Val Palmer
Coastal Family Church
27/10/2024
Coastal Family Church Podcast
Triple Identity
(soft music) - Thank you for choosing to listen to this message. At Coastal, we believe in changing and enriching lives through the power of the word. We pray that this message would be a blessing to you. (soft music) - There's something that I want. I do love you, he's mine, he's taken. Sorry, too late. I'm so excited, oh wow, there's a lot of you this morning. Yay, I'm so excited to share his word this morning. I'm always excited to share, but especially about this. And I had a creative brain freeze, and I said, "Fried, Fred, please, "I need you to help me with this title." So thank you, Fred. I haven't titled this morning's message triple identity. That doesn't mean that you are bipolar on top of bipolar. God has given us a triple identity, and I hope that by the end of this morning, you can go out and fulfill and walk all three of these. So I'm gonna ask you a question. Can a person be a Christian and not go to church? Absolutely, you can be a Christian and not go to church, but you won't be a growing Christian. That's the difference. I wanna put this quote up by Kent Hughes, who was a pastor in a Wheaton College. And he says, "One of the most elementary level, "you do not need to go to church to be a Christian. "You don't need to go home to be married either, "but in both cases, if you do not, "you will have a very poor relationship." Because if you go home and you're married, you are a bride, you are going home to the groom. It's exactly the same with the body of Christ. So I hope I step on some of your toes today, especially those online. When it comes to salvation, but I know some of you there 'cause you have to be there. So that's okay, take a cup of coffee and cheers to those at home. When it comes to salvation, all I need is Jesus. But after salvation, everything I need is Jesus plus the church. Both, we need both. Jesus alone was never God's design ever. Christ is the head of the, and we are the body, we are the body, where's Ian? Is he here? Okay. They both need a good hairdo. I used to play with Jajon. So here we have Ken and Barbie. These pull their heads off, it's her Barbie, so I don't want to pull their heads off in case I break them. (audience laughing) Thank you. Our two boys hung all Natalie's Barbies by the neck from the roof and she came home crying, "Well, my body's a dead." So why does the point of the body with no head, which head belong, I better get it right, otherwise I'm gonna be in trouble here. We're gonna have six changes here. (audience laughing) It's the girl body and the girl head, okay? What is the point of this without this? If you gave this to a little girl for Christmas, what's she gonna do? She's gonna be most upset, and him. What about him? Is this how we go about life as a Christian? Because we neglect the body of Christ, we neglect getting together as a family. Thank you, Lylee. (audience laughing) Oh, thank you, Adi, sorry. I'll need them for the next session. Thank you. Charles Spurgeon gave the church a title and this is what he said, "The church is the world's hope." We are the world's only hope. Jesus Christ and us together, the head and the body are the world's hope. So it's not his church. If it's not his church, then we are ineffective. What is the church not? Let's tell you what it isn't to start with. It's not a nightclub. Does the church look exactly the same as the world? The church is not a hall of fame with perfect people in it. Please look at the person next to you. None of us are perfect. Everybody has a story. The church is not a museum where people come and share what they used to do and what God used to do. Yes, that's good to spur a son, but what are you doing? It's not all about what he has done. It's what is he doing? What is the church? It's a hospital for the... It's not just a hospital for the healthy. It's a hospital for the unhealthy. It's an army barrack to prepare you for battle. The church needs to be a school to instruct us and it needs to be a lighthouse to the dark world out there. My prophetic word, God's prophetic word of a coastal is that we will be a beacon of light to every single person that comes into this room and to every single person that goes out into this world, that we will be the hope of this nation every single one of you. Amen? We are a lighthouse in the dark times. All I want is for Jesus to say well done, good and faithful servant. That's all I want. Good and faithful prophet. Good and faithful teacher. Good and faithful CEO. No, he says good and faithful servant because we were called to serve. Amen, David. David and Rod have done many trips together serving. We have two, I'm not going to name them, two people that go to the Netherlands, Holland, Switzerland. Rod and Dave go to Haiti, Sri Lanka. So I'm going to give you an example. When Rod was in Bulgaria, there was an anesthesiologist whose wife couldn't go. So he said, do you want to come to Bulgaria with me to go ski? Rod had never skied in his life. We're in Africa. So the off he goes and he decides that he's going to be humble and he's going to go for lessons of which he did and there were only women because the rest of the men who couldn't ski would not be seen dead in a beginner's class. So they're all said to Rod, what do you do for a living? So he kind of got their scoops. So he said, well, I'm not going to tell you, you guess and I'll answer your questions. So I'm going to have a little