Video Transcript: House to House - Chapter 14 A Leader’s Commitment

I want to talk to you in this session about the commitment that leaders need to  have. If we're called the leadership we're called to lead a house church, then we need to understand the word commitment. And you know, we read, we read  about this throughout the Scripture. We see the commitment that Jesus had to  the vision that God given him. We see the commitment that Paul had, for  example, you know, to the commitment that to the call that God, God had given  to him. And you know, I love the way Paul says, And he writes to to the  Galatians, and he talks about, you know his his focus in God, and all the God  has given him as a house church leader. There are certain areas of commitment I want to look at with you, just for a moment. And we want to, want to look at this together. But I would like to, like to read this scripture from Philippians, and just  gives a little sense of Paul's commitment, first of all, to know Christ. And he says it like this. He says, In Philippians 3, because this is the greatest commitment of  all, our commitment to Jesus, commitment to the Lord, any easy says this. He  says verse 7, whatever was to my profit, I now consider a loss for the sake of  Christ. In other words, any good thing I could ever do, anything I've learned, any any training I've received through the Sanhedrin, whatever he said, it's lost for  the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the  surpassing greatness of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord, and as leaders in  house churches, the house church is secondary. I mean, what is most important  is this all about Jesus. I remember when I had to repent because I'd wake up in  the morning thinking, first thing I think of was, how can we see more house  churches start? How can we see the kingdom of God grow? And I realized what  I needed to be thinking about was Jesus. I love you. Jesus, you're amazing. It  was my love relationship with him. Had repent because it had become idolatry.  Even the whole vision of starting house churches had become idolatry, because  it wasn't. It wasn't about starting house churches had become idolatry because it wasn't as important as I was. It's not my relationship with Jesus. Paul here is  saying basically the same thing. He said this. He said, I consider these things  rubbish garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a  righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that come from God and is by faith. I want to know  Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship and sharing in the  sufferings he's becoming like him in death and he says, so somehow I can attain the resurrection of the dead. And then he says, not that I've already obtained all  this or have been made perfect, but I press on. There's the commitment we're  called, regardless of what happens, and whether you at your house church is  the best experience the world or it's a real test, and you're learning things  through the whole process or process. But we need to understand is that we  press on to take hold for that which Christ. Jesus took hold of me. He says, took  hold of us. And he says, Brothers, I do not consider myself, get them taken hold  of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what's behind strain to what's ahead, I press 

on toward the goal to win the prize for which God's called me heavenward in  Christ, Jesus. Then he says, I love this. He says, all of us who are mature  should take such a view. Think like I'm thinking. Paul says, they said, and if in  some point you think differently, in other words, you think, Well, I'm not sure am I really hearing God clearly on this if you think differently, that true God will make  clear to you only let us live up to what we have already obtained. You know, the  Bible is filled with Revelation, not only about house church ministry, but how to  live eternity, all the riches of God in this book. But the reality is, some we don't  understand it all, but let's just, let's just fulfill what we know. And when it comes  to starting house churches, multiplying house churches, seeing moves of God,  seeing the kingdom of God advance in your country, in your nation, in your  village, let's just start with where we're at. And you know, if you're missing  something, don't worry about it. God will show you. God will make it clear, I love  Deuteronomy, 29:29 The secret things belong to the Lord God. For those things  that are revealed belong to us and our children forever. There's some things that are secretive we may not understand, but God says that I'm gonna reveal things to you, and I found, found for me, I say, to a walk in the revelation of what God  has revealed to me. If I can walk in Revelation which revealed, God will take  care of all the rest. Now let's talk more about this commitment, commitment to  Jesus. First of all, that's we're talking about commitment to his vision for our life,  and commitment to the whole body of Christ. You know, it's not just about our  house church. It's about his kingdom. It's about advancement of the kingdom.  Seek ye, first, the kingdom of God, and he'll add all these things unto us. It's all  about the king and his domain, and some of that is expressed through house  church ministry. So we need to understand that. We need to be committed to  him and to his vision, to his kingdom. Secondly, we need to have a vision. Every  house church needs a vision. and we need to be committed to that vision that  He's given us, or whatever that looks like. So if you have a house church that's  on a college campus, it'll look different than a house church that's with a group  of older folks. If you have a house church that you're raising up with mostly  children, it's going to look different than a house church at a school. Do  whatever your house church looks like, your micro church or organic church  looks like. We just make sure we have a commitment to fulfill the vision that God has given us, and then go back and on a regular basis, six months year, say,  God, what do you say now? How can is this changing? And it's okay. It can  change. Say, Larry, we're coming down the wrong street. It's okay. God will  simply, I'm convinced it's harder to get out of the will of God that we think. You  know Psalm 23 the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the good shepherd. And and  where did you say, his rod, and he is guides us, his staff. They guide us. And  God, if we get out of the way a little bit, God will guide us back. And you can  trust him. Trust Him to do that. I mean, not only we committed to the vision he  gives us. But we need to set goals. Have a Dream, you have a vision. You need 

