WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.020 For individuals, I kind of keep sliding over there and giving some 00:04.020 --> 00:07.980 individual stuff along with the church stuff. 00:08.100 --> 00:11.380 And I hope you don't mind that. But purpose, for instance, 00:12.020 --> 00:15.420 all Christian churches have the same purpose. That's just a reminder. 00:16.120 --> 00:19.700 We're all supposed to advance the kingdom, and it's in the book. 00:19.820 --> 00:23.080 We listed the ways that's supposed to be done. It's right there in the beginning of pages. 00:23.460 --> 00:27.540 We talked about that. All Christians have the same purpose. 00:29.940 --> 00:32.160 We're all supposed to be doing the same thing. 00:33.000 --> 00:36.060 Which is advancing and promoting the kingdom of God. 00:37.260 --> 00:39.180 That's just the general way of saying it. 00:39.640 --> 00:43.220 But we're all supposed to be doing that. It's not just a few 00:43.220 --> 00:47.420 Christians who are supposed to be doing that. Every Christian is supposed to be doing that. 00:48.600 --> 00:51.660 Subpurpose to me is the clarifying factor. 00:53.480 --> 00:55.540 Our sub-purpose is what 00:55.540 --> 00:57.820 makes us who we are. 00:58.840 --> 01:03.500 The big picture of purpose, we're all going the same direction promoting 01:03.500 --> 01:07.400 the kingdom. Sub-purpose is how God asks 01:07.400 --> 01:08.920 us to do that. 01:10.680 --> 01:15.680 If you've noticed anything, God doesn't duplicate 01:15.680 --> 01:18.180 anything at all. 01:18.380 --> 01:22.420 There's no two flowers the same. There's no two leaves the same. 01:22.420 --> 01:26.380 There's no two blades of grass the same. Everything is 01:26.380 --> 01:28.880 custom-made. There's only one. 01:30.520 --> 01:34.340 The way God uses you and how 01:34.340 --> 01:37.460 He wants you to promote the kingdom 01:38.120 --> 01:42.460 and do what He's asking you to do in advancing the kingdom. 01:42.840 --> 01:46.480 How He wants you to do it is going to be different 01:46.480 --> 01:48.280 than anybody else on earth. 01:48.280 --> 01:52.880 And there's so many factors that go into that we're not going to take the time. 01:53.520 --> 01:55.340 But not only 01:57.380 --> 02:00.300 affects your occupation or your job, 02:00.600 --> 02:03.180 you're working in the realm or in the field you're working in 02:03.180 --> 02:06.400 if you're working in the one that was in your heart. 02:07.400 --> 02:11.240 If you're just doing something for money, well then that's different. But if you're doing 02:11.240 --> 02:16.200 what was in your heart to do, that was put there by God. 02:17.780 --> 02:20.060 Of the five full gifts, we talked 02:20.060 --> 02:24.100 about this a little bit, of the five full gifts, how God blends that in you 02:25.660 --> 02:27.880 with the nine gifts of the Spirit 02:27.880 --> 02:31.960 with the gifts of Romans 12 is going to be 02:31.960 --> 02:33.680 unique from anybody else on earth. 02:35.720 --> 02:38.920 The things that are priorities to you 02:39.880 --> 02:44.040 are going to be different than a lot of people. You'll find some the same, but a lot of 02:44.040 --> 02:44.900 people are going to be different. 02:47.360 --> 02:51.920 So as individuals, our sub-purpose defines who we are. 02:52.540 --> 02:56.120 How we live, our goals, our dreams, our focus, our everything 02:56.120 --> 03:00.040 because that's how he wants us to promote the 03:00.040 --> 03:06.250 kingdom. And it has nothing to do 03:06.250 --> 03:10.170 with, well I'm not in full-time ministry so I can't 03:10.170 --> 03:13.590 promote the kingdom. That has nothing to do with it. 03:15.270 --> 03:17.550 Nothing. We are 03:17.550 --> 03:21.610 all ministers. That's what Paul calls us. We're all 03:21.610 --> 03:25.750 ministers. He just has you doing it the way he wants 03:25.750 --> 03:29.650 you to do it. Has me doing it the way he wants me 03:29.650 --> 03:33.290 to do it. And everybody's different. And this is God. 03:34.150 --> 03:37.550 Now the big focus, the big vision, 03:37.690 --> 03:41.510 the big purpose for all Christians is going to the world and make disciples of all people. 03:41.510 --> 03:44.930 Now there's a lot of subheadings underneath that, but that's why we're here. 03:45.470 --> 03:48.630 Once you're saved, that's our marching orders. 03:49.890 --> 03:53.510 Okay? So that stays the same. And then how God 03:53.510 --> 03:57.030 does us? God does it in the plumbing world, God does it in the electrical world, 03:57.170 --> 04:00.950 God does it in the entertainment world, God does it in the secular 04:01.890 --> 04:05.730 education realm. God wants to be in everything 04:05.730 --> 04:09.270 so he handcrafts people to plug them in there. 04:10.150 --> 04:12.970 So that they're ministering where they're at. 04:13.450 --> 04:17.370 And see that's why federal government, which by the way 04:17.370 --> 04:21.130 at the moment from my perspective is not really running on a godly basis. 04:22.070 --> 04:25.310 State government might even be a step down from that. 04:27.170 --> 04:29.210 That's why they don't want 04:29.210 --> 04:33.250 you ministering 04:33.250 --> 04:36.890 in any way, shape, or form at your job 04:36.890 --> 04:40.410 in anything that has to do with public like 04:41.450 --> 04:44.210 universities or schools or 04:44.890 --> 04:48.390 anything. They want to squelch all that. Why? Because they're ungodly. 04:49.990 --> 04:52.850 It's back it up. It's still the war 04:52.850 --> 04:56.370 between the devil hates God. And the devil just 04:56.720 --> 05:00.690 is like a thorn in God's saddle. He's always 05:00.690 --> 05:04.910 there trying to stop what God wants to do. So it makes 05:04.910 --> 05:07.670 perfect sense that he wouldn't want you saying anything at work. 05:08.730 --> 05:12.810 He needs to shut that down because you're a minister. He can't let you do that. 05:13.170 --> 05:16.210 See if you pan back and see it, it's like oh 05:16.770 --> 05:19.870 so that's what I'm supposed to do. And that's how it's supposed to flow through me. 05:20.490 --> 05:24.230 So we talked about purpose and sub-purpose quite a bit. We talked about word of life 05:24.230 --> 05:26.990 sub-purpose. And 05:28.250 --> 05:32.710 I won't go back and review that much. It was the last message so you just have to go back 05:32.710 --> 05:36.470 and get it. But the way churches 05:36.470 --> 05:39.390 are designed to grow 05:41.070 --> 05:44.530 is God pulls people together who are 05:44.530 --> 05:48.070 like-hearted. Or have like 05:48.710 --> 05:52.810 goals and beliefs. And he will, you know, not just this 05:52.810 --> 05:56.510 church but churches, he will gather the 05:56.510 --> 06:00.790 people who that's their heart. That's 06:00.790 --> 06:04.650 where he wants them to go. And of course, every denomination, every church thinks 06:04.650 --> 06:08.610 the same thing. Everybody should be like us. I think 06:08.610 --> 06:12.650 that. And it's like man everybody should be like 06:12.650 --> 06:16.650 us. Because that's what's in our heart. So 06:16.650 --> 06:20.090 he will gather and continue to gather to the 06:20.090 --> 06:24.350 churches people of like vision, people of like 06:24.350 --> 06:27.990 heart. People who want to accomplish the same thing. Now 06:28.690 --> 06:31.970 as times get rough, you need more 06:31.970 --> 06:35.490 of a church that operates in the supernatural and the power of God. 06:36.390 --> 06:39.930 And that is our goal. That's part of what God's asked us to do. 06:40.110 --> 06:43.110 It's part of our sub-purpose. It makes us different than others. 06:44.050 --> 06:47.850 Had some questions come in. I'll just 06:47.850 --> 06:51.810 answer a couple of them. This deals with individual purpose 06:51.810 --> 06:55.890 and sub-purpose. Why do I end up with a certain kind of 06:55.890 --> 06:58.710 people always coming into my life? 06:59.670 --> 07:01.870 And that's not always just a positive statement. 07:04.150 --> 07:07.990 Or why do I end up always dealing with 07:07.990 --> 07:11.570 a certain kind of problem or a certain kind of job? 07:12.150 --> 07:15.890 Even at work, in my career or whatever, one person said, it just seems 07:15.890 --> 07:18.710 like I always end up cleaning up the mess. 07:19.830 --> 07:22.330 That's me. They look at me and say, you go take care of that. 07:23.650 --> 07:26.510 Why? Because 07:26.510 --> 07:29.330 that is what you're good at. 07:30.490 --> 07:34.190 It's part of your sub-purpose and it's the 07:34.190 --> 07:38.310 anointing you operate in and people will attract to 07:38.310 --> 07:42.310 that. Employers will attract to that. Employers who 07:42.310 --> 07:46.190 can see they have an employee who's good at something will 07:46.190 --> 07:49.870 shovel those things that they're good at to that employee. 07:51.110 --> 07:53.810 Well, why do I, I don't even like 07:53.810 --> 07:56.050 what I'm good at. That's not the point. 07:58.850 --> 08:01.650 That's what God made you good at. 08:03.090 --> 08:05.930 So perspective here is everything. You might as well embrace it 08:05.930 --> 08:09.270 and go with it. Because 08:09.730 --> 08:12.490 you get away from what you're good at, you're going to flounder. 08:14.670 --> 08:18.030 Isn't it true? There's some things that every one 08:18.030 --> 08:22.090 of us are just good at and people see that and they attract to it. 08:23.010 --> 08:26.070 Why do I always have people dumping their problems on 08:26.070 --> 08:29.730 me? Because the anointing in you is telling them 08:29.730 --> 08:33.730 you have an answer that will help them and they don't even know it. 08:33.990 --> 08:35.750 They're just drawn to you. 08:37.690 --> 08:42.050 I don't want to hear everybody's problems but I can be standing in Walmart and I can't 08:42.050 --> 08:45.790 get out of aisle 3 because some stranger walks up and just dumps the whole load. 08:45.790 --> 08:48.510 My husband and I are fighting and it looks like we're going to get a divorce. 08:50.570 --> 08:53.910 Why me? Why do I get stuck with this all the time? 08:55.230 --> 08:57.730 Because that's who God made you 08:57.730 --> 09:01.710 to be. Rather than fight it 09:02.510 --> 09:05.410 get in step with the Holy Spirit and say 09:05.410 --> 09:09.830 this is my ministry. This is how God wants to 09:09.830 --> 09:13.690 use me. So let's get into agreement and do the best we 09:13.690 --> 09:17.570 can with it rather than, well I'm going to go shopping at midnight so there's nobody 09:17.570 --> 09:19.190 in there so that don't happen anymore. 09:21.030 --> 09:25.630 No, do what you're designed to do. That's why they're being attracted to you. It's your 09:25.630 --> 09:27.750 sub-purpose. It's the anointing on you. 09:30.210 --> 09:32.770 It's just the way it works. That's the answer. 09:34.850 --> 09:37.070 Second question kind of goes the same flow. 09:37.590 --> 09:40.390 Why am I drawn to a certain kind of occupation? 09:42.270 --> 09:44.230 Why am I drawn to certain churches? 09:44.450 --> 09:48.210 Why am I drawn to certain ministries? Why am I drawn to certain friends? 09:49.350 --> 09:51.570 Because it all works in 09:52.080 --> 09:57.670 with why you're here. People who 09:57.670 --> 10:01.470 minister in the same vein will be drawn together 10:01.820 --> 10:05.790 to flow and promote that aspect of the kingdom of God 10:05.790 --> 10:09.590 and it'll be much more powerful if they draw together 10:09.590 --> 10:13.550 and do that. Not everybody is drawn to 10:15.930 --> 10:17.690 caretaking. Let's go with caretaking. 10:19.370 --> 10:21.390 There are certain people who are just 10:21.390 --> 10:25.090 gifted at helping and caring for other people. 