Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:06] It's great to be back. I literally had one Sunday off, and just being back in here this morning is refreshing, just to hear worship again. This morning is refreshing. And I've been listening to worship. I've been in the Word, I've been sorting out the message and stuff that God's placed on my heart. I've been there in that while I've been on holiday. And it's great, great to do that, but it's even better to be here because this is the connection. This is the connection part. This is seeing familiar faces. This is seeing faces that I haven't seen before, that I haven't met properly yet. This is the connection that I've missed whilst I was away. So it's great to be back in the house of the Lord, but today I'm going to be talking about the inside out.
[00:00:49] There should be a graphic on screen. There we go.
[00:00:52] It's a nice graphic, isn't it? Yeah. My wife chose this graphic years ago for her company, Inside out, and I thought it would be fitting today to use that because there's a tension that every Christian lives with.
[00:01:08] That tension really is the difference between being with God and doing for God.
[00:01:15] Doing for God's easy because we can see it. It's visible. You walk in, you see the chairs are set up. You listen to the worship band who've been practicing, they've been doing all this stuff to get ready for today. There's a lot of stuff that goes into it, and there's a lot of productive things that come out of it.
[00:01:35] So it's very visible, it's very productive. And you get the affirmations, you get the high five. Well done. That was great. It makes you feel good. Whenever you get that, this is starting a slide, so I'm going to move it.
[00:01:47] But Jesus never measured relationship by activity.
[00:01:53] We should know that.
[00:01:55] But sometimes we fall foul of that. We fall into the doing. I've got to do more. I've got to do more, I've got to do more. And all of a sudden you get into the realm of, I haven't had a break.
[00:02:06] I'm tired, I'm burnt out, I'm frustrated, I'm annoyed. I don't like people.
[00:02:14] I know he was going to say that. You get to that point, you're like, I just don't like people today.
[00:02:18] I say to my son often, too often, sometimes I'm like, mate, I love You. But right now, I don't like you.
[00:02:25] Get out my face.
[00:02:27] Yeah. Who knows that? There's a lot of people nodding their heads and going, yeah, we've got kids. We understand.
[00:02:34] You can be busy for God and still distant from God.
[00:02:39] We know that we don't hear that often enough because we like the pat in the back, we like the high fives, we like the well done. And this is what we go, I want to get through the gates of heaven and I want to hear, well done, good and faithful servant. Yeah, but sometimes we expect that here and we don't get it often enough.
[00:03:00] Sometimes it's just a throwaway sentence, that was good, well done.
[00:03:06] Sometimes we just don't get it properly and then we get annoyed because we're expecting more.
[00:03:12] We expect more from people.
[00:03:16] One of the biggest lies in modern Christianity is that our value comes from what we produce.
[00:03:23] But there's a phrase, we're human beings, not human doings. Who's heard that before?
[00:03:33] Yeah, we're human beings, not human doings. Which means, I want to be in a relationship with Jesus.
[00:03:41] I don't want to have to do stuff to get into a relationship with Jesus to earn his favor.
[00:03:47] I can't do that. It's already been done. It was already paid on the cross, that price.
[00:03:52] So I'm a human being. You are human beings. What are you being?
[00:03:57] Are you being intentional with your relationship with Jesus? Are you doing stuff to make it look like you're being intentional with what you're doing for Jesus?
[00:04:09] It's a hard question because sometimes you look at people and you're going, wow, they're doing a lot. They must have a fantastic relationship with Jesus.
[00:04:18] And you realize that actually in the background, they're struggling more than you fake it till you make it. It looks good on the outside, but the inside's not really there. And we're going to cover some of that. Our identity isn't rooted in what we accomplish for God. It's rooted in God.
[00:04:36] It's actually rooted in who God told you you are, in who he says you are. That's where it's rooted. It's rooted in the Word, it's rooted in the Bible.
[00:04:49] It says it there everywhere, who you are.
[00:04:53] And it doesn't matter if you're a Christian or a non Christian here today, it still tells you the same thing.
[00:04:59] You are a son, a daughter, an heir.
