Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Sophie, so glad you're able to speak and share with us this morning. Sophie has been part of the church for a good number of years. Uh, you might remember one of her projects a few years ago. The Water Bowl project on the Trees for the Homeless is a great project. Now, a student at Exit University, and let's pray for her. She comes to share God's word. Father, we thank you for this precious woman of God, and we pray that as she shares that she will know just the freedom of the Spirit as she brings your word to us, and give us ears to hear and hearts to obey. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 3 00:00:45 Amen's
Speaker 4 00:00:48 It gone.
Speaker 6 00:00:54 Okay. Is this better? There we go. Nice. Okay. Awesome. Um, cool. So I just wanted to talk to you guys about, um, something I felt God has been really speaking to me recently about, um, in my life. And I think it's something that's so applicable to every single person in here. Um, and that's the call to be salt in this earth. Um, and I wanna just read from Matthew, Matthew 13. It says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Um, and I think the call to be salt is such a challenging one because it requires us to be so, so different, um, and to stand out from people around us, um, and actually like to be different.
Speaker 6 00:01:35 Like you need to be completely transformed by Jesus. Um, and I just kind of wanted to unpack like what that means a little bit. Um, and when I first started thinking about salt and things like that, like to me like salt wasn't a very exciting thing. It's like, God, like why am my salt? Like, it's so boring. Like it's small, it's really insignificant, like you can get it anywhere. It's super like, yeah, there's nothing exciting about it. Um, but as I was kind of learning about it, I realized actually salt in Jesus time wasn't what we understand it to be today. Like salt in Jesus time, it was something super valuable. In the early Roman Empire, actually, salt was, it was like a really, really priceless thing. Like soldiers were paid in salt instead of money in some cases, like salt was something that had such high value, like there were wars over salt.
Speaker 6 00:02:20 And I think from Jesus's understanding, when he is speaking to us and saying that we are called to be sold and we are the soul of the earth, like actually we're super valuable, like he's saying, You have so much worth, you have so much value. Um, and I think that's like, we find it in him, like when we are called to be sold, he's saying like, in me, like, when you're living in me, when you're living differently, like that's where you find your value and that's why you're gonna find your worth. Um, so I just wanted to open with that and I encourage you guys, like when Jesus calls you salt, it's not a small thing. It's not a boring thing. Like he's saying, you've got so much value and so much potential, um, and he's calling that out in you. Um, and the thing that I wanted to talk about, um, with regard to salt is like is meant to make people thirsty.
Speaker 6 00:03:01 So when people see you and when people see Jesus in you, like it's meant to make them thirsty, like they're meant to look at you and be like, Well, like what is it that they've got that I don't have? Like I want that. Um, and like we're called to live in a way that makes people want that. Um, I just wanted to share a story that I had when I was on me ships this summer from someone, um, and me ships, for those of you that don't know, is this charity organization that have big hospital ships, and they sail around to places in the world where people can't afford healthcare and they give it to them for free. Um, and when I was on there, someone told me this story, um, about a man, and the man was called Fer. And Fer had heard about mercy ships and he really, really needed this surgery.
Speaker 6 00:03:39 He was really ill, and he'd walked for days and days to get to this ship because it was his only hope. Um, and upon getting there, he went in and he got triaged and people looked at him and he was told, I'm really sorry. We can't do anything for you. And like, I just want you to imagine, like imagine being most of our right now, Like, imagine having walked for days and this is your last hope, and someone's just taken that away from you and said, I'm sorry, we can't do anything. And he was told this and he was devastated. But afterwards, he, he went and spent some time with the chaplaincy team and they sat with him that afternoon and they spent hours and hours just listening to him and hearing his life story. And he was a Muslim. He'd grown up in a Muslim country.
Speaker 6 00:04:22 Um, and he was just explaining his life to them and telling them about, you know, everything that had gone on and everything he'd been through and just talking about how desperate he knew the surgery and couldn't have it. Um, and at the end of that time, actually the team, me ships weren't able to help him practically. They couldn't do anything for him, but because of the way that they conducted themselves and because of the way that they were able to share Jesus with him, just in their actions and in how they were with him, he actually became a Christian. And he asked for prayer and he came to know Jesus. And I just wanna encourage you, like when we live like this, like when we live for Jesus and when we show people Jesus, regardless of what we can do necessarily, like they couldn't help his physical circumstance, but they could show him something else and something that he wanted more than that physical healing, they could show him Jesus.
Speaker 6 00:05:07 Um, so I just wanna like kind of encourage you guys, um, yeah. Like it's the way that we live for Jesus that counts. Um, and so yeah, I just wanted to touch briefly. I've asked some Romans, which I'm sure most of you all know, which is Romans 12 too. Uh, it says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Um, and I wanted to bring two things out of that. And the first thing is that it says be transformed. Um, and I wanted to highlight that that's not something you need to strive for. Like that's something that will happen naturally as you're spending time with Jesus. Um, it's not nothing you can do in your own strength. Like you can't change your own fleshy patterns of thinking in your own strength. Like you need Jesus to do that.
Speaker 6 00:05:48 Um, you can't do it by yourself. Um, and so I just kind of wanted to highlight actually like the way that you're gonna be transformed, the way that you're gonna start living differently and looking differently and sounding differently is when you're spending time with Jesus, Like when you're spending time in his presence. Um, and like someone once told me, and I think this is super true, like you become like who you hang out with. Like, you, you guys are all gonna have bits of your friends and you like, you're gonna become like them, like my friend wee's on the front row. Like we literally say the same thing half the time because we spend so much time together. Um, and I, it's the same with Jesus. Like if you're spending time with Jesus, you're gonna start sounding like Jesus and you're gonna pick up things from Jesus.
Speaker 6 00:06:27 Um, so I just wanna encourage you guys, like spend time in his presence. Like be, be in your word, be reading it. Um, spend time in prayer because the more time you spend with him, like the more you're gonna start looking like him. And that's how you'll be transformed in here and that's how your actions will be transformed. Um, and the second thing I wanted to draw out of that was it says, Don't conform to the panel of this world. Like we are called to be different. Like you're not called to fit in and to look the same as everybody else. And I think we try so hard to look the same as everybody else and uh, act the same. And like, Oh, you know, I won't do that because then they'll think I'm a Christian. I'm a bit weird. Like, no, like Jesus calls you to be different.
Speaker 6 00:07:05 Like he doesn't want you to look the same as everybody else. Like he wants you to look so different. I think in his verse it says, How if if you lose your saltiness, how can you be made salty again? And I was thinking like, what does it mean like to lose your saltiness? Because if you are salt and you're not salty, I was like, like, what is that? Like you can't, you don't notice that you're not gonna taste it. Like, if I put salt on my dinner and it's not salty, I'm not gonna notice it. And I feel like God is saying like, when people don't notice you, like when they don't notice that there's a difference in you, like you've lost your saltiness. Um, and I think he just kind of wanted to like, he challenges me on it all the time. Like, like look different.
