 Well what is wrong with you guys why are you coming to a worship workshop on discipleship that's the that's the stuff that unfortunately our culture is known for not really doing so I don't know why you guys are even here you guys are weird awesome forget started I want to shout out we got a special guest my own father is in the house Brent Culver the patriarch brother Brenna Ham yeah my dad is he's a pastor in upstate New York a church called Life Church they're actually part of our radiant network and part of another network called Elam and super honored to have him here and I just really early memories even my young teen years of coming downstairs at 5 a.m. and my dad's shouting his head off in the living room because he's on a water fast just interceding and praying and dragged me to Toronto you know when I was a 10 year old and I was absolutely freaked out because if you're not familiar with the Toronto blessing was an outpouring that happened there there's just bodies flying people screaming and crying I didn't know I didn't know what was happening but it was there actually the Lord really got a hold of me when I was about 13 14 so yep just wanted to honor him thanks for being here dad awesome well I was kind of half joking about what's what's wrong with you being here on a workshop about discipleship because I I this this topic in this this theme has been something as a church that the Lord has really been developing and downloading and go ahead and open up your Bibles to Matthew 28 go into a little bit of my story but I feel like the Lord gave me one pretty clear word that I want to dive into but I want to just start reading the scripture Matthew 28 18 through 20 you'll be familiar with this passage most likely and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all I have commanded you and behold I am with you even to the end of the age let's pray just before we dive in Holy Spirit we asked that you would open our eyes and open our ears I asked for the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus Christ Lord I asked that you would not through my words or teaching but through your Holy Spirit Lord I asked that you would bring absolutely insane clarity God I ask for areas and on our worship teams and people that we are disciplining leading that has been a burden of heaviness Lord where we have carried burdens that were not ours to carry Lord I asked that there would be a releasing God I asked for there has been confusion and discouragement I ask that it would be replaced with hope and faith and absolute clarity in the name of Jesus amen amen it's it's funny you know we call this the Great Commission but it's not just the Great Commission it's the only Commission that Jesus actually gives us it's the only Commission and Jesus does not say go into all the earth and build the super sick worship ministries go into all the earth and write really cool music doesn't say go into all the earth it says go into all the earth and make disciples and I'm not saying that because those things don't matter I'm saying that because Jesus is a man of order and in the kingdom sometimes we like to think that everything is just kind of all the same and there's no order to how things work but in Christ there's always order and there's always headships things always flow from one place there is a Christ is the head and things flow underneath that there's not 90 million great commandments says listen there's love the Lord you got a lolly heart so mine is straight it's called the first commandment it means that's number one it means that if it is out of place then it's not even the right order and Jesus is saying here now of course there's a billion great things that we can do because I'm not saying that to dog worship ministry or ministry obviously I'm a part of that I give my life to it but we can get out of order and out of focus when we see our worship or our ministry being anything outside of making disciples and what he says there all of Jesus is like I have all authority but I'm willing to give you that authority for you to walk in that earth but in order for you to actually walk in that authority you actually have to go and make disciples and teach them to observe all I've commanded you and and the reality is for you and for me unfortunately we elevate our calling and our gifts and our talents so far beyond this call and we we put making disciples far the way down the list but the reality is we dream and we fantasize about the stage and success and things working really well and things none of these none of these things that are bad but but in our own hearts we're out of order with Jesus' command to make disciples and and you know I honestly I think every single person relates to feeling that that that desire for calling above disciples you know I remember being you know 18 years old when I moved to the International House of Prayer to go to Bible school and and when I when I looked at the trajectory of my life what I wanted to do I was like well God gifted me and and gave me musical gifts and you know I want to do music and I want to make music and I want to write music and I want to write worship songs and and and the Lord had spoken a lot of prophetic promises about worship and you know even as a teenager the Lord's like you're gonna your your music is gonna go before millions you're gonna lead the nations and all that and it's again it's like a very Joseph type scenario where we they're like awesome yeah we're really awesome and we're gonna we're gonna make this happen and and and God's like yeah we are gonna make this happen but it's not gonna look anything like you want it to look and and and you know I really started pursuing music and and writing and and and I really wasn't discipling and mentoring anybody in and I had a leader when I was about 20 probably about 21 years old and he came to me and said hey we have in Kansas City's like hey we have we want to start a youth camp for teenagers to come and learn worship and I was like oh man that's really cool and he's like what do you think about running it and I like of course I laugh