of the temple, your body is the courtyard of your temple. Our bodies belong to God and are to be used in worship of Him.

Rom 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.

Now let's walk into the Holy Place of your temple. This is your soul. This room is divided into your mind and emotions. Like the outer courtyard, this is a sacred place. We are to worship God with every thought.

2 Cor 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Phil 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.

Finally, let's go into the Most Holy Place. This is our where our spirit lives. The only way to enter the Most Holy Place is through the mind and emotions of the soul. Then we come into the Most Holy Place—our spirit. The Bible says:

John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

This place is so sacred that no one accept you and Jesus should ever come in here. Not even a wife, husband, or child can replace Jesus on the throne of our worship.

Because God went to this great effort to make us his temple, we must now learn to do everything by His Spirit, not by the flesh. Often we define the flesh as our sinful attitude, but Paul uses the term to mean ANY human effort.

Gal 3:3 NIV

Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

The entire book of Galatians was written to people who were not walking by the Spirit but by their own effort.

Gal 5:22 –Gal 5:26 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Lead Our Churches by the Spirit

So often we try to lead based on what we know from the Bible, instead of listening to the Spirit.

We often forget the Bible is the Holy Spirit’s tool and we begin to worship the Bible instead of him. We put the Bible ahead of the Holy Spirit. We say we must do that because hearing the Spirit is subjective and easy to make errors. We say the Bible is objective and always truthful.

Jn 5:39 –Jn 5:40 NIV

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

The problem is that we are all so weak in our minds and language abilities that we confuse and dilute the truth of the Bible by our misunderstandings. In our pride we feel we have the correct understanding of what it says. In reality, our Biblical understanding is very limited. We need to admit our lack of understanding and learn to depend in the Lord more.

God did not remove the old temple and make us his new temple just so we could push his Spirit out again and replace him with facts we have memorized from the Bible.

The Bible is not the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. ( John 1).

The Bible is only part of what Jesus says to us. However, the Bible will always agree with the Word given by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, and Jesus is the Word of God and the Bible is part of the words of God; therefore, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Bible will always agree. 

 

Leading by the Flesh	Leading by the Spirit
Tell people what we learned from Bible	Speak only as prompted by Spirit
Pray for all healing	Wait on the Lord for how to pray
Push church members to mature	Pray and leave God to cause growth
Worried about non-essential doctrines	Trust grace for our lack of understanding
Worry about many things	Rest in God’s peace
Seek to be accepted	Seek God’s love
Work to earn God’s favor	Serve God out of love
See physical as most important	See spiritual as important
Is judgmental of others	Is patient with others
Tries to do many things for the Lord	Allows the Lord to do all things

Jn 6:63 NIV

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

How to Walk in the Spirit

There is much confusion about what walking in the Spirit is. Is it speaking in tongues, or receiving prophesies, or doing miracles? Or is walking in the Spirit obedience, and righteousness? The answer is it is all of those things and maybe it is none of them, because the Spirit of God has many sides and we are each made very differently.

When we have the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:8-10; )we have a little of the Holy Spirit in us. When we have the Fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:23, 23), we have much of the Holy Spirit in us.

The fruits are greater than the gifts. That is why Paul talks about the gifts in 1 Cor 12 then says:

1Co 12:31 NIV

But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

Then he goes on to describe love at great length. Love is the first of the Fruits of the Spirit found in Gal 5:22, 23.

Don’t measure your level of walking in the Spirit by the experiences of others. The correct way to measure is found in the simple but profound words of John the Baptist:

Jn 3:30 NIV

He must become greater; I must become less.

More filling, power, and guidance from the Holy Spirit comes in equal proportions to how much of me is reduced. He only becomes more in my life as I become less.

Power from the Lord flows into our ministry as we learn to depend on the Lord instead of ourselves. As Jesus said:

2Co 12:9 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Conclusion

We are the temple of God. He took great effort to make us his temple. Now we must become temples cleaned of ourselves and filled with only him so we can lead our churches.

Biblical Leadership - China Apr 16, 2009

Mystery of Power

There is a great mystery involved in Biblical Leadership. To understand this mystery, let’s begin by looking at some pictures.

As we compare these pictures of a famous boxer and Mother Teresa, which one looks as though they hold more power? What about this armed Special Forces soldier and this boy praying? What about this man, Bill Gates, the richest man on the earth and these brothers praying for revival from Doma Kopje?

Mother Teresa, was the more powerful in the first pair because she helped thousands know the love of Christ. The boxer, Muhammad Ali, sent a few dozen men down to the mat for mere minutes, Mother Teresa sent thousands up to heaven for eternity. She wielded more power.