Speaker 6 00:07:40 Like people need to see a difference. Like you can't just go along and try and fit in with your peers and your colleagues and everyone around you. Um, so I think, yeah, that's just something that I wanted to kind of challenge you guys on. Like God is challenging me on it. I sure haven't got it perfect, um, at all. Um, but yes, I just wanted to talk about that a little. Um, and I just kind of wanted to round off at this verse in James. It's James two 18, um, actually a bit before James two 14. Um, and it says, What good is it? My brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, Go in peace, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
Speaker 6 00:08:26 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead. But someone will say, You have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You'll believe that there is one good one, God good. Even the demons believe that and shutter, um, and like I was just reading this and like, like James just says it perfectly, like it's no good believing in God and it not shaping how you live and changing how you live like that doesn't do anything like it, It doesn't like he says, you believe that there's wrong God good. It doesn't matter. Like if you believe there's God and you're not living for Jesus, like it does not matter at all. Like the devil believes that there's God, like demons believe that there's God if it's not shaping how you live and it's not shaping how you treat people and like your understanding of the world, like what's the point?
Speaker 6 00:09:12 Like what's the point in coming to church if you believe in God, but it doesn't change how you live. There's none. Um, so yeah, I just wanted, so I can encourage you guys, it's, it's not enough to believe in God. Like you can't just believe in God and get into heaven. Like that's not it. Like you need to believe in God and let it transform you. Like let him transform you. Like you need to just spend time in his presence and you'll have such a love for him and it will change you. Um, and like that's what he wants. Like he wants that relationship with you. He wants it to be a, a reciprocal thing where you believe in him. And because if you believe in him, you have such a love for him, um, that you just want to live exactly as this word says.
Speaker 6 00:09:51 Because if you believe in him, you're gonna believe every single thing in this book. And like when you believe that, like you're gonna wanna follow it. Um, so yeah, I think God just really wanted like to encourage all of us, like life is so much richer when we live it for him. Um, like when we spend time with him, like that's when we start to become like the person of Jesus. And that's, that's how we're gonna touch people and that's how we're gonna make a difference. Um, and I think, yeah, like my encouragement to all of you guys today is just look at your lives and like, how are you living differently? How do you stand out from the people around you? How does the fact that you believe in Jesus, how has that changed your life? Like, how do you look different now to before you knew God? Like what would your life look like right now if you didn't know God, if it would look the same, go to God and like that needs changing. Um, so yeah, I just wanted to encourage you guys. Like Jesus calls you to be sold, like he calls you to be different. Um, and he sees such worth in you and that's why he calls you to be different. So yeah,
Speaker 1 00:11:00 Terrific. That was the first time she spoke on a Sunday. Let's give her a memorable experience right now. Well done. So good. So good. Would you pray for us? Would you pray that that truth will be something we'll all live out this week? Thank you, of
Speaker 6 00:11:19 Course to Jesus. Um, thank you so, so much that we can gather together this Sunday. Um, and thank you for this community and for this fellowship. Um, and I just pray for all of those people in this room that know you, even people that don't know you. Father, I pray, um, that you just give us a fresh love for you, God, and out of that love, um, we just have such a desire to be obedient to you, Father, um, and to live in a way that, that you command and that you show to us consistently throughout the gospel. Um, yeah, I just pray that we just have such a fresh, like awakening and desire in our hearts and that you'd give us, um, joy and motivation to do this Jesus, um, that you challenge us, and that you'd highlight things where actually we can change and that we can be different. Um, and I pray we just take such pride, um, in being able to be the soul and being able to live for you, Father. Yeah, I pray that is where we find our purpose and that's where we find our worth. Um, yeah. I just thank you for everybody in here. I pray that you bless us and you empower us to do this. Jesus, in your name, Amen.
Speaker 1 00:12:15 Amen. Amen. Well done, Sophie. Come on. Let's give her another round of applause. Well done to you. Terrific. Terrific. Well, we now, um, have privilege of welcoming Ruben Van Hedon to the stage. Ruben, um, moved across to the UK just a few months ago from South Africa, he placed for ex chiefs, and, um, he's got a massive heart for the Lord. So would you give him a big welcome as he comes to speak, Ruben?
Speaker 1 00:12:50 Amen. Amen. Can everyone hear me? Yeah. Awesome. Um, well, to start off, uh, just thank you for the opportunity to, to share a message that I have had on my heart for the last few weeks. Um, and it's really something that I can see God wants to share with everyone because there's parts of, um, my message that Sophie already spoke about, Sean spoke about this morning. Um, and I don't even know, it's, I don't even know it's Remembrance Day today, probably my South African ignorance towards uk uh, holidays and customs. Um, but it really fits in well with the message that I want to bring today. Yeah. Um, the title, Love My Message is The Believe's Arsenal. And, uh, Yes. Yes. And we spoke a lot about, we spoke a lot about war this morning, um, and I just wanna talk about the spiritual war.
Speaker 1 00:13:48 Yeah. The spiritual war. I was actually, well, I'm finding this, I was actually, uh, thinking about buying an Arsenal shirts and wearing it today, <laugh>. I'm glad you didn't. Praise God. Praise God. Uh, yeah. I was thinking about it, but the Liverpool supports in me was, was saying real. Yeah. Liverpool, it's public, you'll never walk alone. It's biblical. Yeah. Right. Um, an arsenal, let's start off with that. What is an arsenal? A collection of weapons and military equipment? And I think we all know that as believers, we have so many weapons, you know, that the Holy Spirit has given us, but I don't think a lot of us really use it. We don't really know how to tap into it. We say, you know, trust God, you know, but what does that look like? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, just on the topic of war, uh, one major part of war is knowing your enemy.
Speaker 1 00:14:53 And, uh, you know, if I have to take it to rugby every week at, at Exit of Chiefs, when we come in on a Monday morning and, uh, we, we are in the meeting room and we have to, you know, put together a game plan. We call it a battle plan at the Chiefs, uh, very fitting. And, um, we, what we do is we look at the oppositions strengths. We look at traditionally what they are like. So if you're playing against HoloLens, you know, traditionally the team that likes to keep the ball alive, likes to throw it around, uh, running rugby, champagne, rugby. Pretty nice to watch, very difficult to defend. Um, when you're playing Saras, you know, you're gonna have strong set peace. You know, you're gonna have a team that kicks a lot. And I think as believers, our enemy traditionally has one major weapon that he tries to, to raise against us.
