Building with Gold

Thank You, Father, for the privilege to know You, to love You, to worship You. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the price You paid to make this possible. Thank You for everyone who is present here tonight, that they will hear only Your voice and receive Your touch. Stir up the revival in their hearts; be perfected for the work of ministry.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, that You give life to every thought, every word, every interaction, every touch, every eye contact – that You give life. Thank You, Father, for Your presence here tonight, and that it will be everything that You had in Your heart. We worship You.

We worship You, we worship You, God Almighty. We worship You now and for eternity. We worship You, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

You can grab a seat. Hello, everyone, great to have you here. There are still some seats here – you can use those two, or move to the front. Andre, you can shift up. Good, great.

So, maybe a question that might surprise you – hopefully not catch you off guard – but what exactly is it that you are doing here? Why are you here? It's obviously a loaded question, but my question is really: why do we come together here? Why is every one of us not just at home worshipping the Lord? Yes, Lord. So why are we here?

In general terms it's often referred to as the corporate anointing, that which gets activated when the body of Christ comes together. In physical terms, we talk about the sum of the parts being greater than the sum of its parts.

So what you experience and what you carry in terms of your calling, your function, your role in the body of Christ – when you bring that here and we put it all together, what we experience is far beyond the sum of what every one of us brings.

I'm sure if you're sitting here by now, you know you are in this earth for a reason. You have been called for something specific. But we also know you cannot achieve your purpose on your own. That's part of why we are here, why we come together like this.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)

So the Word is clear that we should come together, and the closer we get to the day Jesus returns, the more significant and important it is that we come together.

There are a few things I want to touch on here, without going into too much detail. It says 'stir up'. So I'm here to stir – is that okay? You know by now that I stir. Unfortunately, it says directly after that, 'love and good works', so that limits me a bit. But I'm sure we can work with that.

It says stir up, and it says exhorting. 'Stir up' also means to provoke – to actually provoke, but for love and good works. So the reason we come together like this is to stir up again, to look into each other's eyes, maybe hear someone's testimony, and be stirred in our hearts about what the Lord is doing, so that we can tell each other about the goodness of the Lord and encourage one another. Because the important thing is not knowing that you have been called for something – the important thing is that you actually finish it.

There is only a small percentage of people who know they are called who actually finish their purpose in life. That's why this is so significant. So I congratulate you on being here, and I believe we should use every opportunity like this – and I emphasise the word 'opportunity', because I have come to know that everything God gives us is an opportunity. Everything you need to access that God gives you, you need to access through an opportunity.

God is a gentleman. Even in the Old Testament He says, 'I put before you life and death.' But death is only the absence of choosing life. It is God's desire that we choose life.

In this opportunity tonight, the amazing thing is that when we prayed last night in this venue, I experienced something very strong, and that was that we should not limit God. That's for every one of us: do not limit God with what you think He can do tonight.

Sometimes we come out of religion, we were stuck in religion, and we come into the so-called spirit-filled, more charismatic environments, and it's like this perception of moving up the ladder. Then sometimes you think you're at a place where you understand the ability of God and how He functions. I think that's a dangerous place to be. So let's not be there tonight.

The amazing thing about the Holy Spirit is that every one of us will take something different out of tonight. It's not just the one word. The significant thing for you might be when you had a cup of tea downstairs and somebody chatted to you, shared a testimony, put a hand on you and prayed for you, or whatever it is.

Let's not limit God with what He can do tonight. Have an expectation that God can do to you and through you tonight beyond what you've ever experienced before. Otherwise, no matter how high our perception or revelation of Him is, we are still limiting Him by saying, 'But if God does that tonight, that's the ultimate.' No – let Him be God.

So I think it's important that we take this opportunity. When it says it's important that we come together, it says we must provoke each other to good works and to love. It's important that every one of us – it's just easier for me to say 'you', but remember when I say you, I include myself first – takes the opportunity to take a snapshot of tonight, and let the Holy Spirit bring you to a place of conviction: 'If I take this snapshot, where am I at, and what have I been called for?'

It doesn't have to be the big thing. It's just, at this stage right now, where should you be? Let the Holy Spirit convict you of where you should be right now and where you are. Take that snapshot and say, 'Okay, what are the adjustments I need to make in my life?'

Now, can I let you in on a little secret? Can we keep it here between us? The secret is – what do you think is the biggest victory in life? I'll give you the answer from my perspective. I am now thirteen years on my journey, and I've been privileged to do many, many hours of counselling – individuals, couples, marriages, business coaching, whatever. I can tell you from my perspective, the biggest victory in life is your ability to change.

Maybe not what you expected. I've worked with so many people, whether you approach it from a physical angle, a spiritual angle, whatever it is – you always end up in that same position: either that person was able to receive, embrace and change themselves and get a different result, or, despite all the input, information, interaction and relationship, they refuse to change and stay exactly where they were.

So the variable is not so much the input. Yes, input is important, we know that. But your biggest success in life is not another revelation, another doctrine – it's your ability to change.

