All right, quick Sunday. Well, I don't know how quick it's going to be, but let's do a Sunday overview.
Last Sunday, we talked about the Ephesians 4 banner that is part of the forerunner vision and lifestyle.
And primarily what the Ephesians 4 banner, it's scriptural. It's coming out of Ephesians chapter 4 from verse 11 all the way to verse 16.
And what we find there in the scriptures is we find the apostle Paul telling us that when Jesus was ascending into the heavens, he gave good gifts.
And we know them as the five-fold ministries, what we know them as.
And the purpose of the gifts that Jesus gave was not for us to feel entitled or to walk around and flaunt our title and say, I'm a pastor, I'm an apostle, I'm a prophet, I'm an evangelist.
The purpose of the gifts that were given by Jesus was for the sake of his body to be mature. That's what they were given for.
It wasn't just here you go so you can walk in a measure of power, but it was here you go.
I trust you enough that you would use what I've given you as a gift to mature my bride.
That's the purpose of the five-fold ministry.
I was sitting with somebody this week, another pastor this week, and him and I were chatting about what him and I both see is there is a prevalent issue in the body of Christ.
And I said this last Sunday, but there is a prevalent issue in the body of Christ, and that is the fact that we are a bunch of immature people.
That's the truth. And as him and I were grabbing lunch this week, this other pastor and I, we were sitting and we were talking about it.
And I said, look, I said one of the reasons why there is such an immaturity in the body of Christ is because we've actually mishandled the five-fold.
Let me give you an example of what I mean we've mishandled the five-fold.
People that are actually called to be an apostle have been stripped of their apostleship and we refer to them just as pastors.
Do you know that with one of the five-fold, whether it's an apostle, whether it's a pastor, a prophet, an evangelist, a teacher, there is an anointing that is tied with it.
And the purpose of that anointing is not to flex on everybody and say, look what I'm doing, but it's for the sake of maturing the body of Christ.
So when we begin to actually not honor somebody in the five-fold that they walk in, do you know what we're actually doing?
We are actually stripping the anointing that coincides or maybe there's a better word you can use that complements that title.
So when we don't refer to somebody who is an apostle, we're actually stripping that anointing from maturing the body of Christ.
So the prevalent issue in the body of Christ is that we're immature. And do you know how I can tell that we are immature?
Is by our language. The funny thing, according to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians when he's talking about the body of Christ, this is 1 Corinthians 12.
The funny thing is that he writes if one member of the body, if he struggles or if she struggles, the whole body struggles.
And it's funny to me that we have a bunch of Christians that actually complain about the body of Christ and how immature we are.
And we say, did you see that church? Did you see that person? It's like, hold on a second. The reason is because of all of us together.
If one member of the body struggles, if there is somebody, let me put it to you this way to make it a little more simple.
If there is somebody in your sphere of influence that God has entrusted you to lead, because remember from last Sunday, I said each and every one of us operates in one of the five-fold.
At least one. Yes, not all of us hold the office of it, but each and every one of us operates at least one of the five-fold ministries.
We do. Which means that in some measure or another, you're leading somebody or a group of people.
So the example that I'm trying to bring to you is, if you have somebody that is in your sphere of influence,
and all you've been doing is complaining about them, of how immature they are in the faith.
Friend, I would encourage you to change your language.
Because they could be struggling in immaturity because you're probably not leading them right.
But do you see what I mean? Do you see what I mean?
We have an uproar. I would say in the last two, three years, we have had an uproar that to me all I see it as is that my goodness, Lord, your bride is very immature.
But we have an uproar of a people in the body of Christ that have been going through different...
I'm trying to be careful with my verbiage here. Let me put it this way.
They think they are doing God's work by exposing other people's sins that have actually been dealt with years ago.
And I read a post yesterday by a very reputable man of God who operates in the five-fold by the name of Prophet Jeremiah Johnson.
And I knew that it was a spirit behind it, but I couldn't necessarily identify the spirit behind it.
And last night, I just randomly stumbled across one of his recent posts, and you know what he calls that spirit?
And a bore witness with me stronger. He said, there is a quarreling spirit that is coming against the body of Christ.
