(upbeat music) Hey everyone, I'm Clinton and this is my wife, Libla. And we are the lead pastors of "Hold DHB". We wanna thank you for joining us on our "Hold DHB" YouTube channel. We pray that as you listen to this message today, it will normally lift you up and encourage you, but it will be a blessing to you and your family. Enjoy the message, God bless you. (upbeat music) - So my message today is titled "No Turning Back". No turning back. How many of you remember the Sunday school song? I don't know, for those of you who grew up in Sunday school, went through Sunday school. ♪ I have decided to follow Jesus ♪ ♪ I have decided to follow Jesus ♪ ♪ I have decided ♪ You know, we can't go through life looking at the rear view mirror. We can't go, anyone drives their car like that. By looking at your rear view mirror, no one, right? If anyone of you does, please meet Nitin because he's the recent person who just got his driving license, okay? So please, none of us go through life by driving, by looking at the rear view mirror and driving our car because you're bound to crash. You know, a lot of, even if you look at the Bible, you look at the Israelites, when they were brought out of Egypt, it was like they were driving by looking at the rear view mirror. They asked Moses, when there are no graves in Egypt, that you brought us out over here in the desert to die because they got so comfortable living their lives as slaves. They got accustomed, they became accustomed to their lifestyle, that they knew that the end result for them till kingdom come, till they leave this planet is we're gonna be slaves, that they failed to see the plan, the promised land that God had in store for them. And they got upset with Moses where there are no graves over there, that you brought us out over here to die, but they failed to see what God had ahead. And so I pray, I pray that even not just for as a church in your life, I pray that today would be the day of that 100% commitment, that complete loyalty towards God and towards the kingdom of God where you say to yourself, no turning back, look to the neighbor next to you, look at them in the eye and say, no turning back. And turn to the other person you ignore, you ignore and say, I'm not gonna turn back either. I'm not gonna turn back. You know, when I say 100% commitment, when I say complete loyalty towards the kingdom of God, it's not you just coming and warming up these beautiful benches in Christchurch. It's going all in. What can I do with the gift that God has given me to contribute towards the work of building the house of God? You know, we want people to lay bricks, not someone randomly to come and put a piece of Tomakol. While bricks are being laid and some few people come and put a piece of Tomakol because it's very nice and light, you can just take it and you can throw it from where you are. But when you have to carry bricks, it's an amount of weight that goes into carrying a brick. You know, and laying it, you need to put the cement, we don't want people to just throw a Tomakol. You know why? Because the house will fall down. The wall will come down. We want people who are in, all in. Jesus said, "Give me 12 people and I will turn the world upside down." We have more than 12 over here today. Who's where you turn the city of the bi upside down? Three of us, brilliant. Three plus three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is more than enough. That's more than enough. You know, Mach 22, sorry, Mach 2 versus 21 or 22 says, "No one soothes a batch of unstrung cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse." And no one posed new wine into old wine skins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the wine skins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine skins. You don't want to say this. We can't put new ideas into old mindsets. We can't put new ideas into old mindsets. We can't get new results with old behaviors. You know when Moses unfortunately did not see the promised land, Joshua was the person who led them into the promised land. You know how the book of Joshua starts worse too? What an amazing, I mean, one of the best, one of the best ways to start a book. Moses, my servant, is dead. Moses, my servant, is dead. And all the people who followed Moses, you know, after Moses, my dad, when I've come up, Joshua's like, "No, no, no, no, you know, Moses was a leader. This is how he did it. So you need to do it the same way. This is how we believed, you know, when Moses told us the whole story and he told us the picture, he said, "This is what's going to happen. So you need to do it the same way." No, Joshua had a unique gift and a unique anointing. There's a reason why Moses was not, there's a reason why Joshua led the people in the promised land on Moses. Because the people got so used to Moses' style of leadership that in when Joshua came, I'm pretty sure they were like, "No, no, this is how you need to do it." But you cannot get new results with all behaviors. You cannot put new ideas into all mindsets. Let me tell you this, when the work is standing up, we as a church need to be standing out. We as the church need to be standing out. We as a church need to be the voice, not of the city, not of the nation. We as a church need to be the voice of the world. And very quickly, I just want to give you, you know, in line with my message of no turning back, I just want to give you three steps on preparing to become the new wineskin that God is calling Hope DXV to become. The first is we must break free from the fear of change. We must break free from the fear of change. And I just want to highlight a couple of principles of change. Change is a principle which means I can't avoid it. Change is a principle which means I can't