goals within the vision. And of course, the Scripture says Philippians 3:14, I'll  read it again. I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God's called me  heavenward in Christ, Jesus and I Corinthians 9:26, therefore, I did not run like  a man running aimlessly. But I do not fight like a man beating the air in the I  Corinthians 9:26 so we need some goal. That's why trust God to see someone  come to Christ. Let's trust God to see some new families and new people  become part of our house church. Let's trust God to see how we can change our community for the glory of God. We want to see redemption in our community. I  mean, three weeks ago, I was in Western Kenya because a friend of mine, his  name is Hesbone Odindo, 11 years ago, got a word from heaven, a word from  God. God spoke to at a conference that we were leading in the USA, in the state of Maryland, and why he's there. The Lord spoke to him and said, I've called you back to your village. He was living had a great job. He was living in Nairobi,  Kenya, making great money, nice house, a whole deal. And God said, I've called you back to your village. He grew up in a village of 10,000 people. It's called  Kadawa village, and he was told by some American doctors the year before that, that within 10 years, that entire village will probably be extinct because of AIDS,  HIV, and because of cholera, because all the problems in the community. And so he went back and start a little house fellowship in his mother's home, and led a  few people to Christ. He came back once a month. Then he finally moved his  family back. After he moved his whole family back, and more and more people  came to Christ. And I remember one of the first times I went there and God, just, God. Was just changing the whole community. I mean, it was, it was, it was a  mosquito infested swamp, and I saw that it started to change. There's now  where the swamp was, there's a banana plantation, and they were getting clean  water. They're praying for people, and people were being healed. All these  people are coming to Christ. And I went there, I remember there's six or 800  people ready to come to Christ, and all these house fellowships, they'd all meet  together and celebrate and worship God. And I remember, after I preached one  Sunday, when I was there, I remember this man came to me said, I'm like the  mayor of the town charging the police. I want you to know that since this man,  your friend, Hesbone came here, brought Jesus there, everything's changed. He said, we've had so many rapes and problems in our community, but their police  have almost nothing to do, because things have changed. I was back there just  a few weeks ago. Now. They've reached more than 2000 people in that whole  area. They started 10 churches, and they have a Christian school, and the  whole place looks different. There are widows being taken care of and orphans  taken care of. There has been no one who died of cholera. For more than five  years, people have been healed of AIDS, very few people who now dying  prematurely. The whole area changed. It was a area of transformation because  he had a commitment to follow the heavenly vision God gave him. What's the  heavenly vision that God's giving to you? And whatever that is, we need to be 

willing to be committed to the goals that it takes. He has certain goals. He was  going to start from House fellowships. He did that. Then the goal is going to  move his family. He did that. He's going to work with an orphanage. He did that.  He's going to train leaders. He's trained all these leaders of all these house  fellowships and even larger groups in that area. Now they're seeing, we're  seeing amazing things happen for the glory of God. So these areas of  commitment, we need to understand leadership requires commitment. There's  commitment, obviously, to the group that we're serving. And we encourage  people in House Fellowship to express a commitment. I know churches and  membership roles and all those things and and we deem God how you want to  do that in House Fellowship. I don't personally see a need for that, but I believe  there's a desperate need for commitment. And so we came up with a just a little  card, and on the card, and it's in your text, on the card, we had this commitment  I'm gonna read it to it's very simple. And we encourage people on a regular  basis, yearly, every other year, however, often want to do it to express their  commitment to others in the house church or in. The House Fellowship. It goes  like this, I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord. I'm therefore committed to living,  obedience to Word of God and obedience to the Holy Spirit, and to being part of  the church that Jesus building throughout the world. In other words, we're part of his whole kingdom. That's just this one House Fellowship. I specifically commit  myself to the body of Christ, in this case, to a dove via dove church, because  that's the family church I'm involved in. I'll be accountable to my brothers and  sisters in the way I live my Christian life, and I'll support the leadership that God  raises up, and I'll support the vision that God gives to his body. And you know,  you make that commitment. People say, Yes, I'm willing to be corrected, I'm  willing to stand together. I'm willing to be committed to this part of the body of  Christ. Now people say, what is it? What do you really need to have a local  church? What's the lowest common denominator? Many people say house  church is not a real church. I mean, people, they have it this vibrant house  church. He grows a 40, 50, 60, people packed him in a house. God's there. Is  awesome. And then one day they go and get a building, and they get the  building, and they say, wow. Then we got a building. Now we have a real church. No, you had the real church. I mean, that's, that's the church too, but you have  the real church. And the bottom line is, God's called us to be having a sense of  commitment to understand what is a local church. Here's what I think. This is  just my take on it. I stand to be corrected on this, I believe, when there's a group of people, two or three, gather his name, people come together. Here's what you need for local church, each person has a relationship with God through Jesus  Christ. These this and not Some club, these are people with lives are  transformed by Jesus. Secondly, each person has relationship with others in  their local church, in the local house church, number three, there's clear  leadership recognized among the people. There must be some kind of 