Speaker 1 00:15:56 And that weapon has been something that I've been having to fight over the last few weeks. And maybe if there's time, six minutes and 50 seconds, little as much when God is in it. All right. If there's time, I can maybe share my testimony. Um, but the enemy attacks us with fear. Yeah, Yeah. Thoughts of anxiety and thoughts of insecurity. Right. And why does he do this? Because most of life's battles are one or lost in the mind, and your life will always go in the direction of your most dominance thoughts. Proverbs 23, verse seven says, For as a man thinks in his heart's, so easy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:16:43 Uh, so if we can maybe put on two Corinthians tin five, I don't know if we have it yet. Yeah. Uh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Sean mentioned this morning, he said, What is holding you back? What stronghold is holding you back from making room for God? And it's very simple. You have to identify the stronghold. Yeah. The lie. And you have to replace it with a truth. Yeah. Come on. A scriptural truth. Amen. That's right. Amen. Sophie mentioned renewing your mind. And as I was preparing for the message, just thinking, replacing a lie with the truth, what does the Bible say? Who is all enemy? The father of lies. Lies. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But who is Jesus? He is way. He is the truth. Yes. And he is the life. Come on. So you pray, you are replacing a lie. You're replacing satin with Jesus. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:18:04 You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. My question today is, if your life is moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts, do you like the direction your thoughts are taking you? I think that's something we can all think about. We have to take control of our minds and we have to take it captive. So if you mention, if we can put on Romans 12 verse two, again, same scripture, uh, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that good and perfect will of God. Now, Sophie so brilliantly mentioned that you can't do it in your own power. You have to do it in the power of the holy Spirits, the power of God. What does that look like? What does renewing your mind look like? And we touched on it as replacing old negative patterns of thinking and replacing it with truths. And I don't know if you know, but you can actually change neuro pathways in your mind by the way you think. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:19:11 So, just, just a bit of a testimony to to, to tell you. So the last few weeks I've been struggling with, with something with fear. The enemy has tried to plant fear in my mind. Um, something really big and rapid at the moment is concussions. And, uh, as someone that has had about four or five concussions, um, it's not something that you want to get, get again, you know what I mean? Play high contact sports. And uh, you see your mates, You see mates retire because of multiple concussions. You see, you read it in the news, you see it's everywhere. It's quite a big thing now on rugby. And, uh, that's something I've really struggled with. And we're playing HoloLens. I got a big knock on the head. You get that dejavu feeling. It's a, it's a feeling that you, that is, you know, goes hand in hand with concussion.
Speaker 1 00:20:04 And then in that moment you are on the floor and you, you just get that dejavu feeling. You stand up, you thinking, Oh gosh, do I have concussion? Now, immediately looking at the Lana Arts on your hand, you're thinking, Okay, I still know the Lana. And you're thinking, Oh, but immediately this, this feeling of anxiousness comes over you and you know, you dunno what to do. And, uh, since that game just started feeling like anxious about getting more NOx and so on, and I spoke to my dad about it, um, and he said to me, Ruben, well you gotta, you gotta up the answer. You gotta have the wolf in. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. He said to me, Ruben, you gotta start fasting on your off days. Gotta spending time with God. And you gotta start replacing fears and lies with truth. Come on. And uh, well that's exactly what I started doing. So every time, every single time I will get a thought of fear. When you're gonna get another knock, you're gonna get another concussion.
Speaker 1 00:21:12 I'll go on my knees and I'll say, I absolutely rebuke these thoughts. I reject it in the name of Jesus Christ, the living God, the king of kings, the Lord of laws. The name that is above all are the names, my God is my lights and my salvation. Why should I be afraid? Some trust in horses and some trust in chariot. But I will remember the name of the Lord, though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid for your rod and your staff. They protect and comfort me and I replace it with biblical truth. Yes. If insecurity comes into my mind, I say I rebuke and reject it in the name of Jesus Christ. I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm more than a conquer through him who loves me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Speaker 9 00:21:58 Amen.
Speaker 1 00:22:02 Amen. These, and this is what I've been doing, just trying to fill my mind with truths. Amen. And this spiritual warfare, if we can put on fusion six, just find a chair Bible. It's all about, do we have a chair? Yeah. A final word. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on all of God's armor so that you'll be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every, therefore put on every piece of God's arm, you'll be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you'll be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belts of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness for shoes put on the peace that comes from the good news, that you'll be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet. And take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
Speaker 1 00:23:25 The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. That's our weapon. Yes. And church, if we not know the word of God, we are going into a war without our sword.
Speaker 1 00:23:37 We are going into a war. You're going to a gunfights at the knife bubble. Me Bible says my people per because of a lack of knowledge. Knowledge regarding what the word. So I wanna encourage you, church this morning, let's replace every lie with the truth. Let's pick up our sword. Yes. And let's go into the spiritual fight. One last thing just to to finish off with is, uh, Philippians Forus 69. We talking about thoughts and you know, just changing the pets and renewing our minds. So what, what should we think about as believers? This is Philippians for verse 69. Don't worry about anything. You know, the Bible says in 365 times in the Bible, that's once for every day of the year. You should not fear just side notes. Instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him. Gratitude is another massive whooping.
Speaker 1 00:24:44 Gratitude is another mass of whooping. Pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he has done. Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything. We can understand His peace will God, our hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things. I think in another translation it says meditate constantly just thinking about it, praying about it, saying I'm the head and not the tail. God is for me who can be against me. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me. Everything you heard from me and saw me doing, then the God of peace will be with you.
Speaker 1 00:25:45 Church, if you don't mind me just praying that we will pick up our swords cuz every day is a battle, whether we know it or not. And you can't go into a far enough, right Father God, I thank you Father for this opportunity just to share your word Lord God and share something that has been on my heart for for quite some time. Lord God. And Lord God your word says we two or more gathered, Father God, the you are, we thank you for your presence in this morning. Jesus. Father God I pray Father the true lead us Holy Spirit. Yes. And guide us as we take every single thought captive in the obedience of you. We absolutely rebuke and reject anything that tries to raise itself up against the knowledge of you. Jesus. Father God, thank you for who we are and you Lord God, I rebuke insecurity, our rebuke fear and anxiety in this place this morning.
Speaker 1 00:26:49 Help us to raise up our sword, your word and in faith, raise our shield Lord God, as we run into this fight with boldness. You have not called us Father to be weak, chilly backbone Christians of God. You've called us for the God to fight aggressively, not commonly like this world, Lord God, but to raise up our weapons and to use the weapons and our arsenal and the spiritual fight that we fight every single day. Lord God, thank you for your truth. The truth that sets free your word is the truth. God full us with it, Lord God leading God, us for the God, if we pray for wisdom, insights, understanding and discernment, Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do, in May you be glorified and your perfect will be done. Your kingdom come in our lives today and forever more. Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you God. I pray your name Jesus. Amen.