Let me speak about it now. Can I have 2 Corinthians 10, from verse 3? I'm just going to share two verses about this – bear with me and have an expectation. You know, the great thing about coming together like this is that this is not church. Now I'm relieved – you can relax, this is not church, okay? So you can even speak here, you realise that?

So I'm going to ask you to speak with me, is that okay? And if you're uncomfortable, get over yourself, okay? Say after me: 'I'm able to change.' Okay, let's try that once more: 'I'm able to change.' Okay, who of you believes what you just said? Yes! Okay, great, great.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.”

2 Corinthians 10:3 (NKJV)

I'm not going to have enough time to explain all of this in detail, but we will share this recording as well, and I want you to pick up in the Spirit as the Holy Spirit ministers to you. That sentence is already loaded, but I'm not going to get stuck there.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”

2 Corinthians 10:4a (NKJV)

Now maybe I need to say this. We've always had this perception of what these strongholds are, and when we hear the word 'stronghold', immediately we think about demons and evil spirits and a physical location of strongholds – this terrible place where we need to go and intercede, walk around it and pray, and that's where the stronghold is. No. I've already said to you, your biggest victory in life is your ability to change. The biggest strongholds in life are in your mind. It's thought patterns. I'm speaking spiritually, but even physically this has already been proven. Why is it so difficult to change? Because your mind, your brain, forms thought patterns.

I've seen so many times – I said to somebody this week, I felt a bit bad for saying it, but that's the reality – I can tell you, if I look at your life at the moment and you tell me a bit about the last six months of your life, I will probably, with ninety-five percent accuracy, tell you where you will be six months from now, even physically. Why? Because people are creatures of habit. When you are confronted with a certain situation, you deal with it in a certain way. Chances are ninety-nine percent that if you're confronted with that same situation again, you'll respond in exactly the same way. But that's the thing we need to change. If we really believe we are here to fulfil God's purpose, there are things we need to get rid of in our lives, things we need to change, and that's why we come together – because we need to help each other.

I always say we are the mirrors. When we hold up the mirror, I need to look in your eyes, and we need to have a good enough relationship that I can tell you if there are things in your life you need to get rid of, and vice versa. Otherwise, we are wasting each other's time.

It speaks about strongholds, saying, 'our warfare is not carnal, but mighty in God.' Okay, that's the great thing – you're not only dependent on your own physical ability. Some of you already got demotivated when I said you need to change. Don't worry. You've got tools. It says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal – it's not your own ability. There's something beyond that which we have access to that will help us.

“...for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments...”

2 Corinthians 10:4b-5a (NKJV)

There's the first stronghold: casting down arguments. How many times did we grow up, maybe in a religious environment or the absence thereof, and we were taught something, and until today we struggle to get rid of it because that's what they said it is – whether it is praying in tongues, whether it is baptism, whatever it is. Somebody explained to us that's how it is, and even if the Word of God tells us different, we hold onto what we were taught as a child. That's why it says we should teach our children when they are young, because they get to an age where we just don't bend anymore. We say, 'Man, I've been in life fifty years. You want to tell me what? I've seen everything, I've done everything, you can tell me nothing.' Strongholds.

The biggest challenge that we have in life is our inability to change the way we thought, the way we did. We expect different results, but we think we can continue to do the same thing. No.

“Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)

Where is knowledge? In your mind. Knowledge of God. Bringing every thought into captivity. This is all about your mind. This whole thing about strongholds has nothing to do with evil spirits and demons. It's all about our thinking and our inability. But let's see, there's good news, don't worry.

So that's very important: it's not just any thought pattern, it's that which is exalting itself against the knowledge of God. So there is a higher truth. It might be that your stronghold is even a truth – it's not necessarily even a lie, but maybe there's a higher truth that you refuse to embrace because you are holding onto this thing.

'Every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.' The obedience of Christ. Can we get every thought in our mind to that place where it's obedient to Christ? The only way for new knowledge to access your spirit is that it must go through your mind, and if you continue to keep up the gates in your mind, that knowledge will not end up in your spirit, and it will not have the ability to change your life.

The Word says they received the Word of God, but it didn't benefit them because they didn't mix it with faith. Where is faith? Faith is in your spirit. You respond to the Word of God. I've explained that many times: the Word of God is seed. You receive the seed and you respond to it in faith – in your womb, from your innermost being, your belly, your womb, koilia, from that place where it has the ability to generate life. You need to mix the Word of God with faith and then respond to it. But if you don't gain that knowledge, you don't respond to it, you don't act differently, the Word of God will have zero effect in your life. It's not up to God to change things. He has made available every single thing that we need to effect change in our lives.

“Bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

2 Corinthians 10:5b-6 (NKJV)

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)

Just think about it. We can't even imagine the concept of God. You cannot intellectually comprehend the concept of God who existed and pre-existed the world and created it. You can't. There's a solution, though: we are not like people without hope. We are not like people without answers. There are answers, but they're in the Spirit, and we need to receive them, embrace them, use them to effect change.