[00:05:03] You are redeemed, forgiven, accepted. You are all of those things before you ever served, before you ever led, before you ever done anything for Him.
[00:05:17] He gave a son for you, for you to have that relationship with him.
[00:05:25] Not for you to do stuff, but to have a relationship with him. He wanted you. He loved you. Not your output, not the giftings you think you have.
[00:05:36] He wants you.
[00:05:38] All of you.
[00:05:41] And today I want to talk about what it means to live from the inside out, not from the outside in.
[00:05:49] And I want you to understand that as we go through it, it's an internal system. It's an internal thing that we have going on. It's not about the external, and we'll cover all that. But I encourage you to ask questions. If anything I say today, you don't really understand, then come and have a discussion. Come and talk to somebody about it, because they'll be able to help you. I only have a certain amount of time up here, but I could sit and talk for hours on this. So if there's something you miss, something you don't get, ask the question. Listen to the podcast again.
[00:06:19] I do.
[00:06:20] I listen to the podcasts because as much as I've written down words in here and I think, oh, yeah, that looks good, that sounds good. That flows with that. That flows with this. The Holy Spirit has to be the one leading and the Holy Spirit has to be the one that's speaking out of my mouth, not me. Because I will get it wrong.
[00:06:36] I've got to listen back to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say. This isn't a message that I've just concocted and gone. I tell you what, let's talk about that. This is a message that I'm walking out, that I've walked out. And I'm sure I will walk it out again.
[00:06:50] And that's sometimes the hard thing about preparing a preacher is that you gotta go through some stuff as well just to make sure that you're getting it right. God, what are you saying? How are you saying? Why are you saying, what do I need to change?
[00:07:02] I don't stand here perfect in front of you going, I've got it all sorted. I stand here in front of you going, I'm going through stuff too, but I know what I'm called to.
[00:07:13] I know why I'm called.
[00:07:16] And I trust in God that actually he's got a message for you, not me. That is, the message is for all of us. The message is me giving it to you. Just to make that one clear.
[00:07:30] So if doing for God can never replace being with God, then everything hinges on one question.
[00:07:38] Are you connected with God or are you just busy?
[00:07:44] There's your question?
[00:07:45] 1 of 2 Today, but I'm sure there'll be many other. Because Jesus said something that should shake every Christian, that should really challenge us when we hear it, when we listen to it. He said, apart from me, you can do nothing.
[00:07:58] How many times do we go to that Scripture, and we're going to go there in a second.
[00:08:01] He didn't say not little, not less, nothing. He said, apart from me, you can do nothing.
[00:08:09] Listen to it again. Apart from me, you can do Nothing.
[00:08:15] John, chapter five. No, John 15:45. Because God never calls you to produce fruit. He calls you to remain so. It says, remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
[00:08:43] Apart from me, you can do nothing.
[00:08:49] Jesus didn't start that with activity.
[00:08:52] He started that with connection.
[00:08:55] Remain in me.
[00:08:59] This is what we're looking at. He didn't say produce first fruit. He didn't say produce more fruit. He didn't say lead first. He didn't say serve first.
[00:09:07] He didn't say do anything else except remain in me. Because everything flows from that.
[00:09:14] Everything flows from your relationship with Jesus.
[00:09:19] Everything.
[00:09:22] So why do we struggle so much with it?
[00:09:26] Church life. It matters. Serving matters. Leadership matters. Impact.
[00:09:32] It matters. It all matters. But it's all secondary sometimes, because they're from the overflow.
[00:09:39] The overflow of your relationship.
[00:09:42] The overflow of being filled. I think it's Psalm 23, talks about overflow from the cup. Fill my cup.
[00:09:49] There's no point giving from a full cup because it eventually gets empty.
[00:09:54] You have to give from the overflow of what God is doing in you.
[00:10:01] What Jesus talks about when he's saying this is. He's talking about intimacy.
[00:10:05] He's talking about surrender.
[00:10:07] He's talking about identity and dependence. Because Christianity is not first about what you do.
[00:10:16] It's about who you are to him.
[00:10:21] That's what you have to remember. Who are you to God?