And I said, my God, I said, you're right.
There is a quarreling spirit that is literally going against the body of Christ in our day and age right now.
In the last two years, I've seen it personally. I've seen it as an uproar.
But what a lot of us don't see in the body of Christ is friend.
It's because of us is why we have what we have in the body of Christ.
It's because we have actually eliminated and we've stripped those that are called to be apostles.
I'm not going to call them a hierarchy. I'm not going to call them that.
But there is certain people that God has called in a higher authority in the body of Christ.
And we've actually stripped them of their anointing and of their right.
That's why we have what we have in the body of Christ today.
You see, in Jesus is so desperate, I'll even say it this way.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are so desperate and are so wanting for the bride of Christ to be mature.
To come to the fullness of who we are in Him as His bride, as His church, as His people.
That we read, that Ephesians 4, we read that it wasn't only that Jesus gave gifts,
but according to Romans 12, we read the Father has given gifts.
And according to 1 Corinthians 12, we read that the Holy Spirit has given gifts.
What is the sake of all the gift giving?
For the sake of the maturity of the bride of Christ.
It's for the sake of maturing the saints to edify the body of Christ
that we would come to a fullness of who we are in Him.
So forerunner vision and lifestyle expresses this Ephesians 4 banner
through literally, think of it this way, mentoring, spiritual adoption,
bringing people into your home, and walking and doing life with them.
That's how we have expressed it for over 10 years now.
That's how we have expressed that type of lifestyle.
This is forerunner vision and lifestyle, the Ephesians 4 banner.
It's bringing people into your home. It's praying for people.
It's taking people that God trusts you with, that you would influence them
to help them be mentored, or I'm sorry, to help them mature in the things of God.
I'm telling you, what if the people that you have been complaining about
that are in your sphere, maybe it's your family members,
maybe it's your coworkers, and you've been complaining about how immature they are.
Friend, what if the fact that they're immature is that you're not doing
what you need to do for the sake of the body of Christ.
It's not just pastors that are called to mentor.
It's not just pastors that are called to teach.
In a church setting, we understand that.
But like I said, each one of us, every individual that is born again,
filled with the spirit, you literally are called to operate in one of the five-fold.
For what? What's the purpose? For what sake?
For the sake of maturing the body of Christ. That's literally it.
It's not to flex and say, okay, I'm a prophet.
I'm going to go prophesy up a storm. You can, if it's God.
But if it ain't God, keep that mouth shut. I'm going to be honest with you.
If it ain't God, keep that mouth shut.
Because I fear for people that speak on their own account.
So again, Ephesians 4 banner is expressed through adopting to...
It's expressed through spiritual adoption,
bringing people under you and walking life with them.
Whether it's one person, whether it's two, whether it's five, whether it's ten,
however many God is entrusting for you to walk through.
I would encourage you to focus on that one.
Start with that one.
And if God finds you faithful in the little, he'll bring more.
Trust me, he will. I've seen it in my own life.
Now I want to talk about a little bit about maturity and what that actually is.
I said it last Sunday, maturity is not measured on how spiritual you are.
Because if maturity was measured on how spiritual we are,
then we can say that the witches and the warlocks are pretty mature.
If that's how we're measuring our maturity is how spiritual I am,
how many encounters I've had, how many angelic visitations.
If that is how I'm measuring or we are measuring our maturity,
then we could say that the warlocks and the witches and people in witchcraft,
they must be very mature.
Because these people have out-of-body experiences on a daily.
Maturity is not measured on how spiritual you are.
But in the most plain language that I could tell you,
maturity actually has to do more with character than it does with gifting.
Maturity actually has to do more with the Galatians 5 than it does with the 1st Corinthians 12.
Though I love the 1st Corinthians 12.
I love the gifts of the spirit.
I'm for them. We need them more than the early church need them.
Did you hear me?
We need the gifts of the spirit more than even the early church needed them.
But I can tell you this, we need the Galatians 5 more than we need even the gifts.
We need the fruit in our life.
That's maturity.
Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 14, he says pursue what?
He says pursue love.
Isn't that a character? It's not a gift.
Isn't developing love a form of character? Would you not agree?