10:25.930 --> 10:29.250 They're just gifted in it. And I am not one of them. 10:31.570 --> 10:33.530 Mary tells me, she says, I hope 10:33.530 --> 10:36.070 I never get sick because if you got to take care of me 10:39.210 --> 10:40.770 that's going to be a long life. 10:40.890 --> 10:43.310 Because you just don't think that realm. I don't. 10:44.050 --> 10:48.070 It's just not me. But there are people 10:48.070 --> 10:51.730 it's just like it flows out of them. That's not coincidence. 10:53.190 --> 10:56.130 That's how God designed and created them. 10:58.710 --> 10:59.950 Others like 10:59.950 --> 11:04.260 them if they will draw together and work together 11:04.920 --> 11:07.080 huge things can be done for the kingdom. 11:09.220 --> 11:12.340 But what happens is many times that drawing together 11:12.340 --> 11:13.980 that becomes your circle of friends. 11:15.540 --> 11:17.160 Or at least a big part of it. 11:20.240 --> 11:24.100 When we decide who's going to be our friends on the basis 11:24.100 --> 11:27.120 of our personality and likes and so forth 11:28.560 --> 11:31.400 often we stifle why we're here. 11:35.230 --> 11:37.850 Have you ever noticed people who prophesy like to run 11:37.850 --> 11:41.870 together? People who are used 11:41.870 --> 11:45.830 in healing like to run together. They hang out 11:45.830 --> 11:48.850 together. They minister together. They like to go to the same conferences. They 11:49.410 --> 11:54.860 run together. People who 11:55.540 --> 11:57.340 will just go to the secular world. 11:59.860 --> 12:02.540 Computer people like to hang out with computer people. 12:04.020 --> 12:06.060 Because it stimulates their thinking 12:06.060 --> 12:08.300 and it's like, yeah, I never thought of that. 12:08.720 --> 12:14.560 It makes them better as a person. And a lot of times computer people 12:14.560 --> 12:16.200 have a certain way of thinking. 12:18.500 --> 12:20.400 Even the world recognizes that. 12:21.300 --> 12:23.320 That's why Best Buy has the geek squad. 12:25.780 --> 12:29.920 There is a certain way people who are computer people think. And it's not wrong. 12:29.920 --> 12:32.860 It's not bad. It's how God wired them. 12:34.580 --> 12:37.620 And you get... and typically it's not a real social 12:37.620 --> 12:41.400 person. It's just not how God wired them. 12:42.800 --> 12:44.800 Now you get over here for the party animal. 12:46.000 --> 12:48.100 They don't like to hang out with computer people. 12:49.500 --> 12:53.880 It's like they're flying two different planes here. Well, that's okay. 12:53.980 --> 12:57.840 You don't have to hang out with them. You need to concentrate on why God 12:57.840 --> 13:01.720 made you and flow in that realm. And group up 13:01.720 --> 13:05.560 that way. If we have friends 13:05.560 --> 13:09.860 on the basis of ministry, we're more than likely doing 13:09.860 --> 13:13.600 what God asked us to do. If we have friends 13:13.600 --> 13:17.740 based on other reasons, we're probably stifling 13:17.740 --> 13:21.760 what God asked us to do. Subpurpose to me is the most 13:21.760 --> 13:25.980 revealing part of this whole book. It's once you get 13:25.980 --> 13:29.520 purpose and sub-purpose, the rest kind of just hangs on it. And 13:29.520 --> 13:32.720 the point we're going to talk about this morning just kind of hangs on it. 13:33.740 --> 13:37.240 Are you able to bring up that little picture and the handout 13:40.610 --> 13:43.230 if you can't, that's fine. But bring it up. 13:43.510 --> 13:47.390 Because I wanted to... what we're going into this morning, if you look in your 13:47.390 --> 13:50.770 book where we got through page 17, 13:52.890 --> 13:55.430 where we're going this morning is page 13:55.430 --> 14:00.430 18. That little drawing there. 14:01.290 --> 14:04.950 Once you have the top two, you're our general purpose, which 14:04.950 --> 14:08.950 is all the same for churches and for people. And your sub-purpose, which makes us 14:08.950 --> 14:11.290 individuals. That's totally different for everybody. 14:12.510 --> 14:15.830 Might come in a general heading, but how everybody's use is different. 14:18.810 --> 14:20.290 Assignments, hang on that. 14:20.590 --> 14:24.950 Assignments being projects God gives us. And those are ongoing. Some can be for a lifetime. 14:24.950 --> 14:28.130 Some can be short range. We'll talk about that starting next Sunday. 14:28.730 --> 14:32.970 Mandates or commands, they hang on, who am I? And what am I supposed to 14:32.970 --> 14:37.110 accomplish? He will command us accordingly. But the thing I want to talk about 14:37.110 --> 14:40.830 this morning is core values. It's like the backbone that 14:40.830 --> 14:44.190 runs through everything and holds it together. 14:44.710 --> 14:48.990 Page 18, go there with me if you would. I'll read a few things 14:48.990 --> 14:53.150 and then we'll just start talking about it. Letter A, core values 14:53.150 --> 14:57.350 are what hold us steady in the face of adversity, opposition, trouble, pain, 14:57.870 --> 15:00.810 failure, success, increased influence, prosperity, 15:01.610 --> 15:04.450 praise and honor, etc. I mean you could just keep listening. 15:05.710 --> 15:09.050 Our core values as believers are our inner 15:09.050 --> 15:12.850 convictions that we are never to compromise 15:12.850 --> 15:17.110 on. We can't let ourselves compromise on them 15:17.110 --> 15:20.610 no matter what may happen in life. We can't compromise. 15:21.830 --> 15:23.710 They are our inner 15:25.090 --> 15:28.430 stability guidance system. There are our gyro... 15:28.430 --> 15:32.550 what do they call gyroscope? Yeah. I had gyrocopter 15:32.550 --> 15:36.090 in my mind. It's like, no, that's not right. There are inner gyroscope. 15:36.250 --> 15:40.590 They hold us on task. I've heard people say this over and over. Money 15:40.590 --> 15:44.450 changes people. Boy, once they start getting some 15:44.450 --> 15:46.950 money, they change. That's because they don't have core values. 15:48.890 --> 15:50.490 Money should change nothing. 15:52.790 --> 15:55.170 Oh, success! You know, I knew them 15:55.170 --> 15:58.990 what they were like before they were successful, and now they got a successful company 15:58.990 --> 16:02.550 and they're running with successful people, and they're not the same person anymore. 16:02.870 --> 16:06.290 That's because they don't have core values 16:06.880 --> 16:10.730 to govern that. See, when we don't have something 16:10.730 --> 16:14.050 that locks us down and stabilizes us, 16:14.050 --> 16:17.250 we tend to wash with whatever 16:17.890 --> 16:20.750 direction we're at in life at that point. 16:25.040 --> 16:28.720 People get, you know, I've had this told me, of course, in the praying 16:28.720 --> 16:32.300 for people who are sick and going to hospitals and nursing homes, things like that. 16:32.600 --> 16:36.640 And I've heard this over and over. Once people get 16:36.640 --> 16:40.600 sick and they're hurting, boy, you can take 16:40.600 --> 16:43.840 a person who's really nice and they can just get mean. 16:45.500 --> 16:47.860 Well, I've seen that. You know 16:47.860 --> 16:51.140 why that is? Lack of core values. 16:53.100 --> 16:55.700 Core values say there's some things I will never do. 16:56.480 --> 16:59.900 It doesn't make any difference to circumstances, doesn't make any difference 16:59.900 --> 17:03.940 to success, doesn't make any difference to failure, doesn't make 17:03.940 --> 17:07.940 any difference to the problems, the troubles, the pain, doesn't make any difference 17:07.940 --> 17:11.640 to certain things I will never do. And there are certain things that I will 17:11.640 --> 17:15.320 always do no matter what's happening in my life. 17:16.280 --> 17:19.740 They hold us solid. They hold us stable. 17:21.440 --> 17:23.980 There are inner convictions. We cannot 17:23.980 --> 17:27.660 compromise on them. Now, God will refine them over the years 17:27.660 --> 17:31.540 through His Word, but we can't compromise on them and just throw them out. 17:32.140 --> 17:34.940 Letter B, the middle there. Purpose, sub-purpose. 17:35.740 --> 17:39.660 Getting there is a walk of faith. You know, we don't know everything 17:39.660 --> 17:43.480 right away. We learn. We mature. We grow. We make adjustments. 17:44.440 --> 17:47.460 It's the core values that 17:47.460 --> 17:50.940 the Holy Spirit drops into our hearts as we're living for God 17:50.940 --> 17:55.500 that keep us on track as we're learning, as we're 17:55.500 --> 17:59.520 growing, as we're making adjustments. These things hold 17:59.520 --> 18:03.340 us steady. Let us see, it's 18:03.340 --> 18:07.700 difficult to categorize this summary and put it in a few points and say, these are our core 18:07.700 --> 18:11.580 values. So, I'll read here. Let me try 18:11.580 --> 18:15.520 by saying our core values at Word of Life are the scriptural elements 18:16.280 --> 18:19.360 that stand out in value to 18:19.360 --> 18:23.240 fulfill the vision, the purpose, the sub-purpose of Word of Life. 18:24.620 --> 18:27.620 Everything in Scripture is profitable, but there are 18:27.620 --> 18:31.740 certain principles that God has pointed out that we'll need to give special 18:31.740 --> 18:35.880 attention to for this ministry, for this church, for what God's trying to do 18:35.880 --> 18:39.580 here. They must remain an integral part 18:40.220 --> 18:43.400 of what we do in order to fulfill 18:43.400 --> 18:47.960 our mission. As a church, and the same thing is true for 18:47.960 --> 18:51.560 you as a person. Of course, a church is nothing but a whole 18:51.560 --> 18:56.000 conglomeration of persons. So, if the people are solid, the 18:56.000 --> 18:59.840 church is typically solid. If the people are all over the charts, 19:00.160 --> 19:03.420 you're going to have trouble holding that church. It's going to want to wonder 19:03.420 --> 19:07.460 and go into all kinds of different directions. It's the core 19:07.460 --> 19:11.440 values that keep us on track. Certain things 19:11.440 --> 19:15.480 we will do. Certain things we will never do. These are core 19:15.480 --> 19:21.330 values. When we're dealing with, okay, 19:21.470 --> 19:24.990 here is what God wants us to accomplish. Here is where he wants us to go. 19:26.150 --> 19:28.290 We see how God wants to use us. 19:29.530 --> 19:31.950 There's many different ways to get there. 19:33.210 --> 19:36.130 Your core values will determine a big part 19:36.130 --> 19:39.250 of that. You can be 19:40.190 --> 19:44.150 a business owner and become a successful 19:44.150 --> 19:48.070 business owner in a godly way 19:49.610 --> 19:51.070 or an ungodly way. 19:51.950 --> 19:56.130 And since we're in an ungodly system, see in God's system 19:56.130 --> 19:59.750 once we're out of this mess and we get back into God's system 19:59.750 --> 20:01.790 ungodly ways don't prosper. 20:03.470 --> 20:07.710 In fact, he's just going to end them all and I'm good with that. But we're in 20:07.710 --> 20:10.870 an ungodly system. So ungodly ways work. 20:13.950 --> 20:16.770 People will lie. People will steal. 20:17.550 --> 20:21.130 People will cheat. People will take advantage of other 20:21.130 --> 20:24.370 people. People will down talk other people. 20:25.050 --> 20:27.990 I've had business guys trying to sell me on 20:27.990 --> 20:31.950 you. I want to do the job for you. And I say, well, what about so-and-so? 20:32.050 --> 20:35.650 He seems to be out of, oh, so-and-so, and they'll just rip them up. 20:39.600 --> 20:42.420 You know what that is? It's either bad 20:42.420 --> 20:46.200 core values or a lack of them. They have no 20:46.200 --> 20:49.720 problem ripping somebody else up. They're definitely not godly core values. 