In the second pair, it was the praying boy who was more powerful. God hears the innocent prayers of children and acts in eternity in response. This boy has the ability to bring down spiritual strongholds; the soldier can only fight temporary physical enemies.

In the third pair, the brothers praying over their land leads many into paradise which gives wealth of far more value than all the money the richest man in the World will ever own.

Listen to these Bible passages about the mystery of Christian leadership:

Matt 18:3-4

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Matt 19:30

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

 

Matt 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

1 Cor 1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

2Co 12:9 –2Co 12:10 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Cor 10:3-4

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

In God’s kingdom, leadership looks very different from worldly leadership. This chart compares the differences between leadership in the World and in the Kingdom of God.

 

Worldly Leaders	Kingdom Leaders
Most learned is on top	Most wise is on top
Have power to control others	Serve others
Receive large incomes	Are often in physical poverty
Are proud of their accomplishments	Are painfully aware of their sin
Boast of their power and wealth	Give all credit and praise to Jesus
Achieve position by successes	Learn dependence on God by suffering
Live for the flesh	Live for the Spirit

God’s Hierarchy Chart

EPH 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. [8] This is why it says:

 

  "When he ascended on high,

    he led captives in his train

    and gave gifts to men. 

EPH 4:9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions ? [10] He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) [11] It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, [12] to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13] until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

According to Ephesians 4, God’s hierarchy chart of Biblical leadership looks like this:

 

Notice in this chart, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and elders are all on the same level. The positions listed in Ephesians 4:11 are listed as a group of leaders that work together without indicating one above the other. In 1 Tim 4:14; 1 Tim 5:17; Tit 1:5; Jms 5:14; and 1 Pet 5:1-4 the elder is presented as the primary position for governance of the church. 1 Pet 5:1-4 and Acts 20:17 classifies the elder the same as shepherds and overseers. 1 Cor 12:28 indicates prophets above teachers (also known as elders in 1 Tim 5:17), however, leadership is always in the context of service and mutual submission. We are only leaders in the spiritual, not the physical.

 

 

Qualities of a Leader

In 1Tim 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9 the qualifications for leadership are clearly laid out. I am leaving with you a booklet titled The Church that provides the qualifications and duties of church leaders. For now, we will talk generally about the qualities that are common to all leadership positions.

 

Service

MT 20:25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. [26] Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- [28] just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

 

John 13:3-17

3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him…

 

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

 

The first quality of a leader is he or she is a reconciler. Their primary mission in life is to bring themselves and others closer to God and each other.

 

2 Cor 5:18-19

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

 

If your heart aches to be closer to God, and you will sacrifice yourself to help others love God more, then you are a natural leader in Christ’s church.

 

Humility

Luke 14:7-11

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 

 

We sometimes hear of modern-day apostles. The qualifications of an apostle are:

 

• Personally met Jesus
• Called by Jesus to be an apostle
• Anointed with special spiritual gifts

 

Paul did not meet Jesus until the road to Damascus. However, he did see Him in there and he was called by Jesus, and he had special spiritual gifts. It is possible that Jesus could appear to a believer and call him to be a modern apostle, however, woe to the man who takes this title, or any other church title, onto himself without positively meeting the qualifications.

 

Would it not be far better to serve as an apostle or pastor and give like an apostle or pastor, or elder, or deacon without ever receiving the official title? Then when you get to heaven and you sit down at God’s banquette table, Jesus will call you out and say, “No, the lowly last place is not for you. You are to sit up here with me because in Heaven, we always called you apostle, or elder, or deacon.”

 

The quality of a leader in Christ’s church is humility. A true leader never seeks the title but rather to serve others first. A true leader serves to please God, not men. He or she knows God will honor them at the right time.

1 Peter 5:5-6

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

"God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble."  

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

 

Role Model

Finally, a true leader shows others how to live more than they tell others. Francis of Assisi said, “Go and preach the Gospel; use words if necessary.” In other words, how we act speaks louder that what we say. A true leader always seeks a righteous life before God. They are aware of their sinful condition and desperate need of the Spirit’s moment by moment help to live in purity. They are always asking God this question:

 

Ps 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Lk 18:9 –Lk 18:14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about ◙ himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 Here are more encouragements about being a role model:

 1 Thess 4:11-12

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. 

1 Peter 2:15

For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

Phil 2:14-16

Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life…

Prov 3:3-4

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Then you will win favor and a good name

in the sight of God and man.

God has ordained that every Christian is a leader of some kind. A man is leader of his wife, a woman of her children, even children are over pets and animals. We all have responsibilities. The one who wants to please God in leadership will be:

• A Servant
• Humble
• A Role Model

When we lead as Christ led, our churches will be places of love and peace and many souls will want to be with us.