bit of fun with this. So they asked us what he said. He said, I'm in a global enterprise. We have branches in every country in the world. We have representatives in nearly every parliamentary boardroom on earth. We are motivational and behavioral alterations. We run hospitals, feeding stations, crisis pregnancy centers, universities, publishing houses and nursing homes. I think they could guess what he did. We care for our clients from birth to death. We have life insurance and fire insurance. We perform spiritual heart transplants. Our original organizer owns all the real estate on this earth plus an assortment of galaxies and constellations. He knows everything. He lives everywhere, and our product is free for the asking. And it ends like this. Our CEO was born in a hectown. He worked as a carpenter. He didn't own a house. He was misunderstood by his family. He was hated by his enemies. He walked on water. He was condemned to death without a trial. He rose from the dead. And I have access to him at any time, and I can talk to him every day. That is our job. That is who we work for. That is who we, the body, carry and represent. Do you have access to your boss 24/7 any time you want? Did he rise from the dead? That's the church of Jesus Christ. That's what we're supposed to be. In Matthew 4, you'll see that Jesus mentions the word only twice. Ever, he mentions the word church. And that's in Matthew 16 and 18. And both times it was in conflict. It was in a fight. So things that keep people from church. Number one, deception and offense. And you know what one and two. And you know that that will come from within, and it will come from without. You can get deceived inside and outside, but you can get hurt in the church. The body can hurt you. So I want to show you that if the enemy can isolate you, he will get you to argue against each other. Instead of arguing the enemy, he will make an internal battle instead of external. So what is the church? The church is the body, the bride and the army. So that's where we have our triple identity. We are all three in one. It's just like Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all three in one. We are all three of those. So we are much larger than this building or a zip code. So I'm going to go into the first identity. The church is his body. Ephesians one, 22 and 23, it says, and he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things in the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So here we have Jesus, the head, and he says that here is the body, which is the church. All of us are Jesus' hands and feet. All of us are an extension of the head. Amen? We cannot be effective independently. We need each other and unity as vital. Just like that doll. You cannot just say, well, I'm all on my own. Well, then you're a body without a head and you're useless. I'm going to give you an example, an aeroplane. Do you know that an aeroplane is made up of 100% non-flying parts? Do you know that? The wing on its own is it going to fly? The chair on its own is it going to fly? The carpet on its own, unless you're a laden, is it going to fly? No, but if you take all those parts and put them together, that plane can lift 175,000 pounds and it can lift off the ground. When we all are individually, now, I'm here, I'm here, I'm doing my thing, I don't need the body, we are like that aeroplane in pieces with no lift and going nowhere. When we all come together, we have that dynamic of lift and then the church becomes what it's supposed to be. Amen. One Corinthians 12, 12 to 14, it says, "For even as the body is one, but has many members, "all the members of the body, though they are many, "are one body, so also is Christ." It's all about the one body. And then it carries on, I think, is there another one? Yes, for by one spirit we are baptized, no one... Sorry, no one... I can't read it there, so I have to read it here. Sorry about that, then how are you supposed to read it? For by one spirit we are baptized into one body. Listen to this, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, whether male or female. We all drink of the same spirit for the body is one member, not one member, but many. You can't say, "I love God and I hate the church." You can't say that, because you've got to love what God loves and God loves his church. Amen? He loves his body. He loves the bride. So, all of you, if you want to get to know me, how do you know me? It's been through my body, what I say, what I do, what I don't do, what I like, what I dislike, correct? You get to know me through my body. How do you get to know Jesus? How does the world get to know Jesus? Through his body. Are you reflecting and representing his body well? Look at your neighbor, don't look at yourself. It is so important, that's how he works. You know, the danger for any place or any church is to exalt the part and not the person, Jesus Christ. I don't care if you're a prophet, a apostle, teacher, evangelist, door-greeter, children's-greeter, every single one of us has equal value. The person that we need to be esteeming and lifting up is Jesus Christ, the head, not the one person in the body. The body can't have its own agenda. The head is the one that teaches us to know him and make him known. We've got to work together. One Corinthians 12, 17 to 21, it says, "If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? "Some of the hearing parts need help in this body." I'm talking about the natural... We have a lot of deaf guys