20:51.700 --> 20:54.280 So the thing that keeps us on track 20:54.280 --> 20:57.900 as we're moving through life toward what God wants us to do 20:57.900 --> 21:01.880 is our core values. So as a church, number one is the word 21:01.880 --> 21:05.980 of God. This also is true 21:05.980 --> 21:09.800 for individuals. As a person going through life, the 21:09.800 --> 21:13.880 number one thing that will hold you on track is God's word. Period. 21:14.240 --> 21:17.800 There is nothing above that. It's the basis for all 21:17.800 --> 21:21.680 our beliefs, doctrines, and life. It's the infallible 21:21.680 --> 21:24.320 standard we measure everything against. 21:26.160 --> 21:28.400 Compromising on God's word is 21:28.400 --> 21:32.020 never an option. Now learning more, 21:33.400 --> 21:35.640 understanding more, tweaking some things, 21:36.580 --> 21:40.400 yeah, well, that's going to happen all our life. But compromising 21:40.400 --> 21:44.380 on it, no. So it comes back to 21:44.380 --> 21:48.440 why do we do what we do? Well, I can show you in the word why we do what we do. 21:50.240 --> 21:51.020 As a church. 21:52.680 --> 21:54.780 That should be true for us as individuals. 21:55.820 --> 21:59.120 Why do you do what you do? You should be able to find 21:59.120 --> 22:02.920 at some place in the word in seed form and then give me some spoken words 22:02.920 --> 22:06.280 that the Holy Spirit told you and said this is how I want you to live. 22:07.880 --> 22:10.920 Which is down a little bit in core 22:10.920 --> 22:14.980 values. But number one, if the word says this 22:14.980 --> 22:18.680 is what should be, then this is what should be. Period. 22:18.680 --> 22:22.780 We're never going to move from that. Or if the word says 22:22.780 --> 22:26.680 this is what shouldn't be, then we're never going to get 22:26.680 --> 22:29.340 involved with that. We're not going to move from it. 22:32.190 --> 22:33.810 For instance, I'll just give you a simple one. 22:36.470 --> 22:39.490 The word says we should avoid or stay back from all 22:39.930 --> 22:43.970 ungodliness. Well, I hope a church would at least follow 22:43.970 --> 22:48.050 that one. You know, individuals sometimes struggle with it, but 22:48.050 --> 22:52.210 at least I hope a church would follow that to where if something's ungodly 22:52.210 --> 22:54.330 we don't incorporate that into the church. 22:55.850 --> 22:58.330 Then why do so many Christian churches celebrate Halloween? 23:02.290 --> 23:05.590 What in the world? How in the world can you find anything godly in Halloween? 23:10.530 --> 23:13.510 See, for us it's a core value. That whole holiday 23:13.510 --> 23:17.570 is evil. You just study it, study its origins, study what it stands 23:17.570 --> 23:21.390 for. It is purely demonic. One hundred 23:21.390 --> 23:25.590 percent it's evil. We will never celebrate Halloween 23:25.590 --> 23:27.730 that word of life as long as I'm in charge. 23:28.990 --> 23:33.230 It's a core value. And you say, well, why don't we celebrate it here? 23:33.570 --> 23:37.490 Well, you just told me a thousand things about you. With the question 23:38.030 --> 23:40.790 apparently you don't understand and a lot of times young Christians don't. 23:41.190 --> 23:45.410 But if you've been saved 20 and 30 years and you're asking me why we don't celebrate Halloween 23:45.410 --> 23:49.470 for your grandkids, you should be further along than that. 23:51.410 --> 23:52.110 Just saying. 23:53.150 --> 23:56.070 It's a core value. The thing is demonic. 23:57.550 --> 24:01.330 And if you haven't noticed, the devil is opposed to God. 24:02.250 --> 24:05.590 They're opposites. Why would we 24:05.590 --> 24:09.550 who are trying to serve God with all our heart grab something from the devil 24:09.550 --> 24:12.930 while it's fun? Well, I don't care what it is. It's wrong. 24:14.250 --> 24:17.390 It's a core value. We won't go there. And it's just 24:17.390 --> 24:21.390 an example. What the Scripture says is the way it is. 24:22.550 --> 24:22.890 And 24:25.690 --> 24:26.570 it's who we are. 24:28.690 --> 24:32.910 Page 19 talks about full gospel a little bit there and how we see the Scripture there. 24:33.030 --> 24:35.830 And there's people who don't see it that way. And you know what? It's between them and God. 24:36.270 --> 24:38.690 I won't answer for them. They won't answer for me. 24:40.210 --> 24:43.790 You just go live how you want to live. We'll live how we're supposed to live. 24:43.790 --> 24:47.750 And in the end, we'll all find out we're standing in front of them. 24:48.890 --> 24:51.790 I'm just trying to do the best I can stand 24:51.790 --> 24:55.870 in front of him the right way. So middle of page 19 under letter D 24:55.870 --> 24:59.910 the second little line there. The emphasis on preaching, teaching 24:59.910 --> 25:03.810 and living what the Scriptures the Bible has to say is a 25:03.810 --> 25:07.910 big deal in this church. The word 25:07.910 --> 25:11.510 is a premium. And we will spend 25:11.510 --> 25:15.290 a bulk of time on it every service 25:15.290 --> 25:19.210 unless we're specifically directed otherwise. But as an overall thing 25:19.210 --> 25:23.410 if you want a 15 minute nice message, you're in the wrong 25:23.410 --> 25:27.370 church. The word 25:27.370 --> 25:31.510 is a core value here. And it's 25:32.290 --> 25:35.350 who we are. It's what we are. That'll 25:35.350 --> 25:39.530 never change. So when we're 25:39.530 --> 25:42.550 moving toward what God wants us to do, I've had people say 25:42.550 --> 25:45.150 you know, you preach so stinking long. 25:48.850 --> 25:50.670 And sometimes I do. 25:52.190 --> 25:55.690 They said, you know, if you shut that down, our culture, our society 25:55.690 --> 25:59.490 doesn't like 45 or 45 minutes an hour long message anymore. 26:00.810 --> 26:02.550 Our culture likes the 26:02.550 --> 26:07.470 let's do a 15, 20, 30 minute thing max, but 15, 20 is even better. 26:07.470 --> 26:09.730 And just give them one good principle. 26:10.750 --> 26:11.930 We would grow. 26:14.690 --> 26:17.790 Sorry, not our core value. 26:19.150 --> 26:23.470 Our core value is the word 26:23.470 --> 26:24.550 is everything. 26:27.220 --> 26:29.690 And it's going to receive the most attention. 26:31.230 --> 26:34.390 Well, I don't like it. I'll go someplace else. Well, it's your choice. It's America. 26:36.510 --> 26:37.050 That's fine. 26:38.770 --> 26:42.050 But you're not going to change our vision or our core values 26:44.090 --> 26:46.070 because, well, it would produce more people. 26:46.730 --> 26:48.350 Yeah, but what kind of people are we going to produce? 26:49.970 --> 26:52.430 A bunch of babies who can't understand the word at all? 26:54.270 --> 26:58.250 Got a lot of numbers, but you got no depth. You got no discipleship. You got no 26:58.950 --> 27:00.350 you got no maturity. 27:04.020 --> 27:06.340 It's an example of a core value. Number two, 27:07.000 --> 27:10.260 the freedom and movement of the Holy Spirit is one of our core values. 27:11.900 --> 27:14.000 It deals with Jesus' last name, 27:14.740 --> 27:18.300 the Christ, meaning the anointing. And it is 27:18.300 --> 27:21.720 the anointing and the moving of the Holy Spirit is the thing the 27:21.720 --> 27:26.140 anti-Christ spirit, which was started back 27:26.140 --> 27:30.200 in John said, in 1 John he said 27:30.200 --> 27:34.060 the anti-Christ spirit is already here. It started back 27:34.060 --> 27:37.200 there and it's just gaining momentum until the end when it culminates. 27:37.920 --> 27:42.320 The anti-Christ spirit, or the anti-anointing spirit 27:42.320 --> 27:46.380 is 100% against the freedom and the movement of the Holy Spirit 27:46.380 --> 27:48.520 because the Holy Spirit is the one who anoints. 27:49.680 --> 27:53.920 So to me this is a no-brainer for a core value. You have 27:53.920 --> 27:57.760 to go with the movement of the Holy Spirit because the 27:57.760 --> 28:01.480 anti-Christ spirit is against it. I mean 28:01.480 --> 28:05.720 why would we be against that? There's only one against that. It's the anti-Christ 28:05.720 --> 28:09.040 spirit. So we got it before it. 28:12.510 --> 28:15.670 Well I want to be for it pastor, I just don't want it to get out of hand. 28:22.410 --> 28:23.790 Things can get weird, you know. 28:24.530 --> 28:27.670 I know, I've been there. I've seen them get weird. 28:32.210 --> 28:34.090 Let me remind you of a principle. 28:36.370 --> 28:37.870 When you're measuring 28:37.870 --> 28:41.890 something, now this is presuming you're close enough 28:41.890 --> 28:44.070 to God, you can sense Him. 28:45.890 --> 28:49.870 If we haven't developed to that point to where we can sense God, then 28:49.870 --> 28:53.190 this won't work for you. Then we need to grow more. 28:54.090 --> 28:57.250 But if you're close enough to God to where you can sense Him, 28:58.770 --> 29:01.910 when something's happening don't pay attention to 29:01.910 --> 29:06.030 your head or what's coming in your eyes or what's coming in your 29:06.030 --> 29:09.790 ears. Listen to the Holy Spirit 29:09.790 --> 29:13.910 who lives in you. If He is at 29:13.910 --> 29:16.790 peace with what is going on 29:17.690 --> 29:21.890 we should be too. We should be at 29:21.890 --> 29:25.350 peace too. If He's upset with it, 29:25.510 --> 29:29.890 then we need to stop it. That is the 29:29.890 --> 29:33.650 only way to make a spiritual judgment like Jesus talked about in John 7. 29:34.150 --> 29:37.850 He says you're making all kinds of judgments but you're making all the wrong ones because you're not 29:37.850 --> 29:41.710 making spiritual judgments. You're not tapping into the 29:41.710 --> 29:45.630 spirit to discern this. You're tapping into your head, 29:45.770 --> 29:48.690 you're thinking your emotions, what will people think, your reasoning, 29:49.330 --> 29:53.690 and Paul says all that's demonic based. If that's where you go to 29:53.690 --> 29:57.650 hear God, you're going to be following demons before long. You have 29:57.650 --> 30:01.530 to tap into the Holy Spirit inside you. So when 30:01.530 --> 30:05.710 something's getting odd to you, that might be odd to 30:05.710 --> 30:09.150 you and not to me. Might be odd to me, not to you. I don't know. 30:10.090 --> 30:12.970 It depends upon our backgrounds. What we've seen, what we've, you know, 30:15.210 --> 30:17.170 I've seen some weird stuff happen in church 30:18.410 --> 30:21.710 and it's like, yeah, I didn't like it. It felt wrong 30:21.710 --> 30:25.290 to me at the time and I was young. So that 30:25.910 --> 30:29.070 it's not like it can't happen. It can happen. And if it does 30:29.070 --> 30:33.310 happen, it's the people in charge responsibility to try to grab that. And if we 30:33.310 --> 30:37.610 miss it and we make a mistake, then we need to come back and apologize and say I missed that one and it shouldn't have went that way. 30:38.630 --> 30:41.230 So let's just deal with that and throw it off the 30:41.230 --> 30:44.330 table because that wasn't God. But 30:47.490 --> 30:49.310 okay, I think he'd be 30:49.310 --> 30:53.030 okay with this. I'll give you an example from Open Heavens. 