[00:10:27] And it tells you repeatedly. We've already mentioned some of them. We'll mention them again.
[00:10:32] But who are you to God?
[00:10:35] Doing for God was never meant to replace being with God.
[00:10:42] Doing for God was never meant to replace being with God. Remain in me. The branch doesn't strain to produce fruit.
[00:10:53] It just does.
[00:10:55] Fruit happens.
[00:10:58] Some people giggled.
[00:11:00] I know where your mind went. Roots determine everything.
[00:11:04] The root that you have, is it firmly planted? Is it planted in good soil. There's parables in there talking about soil, there's talking about roots. But what's your roots like today?
[00:11:15] A tree with deep roots survives storms.
[00:11:19] A tree without roots or shallow roots, well, they just get knocked over, they fall foul of the storm. There's no strength in them. There's nothing for them to grab hold of.
[00:11:30] What are your roots like today?
[00:11:34] What are your roots like?
[00:11:36] What are you planted in?
[00:11:38] Roots are great, though. You can't see the roots, but you can see the effect of the roots. You can see the strength of what's there.
[00:11:49] You can see the fruit that is born from a good tree and you can see the fruit that's born from a bad tree.
[00:11:57] Yeah, some Christians look strong externally, but they collapse when life hits because the internal life is shallow.
[00:12:07] It's not for me to judge you on your walk with Christ.
[00:12:11] It's for me to help you get deeper in that walk with Christ as I get deeper in that walk with Christ. That's the calling here.
[00:12:18] But it's not up for me to turn around and say, right, you, you need to walk deeper. You, you need to do this, you, you need to do that. That's your relationship.
[00:12:25] That's what you have to walk in. This is me, hopefully trying to guide you to ask those questions deeper of what it's like to have Christ in you, to see what that life is like. Because if you're living without Christ, how's that working out for you?
[00:12:41] I know what my life was like without Christ.
[00:12:44] Before I was saved, I knew what my life was like.
[00:12:47] And if I want to find that life again, all I need to do is look behind me into my past. And it wasn't great.
[00:12:54] It was full of violence, it was full of alcohol, it was full of women, it was full of the world. It wasn't full of love, it wasn't full of everything that I have now was serving a different country, being obedient to him, walking in his steps. Yes, I've got trials, yes, I've got tribulations, yes, I've got challenges, but that's all part and parcel. The Bible tells you you will have challenges, you will have problems, because I follow him, but I trust him more than what I trust the world around me.
[00:13:20] And he will always lead me straight.
[00:13:25] I forgot my iPad today. Of all the random things I've done. So I've had to borrow this little one, which isn't mine, obviously, so I'm flicking through on my thumb accidentally.
[00:13:34] It's never good. So where are we?
[00:13:38] Ah, where did we get to? We haven't got to this one yet. So, Galatians 2:20.
[00:13:48] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me, the life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
[00:14:01] God just doesn't want your service. He wants your heart.
[00:14:05] He wants everything from you. He wants you to trust him with everything.
[00:14:12] We talk about the tithe, we talk about the offer, and we say, right, well, I'll tell you what, I'm going to give you 10%.
[00:14:17] God can do immeasurably more with 10% than what you can with 100%.
[00:14:22] But effectively, 100% of everything you have belongs to God anyway.
[00:14:26] But we don't trust him. Nope, I'm going to hold that back.
[00:14:29] No, I'm not going to trust you with that. No, I'm going to leave that over there. Whenever I ask you into my life and everything's going wrong, I'm going to carry this little part right at the back. And I'm not going to let you through that door. I want to keep that one quiet.
[00:14:42] I want to hide myself in there. I don't want you to come in and shine a light and expose everything, because that's going to leave me raw. That's going to leave me vulnerable.
[00:14:50] How many times do we do that yet? He knows all things.
[00:14:56] He knows everything already.
[00:14:58] He's just waiting for you to trust him.
[00:15:01] He's just waiting for you to say, I tell you what, everything in my heart, I give it over. The known and the unknown.
[00:15:06] All that stuff that's in there that I don't know about, bring it up. Let me speak it out and ask forgiveness.
