Let me pray for David and for us, and then I'll hand over to David, who's going to take us through our talk tonight.
Heavenly Father, we thank you now for the opportunity that we have to look at your word together, to consider what it is that you're calling us to as a church.
We pray that you'd help David help all of us as we listen. In Jesus name. Amen.
David, over to you.
Thanks, Dave.
Cool. So we're continuing to go through the church values, and this is the final one.
It's in some ways a continuation of where we were last week.
So as is our habit, let's go through our church values and see if we can name them all.
Go.
Kingdomly minded.
Kingdom minded. Okay, very good. Kingdomly minded. That's today.
So let's do the other ones.
Locally rooted. We're going in reverse order. I like this. Can we keep going?
Locally rooted.
Servantly led.
Gospely centered.
Two left.
Prayerfully dependent.
Servantly led. Servant leadership.
Was that that?
Just one more.
Lovingly diverse.
Yes, very good.
Well done.
Good stuff.
So we are going to talk about kingdom mindedness today, which in a sense, I've framed as sort of part two of last week, which is the locally rooted.
Right. So looking at ourselves as a local church in a specific area at a specific time.
Serving this this part of the world.
Right. So but then there's this idea of kingdom mindedness.
And so what what does it mean to be kingdom minded?
Broad question.
But it's an interesting one in the sense that there's probably a lot of things that go under that that you might say, oh, well, it means this or that.
Right. But one thing.
And we prayed it in our group and many others probably played it in your groups and probably otherwise.
But we pray for revival in our city, in our area.
Right. We recognize that the majority of our neighbors and colleagues and friends and people that live in the city don't follow and worship Jesus.
And so we pray that they would and that our church would have an impact and be able to connect with those who live near us or that we might come into contact with.
We we do that. That's normal.
And so one way to think about kingdom mindedness is to play that forward and say, OK, Lord, if if you answer that prayer, if you do send revival to northwest London.
But he does it primarily through another church.
And that church grows and has a major impact.
And our church feels like it stays the same.
How do we how do we feel about that?
Right.
Do we want thy kingdom to come or do we want our kingdom to come?
Right. And so kingdom mindedness is really it's.
Taking a zoomed out kingdom level view of what God is doing and allowing us to have a bigger picture than simply what Wes Kilburn is doing or what we are involved in or things that get attached to to all of us.
Right. And so.
It's it's looking beyond with with kind of God level imagination at what he might be doing in the world and in our area.
That doesn't necessarily.
In Acts one.
We'll turn to Acts in a minute.
You don't necessarily need to go to one.
Go to 13.
We'll start there.
But in Acts one, when Jesus ascends and the believers, the people who are following Jesus gather in a room.
It says that there was 120 of them at the time.
Right.
A couple of weeks ago, I think I did the count and there's about 120 people in this room.
Right.
On a Sunday morning, not on a Sunday evening yet.
But the idea is that within two generations of that moment.
The church was cross continents was like on an ascendancy at a level that was would have been unbelievable to those 120 people.
Right.
And so it's not that small is incapable of doing anything.
Obviously, God is in control and he's moving those things.
And so I just just framing it.
That is a pretty interesting spot to say there was 120 at one point and it made a worldwide difference.
And so there's no reason that kingdom impact doesn't come from a small group of people in a small in a specific place.
They were in a room in Jerusalem.
So turn to Acts 13 and we'll start there.
It'll be a continuation of what we talked about last week, looking at the church in Antioch.
So last week we talked about how there was this one church that after Stephen's stoning, the church was persecuted, obviously, and spread out of fear.
And so they ended up in different places.
One of those places was in Antioch.
And in Antioch, the people there, the believers there started preaching and teaching non-Jews.
And that was a new thing.
And it was the first place where people who followed Jesus were called Christians, little Christs.
And so there was this really interesting thing.
And then they sent the church in Jerusalem, sent some people to see, Barnabas, to see if what they were doing there was on the up and up and made sense.
And he comes back with a great report.
And so what we see in Acts 13 is the continuation of that.
And it says, we can read it there.
We'll actually start, why not, at the end of 12.
The way they cut it off on this one is funky, but you can see 12.25.