“But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he might instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NKJV)

We have the mind of Christ. Where do you have the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is in your spirit. When you become born again, you receive the life of God, and you have the mind of Christ in your spirit. How is that going to help you? That's the source of life, but from the life that is within your spirit, you must still renew your mind so that you start thinking differently. When you think differently, you do differently, and you get different results.

You know very well Romans 12, even from verse one. Romans 12 – yes, you've got it there.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies.”

Romans 12:1 (NKJV)

That really spoke to me in a different way when I read this again. It says that you present your bodies. It's like you are saying to your body, 'Here, here is your spirit.'

I've explained this many times, but just in case somebody hasn't heard it before: you need to understand that you are spirit. God is a Spirit, and He pre-existed this world. The spiritual realm is the realm with the authority, and it's the realm that pre-existed the physical. So you are spirit, created in His image and likeness. You have a soul, which is your mind, your will and your emotions, and you stay in a body. You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you stay in a body. You need to distinguish the three from each other.

But here it says, present your body as a living sacrifice. Seriously, this thing about flesh versus spirit, flesh versus being Spirit-led – here it comes, and it says: this part, which is subject to the physical desires, to distractions, to sin – take it and present it as a sacrifice. So it is as if your spirit man makes the decision that he is the authoritative figure within you, and he takes your physical body and says, "You don't have voting rights anymore. You are not going to tell me what we are going to do; I'm going to tell you." Like it says, the natural man can't receive those things. The constraints you have as a physical body – I'm presenting you as a sacrifice.

That means, it goes without saying, we can't just do what we want anymore. You have been bought at a price. The quicker we realise that, the better – we belong to Him. You have an owner. You have a boss. You have a King. You belong to Him. We cannot just go around doing whatever. You can, but you are not going to fulfil the purpose you need to fulfil in this earth, and if you don't fulfil your purpose, the whole body pays the price for it.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

I always have to ask myself: does the way I live look the same as the lives of everybody else in this world – let's put the caveat there, that is not a Christian? Is my life looking different? If it's not looking different, there's a problem somewhere. I cannot be conformed to this world, not in the way that I think, not in the way that I do, not in the results that I produce. If I am, then it's my natural man that is still superior in terms of its functioning, and that's why it says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed" – metamorphosed – "by the renewing of your mind."

Do you see why that is the biggest victory you'll achieve in life – to transform, to yield different results, to walk in your purpose? The thing that needs to change is: renew your mind continuously. It's not a once-off thing; it's a continuous, ongoing thing where we renew our mind with the mind of Christ, with what is in the Word of God, continuously. That's why we flood ourselves with the Word. That is why we engage in intimacy, in relationship with the Holy Spirit, so that we can continuously renew the way that we think, and that will bring us to the place where it says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God."

That was actually my intro – is that okay, just for perspective? Can I start now? All I said in those two minutes is: are you willing to change your mind? Are you willing to think differently so that you can do differently? And are you willing to make yourself accountable to somebody so that you can do that? Because if we are not willing to make ourselves accountable, we're wasting each other's time.

But let me touch on that again. What is it that we are doing here on earth? We say we are here together, that we provoke love and good works and help one another fulfil our purpose, but let's go into a little more detail.

“For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.”

1 Corinthians 3:9 (NKJV)

I don't know about you, but already there I have a big sigh of relief. I'm God's fellow worker. I'm not here on my own mission. I'm not dependent on my own ability. I'm not the one who has the blueprint, or has to design the blueprint. I don't know who of you have your own businesses, but sometimes you feel you have to do everything and think for everybody – I'm careful because some of my staff are here as well, so I'm speaking figuratively about somebody. But here, I'm a fellow worker with God. He designed the plan. He's got the master plan. He's got the ability, the energy. He's the generator, the dunamis – Acts 1:8, the dunamis power, the power to effect change. It's all coming from Him. I'm just helping.

“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.”

1 Corinthians 3:10 (NKJV)

You've probably heard this verse many times, but I want you to focus on two things here. When it says, "Take heed how you build on it," there are two things specifically that spoke to me, and I'm going to put the emphasis on those. The first is when it says, "Take heed" – it positions you: "Okay, I'm going to tell you something." Then it says the first thing:

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 3:11 (NKJV)

There's my second sigh of relief. There's already a foundation. I don't have to lay it. I don't have to build it. It's there. But it comes with responsibility. Let us be careful that we don't start building and laying our own foundation.

That's why Paul said, "This I know: Jesus Christ crucified." It's not always about pursuing revelation and doctrine and results and gifts and callings and whatever. There's only one foundation, and that is Christ. We need to be sure that whatever we are building, whatever we are laying, we acknowledge there is one foundation – not something we have created ourselves that is unique, that is suddenly superior to somebody else's.

There's one foundation, and if you're a Christian, whoever and wherever you are in the world, you all build on the same foundation. There's no difference. But it comes with responsibility. He is the foundation. He's the author of our faith. He's the author of our salvation. He's the finisher. He started it, He finished it. There is nothing outside of Him. That's it – that's the parameters, that's the playing field, which is great news.

“Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the day will declare it.”