Speaker 7 00:27:39 Amen. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:27:41 Amen.
Speaker 7 00:27:44 Terrific.
Speaker 1 00:27:44 Thank you so much. That was really, really precious, wasn't it? Ruben's getting married in a few weeks time as well back in South Africa. So God's blessing upon that special union. Bless you.
Speaker 1 00:28:01 Well it's not, um, the fault of those speaking. It's my fault that we handed over to late for them today. But we have a third speaker and I'm gonna ask, are you okay to hold on for just a little bit beyond our normal finishing time of 11 even, you know, I know they prepared coffees and stuff, but if you could just hold on cuz I know you're gonna love this next speaker that um, God is gonna speak through. Um, already we feel we've feasted. But uh, Rich Miles is as led churches in the past, um, he's uh, birthing this new ministry of city fathers and uh, he's an accountant for a Christian charity. Don't tell him <laugh>, but God is working through this man in such a special way and it's a real joy to invite you to come and speak to us this morning. Thank you Rich. Just gimme a welcome.
Speaker 10 00:28:54 Thank you mark for those uh, kind words and uh, morning rediscover church. Morning the question, what difference would it have made if Jesus had chosen women to be as disciples rather than men? Have you ever thought about that?
Speaker 10 00:29:12 Well, I've been mo musing over it and I'll tell you why in a moment. And I thought maybe there'd be a little less of the ego, a little less of, well who's gonna be in charge? Who's gonna be top dog? Who's gonna sit at the right hand on the left hand of the throne? Some of the women in were made any difference at all? <laugh>, Maybe there'd been less of calling down fire on people who wouldn't listen or maybe there'd been less of, we better stop them healing in Jesus' name, uh, because they haven't done our training course.
Speaker 10 00:29:44 I think maybe there might have been more listening, more listening and understanding. You know, when Jesus, uh, came to be arrested, the disciples were completely shocked, even though Jesus has told them again and again that that was what was gonna happen. I just wanna share a few thoughts about a lady who was a real listener. She loved to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen and take in every word. And I kind of think that maybe if Jesus had chosen women, this lady may have been one of those women that he chose. I dunno. But I want us to look at an instance in Mark at chapter 14. The same instances, uh, event is described in, uh, John chapter 12. And I'd just be, uh, referring to that, uh, taking one or two thoughts from that, that we won't look at that scripture, but we find in, uh, Mark chapter 14, we find an event which is going on just two days.
Speaker 10 00:30:40 Uh, here we have two days before Jesus was due to be arrested and he knows what's coming. The disciples are unaware. But I think Mary, I think Mary knew what was coming as we see these events unfold. Jesus was in Bethany, uh, he was at the house of a guy called Simon the leper. Not still a leper house. He couldn't have had people in his home, someone that Jesus had healed. There was only one person healing lepers and that was Jesus. Also there was Lazarus who Jesus had raised from the dead and there was Mary and Martha, the two sisters of Lazaruth. He's amongst friends, they're having a meal. The disciples there too. Maybe it's the last time that he had a meal with friends in an environment that was welcoming and warm, a fellowship. And before he stepped into the hostility of what he was about to face.
Speaker 10 00:31:37 And in the culture of the day, everyone's in their place. The men are reclining and enjoying food. Martha and maybe some other women were serving, um, and uh, uh, in the kitchen. Not saying that's right today, I'm just saying the culture of the day. Uh, and but where's Mary? Now Mary was usually at Jesus' feet. Mary is usually there listening, but where's Mary? Ha? Here's Mary. If we go on a couple of verses you follow, it'd be great to get the whole thing on the screen at one time if that's possible. But if not, don't worry. Mary's wandering into the room and Mary's got that jar, the jar of perfume. And I say the jar because it's not a 20 pound duty-free jar. This is a 20,000 pound jar, not this one. Uh, wouldn't be allowed to bring it here, especially on my bike. This is a 20,000 jar of perfume.
Speaker 10 00:32:38 This is sort of thing that was bought sometimes where families, if they could afford it and pass down from generation to generation as part of their inheritance. This was no ordinary jar and Mary's got it. Now don't doubt she's only going to use a drop or two. It was a pint. The bulb on this VAs is about a pint and she makes a bee life for Jesus. And as she gets to Jesus, she doesn't use a drop or two, she breaks the top off and she pours it, all of it onto Jesus. Now, I dunno if you ever poured a pint out, but a pint of thick tree-like liquid nad from India took a while to come out and the chap in the room stopped. You could hear a pin drop, you could see the eyes pop as this woman poured out 20,000 pounds worth of perfume onto Jesus.
Speaker 10 00:33:41 A pint is a lot of liquid. He didn't just stay on his head, it came down maybe on his face, on his beard, on his hair, on his clothes, on the couch onto the floor. And it wasn't long before the silence changed to what we used to call in our house. We had a rule in our house. No gtta grumbling. I dunno why we called it grata grumbling. But any time there was any negatives with no GTA grumbling, But here in the home in Simon's, home in Bethany, the Greta grumbling started what a waste. What about the cost? What about the poor? What about something we could have done with this ointment, with the money that we could have made from this ointment? And they begin to not, uh, physically, but verbally attack Mary and say it was a waste. You shouldn't have done that. Jesus has another take on it. What does Jesus say to Mary or to the, to the guys around initially? He says, Leave her alone. Leave her alone. And he begins to defend her and he begins to describe, uh, what she has done. And uh, he says that she has done a good thing. She's done a good thing. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body in preparation for burial. You see, I think, I don't know for certain, but I think Mary understood, uh, not in detail, but she understood what was coming.
Speaker 10 00:35:15 She couldn't stop him being arrested. She couldn't stop Jesus suffering. She couldn't stop the crucifixion. But she could do this act of kindness to Jesus before he was arrested. Ask you another question. Who wants to hear from God? Yeah, we do, don't we? Mary wanted to hear from God and she heard and she responded to this prompting. I just wanna say very, very quickly and I will be quick. Four things about this. The first thing is that if we want to hear from God, if we want to enjoy a pattern of hearing from God in our lives, we need to grow a habit and a pattern of listening to God and to respond, responding to what he says. If we want to hear, we need to have a pattern of listening and responding. The second thing is this, that when we respond say's, talking about salt and light and being salt rather and being different when we respond to what Jesus says, there's a couple of things that it may uh, result in.