avoid it. You know, many times when our children are growing, we feel that they're so cute at certain ages. And then when they go past that age, we tell them, it is I've done it many times. Please don't grow, please don't grow. Please remain the same. In a sense, we're confessing something that's negative. But you know, we don't want that moment to pass by, you know, where we adore them and are so cute. You know, please, please, let not your cuteness go. Let not your cuteness go. Listen, change is a principle, we cannot avoid it. We all are called to grow in some way or the other. Change is personal, it starts with me. Say it starts with me. Nobody has authority to control you until you let them. Nobody has authority to control you until you let them. How many of you have been in that place where he told me? He told me to do it, so I did it. You know where it came from? Say where it came from and I'll give you a book. Two people, I have one book and I have more than one. It came from Adam and Eve. He told me, nobody has authority to control you. The only authority that you need to walk in is the authority of the kingdom of God. That's the only authority you need to walk in. Change is possible. How many of you believe, or the next couple of weeks, or the next couple of months, if you have it on the inside of you, I want to lose weight, it is possible. Nike paid me to say this, just do it. No, they didn't, just do it. Adidas believes in a lot of, you know, the world believes in a lot of things that we as Christians need to believe in. Adidas says, "Impossible is nothing." That's actually a title for my message that I'm preaching next month at cornerstone. You know, Nike tells you, "Just do it." Adidas says, "Impossible is nothing, but we as a church, we fail to understand, and we fail to hear the voice that is louder than any other voice. The voice that brings hope, the voice that brings freedom, the voice that brings breakthrough, that voice comes from the Word of God. Change is possible. Especially for us as a church, change is possible. Don't tell me what I cannot do. If there's a problem, bring to me the solution to the problem. Don't tell me what I cannot do. Because my Bible says you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you. If God says, "This is not the way, God has a better way." Because he's Yahweh. Change is painful. It is costly. When you need to be over there to lift up those weights, it is painful. When you have to be over there, don't put your treadmill on five. And just, you know, it's painful, it's costly, but it will bring great returns. Change is good. Change is profitable. Change is perpetual, it is continuous. It is continuous. And change is predictable, which means you can't plan it. If you've been procrastinating for a while, next week. If you've been procrastinating for a while, actually like me, after I came back, I said, tomorrow I'm going to walk, tomorrow came, and then it became yesterday. And then every time I say, tomorrow I'm going to walk, this week I'm going to walk. But let me tell you, it's predictable, you can plan it. I'm predicting the faith, the growth that is going to come. I hope DXB in the name of Jesus. And as I predict in faith, we need to plan towards it. Because I see something, I see something in the spirit, but I want all of us to state. I want all of us to state. Second thing is, we need to be willing, we must be willing to lay down traditions. The first thing I said is, we must break free from the fear of change. The second thing is, we must be willing to lay down traditions. We must be willing to lay down traditions. You know, we are living in a time where praise God for mega churches, praise God for mega churches, praise God for the work that passes all over the world, what pastor in mega churches have done. But I think we're coming to a place where the table, the temple is important, but we're coming to a place where the table needs to be important as well. What do I mean by the table? The table of genu, the table of genuity, genunity, you know, people have forgotten what it is to have conversations around the table. We meet, hey, you know, we meet, oh, so what's happening in your life? You know, what's happening all of this? Are you praying? Are you praying? Are you reading your Bible? You know, where are you in your walk with God right now? All of that is great. And I am, I validate all of that. I believe in all of that. But we've forgotten to sit at the table. You know, the table of genunity, the table of vulnerability, the table of fellowship where we can sit down and just be like, hey, what do you like doing in your free time? I want to know who Joseph is. I want to know who, who, who Don is. What do you like doing in your free time? You know, I mean, Don loves, I mean, yeah, yeah. Hangout is on the next level. You ask them what do you do? Oh, we're going to play with Blink Tennis. We'll do battle. Just make some of us realize. We need to stop eating. You know, hangout. But, you know, I need to know who Don is. I need to know who Joseph is. I want to know. What do you like watching? What do you like watching? What, I want to know about you. What are some of the dreams you have? What are some of the desires you have? And, you know, it's amazing. But around the world, the church is coming back to that place. But they've forgotten what it is to have conversations at the table. As I said, mega churches are great. But God is, I mean, God's doing such a work. And he's moving in power among small churches right now. But there's such a sense of unity that's coming about, such a sense of unity that's coming about. There's such a, such a, uh, uh, people are starting to know what, what it is to live like family all over again. People