30:55.450 --> 30:55.970 Wonderful 30:55.970 --> 31:00.770 Open Heavens. God used 31:00.770 --> 31:04.890 Igor powerfully. Just wonderful. I have no complaints with Igor 31:04.890 --> 31:08.710 whatsoever. But he's a very exuberant man. 31:11.510 --> 31:13.130 And it's okay. That's who God 31:13.130 --> 31:15.930 made him to be. I mean, very 31:16.770 --> 31:20.510 very out there. And that's how God uses him. And that's okay. 31:20.510 --> 31:23.710 But that first night in the prayer line 31:24.670 --> 31:28.510 he got a little too pushy. Not intentionally, but in his 31:28.510 --> 31:32.370 exuberance. You don't have to take people by the head 31:32.370 --> 31:36.330 and push them back. And he didn't realize he was doing it. 31:37.170 --> 31:40.390 Or I noticed sometimes he grabbed them in the back of the head and he pulled forward 31:40.390 --> 31:44.070 and people were down and I knew he was pulling on them because his fingers went white. 31:44.350 --> 31:48.470 He put pressure on them. And that's okay. 31:50.850 --> 31:51.710 But not here. 31:53.690 --> 31:56.430 If God's moving you don't have to physically cause something 31:56.430 --> 32:00.450 to happen. And I thought, well I'm not going to say anything 32:00.450 --> 32:04.430 in front of it. I think we have mature enough people. Because some of you looked 32:04.430 --> 32:08.450 at me like, what's he doing? And it's like 32:08.450 --> 32:12.310 I got it. I'm just not going to embarrass the guy. 32:13.170 --> 32:15.910 He's ministering. He's in the spirit. He's just not 32:15.910 --> 32:18.430 guarding himself. Enough. 32:21.350 --> 32:23.050 So afterwards I talked to him about it. 32:23.550 --> 32:27.810 I said, I don't know if you realize you're doing it or not, but you're putting a lot of physical 32:27.810 --> 32:31.850 pressure on people when you're praying for them. And if they have a bad neck you're 32:31.850 --> 32:34.830 going to make it worse. Unless God helps you. 32:35.510 --> 32:38.750 I mean, you just can't do that to people. 32:40.210 --> 32:43.450 And he said, I'm doing that? I didn't realize I was doing that. 32:43.450 --> 32:47.350 I was so into, I want to get the answer to them, I didn't realize I was physically 32:47.350 --> 32:50.010 engaging. And you notice the rest of the meetings. He didn't do it at all. 32:53.310 --> 32:53.670 So 32:55.470 --> 32:58.930 to me, when I measured my spirit, that didn't feel right. 33:03.160 --> 33:04.720 So then it's my job to say something. 33:06.040 --> 33:10.160 That's not my job to undermine somebody, but it is my job to say 33:10.160 --> 33:13.920 something so it doesn't go on all week. And I did. And he was very 33:13.920 --> 33:17.260 receptive. He's really good that way. He's very receptive. Very 33:18.000 --> 33:20.920 very teachable and humble in those ways. 33:21.760 --> 33:26.260 And he made the adjustment. Life went on. That is what I'm talking about. 33:26.860 --> 33:28.440 Measure with your spirit. 33:29.940 --> 33:33.480 You could watch and say, wow, people are being touched. And they were being touched. 33:33.620 --> 33:37.600 So he's got to be doing everything right. Well, he was doing 99% right. 33:37.760 --> 33:40.600 But there was one thing that just did not feel right to me. 33:40.600 --> 33:44.680 In here. Not in here. In here. 33:45.680 --> 33:48.900 And we talked about it, made the adjustment. That's what I'm talking about. 33:49.020 --> 33:52.440 When you say, well, there's something goofy going on. According to what? 33:53.580 --> 33:56.680 Your past teaching. What you think should be 33:56.680 --> 34:00.860 happening. How you're reasoning this out. Maybe somebody 34:00.860 --> 34:04.840 has disgruntled input they gave you. Something goofy is going on. 34:04.920 --> 34:08.060 The only way to measure that is measure it in your spirit. 34:08.980 --> 34:11.400 Does this feel peaceful and right? 34:11.940 --> 34:13.780 Or does this like, yeah, that ain't right. 34:16.300 --> 34:20.060 Follow me? Oh, dear Lord. 34:21.060 --> 34:22.680 Must be all sleeping already. 34:25.660 --> 34:28.160 But the freedom and the movement of the 34:28.160 --> 34:32.220 Holy Spirit is strongly emphasized here. It's one of our core values. 34:33.740 --> 34:36.020 We want the gifts of the Spirit 34:36.020 --> 34:39.420 to flow. We want to know if people are having visions. We want to know if 34:40.020 --> 34:43.800 there's a prophecy. We want to know these things. But one of the things we 34:43.800 --> 34:48.020 do to keep it from getting goofy is come tell me first. Or tell 34:48.020 --> 34:51.860 Mary first. And then if our 34:51.860 --> 34:55.260 heart agrees, then we'll let you give it. 34:56.440 --> 34:59.860 Because when things get goofy is when you just let anybody say anything 34:59.860 --> 35:03.940 at any time. Then later you got to go back and correct stuff because it's wrong. 35:03.940 --> 35:07.760 And now you got people's feelings hurt. Then clicks or groups 35:07.760 --> 35:11.760 formal. I thought it was right. I thought it was God. No, that wasn't God. You can 35:11.760 --> 35:15.240 prevent all of it with a little bit of prevention. Out of prevention is worth 35:15.240 --> 35:19.760 pound of cure. Do we want the moving of the Spirit? Freedom of the Spirit? 35:20.000 --> 35:23.800 Absolutely. But yes, there is a way to guide it. There is 35:23.800 --> 35:27.700 a way. So if some of you are saying, why does everybody check in with you all the time before they're allowed 35:27.700 --> 35:29.940 to say something? So it doesn't get weird. 35:36.250 --> 35:37.450 Thank you for the one amen. 35:41.730 --> 35:43.050 Bottom of page 19 35:45.930 --> 35:48.290 we speak in tongues. We prophesy. We give 35:48.290 --> 35:51.590 message in tongues. Interpretations. We sing in the Spirit. We pray in the 35:51.590 --> 35:54.690 Spirit. We pray for healings and miracles. We praise and worship 35:54.690 --> 35:58.950 as if we feel he is directing us. And anything else we feel 35:58.950 --> 36:02.910 he's leading us to, including the nine gifts of the Spirit. The emphasis 36:02.910 --> 36:06.690 on the moving of the Holy Spirit in our services is a big deal. 36:06.990 --> 36:09.210 It is a core value. 36:11.050 --> 36:14.970 It's big to us. Now, some people don't 36:14.970 --> 36:18.590 like it because whatever reason. That's okay. 36:19.370 --> 36:21.250 Like I said, this church may not be for everybody. 36:23.590 --> 36:26.010 But I see it in Scripture really clearly. 36:27.390 --> 36:30.310 I see it in people's lives 36:30.310 --> 36:33.770 who are successful in living out the kingdom. 36:34.610 --> 36:38.270 It's a big deal. It's scriptural. Letter B 36:38.270 --> 36:42.170 last half of it. Everything the Scripture has to say about the working of the Holy Spirit 36:42.170 --> 36:45.990 will be encouraged at word of life. So now here is a very important point to bring up 36:45.990 --> 36:49.750 right here. A pastoral change 36:50.310 --> 36:51.990 can change everything. 36:54.550 --> 36:58.170 Because the church will follow the way the pastor leads. 36:58.170 --> 37:01.550 And I know people tell me, they say 37:02.090 --> 37:05.810 I'm at such and such church to make a difference and we're trying to change it. 37:06.110 --> 37:10.070 And I'll tell them this. Unless you change the pastor and depending 37:10.070 --> 37:14.230 upon how the church government is, the pastor and the board, you won't change 37:14.230 --> 37:18.050 the church. It's going to flow down. 37:18.910 --> 37:21.950 So you have to talk to your pastor and if 37:21.950 --> 37:26.290 he's following the board, you have to talk to the board. 37:27.290 --> 37:30.190 Or there will be no changes. So 37:30.190 --> 37:34.010 I'll ask him. Do you think the pastor and the board is ever going to change what you're there to influence? 37:34.510 --> 37:36.510 No, they'll never change. Then you're wasting your time. 37:39.570 --> 37:43.650 Because as soon as you try promoting something, they're going to shut you down. 37:44.610 --> 37:47.730 You're wasting your time. You must find a church that goes with your 37:47.730 --> 37:51.210 heart. Pastoral leadership especially 37:52.670 --> 37:55.610 makes or breaks everything on the vision 37:55.610 --> 37:59.430 or where the church is going. That's why 37:59.430 --> 38:03.050 right now we're in a real crucial season 38:03.050 --> 38:07.430 and we'll talk about short-term, intermediate-term and long-term vision. 38:08.630 --> 38:11.750 It's not a long-term vision. It's an intermediate-term 38:11.750 --> 38:15.690 vision. We're in a very crucial season because as time goes on 38:15.690 --> 38:19.570 there's going to have to be a handing on of the baton or 38:19.570 --> 38:23.730 pastoral leadership change. All we need to do is get 38:23.730 --> 38:27.610 someone in here who is uncomfortable with the moving of the spirit and this church will 38:27.610 --> 38:31.470 totally change. They won't allow it. They won't promote it. 38:31.590 --> 38:35.650 They won't introduce it. All we need is to get somebody in here who 38:35.650 --> 38:39.530 does not want praise and worship to be a free expression 38:39.530 --> 38:40.870 that comes out of people's hearts. 38:43.230 --> 38:47.670 And everything will change. And there's churches out 38:47.670 --> 38:51.750 there where praise and worship is entertainment. You have three, four songs 38:51.750 --> 38:55.790 everybody's sitting there eating coffee, eating donuts, whatever 38:57.070 --> 38:59.470 and nobody's standing, nobody's praising 38:59.470 --> 39:03.590 they're just enjoying Christian music. Well that's between them and God. 39:03.690 --> 39:06.230 That's not for me to tell them that's right or wrong. It's between them and God. 39:07.330 --> 39:10.470 Bring that here. Everything will change. 39:12.570 --> 39:15.990 So some of these core values have to align 39:17.630 --> 39:19.630 with the leadership, the 39:19.630 --> 39:23.630 staff, especially the pastoral leadership, has 39:23.630 --> 39:27.410 to align. Or you get this unity, you get division. 39:28.730 --> 39:31.410 And worst of all if you hand it over to them and it's not 39:31.410 --> 39:35.430 an agreement or alignment, it shuts down everything that God was trying to accomplish 39:35.430 --> 39:39.310 through that church. So it's really crucial 39:39.310 --> 39:43.110 to find like-minded people 39:44.190 --> 39:47.290 to put into these leadership positions because if you 39:47.290 --> 39:51.250 don't, they will abandon certain core values because it's not 39:51.250 --> 39:55.370 in them. And when you abandon a core value, it's the thing that holds 39:55.370 --> 39:59.350 you on track. You abandon it, you're going to change. You're going to wander one way or 39:59.350 --> 40:03.230 the other. It's the stake that holds us in place. 40:04.130 --> 40:06.510 Walking in love, that's pretty much no-brainer. 40:07.410 --> 40:11.150 First and second commandment, I think we can all work on that the rest of our lives. 40:12.030 --> 40:14.970 Service to others, number four on page 40:14.970 --> 40:18.750 20, meeting the needs of others as an expression of love. 40:19.830 --> 40:22.970 For those of you that work in the secular world, which is 40:22.970 --> 40:27.070 most of us, here's the term that you use for service to others. 40:27.490 --> 40:28.630 It's called customer service. 40:31.530 --> 40:33.870 That's what it's called. Customer service 40:34.750 --> 40:38.890 in the business world is serving other people 40:38.890 --> 40:43.110 and they're supposed to do it in a loving way. 40:45.130 --> 40:46.370 Not everybody does. 40:47.590 --> 40:50.870 I mean, there's been times at Walmart I've had people, apparently 40:50.870 --> 40:54.290 are having a bad day, or 40:55.510 --> 40:59.250 you're going through a drive-thru someplace and you get a hold 40:59.250 --> 41:02.950 of one who is serving you, their customer service 41:02.950 --> 41:06.310 and they're not doing it in love. They're grumpy. They're mean. 41:10.630 --> 41:12.670 I've got examples. I won't go there. 41:12.670 --> 41:14.650 Customer service. 