It's not just an emotion because if love was an emotion,
then one day I love my wife and one day I don't love my wife.
And all the men in this room said amen.
If love is an emotion, then there is days that I don't love my wife then.
Because there is days that my emotions are up and down and it's like help me Holy Spirit.
This flesh of mine, this wretched flesh.
But see he says pursue love.
In other words, he's saying pursue the fruit, pursue the character.
And don't worry the gifts will come.
But maturity is actually measured in our character.
It's in our consistency that we are pursuing the Lord and the things of him.
You still with me? You're awfully quiet this morning.
So can it it, huh?
Let me give you some signs of maturity.
God bless you.
That's right.
Here's some signs of maturity.
The way you respond is a sign of how mature you are.
The way you respond I said to good and to bad situations.
The way we respond to good and bad situations will speak to us about how mature we are.
And you're saying what do you mean?
Let's say a bad situation.
Let's say you find out that somebody has been talking about you.
That's a negative thing, right?
They weren't saying good things about you.
They were talking bad about you.
The way you respond, not outwardly, inwardly in your heart.
What is the first thing that comes to your heart when you find out that somebody just spoke badly about you?
Well praise God.
And now on the flip side, the way that we respond to the good things, let's say somebody just raved about us.
Let's say they're like, man, did you hear that message that Pastor Igor spoke someday?
Wow! And people are telling me this, wow, Pastor Igor, you're so anointed.
You are so, man, you're so this and that and the other.
The way that I respond in my heart inwardly tells me about my maturity.
See, we don't think about that though.
We only think about maturity.
Well, I didn't react in a negative way when I saw somebody cut me off.
But how do you respond when there is good things that are going about you?
When the whole world is talking really good about you.
I learned in life, by the way, if everybody's talking good about you, something's off, man.
Either the devil's trying to do something, or somebody's trying to get something.
I was speaking at a church one time. Actually, this happened very often.
When we used to travel a lot, and I would go to a conference or I would go to a youth camp or speaking at a church or something,
you would always, I'd say about eight and a half, I'll even say nine out of ten times, you always had that one person.
And I would go speak at conferences and I'd go speak in different places.
And you'd always have that one person that would come up to you after service, and they would be over the top.
Wow, the anointing and someone would even pray in the spirit right next to you.
Wow, brother, it's radiating off of you. You know what that did to me? That was a red flag.
I'm like, what's up with this dude? What's up with this girl?
How do you react when good things come about you?
Another sign of maturity is your consistency. Not consistency in coasting, consistency in progressing upward.
Consistency can be translatable. I'm consistent. I show up to church on Sunday. I make sure that I go to prayers.
I read my Bible. Good, that's awesome. But is there an actual upward revelation of knowing Him?
Consistency in the upward is a sign of maturity. Servanthood is a sign of maturity.
To be able to serve when it is inconvenient to you. Let me underline that.
To be able to serve when it's inconvenient for you is a sign of maturity.
Because everybody wants to serve when it's convenient. Everybody wants to serve the Lord when it's convenient.
But how about in those times when it's inconvenient?
And I've learned in my life, I actually have more of those times than I do of the convenient times.
The more that I'm maturing in God and the things of God, the more it's inconvenient for my flesh.
Which causes me to die to my flesh. And sometimes that takes months.
Sometimes it takes days. Sometimes it takes weeks till I'm dead to that portion in my flesh.
A sign of maturity. Now I want to elaborate maybe a little bit on this more.
But a sign of maturity is knowing Him and not just of Him.
Big difference.
A sign of maturity is actually knowing the Lord rather than the knowing of Him.
Let me give you an example. I was just talking to a couple this week.
And the wife was sharing this example with me because we were on this topic.
To know the Lord is to know the tone of His voice.
Like you would your husband or your wife.
Let me give you a more... this is the example that the wife gave.
She said, let's say we are at a mall or we're at a place that is...
that there's multiple of people and we hear multiple different voices.
And the wife said, I can hear or I can distinguish my husband's voice amongst the voices of other people.
Why? Because I know him.
And she said more than that, she goes, I can even tell what he's feeling by the tone of his voice.