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (NKJV)

Not everything we are busy with is of equal significance in the kingdom. It's important to realise that, because I'm fairly certain that as we grow in spiritual maturity – when it speaks of building with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – you can see it is building up in value. Even attaching physical value: straw is the least, then hay, then wood, then precious stones, then silver, then gold.

So as we grow in spiritual maturity and sensitivity of the spirit, there's certainly a progression – like Paul wrote, "By this time you ought to be teachers, and I still am teaching you." There's a time when he says you can't continue to drink milk; now you need to eat steak. So there's a time when we all start, and we're probably busy with straw. But then we need to progress to hay, to wood, to stone. We need to come to the place where we are totally dedicated to building with gold. It's amazing that Revelation talks about the New Jerusalem, and it talks about the streets being gold. So there is significance in what we are building, and in the fact that He uses something like gold as one of the things we can build with.

“Because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 (NKJV)

It's just in case we didn't understand: each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built endures, he will receive a reward. Now you can already look at what will be burned there – the majority of those items will be burned.

The amazing thing is your salvation is dependent on what Jesus built. Thank goodness – that's the foundation, it's complete. But that's your salvation. Then God expects more than that; otherwise He would not have even instructed us to build on the foundation. Otherwise He would have said, "It's okay, I built the foundation, don't bother with anything else." That's not what He said. He said, "You need to build on that thing. I paid the ultimate price to give you a foundation that will last. Now you need to build on that foundation." And it matters what you build with, because it says it will be tested by fire, and if the fire can burn it up, you will suffer loss – you will not receive the reward.

I must admit, for a long time in my life I was not bothered about reward or a crown, because God really gave me a heart for people and to be a servant. So I continued to say to the Lord, "When I get to heaven, if You tell me I am the least in Your kingdom, I will say thank You, Lord – it means I did what You called me to do, and that was to equip others, to raise others, to send others." So I was not bothered to get there and be the least in the kingdom, which in my mind implied, don't give me a crown, don't give me gifts, I don't need rewards. But I've changed my mind as far as that's concerned – not the first part, but the second part. I still don't have a desire for myself to get to heaven and receive rewards.

But if you start understanding the perspective that it's not about you, it's about God, then you see that when you build with gold, you are building something that has eternal value. On that scale of what you build with and what the fire burns, it's all about what has eternal value that will remain, and what has only earthly value. It's about what is priority to God. If you talk about rewards, if you talk about a crown, it's about what is significant to God.

So we should be concerned if it says we will suffer loss and lose our rewards – not so that we can stand there like at athletics day at school and say, "I'm number one, you're number two, you're number three." It's not about that. It's about what is priority to God.

“If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

1 Corinthians 3:15 (NKJV)

Do you not know that you are the temple of God? Now this starts putting a bit of perspective on things. I must say, we often use this part, verses sixteen and seventeen, about the temple of God and defiling the temple, but if you read it in conjunction with the previous part, which spoke entirely about building and what you build with, it continues. This is not a separate section that starts – it continues. It's part of saying what do you build with, and then it says this:

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NKJV)

Isn't that significant? It's speaking about what we build with, and then all of a sudden He says, do you not realise that you are the temple of God, and if you defile the temple of God, God will destroy him. So the reality is God has positioned us in a place where He is holding us accountable for what we are building with, because what we are building with is building the temple. We are building the body of Christ in this earth. We are building His kingdom, establishing His kingdom. It matters to God what we do. It matters what we build with, because we need to be focused on that which has eternal value.

I started this portion in 1 Corinthians 3:9, "For we are God's..." I want to expand on that a bit.

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.”

Hebrews 3:1 (NKJV)

Remember my long intro: you need to take a snapshot of where you're at, where God wants you to be, and what is necessary to change. You need to be willing to renew your mind, think differently, do differently, and make yourself accountable in order to achieve that. Here it says, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." You need to realise you are a fellow worker with God, and at the same time you have a heavenly calling. Maybe you had a tough time growing up. Maybe you were never good at anything. Maybe you were ridiculed at school. Maybe you have a poor self-esteem. Whatever it is, it is not relevant to what God has called you to do. It cannot limit you. He wants you to start thinking anew.

You need to realise you are here for a heavenly calling. Whatever people said about you growing up, however they've positioned you, however they've put you in a box – and maybe you've believed it and now you are acting according to how people portrayed you – you need to change your mind and say, "I'm a fellow worker with God. That's who I am. I am on a mission. I have a heavenly calling." The Creator of heaven and earth Himself formed you. He created you for exactly what He needed. He made no accidents. He made no spare parts. Whoever you are is what God needs you to be.

It says, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus – the same principle we spoke about in terms of the foundation. He's the Apostle, He's the High Priest of our confession. He's the beginning and the end of why we are here.

“Who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honour than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.”

Hebrews 3:2-4 (NKJV)

Again, the foundation: it's God who builds. If God is not in it, you are building in vain. I strongly believe that what we build with – whether straw, hay, wood, precious stones, silver or gold – describes the things we are busy with that look good but don't really have eternal value.

