Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South
Australia. Can we open our Bibles to second
Peter? This is actually a scripture
that Peter, our Peter bought us this morning in our prayer time.
So it starts in verse. Well, we're going to start in
verse 3, but it does start in verse one to second Peter
chapter one, verse 3. His divine power, whose power?
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to
life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us
to His own glory and excellence, Verse 4, by which He has granted
to us His precious and very great promises, so that through
them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped from corruption that is in the world because of sinful
desire. So Liza just shared, there's
something in here that when we can't, He can.
Why? Because His power has granted to
us all things when we can't, he can because it's his power at
work in US. Why?
Because of our knowledge of him who called us through his glory
and excellence. Earlier on Paul, Peter writes
and he says like to those he opens a letter saying to those
who have obtained a faith of equal standing to ours.
Peter, an apostle building the church, he goes, I'm writing to
all those believers. You have an equal standing with
me because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And then he goes on and says, and he's given us all things
through his divine power, through our knowledge of him,
and he has granted to us precious and very great
promises. Now something about this verse
which is quite interesting. We often when we claim this and
we claim it and it's OK to do this as well when we claim the
promises of God and we say, you know God, you've you've given me
the divine power like you've granted to me the divine power,
the his divine power has granted to me all things that pertain to
life and godliness. And it's not wrong necessarily
to quote it like that, but the Scripture doesn't use the word
me, which is, I found this very interesting when I was reading
this after Pete shared it this morning.
Says his divine power has granted to us all things that
pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who
called us to his own glory and grace.
And then it goes on. It says he has granted to us his
precious and very great promises.
Over the last couple of weeks we've been talking about this
idea of community and fellowship and stuff like that.
And just even reading this, it made me realize again that
actually the only way that I can fully take hold of everything
that God has for me is by the US.
It's by walking with us. The only way that I can actually
truly experience all of God's promises is to actually walk in
the togetherness of God's people.
So this isn't just me claiming the promises of God, but it's us
together claiming the promises of God.
It's us together taking hold of his divine power and we, we
think about that his divine power has granted to us all
things he's granted to us and, and to me when we, when we're
standing alongside each other, like as as Dave was sharing
today, like across our city, there are churches exulting
Jesus. Across our city, people are
getting saved. Across our city, people are
getting baptized. Across the world, people are
getting saved. No church can exist and take
hold of everything that God has for it without also standing
shoulder to shoulder with other churches in that city.
There is something that God has created in all of us that says
the only way you can fully take hold of all of God's promises is
when you actually come shoulder to shoulder with God's people
and standing together in the US. His divine power has given us
all things. And so as we're going to unpack
this, we're going to look at this thing when when Paul writes
and other writers as they write through the New Testament, they
sometimes they write to leaders and say, leaders, you need to do
this and to to parents and to Saints.
But then every now and then he uses these phrases and he goes,
let us he goes. So it doesn't matter if you're
an apostle, a leader, a parent, a child, a retired person, a
doctor, it doesn't matter. These are things that we do
shoulder to shoulder and as we do it shoulder to shoulder, we
actually grow up and take hold of everything that God has for
us. Does that make sense?
And so when when the writers say this, I think it's really
important that we say, you know, let us.
Let us. I was thinking about this.
I love my parents. They're married 39 years next
week. But it's quite funny when I ask
my mum and I'm like, hey, what are you doing on the weekend?
And she says, oh, we're going to clean the gutters now.
It takes me a SEC because my mum does not clean the gutters.
My dad cleans the gutters. But somehow it's become an us
thing when it's not really an us thing.
That's not what Paul's writing. This is an opportunity for me or
Dave or something to be like, well, when we say us, we really
mean you. But it's also not an opportunity
for me to sit here and be like, he's saying us, but he really
means, really means you. When we say us, This Is Us.
And there's something precious when the people of God say, you
know what? We own us.
Because this thing is not just a vertical thing.
God has called every single believer into a local church to
walk this out horizontally. He's called every local church
to walk it out horizontally with churches in that city.
And he's taught, taught every church in city to walk it out
horizontally in their nation and in the nations of the world.
Because there's something so amazing when church people in
churches work, walk shoulder to shoulder, and taking hold of his
precious promises. And so my calling, what God has
called me to do, can only be fully realized in the context of
the people of God. And what God has called you to
do can only be fully realized in the context of the people of
God, in a horizontal context. And there's two things that
Jesus is busy doing in the world today #1 he's rescuing people
from the Kingdom of darkness. He is.