I can tell if he's happy, I can tell if he's sad, I can tell if he's angry, I can tell if he's frustrated, all the things.
She says, I can tell that because I know him because I spend time with him.
So to know the Lord is not just to read your scriptures and say, well, yeah, I know the Lord.
I mean, he died on the cross, he rose from the dead, you know, he did this, he did that.
And it's like, well, yeah, I know him.
And you could say that, yeah, maybe to a measure, you know, you know of him.
But to actually know the Lord is to be one that can distinguish His voice amongst many other voices.
We live in a time in a generation where there is so many voices. Would you agree?
There is a lot of voices. We got a bunch of YouTube profits, I call them.
We got a bunch of YouTube profits that went to YouTube ministry school.
They have no covering. They have no upbringing.
They have no, no maturing and mentoring by somebody who's actually trusted by God.
And they are a voice for a people. And those that are a little bit more immature in the body of Christ,
they get hooked on these YouTube profits.
But somebody who knows the Lord...
Let me put it to you this way, because my wife and I were just talking about this.
Somebody who knows the Lord and not just of Him, now catch what I'm saying.
Somebody who knows the Lord and not just of Him is actually more aware of Jesus than they are of themselves.
Think about that for a bit.
Somebody who actually knows the Lord and not just of Him is more aware of the Lord than they are of themselves.
Now I believe and I could be wrong. I think there's very few people that can say that.
Yeah, that's... I'm more aware of the Lord than I am of myself. I think there's very few people.
But that just tells us of how immature we are.
That just tells me, Lord, help us.
Help us, Lord, that we would mature, that we would be edified, that we would come to the fullness of who we are in you.
To know Him is to be more aware of Him than we are of ourselves.
To know Him is to be more aware of Him and what He says about us and what He thinks about us than what everybody else says and thinks about us.
See, I feel and I could be wrong. You know, I'm not going to claim this is the Lord.
But what I feel sometimes inside is when we are in a worship set, let's say we're worshiping the Lord, the reason why some people...
Now again, I'm just talking from years of experience of observing.
What I feel like sometimes why we restrict ourselves from going to realms of worship in God is because we're actually more aware of other people
and what they're going to say about us and what they're going to think about us than we are, but what God is going to say and think about us.
And I believe that actually holds us back in worship because if I go back to open heavens, we're all laughing at it that, you know, we had a rapping Russian is with a joke.
But if I go back to that, aside from the joke, aside from the joke side of things, what I saw in that room Saturday night is everybody was more aware about what God was thinking about them than they were what their neighbor was thinking about them.
We even had one of the board members, one of the board members heard the Lord tell him, you got to go up there and dance and he said, no way I'm going to go up there and dance.
And he said instantly, he said, I felt the presence of God lift off of me. And he goes, I got scared.
But why, why did that response come out of the heart of that individual?
Because they were more aware in that moment, they were more aware of themselves than they were of the Lord.
They were more aware about what people were going to say and think about them than what the Lord was saying and thinking about them.
That individual came up and danced and maybe sometime he'll share the testimony.
But see, that's, that's the knowing of him. That's not the knowing of him. That's the knowing him.
Lord, I know you because I am more aware about what you say about me.
I am more aware of when you move. I am more aware of your breath and your word than I even am of myself and my thoughts.
I desire to get to the point where, where all I hear in my thoughts is just the scriptures in his voice.
So a sign of maturity is the knowing him. It's the knowing him. It's being more aware of him.
You still with me? Open up your Bibles to John, the Gospel of John chapter 3.
We're going to get into today's and I'm going to leave you. We're not going to finish it. We're not going to finish the John 3 banner today.
This is the John 3 banner in Forerunner's vision and lifestyle.
And what this is, this is John chapter 3 verse 22.
What this is, is we call the John 3 banner. So again, the Ephesians 4 banner, we call it the edifying, the building up of the saints.
Again, express it. The expression that we use at Forerunner lifestyle and vision is you bring people under you that God has entrusted you to impact and mature.
The John 3 banner is being and becoming friends of the bridegroom.
It's being and becoming friends of the bridegroom and we've always expressed this or we use the expression of this through getting around a table and breaking bread.
That's the way that we just did it and we saw it work.
