Skip to content Session 1 - See The Critical Need Sep 7 · 1 hr 21 min ...more
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:06 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering church? Hallelujah. It is always a joy and a privilege to see you through this, IDMC conference. Every year we host it live, but this0:18 year because of the COVID situation, we are gathering in different homes and we are still wanting to experience what the Lord would have to say to us. So I am thankful to the Lord for the privilege of bringing you the0:29 word this evening and tomorrow. And also I do believe with all my heart that God is at work already. This is a prayed for conference. This is a conference that is prayer saturated and we0:41 pray that the Lord will minister to our hearts. So you would know the running sheet and what is happening and there is a workbook that you would have downloaded. So all these things I pray that the Lord will use to0:52 minister to us. But I take this, I don't take this lightly. I come before God with prayer and I am asking the Lord to speak to us because we are living in1:04 unprecedented times and discipleship is of greater importance in the church world today. And so that is why we are thankful that God has given us this privilege to be able to do the1:15 IDMC conference online. Praise God. In every session, I want to start with the biblical reflection. So today we are going to go to the1:27 Gospel of John 3 16. It is such a familiar text, many of us would have memorized this already. So maybe from memory we can quote it. But I want you to pay1:38 attention to 1 single word in this verse. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should1:50 not perish but have eternal life. I want you to pay attention to this. Many times when we read this text or when we quote this text, we always say, for2:02 God so loved the world. In other words, we emphasize on the word so to emphasize how great is his love for the world. That he so loved the2:14 world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. But I want you to pay attention to that 1 word so. This is the word in the2:26 Greek, houtos, H O U T O S. This word houtos is also used in the same context when Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus2:37 about salvation. Nicodemus being a Jewish rabbi, he's being a Jewish teacher of the law and Jesus is teaching him something from the Old Testament. And look at2:49 verse 14, the same hutos is mentioned. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up. That word they3:01 saw is the word hutos. Twice in this passage of scripture, in the dialogue that Jesus had with Nicodemus, he uses this word hutos. So what does this word3:13 hutos actually mean? So why did Jesus say, so must the son of man be lifted up? Jesus was pointing to Nicodemus from the Old Testament in Numbers chapter 21 that there3:25 was a time when the Jewish people need saving. And how did God save them? How did God rescue them? A serpent was lifted up, a bronze serpent was3:36 lifted up in the wilderness by Moses. So likewise, even so in the like manner, so must the son of man be lifted up. So3:48 therefore we understand who toss is a comparison word. It is likewise, even so. In the same manner, he says, Numbers 21, God lifted up a bronze serpent4:00 in the wilderness to his redemptive, to do his redemption among his chosen people, the Jewish nation. In the same manner,4:12 likewise, go to verse 16, the bible says in verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. In other words, in the like manner, even so, God4:24 loved the whole world. In other words, not just the Jews but he also loved the Gentiles. Hallelujah. And because God loves the Gentiles, he gave his only4:35 son to be lifted high not in the wilderness but in the Calvary, on the cross of Calvary so that you and I can be eternally redeemed, eternally saved, hallelujah. What is4:47 the theology behind these 2 verses? The theology behind that 1 word soul and behind these 2 verses is this, that our God is not only the God of the Jewish4:58 nation, our God is the God of the nations. Hallelujah. Not only that, our God did not just choose the Jewish nation to partake of the salvation and redemption but he also chose5:10 people from all over the world. Every nation, every tongue, every tribe to come and participate in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and be redeemed. Hallelujah. And be established and be5:22 part of his kingdom, acknowledging him as king and lord and master and savior of their lives. Hallelujah. That is why you and I we need to recognize this. Apostle Paul writes this in Romans chapter5:34 1 and verse 16. The gospel came to the Jews first but then through them to the Greeks and to us the Gentiles. So today we recognize the gospel is not limited only to the Jews but the5:46 Gospel is also for every nation. Hallelujah. And that is why Jesus in his clarion call to the church in Matthew chapter 28, he says this5:58 in verse 19, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Hallelujah. Can we take a moment to just thank the Lord for that 1 word so because God6:10 so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Today, you