and and say that's that's really funny I like that joke but who you really thinking and he's like well what about you and and and I was like I'm 21 years old can you imagine like parents dropping their teenager off and they're like hey little guy where's the leader of this camp like that's me actually actually I just had visions of like these parents like looking at me absolutely terrified and and and I was like man I don't I literally said this I was like man I don't know if you know I don't know if I'm called to to really disciple I feel called to to do worship and lead worship and and you know I'm a 21 year old I don't even know that you know I'm in massive violation of scripture and this leader was this leader was really really kind to me but but he said you know Caleb he's like you can continue to grow and develop as a worship leader as a songwriter and new music he's like and I and I believe you'll you'll you'll fulfill those prophecies I believe you'll you'll write great music you'll you'll have influence and impact them you might even have songs that go in front of millions but you can do that with your life and that's great or you can be a father to the next generation and you can see a harvest happen and at the end of your life you can see a legacy that you never could have imagined if you just if you just run a path of self serving ministry and that was the kindest thing that that anyone could have said to me and and that kind of started the journey so at 21 years old I'd start I did a worship camp and and I didn't know what the heck I was doing I was terrible at it I mean I made so many mistakes like I should probably be in jail like I didn't do anything like that unethical but I think about the amount of mistakes I made and things that I did that was unwise but but I took that that that message to heart and and the Lord in the midst of this camp that probably should have been an unmitigated disaster the Lord took it and he breathed and he and he blessed it and I ran we actually did these camps for about four or five years I worked under actually a guy was here at the conference named Zach Hensley who who we ran with for years and we saw it to this day actually Gretchen Schmidt in the back she went to that worship camp as a teenager almost everywhere I go I run into people that were like man I came to that camp and the Lord spoke or encountered me here and thank you so much and you know people at at Bethel and Jesus culture and Hillsong and at different worship places all over the earth from a dorky kid who didn't know what he was doing and made tons of mistakes but but I was like man you know what I I buy into this principle of of discipleship and in our culture though we we don't buy into making Jesus following disciples like we we really don't and I had recently I would have said yeah you know I love making disciples I love discipleship and I got my world blown up a little bit about two months ago I went to Malaysia I got invited to go pastor Lee mentioned it but there was a group of Iranian pastors which Iran is the fastest growing church in the world there's a group about 50 of their main pastors that twice a year sorry once every other year they get them out of the country they have to get them out like really secretively and they regather in another location they have a three-day retreat and so I want I want you to know like what things what what things they talk about on their retreats like when we go on our retreats like we were like okay what you know however mailers looking what's happening with social media their retreats were okay what happens in your and your church when they arrest and kill you you know is your what's your contingency plan for that they their retreat was centered around asking these questions because obviously they're in a this persecuted nation and a friend of mine mutual friend of mine named Dalton who plants churches in in the Middle East he's like hey I'll set you up with this guy's like he is about 5,000 churches and Iran hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in a place where it is completely illegal and and and the pace at which it's growing and I'm like well yeah of course I want to meet with this guy and then and I met with him and he was very intense and my flesh was was really offended but to be honest I mean and I don't know how you couldn't have but but he he he kind of went on to the net for the next hour and just kind of ripped the church in America crazy hard like I won't even fully go into it and and but but it was good it was it was a rebuke I needed you know Ephesians 3 16 through 19 says you know it prays like that you would be strengthened with might by your spirit and the inner man and we love to pray that scripture and we think like oh get strengthened with might like we think we're gonna get zapped by like kind of the strength lightning bolt from God you know what that that Greek word means it means the tearing and the rebuilding of a muscle so when we ask for God to strengthen us with might we are asking for a tearing to happen but then to be rebuilt and strength and and that to me represents why we need to receive intense prophetic messages especially from people in other contexts that are outside of ours but that are that are really bearing fruit and so I knew it was gonna be hard he was challenging me but he said something revolutionary that that I would have told you that I believed but but the way I saw it with with total clarity and he asked me he's like hey in America you know how many how many leaders let's just do leaders of mega churches that have fallen morally in the past year and I said well I know of about five it's probably about five to ten it's like how many leaders that you know maybe not mega churches that you know personally in the last five years who have walked away from the Lord and I said probably close to 50 or 100 and he's like of our over 6000 churches he's like he's like you know how many moral failings we've had zero you know how many people have denied Jesus in the face of death or being raped or put in prison and he goes he