We saw, aside from just praying for people, prophesying over people, we saw that it was so beneficial to actually have people at your house breaking bread and talking about Jesus.
Having conversations that were aimed towards the Lord and they weren't aimless.
So John 3, I want to read it here for you and we'll try to break it down here a little bit.
John 3 starting at verse 22, I want to read you what is going on here that you have the full context.
After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea and there he remained with them and baptized.
This is verse 23 now.
Now John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim because there was much water there.
And they came and were baptized for John had not yet been thrown into prison.
Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.
And they came to John and they said to him,
Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold he is baptizing and all are coming to him.
Verse 27, John answered and said,
A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
You yourselves hear me or bear me witness,
you yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ,
but I have been sent before him.
He who has the bride is the bridegroom,
but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled.
Verse 30, now he must increase and I must decrease.
Let me read a few more verses here.
He who comes from above is above all.
He who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.
He who comes from heaven is above all.
And what he has seen and heard that he testifies.
And no one receives his testimony.
He who has received his testimony has certified that God is true.
For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God for God does not give the spirit by measure.
The father loves the son and gives all things into his hand.
He who believes in the son has everlasting life and he who does not believe in the son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abides on him.
We are seeing a few different things specifically in this, let's say, in this discussion that is occurring.
We are seeing ones who are not friends of the bridegroom and we can hear their language in the way that they talk.
And then we see somebody who is John the Baptist who is using forerunner language and more than just forerunner language.
But he is using a friend of the bridegroom language.
He is speaking about the Lord in facets that these people have probably never even heard of.
To be a friend of the bridegroom, and we'll get into this more next Sunday,
but to be a friend of the bridegroom is to talk about the Lord in facets that very few people can actually talk about the Lord.
I want you to pay attention to what's happening here.
There is Jesus is baptizing, John is baptizing.
And all of a sudden the disciples of John the Baptist see that Jesus is baptizing and now this dispute basically breaks out with them and the Jews.
And a part of me is thinking that the Jewish leaders and the teachers of the law are the ones that kind of egg them on to get into this dispute.
Just the part of me, just because we know who they are. Those awesome teachers of the law.
But then where we see the contrast of somebody who is not a friend of the bridegroom and the way that they talk is these disciples,
they come to John the Baptist and they are almost worried and they're scared.
They're saying, hey John, rabbi, the guy that you basically said that he is the Messiah, that the dove is going to come and he's going to rest on.
This guy is baptizing now and everybody is going to him.
You see the problem of people that are not friends of the bridegroom, they are too much concerned about the ministry and the working of the ministry than they are of the Lord himself.
People who are not friends of the bridegroom are more concerned if we can have all the chairs fit into the chairs of our sanctuary than we are concerned about what God is saying.
So the disciples, they're coming to John and they're saying, dude, he's taking people from our ministry.
Look, they're leaving. They're going to him now, which by the way, Jesus wasn't even baptizing, it was his disciples that were baptizing.
So the disciples, they're worried and they're scared that they're losing numbers.
But see John the Baptist, being the perfect example of what it means to us in the flesh.
A perfect example for us for humanity of what it looks like to be a friend of the bridegroom.
John replies in a way that's like, guys, you're missing the point.
Did you not hear that I testified, you bear me witness that this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
I must now decrease and he must now increase.
John wasn't worried, John wasn't worried that people are leaving.
He knew his lane that he had to run. He knew what he was doing.
See, that's forerunner talk. That's friend of the bridegroom talk.
That's friend of the bridegroom talk.
And then aside from saying all that, John begins to talk about Jesus in a facet that I'm telling you.
They've probably never even heard of.
He says these things. Let me read it to you.
He says, he who comes from above is above all. Who is he talking about?
He's talking about Jesus. He's talking about the Lord.
And he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.
He who comes from heaven is above all.
And what he has seen and heard, he testifies and no one receives.
He's literally prophesying and telling them things about the Lord that they're like, what?
He's testifying. Jesus throughout his whole ministry was testifying that I am the Son of God.
I am the Messiah and how many people missed it?
A lot. There you go.
But see now, John the Baptist being a friend of the bridegroom sees this.