41:15.790 --> 41:19.830 We are to minister to each other 41:20.650 --> 41:22.570 and serve them out of love. 41:23.810 --> 41:28.330 The best correlation I can give to that is do we have good customer service 41:28.330 --> 41:29.370 with each other or not? 41:31.810 --> 41:36.190 Are we serving each other? Scripture says love 41:36.190 --> 41:39.810 prefers the other person. That's customer 41:39.810 --> 41:43.430 in front of the service. Well, why would I treat them better? 41:43.590 --> 41:47.690 Because you're supposed to love them. Which means 41:47.690 --> 41:48.670 you prefer them. 41:51.230 --> 41:55.330 Who was it that was saying somebody were 41:55.330 --> 41:55.730 sharing? 42:01.290 --> 42:03.450 Anyway, they had some gathering 42:03.450 --> 42:07.410 where there was a meal and people were lined up to serve themselves. 42:07.410 --> 42:10.690 Some of you will remember this because you probably heard it too. Somebody shared. 42:10.850 --> 42:15.430 I think it was here. And some old grandmas wanted to get to the front of the line 42:16.270 --> 42:18.530 so they just kind of elbowed their ways in 42:19.090 --> 42:20.670 and got to the front of the line. 42:22.630 --> 42:26.790 And this was a Christian setting. Was that you? 42:27.450 --> 42:27.550 No. 42:32.010 --> 42:32.810 Just checking. 42:34.970 --> 42:35.950 Dale said that? 42:38.510 --> 42:41.130 One of the founders at a college. It was Founders Week. 42:41.350 --> 42:44.970 Now it's coming back to me. It's Founders Week. And the people who give all the money were there 42:44.970 --> 42:48.510 to see a lot of money. Were there to see how the colleges run. 42:49.030 --> 42:51.950 And they felt entitled. They didn't have to wait in line at the cafeteria. 42:52.830 --> 42:56.430 And the long line they just kind of shoved in and pushed their way into the line 42:56.430 --> 43:01.030 up at the front and this, that and the other. See, that's just bad customer service. 43:02.370 --> 43:05.030 That's not preferring each other 43:05.030 --> 43:05.490 in love. 43:08.530 --> 43:12.310 Grandma felt entitled because I give a lot of money to this college. 43:12.810 --> 43:16.770 I have the right to go to the front. You selfish 43:16.770 --> 43:22.450 arrogant thing. You're not entitled 43:22.450 --> 43:26.390 because you give money. But see, that is an American 43:26.390 --> 43:30.610 thing. Oh, don't upset them. They give a lot of money. 43:31.530 --> 43:34.570 Let them do what they want. Well, sooner or later 43:34.570 --> 43:37.850 they figure that out. Well, I can do what I want because I give money. 43:40.250 --> 43:42.670 Now, we're still supposed to walk in love 43:42.670 --> 43:46.190 toward each other. Page 21, number five. Obedience. 43:49.550 --> 43:51.530 The second thing we strive to do 43:51.530 --> 43:55.170 if love is first, the second thing is obedience because 43:55.810 --> 44:00.070 obedience is the indicator of how much we love. And the Scripture is given right there. 44:00.070 --> 44:04.270 We have to learn to obey. It's a core value. 44:05.750 --> 44:07.990 It just can't happen in your 44:07.990 --> 44:12.030 personal life. It just can't happen in this church where it's like 44:12.030 --> 44:15.190 I know God wants us to do that, but we're going to do this. 44:16.010 --> 44:19.370 Cannot ever happen. It's a core value. 44:20.170 --> 44:24.090 Well, if we do what we think God wants us to do, it's not going to 44:24.090 --> 44:28.330 turn out as well as this. And that's always the excuse. One way 44:28.330 --> 44:32.250 or another. It's just not going to turn out as well. Like we know more 44:32.250 --> 44:36.410 than God. We might see the next few months and say, yeah, that won't 44:36.410 --> 44:40.030 turn out good in the next few months, but we don't see the next 10, 20, 30 years. 44:42.270 --> 44:43.670 We will obey 44:44.310 --> 44:48.610 what he asks us to do. There is no option. There's no negotiation. 44:49.650 --> 44:52.390 We will obey what he asks us 44:52.390 --> 44:55.430 to do. Period. It's a core value. 44:56.250 --> 44:59.350 And that's what holds you solid as 44:59.350 --> 45:03.370 you're going through transitional change and so forth, whether in your personal life 45:03.370 --> 45:07.350 or in this church. Hope and faith. Of course, you got to have hope before you have faith 45:07.350 --> 45:11.450 and without faith, you can't even please God. So we put a big emphasis on faith 45:12.030 --> 45:15.370 because we want to please God. When I get there, I really 45:15.370 --> 45:19.510 am looking for him to say, well done. I really want that. 45:20.330 --> 45:23.230 And if I want that, it says in Hebrews 11, 6, 45:23.230 --> 45:27.390 you can't even please God without faith. So if I want that, 45:27.650 --> 45:31.250 I better really pay attention to faith because that's 45:31.250 --> 45:34.710 what pleases him. And if he's not pleased, he's not going to say good job. 45:37.430 --> 45:39.110 So there's a huge emphasis 45:39.110 --> 45:43.130 on faith. Do we always get the answers to everything we're after? 45:43.390 --> 45:47.530 No. But we're trying. And according to Hebrews 11, 45:47.730 --> 45:49.070 he will reward us for trying. 45:50.650 --> 45:52.850 He doesn't just reward results. 45:53.550 --> 45:56.850 I don't think that's news to anybody here. He is a 45:56.850 --> 46:00.230 rewarder of them who diligently 46:00.970 --> 46:04.650 seek him. He rewards 46:04.650 --> 46:08.230 effort. We don't always have to 46:08.730 --> 46:11.470 hit a home run to please him. 46:12.470 --> 46:17.070 In fact, there's times we strike out. But we're 46:17.070 --> 46:20.870 seeking to hit that thing. And we're trying to hit that thing. 46:21.110 --> 46:24.630 And as long as we are after it, 46:25.410 --> 46:28.530 he's pleased with that to the point. He says, I'll reward you for trying. 46:34.000 --> 46:35.340 Intimately knowing him 46:36.400 --> 46:37.980 and him knowing us. 46:39.600 --> 46:41.680 Number seven, it's a core value. 46:43.260 --> 46:48.100 Letter A, there's a difference in knowing God about God and knowing God. Knowing about God is 46:48.100 --> 46:52.000 referring to his religion. Knowing him is referred to as a relationship. 46:52.480 --> 46:55.020 We're called to the relationship end. 46:56.660 --> 46:59.920 Everything we do is to help everyone 46:59.920 --> 47:02.180 as much as we can influence. 47:03.760 --> 47:07.820 The most important thing we can do is 47:07.820 --> 47:10.960 help people to learn how to know him. 47:12.040 --> 47:15.620 Paul said in Philippians, he said, nothing 47:16.220 --> 47:19.380 can stand in the way of getting to know him. 47:19.500 --> 47:23.460 You have to abandon everything. So in other words, this thing of loving 47:23.460 --> 47:27.600 God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength is directly tied 47:27.600 --> 47:31.980 to getting to know him. Those two must go together 47:31.980 --> 47:35.760 because Paul, Jesus said, you got to love God with all your heart, soul, mind 47:35.760 --> 47:39.860 and strength. Paul says you have to be willing to abandon everything 47:39.860 --> 47:43.720 to get to know him. Not know about 47:43.720 --> 47:47.780 him. Know him. And once you 47:47.780 --> 47:51.860 know him, he knows you. And this is important. Because Jesus said 47:53.180 --> 47:55.200 I don't know who these people are. 47:55.620 --> 47:59.760 Away from me. Depart. Only those who do the will of my father will enter into 47:59.760 --> 48:01.980 heaven. This is Matthew 7, I believe. 48:03.560 --> 48:07.720 Yeah, I don't know you. Well, it would be good if he knew us. 48:08.360 --> 48:11.780 And then they gave reasons why he should know him. You know, we cast out 48:11.780 --> 48:15.760 demons. We prophesied. We did wonderful things in your needs. I don't know you. Get out of here. 48:18.160 --> 48:19.720 So we need to get 48:19.720 --> 48:23.800 to know him. And in process of that he 48:23.800 --> 48:25.280 gets to know us. 48:27.520 --> 48:31.900 Praise and worship is an intimate expression of relationship. 48:35.510 --> 48:36.590 It's supposed to be. 48:39.370 --> 48:41.410 Now I grew up singing 48:41.410 --> 48:45.310 hymnals. Towards the end, they sang more. Well, they sang courses all the time, but 48:45.310 --> 48:49.150 they were German courses. Because I grew up in more of a German community. 48:49.850 --> 48:53.310 And the service was more English. The songs 48:53.310 --> 48:57.490 we sang were English. But if they go into a chorus, most of the time 48:57.490 --> 49:00.370 it was a German chorus. And 49:01.110 --> 49:04.550 that was their culture. It's who they were. It wasn't good, bad, or otherwise. But 49:04.550 --> 49:06.930 to me, church music was hymnals. 49:08.630 --> 49:10.990 I got news for you. It is really hard 49:10.990 --> 49:14.970 to get intimate with God in a hymn song. A hymnal. 49:18.290 --> 49:20.890 The best part about hymnals is I would practice 49:20.890 --> 49:24.790 singing soprano, alto, tenor, and 49:24.790 --> 49:28.210 bass. I'd switch. Every 49:28.890 --> 49:32.770 line, I try to sing a different... 49:34.430 --> 49:36.010 And I'm sure God wasn't impressed. 49:38.590 --> 49:39.850 But it's like 49:41.110 --> 49:44.670 it's really hard to get intimate with God, singing hymns. 49:46.550 --> 49:48.210 Now when they switched into some 49:48.210 --> 49:51.850 choruses, and once I was in high school, then we switched more to 49:51.850 --> 49:55.690 English. And some of the older people were very 49:55.690 --> 49:59.330 disgruntled. But the pastor said, 50:00.070 --> 50:03.950 I honor you. I honor that. We can do that at certain services. 50:04.730 --> 50:07.570 But on Sunday mornings, when visitors come, 50:07.890 --> 50:11.830 singing only German choruses does not attract 50:11.830 --> 50:20.270 them. So the whole thing switched, because a pastoral 50:20.270 --> 50:24.430 change took place. And in my mind, as a high schooler, that was a good switch. 50:25.730 --> 50:28.730 Because he started singing more contemporary choruses 50:28.730 --> 50:32.690 and putting them in. Well, now I could start getting a little bit more intimate 50:32.690 --> 50:36.430 with God. But intimacy with God and knowing 50:36.430 --> 50:40.330 Him ties directly into praise and worship. Man, that 50:40.330 --> 50:44.250 just kicks the door open for intimacy. Prayer 50:44.250 --> 50:47.310 lines kick the door open for intimacy with God. 50:48.110 --> 50:52.410 If we're not just doing a methodical, go down the line and just pray for somebody. 50:52.550 --> 50:56.230 But actually try to be led by the spirit, etc. Really 50:56.230 --> 51:00.010 opens the door for intimacy. Page 22, number 8, 51:00.250 --> 51:06.410 another core value. Our whole motivation is to please God. Three 51:06.410 --> 51:10.290 words. Why do we do what we do? Because we're trying to please Him. And we see 51:10.290 --> 51:14.090 it in Scripture. The Word is first. And the Holy Spirit led us 51:14.090 --> 51:17.910 and moved us that direction. Well, why didn't you just stop it? Because we're trying to please 51:17.910 --> 51:20.090 Him. Not you. 51:22.190 --> 51:25.350 Paul said, if I'm going to try to please men, I'm no longer pleasing God. 51:26.570 --> 51:30.070 And see, that's the dance leadership has. That's the dance praise groups have. 51:31.630 --> 51:34.350 That's how do we follow the Spirit enough 51:34.930 --> 51:37.750 that He goes, I love this. 51:40.310 --> 51:42.010 And the naysayers 51:42.010 --> 51:44.490 don't go, it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. 51:47.270 --> 51:50.370 It's a dance. You try to work that. You try to bring people 51:50.370 --> 51:54.190 with you while you please Him and get intimate with Him. Number 51:54.190 --> 51:58.310 9, that is a core value, because that is the only thing that can destroy a church 51:58.310 --> 52:02.470 is this unity. It is the only thing that can destroy a church. 