Speaker 10 00:36:22 The first one is that there might be a cost to, it might not be 20,000 pounds. It might be a cost to our reputation, it might cost us in our time, it might cost us in our pride or our prejudice. It might cost us in all sorts of different ways. But so often responding to God there is a cost. And the third thing is another result of responding to Jesus, uh, is that sometimes people will misunderstand, people will look at what you do and not get it. And there may be hostility, there may be opposition. Do you still want to hear from Jesus? There's a few still want to hear from Jesus. That's good because the fourth thing I wanna say about hearing from Jesus and responding is that Jesus gets it. He gets it. Jesus' life was 30 years of listening and hearing and responding.
Speaker 10 00:37:20 Did it cost him? You bet at custom? Did he know hostility or opposition? A misunderstanding? He did. Why did he do it? He did it because father and son had a relationship of trust and honor and they were partnering. Once heard someone talk about a father and some business, they were partnering in the gospel. They were partnering uh, in bringing salvation to mankind. They were partnering, uh, in the, the, the redeeming of all things and making all things new on the earth. Why do we respond? Because we've been brought into the Father and some business and we are in the business now, not our business, God's business of bringing life and health, uh, to those around us. And that's why we seek to listen. Now just as I close, I just want us to do something. Um, and you may find closing eyes makes that easier and helps you.
Speaker 10 00:38:23 Um, but is there anything that you feel God has been prompting you to do and you've not responded and done it yet? And it may be cuz you are a fearful maybe all sorts of things. What might it be? It might be to pray for someone. It might be to show an act of kindness or generosity. It might be to be hospitable. Invite someone to your home. It may be to get involved is maybe all sorts of different things. But is there something that is in your heart and a mind a little prompt prompter they'll dig a little something that you just have been maybe resisting and just in the quietness in a few moments as you think about that, say yes, say yes to Jesus. Say yes to being soul. Say yes to stepping out whatever the cost of that might be. So just a few moments, quiet and hand back to mark.
Speaker 1 00:39:35 So Jesus we ask this week that we will embolden by your presence value on our life emboldened by a sense of being prepared a stand out that we will be obedient to those things you're asking of us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Great. Well are you ready? Yeah. You not comfortable but are you ready to hear the word of God speaking in minister into your spirit? So I'm gonna introduce each of them individually and so our first speaker this morning is Gareth Gareth Sby. Gareth Gareth is joint CEO of the Y M C A in the city who do a fantastic ministry and a great work and is here with his beautiful family. Gareth was so blessed by you being part of the church and I'm gonna give you the mic and I'm gonna press the timer. There you are.
Speaker 13 00:40:44 It's not not starter. Jim Mark.
Speaker 1 00:40:46 There you go.
Speaker 13 00:40:46 Oh, we're on the clock already. Okay. Good morning rediscover morning. Thank you for having me. Um, yeah, as Mark said, I'm Gareth married to the beautiful Rachel here and we've got three lovely young boys, the two boisterous blondes that run around every every week that's ours. So sorry about that. Um, I wanted to share with you a little story from the Bible that really spoke to me as I was a, a young exploring Christian. Someone in my, I was about 23, didn't know God. Uh, and exploring the bible, exploring the story, something that's really spoke to me. Um, we're gonna look, uh, a brief look at a nameless character from the Bible. Now there's hundreds of, of examples scattered through the Bible of people that aren't named. You've got, uh, Noah's wife and she was pretty important. We wouldn't be here without her. We've got the three kings.
Speaker 13 00:41:39 Um, and we've also got fair's daughter who, um, rescued Moses from the reeds, but we dunno their names. Now there's actually two we're gonna talk about this morning. Everyone heard of the thief on the cross? Yeah, yeah. We're gonna talk about the thieves on the cross cuz we don't often mention the other guy. So if I can have the text up, that'd be super helpful please. And we're in Luke 23. I'll just read that to you. So at this this point in the story, Jesus is walking up to to be crucified. He is been given over by pilot to the crowds. He's going up to calvary to be crucified. And two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that's called the school there, they crucified him and the criminals one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they not know what they are doing and they cast lots of to divide his garments. And the people stood by watching. But the rulers scoffed to him saying He saved others. Let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one, the soldiers are mocking him, coming, coming up and offer him sour wine and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews,
Speaker 13 00:42:55 One of the criminals who was hang rail to him saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other rebukes that criminal saying, Do you not fear God since you are under the same senses of condemnation? And we indeed justly for we are receiving the Jew reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly I say to you today, you'll be with me in paradise. So we're just gonna very quickly look at both of those responses. Now firstly, the other guy, the one we never speak about. Now he was swept up with the crowd. He was, uh, influenced by the people around him. He didn't believe Jesus was who said he was. He was mocking. He was um, he was possibly afraid to speak his own man.
Speaker 13 00:43:45 Maybe he did believe who Jesus was but he was afraid of what the crowd around him was gonna do then the thief that we do know about. Now, firstly, if you notice back in that story, he says he was receiving his due reward. Now crucifixion you probably know was one of the most horrific ways to die. I worked in the, the criminal justice system for probably about five years, my work at the Y M C A. And in that time I don't think I ever met a criminal that said I'm getting what I deserve. They might have said, Yes, I did the crime, but what I've deserved, what I've received is not what I think I deserve. So this is very interesting. He says this, he knows who he is. Now he also believed that Jesus was the king of the Jews. He believed that inscription above his head.
Speaker 13 00:44:35 Cause he said, Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Not just remember me, your kingdom. He knew there was a kingdom not on this earth somewhere else that he could participate in. Now I think there's a direct correlation between these two mindsets that reflects our outlook on Jesus. Sometimes I think we've all, I certainly have been swept up with the crowd and afraid to actually declare who Jesus really is. Very easy to say No, he couldn't do that. And equally we can be on the other side and completely believe every single word he said and believe that hope that he gives us.
Speaker 13 00:45:18 So let's look at Jesus' response really quickly. The the guy, we don't speak about the mock. There's no response registered within the Bible. There's nothing in there completely ignored. He didn't even rebuke back or try and convince him. But let's look at the response back to the other, the other guy, it's not just that I will remember you but it was today. He knew what's happening today, you'll be with me within my kingdom. Nine words is all. It took that guy to reach salvation. He didn't have to attend church every week. He didn't have to go in a bunch of courses. He didn't have to learn how to preach. He simply said, Jesus, remember me. When you are in your kingdom now that grace is phenomenal and on offer to every single person here today, everyone out on the street. So have you made that choice? Do you want Jesus to remember you in his kingdom?