It says,
When Barnabas and Paul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.
Now, in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers.
Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.
And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
And so after they fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
And so we see the church in Antioch, right?
There's kind of these five men who are named as sort of their prophets and teachers.
So the leaders that are there, there's five of them.
They're all from various different backgrounds.
That's a whole other sermon or talk.
But what we want to look at is what they do when it says that God called them to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have, right?
God called them to send Paul and Barnabas.
And Paul and Barnabas, obviously, we know who Paul is and we know what he would go on to do.
Earlier in Acts, it talks about Barnabas and tells us a little bit about him.
And he's framed with some really high praise.
He sells a farm in Cyprus to give to the church.
And what did it say?
Barnabas.
What did I do?
I can't find the...
Indephor, yeah.
Yes.
Which means son of encouragement.
And he sold the field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet, right?
Barnabas, right?
Son of encouragement, right?
What an amazing thing to be called.
If that...
Not only, you know, they go, he's an encouraging guy.
They actually give you a nickname to be son of encouragement.
It's pretty good, right?
And so the point that I'm trying to make here is that Paul and Barnabas are two of the best leaders at this church.
Two of the ones that they look at and they say, these guys are the best, right?
Jerusalem, they are sending Barnabas around to go check, right?
So they trust him.
And so when God calls Paul and Barnabas, there would have been a understood reaction that the church says, not those guys.
They're some of our favorites.
They're some of our best guys.
And so what we see them do, though, is that they start by fasting and praying to consider God's call and not what their own wishes would be, right?
They look at it and they say, you know what?
We love Paul.
We love Barnabas.
We wish they would stay with us.
But God, if you're calling them to something else, it's your decision, not ours.
And so they fast and they pray and they say, God, is this what you're doing?
And when God confirms it, it moves them to the next thing, which is they lay their hands on them, commissioning them and send them out and say, go and do what God is calling you to do.
Right?
So we see these two things and it shows us that being kingdom minded necessarily means sending our best out.
There's no way around it.
The Great Commission we talked about last week says, go and make disciples.
Well, what do we know about discipleship?
What is discipleship?
Well, it arguably is leadership development.
Right?
You're growing someone to know and love Jesus such that they can then become a disciple maker themselves, leading others to know and love Jesus.
Right?
And so the necessary end of that, if you play that forward, is there's not enough leadership seats at any one church for all of the people to be involved in.
Right?
So they've got to go somewhere else.
There's no way to keep them all in one place.
And God, that in his intention, this is his design, is that the church grows new disciples.
They grow them up into leaders and then they get sent out into the world to do it again.
Right?
This is how the church grew from that 120 number to being all over the known world.
And so there's three things that I would say that we have to do in order for this to become true.
So that one, we have to look at our members and look at each other.
And I would say, you know, this group, the group that gathers on Sunday night.
Right?
A lot of us are the ones who are effectively leading here.
And so we have to look at those around us.
We have to challenge our fellow members to grow into leaders.
Right?
To look and understand the scripture better.
To live it out more fully.
To lean in and become leaders in the church.
And then we have to empower those members to have access to leadership capacity.
Right?
So we have to give people things to do and little ministries to help guide.
And small groups to lead and those things.
And so they can flex those muscles and figure out how it goes.
And then we have to then be courageous enough to send them out.
Right?
Once they've become key members of this body, we have to then be able to say,
Okay, God, do what you will and send them.
Right?
And so this is the core part of how the church is built.
And so if we're going to be the church that God has called us to be,
we have to understand that this is our task and this is the necessary consequence of that task.
Is that some of the people that we love and that we have grown to enjoy are not going to be with us anymore.
Because God is going to use them in an even greater way to do that again in some other place.
And so success in church looks like disciples growing up and leaving.
Right?
Like if we wrap our heads around that, that success in church means that most of us are going to be somewhere else at some point in time.
Because God is using us in doing that.
Right?
If we're all still sitting here 10, 20, 30 years from now, we've done something a little bit wrong.
Right?
That's the truth.
And it's like we've got someone, this has to look different.
Because we've got to have gone and done something else.
So that's point one.
Right?