52:02.470 --> 52:05.730 You get people fighting amongst themselves. The Holy Spirit backs out and it's over. 52:06.490 --> 52:09.450 That is the best way to say it. It will just be over. 52:10.150 --> 52:14.050 So, we will stay in unity. Even if you 52:15.010 --> 52:18.470 need to find a church that you 52:18.470 --> 52:20.570 can be in unity with. 52:23.710 --> 52:26.530 Yeah, this is good. Someone sent a text in. They said, mutual respect 52:26.530 --> 52:30.330 for each other is necessary. Exactly. Young and old also 52:30.330 --> 52:34.410 recognize the elder may not have the strength or may have 52:34.410 --> 52:38.470 may be in pain. And the elder needs to recognize 52:38.470 --> 52:41.830 just because you don't have the strength or in pain, we 52:41.830 --> 52:45.270 make everything center on you. 52:46.050 --> 52:50.270 Because there's younger generations who are in a focus too. 52:51.450 --> 52:54.450 It goes both ways. But yeah, we shouldn't 52:54.450 --> 52:56.630 run over them and they shouldn't run over them. 52:56.630 --> 52:59.950 It goes both ways. Flows both ways. 53:00.490 --> 53:04.090 The anointing, we talked about that some. It's self-explanatory there. 53:06.050 --> 53:07.770 Page 23, the supernatural. 53:09.450 --> 53:12.610 When we moved up here, the Lord said, I want you to build whatever is 53:12.610 --> 53:15.470 going to happen in Minnesota. I want you to build it on two things. 53:15.990 --> 53:19.850 He told me this coming through Nebraska, through those sand hills going north from 53:19.850 --> 53:23.670 North Platte up to through Valentine and up to I-90. 53:23.670 --> 53:26.790 Coming right through there, he said, I want you to build this on two things. 53:27.850 --> 53:30.210 The word and the supernatural. 53:32.070 --> 53:34.270 So the supernatural has to become a core value. 53:35.770 --> 53:39.690 Supernatural has to be taking place here or we're off of what God's 53:39.690 --> 53:43.070 asking us to do. What do you mean by supernatural? 53:43.850 --> 53:47.230 Well, obviously the gifts of the Spirit, if they're done correctly, are supernatural. 53:47.990 --> 53:49.630 Dreams, visions are supernatural. 53:50.850 --> 53:53.590 People feeling the tangible presence of 53:53.590 --> 53:59.680 God is supernatural. Healing's 53:59.680 --> 54:01.780 miracles supernatural. 54:04.680 --> 54:07.100 Supernatural has to take place here. 54:08.520 --> 54:10.520 What happened last night at TBO? 54:12.600 --> 54:15.380 There was a visiting lady there that Kelvin and 54:15.380 --> 54:19.440 Brian prophesied over just totally laid her 54:19.440 --> 54:23.200 flat, so to speak, emotionally. She was doing everything she could 54:23.200 --> 54:26.520 to hold it together, just weeping and sobbing and carrying on. 54:27.980 --> 54:30.440 Why? Because what they were saying was right on. 54:31.860 --> 54:34.760 That's supernatural. We didn't know her. 54:35.160 --> 54:38.640 They didn't know her. That's supernatural. 54:39.820 --> 54:43.320 And some people, you know, I've heard this more 54:43.320 --> 54:46.860 than once, why don't I like Kelvin Woods? He speaks in tongues too much. 54:48.140 --> 54:50.920 Well, I tell you what, once you 54:50.920 --> 54:54.960 can prophesy with the accuracy that man prophesies with, 54:55.280 --> 54:58.600 you can come to me and complain about it. Until then, shut up. 55:03.280 --> 55:05.060 Well, I just don't think it's right. Well, I don't 55:05.060 --> 55:07.340 care what you think. The fruit is there. Hello? 55:08.500 --> 55:12.740 If God didn't think it was right, he'd be missing everything. 55:14.280 --> 55:16.800 For those of you that were in prayer, what he said 55:16.800 --> 55:20.540 over what Brian and what Kelvin said over me in the church, 55:20.960 --> 55:24.980 they had no clue. Exactly, they hit it. Exactly. 55:26.080 --> 55:28.800 Oh, they pray in tongues too much. I don't give a rip. 55:30.140 --> 55:32.800 You can't produce godly fruit 55:32.800 --> 55:36.780 via ungodliness. Apparently 55:36.780 --> 55:40.320 God's okay with it. Or he quit using them. 55:42.380 --> 55:43.400 Isn't that the truth? 55:44.960 --> 55:46.900 So the supernatural has to happen. 55:48.320 --> 55:50.580 It has to. It's who we are. 55:51.420 --> 55:55.140 Corporate and individual prayer. Of course, every church is supposed to be praying. 55:56.060 --> 55:59.280 But it can slip. So it's a core value. If we're not praying, 55:59.760 --> 56:02.740 we need to...it has to hold us in place. 56:03.020 --> 56:06.640 Striving for maturity, everybody should be doing that. Every church should be doing that. 56:06.900 --> 56:08.500 But sometimes we forget that. 56:10.740 --> 56:12.760 Wholehearted praise and intimate worship 56:12.760 --> 56:16.480 is listed there. Won't talk about it much. I just jumped 56:16.480 --> 56:20.560 past some of them. They're self-explanatory. They're just a few of our core values. 56:21.420 --> 56:22.820 Integrity and credibility. 56:23.840 --> 56:27.280 Ministry is a relationship of trust, top of page 24. 56:28.340 --> 56:32.660 For trust to be built in a church, its people and pastoral staff 56:32.660 --> 56:36.360 must set an example of integrity and credibility in everything 56:36.360 --> 56:39.660 we do. That is a core value. 56:40.300 --> 56:44.200 We mess that up. We will mess with what God's trying 56:44.200 --> 56:47.980 to do. And that covers everything 56:47.980 --> 56:52.460 from finances to prayer lines 56:54.720 --> 56:56.300 to...it covers everything. 56:56.660 --> 57:00.040 We have to try to stay in 57:00.040 --> 57:03.380 integrity. Not to the point 57:03.380 --> 57:07.140 of shutting the Holy Spirit down. Or 57:07.140 --> 57:13.830 compromising on the Word. Because you can 57:13.830 --> 57:17.990 say, well, we're just trying to stay credible with the world 57:17.990 --> 57:21.750 so we're not going to do that in a service. 57:23.130 --> 57:26.210 But what is that? Well, we're not going to have any messages and tongues 57:26.210 --> 57:29.890 and interpretations. Because the world doesn't see that as credible. 57:30.310 --> 57:33.430 Well, see now you need to go back to the first core value. 57:34.330 --> 57:37.250 And the second, the Word and the moving 57:37.250 --> 57:40.390 of the Spirit are first. And 57:41.410 --> 57:45.510 the world may not see it as credible. But God sees 57:45.510 --> 57:49.310 a message and tongues and interpretation as credible 57:49.310 --> 57:55.330 if it's from Him. You wouldn't believe 57:55.330 --> 57:59.450 how many people in the association I'm 57:59.450 --> 58:03.190 part of, they discourage 58:03.190 --> 58:07.210 on a service where there can be a lot of visitors. They discourage any 58:07.210 --> 58:11.210 supernatural. We'll do it on a different 58:11.210 --> 58:15.270 service. We'll do it on a Wednesday night. We'll do it on a home group, maybe a Sunday night, if we have a Sunday night 58:15.270 --> 58:17.590 service. But on Sunday morning, 58:20.430 --> 58:21.430 we're not going there. 58:22.990 --> 58:27.110 See, and that's between them and God again. Not my issue. 58:28.710 --> 58:31.190 But for us to do that, we'd be 58:31.190 --> 58:35.150 losing integrity with God. Can't go there. 58:36.090 --> 58:39.210 If the Holy Spirit wants to speak in a Sunday morning service, 58:39.390 --> 58:43.250 who am I to tell Him no? There have been 58:43.250 --> 58:47.230 times I've gone home going, nah, that was 58:47.230 --> 58:51.110 really different because there was three visiting families here and that 58:51.110 --> 58:54.270 service did not go a direction I thought it would have for visitors. 58:58.160 --> 59:00.880 But you know what, God loves the visitors more than I do. 59:03.300 --> 59:05.120 And if He, you know, 59:05.160 --> 59:08.940 people will say, well, did you feel that was right? Yeah, in my gut it felt right. I talked to some of the other 59:08.940 --> 59:13.040 leadership, felt right to them. Yeah, but how did it affect the people? Well, at that point it's not 59:13.040 --> 59:17.060 my issue. It has to be, if it's 59:17.060 --> 59:19.880 right, it's right. How it affects the people is their issue. 59:21.740 --> 59:24.900 What we got to concentrate on is, are we credible? Are we still 59:24.900 --> 59:30.860 in a place of integrity with God? Excellence, this is a 59:30.860 --> 59:34.660 fact. It was, the Old Testament standard was that God 59:34.660 --> 59:38.160 was given the best, or God didn't want it. 59:40.460 --> 59:42.700 That, I mean, you see that over and over in the Old Testament. 59:43.440 --> 59:46.620 The New Testament standard is give Him all of us our heart, soul, mind, 59:46.640 --> 59:49.420 and strength. Definition of excellence. 59:50.860 --> 59:54.360 All authorities delegated, it is our 59:54.360 --> 59:58.660 responsibility to protect and promote the same spirit, will 59:58.660 --> 01:00:02.420 and purpose and standards as the authority we are under. 01:00:03.040 --> 01:00:06.600 Now that doesn't make much sense. Read E and F and then I'll come 01:00:06.600 --> 01:00:10.600 back to D. E and F, excellence in ministry is doing the very best we are 01:00:10.600 --> 01:00:14.600 capable of. F 01:00:14.600 --> 01:00:18.700 revaluation. Our best only remains our best until we 01:00:18.700 --> 01:00:22.560 can do better. Then we must strive 01:00:22.560 --> 01:00:26.460 on and we are no longer offering our best. 01:00:26.460 --> 01:00:30.080 So in other words, move on, realize we're not giving our best. 01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:33.840 Give them our best. Go back to letter D. 01:00:35.020 --> 01:00:38.580 God never requires anything of me that He doesn't require 01:00:38.580 --> 01:00:41.720 of Himself. God requires excellence of Himself. 01:00:43.560 --> 01:00:46.200 Scripturally, God requires excellence of 01:00:46.200 --> 01:00:50.580 me and the leadership because God requires 01:00:50.580 --> 01:00:54.440 it of Himself. Scripturally, everything we're supposed to do, we're supposed to 01:00:54.440 --> 01:00:58.420 do it to the best of our ability. Which 01:00:58.420 --> 01:01:02.420 means that's what we require of people involved in the church. 01:01:05.570 --> 01:01:07.870 Ah, that's good enough that don't fly here. 01:01:09.110 --> 01:01:11.230 If you could have done better, you should have done better. 01:01:13.430 --> 01:01:16.010 Now sometimes the best we can do is not all that 01:01:16.010 --> 01:01:19.750 great because of the way things came to be in circumstances and 01:01:19.750 --> 01:01:23.810 things got in the way. But we're still giving our 01:01:23.810 --> 01:01:27.550 best considering what just we just came through. 01:01:28.690 --> 01:01:31.650 So it's not like perfect or not perfect at all. 01:01:31.750 --> 01:01:36.050 I'm not saying that. I'm saying is if you aren't giving your best 01:01:37.230 --> 01:01:39.610 you're not pleasing God because He wants our 01:01:39.610 --> 01:01:43.570 best. He doesn't want our good enough. He doesn't want 01:01:43.570 --> 01:01:47.710 our that'll do. He doesn't want any of those 01:01:47.710 --> 01:01:51.810 things. He wants our best. It's one of our core values. 01:01:53.330 --> 01:01:55.970 In fact, I've said it this way from time to time. 01:01:59.370 --> 01:02:00.930 Trying to paint this picture. 