and I are called to make6:21 disciples, not just make disciples of 1 nation but make disciples of all nations people from every tongue every tribe and every nation will come6:33 to the saving knowledge of Jesus hallelujah take a moment and let's give the Lord a clap offering thank you Jesus We worship you. We thank you Lord. Hallelujah. I want to take you to the first6:44 session. Maybe before that let's open with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father I thank you for this day. I thank you for speaking to us through your scriptures that salvation is for6:56 all mankind and you have sent us your son Jesus to die for the whole world and even today you are calling us to make disciples of all nations. Give us grace mighty God to7:08 understand and to partner with you so that we fulfill what that Christ has called us to do. Left us here on earth to do to fulfill that great commission, the discipling of all nations.7:21 Holy Spirit, we need your help in this conference to help us catch this vision of discipling the nations. Give us grace to understand the need for it and understand how to do7:33 it and so that we are inspired to change and transform our own life and the life of our ministry. So today Father we come to you for help in Jesus name and the people of God said, amen7:44 and amen. Shall we give the Lord a clap offering? Hallelujah. I want to go to the first session. Now in all our conferences, we do pretty much 4 to 5 sessions.7:56 And I want to give you the big picture of where we are heading in this conference. A man was walking back from his workplace and it was late at night so8:08 he wanted to take a shortcut through a symmetry. And while he was going through the symmetry, he found a fascinating tombstone that had this inscription on it. And so he read this, this is what8:20 it says, Remember friend when passing by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, soon you will be, so be8:32 content and follow me. This is what it was written, Be content and follow me. This man was looking intently and then he saw there was a PS. Someone had8:44 scribbled a PS below that whole court. This is what the PS said, To follow you, I'm not content until I know which way you went.8:56 Listen carefully. You want to know which way we are going in this conference. I want to give you a bird's eye view, an overview of this conference. Every time I sit down with the church when I'm doing a9:08 church consultation, when I'm sitting down with the pastors or the pastoral team or the entire leadership of the team, we always help them to see 4 critical things that they need to observe.9:20 There are 4 key things that we want them to capture. It is not in your notes but I want you to write this down because this is the overview of each of the session. Number 1, it is see the critical need. Every time I'm in9:30 front of a pastor, I want to help them to see the critical need. Not only see the critical need. Why? Because if you don't understand the need that we have of discipleship, the need for disciple making, then we9:42 will not put all our best effort. We won't become passionate about this. So this is the first thing. We want to help them to see and I want you to listen to me carefully. There is a big difference between leaders9:54 and great leaders. What are great leaders? What is the difference? The difference is in the way they see things. Seeing is more critical. Seeing the ability to10:06 perceive what is happening. So here, see the critical need is the first 1. The second 1 is you not only just see the need but you gotta understand the biblical strategy. When you understand the biblical10:17 strategy, you know what Jesus called us to do and it's the New Testament principles. Whether you are living in Asia, whether you're living in Australia or you're living any in developed nation or10:29 developing nation, irregardless of who you're ministering to, whether you're ministering to tribal people or you're speaking to the urban elites. It doesn't matter. We need to understand the biblical strategy that10:41 unifies us in the discipleship emphasis. Hallelujah. The third thing is you've got to determine the end product. The end product is so important because we need to know what we are called10:53 to produce. If I visit a shoe factory, what I want to see is shoes. If I visit a glass factory, I want to see glasses. But if I come to a church, what do I need to11:05 see? Not more church programs, not more lights, camera, and action, but what we want to see is disciples. And that is the key thing that we need to understand. What are we producing?11:16 Hallelujah. In the long run. And the fourthly, and that will be covered tomorrow, is this the fourth session is this challenge them to accomplish the mission. 