He can identify this and he's talking about the Lord in a facet that nobody else was able to talk about him.
A friend of the bridegroom can identify things of God that a greater majority of Christians are not seeing.
Let me make that statement again.
A friend of the bridegroom can identify and knows facets of God that a greater majority of the body of Christ is missing.
And when a friend of the bridegroom begins to speak out about the Lord in a facet,
a lot of the times people don't even pay attention.
And they will tag him as you're crazy or she's crazy.
She's a woman. She can't even talk. Come on, man.
We pin that. We put that on them where they're actually identifying things. They're actually seeing things.
They're actually expressing and showing facets of the Lord that a greater majority of the body of Christ is not seeing.
You still with me?
So we have found, or I should say, yeah, we have found and we began to express to be and become a friend of the bridegroom is through getting around a table and breaking bread.
Because what happens there, what we have seen over the years, what happens there is that you actually create a space for people to get vulnerable and transparent.
And you actually allow people to talk about the Lord in the facet that they know him.
Because we don't always get a chance. Not everybody gets a chance to come up here, grab a mic and talk about Jesus.
And I'm going to be honest with you. This is not saying this offensively to anybody, but just coming from the Slavic culture and knowing some of the people that went up to preach in the Slavic culture.
There is a lot of people that should not get behind a pulpit.
Wouldn't you agree, Sam?
Not everybody is called to be a teacher and a pastor to hold an office of it.
But we've learned that when we get around a table, you create a space where people can get vulnerable, people can get transparent and you begin to just talk about the Lord.
Not just the things of the Lord which are good and some people are there. Some people can only talk about the things of the Lord.
But those people that only know the things of the Lord, we've learned that when they get around people and you get around a table and you're breaking bread and they begin to hear people that actually know the Lord, it edifies them and it causes them to want to know the Lord more.
I've shared this in some of the previous parts of this series, but I've sat among people and still do sit on a weekly basis next to our pastors.
And I'm telling you, what took them 10, 15, 20 years in a lunch staffing, I can get in 20 minutes. What he spent 10, 15, 20 years discovering in God.
There is a beauty when we get around the table and you begin to hear people share things about the Lord and who he is to them.
And you begin to hear this and we're all at different levels. God trusts each and every one of us in different ways.
And to the measure that God has trusted me and to the measure that I know the Lord, I can actually manifest them to you.
Let me say that again. But let me say it from this perspective. You can only manifest Christ in your life to the measure that you know him.
You can know the right language. This is what I mean by that. A lot of the times people will listen to men and women of God that are trusted by God with greater things.
And people will listen to their sermons. They'll get the language. They'll say all the right stuff.
I've been around people and I've sat under people and they're teaching and they're preaching and you're listening to them and they're saying all the right stuff.
They're talking about getting at the feet of Jesus. They're talking about repentance. They're talking about all these things.
But there is a facet that is missing when we're actually not living it or we don't know the Lord in that facet. He doesn't manifest himself. He doesn't come.
We can say all the right stuff. We can use the right language and we Americans are really good at learning the language. The church language, so to say.
But you can say all the right stuff. You can do all the right stuff. But you will only actually manifest Christ to people to the measure that you know him.
To the measure that you know him. You can take my sermon notes and you can go preach it to somebody else on the street.
But you'll only be able to manifest Christ to the measure that you know him.
So when we get around the table, the John 3 banner, being and becoming. Being and becoming.
A friend of the bridegroom. When you get around the table, you break bread and you begin to hear people.
And people begin to, man, I've been, I've been so blessed. I have been so blessed to get around some people that know the Lord.
And what took them 10, 15, 20 years. And I got to sit with them at a table and break bread together and they would talk about Jesus.
And it just makes you want to leave that table and go and be with him alone.
I don't know if you've ever had that.
But there's been times where I've sat with people at tables and they begin to talk about Jesus.
And I'm like, I want to know him that way.
I want to talk about the Lord in that way.
I want to have an intimate relationship.
I want God to trust me, not for the sake of power and walking in this and signs and miracles.
No, I want to know him.
I want to know you Jesus.
Because here's the beauty.
And again, we'll get into this more next Sunday.
But here's the beauty.
