In this episode of the Bible for Business broadcast, we actually go live to an event that I held recently where I pre-true one of my favorite topics and then we ended with a time of ministry where people came forward and had an encounter with the Lord. It's all recorded and you can go and see it. I want to remind you too that this is a monthly event held in Brisbane. So if you can on July the 18th plan to be in the room or the details you can find in the description. All right. Let's cut to our recent event. The scripture for this evening comes from the book of Haggai. So let's go there. Haggai 1, Haggai 1, 7 says this, by the way, who bought a Bible with them? Who didn't, that's super awkward. It's called Bible for Business Night. It's not called Samsung for Business Night. All right. This is what Haggai 1, 7 says. This is what the narrator mighty says. Give careful thought to your ways. Give careful thought to your ways. By the way, that's the request of us tonight. Give careful thought to your ways. That's a great thing for you to do, by the way, like every day. Give careful thought to your ways. It says, go up into the mountain and bring down timber and build my house so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you bought home, I blew away. Why? Declares the Lord almighty? Catch this. Because of my house, which remains in ruin while each of you is busy with your own house. So, my goal tonight is to talk about a heavy topic and try and get you to like me by the end. So, we'll see how we go. If you want a title for my message, the title for tonight's message is the Great Mexican Standoff. The Great Mexican Standoff. That's the title for tonight's message. All right. I spent a bit of time on that because that's not the title that I first started with. Here's a title that I first started with. Why are we waiting when the Scripture says go? Why are we waiting when the Scriptures tell us to go? You know, I find that when most people come to Christ, like they're full of zeal when they first come to Christ, you might remember back when you first came to Christ. I can remember my conversion, it was a 23rd of September, 2004. So I'm coming up to my 20th birthday as a believer. For me, it didn't happen too far from here, right? I was going to Logan Uniting Church down at Springwood Way, and I didn't get saved in the church because it's uniting. I think they've given up on articles. So I went home and gave myself, committed myself to the Lord our home. And obviously, you know, we love that question, right, when we meet a fellow believer, like give us your testimony. How did you come to Christ? What was that? And they give you this story. And it's amazing. It's amazing how unique everybody's stories are, but there's one thing that typically happens after that. For somebody who has a true encounter with God, they start to build and dream. They start to dream with the Lord, right? And they're like, you know, I'm just, I want to do something big for God. I want to do something, you know, for a business person, I want to, I want to fund the missions. I want to write big checks. I want to fund the church. A lot of people start out with that kind of language. Now, ironically, it may not be at the point where they are prosperous enough to write the checks or do the work, but they started with that zeal and that intent. But of course, what happens over time, a lot of that stuff dies, a lot of that passion, a lot of that zeal, a lot of that commitment, a lot of that old pay any price. And then it becomes, well, I'll pay a price, and then over time, I'll pay a small price. And then possibly for some, I'll pay no price. And so my goal tonight is to kind of elevate some of that stuff back out so that it becomes more important in our lives. And we step back into that zeal that we might have once had, where we are totally committed to the kingdom. And by the way, this is not a review of you. This is humans that do this, right? This is the human condition that God has been up against since Adam and Eve. It's no different. Right? It's not God's design that we would go that way, but it is the flesh. I could prove it to you, right? You know, if you think about the Israelites, the Israelites experienced Passover, right? Remember the first born killed except their children because the blood was there. Right? You remember that story, right? What an encounter to experience. Six weeks later, six weeks later, they're in the wilderness, making a golden calf. From that, from seeing Passover, six weeks, making an idol. That's the human condition. We also read about the Israelites who, you know, when they, when they get manna on the ground, they stop praising God. You're the only God that matters. You're the only one will serve. You get on for like six minutes and you get to, we're going to die out here hungry. This sucks. At least we had meat back in Egypt, right? It's the human condition, but it's not God's best. So I told you about the title. The title is The Great Mexican Standoff. I told you the second title, which is, you know, ultimately why you're waiting when the scripture said God. That actually wasn't the first title I started with. I wasn't going to say it because it was a bit rude, but killing the global pandemic of apathy, killing the global pandemic of apathy. What does apathy mean? It's a Greek word, but it essentially comes from indifference. It comes from indifference. We start with so much zeal, but over time it can be so easy to become indifferent. Now, I understand why, I understand why you've got a life to put together, right? And then, you know, if I think about my story, I came to Christ. I wasn't married and I didn't have kids. I was a businessman, so I had business to manage as a believer. But I went on and, you know, it became, you know, I found a beautiful wife and I've got three beautiful daughters and I intend to keep it in that ratio. And so, you know, life gets complex, but it's very easy for that zeal to be watered down by the cares of this world, right? And so, what becomes more important is, you know, my career and my mortgage and my car payments and my commitments and my, my, my, and all of a sudden, we've taken our allegiance from the kingdom of God when we first became a believer to the kingdom of self, to some degree. And tonight, I'm really wanting to unsettle you so that we can take that allegiance that might be too much on yourself and start to place it back on the things of the kingdom. Only because there is an urgency right now for us to step into something that is happening in this world that we possibly haven't seen for the last 10 or 15 years on this earth. There is an urgency for it right now. That's one reason. The second reason is if you actually decide to go in for the things of the kingdom, your faith will actually make sense. Even your faith is going to church on a Sunday and sitting down for 90 minutes, nodding, clapping, singing, drinking bad coffee and going home. If that's what it is, it doesn't surprise me that no one would want to evangelize because you don't want somebody else to have what you have. But when you step into the things of the kingdom, your life becomes such a wild adventure that you actually can't stop telling people because you live in an environment that requires a supernatural outpouring in your life every single day. See that's the difference right. The reason why I'm trying to get people to catch you this is because it's a great way to be a believer. Right? It's like, yeah, amen from two people. Remember this? Yeah. Okay. I don't mean you when I said apathy, but maybe just saying, just saying. Like, let me tell you some of the stuff that I've heard, right? And you might have heard this too. You might have caught yourself saying them. Who knows? Right? But I hear people that are like this. They're like, they're like