We've got to look at kingdom-minded means sending our best.
So before we move on to point two, I want you to discuss quickly,
what are some implications for us as a church in light of this truth?
Right?
If success looks like disciples going out, if we are called to make disciples and to give them opportunities to lead,
if it means sending our best, what does that mean for us as a church?
A couple of minutes to talk about that amongst yourselves.
All right.
What are some of those implications?
What are some of the things you talked about?
What does it mean for West Kilburn if this is true?
You've got to be like Jesus.
In what way?
If you want to go out, you've got to be able to hear the difference between what the flesh is saying,
the enemy might throw at you
even more than any people might throw at you
and then what the Holy Spirit's telling you to do in this situation
so Jesus said I do as I hear my father
do as I hear my father
so you have to be connected
with Jesus
with God and the same way Jesus is
yeah so
it leads into the discipleship
to growing in knowledge and faith
and trust in Jesus
and if we are doing that
and we're encouraging others to do that
then we'll have
a good working knowledge of what he's up to
what else
it might have a commitment
to praying and fasting
and leaning on the Lord
but it's not just
it's not just a mathematical
process
we've got five years at 17
it's a
a fruitful engagement
with the Lord
yeah it's not
it's not just
you know
spray
send people out
kind of
indiscriminately
but there is a
prayerful
and a
thoughtful
intentionale
way of doing that
anything else
no
one thing
we thought
do you have one
Lola
that's right
yeah
absolutely
one thing I thought of
no absolutely
that it's not just global
that it's
could be local
could be
anything in between
right
could be down the street
and anything all the way to
Kazakhstan
one thing I was thinking about
if
if we
believe our
servantly led
kind of every member
ministry
value
and we lean into
that
that means
all of us
are prepared
and God could call
any one of us
to do something
and move us
to another place
and so
while
we see
Paul and Barnabas
were ones called out
at this moment
we know
from history
that many others
from the church
in Antioch
were called
to go different places
at different times
and so
these things
work together
right
we're
growing
the church
not just for our own good
but for the kingdom good
great
so let's look back again
at
this church
in Acts
so
after they had fasted
and prayed
they placed their hands on them
and they sent them off
and then the two of them
sent on their way
by the Holy Spirit
they went
to Cyprus
and then after they had been
in Cyprus for a while
they
left there
and went
from Paphos
up to
Perga
and Pamphylia
and then ended up
in a place called
Antioch also
but in a different area
of the world
called Pisidia
which is
kind of like
more western side
of Turkey
more central Turkey
whereas Antioch
is very eastern
side of Turkey
anyway
and so then
they went from
Pisidian Antioch
to Iconium
and in Lystra
and Derbe
so I'm moving
really quickly
this is
chapter 14
and then they end up
back in
the city of Antioch
later on
Acts 14
23
let me read that one
so if you can find that
that's at the bottom
corner of 1109
it said
Paul and Barnabas
appointed elders
for them
in each church
and with prayer
and fasting
committed them
to the Lord
in whom
they had put
their trust
so Paul and Barnabas
go around
not just
preaching the gospel
not just
you know
standing in
synagogues
or what were
synagogues
and preaching the gospel
not just standing
on the
you know
the Hyde Park
corners of the world
preaching the gospel
but they're forming
little churches
and not only are they
forming churches
they're putting
leaders in charge
of these churches
so that they can
carry on
once they leave
and so
the second thing
in addition to this
I said
kingdom minded
means
praying for
supporting
and actively
revitalizing
or planting churches
the great commission
as we talked about
earlier
it continues
it says
go and make disciples
baptizing them
and discipling them
but
where
in Judea
and Samaria
and to the ends
of the earth
right
so
the idea is that
as you said
Lola
like locally
we have a call
to the kingdom
nationally
we have a call
to the kingdom
and internationally
we have a call
to the kingdom
there's
the church
is a thing
that's much bigger
than
our little piece
of the world
it's
no less than
our little piece
of the world
but it is
not just this
it's wide
and
in God's
way of doing
he connects
these things
in ways
that we could
never imagine
or predict
we were just
talking about
what's her name