That's why I'm hesitant to expand on the categories, because I believe that's between you and God – we are each uniquely created for a different purpose, specifically equipped. For you to build with gold might look different than for me to build with gold. For you to build with hay might look different than for me building with hay. There are things we need to sort out with God. We need to spend time and say, "Lord, here's my life. I'm presenting it to You as a living sacrifice. Here's my life – what of this that I'm busy with is hay, and straw, and wood? Help me to get rid of this."

With somebody who has a vested interest in your success, who wants you to build at least with precious stones, at least with silver, at least with gold, I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty He doesn't have much interest in us building with wood, and hay, and straw. But maybe we have been blinded by what we are busy with. Every one of us individually needs to ask Him, "Lord, here I am. Show me what is there in my life that I think I'm doing right, that I think is good – it might not even be that. Maybe there are things I'm just wasting my time on that I need to get rid of, so that I can build with precious stones, and silver, and gold," because it's all about Him and what He has sent us for.

We acknowledge this verse: 'For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.' There is the same principle as being a fellow worker with God. There's a combination – we can't just sit back and say, 'He's God, He's Almighty, so surely everything that needs to happen will happen; I don't need to do anything because He's God.' No. Then He wouldn't have needed to create you. He had something in mind when He created you.

He wanted to procreate Himself in this earth. When He created us in His image and His likeness, it was that nature of His that He wanted to replicate. When He said, 'Fill the earth, multiply and fill the earth,' He did not mean with flesh; He meant with something that looks like Him – but we messed it up. That hasn't changed the mandate. We are still here to establish Him. That is still your mandate. It's His life, it's His kingdom, and we still have that responsibility, and we have that ability.

But the great thing is we are doing it by His ability. Through His Word, through His Spirit, through our fellowship with one another, we are continuing to build, and we acknowledge that we can't do it on our own.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

John 15:4-5 (NKJV)

'Abide' is a strong word – that's not just a once-off thing; it's a remain-there thing. I don't know about you, but that word 'nothing' was quite confronting for me. Without Me you can do nothing. We think, 'Ah, but I can do something – a little bit of hay, a little bit of straw, a little bit of wood. At least I feel good.' But that's not what He sent me to do. He didn't send me to do a little bit and feel good. He sent me to build His kingdom, that which has eternal value.

I don't know about you, but I have a very strong conviction about spending my time on things that have eternal value. I shared with you recently, when we had the celebration service for my wife, the conviction I started receiving about the significance of life.

There's something in terms of methodology in life that simplifies things. It's like having a ruler: you can measure things and say, 'that's thirty, that's twenty, that's ten,' and immediately you know whether it's right or not. When you have something like that, it puts perspective in your life and makes things easier. For me at the moment, that thing is: what am I busy with – is it life? What else do you have that is of significance other than life? What can you be busy with that is significant, other than that which has the implication of life? That's it – it's life. There's nothing outside of that. You can justify as much as you want what you are busy with, but if it's not life, we are not busy with what we should be busy with.

Cherish life. And you that are married, cherish your partner, for from it flows life. There's nothing that we can do – no matter how we justify it or colour that picture – that has significance if He is not in it.

We have a responsibility to go and spend some time getting rid of the straw, the hay and the wood that keep us busy, or we will act very surprised when we walk through that fire and end up with nothing on the other side. You would say, 'What have I spent my life on?' I can picture us walking in and receiving rewards, crowns.

Do you know what you're going to do with the crown and the rewards? You're going to throw them at His feet. How would it feel to walk through a fire that burns away everything you have, and come and say, 'Lord, sorry, but you know, back in the...'? There is nothing you can say at that stage that is going to produce what has eternal value. It's too late.

We have the time now to help each other gain that perspective, to determine what we're busy with – to get rid of the straw, hay and wood, and focus on what is really significant. Because the things I can do in my own ability are probably in that category of straw, hay and wood. I need Him to be present in something for it to be precious stones, silver and gold.

“And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward.”

Hebrews 3:5 (NKJV)

This word actually appears in many of these verses – afterwards, if you go and listen again, download the app; we include the recording in the app, and there's a PDF file at the bottom with all the verses in it. Go and read through this again, and you'll see how many of these verses that I haven't stopped on speak about being faithful.

I don't want to spend too much time on that tonight, because there are so many topics related to what I'm speaking about that would take me on a side road. But understand that God has given you something – even if you want to compare it with the parable of the talents, the one, the two and the five – there is none of you sitting here who didn't receive something. Whether it is one, two or five, there is always the risk for all of us, even if I received the one, to take that one and look at someone who received five and say, 'What's up with that?' – putting my one down and complaining about the five he received, trying to figure out how his five works and what he's doing with it.

What I should be focused on is the one that was given to me. My responsibility doesn't extend to the five that was given to him. My responsibility is: what do I do with this one? That's part of not being conformed to the world.

Don't try to keep up with the Joneses. Don't even look at somebody else's spiritual gifts and say, 'Ah, if only I could do that.' No – do what God has sent you to do, because we need you to do that. If one part suffers, if one doesn't do what it should be doing, the whole body suffers. So move away from comparing yourself with somebody else.