4 things that we11:28 embrace, we inspire people to come on board, give their lives, surrender their lives radically to Jesus Christ, Not only radically surrender their lives to Jesus Christ but also adopt the intentional disciple11:40 making as a vision for their own individual life, their family, and their ministry, and their church, and their denomination, and so that we can win and disciple the lost. Hallelujah.11:51 Ultimately, we want to fulfill the mandate. Discipling of all nations. So I'm thankful to the Lord. So let's go to the first session today. See the critical need. Returning the12:03 church to its disciple making roots. See many times it is said that the church is in need of volunteers. Need. The church is in need and the world12:15 is in trouble. Many times we look at it and go, the world is in trouble and the church is in need. We need more laborers, we need more workers, we need more volunteers. But I want you to think12:27 about the opposite. The world is actually in need. Even today when you look around the world, you read the newspaper, there's people who are hurting, people who are grieving, people who are feeling the loss and12:39 sense of displacement because of coronavirus, because of so many things that are happening, because of this pandemic condition. I want you to listen to me carefully. The church is in need. The world is12:51 in need. But what about the church? The church is in trouble. Because we are not there to help them to process this. And this is where you and I we need to understand there is a need for us13:03 to act right now. 1 theologian said it this way, when I look for the world, when I look for the church I found it in the world and when I look for the world, I found it in the13:15 church. In other words, the carnality, living in sin, carnality and all sorts of issues have come into the church to plague the church. So you and I, we need to recognize13:27 that we need to come back to this and the reason why we go through what we go through in the church world whether it's division or defilement or deception or all these things it is because ultimately I want you to write13:38 these 2 words discipleship deficit. Discipleship deficit. And this is where we got to come back to grasp what it is. So in this conference, I want you to know13:50 we are practitioners, we are people who are still learning. I have a L board in the front and an L board in my back. 1, I'm a learner in the front and at the L at the back is to say I'm a14:01 leader so people follow but at the same time here in the front I'm a learner so I'm still practicing these things and these are things that we are seeing work in our own church and in the churches that we're helping to14:13 move towards disciple making. So I want you to capture this. There are no professionals. I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, there are no professionals when it comes to disciple14:24 making. A lady was at work and she received a phone call. She's a young mom, she left her kid at home with a babysitter and the babysitter called her and said, the baby14:36 is having a high fever and I don't have medication. Can you bring some medication? So she left her office in a hurry, hurried into the pharmacy, bought her medication and she was rushing back to the14:48 car only to realize that she has locked the car with the keys inside the car. Now she's panicking. She's looking to the Lord and she cried out and she said, Lord, I need your14:59 help. Please send me someone to help me. And right at that moment, a man, there was no 1 in the car park except this 1 car that pulled next to her. It was a beaten up 4 wheel drive and a big burly man15:11 got got down and he was walking towards her and she said to him he said, Lord, she looked to the Lord and said, Lord, not him, please send somebody else. But since there was no 1 else, she called him and said, please,15:23 can you help me? I've locked my car keys inside the car. So this is what happens. The man takes a string and he opened the car door easily for her. Because15:36 she was overjoyed with the whole thing, she went and gave him a big hug and said thank you so much. You are an answer to my prayer. You're a good man. For that the man said, no, I'm not a good man. I15:48 just got released from jail this morning. And so she asked him, so what were you in prison for? And he says, for car theft. In that case, she turned to the Lord and said,16:00 Lord, thank you for sending me a professional. I want you to listen to me. When it comes to disciple making and building the church, there are no professionals because we are all people who are16:11 learning every single day. But I want you to capture this. Adopt wisely, not adopt wholesale. Adapt wisely. Whenever you are learning something in any conference, always16:23 remember this. You are not there to take and adopt wholesale. Why? Because what works in 1 context may not work in another context. What works in 1 country may not work in another country. But the16:35 undergirding principles will always transform time and geography. So I want you to listen to me. Take the principles, take the meat and throw away the bones but adapt wisely and not16:47 adopt wholesale. I want you to catch that. So this is important for us. I want you to pay attention to this. There are 5 myths that I find that in the body of Christ. This16:58 5 myths is what I want you to focus on. The myth of the perfect church. There is no such thing as a perfect church. Isn't it? Just like there is no such thing as a perfect17:10 marriage. But by the way, my my marriage comes