Speaker 13 00:46:21 So which mindset are you gonna choose today? Will you let, which one are you gonna let triumph? Will we allow ourselves to get caught up with the crowds, taunting, mocking and dismissing Jesus? There's plenty of them out there. Or will you accept who you are ultimately a sinner? It's hard to say it will you recognize the wrong in your life? But will you recognize that there's someone who's paid the price for all of that wrong? There's not a single thing that you've done that can't be put on Jesus. It's already gone. Full payment for your sin, our due reward. That's what the, the prison the thief was saying, history reward. RJ reward has been put on him already. So will you accept that?
Speaker 13 00:47:12 I'm just gonna pray for us if that's okay and pass we go. Yeah, Jesus, we are just blown away by what you achieved on the cross. Uh, as I looked at it as a, a young 23 year old thinking, I've missed the boat on this. I was blown away by this story because there's a, a man there who simply believed you were who you said you were. So Lord I pray that you would convict us to continually believe who you say you are and that you would help us to trust you with our, with our lives. That you would help us to put our, uh, faith in you, to not be swayed by this world and those around us, but that we'd be ultimately, uh, trusting in you with all things. And for those people in this room that don't know you, I pray today that they would trust you, that they would want to to be remembered in your kingdom.
Speaker 7 00:48:09 Amen.
Speaker 14 00:48:10 Amen.
Speaker 1 00:48:11 Amen. Come on, let's give it a soap. Whoa,
Speaker 13 00:48:17 How about two minutes left?
Speaker 7 00:48:20 Wow.
Speaker 1 00:48:21 Wow, Wow. Amazing. Thank you so much. Come on, let's give Gareth another thank you. Well done. Amazing.
Speaker 1 00:48:34 Well you've already been greatly blessed by that. But one of the privilege of pastoral ministry is that you're often involved in various things in people's lives. You see them when they first meet their wife for their dreams or you, you sometimes you see them when they go through difficulties in their life. Well the next person's gonna speak. Um, I can honestly say that there's really no one else in the church that I've experienced as many significant points in my life with cuz he's my son. And so I was there <laugh>. So I was there right at the very beginning of his introduction to the world. And I'd like you to put your hands together for Luke who's gonna come and speak.
Speaker 14 00:49:21 You owe my people. That's good. That's good. Some of you're freaking out right now. Not heard a preacher start like that. But I'm gonna be speaking on prayer today. Um, I got told I had 10 minutes. So I picked a topic which you could speak on for months <laugh>. But what is prayer? See, prayer is described in the Bible as seeking God's favor, pleading or wrestling with God, pouring out one's soul to the Lord, crying out to heaven, drawing near to God and kneeling before the Father. Now it all sounds really nice, doesn't it? But ultimately prayer is one thing and that's speaking to your father. I think a lot of the time we fail to understand the importance of prayer. So I try and simplify it. I know this is a bit corny, but bear with me. Imagine you're a child and your dad is Superman. And he says to you, If you believe in me, come to me anytime you need help and I will help you. See, prayer is just like that. In fact, prayer is so much better than that. Cause the God we serve is so much better than Superman. He created the universe, he created you. He created everyone in it. So what are our problems to him
Speaker 14 00:50:29 In John 15, seven It says, If you abbi in me and my words abiding you then ask whatever you wish and it should be done with you for you. Like what a promise does it get much better than that. A God who can do anything telling us to ask him for anything we need. Why then do we find ourselves not praying? Why can we go for a whole day stressing about something and not give it to God in prayer?
Speaker 14 00:50:54 Why the church is so full on a Sunday but prayer meetings are so empty. See, prayer gatherings are so fruitful. If you wanna start going to the gym or start running, you grab a friend, you grab a partner, you go there with them. If I'm in a gym and my bro, my bro knows how much I bench, if I start picking up 20 kgs, he's gonna put more weight on because that's not what I bench see. I've got a prayer partner and he knows the energy I bring when I pray. He knows how I pray. Oh God, you like he's gonna tell me shot. I pray properly. See, we're living in a generation that would rather give 10% of our wages than 10% of our time in prayer. But prayer is tricky. It is really tricky. And it's tricky because we are dying to self. We are surrendering to God. We're acknowledging that we are helpless without him. We need him. And our flesh doesn't let that. That's right. But it might be a little bit cause we don't fully understand the power of prayer. So let's look into it. Why do we pray? I mean, from what I just said, it seems like a bit of a stupid question really.
Speaker 14 00:52:02 But the reason we pray about things <laugh>, So
Speaker 14 00:52:10 I've heard it said before that anyone who walk this earth, if they had a reason not to pray, it would've been Jesus. Yet we see him time and time again praying for stuff. In fact, we see him waking up early to pray and staying up through the night to pray. Why aren't we doing that? In Mark 1 35, it says, in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, he left the house, he went away to a secluded praise and he was praying there. And in Luke six 12 it says at this time that he went off, he went to the mountains to pray and he spent the whole night praying to God. You know, we can make excuses in our head. Life's too busy to pray. Yeah, life is busy. But if someone was writing a book on 30 few years of our lives, I doubt it would be anything like Jesus's, anything like the gospel. And do you know what? I recently read a question in a book that really challenged me. If your faith cannot break sleeping patterns, is it really a strong faith? Wow, Wow,
Speaker 7 00:53:04 Wow.
Speaker 14 00:53:04 Don't break your hand up. But who else has done this before? You get to bed at the end of the day and you're scrolling on social media or doing whatever you do and you think, Oh, I haven't prayed yet, right? It's too late to really pray properly. Like it's so could we serve a gracious God, isn't it? But at this point, it's not about how God feels about whether you've prayed or not. Are you yourselves? Are you really benefiting yourselves? What are you gaining from scrolling, from playing that game, from watching that TV show, from reading that worldly book? What are you gaining from it when you could be changing your lives or the lives of other people? See, I don't think we give prayer enough credit. Like we lose our keys. We pray to God and we and we find him and we thank Him Lord. That's not what prayer's about. See, most of you have sat in this room today because of prayer, because there's prayer warriors, warring for people, salvations for people's lives, even people they do not know. And I thank you mom cuz I'm certainly here cuz of your prayers.
Speaker 14 00:54:06 Why do we pray? Why do we pray if God looks after us already?