[00:15:12] Everything that is there that I've done wrong, you have forgiven already. Everything that I'm going to do wrong. Because he knows all that he has forgiven already.
[00:15:20] Why don't we trust him more?
[00:15:27] A healthy tree doesn't have to prove it's alive.
[00:15:32] Fruit shows up.
[00:15:35] So if the internal life is the root system, that means then that the external life is the fruit system. Would we agree?
[00:15:45] Yeah. The internal life is the root system, the external life is the fruit system. But then a lot of Christians get confused because you've got a lot of Christians that bang on about it's all about intimacy, intimacy, intimacy, intimacy. We must have more intimacy with God then you have the other ones on the other side going now. We need to impact more. We need to do this. We need to do that. We need to be on the streets, we need to be here, we need to be there, we need to be doing all that. Yet they miss each other. But the kingdom is about both.
[00:16:11] The kingdom doesn't say, right, you're right over there and it doesn't say, you're right over here. It's like you're both right. But what are you doing? You're not combining nothing come together and do that. Let's have some intimacy so that we can go out and have some impact.
[00:16:25] That's what we're looking to do, the fruit system, right, we're going to look at the external life here quickly. And the fruit system, the doing for God. God absolutely wants action.
[00:16:38] He does.
[00:16:39] It says in here we've got James 2, faith without works is dead. Matthew 5 says, let your light shine through good deeds. There's stuff that, that we can do. The great thing that I love about being part of World Changes Church is that we have the engage the equip and the empire. It's part of our DNA.
[00:16:56] Yes, we've got the external stuff going on outside. Yes, we've got the internal system going on inside. But I tell you what, we're actually combined really well together, that we are working in partnership with each other to impact more and to be filled up on the inside out.
[00:17:12] That that's what we have here within world changers. That is the great thing about what we are doing. We're not called to sit in holy huddles.
[00:17:20] We're called to impact our community, our city. We're called to impact the world.
[00:17:26] But it takes a team.
[00:17:28] It takes people together combined to do all of this stuff.
[00:17:34] It takes people that are trusting each other as much as what they're trusting in God. Saying, I'm from Northern Ireland, our senior pastors from North Carolina.
[00:17:46] Yeah, we've got people from New Zealand, we've got people from Romania.
[00:17:53] Hey, we've got people from everywhere in this place.
[00:17:58] This is what the kingdom of God looks like.
[00:18:02] This is what it looks like.
[00:18:04] Everybody coming together for one reason.
[00:18:10] This is church coming together here to go out and impact.
[00:18:18] Coming together here so that we can engage each other, equip each other, empower each other to go further.
[00:18:26] What I love about it is that we will love you in the way in, we will love you in the way out. If you are called to go, go, go do what God's called you to do. If you're called to stay, great, let's get to work. There's a lot to do Here.
[00:18:39] This is fantastic. We're called to impact our world, but fruit only grows when something's planted.
[00:18:54] You want to say that again?
[00:18:55] Okay.
[00:18:57] Fruit only grows from something that is planted.
[00:19:04] I see the seats, I see what we do.
[00:19:09] I see the emails go out.
[00:19:11] I see the testimony nights for men, for women. I see the impact of people going out in the streets preaching and teaching.
[00:19:18] I see the impact.
[00:19:20] This church is growing because it's blessed, because people are listening to what God has called them to do, and that's the senior pastors. And then the great thing about that is the people underneath are listening to what God's calling them to do.
[00:19:39] Because sometimes it's just follow.
[00:19:41] And that's great.
[00:19:43] So what's God calling you to do?
[00:19:50] But here's where it gets serious.
[00:19:51] We haven't got serious yet. Is everybody okay with that? Yeah.
[00:19:55] I always look about and I never make too many jokes whenever I'm preaching, but I always look about and everybody's just staring at me.
[00:20:02] You're all very quiet now, either A, you haven't got a clue what I'm saying because of my accent.
[00:20:08] Subtitles, we need subtitles. We need subtitles up on the board up here.