You can't be faithful unless you get serious about what God has entrusted to you. You might still be sitting here thinking that God entrusted nothing to you, and that's a lie. You need to change your mindset.

Say with me: God entrusted much to me. God entrusted much to me. Let's try that again: God entrusted much to me. God entrusted much to me. And I will be faithful. And I will be faithful.

“Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

Hebrews 3:5-6 (NKJV)

It just had to end with that – to the end. I said to you at the beginning, there are many people who start out great, who know what they've been called for, but few finish. That's why it was so significant for Paul to be able to say, 'I finished the race.' Few finish – we can't do it on our own.

I can virtually guarantee you: on your own you are not going to finish the race. We need each other, and that's a good thing. In the worldly context, we often think being dependent on one another, being transparent, being accountable, are bad things. But spiritually, we do not have a choice.

“Behold, I am coming quickly!”

Revelation 3:11 (NKJV)

You know the story about the ten virgins and the oil lamps? There was a time they were all eager – 'He's coming, He's coming, He's coming.' Then there was a time when they said, 'Ah, I don't know, He's not coming today; let's just relax, don't worry, He'll show up at some other stage.' And you continue to hear about how many thousands of people have predicted the year Jesus will come. When He doesn't come, they find a different reason why He didn't, and then He's coming in five years, or eight years, or eleven years...

Live every day as if He's coming tomorrow. Amen. What would you live like today? Because this mindset of 'He's coming in ten years, fifty years, a hundred years, two hundred years' – if you have that mindset, why would you have it, other than to say, 'I've got time'? That's a lie. You don't have time. If you don't change your mindset today, you're not going to change it tomorrow.

William explained it in that session we had: you only have the ability now to change something. If you want to lose weight, it's about what you eat now – you can't lose weight next week. When you get to the day you're meant to lose the weight, it's about now. What you put in your mouth now determines whether you gain or lose weight. It's now. So don't think, 'I'll do this tomorrow, I'll do it at some stage.' As I'm speaking tonight and the Holy Spirit is bringing that conviction to you, you need to decide now whether you are willing to change your mindset, to align it with the intention that Christ has for you, that God has for you.

Align your mindset with that now, tonight. Expect that He has entrusted much to you, that you will be faithful, that you have the ability, because He laid the foundation. He gives the ability. He's the builder – He just needs you to work with Him. You don't have to come up with clever plans, new things and revelations. You just need to show up and say, 'Here I am, Lord.' The only thing you need is to show up. In the Old Testament, God had to ask, 'Who will go?' There were not many who raised their hands. One person came and said, 'Here I am. Send me.' That's the decision you need to make today.

Don't think, 'Ah, tomorrow I'm going to spend some time on what he said tonight.' No – tomorrow is too late. If you don't make that decision now, you're not going to make it tomorrow. You need to decide that you were bought at a price, that you belong to Him, that He has entrusted much to you, and that you have to build with gold to fulfil, build and establish that which He has sent you for.

I can tell you, there are enough people here around you who care about you and want you to succeed. If you put out your hand this way and that way, you will touch people who have no agenda other than to fulfil the purpose God has sent them for. No other agenda. So you have no excuse to say, 'But I'm on my own,' or 'But I don't know how – who will help me?' Look around you – there are one hundred and twenty people here who will help you.

'Behold, I am coming quickly.' Quickly is a mindset. It's not a date. Did you hear me? Quickly is a mindset, not a date. If we continue to think about a date, we're not focusing on what we should be doing.

Hold fast. That means challenges will come – it's not easy. Nobody said it's easy. We're talking about that which has eternal value. We are talking about an enemy running loose in this earth who wants to steal, kill and destroy. Nobody said it's easy, but it can be done, and it's worth it, and it has eternal value. When you walk through that fire, you will be standing with precious stones, silver and gold for His sake, because you can throw it at His feet.

“Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Revelation 3:11-13 (NKJV)

Just a side note, seeing that word: 'I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem.' If you want to talk about the end times, don't worry about the rapture. If you want to understand the end times, spend your time studying the New Jerusalem, not the rapture. If you understand the New Jerusalem, you will understand the end times, you will understand the next dispensation, and you will have a perspective that the rapture will not give you. That's a side note.

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.”

Hebrews 12:25 (NKJV)

I'm going to be bold, because if that is not the case, then I am wasting your time tonight. I'm going to be bold and tell you that God spoke to you tonight, because if I'm not speaking on behalf of God, then I've got no right to stand here. So you have no excuse. God spoke to you, and He says, 'Do not refuse Him who speaks.' It's interesting that He says, 'Do not refuse' – to refuse Him still implies that no response is still a response.

No response is still a response. You are still making a choice. In Revelation, God speaks about the lukewarm church: 'You are lukewarm. If only you were cold, if only you were hot, but I will vomit you out.'

When my life changed in two thousand and nine, six months later God sent me to start a church in Stellenbosch. The first day I drove to that church, the Lord showed me a picture of a bird – a patrys, a grouse – and He showed me the little chicks sitting underneath the mother, totally comfortable, happy, warm and protected. It looked great. And the Lord said to me, 'This is the spirit of religion that has paralysed the body.'