Speaker 15 00:54:11 Come
Speaker 14 00:54:11 On. See that answer is, is God has given us a power and we need to use it. Now imagine you're a child again, I'm taking you a lot back to your childhood. But imagine you're a child again and your parent says to you, Oh, do you wanna make a cake? Do you wanna make a cake? See, you don't know how to make a cake. You don't know what ingredients to use, how the oven works, But they're not gonna make that cake without you. They need you to make that cake. Prayer is that, that that's like the relationship with God, with prayer. He knows what we need. He knows how to do it. Yet he requires us to be a part of that process. We can't sit down our whole lives and expect God to do his willing in it. In Daniel 10, we see a glimpse of the power of prayer and how it can really shift things in a spiritual realm. See, Daniel is praying and fasting for free weeks for his nation. I, I struggle to pray 30 minutes for my own life. Yet Lauren fasten and praying free weeks for my nation, our nation can really use it as well. That's
Speaker 15 00:55:14 Right. That's
Speaker 14 00:55:15 Right. And the angel of the Lord appears to him and it says, Do not be afraid, Daniel, since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and humbled yourself before God, your words were heard. And I have come in response to them. But something weird happened. It says, the Prince of Persian, uh, resisted me for 21 days. Then Michael came one of the chief princes and came to help me because I was detained there with the King of Persia. That's weird, isn't it? Spiritual warfare. Our prayers set off things in a spiritual realm that affect the physical realm. Understand the power of your prayers. People like our prayers are not about finding our keys. Yes, helpful, but we are called to pray for our nation. If your prayers were answered right now, would it have changed the world? I've already prayed about it.
Speaker 14 00:56:15 Yes, we should trust in God that he answers our prayers, but we should also war with our prayer requests in Jesus' prayer and gift seny, we see him repeating his petition to God three times whilst his disciples are sleeping. Matthew 26 44. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words. Now you would think that if Jesus, if anyone was listening, if God was listening to anyone's prayers right then he would've been listening to Jesus. But even he goes away three times and repeats his prayers. So why do we feel like, Oh God, help me with this. That's gonna like, yeah, trust that God will answer your prayers. But we need to warf our prayer requests. Again, we see it in Alleg, in the About in First Kings, about Elijah. See seven times he tells his servant to go and look for signs of rain. And each time he tells his servant, we see a faith in him that is gonna rain. But we also see he doesn't get up and go and check if it rains cause he's on his knees and he's praying until it happens.
Speaker 14 00:57:19 No, I've discussed what, why we should pray. What is prayer and how do we pray? See, prayer is so beautiful because it's unique to each person. It's about building a relationship with God. Do you know, sometimes it can just be crying on the Lord's name for help and sometimes it can be waring for ours. But anyone can pray to God no matter where you're right and left. See, we serve a God that wants to help you and he wants to see you doing well, but there is a guarantee that your prayers are gonna be answered. So come find me after the service, give me a little donation and God will answer your prayer. Now, I'm only joking, Don't worry, don't worry. The, the biblical list on why our prayers are answered. So number one, repentance. Are you living in sin? Psalm 66 18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
Speaker 14 00:58:15 That's right. Number two, do we have faith? Are we really believing that our prayers will be answered? Matthew 21, 22, wherever you ask in prayer, believing you will receive what's our motive? James four verse three. You ask and you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives so that you will spend it on your own pleasures. Number four, praying in Jesus' name and abide them of them. Do you ever look around and think these crazy Christians always praying in Jesus' name? No is a reason to that. John 1414. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. And John 15, seven, If you abide in me and my words, Abbi in you, ask whatever you wish and it should be done for you. And lastly, God's will I We praying God's will, one John five, verse 14 to 15. If we ask anything according to his world and he listens to what He listens to us. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions, which we have asked him. See, some of you are probably a bit put off by that list. Don't be. It's, it's actually really simple. If we go back over those things, it's repent, have faith, pray in Jesus's name and abide in him and pray with a godly motive according to God's will. It's not hard,
Speaker 14 00:59:34 But if that list still scares you, that's okay. You know, we serve such a gracious joy, God who knows the journey we go through finding him. When I was away from God and I was first coming back to him, I'd even prayed prayers high off my face that God has still answered. Don't worry, that's a testimony, not a requirement, but <laugh>. But guys, if you take anything away from this, know that your prayers have power. Try praying. And if you already praying, commit to God and really believe in what you're praying. Thank you for listening. I went a bit over Omar.
Speaker 1 01:00:13 Well done. Luke, would you pray for us? Would you open your hearts? Do you wanna be that person? Do you wanna be that one with a thriving craving, prayer life? Pray for us. Luke. Would you
Speaker 14 01:00:26 God stir something in us? Rediscover church right now, God, maybe change nations, maybe change the spiritual realm. God anoint us, anoint our lips. God, bring us to a place of frequent prayer. Help us to really believe in what we're seeing. Help us to trust in you Lord, and help us to take an active part in this water that is left.
Speaker 7 01:00:46 Yes,
Speaker 14 01:00:47 God, raise up Elijahs in this nation. Raise up people who are gonna shift things with their prayers. Yes. Do not let us fall into Luke warmness with our prayers. Let us pray with an energy and a faith that you will do what we ask. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Speaker 1 01:01:03 Amen. Amen. Well done, done mate. Fantastic. Well, we've already feel like we've feasted and we've been provoked and stirred by the spirit of God, but we got one more to go. And this precious young lady of dra, she's uh, student X University gonna join us. Aira is also, um, president of numerous society, which is a great ministry on campus among students and is a great joy to hear from you now. So come on, let's give another welcome. Thank you.
Speaker 7 01:01:42 Yeah,
Speaker 17 01:01:43 Thank you. Good afternoon church. It's so lovely to see your faces. Like Pastor Mark said, My name's od uh, just a little bit about me. I am originally from London, East London. Shout out East London. Um, I <laugh>, I'm from Nigeria as well. That's my home. Um, and I moved here like about five years ago now to study medicine. So that's why I'm here speaking to you, uh, right now. Um, so I have the privilege of speaking to you, uh, for the next 10, nine minutes and 35 seconds of <laugh> about something I feel like God has really placed on my heart. And I actually prepared something completely different when Pastor Mark asked me to speak. Um, but it was about a couple of Sundays ago or last Sunday that Pastor Mark asked, um, about our testimonies and I shared about peace. And while I was preparing my other talk, I just couldn't shake that word from my mind.
Speaker 17 01:02:30 I just kept hearing peace, peace, peace, peace. And I said, Okay, God, I'll talk about peace then. Um, so that's what I'm talking about. Uh, if we tend to John 1427 and it will come up on the screen as well. I'll give you some context. So we're nearing the end of the gospel of John here. Um, and Jesus has just laid down his life for his friend. He has just raised Lazarus from the death, um, from the dead, which, um, alerted the Jewish leaders and gave them a reason to arrest him. Um, so he's entered a time of preparing his disciples for his death, preparing his disciples for him to leave. Um, and this is what he says. He says to them, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you not as the world gives. Do I give to you? Let not your hearts be troubled.