[00:20:13] All right, if we can have that for next time, Google Translate, that'd be fantastic, I'd say. Even I struggle with Google Translate, I'll be honest.
[00:20:22] It doesn't get me and I don't get it, but people just sit there and stare at me and I'm like, do you get it or do you not get it?
[00:20:30] Yeah, it's a great hat.
[00:20:32] So for people that don't know, I wear the hat for two reasons. One, keeps the light out of my eyes. Two, it keeps me microphone on because I got a bald head. And when you shave, it slips off, as Pastor Jeremy found out two weeks ago.
[00:20:48] Okay, so whenever truth exists, imbalance exists, too.
[00:20:57] The enemy doesn't attack truth head on. He distorts it.
[00:21:03] He pushes people to extremes.
[00:21:07] Because a truth taken out of balance becomes just as dangerous as a lie.
[00:21:15] He didn't outright lie in the Garden of Eden. He distorted the truth.
[00:21:20] Do you know the truth?
[00:21:25] You're pointing at me. What's wrong?
[00:21:28] No, The great thing about doing this is that you always have a chat with a worship band afterwards and you say, right where we're at, this is where you want to come up?
[00:21:40] Okay. It's only quarter to 11.
[00:21:43] We're far too early. I did tell him I was going to talk about Pastor Jeremy, and I've talked about him far too Early, So I'm sorry for that. Apologies. mate, Your face is all red. Alex, what's wrong?
[00:21:58] All good, mate. All good.
[00:22:02] Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
[00:22:06] The podcast knows now. Yes.
[00:22:08] So we're talking about truth, right? The enemy doesn't mind which side you fall off. Okay? The enemy doesn't care what side you fall off as long as you stay disconnected away from what God's calling you to do. That's all the enemy wants.
[00:22:22] He wants you to. To stay disconnected, not following the path and the steps of what God's called him.
[00:22:29] He's not that fussed.
[00:22:31] When you step up and you start doing what God called you to do, he's like, right, I've got something I need to do. This is not going well for me. And we all know the enemy's a defeated foe, but it's us that lets him in.
[00:22:47] It's us that gives him more credit than what he's actually due to.
[00:22:51] It's up to us.
[00:22:53] Speak life or speak death.
[00:22:56] I speak life over me, which means the enemy has nothing, and he's told that daily.
[00:23:06] As long as you.
[00:23:08] No, you can live externally driven, okay? Which is always doing, always striving, always proving, but never resting in God.
[00:23:17] Or you can swing the other way, and you can live internally, isolated, always receiving, always reflecting, always learning, but never stepping out in faith.
[00:23:27] Both are dangerous.
[00:23:29] Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
[00:23:34] I've learned that more times than enough. When God turns around and he has a word for me to give to somebody else. The last time it happened, it happened in here. And I waited an hour before I went and I trusted what God said to go and give that word. Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
[00:23:51] So if we're not. If we're always receiving, always reflecting and always learning, we're never stepping out in faith. And both are dangerous because we've got two extremes.
[00:24:04] The danger on both sides is you can have external without.
[00:24:09] And if we look at Matthew 7, 21, 23, this is here. Not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
[00:24:23] Many will say to me on that day, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me, you evildoers.
[00:24:38] Now, let's keep that simple.
[00:24:40] These people here, they're talking about, they had miracles, they had ministry, and they had power. But Jesus said, I never knew you.
[00:24:46] Not you didn't do enough. He said, I never knew you.
[00:24:51] God sees the heart.
[00:24:53] God sees your motivation, and that comes from a relationship with him.
[00:25:02] It's a heart matter.
[00:25:06] You can be doing all the right things on the outside, but on the inside, nah, you're doing the wrong stuff. It's a heart matter. God sees it. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, the Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
[00:25:24] An external life without internal life leads to burnout.
[00:25:30] It's all about the performance.
[00:25:32] Look at me.
[00:25:33] It's all about pride.
[00:25:35] And it's empty.
[00:25:37] Always striving, always searching for something else.
[00:25:42] When I was in the military, when I ran away from God, I was empty. And I searched for something in everything that I could find.
[00:25:52] I searched for some sense of me.
[00:25:54] I searched for my identity.