I had no idea what He was sending me into when He sent me to Stellenbosch, but that's not what I'm going to talk about tonight. I can just tell you that the time of sitting in that comfortable place, just peeking out and ticking the box to say, 'I am a Christian,' that time is over. We are in a war.

Like you read in Timothy, it says a soldier doesn't involve himself and keep himself busy with civilian affairs. We are in a war, and what we are busy with has eternal value. You live in this world maybe eighty or ninety years; in the next one, it will be eighty billion to start off with. Yet in this short time we have on this earth, we have the opportunity to achieve certain things that we can't even do in the next dispensation.

To lead somebody to Christ, you cannot do in the next dispensation. You need to do it now. That's building with gold. That's what has eternal value – to lead somebody to Christ, to share the love of Christ with somebody. That's gold, that's silver, that's precious stones. He's coming quickly. He's coming quickly. We need to have that mindset. We need to help one another, and I'm going to share something about that.

I just want to quickly read and finish this verse, and then say something about it. I'm going to read from verse 25 again so you have the perspective.

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.'”

Hebrews 12:25-26 (NKJV)

Can you imagine that? He's also shaking heaven.

“Now this, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

Hebrews 12:27 (NKJV)

Isn't that amazing? He's removing things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain – and He's shaking heaven. There are some things we're busy with in the wood, hay and straw category that have some spiritual significance, but there comes a point when He, speaking again, will shake everything, including heaven, so that even then some things will disappear. It matters what we are busy with, and we need to be sure we are busy with that which will remain, because he says in verse 28, 'Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken.' Straw, hay and wood do not fall into this category.

We need to go and spend time with the Lord to find out how much of what we are busy with falls into that category, because we need to get to this point. Many of you know that the word 'receiving' or 'receive' here is the word lambano, and lambano is not a passive receiving. Lambano is a laying hold of.

Now, this particular word is paralambano. That 'para' is a preposition that indicates our position in relation to something. So this is not just lambano, it's paralambano – what is my position in relation to what I'm receiving? That preposition often implies a becoming one with it. So when it says, 'We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,' it is not just an external thing, or that I'm standing on the side.

It is the same thing he spoke about earlier – what are you building? You are building something. And then at the end, which we take out of context, he says all of a sudden, 'Do you not know you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?' Do you not know that this paralambano, this becoming one, means that when you receive this kingdom, you decide what your position is in relation to the kingdom you receive?

You need to become one with it. You need to melt into it. Lose yourself in it. There is only one thing in our lives: His kingdom. There is not my kingdom and His kingdom. The risk of not understanding that is that we put His kingdom here, our kingdom there, and we try to work in parallel on these two things whenever we find time, and we often build with a little bit of hay – just so that, for us, it looks like we're busy.

The people around us think, 'Ooh, you're busy, busy, busy, always busy' – hay, straw, wood all over the place, looking very busy. Can we find ourselves in that place where we paralambano, where we embrace, we receive? We lay hold, and in that laying hold we become one, where we do not exist.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

It's a decision place, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Reverence and godly fear. It's okay to say God is your friend, but I can tell you, if you can't first say He's your God, I'd rather not say He's my friend. I hope you heard me. 'May serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.' He's a consuming fire.

I'm ending off. Make a decision tonight that it's all about Him, that you are willing to build His kingdom, that you are willing to get rid of that which is hay and straw and wood in your life, that we are not here to impress each other.

We don't have other agendas. We lose ourselves. We come and present ourselves as living sacrifices so that we may establish His kingdom and His purpose, and we help each other to build with gold – spending our time on that which has eternal value. I said to you earlier, I've been on quite a journey now in terms of the privilege of discipling people, training people, and so on.

But I can tell you without a doubt – I said it after year one, and thirteen years later I'm still saying it – the people that grow the quickest spiritually, by far, are those that take their eyes off themselves. Amen. Without exception. It was true for me twelve years ago, and it is still true today. If you want to grow spiritually, if you want to move forward, stop wanting to sort out the issues in your life.

If your primary focus is, 'Ah, I don't have somebody to marry. Ah, my finances. Ah, I'm struggling with my health' – you're spending all your time studying the Word even so that you can understand how you can be healed – you are going nowhere slowly. But if you get up and say, 'Lord,' make this your prayer every day, 'who can I help today?' The moment you start focusing on somebody else, your mindset shifts: who am I helping today?

God will send you people, and the moment you start helping other people is the quickest way you will get out of your own situation. You will not get out of your own situation by focusing on it. So make that decision tonight that you have died. You have died. Not a little bit, not that – you've died. It's Him that lives now.

I've said to you earlier, what are your chances of success? Now, I always say you first need to define success. For me it's simple: whether you do that which God has sent you to do – that's success. Not the number of houses and the number of cars and the number of businesses. Are you doing what God sent you to do? Whether you have zero money in your bank account, whether you are struggling with a lot of challenges – if you are doing what God sent you to do, that is success. Amen.