close. Sometimes. Sometimes, when my wife behaves. But this is the myth of the perfect church. What is the17:22 myth of the perfect church? There's no such thing as a perfect church. And if you can't, you know, if you're looking for a perfect church, please don't join it because the moment you joined it, it will become imperfect.17:31 We all know that. So this is where you and I, we need to understand there is no perfect church in the world. We are all learning and we are all wanting to share what we know so that we can learn collaboratively and grow17:43 together. The myth of the perfect pastor. Just like there is no perfect church. There is no perfect pastor. Everyone is good from far. But they are17:55 really far from good. When you come closer, when you see the humanity of your pastor, you may not like him actually. This is what the key thing is, there is a myth of the perfect18:06 pastor. When a new pastor comes into a new church, there's always a sense of excitement. I always tell the pastors this is honeymoon period. It always takes about 3 years18:18 for them to get bored with you. Listen, 3 year cycle. That is what happened in Jesus' life. The first year, they always says, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The second year they18:30 always ask, what manner of man is this? And the third year they will say, crucify him. Get rid of him. Listen to me carefully. If you're going through a if you're a pastor and you're going through a painful situation, I18:41 empathize with you. We are praying for God's grace to be upon you. But if you're listening, listen to me. There is no perfect church. There is no perfect pastor. Thirdly, there is no perfect ministry. See, you can't say18:52 that my ministry answers the need what what is lacking in the church world. No, no, no. Every ministry is not the kingdom of God. Each ministry has a role to play. We have to play the role that19:04 God has called us to play. But we need each other. That's why we have a a respect for an honor for the other ministries in the neighborhood, in the city. We have well wishes for them and we we19:16 pray for them. Why? Because we need to reach the world. Discipling the world will require every ministry working together. That's why there is the myth of perfect ministry. Fourthly, the myth of the perfect19:28 strategy. What is the myth of the perfect strategy? Over the years in many conferences you might have heard that deliverance is the way to grow the church or prayer ministry and intercession ministry is19:40 the way to grow the church or we need to do expository preaching to grow the church. Can I humbly say this? I'm an expositor of scriptures and I've been doing this for many years. 1 thing I do know is even though19:52 you are expounding the scriptures to the people week in week out, that doesn't necessarily mean that the church is growing in-depth and people are growing in maturity. Why?20:03 Because it is not about how much they know, it is about what they do with what they know. It's the application of scriptures that ultimately transforms people, isn't it? That's why you and I, we need to pay20:14 attention. There is no perfect strategy. And I want to highlight this point right now. Disciple making or intentional disciple making is not a strategy. Listen to me carefully. It is the core20:26 mission of the church. It is not a good strategy for you to grow your church. It is the mission that Christ left us to do and this is what you and I we need to pay attention to.20:38 Hallelujah. And finally, the myth of the perfect condition. Many times when I talk to pastors when we are doing this leadership consultation, they will say okay then we will wait. We will wait for some more20:50 leaders to rise up or then we will wait for these conditions to happen in our church then we will start this journey towards intentional disciple making. But I can I humbly say this, when is the time to get married? Now.21:02 When is the time to have a baby? Now. When is the time to do that thing to ask for forgiveness? Now. Just like in life, you don't wait for perfect condition. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, he who waits for the wind, he21:13 who waits for the clouds to appear will never sow and he will have nothing to reap when the time comes. So you and I, we need to understand there is no perfect church, no perfect pastor, no perfect ministry, no perfect21:24 strategy and no perfect condition. Now is the time for us to recognize. I want you to listen to me. You may say, but pastor, this whole conference you're trying to help us understand discipleship21:36 and disciple making and the need for it. Aren't you talking about things that is working in your church but would it work in my church? Can I humbly say this? I'm not going to talk to you about21:48 how to do it in your world. All I'm going to give you is principles that undergird the thinking. We need to be grounded in the scriptures. We need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.22:00 We need to surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and we need to get a God given vision for our city, for our nation, for our church and therefore this is what we will talk