To be a friend of the bridegroom.
You're actually building a storehouse for yourself.
Which means that to whatever measure I know him here on earth.
I get to take that with me into eternity.
To whatever facet I get to learn about who Jesus is here on earth.
I get to take that with me into eternity.
That's why Jesus says, store up treasures.
Where? In heaven.
What treasure is he talking about?
He's not talking about Benjamins.
He's talking about the revelation of who he is.
Of how he speaks.
Of how he even listens.
Of what he thinks about.
You know that God doesn't think the way that we think?
And if you don't believe me, just read the prophet Isaiah.
He says, your ways are not my ways is what he tells them.
He says, your thoughts are not my thoughts.
That's why the apostle Paul said, but we have what? The mind of Christ.
He didn't say, but we have what? The mind of apostle Paul.
He said, we have the mind of Christ.
Which means that Jesus thinks differently than the way that we think.
He views things differently than the way that we view things.
I don't know about you, but I want to know the Lord in ways that...
Very few are willing to pay the cost to know him.
You still with me?
It's noon. I'm going to end here tonight. I'm going to end right here, pastor.
Can I do that?
Because once I get into the other portion, next Sunday, let me give you a little bit of a sneak peek for next Sunday.
Next Sunday, I want to talk about what does it mean to be a friend of the bridegroom?
And I want to go a little bit more into depth in that.
Let me make this statement and we're going to pray.
Because I do believe that I'm sharing the Lord's heart when I'm making this statement.
The Lord desires to have friends in the church, not employees.
I believe God is desiring to have friendship with us.
And not just, you go do that, you go do this, you go...
He's wanting to do it with us.
So now let me make this statement and then we'll pray.
The opportunity, or let me say it this way, the playing field is equal for each and every one of us.
What I mean by that is that the opportunity that I have, you have the exact same opportunity to know him and to be his friend.
The same blood that was spilled for me to be his friend is the same blood that was spilled for you to be his friend.
I say that because oftentimes I feel like we're like, well I'm not a pastor, I'm not this, so God probably doesn't want to be my friend.
Friend, you got it all wrong.
Because the same desire that God had to be a friend with Abraham, that God had to be a friend with Moses, that God had to be a friend with John the Baptist,
and everybody else that we read in the scriptures, that same desire the Father has for us.
He desires for us as his latter church, as his end time church to be his friend and not an employee.
But here's where the real question is, are you willing to pay the cost?
That's really the question. Are you willing to pay the cost to be a friend of the bridegroom?
It's not whether God wants to or God doesn't want to. The question is, do you want to?
That's really the question that we should be asking this morning.
And if you don't want to, that's fine. It doesn't mean that God loves you less.
Just because you don't go after that doesn't mean that God loves you less. God still loves you.
But what you store for yourself here, in the revelation of who he is, you'll be able to take that with you in the age to come.
Let me say one more thing, just one more, and then we'll pray.
I heard a man of God say it this way, and it just edified me.
He said, I want to live a life here in such a friendship with the Lord.
He said that when I get to heaven, he said, God will make it known to everybody else that I was his friend.
And that's for eternity. And God will do that.
So let's stand and pray, and then we'll close with that.
Father, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you for the washing of your word.
Father, I thank you for the invitation that you are giving us as your people.
Holy Spirit, I thank you that you are nudging at our hearts.
You are speaking to us as individuals and as a corporate body.
You are speaking to us, and you are inviting us into a friendship with you, with your son.
We thank you for that, God.
Father, we thank you for the examples that we find in the scriptures of men and women of God that were actually your friends.
Father, they were actually your friends, and you called them your friends.
So Lord, I'm asking that you would continue to work in us by your spirit. You would work in us.
You would work in our hearts. You would work in our spirit, my God.
And you would show us. You would speak to us about yourself, Lord, that we would love you more.
And we would know you more.
Father, I bless each and every individual here today, and even those that are watching online. I bless them in your name.
I pray protection over them.
Father, I pray grace over them.
That you would show them your mercy this week.
Let them see a new facet of who you are this week, Lord.
That it would build them up in Jesus' name.
We thank you, Lord, and we bless your holy name. Amen.
Thank you.