We need to get away from measuring God by what He does in my life, and whether He's given me this list of ten things I think should be a requirement – that He should be giving me health and money and the right partner and all of this. He is God. He isn't there for you; you are there for Him. Amen. So start by wanting to understand what He wants to do.

I said to you, what are the chances of success if you do this on your own? I'll be bold and tell you, chances are zero. So one of the things you need to decide today – and this is where I always say, when we say, 'I have died to myself, I live unto Christ,' I say, can I quickly test that in your life? Will you be willing to let me test that in your life, or are we lying to each other?

Because if you tell me you have died to yourself, you are living unto Christ, and you are not submitting to an accountability group and spiritual authority, I'm telling you, you are lying. You did not die. You're lying to yourself, you're lying to the people around you. We must stop playing games and stop playing church. This is about life, eternal life.

If you really die to yourself, you have died to Christ. You belong to Christ now. Your life is Christ. Look around you – if you tell me you haven't seen Christ, this is Christ, this is Christ. You belong to Christ. We belong to each other. So that means if I've died to myself, I now belong to Christ, and I'm accountable to Christ. I can't do whatever I want anymore. If I want to make big decisions in my life, I have an accountability group that is spiritually mature, and I lay it before them and say, 'This is what I want to do. Do you agree with me?' And if they don't agree with me, then I don't do it.

Hallelujah. Then we spend more time in prayer until we understand why we are not on the same page, if both of us are hearing the Holy Spirit. Maybe I'm affected by emotions, invested in the situation, whatever it is. Maybe it's about timing. Whatever it is, I need to have an accountability group. You are not serious about what God has called you to do if you are not submitting to an accountability group. If you want to become serious about what God has called you to do, tonight make the decision, pray about it, decide who the people are going to be, and by tomorrow contact them and say, 'This is what I want to do. I want you to be my accountability group.'

The amazing thing about an accountability group is that it doesn't tell you what to do. You tell them what you want to do, and they help you to do it. Massive difference. You cannot succeed without having an accountability group. You only need two people, maybe three at most, who are spiritually mature, and you submit yourself. Then we come back to what we said at the beginning: what is your biggest victory in life? To be able to change.

So let the Holy Spirit bring conviction to your heart tonight about what you need to change. If you need to continue praying about it into tomorrow, spend time with Him. Say, 'What is the hay and the wood and the straw that I need to cut out of my life? What are the things I need to build? I want to spend more time in the Word.' Somebody said to me about two weeks ago that he wants to spend more time in the Word. I said, 'Okay, but where's your accountability group? When you start reading in the Word, post it on your accountability group.'

Don't wait for people to guess, only realising three days later that you are not spending time in the Word. They are there to help you. But you need to decide what it is. If for you it means you want to pray ten minutes a day, or spend ten minutes in the Word every day, that's what it is. But you post it on your group and say, '10 o'clock every night' or '5 o'clock every morning,' whatever it is, and then you put a tick or a little Bible icon, and people can help you. We are dependent on each other.

It's not a nice-to-have. I always think, if we look physically – if you end up in a snowstorm, does it matter what equipment you have with you? If you end up in the middle of the desert in a storm, does it matter? If you end up in the middle of the sea on your own, does it matter what equipment you have with you? For sure it does. But by the time you need it, if you don't have it with you, it's too late.

If that snowstorm comes, and then you sit and make your list of what would be nice equipment to have, it's too late. We can't wait till we are in a crisis in our life – or even not just a crisis, but an opportunity to make a difference with somebody – and we don't have the tools. It is not rocket science. You need to spend time in the Word.

You need to spend time in prayer. You need to spend time in fellowship, intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit without an agenda – that's different from word and prayer, just sitting, communicating with the Holy Spirit. You need to have interaction with people who love the Lord. It's as simple as that. From that will flow activation.

I've had three testimonies this week about one moment that changed somebody's life. They didn't all happen this week, but I received those testimonies this week. I can tell you that you have been destined – hear me carefully – that one moment of encounter with you by somebody else will change their life for eternity. One moment. The problem is, if you are in that snowstorm and you don't have the equipment, it's too late.

When you encounter that moment, you need to be in that position where you are so sensitive to the Holy Spirit that you know what to do, that you are filled with the Word, that you know what to offer. At that stage you can't just say, 'Okay, God will do something.' You already saw from all these verses there is a joint responsibility. Amen.

So you've got some homework. You need to make a decision, and you need to found your accountability group – I'm serious about that. If you don't have an accountability group, you are not serious about doing what God has called you to do. You are not serious that you have died to yourself.

And then we can get the worship team. I want to continue to encourage you as we continue throughout the evening: have an expectation. Don't limit God. If you have the desire to go and do what you know you should be doing, whatever it is, have an expectation that God is going to touch you. As we continue to worship, just focus on Him. Just focus on Him.

Remain in a state of worship. Remain expectant. Focus on Him. Express your desire. I said to you, I've seen in the past that people who grow the quickest spiritually are those who focus on other people, and part of that is for you to focus on God. That same principle applies – not with an agenda, just worship Him for who He is, and you will see the significance.