want to sit at the table, and they want to call each other friend. We're not looking for missional relationships. We want friendships. And sometimes we need to lay down traditions. We need to, no, I'm not that person. I'm an introvert. I'm an introvert. Please. I will, I will, I will empathize with you. If you show me the word introvert mentioned in the Bible. I promised you I will empathize with you. These words, these feelings, these ideas, a man made. God did not say introvert, extrovert, introvert, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. God created us for family. God created us to do life. And sometimes we need to lay down out. We need to lay down things that we built up. No, I'm not this person. I cannot speak. I cannot go out of my way. I want everybody else to come and say hello to me. No, it doesn't work like that. God wants you to be you. He created you to be you. He created you to be a person that's filled with the love of God. He created you to be an encouragement to somebody. He created you to bring breakthrough to somebody. He created you to believe somebody, to believe with somebody for their victory. We must be willing to lay down traditions. How many of you know that this unity amongst the fivefold ministry? It says Christ gave, Christ Himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. But what? But to equip his people, wow, that's pretty crazy. To equip his people for the works of service so that what might be built up? So the body of Christ would be built up. You know right now in this congregation over here, we've got apostles, we've got prophets, we've got evangelists, probably pastors and teachers sitting over here in this congregation right now. The problem is you haven't identified it. Now just because the word pastor over there, you may say I'm not called to be a pastor. Some are called, but some are gifted to be pastoral. Some are gifted and are wired in a way where being with people, spending time with people comes naturally. But the beauty is that all of these gifts come together. There's a unity amongst all of these gifts so that the body of Christ may be built up. So again I'm saying these gifts are present over here right now amongst all of us. And we need to identify it sooner than later because you are part of the building process. Turn to the person next to you and say I am part of the building process. I'm not an architect, but I'm part of the building process. You know and this unity needs to spread. If we want to see the church built up, I'm not a prophet. I do not function in the office of a prophet, but I can prophesy. Everyone over here can't prophesy because we all have the ability to hear the voice of God. I'm not an apostle yet. Right now only Reverend. Reverend Dr. Bishop Apostle Paul Pena. No, no, an apostle is a person whose Paul was an apostle. Paul was an apostle. He had an apostolic call because he went out planting churches. He went out with the mission of planting churches and raising up people in the kingdom of God. You know, I love speaking to people about God, but I don't have the call of an evangelist. I know some people over here may be more experienced in that area than I am in. I know some people over here have an amazing teaching gift than I do. But we're all called to come together and allow the unity. We all need to come together united in order to build the body of Christ. You know, I really love Exodus 17, what's it, 8 and 13? And I'm going to land in a few minutes. It says, "The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at refuge. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. I stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands." So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered. Joshua went, he fought the Amalekites and Moses, Aaron and her, went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and her held his hands up, one on one side, one on the other. So that his hands remained steady to sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. You know, unity in a church is this way. If I don't support the worship team to do what they are asking and to make their leading of God's people, into his presence, easy, then I'm doing a disservice to the kingdom of God. If my daughter or whoever is on the presentation team doesn't do the slides well and doesn't allow me to speak under the function and to speak under the function and know the spirit in order for people to be moved and to have an encounter with God, then they are doing a disservice to the kingdom of God. In a church, every team needs to be united in order to glorify and magnify God first and secondly, for God to move and work through the service in the hearts of people. The worship team may say certain things. I cannot hear myself, I cannot do this and no, no, you can take it in the wrong way. If you are taking it in the wrong way, the enemy is winning. The worship team may say, listen, this is difficult, the sound is not coming through, this is not happening, you know. Naiji may say, when I'm asking the worship team to be ready, the worship team is not ready, you know, plug in everything, you know, set up everything, or somebody may say, somebody may forget to put the offering bags out. What will happen in service? Here are some confusion. We will not be able to, we will not be able to function the way God wants us to function. You know, what we are doing over here is creating an environment for God to move and touch every person's life, including our own. When we minister, whoever's up over here, whoever's doing anything that they're doing on a Sunday, they're not only ministering, they're being minister to as well. If the worship team does not get what they need, I'm not going to be minister to. And Vimi