[00:25:57] And I missed the mark every time until I gave my life back to God.
[00:26:03] Then he told me who I was.
[00:26:06] When he told me who I was, I broke down and I cried.
[00:26:12] I loved from a part of where I was scared.
[00:26:16] Not scared of giving my life, but scared of not loving the rest of my life with him by my side in my heart.
[00:26:24] Because I now realized who I was in him.
[00:26:30] When you work without connection, you carry what God never asked you to.
[00:26:38] Sometimes we look about and we ask the question, what are you carrying that God has asked you to set down?
[00:26:48] What have you picked up along the way that God's like, hold on a second, that's not for you.
[00:26:53] And we sit there in the flesh. You're like, yeah, but I want to drag this along.
[00:26:57] Yep. It's a little bit heavy, but I've got it. It's a proper bloke thing. Yeah. We go to the trunk of the car and we get all the shopping at once. And we struggle under the kitchen with everything. Yeah, we carry everything ourselves. But when you work without connection, you carry what God never asked you to.
[00:27:14] And then we take a look at the internal without the external. And James 1:22 says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.
[00:27:24] Do what it says.
[00:27:28] It doesn't get much plainer than that.
[00:27:30] Do what it says.
[00:27:33] James didn't say you're uninformed. It doesn't say you're immature.
[00:27:39] He says you're deceived.
[00:27:43] Very strong words. Because hearing truth without living truth creates the illusion of growth without transformation.
[00:27:58] Hearing truth without living truth creates the illusion of growth without transformation.
[00:28:07] You can sit in church every week taking notes, highlight your Bibles, listen to the podcast, agree with the sermon, disagree with the sermon. You've got that right, too.
[00:28:20] But what are you doing with it?
[00:28:23] Are you doing something with it that's going to change you?
[00:28:29] You can be a Christian that loves inspiration but resists obedience.
[00:28:35] Jesus gives us that perfect picture when we look at this one, when we talk about Martha and Mary, two women, one is doing, the other is sitting.
[00:28:51] Jesus didn't come along and he didn't rebuke the servant.
[00:28:56] All he did was correct the priority.
[00:29:00] Serving is good.
[00:29:02] Serving is very good.
[00:29:05] But when we serve and we serve and we serve and we serve, we miss that connection.
[00:29:13] I know I do. I can be sat at the back every week serving. And I'm like, right, this, this, this. I've got different things going on in my head, counting how many people around. Who needs this? Who needs that? Right? Get this, sort of get that, sort of do that. But I'm doing that weekend, week out, week in, week out, and I'm not receiving nothing.
[00:29:30] Then I'm in the doing part.
[00:29:32] We have a church that's getting full.
[00:29:35] This isn't a serving message, but serve.
[00:29:38] Because all of a sudden you give somebody the opportunity to step away from what they're serving in all the time to sit in and receive, to get filled, to overflow.
[00:29:48] Yeah. And if we all pulled our weight within that, if we all done something with that, what a church we would have, that means I would hardly serve.
[00:29:58] That's great.
[00:29:59] Honestly, it's fantastic.
[00:30:01] We don't do that for the worship band. We like the worship band. They can stay serving every week. Sorry about that.
[00:30:09] But joking aside, serving it helps. In so many different ways.
[00:30:15] Jesus corrected the priority of what Mary and Martha were doing. That's all that it was.
[00:30:23] God never asked you to choose between intimacy and impact.
[00:30:27] He just asked you to put them in the right order.
[00:30:32] When identity comes first, mission naturally overflows.
[00:30:38] If we're doing a mission first, trying to find our identity, we're going to miss it all.
[00:30:46] When you take a look at the internal that leads towards your identity, who you are in Him.
[00:30:53] Because before God ever calls you to do something for him, he first establishes who you are in Him.
[00:30:59] Pastor Jeremy talked about that two weeks ago.
[00:31:02] Q. There we go. Happy with that.
[00:31:08] We got there at the right time.
[00:31:11] The kingdom. Because in the Kingdom, identity always comes before assignment.