He is saving people from their sins, from the power of death
and darkness. And the second thing he is doing
is preparing a bride. He's calling all of us to be, to
grow up as a mature bride, radiant and spotless.
He's saying, so it's not just enough that you added into the
family. It's that you walk as part of
that family. It's that you own the US thing.
There's something about families.
We're not. We're not visitors to the House
of God. Like when you're a visitor, I
serve you, I, I, I ministered to you, but when you become part of
my family, we own it together. It's an US thing.
Let us, let us. And so we're going to look at a
few of these let us statements and we're just going to, we're
just going to go through them. There's quite a few.
We're not going to go through all of them, but we're just
going to start and say, thank God.
This is an opportunity for us to walk side by side and saying,
let us because for me to stand next to Dave and say, come on,
let us do this. Not me to say, Hey, Dave, you
need to I'm like, no us. Let us step into everything that
God has called us to do. So why don't you open your
Bibles to Romans chapter 12. This is the first.
Let us. Romans 12 verse 6 having gifts
that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use
them. So Paul is not saying, hey,
according to the gifts that God has given you use the gifts.
He's not saying according to the gifts given to me, I'm going to
use my gift. It's going to go actually, God
has given every single person a gift, something that they bring
to the table to build the body of Christ, every single one of
us. God has brought us to this local
church in this city in this time, in this season, in this
day and age, in this century. God has brought us together to
build his church. Every single one of us having
gifts that differ according to the grace given us.
Let us use them as we walk together in as shoulder to
shoulder. As I say, it's not just about me
and the gift that God has given me, but it's about me walking
shoulder to shoulder with Dan and be like, what's the gift
he's given you, man? Go for it.
Use it. Use it with everything that you
have. Find out what God has given you
and give yourself wholeheartedly to that.
I said, God, you've given me a grace, you've given me a gift,
you've given me something. And in the, the context, I can
go to God and say, God, you know, what's the gift you've
given me? But I can also go to other
people and say, Hey, what do you think the gift is?
God has given me. And they say, man, you know, God
has given you this gift. Go for it, run for it.
You know, the church should be the most encouraging place on
the planet because we're all walking around and saying, Hey,
God has given you this gift to run.
Run in the gift that God has given you, find a way to use it.
Find a way to use it. And I'm sure many of you are
obviously a little bit younger, but I'm sure many of us know
that if you don't use a particular part of your body, it
begins to get a bit stiff. And so Paul's saying he's kind
of going, man, you need people alongside of you who say just
just start working that gift. Just start using it.
Find a way to use it. I love some of the guys in our
church, even though they can't do what they used to do as
saying, God, you've given me a gift to use, find a way to use
it. And so they've found ways to use
the gift God has given them, even though it might be the
season of life or restrictions or whatever have limited them in
being the way that they actually use it.
Does that make sense? And so we say to God, and we
say, God, you've given me a grace.
It says according to the grace given to us, let us use our
gifts. And so you go, God, I'm not sure
how to use my gift. Find a way, God, help me to find
a way and go to people and say how, how can I use my gift?
And we should also be walking around to each other and say,
hey, what's the gift that God, God has given you?
He said, my gift, is this OK? Do it with all your mind.
Throw yourself at what God has
called you to do. They say we are meant to be the
most encouraging people on the planet to say, hey, God has
given you a gift to run for it, go for it.
Throw yourself wholeheartedly at that thing.
It's interesting when you read this list.
It's not church rosters. It doesn't list music team,
doesn't list greeting at the door.
It's things like prophecy, leadership, and teaching.
It's gifts of mercy. It's gifts of generosity.
It's kind of go man, has God-given you an ability to make
wealth? Man, be generous with everything
you've got. Has God-given you a gift of
leadership? Please lead.
Go for it. If God has given you a gift of
prophecy, that's why we're we open up the mic, We say, hey, if
somebody's got a gift, we want you to use it.
We're going to find a way for you to use it.
We want to encourage you use it. Press into God for the gifts
that he's given you. Amen.
First thing, let us use our gifts according to the grace
given us. Romans 13, Paul goes on.
I feel like Paul writes most of these.
It's a thing. He did write 2/3 in the New
Testament, so we'd expect to find them a lot here.