01:02:02.950 --> 01:02:06.330 When we were in Colorado we had, there was a season of 01:02:06.330 --> 01:02:09.730 time we went through where the people who were helping us were 01:02:09.730 --> 01:02:13.630 really hard on the equipment. It just seemed like every 01:02:13.630 --> 01:02:17.590 two, three weeks something was broken. And it's like 01:02:18.210 --> 01:02:21.650 what in the world is going on? So I gave them all 01:02:21.650 --> 01:02:24.850 a little speech. You know, we got to take care of these things. And this, that and the other. 01:02:25.970 --> 01:02:31.410 And nothing changed. So I started 01:02:31.410 --> 01:02:35.390 talking individually to some of them saying what, you know, give me your input on this. 01:02:37.290 --> 01:02:38.370 It was the input. 01:02:40.850 --> 01:02:42.310 Well you expect too much. 01:02:43.470 --> 01:02:47.290 What do you mean I expect too much? We're replacing stuff 01:02:47.290 --> 01:02:49.150 in our house all the time stuff gets broken. 01:02:50.850 --> 01:02:53.250 Just, I mean, we're playing 01:02:53.250 --> 01:02:56.890 game in a living room and somebody throws some TV broken. So we'll just replace it. 01:02:58.630 --> 01:03:01.230 Or toast got stuck in the toaster 01:03:01.230 --> 01:03:04.870 and one of the kids got in there and just ruddered around and 01:03:04.870 --> 01:03:09.110 broke the toaster. We just expect to have to keep replacing 01:03:09.110 --> 01:03:11.050 stuff all the time because it gets damaged. 01:03:14.390 --> 01:03:18.210 Okay, well that's probably why when I said we need to do better at this, nothing changed. 01:03:18.970 --> 01:03:21.290 Because in your mind you're doing good. 01:03:23.230 --> 01:03:24.590 That's your standard of excellence. 01:03:27.890 --> 01:03:31.590 So I started saying this to ground on some people. 01:03:32.290 --> 01:03:35.050 I said I want you to treat our equipment like I would treat it. 01:03:39.130 --> 01:03:42.550 When you're going to deal with it, look at, how would Pastor Verne deal with this? 01:03:44.050 --> 01:03:46.510 Or another one I used is, I want you 01:03:46.510 --> 01:03:49.810 to treat our equipment in a way that if it breaks, you replace it. 01:03:52.770 --> 01:03:54.810 So if you break it, you buy a new one. 01:03:55.330 --> 01:03:58.850 Well no, the church is supposed to do it. No, no. You need some skin in the game here. 01:04:00.790 --> 01:04:03.210 You broke it, you replace it. It's only a few hundred 01:04:03.210 --> 01:04:07.090 bucks. It ain't that big a deal. You would be amazed how quickly everything changed. 01:04:09.010 --> 01:04:10.610 Now there were some disgruntled people 01:04:11.090 --> 01:04:15.110 because I'm pushing them too hard. It's like, no, actually 01:04:15.110 --> 01:04:16.910 if we can do better, 01:04:18.870 --> 01:04:20.010 we need to do better. 01:04:20.790 --> 01:04:24.270 We need to strive for excellence. Don't set 01:04:24.270 --> 01:04:28.770 the bar here when in reality, with just paying a little more attention 01:04:28.770 --> 01:04:32.690 and being a little bit more diligent, we could set the bar up there. 01:04:32.950 --> 01:04:36.730 This is not what pleases God. He wants our best. 01:04:37.730 --> 01:04:41.110 So it's a core value. Responsibility 01:04:41.110 --> 01:04:44.850 equals authority. I won't say much on this. But I will say 01:04:44.850 --> 01:04:48.570 this. You will not be given authority 01:04:48.570 --> 01:04:52.930 here without responsibility. You can't 01:04:52.930 --> 01:04:56.850 the normal church, the board runs the church and the board does 01:04:56.850 --> 01:05:00.850 hardly nothing. The board members. They just get voted on 01:05:00.850 --> 01:05:04.830 and somebody else is turned because so and so did it for five years and he's tired of it. So vote 01:05:04.830 --> 01:05:08.970 so and so on. They do hardly nothing in the church, but now all of a 01:05:08.970 --> 01:05:11.530 sudden they've got the authority to make the big decisions. 01:05:12.130 --> 01:05:15.390 No, no, no. That is not how you run a company. 01:05:16.670 --> 01:05:19.630 That's how you run it in the ground. But that's 01:05:19.630 --> 01:05:21.850 not how you run a company. That's not. 01:05:23.190 --> 01:05:26.630 If you're going to have the authority, you better carry 01:05:26.630 --> 01:05:31.410 realms of responsibility. And if you're carrying realms of 01:05:31.410 --> 01:05:35.450 responsibility, we're going to give you the authority. You make 01:05:35.450 --> 01:05:38.290 some decisions. You make it happen. 01:05:39.470 --> 01:05:40.650 Don't have the 01:05:43.110 --> 01:05:45.210 responsibility and put the authority on me. 01:05:47.970 --> 01:05:49.170 Let's just take an example. 01:05:50.270 --> 01:05:53.930 Praise and worship team. They've got the authority to come up here. 01:05:54.370 --> 01:05:58.290 They've got the responsibility to be up here and to lead praise and worship 01:05:58.290 --> 01:06:02.290 and they've got the authority to follow the Spirit and pick the courses they want and this, that 01:06:02.290 --> 01:06:04.910 and the other. And those two work hand in hand. 01:06:06.690 --> 01:06:09.010 Now, if they had the responsibility 01:06:09.010 --> 01:06:13.010 to do it but didn't want the authority and they're always 01:06:13.010 --> 01:06:17.110 asking me, what do you want? I want praise and worship. No, what kind 01:06:17.110 --> 01:06:20.430 of songs do you want? Could you pick the songs for us this coming Sunday? 01:06:20.810 --> 01:06:23.370 Well, I might as well do it myself then. Why do I have you? 01:06:25.830 --> 01:06:28.770 You're making me actually 01:06:28.770 --> 01:06:32.930 responsible because you're handing me the authority. I'm handing you the 01:06:32.930 --> 01:06:36.830 authority. You hear God. You listen to what God 01:06:36.830 --> 01:06:40.690 wants to happen. You pick the courses. You learn the songs. You 01:06:40.690 --> 01:06:44.830 flow in it. And if you miss it, a number of 01:06:44.830 --> 01:06:48.090 Sundays in a row, we'll talk about it and try to figure out, you know, what's happening. 01:06:49.970 --> 01:06:52.390 But many times we hand the 01:06:52.910 --> 01:06:55.510 responsibility on but we maintain the authority. 01:06:56.550 --> 01:07:00.550 That's wrong. Or we hand the authority 01:07:00.550 --> 01:07:03.330 on with no responsibility. 01:07:05.090 --> 01:07:08.050 This guy on the board has never served in the nursery 01:07:08.520 --> 01:07:12.930 one day in his life. And now he's going to decide 01:07:12.930 --> 01:07:15.570 whether we update the equipment there or not. 01:07:17.730 --> 01:07:20.310 He's got all the authority. No responsibility. 01:07:21.330 --> 01:07:24.610 No. No, no, no, no, no. If 01:07:24.610 --> 01:07:28.210 you're going to have authority, you're going to have responsibility. And with responsibility, 01:07:28.210 --> 01:07:32.070 we're going to hand you the authority. The two go together. 01:07:32.850 --> 01:07:35.930 It's a core value. Authenticity 01:07:35.930 --> 01:07:37.370 just be real and genuine. 01:07:40.510 --> 01:07:42.510 Yes, praise God, brother. 01:07:44.570 --> 01:07:48.210 Isn't it a good day to be alive? Bless his holy name. 01:07:48.330 --> 01:07:54.560 You talk like that at home. If you don't talk like 01:07:54.560 --> 01:07:58.620 if you do well, then that's you, I guess. If you don't talk like that at 01:07:58.620 --> 01:08:02.060 home, quit talking like that here. You're not being real. 01:08:03.540 --> 01:08:04.120 Be you. 01:08:05.940 --> 01:08:10.560 You know why people don't like to be us who are afraid of rejection. You might not accept 01:08:10.560 --> 01:08:14.580 me. Well, we'll work on that when that time comes. But be you. 01:08:15.700 --> 01:08:17.180 We want the real person. 01:08:17.840 --> 01:08:22.500 We want authenticity. And stewardship, proper managing time, talents, 01:08:22.600 --> 01:08:22.880 treasures. 01:08:25.280 --> 01:08:27.680 Next page 26, financial 01:08:27.680 --> 01:08:30.620 income and outgo. Stewardship on that. 01:08:31.360 --> 01:08:34.800 Management of volunteer time. Not demanding too much. 01:08:35.120 --> 01:08:38.480 Not letting them buy with sloppy jobs because 01:08:38.480 --> 01:08:42.440 well, I don't want to require too much of them. Recognizing 01:08:42.440 --> 01:08:46.700 different talents in the congregation, so forth. Core values. 01:08:47.120 --> 01:08:50.680 They're what hold us on the mark 01:08:50.680 --> 01:08:53.920 as we're moving toward what God's asked us to do. 01:08:54.800 --> 01:08:58.220 Our lives are filled with core values. 01:08:58.620 --> 01:09:02.560 Your life is filled. Now we're going to switch to personal. And this all will stop this 01:09:02.560 --> 01:09:06.760 this morning. Your life is filled with core values. In every area 01:09:07.880 --> 01:09:10.740 they're what guide you and keep you going 01:09:10.740 --> 01:09:14.380 the direction you should be going. When a person does not have core 01:09:14.380 --> 01:09:16.700 values, they become unpredictable. 01:09:18.580 --> 01:09:21.040 Well, you never know what they're going to do. That's because they don't have 01:09:21.040 --> 01:09:27.650 core values guiding their life. Well, you don't know if they're 01:09:27.650 --> 01:09:31.430 going to tell you the truth or not. Well, apparently, honesty and truth is not a core 01:09:31.430 --> 01:09:39.850 value to them. We become very underpredictable 01:09:39.850 --> 01:09:44.030 and we get destructive because it could go any direction at any time. 01:09:44.450 --> 01:09:47.110 Do you know that? Now just think about this. 01:09:47.870 --> 01:09:50.990 When two people get married, the vows, do you know what the vows are? 01:09:50.990 --> 01:09:55.250 They're a boiled down version of the core values 01:09:55.250 --> 01:09:59.330 that marriage will run on. And they both 01:09:59.330 --> 01:10:00.910 agree to those core values. 01:10:04.150 --> 01:10:08.430 You know, if a guy was standing at the altar and 01:10:08.430 --> 01:10:11.150 his vows to his wife was 01:10:12.070 --> 01:10:16.450 I am going to beat you. I am going to take advantage 01:10:16.450 --> 01:10:20.470 of you. I'm going to abuse you. I'm going to 01:10:20.470 --> 01:10:23.870 cheat on you. These are the things I promise. 01:10:28.040 --> 01:10:29.940 I would sure hope she'd say 01:10:29.940 --> 01:10:31.100 I'm out of this one. 01:10:36.510 --> 01:10:40.330 And some guys give the right answers, but then after they're married 01:10:40.330 --> 01:10:44.570 those are their real core values. This over here was just to get 01:10:44.570 --> 01:10:48.710 her to say yes. But the real core values 01:10:48.710 --> 01:10:52.390 show up. And the abuse shows up. And 01:10:52.390 --> 01:10:56.290 the not being able to handle a checkbook and all the things 01:10:56.290 --> 01:11:00.150 you promise to take care of her, all of a sudden, I don't give a rip anymore. 01:11:00.250 --> 01:11:03.330 I'm taking care of myself. Well, see, that's a liar. That's a hypocrite. 01:11:03.550 --> 01:11:08.610 He should have never said I will or I do. These are the things I do. 01:11:09.470 --> 01:11:10.790 But when we give 01:11:11.690 --> 01:11:16.310 I promise to honor you. I promise to love you. I promise 01:11:16.310 --> 01:11:20.150 to take care of you. I promise to put you first 01:11:20.150 --> 01:11:23.910 in human relationships. And on and on and on. 01:11:23.990 --> 01:11:28.010 Do you know what we're setting? We're setting core values that will guide that 01:11:28.010 --> 01:11:30.510 marriage, the rest of that marriage. 01:11:31.450 --> 01:11:34.530 And we're coming into agreement on those core values. 01:11:35.750 --> 01:11:39.790 Contracts. Do you know what contracts are? A business and a person. You're buying 01:11:39.790 --> 01:11:43.390 a car and you're getting a loan on it. The Loaning Company 01:11:44.000 --> 01:11:47.750 the place you're getting your loan from is going to have core values 01:11:47.750 --> 01:11:51.730 you have to agree to. You don't agree to them 01:11:51.730 --> 01:11:55.090 they're not going to give you the money. That's all that is, core values. 