this. They're like, I'm in my waiting season. I'm just in my waiting season right now. It's okay, I'm in my waiting season right now. Okay, great. I'm just waiting for God to open the door. You ever heard that person, like chat it to them in the mirror? What about this one? Like, I just don't want to run ahead of God. I don't want to run. I don't want to run ahead of God, you know, like God's perfect. I don't want to run ahead of God. He's God who actually has a name that says I'm the God that goes before you. So as fast as you want to go, you've got a God that goes before you. But it's like, well, we have all these phrases and what they are, they just justify our apathy. You know, like, what about this one? I just want the Lord to show me really clear before I start. Like, I don't know that he could have shown you any clearer what he wanted us to do. Oh, I just, I just really need to, I just, I need to see from the Lord, like, I was talking to a fellow the other day. Great guy at a party. I only go to one a year and I've done one this year, so. And he was talking about how he left, he was at a church. He didn't really like it. He kind of grew up in the church. He was questioning a lot of things. And he really wanted to leave and go to a new church and find some freedom. And he's telling me, like, you know, like, like, like 10 years, 10 years I wanted to leave. I want my friends left and found freedom and, but I wanted, I wanted a word from the Lord to leave. I'm like, yeah, you had one for 10 years. Why do we like, you know, like, it needs, it needs to be a certain, what it does is it just justifies people not to have to pay the price to take that action, right? The kingdom is a kingdom that moves, the gospel is a gospel that moves, right? Like you don't need an open vision to make a decision if, if you already know the answer because it's in Scripture. But we're sitting back waiting for the Lord to, to give us a sign when he didn't just give us a sign, he died on a cross and they documented it. We don't need another sign. We need to stop the Mexican standoff and just start doing the very thing that we've already been asked to do. This makes sense? So, you know, so, so that's, that's the things that you can hear, right? From your friends, but I just had like a three second think through some of the things that Scripture says that would be the, you know, to counteract the apathy, right? So, you know, we heard about apathy, waiting season, a way to have got open a door. I don't want to run ahead, like, I want a clear picture. Here's what my Bible says, go and make disciples, occupy until I return, drive out demons, speak a new tongues, lay hands on the sick and they will recover, take this gospel of the kingdom to the nations, let your light shine before men because they see your good works. If a person asks you to go one mile, go to, and the one that we all know, if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all the other things that you desire will be added unto you. What more, what more do we need? Like you're looking for an individual letter to you, you have a Bible written to you. So here we are like, like, if you think about that, you know, like, like, I don't want to run before the Lord because like, you know, I'm smarter than the Lord. So if I run too fast, he won't be able to work with me. Right. Like, I have found that it is easier for God to bridle passion than get lazy people moving. Right? So just get out there and get amongst it. Like, like, I would 100% say to you that I was maybe still am a believer that like, I'm pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. And there have been times where the Lord's like, you know, like, like, slow it down. Like, like, that's the beauty of having a comforter, right? And a coach and an advocate scripture says, because you can get that, you know, witness about finding the rhythm of grace. But I'm out there and I'm trying and the Lord is matching that energy, right? But I meet people who are like sitting on their couch, eating tacos, saying, well, the Lord or bringing me a prophetic word to get started is he wants to cycle. Why don't you actually get up and go and do a few things and you might bump into somebody who's prophetic enough to speak into your life? But why don't you go and get active, right? We're just waiting. We've created a Mexican standoff that really like literally literally the scripture says greater things you will do. It says, it says, see the thing, this is Jesus speaking. See the things I did? You will do those things and greater things. Now that scripture is not in isolation, in our Bible, it does it in chunks. And so unfortunately, there's a heading before the next bit, but I think it should have been run together because the next bit is the explanation about how that can happen. It goes on to say, I'm sending you an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to equip you to do greater things than I was able to do, right? So if you're a redeemed believer and you're filled with the spirit, you qualify as somebody who can do greater things than Jesus. You don't have to have done Bible college or read Johnny Maxwell's four thousand books on leadership. Well, it's only one book, written three thousand nine hundred and ninety nine other times. Like the criteria is that you have a Holy Spirit and then you can step into that realm of doing greater things. So why don't we sit back? Why are we sitting back? You sit back because our life becomes more important than the kingdom. And you know what I love so much about God and his character? It doesn't say that you can't pursue the things that you want in life. You can, you can pursue them second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. You just can't pursue them first. See, he first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the other things will be added under you. And I get it time creeps in, you know, like, like if we go back to what practically happens, somebody starts out with all that zeal and then the things that can practically make that zeal go away are like prosperity. But you are on your knees praying for a customer when you were broke and then your business gets a little bit better and you haven't done that for it. Right? Prosperity can get rid of that hunger and that zeal, like all bring in apathy. Church hurt can do that because now you're separated and now you've got all the reasons in the world why you're not pressing into church and the things are God. Does that make sense? And just time, time and life. But we're never going to be able to be all that we can be and put the impact in the world that we can do if the things of this world have become bigger and bigger and the things of God have become smaller and smaller. We cannot have the impact. You know, the old hymn, right? It's like the things of this world will grow strangely dim. That's where we've got to get to. I don't care what this world could offer me. It can offer me the biggest houses, the fastest cars, all the watches, all the bling, the best experiences, the best holiday, it can offer me all of that. And I am not interested if it means that I can't do the assignment that is got for me. But I find a lot of people is like, I want to, but yeah, that sounds good, but I had that passion once, but, or, you know, like, like, yeah, we all had that zeal when we were saved, but that's the conversation. Listen, if you have those friends that speak like that, get better friends. We don't need any more people in our life that will lower the bar for us. We need people that are going to spur us on in the faith, take risks in the faith, try things in the faith, fall in your face, dust yourself off and get on. Like, do you think everything's going to work? You spend some money and it doesn't go anywhere, whoop, do you? You put your name to something and it