in Serbia
Allison
right
so
church member
from here
living in
eastern Europe
doing the work
of the ministry
right
there's
countless
moments like that
and it's like
well what's the
connection
to that place
or this place
well God
is the connection
right
the gospel
is the connection
and so he moves
us in that way
and particularly
when we look at
local
kingdom mindedness
in some ways
globally
it's easier
to think
about how
we can think
like kingdomly
about
the church
across the world
but when you think
about the church
across the street
it's very easy
to become
like an us
versus them
to think
that their growth
necessarily means
our diminishing
or that
you know
our growth
might mean
their struggle
right
and so you get
this kind of
zero-sum
mentality
that can
come from
that
and so
it's not
right
it's not
an us versus
them
it's not
a zero-sum
game
if you
indulge me
to Corinthians
Paul
is talking
to the church
in Corinth
and he's
encouraging
them
to
support
one another
in the
verse 1
of chapter 8
this is on 1163
he says
and now
brothers and
sisters
I want you
to know
about the
grace
that God
has given
the Macedonian
churches
this
I think
Philippi
is one of
these
that he's
speaking of
in the midst
of their
severe trial
their
overflowing
joy
even in
their extreme
poverty
welled up
in rich
generosity
right
they gave
as much
as they
were able
and even
beyond
their ability
entirely
on their
own
right
so you
see this
dynamic
of churches
supporting
one another
in different
areas
but just
in general
that you've
got
churches
looking to
one another
saying
you know
what
like
your growth
your benefit
is ours
because we're
part of the
same kingdom
we're part
of the
same thing
and
so you've
got that
supporting one
another
if you flip
to chapter
nine
verses
six
to
fifteen
let me
read that
briefly
Paul again
he's saying
remember this
whoever sows
sparingly
will also
reap
sparingly
and whoever
sows
generously
will also
reap
generously
each of you
should give
what you
have decided
in your
heart to
give
not reluctantly
or under
compulsion
for God
loves a
cheerful
giver
and God
is able
to bless
you
abundantly
so that
in all
things
at all
times
having all
that you
need
you will
abound
in every
good work
as it is
written
they have
freely
scattered
their
gifts
to the
poor
their
righteousness
endures
forever
and now
he who
supplies
seed
to the
sower
and bread
for food
will also
supply
and increase
your store
of seed
and will
enlarge
the harvest
of your
righteousness
you will
be enriched
in every
way
so that
you can
be
generous
on every
occasion
and through
us
your generosity
will result
in the
thanksgiving
of God
I'll keep
going
this service
that you
perform
is not only
supplying the
needs of the
Lord's people
but it's also
overflowing in
many expressions
of thanks to
God
because of the
service by which
you have proved
yourselves
others will
praise God
for the
obedience
that accompanies
your confession
of the gospel
of Christ
and for your
generosity
in sharing
with them
and with
everyone else
and in their
prayers for you
their hearts
will go out
to you
because of the
surpassing grace
God has given
you
thanks be to
God for his
indescribable
gift
right we've
read that a
thousand times
I'm sure
and we think
about it in
terms of our
personal generosity
particularly with
our financial
resources
but if we think
about it in
the sense that
Paul is talking
about churches
supporting one
another
and if you
think about it
in all the
ways of being
generous
in sending
of our
all of our
resources
our money
our time
our people
right that
kingdom mindedness
means we are
cheerfully giving
to the kingdom
in a variety
of ways
and we are
what this
promises is
that we will
be blessed
when we do
give generously
and that
it's not
us who supply
the seed
but it's he
who supplies
the seed
and he will
increase the
store of seed
right so if you
think about that
as an individual
who you're like
oh man it would
hurt to get rid
of to leave
to have that
one go
that God
supplies the
seed and he
will fill the
storehouse
and so we
we trust him
to continue
to fill the
storehouse
of people
of resource
right if we
are giving to
the kingdom
if we are
putting ourselves
out there
and risking
for his
glory
he will
reward that
and we
will not be
in need
so gospel
ministry
kingdom
mindedness
it's praying
for supporting
and actively
revitalizing
and planting
churches
both here
and afield
and this is
what we've
said we look
at and we
say God
you've called
us to look
and be
kingdom minded
in this way
so before we
end like we
did the first
time what are
some implications
for us as a
church to
being generous
and praying
and thinking
and supporting