about. We need to talk about22:12 the principles because principles will work for the tribal people in Thailand or India or Nepal and it will work for the elites in London or Singapore. I want you to22:24 listen to me. It will work for anyone and everyone whether you're educated or uneducated. That's why this is something for you and I to catch the principles that undergird an intentional disciple making22:35 church. Hallelujah. I want to take you to the 5 cries that I find in the body of Christ. Now these 5 cries are something that you would find22:47 even in mega churches as well as in small churches, whether they are rural churches or city center churches, you will find these 5 cries are22:59 common to the church world. And I want you, if you are a leader, if you are a pastor, would you take some time to memorize these 5 things? Because when you are doing mentoring and counselling, maybe a ministry leader who23:11 is discouraged or maybe you are meeting with somebody who needs something you want to diagnose. You just go through this. The 5 Christ will be applicable. I want you to pay attention. The first thing is there are too23:22 many programmes. A limerick goes like this, Mary had a little lamp which was given to her to23:34 keep. She joined the local church and died for lack of sleep. It could be any local church because there are so many programs. We23:46 are such program saturated church. We wanna keep the people so busy from program to program to program. Can I humbly say this? If you're a leader watching me this, would you do yourself a favor23:57 and read this book, Simple Church by Thomas Rainier? Simple Church, where the whole ministry is just based on 4 key words, clarity, your whole ministry and24:09 your entire ministry philosophy is centered around these 4 words, clarity, movement, alignment, and focus. That's the only thing we need. We need clarity of where we are going.24:21 We need to know where we are taking our people, the movement, and we need to know how to align everything towards that 1 thing. And then finally, we say no to everything else, that's focus. Too many programs and24:33 programs don't disciple people. People disciple people. But if you keep giving them too many programs, they are too tired to even disciple themselves and their own families. There is death24:45 by meetings that happens. So listen, too many programs. The second cry of the church is too few volunteers. Many times in churches, this is always the cry. The 2024:56 percent of the people do 80 percent of the job, isn't it? The Perito principle. 20 percent of the people carry the workload for 80 percent to enjoy. Listen to me carefully, the25:08 Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, you and I are called as pastors to mentor and train and equip and coach the members and members are to contribute25:20 and do the work of ministry when each and every member in the local church knows how to do the work that God has called them to do. Use the giftings and the skills and the talents and the abilities and go and reach the25:32 people that they need to reach. The Bible says that church will be healthy. But we have too few volunteers. And in some places, pastors tell me that, oh wow, in this case25:43 we keep asking for please volunteer, please volunteer, nobody volunteers because everybody has this fear. They always say, we need some fresh blood. We need some fresh blood. It's always an indication of we need you to25:55 sacrifice yourself. We need some fresh blood and nobody wants to sacrifice. And we need fresh blood. They would say, just try it for 1 year. But people who have been longer in churches know there's no such thing26:07 as 1 year. It's a life sentence. That's why many times it's too few volunteers. But you think about this recipe for disaster. Too many programs and too few volunteers. It's a church that will continue to26:19 be struggling. Listen, you and I, we need to take care of this. The third 1 is the leadership direction is not clear. The leadership direction isn't clear. That means the leaders26:31 not capturing 1 unified vision. There is no clear vision. There is no concrete strategy. There is no right structure in which they are functioning and26:43 there is no common culture that they have. I want you to listen when the direction of the leaders are unclear no 1 knows whether we are winning or losing. No 1 knows and people want to be part of a winning team. So26:54 listen leadership direction isn't clear. This is a cry of the local church. Number 4, leaders are not united. See sometimes you can have people with you just because people are with you doesn't necessarily mean that27:06 people are actually doing, what you have asked them to do. Listen, just because they are with you, just because they agree that this is the the right thing to do doesn't necessarily mean they are committed to do it.27:18 That's why in all our consultation is in all our sharings what we say to the pastors is don't ask for leadership agreement and don't just ask for leadership commitment, ask for leadership resonance. When you have27:30 leadership resonance there is a commitment that goes with it. There is an agreement that goes with it