falls over, whoop, do you do, right? You're proud about launching something and it's a flop, whoop, do you do? That is all insignificant compared to the price paid by Christ. It is nothing compared to the effort that he put in. See, if we have truly died, if we have truly died to self, then none of that stuff's going to matter. I don't know what something you're thinking, I believe I came out on a Thursday night just to be yelled at for 15, 20, 30, 40, 40, 40 minutes. Well, indeed, that's why I don't publish the topic. I guess, you know, the scripture about taking up your cross daily, that's the reason why we're supposed to take up our cross daily is because there's a daily reminder of the sacrifice that was paid for us for step ended. And if we take up our cross daily, then we are reminded of, you know, the assignments that's in front of us and the magnitude of the kingdom. And if we don't take up our cross daily, then the things of this world will become louder and louder and louder. And what I'm hoping tonight is that those things in the world become quieter and quieter and you and I can learn the skill of shutting them out and not listening. But it's going to take an encounter with God, not coming to hear where's. My speaking is only to build your faith so that when we can have a time of ministry, you're going to have an encounter with the Lord. I'm not here. There's nothing I can say that's going to change you. You've been walking your way, however that is, for the last however long, mine are just empty words. Right? Sure. They have some power because I'm reciting, you know, the scriptures, but what I say is going to be less powerful than one word from the Lord when you have ministry. Right? That bit's true. So all I'm trying to do in this moment is to build your faith so that you can start to expect an encounter with the Lord. And we will go to a time of ministry tonight and you can partake in that. You don't have to. It's not precious, not weird. But if you want to, then I'm believing that the Lord is going to touch you in a way and get that fire built back inside of you and you're going to start to fan the flame of what He deposited in you when He first became a believer and those dreams and those visions that He deposited in you when He first became a believer are going to become so tangible and so true that you're going to start to realize that some parts of your life are going to have to be cut out to make room for those things to become bigger and bigger. That's what's going to happen tonight for the person who's got the faith to step into what God's got for them. But it's not going to happen if you sit back and go, yeah, I'll just waste it a night. Let's go and get cold juniors and have a good trip home. You know, I think if I was to kind of distill down what it is, like in terms of a mindset, right, awesome thinking around this, I feel like when it comes to our relationship with God, there's kind of two frameworks that we can put it through. We either see our relationship with God as a covenant or we see it as a contract. And the difference between a covenant and a contract is a contract has outs, breach, remedy, force majeure. But that's you've probably done enough contracts to know like contracts have outs. This happens. I'm out. This happens. I'm out remedy. You're like 14 day done, done, done. Right? That's a contract. But that's not what a covenant is. A covenant doesn't have outs. And if you're married, you've probably made two covenants in your life. I've made two covenants in my life. I made a covenant to God that I'll I'm here's and I'll serve him all the days of my life and I made a covenant to my wife that I will be married to her for the rest of time in sickness and in health. You know, it's funny because I'm like Kimberly, my wife, epic, epic chick. Well, we just record these after say them because occasionally she asked her, listen, women never recorded them in the past. I could say whatever I wanted, it didn't matter. But now I have to kind of level up a little bit. When we got married in front of, you know, like in front of the minister and our friends and God, I made a declaration, I said, as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Just like Joshua said, as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. And in that moment, they're not just words that sound good on a wedding or they do, but but it was more than that. It was like our household, we're committed to the things of the kingdom, which means that we may have to go without. It means that we're going to have to pay a price. It means we're going to have to do things in a different way. It means that we're going to have friends that are like, what the heck are you doing? We're going to have friends that we probably walk away from because they don't understand we're probably going to have family that we have to walk away from because they don't understand because what I basically said in that moment is we're going to have to do something in a very different way to the way that most people do things because as for me and my household, we're going to serve the Lord. And from that moment to today, for all the highs and all the lows that you have as a family, we're still committed to serving the Lord, as a family, you know, my middle daughter, my daughters are 15, 10 and eight beautiful girls, absolutely love them to bits. My middle one came to me just this morning, she goes, hey, dad, you know, in Duluth, it says, give and it shall be given under you. And then she sit there, she goes, press down, shaken together, and running over. I'm like, yes, it does, darling. Yes, it does. So give me your pocket money. All right. Yeah, it's your pocket money. Like, like, that's what, like, if you're not getting the scriptures into kids and you're not a householder serving the Lord, like you've got to, you've got to jam that stuff into the kids as much as you can, right? Now, she actually learned that at church, which I thought was a beautiful, beautiful place to learn. So, so we've got this concept of covenant, we've got this concept with contract. And, you know, like, that's a covenant I made with Kimberly, but when I made a covenant with God, it was also a lifelong commitment. Now any believer who makes a covenant with God or commits their life to the Lord and then walks away, they didn't make covenant. They made contract because now they're like, well, I had outs and we've arrived at a place where I'm going to execute on the outs and I'm leaning, right? Super, super worrying place to find yourself. And I would also say a lot harder than just making a commitment. Just make a commitment and live up to it every day. That is easier than trying to figure out. Am I staying in? Am I getting out? What's the criteria for getting out? Has God not done enough for me? Am I hurt by the church or like, it's too hard. Just make a simple commitment, Lord, I'm yours until the day you take me home. And that's it. I'm going to serve you every day, right? That's going to be a lot easier than questioning, right? Whether he's done enough or you're enough or people are, it's too hard. Just make a decision and go for it. You know, like, I'll tell you some fun stories because I've wanted to be a person from the very beginning that tested the scripture, like I actually said to the Lord, I want to test the scriptures. I want to prove them, right? Like, I want to prove them to be right, not prove them to be wrong. That's been my goal from the day that I got saved. And so to some of you know this story, right, but we've put on an annual conference every year. It's called the Kingdom Business Summit. We had it in March this year. We had 650 people at the at the show grounds of the RNA, big conference room. We had Jamba via dial in who have epic Bob Hasen and a few other speakers. It was an amazing two and a half