Romans 13 and verse 12 says the night is far gone, the day is at
hand, So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on
the armour of light. Verse 13 let us walk properly as
in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual
morality sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy, but
put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh
to gratify his desires. First glance, probably an
interesting scripture, but the point is the context here.
When he starts in verse 12, he's saying the night is far gone,
the day is at hand so that let us cast off the works of
darkness. There's something in this
scripture that pulls saying, man, as the people of God, we
should be reminding us all that these are the last days are the
last days. Like Paul saying we, we in
kindness, we don't have time to mess around like that's a that's
an encouraging thing. Like we, we should be standing
alongside each other and saying, Hey, we, we are called to live
differently. So let's live differently.
Like he's saying, let's cast off the works of darkness.
Put on the armor of light, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, live
as a witness to the people around you because the days are
short and we should be people who when we're shoulder to
shoulder, we're standing side by side with with Dave and we're
kind of going, mate, we've got to cast.
We've got to live differently. We've got to live as a witness.
Why? Because God has called us to
live as a witness. So that because the days are
short and it's an encouraging thing when I'm walking with
David and saying, hey, Dave, we've got to deal with things.
Why? Because the days are short.
We don't have time to mess around.
It's it's a sobering thought to realize that we're actually in
the the last days of the last days.
But the guys in the New Testament, they wrote about it
all the time. They wrote about it all the
time. They wrote about eternities like
this. Heaven and earth is going to
wrap up. Jesus is going to return.
And if they wrote it 2000 years ago, we must be a lot closer.
We have to be. It's just logical, right?
But Paul's writing is saying, hey, the night is far gone.
The day is almost here, like the day, the glorious day.
So let's cast off the works of darkness and actually show
people what the what God's people are meant to be like.
Let's actually live as the people of light.
Let's actually put on Jesus Christ because these people like
they're sitting there kind of going, you know, tomorrow I will
do that. Tomorrow I'll change my ways,
but I can't today or I won't today or, you know, I just want
to do that thing today. He's going to just cast it off
because the day is short. As the people of God, we stand
shoulder to shoulder encouraging each other.
Hey, remember, these are these are the last days of the last
days. We don't have time to mess
around. So it's a, as I say, it's, it's
a very pointed point, but it's a point nonetheless that we stand
next to each other and say, hey, and we don't have time to mess
around. This thing is going to wrap up.
So we don't have time to continue living the way that we
have lived. Like it's time for us to
actually shine our light. And that's, that's the crux of
this encouragement. It's time for us to shine our
light as the people of God. We're walking together and
saying, you know what? I cannot live the same as the
person next to me. I cannot live the same way as my
neighbors. I have to live differently
because I have to see something in me that's different.
Let us use our gifts. Let us cast off the works of
darkness, put on the armor of light, shine as witnesses to the
world around us. Romans chapter fourteen 12/13/14
verse 13. Sure, you guys can participate
now you know where we're going. Therefore, not pass judgement on
one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a
stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
We're going to skip down to verse 19.
It says so then let us, we'll get there.
Pursue what makes a peace. And for mutual upbuilding verse,
we just skipped like 6 verses. I encourage you to read them.
But you know, this, this whole text here, this whole let us
it's around pursuing unity. I mean, I don't know if you
caught that in that first one. It's pretty, pretty full on when
he says, let us not pass judgement on one another any
longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or
hindrance in the way of a brother.
I'd decide never to put a hindrance.
And then going on, you know, let us pursue what makes peace and
mutual upbuilding. There's something in the
togetherness. It's not so much that like we're
coming and saying, you know, you need to fix this relationship or
I need to fix this relationship or whatever.
It's actually us coming together again, shoulder to shoulder
saying, man, we're going to walk together.
We got to walk together. Because remember, the only way
that I can take hold of God's promises for my life is not just
my relationship with God, it's my relationship with people.
And so if my relationship with God's people is in any way
fractured, I lose something of what I can take hold of in God.
If my relationship with anyone of you is fractured and I've put
a stumbling block in the way of us relating to each other, there
is something of the promises of God that I am not able to take
hold of. And there's something in the
promises of God that you're not able to take hold of.
It's, it's, it's a pretty big thing this.
And we spoke a number of weeks ago around preserving unity and
chasing that at all costs. Why?
Because if we truly understand that the only way we can take
hold of all of his promises is by walking together, then we're
going to say, man, there is nothing.
I cannot afford to put anything in between me and Colin.