here. LAUGHTER It was a joke. Sorry. He didn't hear it. LAUGHTER If the whole we're hearing, then where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them. If you are a member of the body of Christ, please put your hand up. So every single one of you are a member. Where would the body be? But now there are many members but one body. I cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you." Again, the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." We need each other. Have any of you heard the story of Ebony and Ivory? It was actually Ruth and Margaret in... I think it was 1982. Both of them, they did not know each other. They called them Ebony and Ivory because one was a black woman and one was a white woman. I could get into trouble for saying that today. But that is what the document says. I'm just repeating Wikipedia, blame them. LAUGHTER But both of them had a stroke in 1982 and they ended up in a home where it was there just to help for those that had disabilities. And Margaret with the stroke had lost the use of her left side and Ruth had lost the use of her right side. Both were accompanied pianists in the same home at the same time. And I'm going to share this is what Ruth said. "I was doodling on the piano with one hand, feeling so sorry for myself wishing I was dead. I didn't want to talk to anyone anymore." Then Millie, the program director, walks up behind me with Margaret and tells me that she plays piano too. So she says, "Why don't you two get together? One can play the left, one can play the right." So they sat on the stool and they played a Chopin masterpiece. The one played the treble with the right hand and the other played the bass with the left. I was elated to play my music again and we found out that we knew the same pieces. The story went national and they got picked up by the New York Times. They appeared on television both in US and abroad and they traveled together playing classical pieces, one with the right hand, one with the left. So if you want to do it on your own, guess what? You're going to be miserable one-hand pianists. We need each other, amen? We can't do it alone. Together we can do the impossible. On your own, it's impossible. Number two, the church is the bride. Oh, I have to put this up, sorry, I think I had it there. What God is doing requires a symphony, not a soloist. Everybody wants to be a soloist. It sounds much better when I don't even care if you can't sing. Sometimes I think God's deaf. Just sing your heart out. Number two, the church is the bride. Ephesians 5, 25 and 27, it says, "Husbands love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." So now I'm going to stand on your men's toes and then I'm going to give you an opportunity to say, "Amen," before I stand on your toes again. Men, you are shown across for your leadership. You are not shown a throne. You are shown across for your leadership, not a throne, not to lord it over. Amen? Some of you are looking for a throne of authority and Jesus says it is found and you dine to yourself daily. Verse 27, "That he might present the church to himself in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or no such thing that she could be holy and blameless." Now this is not talking about the natural bride. If we are to be without spot or wrinkle, he will never come back. Again, turn to your neighbor. This is talking about his church in general. God chooses to describe the relationship that he has with us as a groom and a bride. And Nate has done a brilliant teaching on that. I encourage you to come. This is not just about the Old Testament, it brings revelation to why Jesus says and does things in the New Testament. When couples go for counseling, I mean this is your turn to say amen. When couples go for the counseling, it is always the bride who has the problem, not the groom. Amos 3-3, "Can two walk together unless they agree?" Okay, I gave you that. That is talking spiritually, not naturally. All right, for the church to walk in unity, you must agree with Christ. It's not Christ agreeing with you. I agree with Christ, not Christ agreeing with you. Jesus doesn't adjust to your lifestyle. We adjust to his. All right, so now this is where I'm going to bring the balance where I gave you guys a chance. If Jesus and the church were about to go for counseling, the groom is just fine. It's his church, the bride who is in the problem. You get it? So where a lot of people think it's always the woman's fault. I'm sorry, you're wrong. You are sitting from the throne and not from offering up your life. Anyway, I'll move on. There are three top issues in marriage and in life today. Do you want to know what they are? Only three. Only three. Number one, selfishness. Number two, selfishness. Number three, correct. That's it. The issue is not Jesus, but the selfishness of the bride. Some people are so frustrated with the church and they leave because they say, I've got nothing in common with these people, but God does. It's not your church, it's his church. He doesn't pre-select people that have to sit next to you or come to church with you. This is the church and they're there as sandpaper. Sorry to tell you. To make you smooth, take off the rough edges. If you only want to be with people that you have something in common with, then you're wanting a club, not a church. Be inclusive, not exclusive. Some people all they want is Holly Davidson's. Let's just have a Holly Davidson club and God, then we don't need the rest. Others