days. We had worship together and we prayed and it was cool. But you know, but that event started in 2012 with 28 people in a hall in Noreng on the Gold Coast and the reason why I chose that hall is because it was the cheapest hall I could get my hands on in 2012, right? Like I literally run every place like I'm like, how many cockroaches? That was the question. Like, you know, the more it was, the cheaper it was on there for, that's where we're going to go, right? Like it was not a, it was a good starting point. Let's call it that. Not the most inspiring place you could ever walk in there. And the only reason why I know that we had 28 people is because I called 28 people and said, be in this room for two days and I'm going to teach you a mix of business training and scripture and we're going to put them together and it's going to be explosive and we'll finish with a time of prophetic ministry, not done by me, praise God and that was it. And by the way, that was just off a word of the Lord. And Lord said, run a seminar for Christians in business in 2012, back done. So you know, I mean, we went back to people afterwards and we said, what was it like? And they said, best conference I've ever been to, right? But here's the bit that astounds me. That first year, the budget for that conference was $450. That's how much it costs to put that event on. That was the room hire, by the way, for two days. That's how bad the room is, right? And we didn't sell tickets. The Lord was like, no, you're paying for it because it's your assignment. Okay. I had a business. The business was doing well. It's for you to pay, okay? So I decided that we would make a commitment to running those forever until either we don't need to do it because the whole marketplace has been redeemed back to God or I died, right? Outside of those two, we'll keep running them. So the next year we did it again and we had 98 people in the different room, right? 98 people. And I remember that budget for that year was $1,650 for the second year. My ticket's on paying it. And I've got to tell you, that first year of $450, I'm literally on my knees going, is that really you, God? You want me to pay, like, shouldn't they pay it? Like, I'll put it on. Is that really you? I'll pay it. I'll pay it. I'll pay it. All right. Let's get off my back. I'll pay it next year. 1650. Is that really you, God? And the other reason why it was 1650 is because I flew my friend Mark Bilton from Sydney up to the event, right, to speak because I thought we'll get a speaker in as well. To me doing it all. And but I was proper cheeky. I said to him, I'm Mark's like this, like, full bougie, high flying corporate guy, right? Like he's old. He's probably watching the lives, really old, like, and but loaded, right, like loaded. But I was like, I don't have the budget. So what I did was I flew him up on, like, the 7am flight. He landed, like, 830. We got him to the thingy. And he spoke for one hour. And then at the end, I'm like, you're getting back on a plane and going home because I can't afford a hotel for you tonight. I don't want to pay for it, right? So we literally got him back home to Sydney, like later that night. Like, I don't want to pay for a hotel, right? Would have blown the budget. 1650 bucks, right? Well, the next year, we were up to 196 people in the third year of the Kingdom as a summer. You know, and I still remember it was like three and a half grand that year because we added a few things in and we hired some equipment to make it a little bit better. And the budget was out there. And the Lord, but you're home for it, right? Now, it got to about year four when we blew out to, like, nearly 500 people, it was 456 people. And then the numbers went 456 and then the next year we went to multiple cities. So we went straight out to 1,126 and then, you know, and then the numbers exploded, right? Because we went to multiple cities. And the budget just kept getting more and more and more and more and more. But at year four, I noticed a pattern. And the pattern was that every year the Lord asked me to do what he asked me to do. My business had prospered in the background without more effort to be so profitable that it can underwrite whatever the Lord had asked me to do, right? And that's when I got to the point after year four of going, Lord, I'll pay any price because it's on him to do the other side of the supernatural story. So make sure that I've got enough to underwrite it. Does that make sense? All right. So I'm saying this because I have tested the scriptures on your behalf. And I have found that give and it shall be given under you, pressed down, taken together, running over. I have proven it to be true. Now funny story, 2016 rolls round. And Kimberly and I decide it would be a great time to sell everything we own except real estate by a caravan or a forward drive and go around the country. Well, that's $150,000 exercise. Praise God. He had already made our businesses prosper enough to be out of underwriter. We didn't have to go ask anybody for anything because the Lord had gone before us and provided. Why? Because we have made a commitment that as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord and we take up our cross every day and we go fight for things of the kingdom and we're less interested in what we can get out of life and we're more interested in what we can sow into the kingdom than we are what we can get out of life. And so I say that as a testimony to say that the numbers are now ridiculous. And it is an absolute joy to play a part in living in such a way that you know that you're playing a part in advance in the kingdom. And I don't need to worry about, I'm telling you this because it took me four years to learn this. I don't have to worry now whether the Lord is going to come through to be able to do the things in my life to underwrite the things that he wants me to do because every single year he has proven that he has gone ahead of me and made the businesses profitable enough that we can underwrite it. Spirit of testimony. Can't argue with it, right? But I'm telling you because I want to build your faith. And this isn't just a money equation. It's not a money equation, right? Like I'll tell you another funny story just because it's come to my mind. This one I love, right? So obviously some of you remember we had a pandemic, right? And a few people got crook for the most part. That's about it, right? Like that's not playing it down. That's probably playing it up. Anyway. Okay. Some of you are upset still. I didn't bring it. But I will say, see, see, when you're full of zeal and you don't have apathy, when some is a pandemic, I'm like, well, it better be worried about me. I people say to me, you shouldn't go in that building because there's COVID. I said, that COVID should get out of that building. If the veil tore, oh man, if the veil tore, so if I have full access, right? I don't have to worry about what this world has to say. You should be worried about me. In the Old Testament, people say, don't touch somebody with leperitism because it can come on you. In the New Testament, if I touch somebody with leperitism, it's going to cut off them. That's what the New Testament is all about. So how do you possibly take that and be scared of a sniffle? So anyway, obviously a large portion of our business is running events. Before they were banned, according to the overlords called premiers, who we had no idea who they were before the, before the vid, a premier, we, we, look, you know, the chief health official that's unelected, that decided all of our fate, unelected, like, look, that's what me actually, it wasn't until COVID that we realized that our federation is really broken. Right? Before that, it was fine. Then we rose. Hang on. This federation thing sucks. Right? There's a American forefathers, they had an idea