and even
potentially
participating in
the revitalization
or planting
of churches
locally
nationally
and internationally
a couple of
minutes to talk
about that
nice one
what are some
of the things
that it means
for us
if we're
going to be
this sort
of kingdom
minded
church
sacrificial
in what way
just in
general
yeah
no it's good
yeah being
sacrificial
just kind of
thinking about
that whether
that's resources
or people
and understanding
that trusting
that God
will sustain
in any case
what else
does it mean
for us
to live
this way
to be this
way as a
church
yeah
particularly
yeah the
global
mindedness
is to
think
how do I
wrap
wrap my
head around
it
but it's
yeah
having a
few
or hopefully
a lot
of partners
and people
that we
know and
know us
in some
way
and there's
a relationship
formed
such that
you know
you see
you know
where Paul
is sending
a letter
and receiving
letters from
these churches
right it's
that sort
of relationship
obviously we
don't have
to do
letters anymore
but you
know that
we could
keep up
with and
know what's
going on
with partners
across the
world wherever
we have
partners such
that we
hear from
them and we
understand what's
going on we
have concrete
things to pray
for we know
what their needs
are such that
then we can
we can go
right and we
can send
people like
Clifford to
go preach
in other
places right
so that's
really good and
we talked about
open doors as
well knowing
and having
some a few
things like we
know there's
people across
the world that
are persecuted
for their
faith but
having a few
stories and a
few reminders
every so
often helps
us keep
those things
front of mind
enough to
pray and to
consider what
God might want
us to do
in that
you know
he might want
us to just
pray he
definitely wants
us to pray
but he might
want us to
do more than
that and if
we're not
praying and
we're not
reminded we'll
not lean into
that so yes
making it
concrete what
else anything
else
doesn't
because God is building the church
to make sure we're not tearing it down
in a sense
because if you have a huge influence
of people for example
that's money and all of that
we can sometimes write them that way
it feels like everything's so good
we have a history of these people
when things are good we mess it up
how do you protect yourself
I think it's by being connected
so you are always
facing transgressions
in a sense
because if someone else they connected to
is going through that
love will tell you that you are also suffering
and then might practically
create you opportunities
that contribute and support
like Nick was saying
for example if we have
so that would be
something that could help
money or leaders
yeah that's good
being aware of those things
even if it's not our struggle
because we're connected
we feel those struggles
and can maintain
a groundedness
you know
obviously
there won't be a moment
where we don't have our own struggles
but
it helps to be aware of them as well
anything else
before I pray
we close
I think it's
I probably didn't bring anything
that you didn't know
and that's not really the point
but to remind us of
of what God is doing
we're a small part of it
and we're thankful for it
but if we
we make it about us
and not about
the kingdom
God's kingdom
then we're
we're going to miss out
and
so we need to
to keep this in mind
so
the kingdom
kingdom minded means
sending our best
and kingdom minded means
thinking
praying
supporting
and planting churches
around the area
across the country
wherever they're needed
right
around the world
supporting those
who are doing it
so
shall we pray
let's do it
father we
come to you
and
we thank you for
being
the king
the king of
your world
and that
regardless of what we
might see
with the blinders
and the
the things that
keep us from seeing
what you're doing
God you are at work
in the world
bringing people
to yourself
Lord we
we trust
in your promise
that
that your church
will thrive
and even the gates
of hell
will not prevail
against it
Lord
it's your church
and it's
much bigger
than us
and
we want to
keep that
mindset
to understand
that it's yours
and that
it's not us
it's not ours
and that
like
the Corinthians
and the Philippians
who are
supporting one
another
Lord
would we be
supportive
would we send
our best
would we
look at your
kingdom
and
participate
in it
and to trust
you with it
and not
hold things
you know
grasp them
for our own
purposes
even if
they're people
we love
dearly
Lord
would we
send them
for your
glory
and so we
pray
make us
these people
help us
to build
leaders
that we
can send
help us
to join
with you
and what
you're doing
in our
city
and in our
world
we pray
in Jesus
name
amen