want fantasy football. Others, they want long lengthy church meetings every time. I love that picture. The church needs to be inviting and welcoming. It's not about me, it's about God saving lives. We've got to focus. Look at the people Jesus put together. I mean, if we just look at that, the zealots and the tax collectors, the zealots were known as the terrorists. They were the radicals. They were killing the Romans. You have the tax collectors. They were known as the traitors. They were stealing money from their fellow members. They were taking the tax to give to the enemy, but then they were charging you extra. So what does Jesus do? He puts them together. Matthew 10, verse 1 to 5, it says, "Jesus put together his 12 disciples." And he included Matthew who? The tax collector, the traitor, and Simon the zealot. And Judas Iscariot, the same one who betrayed him. No Christian is an only child and no Christian is an orphan. God will put you together irrespective of who you are, watch your background. He chose 12 of the most unfamiliar people and put them together. Telling your young people, you don't want to just go and start an exchange church, because you'll all end up looking the same, being the same and you'll never grow. Old people, oh, I want to go where they sing, just hymns. Okay, I'll carry on. Don't camp at the memorial move on. Number three, the churches is army. Ephesians 6 and Matthew 16. A soldier often symbolizes strength, spiritual readiness, disciples, endurance. To Timothy 2, 3, Paul tells Timothy, "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." He calls us soldiers. We are the body. We are the bride. We are a soldier. And guess what? You're going to have hard times. Too bad, too sad. Ephesians 6, 10 to 17. Once you have become the bride straight away, what does Paul say? Put on the armor of God. Straight away. Ephesians 1, we are the body of Christ, the fullness of him. Ephesians 5, we are the bride of Christ. Ephesians 6, we are the army of Christ. As soon as you get married, the church is trained to fight. We fight the enemy, not each other. I am so saddened at what's going on in this nation today. When Rod and I came to the States the first time, I was so enamored by the unity, how everybody was just so proud to be American, how they loved this nation. The patriotic spirit was just so strong. Today it's so fragmented. Everybody's against each other. The enemy doesn't even have to try. He's got you fighting each other so he just steps back and smiles. It's got to end. Matthew 16, verse 18, that says, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail." You know that gates don't fight, they protect. The idea here is not that hell will attack the church, which it does, but it's that we will advance and attack hell and get life saved. Go in and take them into the light. But we just stand here with our little gates and we think I've got to protect my gate. No, you go out there and you win souls. William Barkley, there's a quote he says, "There has never been a time when it has been more difficult to be a Christian, and there has never been a time where it is more necessary." It has never been more necessary for the church to be the body and the bride and to be the army. So how do you fight this? It's not flesh and blood. There's a contrast in Ephesians that I haven't noticed before, it's never jumped up. But Ephesians 6, verse 10 to 13, he speaks about the wrestler and the soldier. So a wrestler back then was usually a gladiator or someone, it was one-on-one, one man-on-one man, and it was usually to the death. So it was only one against one, a soldier, what do you have? An entire army you have backing. I am not called to wrestle, I am called to be a soldier with my family. There's a big difference, he says, "You are finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil, for we do not what? We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalisies, powers of darkness, against rulers of this age. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you will be able to withstand the evil day and having done all to stand, you will stand." Any of you watch the gladiator with Russell Crowe. He said to them, "Can I have, where's Chris Gollin? He's always my example. Is he here? Please come here, Chris. Please, can I have some of the musicians? I need about five musicians up here. I'm choosing musicians because they're usually weaker. You know, I'm teasing, I'm teasing. You know what they say about musicians? They are temperamental, half temper, half mental. So I need the musicians this side, please, and I need Chris here. You're on your own. Sorry, Chris. You have to be the devil today, just today. So with Russell Crowe in the gladiator, what happened is they had put all the guys out to be savaged, but he said to them that if we fight alone, we die. If we fight together, we shall win. So now I'm going to ask, well, I'm going to try and push me, Chris. I'm going to try and push as hard as you can. I can't. I can't do it on my own. I know he doesn't want to push. He's so sweet. Okay. I'd like all of you to lock arms. If we lock arms and join arms. Okay. All of you come towards Chris. And now I want Chris to try and push you, but you've got to push him back. Okay, go. Let's see. Let's see. Push, Chris, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push. Thank you. Do you see what it's like for you on your own? Thank you. We are stronger together. Amen. I'm going to quickly run through. I've