[00:31:17] I had it prophesied over my life a few years ago that I was going to walk in dark places and I was going to be with dark people and I was going to serve in dark areas.
[00:31:26] At the time, I wasn't ready for what that prophecy was.
[00:31:31] At the time. I thought, oh, that means this. And I threw myself into something wasn't that.
[00:31:38] It took five years for that prophecy to really fulfill itself. Where I know that now, what the prophecy is, I needed to know more about my identity first, about my strength and my depth in him before I could walk in what he had called me to do.
[00:31:54] Sometimes we jump too quick, sometimes we go, I'll tell you what, I brought a good message last week. Or I really talked to somebody out in the streets and they got saved. I'm gonna be an evangelist. Right, let's go. And off they go. They walk the streets evangelizing, but they've got no depth.
[00:32:12] Or they get up singing and doing all sorts of stuff, but they haven't had no training.
[00:32:16] They're jumping ahead maybe of what God's called them to do, thinking, oh, I'll tell you what, I can do this Zechariah 4:6. Not by strength, not by might, but by the Spirit.
[00:32:26] It's not about you, it's all about Him.
[00:32:29] So why are we doing it? Are we doing it to glorify God? Are we doing it to point everything towards Him? Or are we doing it to point everything towards us? And we talk about that performance. Look at me.
[00:32:41] Who are we doing it for?
[00:32:45] Galatians 2:20. Remember, it says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but he lives in me.
[00:32:54] That means Christianity is not just a behavior change, it's a life exchange.
[00:33:01] I gave my life so that Jesus can live through me.
[00:33:07] So what are you doing with your lives?
[00:33:09] Where are you landing with that?
[00:33:12] What are you challenged with right now?
[00:33:15] What are you thinking in your mind going, I'll tell you what, actually, there's a few things that I keep to myself. There's a few things that I need to change. What's going on within your world?
[00:33:23] What circumstances are you walking through on your own without telling anybody?
[00:33:31] But standing strong in front of people.
[00:33:34] If you're standing strong in front of people with no roots deep, you'll fall over.
[00:33:39] Who have you got in your world that you trust?
[00:33:42] Who have you got in your world that you can lean on?
[00:33:45] Who have you got in your world that points you back to Christ?
[00:33:51] Who have you got in your world that loves Jesus more than they love you?
[00:33:56] Because if they love Jesus more than they love you, then they will give you straight back to Him. They will pray over you. They will intercede for you. They will help you in any way possible because they're emulating Jesus.
[00:34:11] Your old identity is gone.
[00:34:15] Your striving is finished.
[00:34:19] Your need to prove yourself worthy was nailed to the cross the moment you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
[00:34:27] And if you sat here and you haven't, that's fine. You got all this to come. It's great.
[00:34:33] Now Christ lives in you, Not beside you. Somebody you can turn to every now and again. He is within you. He gives you the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:49] Your identity is no longer what you've done.
[00:34:52] Your identity is no longer what people say about you.
[00:34:55] Your identity is no longer your past or your failures. Your identity isn't even your success.
[00:35:07] Your identity is loved.
[00:35:10] Your identity is forgiven.
[00:35:13] Your identity is air.
[00:35:15] Child, son, daughter.
[00:35:22] That's who you are.
[00:35:25] And when identity is settled, everything changes.
[00:35:31] When you know who you are, that's part one.
[00:35:37] When you choose to accept who you are in. In Christ, that's when it gets better.
[00:35:44] It's taking that final step.
[00:35:47] We talk about the tightrope.
[00:35:50] You can stand on the edge and you can put one foot on the tightrope.
[00:35:55] That's not commitment.
[00:36:00] I can read about who I am in Christ. That's my first step.
[00:36:05] My second step is having faith in who I am in Christ and that he's got it right.
[00:36:12] And I'll walk into all the blessings that he will pour out over me.
[00:36:20] Everything changes when you stop working to become someone and start living from who you already are.
[00:36:31] The external that leads towards your mission.
[00:36:34] Now from that identity comes your mission. 2 Corinthians 5 says, we are ambassadors for Christ.
[00:36:42] You're an ambassador for Christ.