when they said we the people. Right? Because we had nothing in Australia, right? So anyway, obviously, now this is going out on the book, so I don't care. I broke every rule I could to stay in business, right? And if that upsets you, it's going to be super awkward if you walk out, because not many people here, but for me, I'm like, no, no, no, no, like, we're an essential service because we're talking about the kingdom. That's not going to fly with our policymakers, but I wasn't caring, right? So I was like, we're just going to keep doing events. And so we, you know, we looked like we were trying to do the right thing. And, and I remember I was doing an event called the 4% club, it's a bigger clients that they work with, and we were in Brisbane, and it's basically two groups on two separate days and we come together for dinner in the middle. Well, hello and behold, somebody there has got the vid, right? As you can imagine, right? And he decides to have breakfast with me, right? And so I feel myself like going downhill during the second day. I'm like, I feel like I've been hit by a truck, right? You know? But I didn't let anybody know. I just was, was, was teaching like I would normally. And it got to like five o'clock and I'm like, I'm tired. It's like tired on day one, it's like I'm looked 12, like I was really trying to figure out what was happening. Anyway, I went out to dinner with a guy that night and I'm sitting there at dinner and I'm shaking and I'm going, huh, all right, I got a problem. It looks like I've got the vid, all right? Anyway, he's like, you know, do you want coffee dessert? I'm like, no, I won't go home, right? So we walk back, we go into the hotel room and by this point, I'm like shaking, shivering, shaking. Now, now you've got to understand it doesn't bother me. So here's, here's what went through my mind. It's like, I ain't got time for this, right? This is, I'm like, I've got people flown in for tomorrow, right? I've got another event at the back of the week and every, it was the next day in a different city. We roll from one event to the next pack down and go. I'm like, I already know that people have flown up, they've been on a plane, they're at the hotel waiting for tomorrow's event, right? And I was starting to get really angry. I'm like, what am I going to do? I mean, live stream from my bedroom when they're downstairs in the hotel, like that's, like, they're in a, like, conference room and I'm on a camera up in my, like, anyway, so I sit up, bolt upright in my room and with my hands, I cast that thing out of me, right? I cast it out as I'm going to time for this, get your filthy hands off me. I curse that in Jesus' name, angry, right? Bolt upright and I lay back down and 10 minutes later, gone in Jesus' name, right? Don't thank me, thank the Lord, right? I'm giving you a testimony here. Listen, it says it. It says, we just read it before, lay hands on the sick and they will recover. It is, it's like, it's either true or it isn't, right? Now, it's ironic, right, that I get that kind of breakthrough because I needed that breakthrough. I needed that breakthrough because it was going to be really, really horrible on me and the other people that made an investment on my team, if I couldn't fulfill what I promised to fulfill. So the reason why the Lord is giving me that kind of breakthrough is because I'm on assignment doing the things He's asked me to do. One of the things I would say to you is most believers never get a breakthrough because they don't put themselves in an environment where they need one. What do you mean by an environment? You know, like a lion's den, like a prison, like bitten by a snake, like in a fire. That's what I mean. We read about those stories in Scripture and we celebrate them, and then we go back to a life that doesn't require a story because we've made it too comfortable through our own indifference. And tonight, the invitation is to have an encounter, to throw off that restraint and step into what the Lord's got for you. I essentially think that there's three ways that a kingdom entrepreneur can recalibrate their life and start chasing the things of the kingdom. And there would be a lot more than these three. These three things are broadly speaking. The first thing that we have as kingdom entrepreneurs to play a role in the kingdom of God is obviously finance. How much? Just a bit more. I heard you pass to say it just a bit more. I don't know, like every pastor would say, just a bit more. Listen, we don't have a cap on how much we can earn. That's the beauty of business. There is no ceiling for us. You could absolutely maximize an entire industry and get full saturation, pick another industry and go after it. There's no limit. The only limit to the amount of money you can earn is your work ethic. Right. If you're prepared to work at this assignment of building businesses to advance the kingdom for the rest of your life, the number will be eye watering. The problem comes is some people get a certain level of prosperity, which is enough to look after them and throw a few crumbs to church and they tap out. That's the most selfish place you can ever find yourself, by the way, is to earn just enough for you and a little bit more to feel good about frying some crumbs in and you're done. Right there is the self-interest that God has been warring against, is Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, so all the way through. I think that one of the roles that we play is to give money and I would say to you that that's going to look different for every single one of us. It's meant to look different. The first place you should be funding is your local church. By the way, that's not necessarily from the Scriptures. What is just smart, right? There is no Scripture that says bring it to the synagogue or whatever. It just isn't there. You can say for it, isn't there? What it is though is it is a really good place for you to be funding because they're doing community work. They're looking after the loss, they're feeding people, they're teaching you, like there's just really good reasons. The pastor needs to have his or her hands held high so that they can be a man. The last thing you want is your pastor not making enough money so they have to go and get a second job and now they can't be a great pastor for you. You better off to just make sure they're well-funded so they can be a great pastor for you and actually be a pastor for you, right? That would be a smart move. So you should be funding that but I would say to you that I don't want to limit it either. There's going to be other things that you should fund with your money and that is where you just get to seek the face of the Lord and say, "What is it for me?" What is it for me is running those events I told you about. Those events, they are big loss of and what a joy they are to take those losses, right? But it's going to come in many different forms. Here's one of the things I would say to you that should be a bit of a blanket rule. We actually, like funding our church, yep, great, outside of that, we need to start thinking about souls and evangelism again, just like they did 20, 30 years ago. That seems to be a bit of a lost art now where we have wandered off from salvation and started funding wells and roofs and books and programs, which is all good works, but what is the point in digging a well for somebody if they don't get the gospel? Does that make sense? The last thing you want to give an account for is that you double well or put a roof on and that person has now got a roof and they're going straight to hell because nobody took the time to tell them that God loves them and he's got a plan for them, right? So we actually need to get back to actually the harvest. And so I would say to you, one of the things that you should really consider and I would say