feel like, you know, it's not about rubbing each other's shoulders the wrong way. It's coming together in unity and doing what is right in order for the kingdom of God to move over here in Christ's church. Let me say this. The hand of Moses contributed more to their safety than their own hands. By that sinking. The hand of Moses contributed more to their safety than their own hands. They must have thought Aaron and her thought, wait, I'm the man, I'm the man. I'm lifting up those without, no, no, no, no. They came and stood on either side in unity because they knew that battle could only be one if Moses' hands were raised. The hand of Moses contributed more to their safety than their own hands. And it's very important for us as a church, for different teams to understand that there's, listen. Can I tell you a fact, a very important fact, really honest truth? I was not dropped from heaven, okay? I got into, no, no, no. Sometimes on Sunday, Sunday, more so, I get upset on the way when I come to church. Sometimes, okay, not every time, you know, and I'm, I'm sure happens to the best of us. Someone will cut me the wrong way, I'm like, sorry, that's the thing about the side. You know, someone will cut the wrong way or something. But when I come over here into an environment where everyone's working together, everyone's joining their hearts and their hands and doing everything that needs to, everything that needs to be done. In all of, for the presence of God and for the kingdom of God to touch people's lives, it takes away those ill feelings and it does something on the inside. Wow, today is going to be a good day. Whatever happened, forget it, today is going to be a good day. But we all call to work together to build, so if I call you and if I say, if I say the sound was not happening today, it's not, I love Naiji with the love of the Lord and even more. Hey, no, I'm not saying the sound is not good today. I'm just saying, I could get upset with the person on the presentation team. I could tell Sienna, no, I could tell my daughter, my daughter will get it more than any other person. And then comes my sister, and then from there everyone else down. No, it's not because I don't love you, it's because we call, God's given us a spirit of excellence. God's not called us either. Hey, Clint, just do, you didn't prepare a message? Ride with me, just ride with me, just flow, I'll give you the words. No, there's a preparation that takes place. It's something that needs to go down during the week in order for you to be ready and understand that there's a spirit of excellence that I carry, and I'm not going to compromise. I'm not going to compromise. You know, let me say this in closing, I just have one more point. You know, in the late 1960s, the early 1970s, there was the Jesus movement that had started, the Jesus movement. And people, I mean, it was amazing. Prior to the Jesus movement, the predecessor was the charismatic movement, okay? The charismatic movement, which lasted for over a decade. The early 1960s, early 1970s, the Jesus movement started, you know, and amazing things were happening. But around the same time that the Jesus movement started, was the civil rights movement, was the gay rights movement, was the women's liberation movement. In 1980, in the 1980s, the Jesus movement subsided, because the people were not open to change. The people were not open to change, the people were not open to change, the people were not open to change. The people were not open to change, the people were not open to change, the people were not open to change. Just because the people were not open to change, they termed them as the Jesus freaks, they termed them as the Jesus freaks, and they did not embrace them. We have a choice today for what we have to just allow it to fizzle off, or to value what we have, and to build on this, to make it great. And we must ask the Holy Spirit to release this new strategy. Let me say this, from your own, for us as a church, there is no turning back. There is no going back to what happened last year, what happened a couple of years ago, there is no turning back. For us, as a church, from your own, is only onwards and upwards. It's only onwards and upwards. You know, and God often offends our minds to expose what's in our hearts. God often offends our minds to expose what's in our hearts. But I just want to encourage this today, and I just want to say this, be all in. None of you, none of us are, wait, I'm trying to figure that's the right word, irreplaceable. None of us are irreplaceable. Just by you saying no, I don't want to contribute towards building the church, that doesn't mean the church is not going to be built. But by you saying, I want to contribute towards the building of the church, you're going to be, you're going to become a part of greatness. You're going to be a part of rewriting history. Winston Churchill said, history is going to speak well of me because I intend to rewrite it. History is going to speak well of me for I intend to rewrite it. So you can either say, I want to be a part of this, or I don't want to be a part of it. My request to you, my pledge to you, is choose to be all in, no turning back. Because it simply is worth it. It simply is worth it. It's worth it a lot more than you think it is. So, be all in, no turning back. Thank you for joining us and listening with message. We encourage you to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel, which is Hope DXD Church. You can also find us on Instagram and followers on Instagram. Our Instagram handle is, Hope DXD Church. We are also on Spotify. All you need to do is key and hope DXB and you will find us there. and we'll find this thing. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