and they work together as 1 team, as with 1 voice, with 1 vision and that is important.27:42 But all these 5 cries, the underlying thing as I told you in the beginning is always the 2 words, the discipleship deficit and this is the reason why members aren't27:54 discipled. Many times we look at the church world and we go, there are so many problems in the church world. Can I humbly say this? There are no church problems. There are28:06 only people problems. And when you talk about people, there are no people problems. There's only a heart problem. There are no heart problems. There's only a faith problem. There are no28:18 faith problem. It is only a trust and obedience problem. There is no faith and trust and obedience problem. It is because there is no surrender. That is the problem. And there is no surrender28:29 because they are not tutored, are not discipled to give their life radically to the Lord Jesus Christ. So I want you to listen to me carefully. Members are not discipled. You know how when you walk28:42 into a church and you hear members grumbling and complaining and murmuring and some of the common rhetoric you may hear is I'm not being fed here. I'm not being fed here. I'm not being fed here.28:54 Over the years as a pastor, whenever I visit churches and I hear those things, it grieves my heart because discipleship is not about you getting fed. Discipleship is about you learning29:06 how to feed yourself. Let me say that again. Discipleship is not about you sit in a church and you sit and soak and turn sour. It's not that you are fed and fed and fed.29:18 The main thing is that you are taught how to self feed and that is the key for discipleship. Discipleship is that you have your own heartbeat to go before God and to hear Him and hear His29:29 voice and to obey Him and to have that personal pilgrimage with Him. That's why this is so fundamental an issue that you and I we need to have. When I look at all these things, I realize29:41 the leader of the church plays a critical role. The pastoral team plays a critical role in navigating the church. Look at all the 5 cries. At the end of the day, it all comes29:53 back to a discipleship deficit but it actually comes down to pastors and leaders giving emphasis to the right things. Years ago, I remember this.30:06 I was sitting in 1 of the hotels and having my breakfast. And at that moment, in that morning, I'm flying out from that city back to Sydney. That30:18 morning, the waitress came and seated a gentleman next to me. I recognized the voice, so I turned around, it was Doctor. Ravi Zacharias. We struck30:29 conversation, we ended up chatting for nearly an hour. I remember the conversation that I had with him because it really affected my life as a result. 130:41 of the questions in that whole hour of conversation, 1 of the questions I asked him is, this whole global church, the globalization of church, churches30:53 adopting other churches, churches springing up everywhere and globalization, I want to know what is your view on this. When we were talking about that, part of the things that he shared,31:05 1 of the things that struck chord with me is this. He said, Paul, years ago when I was having a conversation with my mentor, John Stott, He said, John Stott31:16 highlighted this that the church world changed when the pastor's study became pastor's office. And I asked him to explain and31:28 he explained it this way. When you go into a village in those days, when you go into a city and you want to meet the pastor, you will always be directed to meet the31:40 pastor in his study. Why? Because the pastor will be studying the word of God, praying for the congregation so he can come and feed the congregation with the word of God.31:52 But these days, he said, it is not so. Today we have pastor's office, not study, you find the pastor's office. Therefore in an office, you come up with vision, you come up with32:03 strategy, you come up with how to take the church to further places, how to can grow the church, how to grow in numbers. So when you come up with strategies and things and you lead the church by rhetoric rather than32:15 the word of God, this is the deficit. It struck hard in my life and I thank God for that conversation because it again helped me to32:27 understand and stay true to the mission that God has given us. Which is to feed the congregation, to disciple the members. Therefore they know how to walk as a disciple of Christ and in the process they32:38 also learn to disciple their family members and disciple the people around them in their workplaces, in their neighborhoods and wherever God brings them because we are called ultimately to disciple the nations.32:50 Hallelujah. Listen to me carefully, the 5 cries of the local church. I don't want you to turn to the next page. This is an33:01 underlying problem. There's a symptom of our problem. What we are going through, there are certain symptoms. And again, I want you to pay attention to the symptoms that are found in the church.33:14 See, I want you to capture the critical need, why we want an intentional disciple making ministry. Listen, the symptoms of our problems, number 1, it's the tired workers.33:26 All over the world, you actually read about pastors getting burnt out, church leaders quitting ministry. In fact, there is an article that came out maybe a33:37 decade ago that said more than 1500 pastors resign every month in the nation of United States alone. 