I cannot afford to put anything in here because this is way too
important. This is way too important for me
to afford to put anything in between.
And so I'm going to do everything at all costs to
preserve unity. And I understand that that's
easier said than done in some cases, but that's where we come
together in US, in US who say, man, let's walk out us together.
And if we're struggling to preserve unity, then we go us,
hey, us, we are responsible for preserving this.
So it's, it's all well and good that maybe I don't have an
issue, but then somebody else has an issue.
And then we've got a third party issue.
And like, let us preserve unity. This is an us thing.
And Paul writes and he says, hey, let us not pass judgement
and decide never to put us some. I wonder if you can make that
decision today. I will never put a stumbling
block in the way of a brother and I will pursue you peace and
mutual upbuilding at all costs. And that's a challenging thing
for the way that we speak, for the way that we act.
We say, I'm never going to put something here because then it
stops you in your tracks sometimes and you're like, oh,
hang on, this is an US thing. This relationship is way too
important for me to afford to put something in there.
Let us, let us. Galatians 69 skipped a few
letters here. It's it just carries on the
back. It carries on the back of this
Galatians 69 to 10. Let us not grow weary of doing
good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
Let us not grow weary of doing good.
And then it goes on in verse 10. So then as we have opportunity,
let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of
the household of faith. This is a challenging one
because I don't know how many times I've thought, you know
what, I've done it enough. I should have learned by now,
let us never grow tired of doing good, especially to those of the
household of faith. You know how many times are like
you know what I'll just leave it It's it's up to them now I've
done it No, no, no, let us not grow weary of doing good and
I'll again. It's one of these things that we
can only walk out together because there's something that
happens when I get tired of doing good, I'm like, man, I'm
going to do it again. And Dave comes alongside, say,
yeah, but let us never grow tired, grow weary of doing good.
I'm like, yeah, you're right, Yeah, you're right.
Because in my own strength, if I try and walk this thing out on
my own in isolation, then, man, I'm going to grow weary and
tired of doing good. You know what happens when they
take a bit of charcoal out of the fireplace and you put it out
by its own? It goes cold very quickly.
And so when I try and live this out and apart from the the
togetherness and I don't reach out and I don't kind of say,
hey, guys, I'm getting tired in this.
I'm getting tired of doing good. And I try and take my own like
I'm trying to do this. And they come across, yeah.
But let us, let us do good. Let us as a church do good.
Like do you, do you know that this church cannot actually take
hold of all the promises of God unless every single person
carries an attitude of let us, let us together do good.
Let us Philippians 3. So let us use the gifts that God
has given us. Let us live as a witness.
Let us pursue unity at all costs.
And Philippians chapter 3, verse 15.
Oh, sorry, no, we're going to start a bit earlier.
Sorry. Verse 13, verse 13, it says,
brothers, I do not consider that I've made it on my own, but one
thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to
what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of
the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
And now verse 15, let those of us who are mature think this
way. And then it's quite funny.
There goes. And if any of you think
otherwise, it's very pointed. Any of you think otherwise?
God will reveal that also to you.
Clearly he's he's realizing some people are not as mature.
But anyway, let those of us who are mature.
I think this way. In what way is Paul referring to
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of
Christ. And this one thing I do forget
what lies behind straining forward to what lies ahead.
I press on towards the goal of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus. Doesn't matter what life stage
we're at or where we're where we're at in anything.
If our walk of God, there is an upward call in him.
There is always an upward call in God.
And as I said earlier, the church is meant to be the most
encouraging place on the planet. When you walk in, not only am I
saying, hey, use the gifts that God has called you to do, but
I'm also saying, man, God has so much more ahead of you thinking
you can even think or imagine. Let us press on toward the goal
for the prize of the upward calling Christ Jesus.
It's amazing when when Paul even he gets to the end of his life
in Second Timothy and he's writing.
He said, I've I've fought the good fight.
I finished the race, Paul. He's right in his last days.
So I've finished the race. You're like cool, Ministry's
done. And then at the end of Timothy,
he's like, oh, but get the parchments.
Bring them here because I've still got work to do.
He's kind of going, I may have, I may have finished this season,
but actually there's still an upward calling God that I still
need to pursue. So bring me my parchments
because I've still got work to do.
And and we should be people that are walking alongside and
saying, man, there is still more in God for you.
There is still more in God for me.