[00:36:45] How is that showing up in your life?
[00:36:49] It's another hard question.
[00:36:51] Am I a good ambassador for Christ?
[00:36:53] Not all the time. I'm not. Definitely not.
[00:36:56] Not everybody will see that. But a few will, because they're the ones I trust.
[00:37:02] But an ambassador doesn't represent himself. An ambassador doesn't speak for himself. An ambassador represents the one who sent them.
[00:37:13] He speaks about another kingdom.
[00:37:18] What are you speaking about?
[00:37:20] What's on the tip of your tongue?
[00:37:23] We talk about language all the time.
[00:37:26] Do you have all the negative stuff coming out of your mouth because that shows what your heart's full of? Or do you have love coming out of your mouth?
[00:37:34] Do you have gossip coming off the tongue?
[00:37:38] Are you quick to talk about somebody else? Are you quick to join in that conversation about somebody else? Are you quick to turn around and say, nope, not today?
[00:37:47] Change it.
[00:37:52] The external life, that mission, that serving, that impact, it all flows from identity.
[00:38:00] Not insecurity, not comparison, and not pressure from identity. You don't work from approval.
[00:38:09] You work from your identity.
[00:38:12] I've said it quite a few times.
[00:38:16] God isn't waiting to love you once you produce enough fruit.
[00:38:20] He loved you before you produced any.
[00:38:25] So here's the question everyone has to answer.
[00:38:30] Are you reacting to life from the outside in, or are you responding from identity, from the inside out?
[00:38:45] There's your question.
[00:38:51] One produces life, the other produces exhaustion.
[00:38:56] But still a choice.
[00:38:59] The Bible talks about choice.
[00:39:02] Choose life or choose death.
[00:39:05] But choose life because I have it in fullness.
[00:39:11] He's walking into an exam with two questions. You get a 50, 50 chance to get it right, and he gives you the answer. There's a 100% chance to get it right. But how many times do we get it wrong?
[00:39:22] And we choose death.
[00:39:27] Some people think they're sold out because of everything that they do, but they miss the intimacy.
[00:39:38] The real proof is how deeply we know Jesus.
[00:39:41] God isn't looking for people who will run for Him.
[00:39:44] He's looking for people who will remain in Him.
[00:39:49] So today, while you remain in him, to change your life, to change the outcome of whatever situation you're going through right now while you remain in him.
[00:40:03] While you remain in him and trust that he already knows the outcome.
[00:40:09] Even though you're finding it hard right now, even though you're struggling, even though you're on your knees, you feel broken. He knows what the outcome is already. He's just asking you to trust him while you remain in Him.
[00:40:23] Remember who you are.
[00:40:27] Remember what he called you. To remember what he called you. From when Jesus got on that cross, he knew you. Today, when Jesus got on that cross, he knows the families that will come from you today. He knows the people that will be impacted by you today. If only you remain in him and you go after him and you search him from the inside out, let it overflow so that people see him through you and see the impact that you will have. For the kingdom of heaven remain in Him.
[00:41:21] Psalm 139, 23, 24 says, Search me, O God, and know my heart.
[00:41:29] Test me and know my anxious thoughts.
[00:41:33] See if there is any offense, offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
[00:41:42] I leave that as my final prayer today for everybody, for me.
[00:41:47] My heart needs searching.
[00:41:49] I need challenging, I need guiding, I need correction. I need rebuking.
[00:41:55] My wife does a good job of that.
[00:42:00] But if I need that, you need that. We all need that but we all need him first so we just bow our heads.
[00:42:19] Father God I just thank you today Father. I thank you for your word.
[00:42:28] I thank you for every person father sat here and on podcast Father that will hear your words and father let it impact them deeply that they strive to know you more Father that they strive to accept you deeper to plant roots to grow firm to produce good fruit.
[00:42:57] I thank you Jesus that you got on a cross for me that you got on a cross for us.
[00:43:03] For every person in this world regardless of what they've done, you love them enough to send your only son.
[00:43:12] Thank you Jesus.
[00:43:17] Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more you can reach us online at worldchangers.life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