leadership. It's not just a group of people coming together, singing songs and  saying, Well, we're just having fun. No, no, there's a vision and there's  leadership. And number four is, there must be a corporate vision. There must be a common vision among them, all together. And the scripture says it like this.  Sometimes there's a fear of leadership, there's a desperate need for leadership,  but it's servant leadership. It's Compassionate Leadership, it's loving leadership, but it's leadership. It's leadership where we're called to serve the people of God.  And the scripture says it like this in I Thessalonians 5:12-13. Now we ask you,  brothers, respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the  Lord, who admonish you, hold them in highest regard and love because of their  work, and live in peace with one another. So he says, yes, we need respect our  leaders. I have leaders in my life. I am privileged to lead a team of international  leaders who lead an international movement globally. I'm privileged to do that,  but I have fathers in the Lord, people in my life, older and wiser than I am, who  the outsider movement, our whole movement, knows who they are. All of our  leaders know. And there's this I tell people all the time, you know if, if there are  no popes in the kingdom of God, I know there's the Roman Catholic Pope, and I  love him dearly, but I would you to know that in, I mean, in the Bible, we don't  see anyone who's a who's the final authority, is Jesus, who is the final authority.  And knowing that, understanding that we need to have those in our lives who  can speak into our lives, and that's I believe, for all of us. And you know, the  Scripture speaks such in high regards about unity. You know, God commands  blessing when people live in unity, I believe we must be committed to unity in the body of Christ. We need to speak that in our house fellowships. We need to let  the people of God know that with whom we serve, with that we are standing in  unity with the rest of the body of Christ. That is a part of our commitment is to  Jesus. It's to his kingdom. Is to walking together unity so God can command a  blessing. It's to the vision that He's given us is to the goals we set to get to  where God's calls to go to where our dream, or dream would go and and I think  the last thing I would say in this session is this, I believe there's a commitment  the leaders have to help the people of God within our care fulfill the dreams that  God's given them. Just recently, a few years ago, I was in a hospital room with a leader whom I loved dearly, and he was dying, and he passed on to be with  Jesus about a month later. And the last time I saw him in this, you know, alive,  this what he said to me. He said, Larry, I've learned through my life in ministry  and leadership that God places dreams in people's hearts. What God's calls to  his leaders is draw those dreams out. And he said, he said, I would. He said,  Whatever days I have a he didn't know he only had maybe a few weeks to go  before he went to be with Jesus. He says, I want to help people draw those  dreams out. And you know, that's the call of God in my life, the call of God in  your life. And it can happen in a House Fellowship, because it's relational.  Because if there are six people in your house fellowship, and here they are, six 

people, your relational you know one another. See what's the dream in your  heart? I love to ask this question, if you can do anything you're called to do,  what would you like to do 10 years down the road? And perhaps you can pray  with them and help them take. Steps to get there, because we are living stones  built together into a spiritual house, all dreaming the dreams of God, then  helping one another fulfill those dreams. And I ask in Jesus name that you have  grace in your life to fulfill the dream that God has given you, and then grace to  help others whom you serve to fulfill the God given dreams that they have that  so that Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified through your life, through our  lives, and through his kingdom, as we see, prepare for His coming in. Jesus  name Amen.