immediately is start to contribute to something that is boots on the ground evangelism, even if it is with a tiny amount of money for the discipline and the allegiance that souls matter to me and I'm going to go part of it. Now, it's not like there's a shortage of people doing that kind of work. They're just not normally the ministries with the best logos. Give me what? And there's another reason why I'm speaking into this and just give me three minutes to explain it. Does anybody know Jackie Ford, the Evangelist, Australian Evangelist, Jackie Ford, Epic Chick? So she's a full-time evangelist and she runs a ministry in Sydney called Sydney Fire Evangelism or something. Jackie, if you ever watch this, you're an absolute blessing looking from a guy. Kimberly and I think you're amazing. We love you. So we decided to go and join her one night without telling her, because we've been watching her ministry doing a little bit of support here and there and so she does this prayer meeting and then she hits the streets once a month on a Saturday night. So we were in Sydney, Kimberly and I and we stayed on for one night and we just turned up to this prayer meeting and it was all cool. But we were in Sydney and it was absolutely pouring down. This is like six weeks ago or something, pouring down with rain, three hours of ministry in the streets pouring with rain and it was a beautiful night. And there is a hunger, there is a hunger for the things of God right now at a grassroots level that I haven't seen in the kingdom of God in the 20 years that I've been a believer. There is a hunger on the streets for people to encounter God and I can prove it to you because I was just part of it six weeks ago. This one guy who came up and he was like this is this angry looking guy and he was standing on the fringes and jacking in the team of preaching and I was like she said do you want to preach? I'm like no thank you. You are great at it. I'll make it way too complex and so I was like let me chat with the people that are interested. So Kimberly starts talking to this guy and she says come over and so I come up and she's like meet Bernie and this guy's like my name is Boomerang Bernie. But indeed proud indigenous man, angry unfortunately anyway we're talking to him and I just kept saying like like like if you give your life to the Lord so much of the pain and suffering that you're hanging on to every day is going to disappear you know he was addicted he had been addicted he had just come from an AA meeting right he was telling me he said I've been on the tram I was an AA meeting I'd do it twice a day he said and as the tram caught up I heard your music and my heart dragged me here. He said I was compelled to get over to where this music was and I'm like so you do know what that means that's the Lord like anyway so I'm taking him through what the gospel means and how beautiful and rich the relation anyway and I said I look him in the eye and I say Bernie do you want to have an encounter with the Lord tonight like Jesus always said do you want do you want to do you want to get well you want to have an encounter and he looks at me he's like yes I said but if you choose to have an encounter with the Lord tonight you need to make peace with the fact that the things you've been hanging on to are going to fall away you've got to make a decision do you want to hang on to the pain or do you want to hang on to Jesus because you're not going to be able to have both he's like I want I want to know anyway so Kim and I lead him in a prayer and I tell you it was a most beautiful story because I said well repeat after me and I said dear Jesus and he said dear Jesus and I started my salvation prayer and he did it in his native indigenous tongue after me and I'm falling apart right like I'm falling apart right anyway the story he's looking at me and afterwards and he's like what what just happened right he's anyway we're talking about the trend old things have passed away new things have come right you're a new creation silver the Holy Spirit taking him through all of this stuff straight pouring down with his reign he's under my umbrella so is Kimberly couldn't get a worse place but we're anyway I said to him I said he said he was staring off into the distance he said what's the white horse this guy can't read this guy can't read as never read the Bible never been to church what's the white horse because he's indigenous people they know how to tap into the spirit realm like that it's one of the greatest gifts that they've got right anyway and as I'm talking to him about what the end times is going to look like Jesus come back into white horse it's going to be a trumpet every knee will bow he starts absolutely shaking and he gets delivered on the spot I'm talking like seven minutes saved sealed delivered and free seven minutes does that make sense I'm like he's like I haven't eaten all day I like man we're going to get some food right so I took him in and we've got some food he said can I stay around tonight I just want to be around here now like you know can I stay I'm like yeah man they'll be there every month right got his phone number gave it to Jackie the team said we'll walk a journey with him and so forth I remember another story same night two two young 19 year old books minding their own business they cross the road they walk up to they kind of see where all the shenanigans is going on and they're like and they walk off talking amongst themselves and Jackie goes new boys and they turn and she just starts saying guys got a plan for your life like you know you might be wondering through life working out what are the questions are but God's got a plan for you and it was to have an encounter with you and it's called you by name tonight and these two boys they walk straight back up and in the next 10 minutes give their life to the Lord as 19 year olds who said we've never been in church we've never done anything we had no encounter with the Lord and tonight we give ourselves to the Lord to 19 year olds so you can't tell me that the world is going to hell in a basket right there is a hunger right now there is an intensity right now there is a harvest right now that you and I can play a part in if we'll just take some of the proceeds of our business and start channeling it towards the harvest of souls you and I get to play a part in that but not if life has become houses cars watches things experiences and holidays you can't have both you can't have allegiance to self and allegiance to the kingdom at the same time one of them is going to have to die the second thing that we can do of course is that we can get to love and past our team as business people what a wonderful opportunity our pastors get 90 minutes with us truth is they probably get two minutes with us one on one you're going to spend 40 50 hours a week with your team you get to be a great witness to them laughing on them helping them walking them through stuff helping them become better people showing them a witness of God showing them the heart of the father this is how well you know like I'm scared I'm scared about being bold in my face because if I do it they'll quit well listen I've got a God that's bigger than one team member quitting see the thing is like if you if you're scared that your business isn't going to suffer because one person leaves that is an indication that the things in the world have become so big that the things of the God have become so small he's the God of the impossible he can make us a crooked past straight why are we worried about what may happen with one person instead of actually worrying about what God can pour out on your life now I know you get it that's the reason why you guys have given up your Thursday night to come here and be yelled out for an hour I get it I'm talking to a great group of people but here's what I'm