1500 pastors, that's sobering.33:50 Many nations in many denominations, even within our nation, even within our country here, Australia, many denominations, many churches do not have enough people34:02 to come and step into ministry. Full time call. Why? Because people are looking at others who are running the race and seeing how tired they are. It is the most unappreciated work. So people are34:14 becoming tired. This tired workers is a symptom of our problem. But I want you to listen to me because the serving the Lord in a local church should be a season of joy. It34:25 should give you such passion. You should learn to do it with passion, with joy. But if it's tiring you out, something is fundamentally amiss. A couple was celebrating34:37 their fiftieth wedding anniversary. As they were celebrating the fiftieth wedding anniversary, the husband took the microphone and in front of the friends wanted to thank34:49 his wife. So this is what he said, Martha, I have found you to be tried and true. Martha being hard of hearing, she35:00 replied, I am tired of you too. This is what happens. We become tired as church workers. Number 2, the symptoms of our35:12 problems, lack of leaders. This is 1 of the crucial things that happens for longevity, for the next generation to rise up and to be able to lead. We need a35:24 pipeline of leaders. There should be a leadership pipeline that is well thought through and developed. But the symptom of a church that is in crisis mode is actually there's a lack of leaders. Why?35:36 Because leaders are not producing leaders, instead leaders are producing followers, more followers. I was invited to go with Doctor. Pastor35:48 Edmund Chan. I was invited to go with him to a demon class that he teaches in New York. In this demon program, the first question he asked all the36:00 doctors of church in training this 1 question and he wrote it in the blackboard. It takes dash to raise leaders and he asked them36:12 to repeat the various answers they will give. Some would say it takes time to raise leaders. Some would say it takes patience to raise leaders. Some would say it takes intentionality to raise leaders.36:24 But finally, he gave them the answer. It is not it takes all these things. Yes, it will take all these things, but it takes leaders to raise leaders. Listen to me carefully. Only you as a36:36 leader can reproduce yourself in others and cost them to rise up and lead. But you and I, we need to have that vision to see the leadership succession and to see a leadership pipeline,36:48 people who are being raised and empowered and released into their destiny. This is key, critical in a local church. Number 3, lack of growth by conversion. Many churches36:59 grow and they grow by transfer, isn't it? That is 1 of the problems in the developed nations, the church hopping. People like this here, they like it there, then37:11 it gives room for a consumeristic society, the spirit of consumerism and it's a spiritual consumerism. Now I'm not against people leaving their church and37:23 going to a new 1. But I do want you to know that every time someone does that to it in our own church when they come and join, I always ask them whether they have done it well and and left well. They they close well37:35 because we are joining a family, a local church. But if it if it is if it because this is important for you to recognize. God has placed each individual in a local family for a purpose. You are37:46 there to give not only to give but also to receive but some places you are called for a season. Some places you call for a long term. So recognize and to stay put and to grow but the lack of37:58 growth by conversion. This is key. People are not discipled to go and reach the new people. People are not ready to go and invest their time and energy in pursuing the lost, their38:10 neighbors. So a church needs to have a strategy in terms of going and getting new people, getting new people saved and come into part of the kingdom of God and be added into his global38:22 church. Hallelujah. Number 4, it's a struggling marriages. We see marriages that are struggling. 1 in 2 marriages fail in Australia they say.38:34 1 in 2 marriages fail. And the reason why they fail is because there is so much conflicts. There's so much ego, there's so much pride, there's so much individuality in38:46 the marriage, individual preferences. I usually jokingly say this at weddings that in a marriage, struggles will be there.38:58 And many times the struggle begins the moment the ceremony is over, the wedding ceremony is over. Why? Because the pastor pronounce from here on the 2 shall be 1. But the39:10 problem is which 1? And that sometimes is the issue. Who gives way? Who gives in? Who has the dominance? Can I humbly say this? There are struggling marriages but ifShow more
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Paul Jeyachandran
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