01:11:55.530 --> 01:11:59.250 This is what's going to guide the next six years. You're going to pay us 01:11:59.250 --> 01:12:02.730 $600 a month. You're going to keep it insured. 01:12:03.430 --> 01:12:07.430 You're going to not be late on your payment. If you miss a payment 01:12:07.430 --> 01:12:11.510 we're going to charge you more and it just lists out. 01:12:11.730 --> 01:12:15.430 Those are all core values to the company that you have to agree to 01:12:15.430 --> 01:12:18.270 or they won't give you money. It's a contract. 01:12:20.130 --> 01:12:23.350 Core values hit every area of our 01:12:23.350 --> 01:12:27.670 life. Everything, if you ask yourself 01:12:27.670 --> 01:12:31.010 or ask your spouse or ask whoever, why do you do that? 01:12:31.390 --> 01:12:34.590 If they're going to be honest with you, you're going to touch a core value immediately. 01:12:36.610 --> 01:12:39.390 I'll give you an example. I was 01:12:39.390 --> 01:12:43.210 probably nine years old. We were on a trip, family 01:12:43.210 --> 01:12:46.290 trip. My uncle's family and our family were on a trip together. 01:12:46.990 --> 01:12:51.170 I happened to be in the car with some of the cousins and the uncle 01:12:51.170 --> 01:12:53.010 and we stopped at a gas station. 01:12:55.530 --> 01:12:58.710 My cousin, who was older than me by, I don't know, five years 01:12:58.710 --> 01:13:03.070 ish. He had his license already. He was 01:13:03.070 --> 01:13:06.870 driving, so maybe he was a little older than that. He went in and bought 01:13:08.350 --> 01:13:10.530 we called him a pop out west. 01:13:11.230 --> 01:13:12.790 If you're in Wisconsin, they're a soda. 01:13:14.750 --> 01:13:18.350 So, whatever you call them. He went in and bought a pop back in those days 01:13:18.350 --> 01:13:22.670 they didn't come in cans. They came in bottles. And you had to pay a deposit 01:13:22.670 --> 01:13:26.490 on the bottle if you were going to leave with the bottle. Remember that? 01:13:27.490 --> 01:13:29.610 Some of you are going... 01:13:30.250 --> 01:13:34.370 No, that's how it worked. The deposit at that point, at that time 01:13:34.370 --> 01:13:38.670 was three cents. You had to give them three extra cents if you were going to get in the 01:13:38.670 --> 01:13:40.250 car and go down the road with your bottle about. 01:13:42.010 --> 01:13:46.570 So, my cousin gets in the car and everybody gets back in the car and we're 01:13:46.570 --> 01:13:49.770 headed out of the parking lot. And my cousin goes like this 01:13:50.350 --> 01:13:54.530 and my uncle sees it and says, did you pay the deposit 01:13:54.530 --> 01:13:57.770 on that bottle? Dad 01:13:58.670 --> 01:14:00.030 it's only three cents. 01:14:02.350 --> 01:14:06.770 He about came unglued. Stop the car! Turn it around! Get back there! 01:14:07.530 --> 01:14:10.690 Dad, it's only three cents. 01:14:11.910 --> 01:14:14.670 He said, it's not the three cents. 01:14:15.090 --> 01:14:16.450 I will not be a thief. 01:14:18.930 --> 01:14:22.630 See, that's a core value. I will steal from 01:14:22.630 --> 01:14:25.690 no one, even if it's three cents. 01:14:27.110 --> 01:14:30.350 That's a core value that guides your life. 01:14:30.490 --> 01:14:33.950 Because many times temptations come to do otherwise. 01:14:35.970 --> 01:14:37.530 You're going through the line. 01:14:38.290 --> 01:14:41.730 It happened to me just at Menards and now I'm smart enough to realize 01:14:41.730 --> 01:14:45.270 some of these are just little traps the devil lays out to get me out of prosperity. 01:14:45.970 --> 01:14:48.630 Going through the line at Menards and 01:14:50.190 --> 01:14:53.950 she rang everything up and I was watching her and she missed one 01:14:53.950 --> 01:14:57.870 item. And I could... it was an expensive 01:14:57.870 --> 01:15:01.610 item. It was like, I don't know, four bucks? Something cheap. 01:15:03.490 --> 01:15:05.670 And she missed it and just threw it on. 01:15:07.610 --> 01:15:09.530 And the thought went through my mind, 01:15:09.910 --> 01:15:17.010 oh, I got that free. It's like, no, 01:15:17.690 --> 01:15:20.370 we are not going to open the door 01:15:21.370 --> 01:15:25.330 to some kind of curse coming into my life financially because of 01:15:25.330 --> 01:15:29.330 a three, four dollar item. So I asked her, I said, did you get that? 01:15:29.750 --> 01:15:33.070 Did you charge me for that? What? That? 01:15:33.070 --> 01:15:36.290 Right there. Oh, she said, I think I just 01:15:36.290 --> 01:15:39.570 forgot that. She pulled it out. 01:15:42.650 --> 01:15:43.850 Why would I do that? 01:15:45.030 --> 01:15:48.970 It's core value. Core value built 01:15:48.970 --> 01:15:53.210 on the word. You say, you kept your mouth shut, you could have saved that money. 01:15:53.390 --> 01:15:56.910 Oh, that was minor. There's been opportunities. I could have saved a lot of money if I 01:15:56.910 --> 01:16:00.610 had kept my mouth shut. But you can't do that 01:16:00.610 --> 01:16:04.670 and please him. You can't do that and stay 01:16:04.670 --> 01:16:08.270 blessed by him. You can't do that without opening a door to a realm 01:16:08.270 --> 01:16:12.590 you don't want the door open because that three, four bucks is going to look like 01:16:12.590 --> 01:16:16.530 a penny down the road a few years because things start 01:16:16.530 --> 01:16:19.390 falling apart and now you can't remember why. 01:16:21.390 --> 01:16:24.710 So it's just better to have a core value and guide the boat straight 01:16:24.710 --> 01:16:28.330 all the time. That's what core values are about. 01:16:28.330 --> 01:16:32.210 So my challenge to you is reevaluate your core 01:16:32.210 --> 01:16:36.270 values. Make sure they're scriptural. Make sure they're moral 01:16:36.270 --> 01:16:39.970 according to the scripture. Don't make 01:16:39.970 --> 01:16:43.590 excuses for what you know inside is wrong. 01:16:44.690 --> 01:16:48.410 Well, other people do it too. I don't give a rip what other people do. If you know 01:16:48.410 --> 01:16:50.310 what's wrong, you better knock it off. 01:16:52.650 --> 01:16:56.250 This is between you and God. And when you stand before God and he says 01:16:56.250 --> 01:17:00.170 you did that wrong. Well, everybody was doing it wrong, God. You think that's going to fly? 01:17:04.350 --> 01:17:06.550 He's going to say, I'm not talking to everybody now. I'm talking 01:17:06.550 --> 01:17:10.710 to you. Why did you do this? You knew 01:17:10.710 --> 01:17:14.550 better. Core values. We have to pay attention 01:17:14.550 --> 01:17:18.490 to them and we have to live by them. Make sure they're 01:17:18.490 --> 01:17:22.530 scriptural. Make sure they're correct. Sometimes they need to be tweaked a little 01:17:22.530 --> 01:17:26.510 bit as culture changes and life changes. But if they're built on 01:17:26.510 --> 01:17:30.410 scripture, they won't change much. Lying was wrong 01:17:30.410 --> 01:17:34.570 when Jesus was on earth. Lying was wrong when the founding fathers started this country 01:17:34.570 --> 01:17:38.770 and I hate to say it, lying is still wrong. A lot of people don't understand 01:17:38.770 --> 01:17:42.670 that anymore. Government officials 01:17:42.670 --> 01:17:46.510 especially. It's still wrong 01:17:46.510 --> 01:17:50.370 and when you stand before God you're going to answer for it. Need a better 01:17:50.370 --> 01:17:59.730 core value. See this? 01:18:01.270 --> 01:18:02.910 Yeah, I'll say it. 01:18:03.990 --> 01:18:07.530 This whole thing of 01:18:07.530 --> 01:18:11.390 the government and politics comes always, this isn't about parties, 01:18:12.010 --> 01:18:12.930 this isn't about 01:18:15.510 --> 01:18:19.070 that realm. It's about godly 01:18:19.630 --> 01:18:23.890 scriptural morals. And if you see 01:18:23.890 --> 01:18:27.790 the godly scriptural morals and measure the person representing 01:18:27.790 --> 01:18:30.830 you against godly scriptural core values 01:18:32.010 --> 01:18:34.690 you will know whether you should vote for them or not. 01:18:35.770 --> 01:18:38.910 I don't know if you saw the state of the union address. 01:18:39.650 --> 01:18:43.070 I did not watch it because I didn't want to get myself upset. 01:18:44.430 --> 01:18:47.870 So I didn't even watch it. But I watched 01:18:47.870 --> 01:18:50.370 some of the commentators about it. 01:18:51.990 --> 01:18:53.130 And I'm sorry. 01:18:55.050 --> 01:18:56.990 We are not better off 01:18:56.990 --> 01:18:59.750 now financially than we were three years ago. 01:19:01.630 --> 01:19:04.810 We are not. And I hate to tell you 01:19:04.810 --> 01:19:08.990 either you're out of touch or you're lying through your teeth. Inflation is still not 01:19:08.990 --> 01:19:12.670 under control. Because we're paying 01:19:12.670 --> 01:19:15.550 a whole lot more for stuff. 01:19:17.910 --> 01:19:21.210 And here is a big one. Our country is safer 01:19:21.210 --> 01:19:26.820 than it's ever been. See now 01:19:26.820 --> 01:19:30.420 all I have to do is measure that against scriptural morality. 01:19:31.920 --> 01:19:33.360 You don't get my vote. 01:19:35.080 --> 01:19:38.300 Because you're either dumb as a rock not paying attention 01:19:38.300 --> 01:19:42.960 or you're flat out lying to me. And either one is not worthy 01:19:42.960 --> 01:19:47.380 of the vote. So all we need 01:19:47.380 --> 01:19:50.580 to do is pay attention to some basic scriptural 01:19:50.580 --> 01:19:54.180 values. Core values. And 01:19:54.180 --> 01:19:58.060 apply them in that arena. And it measures everything for us. 01:19:58.440 --> 01:20:02.480 I'm sorry, everything works. It's that easy. 01:20:07.870 --> 01:20:09.530 And I'm not trying to get political. 01:20:10.430 --> 01:20:13.870 I'm trying to take the gospel and apply it to every area. 01:20:15.890 --> 01:20:17.130 That's all I'm trying to do. 01:20:18.930 --> 01:20:22.230 So Lord help us to live, identify 01:20:22.230 --> 01:20:24.770 create wherever we're at. 01:20:26.170 --> 01:20:30.130 Godly core values that steer us through life. 01:20:31.150 --> 01:20:34.110 We will not compromise on certain things. We will not 01:20:34.110 --> 01:20:38.110 change on certain things. We will not allow or we do allow things 01:20:38.110 --> 01:20:42.270 to happen certain ways because his word 01:20:42.270 --> 01:20:46.510 says so. End of subject. We're doing it 01:20:46.510 --> 01:20:50.010 this way because this is God. And it guides 01:20:50.010 --> 01:20:54.090 us through our whole life. Lord help us make sure we've 01:20:54.090 --> 01:20:57.850 got those in place. Because many opportunities 01:20:57.850 --> 01:21:01.930 come along this road to give us the opportunity 01:21:01.930 --> 01:21:05.550 to do something that just isn't right according to what God says. 01:21:05.930 --> 01:21:09.470 It's just going the wrong direction. It's agreeing with the wrong side. 01:21:10.850 --> 01:21:14.250 That's not who we are as Christians. That's not who this church is. 01:21:14.590 --> 01:21:18.170 Doesn't mean we're doing everything perfect. But Lord that is one of the things 01:21:18.170 --> 01:21:21.850 we're holding on to to try to stay in step. 01:21:22.930 --> 01:21:25.030 Your word is a guide 01:21:25.970 --> 01:21:30.130 to my feet. It's a light to my path. It shows 01:21:30.130 --> 01:21:32.890 us how we should walk. That's our core values. 01:21:34.010 --> 01:21:38.050 So help us establish those and make those be in alignment with 01:21:38.050 --> 01:21:41.710 you and what you say in Jesus' name. Amen. 01:21:42.590 --> 01:21:44.070 Amen. Be blessed. Have an awesome week.