asked me a question and he says how do you measure maturity when Jesus says make disciples how do you measure maturity and he goes I don't know a single church I mean this is intense language I'm not necessarily saying I I fully agree with the I just I don't want to soften the blow to be honest because it was so convicting he goes I don't know a single church or organization that doesn't measure maturity by gifting and knowledge said you know why you've had those 510 mega church pastors why those 50 to 100 people have fallen is because we evaluate how mature and how ready for leadership people are with their knowledge how much they know and how gifted they are and if they are gifted and they know the language and they know the talk and they know the leadership culture we will throw them right up on a platform whether or not they have the character to sustain it and he's like but but how do you measure he's like you measure maturity by knowledge and gifting we measure maturity by obedience to the level that they are obedient is the direct level of how mature they are they go it does not matter how gifted they are I met I met with with this with this guy one of these pastors I met with him it's somebody that was to be honest he was extremely unimpressive there was not he didn't have a great look he wasn't crazy sharp with words he he had awkward mannerisms and and I met with him and then we had we had a great meeting but met nothing and nothing that you impressed if he got up on on stage at your I sign conference you would get bored you'd get on Instagram you wouldn't listen to what he had had to say probably walked away and he goes that guy's personally led over a thousand people to Christ and has started up and is over about about 200 churches and I I I'm sorry but that man would sit and almost any congregation in America and be completely unseen and unnoticed but they measured his ability to lead by the obedience in his heart and we have produced really gifted really talented powerless Christians powerless Christians that that talk the talk that look really good that are really good at hosting so and listen I I'm not saying don't do those things I'm obviously we're part of this conference I believe in excellence I'm gonna talk about how that serves but if we get this out of order and I believe in America we have this dramatically out of order and the Holy Spirit took me and showed me people that I said I was discipling and just gonna be vulnerable with you and and he showed me these people and I there was moments where I was meeting with these people and I was poor and I was sharing Bible verses and revelation and I knew in my spirit one they were not growing to they were not producing fruit and three there was probably rebellion in their life but I had not poked or asked any questions to reveal that and I had hoped that by feeding them knowledge I would fix the problem guys we in the West are cursed with knowledge it is a curse when I went to Iran there were pastors and leaders that had unbelievable authority we're leading so many people to Jesus had a character that looked more like Jesus and almost anyone I'd ever met they didn't own a Bible and they knew probably 20 Bible verses when they came to this retreat when they had someone preach and teach he would translate this Iranian pastor and they would they would say something he'd be like I'm not gonna tell them that they don't know what that is that'll confuse them and so don't say that and I was like oh my gosh that's like really harsh and so someone was preaching it was using example the prosperity gospel and that he wasn't saying in a positive sense but he goes they don't know what the prosperity gospel is he's like that would be so confusing they would that he's like they don't know a deal that move on and I was like man that was kind of like harsh how he told him off and he goes he says to me he's like no you don't understand he's like you in the West you guys teach sermon series after sermon series scripture after scripture and there's so much knowledge and and good information he's like these people the moment they hear or read a scripture they will reorder their life to completely submit to that if they hear a scripture they don't think oh wow that's really insightful that's a really good point boy I wonder you know man that's really cool I need to think on that a little bit no they get on their face and they repent for all the areas of their life that don't align with what Jesus said and and honestly I think that that environment is so much more conducive because Jesus did not come and he did not download to the disciples about the cross and and the resurrection right away he didn't say I want you to go to seminary for four years and then after you really know the scriptures and know the Bible I want you to then come and follow me no he went to the uneducated he went to the ones who the other rabbis didn't want the reason they were doing fish with they were fishermen or tax collectors or whatever is because they weren't wanted by the rabbis they weren't the gifted knowledge ones that would excel like they would in the church in America and he goes I want to go to these guys they know nothing but I'm not gonna lead with information and knowledge I'm gonna ask them one question will you follow me will you lay everything down and follow me and then the way he spoke it was progressive he only taught to the level that they had the capacity to obey and we in the West we in a day and we push so much knowledge and then we measure the ability to regurgitate that knowledge is how we define who our leaders are and who we need to give authority and we produce powerless Christians and beyond that we have lost all discernment of who has authority and who does not we look at what is impressive to man rather than who actually has authority from heaven I'll give you an example I was at this conference that that we were playing we're leading worship at and we hadn't played yet and I saw someone and I was like I got a prophetic word for them and I shared the word over them and I thought it was I