wanting for me all I want you to do is order yourself and recalibrate and for some of you it could be a recalibration of 174 degrees and for some of you it could be four degrees but you don't want to leave here the same as you came in because ain't nothing going to change one of the third areas that we get is we get to influence our communities this is an overlooked area in the modern context of Christianity one of the reasons why we have so much junk and rummish that has made its way into society is because the men and women of God have not stepped into those places and been jolly on the spot and brought the anointing and brought the gospel to create change we've abdicated the positions of authority in society and of course if the kingdom of light is going to abdicate a position the kingdom of darkness will happily take it in a second and so if you go back 200 years Christian men and women had positions in their communities out of civic duty to their kingdom now again it's become all about the things as well there's no time we're too busy running 34 kids to 700 sporting programs we don't have time for anything anymore and so what's happened is because you're not on the board of your local school when they start wanting to put books in the library they put trash books instead of you going I don't think they're the best books for this school for these reasons surely I'm going to vote against that stuff right because we haven't we don't do that we don't use our position of being business people which because we get put up on a pedestal right business maybe more generally and a bigger pedestal the more money you're making for sure we get put up on a pedestal we should be using that as an invitation to step into those places and be like no no no that wouldn't like how about we do it this way can imagine right you could imagine scenario you are on the board of a school they're like hey we're thinking about buying this range of books for the library right and you're and you're like no that's teen fantasy no no 1213 falling your old she'll be reading that right so you go does think that's a good idea how about I buy an alternative set of books for the library if you want books like like you can actually create practical change when you start to view it that way so we're going to be better with our money we're going to be better with our team and we're going to be better with our communities you know for me there is an urgency this is not like a there's not a message like chat GPT or watch somebody else deliver like three weeks ago and wrote it out this is a burden of mine that I'm carrying and like I don't want to put your message where you can't encounter the Lord and that's what we're going to do in a minute again no pressure I don't want you to feel any pressure right to to to to have ministry in fact in fact if you're stubborn then don't it doesn't matter to me I've already decided as for me in my household what was so the Lord I'm just trying to help other people do the thing I might get the dynamic duo back up oh no we're having music right can we do music have you got that you're epic all right we have we have a dynamic duo at home to the other dynamic duo kids jump to your feet for me everybody jump to your feet I want to read something to you the Amos the prophet he says this the days are coming says the Lord when the reaper will be overt will be overtaken by the plow man and the planter by the one treading great just think about that the days are coming to clear the Lord where the reaper will be overtaken by the plow man basically what he's saying is they'll become a time when you can pull out the harvest before you've even planted the seeds talk about urgency what he's talking about the end times he's talking about the last days right we read from script like the when he when he changes water into wine why is it that he made so much wine at the end of the party because he's given us a message that at the end times we're not just going to spiral into an abyss of the devil becoming more powerful and taking over no he's saying the end times will be greater that's why the ladder rain is better than the former rain there's come at a time and we can step into this right now or we cannot and we can miss it but the truth of the matter is they'll become a time when the reaper will be overtaken by the plow man we can start to reap a harvest now right before we've ever started sowing because the Lord is speeding up his cause of winning people to him it is speeding up right now and I want to say by faith that there are going to be an army of kingdom entrepreneurs who lead this charge of funding their assignment of funding evangelism of partnering with their pastors in a bigger way in a fresher way to start to see a speeding up of people coming across if we want to step into it the white ministry is going to work is this is we're just going to make it an altar now the thing is it doesn't have to be anything in the New Testament anything to be an altar so this bit of old carpet down here he's going to be our altar this evening and it's an act where you say I'm coming forward because I want to have an encounter with the Lord but here's really what you're saying you're saying father as I come forward tonight I want to shake off any apathy and I want to step into the zeal that I had when I first became a believer and I want to play a bigger part in advancing your kingdom that's what ministry is tonight and you're going to come forward and I'm going to pray for you and I'm going to lay hands on you and you're going to and Lord's going to speak to you and that's how that's going to go so if you want to have ministry that are coming down the front be bold come down the front don't worry about it don't ever think it come down I know some of you are like yeah but I got friends here I can't listen if your pride is going to keep you there and let it keep you there I'm here to work with the people that want to have an encounter with the living God listen if you're coming down here listen get your hands raised I thank you the Lord you're not here to do ministry with me you're here to do ministry with the Lord this is your moment to have something broken off your life and to step into something newer and bigger if you speak in tongues start crying out if you don't start crying out this is your moment he promises to stick closer than a brother your father is so close he wants to minister to you right now he's going to give you pictures he's going to give you words rasha bara masunda bakai endi rasha bara masunda bakai this is a quiet group of people for a group of people that want to have zeal let's lift up the name of the Lord not don't be scared don't worry about the person to the left of the right he worried about Jesus come on lift up lift up your voice rasha bara masunda bakai endi raba ba ba ba sam bokoto rashiti me bara masunda bakai endi raba ba ba sam bokoto mo rasha tam bara masunda bakai (speaking in foreign language) Come on, you're just not in the present. Make it loud or make it proud. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) All right, listen, this is what the Lord wants to say here right now for those of you who have come forward. We read in the book of James, right? And any time you're gonna pick up the book of James, you're about to get an uppercut because he was serious, right? This is what James says. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, go in peace, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing to keep about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by action, is dead. Someone will say, you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without your deeds and I'll show you my faith by my deeds. Listen, what the Lord wants to say to us tonight is, if you have a faith that has no deeds, it is a dead faith, it is a faith that is dead tonight. And I don't want you to go one more day with a faith that is dead. I want your faith to become alive tonight and just be manifest with brand new deeds, with a heart for others, looking after people's physical well-being, turning to your brother and sister on the streets and lending a hand, finding the vulnerable and being a solution to their problems. That's the evidence of an alive faith. [MUSIC PLAYING] Come on, lift up the name of the Lord, we're not going home yet. We're pressing in. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] absolutely filled in Jesus name. Bring that spirit alive in a fresh way in Jesus name. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. Hallelujah. Fresh outpouring right now in Jesus name. Not one area of his life that's not filled with God. I say to that spirit come alive again. Be renewed in Jesus name. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. In Jesus. Mighty name. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. O man. Fresh outpouring in Jesus name. Spirit come alive in Jesus name. We're going to remind you of a very basic scripture that says where two or more are gathered he's in our midst. Right now the Holy Spirit is here. He is here. We are a ritual where we come to throw our hands up and sing some songs. The Holy Spirit is here. Without faith it's impossible to please God to activate your faith right now in a fresh way. Let's reach out of voice to heaven again. Let's throw up gratitude. Let's ask God to trust us more. Father give us opportunities so that we can love on your people more. Father give us opportunities to evangelize. Father give us opportunities to win the lost. Give us opportunities to love on the lost. Listen press in for me right now. 60 seconds. Raise up that voice. Raise up that voice. Raise up that voice in Jesus name. 60 seconds press in. It's a small place to pay for you to have an encounter with the living God who is here with us tonight. 60 seconds. Come on. 30 more seconds. Get those voices lifted up. Why out to God. Why out to God with the voice of triumph. Why out to God in Jesus name. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. All right lift your hands. Father we are committed to your kingdom. Father forgive us where we have let the things of this world become louder and louder. Honestly Father forgive us where we've let the cares of this world become more important than your kingdom. Father tonight we choose your kingdom first and we will trust you to bring all the other things to us in your timing. But tonight we make a commitment. We will serve the Lord. Father send us as your witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea to the ends of the earth and to the marketplace. Embold in us Lord to step out and pray for the one and to pay for the one and to love on the one. Father embolden us to speak the gospel out when you prompt us. Father we want to be part of the harvest where we win souls for your kingdom. Give the Lord a massive hand clap those are not in hands. Let me let me round out by saying this. You know, one of my favorite things to do is I love watching preachers from like the 80s and the 90s. I feel like they were holding ghost meetings. Some of you might be thinking, yeah, they went a bit far. Maybe they did. That's not a meter set. I wish I'd seen them. That would have been cool. I'd rather hold a ghost meeting rather way than one that's going to happen for you. But you know, one of the things that used to happen in the faith a long time ago is somebody would get saved and they would immediately take them down to the nearest water and get them baptized. If you're going to recalibrate your life to the things of the kingdom, it actually starts tonight, not tomorrow. You should probably find something to do tonight. That could be as simple as you're going to transfer some money to church or whatever. Like you could figure it out. Bring somebody and minister them. Send somebody an encouraging message to open up a conversation that you couldn't minister to them. It could be going out of your way to message one of your team members and say, hey, listen, I want to be there for you more than I have been. Why aren't your customers? What I don't want is I don't want your faith built in here tonight. And then you go home and three people cut you off and you get home and you argue with your spouse and then you wake up tomorrow and it's the same. That's absolutely pointless. It's got to start tonight. We activate this thing tonight. Tonight. Do not let yourself go to sleep tonight without taking action on this newfound zeal that you have encountered here this evening. Otherwise, it's going to get stolen taken and tonight will be of no value. Does that make sense? That's my request. I'm happy to come here and pour out, but I want you to do something in return. Here's something else I want to say to you guys tonight, because I'm enjoying being in your company. I love you guys. You guys are a lot of fun. I appreciate it. Next time we'll have a few more amends or whatever, but I'm working on it. I might ring some Americans in the room and they'll can teach you how it's probably done, but amen. Here's what I want to say to you, as a group, here's what I would love. I would love it if you went out into the world for the next 30 days until we meet again and actually activated this and come back with some war story. I actually want to hear testimony from you guys about what has happened in your life as a result of this. I want you to come back with a story that says "Where's ours?" I was super worried, but I reached out and prayed for a guy on the street and he received Christ. I saw this homeless person and I was like, "Now I'm going to buy some food. I'm going to sit with them for 10 minutes and tell them my testimony." I want to hear stories where you're like, "It was a bit awkward, but one of my team members had a family member that passed away and I asked if I could pray for them." And they said, "Yes, since I prayed for it, I want to hear those stories." We actually need to hear those stories of what it looks like to be a minister in the marketplace and bring them back together so that we can build each other up. But I need you to go do it. And by the way, just send me DMs. If you have that encounter, just send me a message. I'll remember it. I'll talk about it next time we're here because there's really no point in keeping doing this if we don't actually go and actually be hands and feet. That makes sense. I want you to actually go out and be the witness that you can be with a new level of oldness and a new level of zeal and actually come back with some cool stories and we'll share them. Otherwise, it's just another meeting and none of us need another meeting. That makes sense? All right, throw your hands up one more time. Let's thank the Lord. Father, for the last time tonight, Lord, we just acknowledge you and we honor you. We absolutely love you, Lord. Father, thank you for bringing these people out from their busy lives to have an encounter with you tonight. Thank you for allowing me to bring my team up here tonight so that we could come and have this meeting. Father, prepare other people to be in the room. Next time we get together, we ask that you bring more kingdom entrepreneurs into this room, into the safe environment so they can have an encounter with you, Father. Ultimately, God, we absolutely love you. We absolutely love you. We absolutely love you. And the kingdom entrepreneur said, Amen. Listen, it's been great hanging out with you. I love you guys. Let's activate this tonight. Let's not go to bed, even if you're tired without doing something towards this. And you and I are going to get back here on the 18th of July and we're going to build on this and we're going to do it all again. Love you. Thank you. [BLANK_AUDIO]