Whenever I kind of go, man, what am I doing?
Have I made it all of this kind of stuff?
God says there's an, you know, people in in the church are
like, yeah, but there's an upward call in God.
There's an upward call. There's still more.
None of us will ever get to a
point. Well, like I've done it all.
I've seen it all. You know, I've bought that
T-shirt. God, Take Me Home and you're
like, no, no, there, if you're here, there is an upward
calling. God, there is an upward call.
There is something greater that God wants to do in this church
in this city than we have ever seen before.
You know, we can, we can be people who can kind of go, oh
man, you know, remember the good old days.
Remember the days when XYZ happened and this happened and
churches were packed and, you know, all of that kind of stuff
going, yeah, forget what is behind.
There's an upward call. There's an upward call.
As I said, Jesus busy building to doing two things.
Number one, saving people, rescuing people.
But #2 he's preparing a bride, radiant and spotless.
And later on in Revelation, it says the bride has made herself
ready. The church is still preparing
herself. But it's an US thing.
It's an US thing. God has called us to build his
church answer together thing. It's an US thing.
We spoke last week around the canonia, the word canonia and
it's this word partnership. It's this.
It's the same word that Paul writes and he uses this word
partnership. It's not just fellowship.
We think in our meetings we're like, Oh yeah, we got a got a
music time and sermon time and then we've got a fellowship
time. But the word canonia is not a
specific time slot in a meeting. It's actually a partnership, a
shoulder to shoulder, walking out of what God has.
Can you imagine? Can you imagine a church that is
so encouraging, that is standing side by side?
I said, man, you've got a gift run in it.
You've got this run in it. Hey, we're pursuing unity.
We're making sure there's nothing in between US, man.
We're living as we're encouraging each other to live
as as with our armor of light to put on the Lord Jesus.
We're walking side by side, shoulder to shoulder.
It's not leaders doing it and telling people to do it.
It's the people doing it to the people and encouraging everyone.
Leaders would be so encouraged. Why?
Because everyone's encouraging them to lead.
Everyone's saying you've got a gift of leadership, please lead
us. It would be the most amazing
church on the planet. Yeah, that's God's dream.
That's God's dream, that we as people in this church across the
city, across the nations of the world, one bride as, as Dave was
referring to, like, this is the glimpse of the end days.
Like we get to live in a glimpse of what God actually wants to
do. All across our city, all across
our nation, there are people gathered saying, let us exalt
him together. Let us mature one another.
Let us gather together. Let us live as witnesses in the
world. Let us use our gifts as we stand
shoulder to shoulder encouraging each other coming together and
say, I'm committed to this as much as I'm committed to this.
I wonder if if you're as committed to building a
relationship with the people in this church as you are to
praying and reading a Bible. Like that's a good vertical
thing. But I'm also like man
fellowship. Let us me encouraging Dave when
I'm reading something like man Dave needs to hear this.
Let us, let us, and I want to encourage us this morning that
this, as we've been talking over the last few weeks on Fellowship
and Canonia, that it goes beyond meeting together.
It's, it's so much more than just this.
It's actually us being partners together in God's call.
It's realizing that every single person has an opportunity to
build his church, Capital C, We have an opportunity to build his
church not just here, but across the city, across the nations of
the world. And we should be the most
encouraging people standing shoulder to shoulder to men.
Let us do this. Let us take hold of all that God
has for us. We'll read our opening scripture
again in Second Peter. It says His divine power has
granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness
through the knowledge of him who called us.
And if we look around this room, God called us.
He called you, He called me, but
he called us together. And the early church, they
walked in this thing that was just like, man, it's not so much
about me and you, but it's us. He called us.
He called us by his own glory and excellence.
He's granted to us precious and very great promises.
It's us. I wonder just in our hearts if
we can just hold this thing of saying, man, God, let us.
When you pray for this church, do you pray?
Man? God, let us take hold of this
because it's so easy. It's so easy in our prayer time
to be like, man, I pray that you would take hold of this.
Thank God, let us take hold of this together.
So easy to pray for the leaders and we need to pray for our
leaders as well. You know, pray for them.
You say man God, but let us grow up.
Let us become mature. Let us live out this thing
because the more the US together, the more we reflect of
what he's doing in through the world.
Thank you for joining us for today's message.
For more information about The Way Church, please visit
ourwebsite@thewaychurch.com dot AU.
Have a blessed day.