thought it was really on and they went oh man that's awesome thanks man thanks for sharing that same person came up to me the next day and they go oh my gosh I had no idea you wrote the song reckless love oh my god I love that song so much oh that man now what you said that whoa man that really hits me now and and I there was something I I honestly I wanted to vomit and that is such an unbelievably accurate picture of what happens when when I was just an everyday person right there the word had everything to do with the size of my stage not the accuracy and power of what was being released through that and then all the sudden because they found out that I wrote a song that millions of people sing then all the sudden that word is powerful that that is so jacked up it's so jacked up and when we hear scripture and revelation we are tantalized by in our mind but we don't apply it in our lives we don't live it out and they say I rearrange my life for this and then I watch as people that we disciple fall away and and I got to sit on an interview of a woman this is gonna be kind of intense but they asked her in this interview that she's a pastor's wife and she is leading people to Jesus at a rate you wouldn't believe and they asked her and they said what does it mean to be persecuted what does that mean for you and she said I know that if I just lived a quiet Christian life and I kept my faith to myself I wouldn't have any trouble the only issue that the government of Iran will have and you know possible jihadist it only has to do with when I share my faith and she goes she said this she said I know that most likely at some point in my life I will be raped because that is what they do to Christian women who share their faith and she said Jesus who Jesus gave up his body as a living sacrifice for me what is 15 minutes of rape compared to an eternity with Jesus and how could I be silent and monster that pastor he said do you see that woman so the Lord used me or use that that woman said she see Jesus appeared to her in the flesh and if she were a convert due to a message she would fall away because she encountered me she will die for me she says in the West we in the West what you do is is you convert to disciple and converts will fold the moment there's any pressure says but disciples if they've encountered me if they encounter God they will die for me and this is crazy I'm just I'm delivering it you do what you do with it I had to wrestle with it so now you have to wrestle with it he goes if someone comes to me and says lead me to Jesus I ask them I was like well has Jesus made himself known to you and if they say no he says no he says I want you to go back and I want you to ask him if he's actually real when he speaks to you or shows up then I'll then I'll talk with you and that that's probably really offensive to a lot of people but here's what they do they share a story about the gospel and they have to be secretive because they can't be coat they can't be overt about the gospel because if they could get arrested anybody could be secret police but they share a general story and they say what does this teach you about God what does this teach you about yourself if it's true then what will you change about your life and for who will you tell and this is crazy they will not talk or meet with them again unless they do the obedience point and unless they tell somebody why because they said if this is about if this is about knowledge it'll fold in a moment but if they take this and they obey through the the door of obedience makes way for the supernatural every pastor I talked to that had been saved in these Iranian pastors every one of them had seen Jesus in the flesh had heard him audibly or had some insane encounter with him and why because they heard the word and they obeyed and through their obedience the door for the miraculous was opened they encountered Jesus a real person who they would die for and Jesus to them is not a religion it's not about how much they can know it is a person that they will follow to the ends of the earth because he is real and if they hear anything if they hear anything of a command of Jesus they will reorder and reorganize their life there is one metric and metric alone to measure maturity and that's obedience that's it and what happens is when we use gifting and we only elevate gifting and unfortunately this can happen the most with worship teams and worship leaders and because why because the gifting actually is required and so I'm not dogging gifting gifting is a very important part of who you are hear me and and Jesus wants you to serve it but he wants it in the right order but we throw the people on stage who are the most gifted whether or not they're obedient and what happens is we we produce seedless fruit because we haven't made disciples of them so they don't make disciples of any anybody and the expression of Christianity that we say is it's a service on a weekend and that's it and the worship is so valuable and you'll hear lots of sermon messages I'm again I'm not dogging worship or the power of worship but but ultimately if we want power and authority and what we're doing as worship leaders and people lead worship teams is that we are called to make disciples and we we have to we have to rethink the way that we evaluate and we give leadership and and and who we give authority to and who has authority and we need to look with different eyes because we have created a system and and I don't hate the system might but the goal is not to throw that out listen we have an insane advantage that they actually don't have an Iran which is called we can gather around the presence of God that's what they don't have they can't gather when they when they gather in meetings well in Malaysia they were all shouting the whole time like this sucks this is the worst worship service I've been a part of like stop shouting like start singing and then I walked away one of the women said that was amazing she's like I haven't been able to shout or sing for two years and so to be able to have this freedom is so amazing and we take that for granted we can gather around the presence of God that corporate encounter we can have that on a weekly basis we have such an advantage I'm not say throw that expression out because that expression is massively valuable however we can't just celebrate good services and then like man the job's done but at the same time we don't need to feel the burden that we have to disciple every single person ourselves we can't honestly I think you can disciple probably about three if you're you know medium capacity twelve if you have just insane Jesus capacity I think that's about how many people you can disciple at once I think that's that's realistically the number but but as we produce disciples the only way to actually produce it disciples that produce fruit is for them to disciple other people but it starts at the top and it's we don't have to have brilliant strategies we really don't I love brilliant strategies I love brilliant ideas I like amazing songs I do all that stuff I love it all but but we what happens is you come to a conference like this a lot of times and you're probably from a smaller church and you see an LED wall and you see lights and you worship that sounds amazing and it's well-tuned whatever and you're like wow that's so powerful I could never produce that kind of fruit where I'm at and that is such bull crap right from the right from the pit of hell people that don't have any of that are producing more fruit than almost any ministry that I know in the West because it's measured by obedience how obedient are we he's not gonna ask us if we had the most amazing sounding worship ministry in the world he's gonna say what did I command you to do and did you do it and we let confusion dominate us we get so confused because we we we follow every other church like oh that's better than us that's better than us that's better than us that and eventually we're just like we're so heavy we're like we're terrible like because because we we we live in this comparison world and Lord's like don't look to the left and the right it's not confusing it might be hard but but it's simple it's insanely simple it's as simple as just following Jesus and what he said but but we don't want to follow him and so we try to fill that void with lots of knowledge with lots of talent with lots of gifting and we make it so confusing that's why somebody who knows 20 Bible verses can look way more like Jesus than people who know the Bible from start to finish kind of sounds a lot like the Pharisees huh man they knew the Bible really well didn't they they knew the sermon series they knew the get they knew how to work that religious system who they had a down pat and Jesus said you know who you you know who you're making disciples of your father the devil you know what Jesus did he grabbed 12 super unimpressive dudes he told them that to forsake everything and follow him and then he spent three years with them pouring out his heart dealing with their crap letting them make mistakes you know mark mark talked about it so well and those 12 men were unimpressive on gifted and whatever and they changed the world they turned the world upside down I think Jesus was trying to tip us off to something I think Jesus was trying to say the point is not like okay now we look past talented people and just go after undalented people like no Jesus loves the the the three you know the five or sorry the two the one two and five or two five and ten depending on which he loves every it has nothing to do with a level of talent that they have it has to do with the submission of the Holy Spirit and who he highlights and the spirit highlighted 12 people and he went to them you know but they weren't the only ones who had the invitation you know the difference between those 12 that you know what are the 12 disciples names shout them out Matthew Mark Luke John Peter James John Judas Simon Bartholomew awesome I think we got them all what's the name of the rich young ruler did Jesus who did Jesus give him an offer to let him follow him yeah same offer to the other 12 what's the difference they didn't obey and you never know his name I believe that Jesus gives that call to every believer the level of authority and power that you walk in doesn't have to do with it are you a two five or ten talent person has to do with a level of obedience in your heart Jesus said to Peter hey leave behind your fish fishing business come follow me what does it say I don't think he sold those boats I think those boats are probably still sitting here today he sold it all he gave it all up and he followed Jesus the point isn't perfection it's maturity you guys probably know the the word teleos it's a Greek word it's translated perfect in the Bible a lot but probably a better translation is fully mature he's not looking for perfect people and and your your worship team and your people they don't have to be perfect they need to be mature and how do you measure maturity obedience but we kind of overwhelm everyone right like you have to rule at like 50 things and and then everyone's like well forget I can't do that that's not how the Lord moves and speaks we have we have one mouth and we're made in the image of God we can only say one thing at a time Jesus has one mouth Jesus can only say one thing at a time how does the enemy speak though you know I love it how they portrayed on you know videos and movies and and what happens when confusion comes in our life what happens million voices overwhelming confusion that's all the enemy operates the Lord operates in insane clarity one mouth one word at a time and within that word the grace and power to fulfill that command exists and we say oh if we just knew more if we were just more talented or more gifted no that's not true Jesus speaks and within every word he speaks the power exists to fulfill that command but you have to make a decision no matter what he says I'm gonna obey and follow him and I just met with 50 pastors that changed my life because at every turn whether or not their comfort says they can they will follow Jesus to the ends of the earth I'll give you one short example of that the guy went up to this pastor I met he went up to a group of gang members in Iran they're sitting around a fire and he goes I want to tell you a story about a man do you want to hear it the gang leader looks at him and he goes yeah I'll hear it but if I don't like it I'm gonna rape you in front of all these men do you still want to tell that story and he goes yeah I do he shares the this story from the scripture and then at the end he goes oh yeah by the way the reason you're in this gang is because when you're nine years old you came home from school your mom locked you out and you've been on the streets and the Lord wants you to know I didn't do that I'm your father the guy breaks down weeps every single gang member gets saved and starts a church that the reason man man the reason we don't walk on that water right reason I don't see those miracles because we don't step out in that level of faith but why he had confidence why because he's like the Lord told me to share that it has nothing to do with his threat or what he says if the Lord told me to do it then I'm to obey and who am I to say and even if you know the even if the Lord does not deliver me we will not bow to any other idol because we serve one master and one master alone that level of clarity and that precision of mission it's man it's not because superior training we have all the same tools we have the same Holy Spirit but we have to start from a place of complete submission and complete obedience I want to read a couple scriptures and about obedience and I've really I was tested in this as well because I come to these workshops and I teach worship you know for a living I run our worship school and so I when I come to these conferences I feel the same thing that I Caleb you got to wow them you got a you got to show them all the right things and they got to be like Caleb you're so brilliant you're so amazing and and that thing and you wants to just give into that and this morning the Lord just said Caleb I want you to talk about obedience I'm like but I got really good stuff much talk about obedience but God you know how good my content is much to talk about obedience I'm like okay Lord you know the skater company obey obedience is a dirty word in culture you say the word obedience you know what culture thinks of ignorant stupid simple you're a pawn you're a tool I pulled this off the website of this company called obey it's basically mocking any anyone who holds any dogmatic view says obey you guys know the skater company obey and if you if you look if you like this the you know whatever I'm not my point is not to like let's have an obey burning party after this guys let's get them like it's obviously not my point but I want to point to something the obey meaning is rooted in do-it-yourself counterculture counterculture of punk rock and skateboarding but it's also taken cues from popular culture commercial marketing and political messaging fair fairy is that his name Jake what's his name I said that fairy fairy steeps his ideology and iconograph in self-empowerment with biting sarcasm verging on reverse psychology he goes viewers using the imperative obey to take heed of the propaganda and to bend the world into their agendas self-empowerment is that word they use in that the word the world thinks of obey and they think ignorant simple robot pawn because you know what successful ministry the world can kind of get down to that right I I experienced that a little bit like you know my my dad his whole side of the family most all of them aren't saved you know and when I'm doing stuff in in like ministry you know the wild stuff like they think it's weird they hate it like if I'm fasting they think I'm a freak you know if I go on a mission trip what the heck is wrong with you you're putting yourself in danger but you know what when I write a song that's Grammy nominated whoa we share his post we love our cousin Caleb he's the best the successes the making my all of those things the world celebrates all of that but the world doesn't get down with obedience when we start using wait a minute whoa obey obedience world thinks ignorant simple robot pawn they might think submission or oppression they might associate it with you know a member of the political party outs you know in the opposite aisle and I have a couple words that the Bible associates with obedience love freedom prosperity leadership authenticity I just want to read a couple of these scriptures that it's littered all throughout our scriptures we know it's there we just prefer to skip past it to the more stuff that we feel like fits our climate better John 1423 Jesus replied anyone who loves me will obey my teaching my father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them what's Jesus saying I'm waiting to make my home with the obedient John 1514 if you love me you will build a powerful worship ministry if you love me you'll write a Grammy nominated song right no if you love me you'll keep my commandments John 2 1 through 6 and this is love that we walk according to his commandments this is the commandment just as you heard from the beginning so that you should walk in it freedom I love this one why because the world looks at obedience as bondage they see us being obedient and they're like there's some invisible some a dictator that you are just blindly submitting to that's bondage I live however I want baby I'm free I can make my own choices and own decisions this is amazing guess what they're not free they're crippled crippled by anxiety crippled by depression they are an addicts that they cannot escape out of a prison while they're celebrating their freedom and they look at somebody and they say look out on their bondage and they're filled with self-control and the fruit of the spirit they are free listen to these scriptures about freedom submit yourself to God resist the devil and he will flee from you sounds like freedom dear friends if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him for just as though the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous through Jesus's obedience is why you were made righteous why are we trying to make others righteous and anything other than our own obedience it was Jesus's submission to the father you know how much talent and gifting it took Jesus to die on the cross none you know how much obedience it took everything father if at all possible take this cup but not my will yours be done obedience the reason why you are walking in freedom today is because one man's obedience he said no to Satan said I'll give you the stage I'll give you everything you want and you won't even have to go to the cross you just worship me I feel like the enemy can come and I know this sounds intense he can come to the church in America and say hey guess what you know how Jesus says deny yourself pick up your cross and follow me guess what come over here I got a deal for you hey if you just don't do that cross thing I got something for you all the all the nations of the world will bow down to I'll give you everything that God promised but you won't have to go through the cross and Jesus of course said absolutely not but Jesus or sorry the enemy can come to us and he's afraid of us why because we have the indwelling Holy Spirit because we are the light of the world because we have the answer to what the world is looking for but Satan goes hey come over here what if I give you really successful life what if I give you comfort what if I give you the house you always wanted the wife you always wanted the life you all you want and guess what you don't have to do that cross thing you don't have to you don't have to live obedient and we settle rather than going to the cross and through one man's obedience the world receives righteousness through our obedience the world reaps a harvest that we could never do in our own gifting and ability and listen God wants your gifting and ability this is not a trash your gifting message I'm saying we got to reorder this we have to guys I can't keep doing it I can't keep sign on social media and seeing the next megachurch pastor or worship leader in an affair or or falling away from the faith or or whatever else because we had no idea who actually had authority because we're not looking to see who's producing fruit because we call fruit the size of ministry not not actually the fruits of the spirit being produced in the people we are discipling you want to look at the fruit of somebody look at the people they're in closest relationship with that's fruit are they producing fruit and are we producing fruit on our teams and what we have are we submitted to the Holy Spirit and what he's saying measure maturity through obedience and obedience alone here's the crazy thing is is when you I know I'm saying some intense things and it can feel intense and the enemy will try to come with condemnation and confusion in this moment and and lie and I feel that in this room right now and he was going to come against it and here's here's what's amazing is in the kindness of the Lord one there's no condemnation of those are in Christ Jesus and the answer is so simple a child can do it in fact the very definition of a child and their first beginning stages is that they are fully obedient on parents the Lord literally set it up within family for us to understand before we can produce anything we got to learn to obey hey before you can learn to like you know hit a baseball or crunch a spreadsheet number whatever you got to learn that you can't touch the stove you can't run with scissors you got to eat the right food you know the simple points of obedience and we start in that place but then we're enticed by knowledge we're enticed by gifting why are we enticed by it because it offers a crossless obedience less solution if I can trick people into thinking that I'm successful and that my ministry is awesome without having to obey my flesh loves that crap my flesh loves that because it's hard but it's not confusing it's insanely simple we just have to obey you're not called to do so many of the things that we put ourselves we put pressure on ourselves to do we're just called to do the last thing he said you know what I know I say to somebody goes Caleb I just can't hear his voice I always say well what's what's the last thing he said to you and they tell me I said well have you obeyed that you know what the answer is every single time no Lord's like why would I give you more information and knowledge I gave you a command and the power to exist and I just freedom exists within that command you just got to do it it's great it's crazy simple guys it really is but it requires a such a radical surrender that but I think for us in the worship world and the reason I went to Malaysia is because because look the the landscape of this country is changing fast you haven't figured that out like it's not cool to be a Christian anymore unless you figured that out like it went from being like we were celebrated to being outsiders and outcasts and I'm not really worried about it to be honest because the Lord has an answer and a solution and it is a victorious solution and and and I'm starting to have a greater distaste for living in apathy and lethargy than I have a distaste for pain and uncomfort and discomfort it's rising up inside of me and you know what the Lord is looking for people who can voluntarily choose to suffer now so in the day when it's involuntary they don't fall away you know you know who falls away in the day of pressure the people are surprised by it why are they surprised by it because they haven't been placed with a challenge you know what but when I wake up in the morning and I have a challenge and my challenge for the day is Caleb I want you to teach on obedience and most likely a fourth of the room is gonna leave and not really like you like I didn't like that guy he was mean and shouty and cried I was super awkward did he see well did he give you any practicals no no he didn't my flesh is like oh I got the solution to that but I gotta die to myself and I gotta die to the to what you think about me and if you're impressed me and you think I'm cool and and I don't get to even ask did it go well or not like we asked that with worship like how was worship was worship good or how was your workshop was it good we don't need to ask was it good we need to ask were we obedient Jesus Christ the faithful witness Jesus says I was faithful to everything the Father gave me the question is didn't it's not did I do good it's was I faithful did he give me a word and I did it whether they hate me and stone me or whether they love me and that those those conflux but before the Lord I stand before him and I'm saying God was I obedient so what you said did I follow what you had to say I don't care what they think and if they think it's amazing or not and I want to challenge us in in this place I want to challenge us I have been challenging you in this place can we can we step outside of what's normal and and and just just to give one more qualifier what could happen we can come out of this and we can want to like you know like well let's blow everything up let's stop during church and guys that is that is that is not the solution to answer that because because the services the gifting those things are not the problem it's what we have ordered as the problem and this might sound heavy but it is not nearly as heavy as trying to build a ministry on something that God did not tell you to do there is no weight like that weight but his burden it's light and it's easy it's a yoke you have to obey but it's light it's joyful there's there's the fruit of the spirit love joy peace page it's kind as good as fit yes I got to die to myself for a moment but there's everlasting life and fruit on the other side of it go ahead and stand I just want to ask you we still have some time before this workshop is done the Lord's not looking for you to change a million things in this moment it's typically the enemy or our flesh that tries to do that most likely the Lord is just looking for one response it's probably one thing he's bringing you back to for some of you you're re-remembering something the Lord has commanded that you've forgotten you're re-remembering who he's made you to be and who you are for others there is an area of your life you're like I have not surrendered that and I am not walking obedience in that area I want to wait on the Holy Spirit for about 30 seconds because I don't know I don't know what's going on in your inner world but the Holy Spirit does he knows and I don't know what the revelation is but I do know that the Holy Spirit wants to bring us to a new level of surrender so Holy Spirit we just wait on you I want you to imagine your Peter Jesus has just stepped into your boat you've just gone into the deep and you've just caught a supernatural catch that you could have never done in your own strength and Jesus just says two words you follow me follow me Jesus we repent for going after knowledge and not revelation God we repent for trying to trying to produce something on our own strength beyond just what you have commanded us and called us to do Lord your yoke is easy and your burden is light Lord you promised clarity in a sound mind I speak to every mind that has come in with confusion and heaviness I bind confusion and heaviness by the power of the cross right now in the name of Jesus confusion go in the name of Jesus Jesus never leads with confusion ever the kingdom is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit two out of three of those are felt realities God right now in the presence of your Holy Spirit I ask for the peace and the joy of heaven to fill our hearts right now in the name of Jesus every assignment the enemy that tries to come with heaviness or discouragement go in the name of Jesus God I ask for the peace that comes from knowing that we're yours and that we're beloved I ask for the peace that comes with a simplicity of knowing that we are fully obedient and submitted to you and I ask for the joy of the Lord that's our strength I ask for a real authentic joy God not joy that comes from temporary happiness from circumstance but joy that comes from a life that submitted to the indwelling and the power of the Holy Spirit that's submitted to the words of God that submitted to the leadership of Jesus what the world says is bondage you call liberty where the Spirit of the Lord is there's liberty God I ask for freedom right now in this room where there has been heaviness God I ask for freedom from addiction freedom from discouragement freedom from hopelessness freedom from heaviness right now in the name of Jesus God freedom from false assumptions of what we are supposed to do that you never told us to do God's false burdens that other people or we have put on ourselves that you never put on us I ask for a lifting of the heavy yoke a lifting of disappointment some of you are disappointed about things that you haven't succeeded in that Jesus hasn't even asked you to do or be successful in Jesus is that I don't care how successful your fishing business was I want you to follow me right now I ask for a fresh and filling of God we ask for grace to trust you and to obey and to follow you God for our ministries God that we would produce fruit that remains and fruit that lasts God give us the grace to have a difficult conversation that we've been putting off but we know will produce fruit on the other side God give us grace to confront the sin that we don't want to but we know that maybe freedom and deliverance exists on the other side God give us grace to love our people well and have patience like Jesus God give us grace to care more about the people that God has put right in front of us than the end result of numbers and things that we so quickly look to God help us measure success with the right metrics God realign our hearts draw us to that place of obedience Lord and God we ask for that church of America God that we would that we would unify God around not on knowledge and information how much we know but by by how obedient we are God that we would follow the church in the persecuted world God that we would follow you even to the ends of the earth Jesus we love you we worship you and trust you in the name of Jesus amen amen