Speaker 17 01:03:13 Never let them be afraid. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. So what is peace Jesus Straight away in this, in this verse, um, eluded there being at least two types of peace, right? A wildly peace and a godly piece. So let's talk about wildly peace. The world gives us a peace that I call it a faux piece, a fake peace. It gives us a piece that is there as long as that is there. It gives us a peace in the form of handshakes and contracts and materialistic things like a house of roof over our heads and cars and whatnot. And that's the, that's the piece that the world gives us, right? And that can all be nice and very cozy and comfortable, but it's not the piece that God intended. He says to us, I do not give you peace as the world gives.
Speaker 17 01:03:57 I do not give you peace as the world gives because God is not into limited stuff. He's not in the business of limitations. He says he's into past, present, and future. He's into wants and for all. Yeah. So he doesn't give you a piece that goes as soon as he's gone because he's always there. He says, I give you a piece that's here because I am always there. I give you a piece that you can trust him. Because when I was spat on, when I was ridiculed, when I was hung, when I was pissed, I fought of you. Yeah. And I just didn't, I didn't do it for effect or to prove the hate is wrong. Haha. You, Pharisees, look at me now. No, He did it so that you could have everlasting life. And with that comes peace, that piece that transcends all understanding.
Speaker 17 01:04:40 So how do we gain this piece? When I, uh, think of the story of Jesus and the garden of gift Seman, it's funny that Luke brought it up as well. Um, it's so easy to look at that story and think of it as one of like, just great anguish of pain and of sorrow. But I think that with that sorrow, with that pain, with the sweat that fell down like blood, I think I was also peace in that garden because I think that it takes a different kind of piece to be able to say, Lord, I don't wanna go through this, Lord, I don't want to die. Please let this cop pass over me. But then also say in the same breath, not my will, but yours. That takes a different kind of piece. And that's the kind of piece that I want. And that's the kind of of peace that I pray over his church.
Speaker 15 01:05:20 Let's try,
Speaker 17 01:05:23 How do we gain this peace? We see Jesus used to agree in peace, be you about three times in the Bible or three times for after his resurrection. What does that mean? It means that a true piece of God was only access accessible for the deaf and resurrection of our savior. So he says, Peace be with you. I died for you. Peace be with you. I, I resurrected. But he also says, Peace be with you. I'm leaving behind a helper. Hallelujah. The Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that, um, one of the fruits of the spirit is peace. So what does that mean? It means when we are filled with the spirit, we are filled with peace. Peace is accessible. And I really want to hone that in that piece isn't something that's just only for Pastor Mark or for Nita. God bless you. But it's for everyone sitting here right now. It's accessible to each and every single one of you. It's accessible through me for me. That's
Speaker 15 01:06:09 Right.
Speaker 17 01:06:10 And um, during one of the APS meetings, um, I feel like I've said your name so many times, Mark, but here we go. Um, Mark said, um, he talked about vertical receiving and horizontal gift, um, gifting. Um, and Hebrews 1214 says, Strive for peace with one another. Peace is a fruit of the spirit. So we know that fruit, a tree doesn't grow fruit for itself, right? So that piece isn't just for you to hold and say, Oh, I've got peace. It's this lovely no, it's for other people as well. It's for the people you are sat next to right now is the people at your workplace. It's for your family. It's for the people you see in the streets. It's for your flatmates that are keeping the kitchen really, really dirty. I've been there. It's for them as well. It's for everyone. Church. I believe that the reason God wouldn't let me shake the word peace away is because it's something the world really, really desperately needs. But I don't think that the world will get it until the church has it.
Speaker 17 01:07:01 Because we can't go out into the world and proclaim the gospel of peace when we allow our own circumstances to bury us in worry, in fear, in anxiety. And please hear me. I'm not saying that what you are going through is insignificant. Not at all. What I'm saying is that we have a God that towers over every significant thing, every significant event in our life. We have a God that is bigger than that and a God that is extending peace to us. He's saying, Come my child to take it. Hold onto this, wrap it around your heart. I want you to have it. I've left it for you. Take it. He's begging you to take it.
Speaker 17 01:07:36 I don't know what you're going through or what situation is practicing the peace that God intended for you. Um, but I wanna leave you with this story that I heard a couple of, um, years ago and I think that changed kind of my mind about peace. Um, so this story set in 1871 as a true story. Um, and there was a fire in Chicago. Over 300 people died. Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless and it was a businessman in that city who'd invested so much into the city. Um, and so he suffered great financial loss through this fire. However, more than that, he lost his son about the same time. But for two years, this man who was a Christian, kept his life devoted to God. He served the homeless, he volunteered his time, he helped those who'd been affected by the fire.
Speaker 17 01:08:17 And after two years he said, You know what? I think I deserve a vacation. So he went off. Um, and he planned for a vacation with his family. Um, he had four daughters left and a wife. Um, but because of business, um, he got delayed. So he sent his wife and his daughters ahead. Now what happened when they entered that ship after a while was that their ship collided with another ship. And out of the hundreds of people who were on that ship, only 47 people survived. And out of the family, his family only his wife survived. His four daughters all drowned. They were all lost a sea. When his fine, his wife made it to England, she sent her telegram to her husband. That said, simply saved alone. Saved alone church. Can you imagine you've lost your son, You wanted a vacation, You've now lost four of your daughters. Your wife saved alone.
Speaker 17 01:09:09 This man, uh, took a ship. He went to meet his wife and when he crossed the same spot that his daughters died at the um, captain of the ship pointed it out to him. And now I dunno when exactly, and I don't think anyone knows exactly when these words were birthed, but he came up with, he wrote one of the greatest hymes. I'm sure you all know it. And these were the words that came. He said, When peace like a river attended my way when sorrows like sea billows role, whatever my lot that has taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul.
Speaker 17 01:09:44 It is well with my soul. It is well with your soul. Not because of anything that you do, not because of therapy. Even of therapy is great. I'm a big advocate for therapy. But not because of therapy, not because of drugs, medicine, not be because of any of that, but because we serve a good God. We serve a God who wants you to have peace. So it is well with your soul. Church, I just wanna pray. Um, Lord, I just pray for peace to reign over your, your people for peace to reign over your church. Lord Jesus, I pray for that peace that transcends all understanding, that peace that transcends all circumstances. And I thank you that we can't understand it because it means that we can't take it away. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for what you have created, for what you have done on the cross. And I thank you for everyone under the sound of my voice right now. I thank you for all of the things that they are going through, all of the troubles that stir their heart, Lord. And I just pray that peace will hold it still. Let your peace hold their heart still. Lord Jesus. Lord, I thank you. I thank you. I thank you because you are so good and you love us so much. Thank you Jesus. In your name I pray. Amen. 50 seconds left. Yeah,
Speaker 1 01:11:04 Thank was really, really beautiful, powerful. Thank you. Come on, let's give her another run of applause. So,
Speaker 0 01:11:20 Um,