got five minutes. I'm going to run through. The principles are being a Navy SEAL. And I'll tell you, this was inspired by it's underwent her conference dream week in Pretory in South Africa. And I already had this message put together. But I went and I looked up the principles of the Navy SEAL. And we need to take these principles and apply them to our lives because God is talking spiritually here as well as physically. Number one, they are disciplined and have consistency. The Navy SEALs maintain with rigorous discipline in their physical life training and in lifestyle. Proverbs 12 verse one, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. But he hates reproof is stupid. I know you said don't call people stupid, but it says stupid. Number two, mental toughness, seal training emphasizes pushing through physical and mental barriers. The government does not rule us. We push through with Jesus Christ. Number three, teamwork and brotherhood, seals operate in teams, trusting each other completely. A principle of the seals is that no one is left behind. Jesus leaves the 99 for the one to embrace that no one's left behind. What number am I now? Number four, adaptability and flexibility seals are trained to adapt to any situation always remaining flexible. Number five, they are mission focused. The success of the mission comes above anything else. Number six, perseverance. They never quit. Believers never quit. It is deeply ingrained in the seal culture. They are taught to persevere through adversity and to embrace discomfort and pursuit of the mission. James one verses two to four again my worst scripture in the whole Bible, but I live it. Consider it pure joy in my brothers and sisters when you face when you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work that you may be mature and complete lacking nothing. Number seven, leadership. The seals are trained to both be leaders and followers and the last one, physical and mental preparedness. They maintain peak condition, physical condition and mental condition for their skills. Their priorities reflect their mindset of excellence, resilience, commitment that applies not just to military life but to everyday life. And I'm going to read to Timothy four verse two, preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. We have a triple triple identity and we are stronger together. I'm going to ask you, please, if you think you can do this on your on your own, you are deceived. Don't isolate yourself. When the lion is looking for its prey, what does it do? It's those on the outside. Stay in the middle. They always, I know this is terrible, but they always said, if you are in the ocean, make sure that you swim with a surfer that has a black wetsuit on because they think it's a seal. They'll take them before they take you. There are some jokes here, please. If we can just pray, Father, I am just so enamored at how important your body is to you, that you love your body so much. God, that you sent your son, Jesus, the head, to die for us so that that body could be connected and correctly aligned to the head, which is Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that every single one of us, that when people see us, they see you, when people get to know us, they get to know you, let us be a good reflection of you. And to those that don't know Jesus, surrender your life to Him. It's the best family you can ever belong to. It's just Jesus I give you my life, be my Lord and Savior. Take rule and reign of my life today in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Valerie. I do warn you every week that thoroughly preaches that you brace yourself. She'll make you laugh and then slap you. Just imagine being married to her. I'm honored to have her as a bride. It's powerful. And I tell you what, coastal, you're a wonderful family. You're an amazing family, and you represent God well. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Father, thank you. I'm not allowed to preach because my turn's coming. Hallelujah. Let me just pray for you, and if there's needs in the house, please come up and stand here. There's people looking out for you. They will want to anoint you with oil. Pray with you, have a prayer of agreement, and don't want you to leave without having a prayer request answered or filled, or have somebody agree with you. Hallelujah. One of the things I love about this, Navy Seals, when you're in training there and it's hell. I don't know how many weeks they train you for, but it's hell. And they've got to say, I'm going to give up tomorrow, not today. And when tomorrow comes again, I'll give up tomorrow, not today. I'm just saying, give up tomorrow, not today, okay? Give them Jesus today, amen. Father, thank you. Let you, the lover of our souls. And truly, Father, we want to be the body, we want to be that bride, and we want to be that army that takes on the challenge of bringing the good news to an e-dying world. Thank you that we are the carriers of good news. Allow us to emanate that. Allow to permeate through every fiber of our being, your goodness and your kindness to a world that really needs to be touched by your love. Thank you, Father, as you commission us again to go into this world and we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Can't leave without saying hi to a couple of bunch and go to Cafe and have a cup of coffee. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you for getting up. - Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO]