The Value of Equipping

The key events that followed the choosing of the 12 disciples and building his team of followers was that Jesus was preparing them for a life of investing and it began with Him.

Following His great conversations with the woman at the well and Nicodemus teaching the value of reaching all people, He went public with announcing His ministry. In Jesus’ inauguration message, He read the passage from Isaiah and it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Luke 4:16-31 (with reference to Isaiah 61:1,2) Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing…

The disciples were following Jesus and they were beginning to be equipped with the priority of His ministry –

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me


It was a ministry of GENEROSITY and INVESTMENT – life investment! The challenge the disciples needed to respond to was this:

Are you willing the risk the life that you know in order to become the person that God wants you to be. You can only move forward when the Spirit of the Lord is on you.

So, what happens…they respond. The disciples begin an unpaid internship and they learn on the job, the filleted the fish from the miraculous catch, they drank the wine in the ceremonial jugs, they were ducking when Jesus was turning the tables upside down in the temple and they were there when a year’s worth of perfume was poured over his feet…

to preach good news to the poor.

Jesus comes for those who know they are poor, not just physically poor, but spiritually so. He taught us to look at people from the inside out.
Mark 2:15-17 / Matthew 9 / Luke 5

Unfortunately the practical outworking of this belief was too hard of a pill for the religious leaders of the day to swallow. It was with disdain they looked at him entering the home of Matthew, the tax collector….why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? We are guilty by association! The religious leaders wanted no part of that kind of association but Jesus wore the title, ‘friend of sinners’ as a badge of honor.

Jesus was equipping his followers with the message that while there is only one road to Jesus, we need to be willing and ready to travel down every road to reach out to those in need of a Saviour. He equipped his followers with a GO mentality. We need to go to where people congregate and meet them where they are at. It is the very reason that I love the ministries that we are supporting. They all have a GO mentality. They are going to the poor, the orphans, to the streets, to the former crack house, to the reserves and transforming them with the living presence of Jesus Christ!

Jesus brought focus to His followers – go to WHO? those who are searching, longing for real life, the abundant life that comes from God.

Mark 2:17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Focus on the soul sick!
It was a SUPERNATURAL ministry.

The power of God showed up and was evident to all…


He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

So what does Jesus do following the giving of this message. He goes out and does the supernatural of course! Now, remember all the disciples are doing at this point are watching Him in action. They are spectators at this point, not participants…
Luke 4:31 First, He casts out an evil spirit and He does it with authority. – He equips with authority and He delivers on His promise – He sets a man free from his prison, the demons of his soul.

And recovery of sight for the blind, Mark 10:46

In the case of the blind Baremaeus, it is this – Ministry Happens! Don’t miss it in the midst of all the busyness, all the requests, all the demands on your schedule. Jesus taught His disciples ‘kairos’ time. Remember ‘kairos’ is a window of opportunity, a moment to see the eternal in the midst of the temporary and Jesus did it all the time.


To release the oppressed,

Luke 4:38 Jesus leaves the synagogue and goes to the home of Simon. He heals his mother in law of a high fever.

Mark 1:32-34 From there He goes all evening right after sunset dealing with the sick and demon possessed and freeing them from their personal hell. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy…Jesus comes to heal, release and restore people to hope and life everlasting! His mission becomes our mission!

We then come to the cleansing of the man with leprosy. Matthew 8 / Mark 1 / Luke 5

We see more supernatural work at heart here, but it is clear that it comes with ‘belief and willingness’ on those who are seeking. The teaching is clear, ‘willingness through faith matched with His empowerment’ brings great deliverance.

And He is not finished as each miracle teaches the disciples about the power and authority that is found in the name of Jesus Christ.

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

For all that Jesus went through, He equipped his disciples with the message of the kingdom and repentance –Jesus will make you do a 180 degree turn from the way you used to see things to the way that they were always meant to be seen.

Whether it was the appointment of the 12 apostles, the Sermon on the Mount, public rejection by the Jewish leaders or teaching secrets about the kingdom in parables. Life and faith is an investment of your time, talents and resources into the things that will make a difference for eternity.

The Takeaway

When we follow Jesus, the miraculous comes after we step out in faith, not before.

The waters didn’t part on the Jordan River until the nation under Joshua first stepped into the river. That is the problem with most. They want to see the miraculous first. The signs and wonders follow, they don’t lead.

Thomas Jefferson loved the teachings of Jesus. The author of the Declaration of Independence called them the most sublime and benevolent code of morals ever offered to man. However, he couldn’t wrap his mind around the miraculous so he literally took scissors and cut out anything miraculous in his KJV Bible. It took him two or three nights and what was cut out …well the virgin birth, the angels, the resurrection, every miracle was extracted and he titled the book, the life and morals of Jesus…the Jefferson Bible.

It was AW Tozer who said in The Knowledge of the Holy, “When we make God in our own image, we’re left with a God who can never surprise us, never owverwhelm us, nor astonish us, nor transcend us.”

We need God to show up in the power of the Holy Spirit or we have nothing to offer

God has given us favor as a church and we need to continue to pray for favor. We are blessed to be a blessing!

I want to make it clear that these values are not fulfilled in programs. We don’t program BUILDING and EQUIPPING and WINNING and MULTIPLYING for that matter. They often happen simultaneously

Celebrating The Value of BUILDING!

I have a confession to make… I have led you astray for the past four years. I always represented our values as WBEM (win, build, equip and multiply); however that is the correct path for someone who comes to Southside; however it is not the correct path for the vision of our church. The vision for our church is to be turned INSIDE OUT and that begins with building, equipping, then winning and multiplying! It is so significant for me that I had the order of the banners changed to reflect this. Today I will unpack what it means for us to do just that, to be turned inside out as a church. It is biblical and it is based on the Son’s life and the way he ministered during his public life from his baptism at the age of 30.

OK, so what do we mean by that. Well it first starts by building dependence on God through prayer and through the community of faith in relationship with each other. We then get thoroughly equipped for every good work through the power of the Holy Spirit, teaching, instruction in righteousness. That is INSIDE….then we go OUT to be the church as missional and contagious followers of Jesus. We leave our safety nets to spread his net and we are contagious with the love of God. As people get near us the presence and love of God will rub off on them. It is natural, it is Spirit-led and it is based on the Son’s life and how He, Jesus Christ ministered when He was here!

There is a book called the Harmony of the Gospels and it lays out the events of Jesus’ life in the gospels side by side in chronological order. It is significant because He taught us how to minister.


Mark 1

Jesus taught:

Building prayerful dependence on God v9-12

Jesus’ public ministry began around the age of 30 when the Spirit of God descended upon Him as John baptized him in the Jordan River. Immediately following that He was led into the desert where He was tested for 40 days and what did He teach us there. The first step in His journey of ministry was complete dependence on God.

In every temptation He taught us a pattern, a life long practice of dependence on the Father. We are not driven by our physical desires, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He taught us to reflect on the Word, to know the Word of God so that we won’t be deceived.


I know this might seem like stating the obvious, but everything in our culture will keep driving you away from that. Take for example the Athiest bus campaign that is presently taking place in England. (Article in the National Post) Can I tell you why I love God? (Answer in my time with Him – Psalm 14)

Early in his ministry he taught us where it all begins: It all begins with prayer to the Father. Ministry is birthed and revealed through prayer, it is cultivated and sustained through prayer!

Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Luke 4:42-44 At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place

The revelation to be a church that is turned inside out was experienced together as the elders and staff prayed together. As elders we challenged each other to fast through a visioning time when turning Southside inside out crystallized.

Someone took the time to add up every command in the life of Christ. They discovered that there are 405 of them. 204 out of the 405 are disciple making commands! The other commands can be wrapped up into following 11 character qualities of Jesus. For example, walk as Jesus walked.

You can’t even begin to take a baby step without depending on God. We are to continue in Christ the same way that we received Him – live in Him Colossians 2:6

Building a team. Mark 1:14-20…the first small group! RELATIONAL

The next step in Jesus journey was that He gained followers through a variety of means. They were reached by the invitation of Jesus and in John 1:35-51 through the testimony of each other. The call was to first follow Jesus and we will see later how He equipped them to be fishers of men.


Building a ministry - It was a ministry of firsts!!

This was a foundational time during his ministry and it had to have the proper footings

First miracle: John 2 - turning water into wine – the ‘banquet metaphor’ of a new messianic kingdom and new way of cleansing from ‘ceremonial’ with the hands to a picture of the full and complete cleansing that would come through Jesus’ blood.

First cleansing of the temple at Passover: John 2 - He longed to return it to a house of prayer and the disciples remembered that ‘zeal for your house will consume me’ –passionate for the purposes of God and in a later cleansing He stated that His Father’s house was to be a place of prayer.

First conversation with the ‘religious’. John 3 He challenged Nick to be born of the Spirit. He needed to be ‘born again’ – A spiritual birth had to take place and that only comes through the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like the wind – you can’t control that. You can’t explain it, you can’t program it, but when the Spirit gets a hold of your life, it is truly inspiring and it is freeing.

First conversation with a woman John 4 with the woman at the well. He built a new way to worship – in Spirit and in truth. The worship of God is all about the location of your heart.

What stands out most to you about either one of these conversations?

First challenge – John 3, 4:34,35 He taught his disciples that people are ripe for harvest, that everyone matter to God from a late night secret meeting with a religious guy named Nick to speaking in broad daylight to the irreligious woman who had more men in her past than you have fingers on one hand!

From those very conversations He taught us to build an atmosphere of love….for God so loved the whole world. The call during this preparation period was simply ‘follow me’ Drink deeply from the living water! We are calling people to pursue Jesus passionately.


What are we building?

We are building a ministry of dependence upon God in everything we do here.

We are building a team

We are building a ministry of firsts! A place where people first experience the love of God, the intimate presence of Jesus, the wind of the Holy Spirit!!

We are trusting Jesus to do the miraculous here! We celebrate someone coming to faith in Jesus on the first Sunday of the year.
We want to live with clean temples – holy and pure for Him…God gets the glory in this body
We want to be a ministry of great conversations! Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner
We want to be a ministry that continues to challenge each and everyone one of us to greater devotion to God and others.

Make no mistake about it, Southside is here to strengthen the followers of Jesus – to build confidence and establish the authority of Jesus in prayer and in your life.

We are here to confirm and establish – as the HS works in you,to be a place for you to lean upon, to be an advocate for you and your family, to encourage you, to come alongside you, to sharpen each other in spiritual things as iron sharpens iron

And when does that happen?

It only happens when we are DEPENDENT – seeking God prayerfully John 15:5
RELATIONAL -strong in community Acts 2:42-47



So, what does this all mean for 2009?

• Southside is on the move! We are moving from just going to church to being the church
o As I have shared the elders and staff have been in deep prayer over the vision of this church over the past years
o We have sought your prayerful feedback through surveys, congregational meetings and a visioning session.
o We absolutely love how many of our new ministries are being birthed as you, our people are listening and following God’s leading – It is organic because it grows from the heart of God and it is Spirit led
o We are seeing our community respond with their attendance and time and time again we see how God is leading people to this place.

• So, where are we now?

o Our mission remains the same. We are here ‘to pursue Jesus passionately and connect people to their God given family.

Let’s overview our 4 values
BUILDING - So as a church we first are being turned inside for complete dependence on the Lord, cultivating the habits of prayer and devotion, getting connected to the body through the ministry of small groups
EQUIPPING - We will talk more on this value next week, but EQUIPPING comes as we learn to rely on the HS. Wednesday nights are also a great opp to be equipped for ministry through the various courses that are offered as well as I believe that we are equipped as we make ourselves available to serve.
WINNING - refers to a contagious spirit of reaching out to others in this place. It happens through one on one conversations, great ministry events, HP camps,
MULTIPLYING – happens as we see lives transformed here and people in our church step up into servant leadership positions here and take opportunities to be on missions team as part of our global focus.

• What do this mean for us all?
o We are creating a clear focus on our foundational mission. We want to do first things well and create build on the life of Jesus and His ministry priorities.
o There is an invitation to a deeper commitment for everyone to ‘call out of people what God has created them to be’. We do this as we become stronger in relationships. We have planned a “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner’ for Friday January 30th.
o We want to have greater effectiveness in the community and see more people come to faith in Jesus Christ.

• What will happen as a result?
Enrichment of ministries
o Some new ministries perhaps
o Changes in how we use and expand the building



• UPDATE:

o In the fall of 2006 we had formally completed an agreement of sale on part of our property and gaining more frontage on Derry Road as part of a swap of land as well. During a time away as elders shortly after we made the decision that we would tithe, that being 10% on the money that we received to honor the Lord and to keep a MULTIPLYING focus

After prayerful consideration, we identified ministries that have both a global and local focus. Next Sunday we will be blessing the following ministries:
1. Pathway Camp Ministries ministering on First Nations Reserves headed up by Rick and Liz Greer who were former members of this church
2. The Deck Milton
3. Crossings Community Church in Acton – a sister church plant
4. Partners International
5. Lois Belsey –GA for the building of a training center for youth and young adults active in missions in Papua.

We are only able to do this ultimately because of your faithfulness to tithe and to prioritize the ministry of Southside over all these years and keep the ministry and dreams alive in this place.

We will be using this money for the purpose of investing in ministry here and for ministry space. We believe that just like the talents given in the parable, this is money for the purposes of BWEM - investing our time talent and resources. It is ‘working money’ not money given to us to stop working.

So in light of that, we have formed a transition team that will enable us to fulfill our vision for ministry in a practical manner and they are:
Peggy Estey, Pat Hollingworth, Peter MacMillan, Dean Martin and Phil Dempster

Two initial priorities that we need to address are:

1. The parking lot to adhere to town bylaw requirements and to continue to invite the community ‘inside’ – the new parking lot will start to be addressed in the Spring. We also see a parking lot as a great opportunity for outdoor sports ministry as well

2. The Nursery will also be addressed to answer the safety and comfort needs of the children using the nursery will undergo a ‘face lift’ over the next few weeks to make Southside a more WINNING place.


• So - we are so excited! It’s awesome to be right here – right now! Today is another invitation for each of us to look for ways to step up our involvement in what God is doing. As we move forward, there will be announcements about ministries and activities – so, join in!
• There may be questions from time to time – ask any elder (name them, have them stand up) the transition team or myself about anything. It’s our intention to give everyone all the information they need to use their talents.


Questions For Discussion

1. In what ways can we practically create more dependence on the Lord in every area of our ministry?
2. How do you listen for God’s leading and in what ways has He spoken to you?
3. What foundational aspect of Jesus’ ministry do we need most in this place?
4. There are two practical ways that we can celebrate the value of building this month. 1. Please make a priority of coming to the Milton Mayor’s Christian Prayer Breakfast on January 28th at 7:15am. 2. Sign up for the Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner event on Friday January 30th at 6:30pm.

Be ReNEWed!

BE reNEWed!
Out with the old and in with the new
2 Corinthians 5:17

Today I want you to embrace what it means to be made NEW. A new year gives birth to new hope, new opportunities and living in a new way! My prayer is that we will see with great expectations all that God has in store for each one of us. His Word speaks to us of many new things, a new wine, heart, spirit, covenant, tongues, way of the Spirit, new teaching. It is all with one purpose in mind: to give you a new self, new name and put a new song in your heart. God is in the business of making all things new so stop fighting it and just be reNEWed!

What God has always done, He is doing now and always will do!

1. He TRANSFORMS US from the inside out !

God does new things in spite of ourselves!

Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

The word ‘see’ comes from the Hebrew word ‘hennai’ which means to behold. There is a
huge emphasis on the need to pay attention. God is revealing a very important truth here. The new thing originates with him. He shows us faithfulness in spite of ourselves, He shows mercy in spite of ourselves, He shows forgiveness….In this passage Israel has seemingly done everything wrong, they have messed up their best resolutions, their most valiant attempts at honoring God or lack thereof and God says what…I will remember your sins no more. It is huge because He is making a point. The only way through your desert, the only way to find streams in your wasteland is to receive it. Receive the grace from God, acknowledge the fact that He loves you in spite of yourself

God wants you to taste the new wine.

Joel 2:24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

Matthew 9:17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."


Many different OT passages refer to a time when God will bring the new wine. The new wine is the realization of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the refreshment that He brings. New wine was never meant to come in the old package of the truth being dropped in your lap. The new way of receiving was that it would be revealed in the heart by the Holy Spirit. The old way had everything to do with appearances, to conform to a code of behavior and in doing so to bring change. However real change cannot happen from the outside in. A person cannot be told to act like a believer if they don’t have the living presence of the Spirit of God in them.

It is the very reason that if your walk with Jesus is about following the rules, you have a lifeless walk with God.

At my first Bible College, self control was praised. It was the belief that through external pressure, control and conformity to rules that somehow Spirit led control would happen. Unfortunately what it led to in most was pride and a sense of personal spiritual accomplishment. The new wine was the Holy Spirit and until you drink the fullness of the Spirit of God you cannot have Spirit led control. We have to experience the Holy Spirit from the inside out!

God want to give you a new heart and spirit

Exekiel 18:31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.
Ezekiel 36:26 will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Repentance is necessary and we need to get serious about dealing a death blow to our stubborn hearts that would rather do it our way. The way that we would like to go would short circuit the process. Our natural learned tendencies tell us we can will ourselves to be more spiritual. Will power will only take you so far in the Christian life before you burn out and are running on fumes. We desperately need heart surgery because left to ourselves we can pretty anything up and make ourselves look pretty good. The process of transformation must go down the road less traveled. It is the place where His refining fire burns. Get serious with God about what He needs to expose and let him give you a transplant from the inside out. The motivation, the passion to follow must come from a burning heart within us.


Matthew 27:60 They placed Jesus in a new tomb and that is where He needs to place you to bring forth the resurrection power in you.

God want to give you a new life Acts 5:20

Acts 17:19 He wants you to embrace this new teaching which will always be in friction with any man made religion. The new way is a new and living relationship with the Creator of the universe.

Romans 6:4 new life – we can only experience new life if a death has already first taken place


Romans 7:6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

the new way of the Spirit is a way that responds to the inner promptings, listening with your heart.




1 Cor 5:7 that you may be a new batch

God has one purpose for you…


2. God wants you to minister from the INSIDE OUT

The only way that you can minister the new covenant is if you are breathing, living and moving in it

1 Cor 11:25 new covenant in my blood and it has to flow through you. Those streams in the wasteland – you weren’t meant to watch from the banks of the river, you were meant to step in.

2 Corinthians 3:6 ministers of a new covenant

2 Corinthians 5:17 if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation

Galatians 6:15 what counts is a new creation not external rites of passage

Ephesians 2:15 he create in himself one new man out of the two – He brought all of us together in one family.

Ephesians 4:23 so that we would be new in the attitude of your minds

Ephesians 4:24 put on the new self

Colossians 3:10 put on the new self

Hebrews 8:8 new covenant

Hebrews 9: start reading at verse 8 -10 new order AMAZING!

Hebrews 9:15 new covenant

Hebrews 10:20 a new and living way opened for us

Hebrews 12:24 new covenant

1 Peter 1:3 new birth

1 Peter 2:2 new born babies

2 Peter 3:13 new heaven and new earth

God wants you to speak a new language - love 1 Corinthians 13 It is birthed from a new command

1 John 2:7 new command

2 John 1:5 new command ….love one another

The end result of God’s purposes being fulfilled in you is:


Revelation 2:17 new name
Revelation 3:12 new Jerusalem
Revelation 5:9 new song
Revelation 14:3 new song
Revelation 21:1 new heaven and earth
Revelation 21:2 new Jerusalem
Revelation 21:5 I am making everything new!