Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] So good to be here.
[00:00:06] Do you not sense the presence of God in this place?
[00:00:10] The many, many years of his name being lifted in this place?
[00:00:16] We come back and it feels like home again, doesn't it?
[00:00:20] And as Amy was saying, home is where he is.
[00:00:24] Home is where our Father is. And we are home because we're here together.
[00:00:30] We prayed, and I've been praying that we would just bring everybody on the journey with us, that as we go from this place to the next, there would be this journey that we embark on together.
[00:00:41] So thank you. Thank you for everybody who has given, everybody who has prayed, everybody who has moved carpet tiles. How many people found a place for their carpet tile at home? I saw a few. Couple really nice. Placed in front of the fireplace. I love that.
[00:00:56] So good. What a journey we are on.
[00:01:00] A number of years ago, Amy convinced me to watch a series called Downton Abbey.
[00:01:06] Do we have any Downton Abbey fans?
[00:01:10] A story of the Crawleys, the family who own this magnificent Downton Abbey. The house was run by more than a dozen maids and butlers and footmen and valets.
[00:01:22] But during the height of its glory, war breaks out.
[00:01:26] And what was a profitable business is now no longer profitable. And they have some changes they have to make.
[00:01:34] Father in law initially resists the change, stating things will continue as they always have.
[00:01:41] But then, over a process of time and about 677 episodes, appropriate and necessary changes are made to save that home.
[00:01:55] Now, alongside their journey, are the journey of other places that chose not to change.
[00:02:02] And because they didn't change, they fell into oblivion.
[00:02:08] Insignificance.
[00:02:10] It's not going to surprise you that that over these next few weeks, I want to talk about change.
[00:02:16] I want to talk about change because we don't resist change, because we don't want or need things to change. Very often we resist change because with it comes a loss, a grieving of what we once had.
[00:02:31] Quick check. How many people have found their way back to their chair?
[00:02:36] Same chair. Oh. Oh, I like this.
[00:02:40] This is good.
[00:02:43] I wonder whether people come back and, oh, this is my familiar. How many people have intentionally sat somewhere different?
[00:02:50] Okay.
[00:02:52] How many will never raise their hand if I.
[00:02:56] Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:01] So often change takes place because we have to.
[00:03:07] It changes because the heart attack comes. So then we think, well, I better do something about my health. I better eat better. I better sleep right. I better make good decisions around my health.
[00:03:20] We go bankrupt. So we make better changes and better decisions around our finances.
[00:03:25] Or maybe our relationship with our spouse completely falls apart.
[00:03:31] And on the other side of that breakdown. We make changes in the way we love and we treat people.
[00:03:39] So often we make a change because we have to. But this series is all about making a change before we have to.
[00:03:47] That we would be people who are people who are prepared to change, not afraid of change. And in fact, change is in our DNA. Who we are is rediscovered. We are pioneers where we step out into places no one is being brave enough to go.
[00:04:03] And it's a scary place when we step into something new.
[00:04:08] See, the message will never change, but the method and we ourselves will change in that process.
[00:04:15] A verse that's been so prevalent in the journey of this church and again was raised again this morning in ministry.
[00:04:22] Isaiah 43, verse 19.
[00:04:24] See, I am doing a new thing, says God.
[00:04:27] Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?
[00:04:31] This morning I'm perceiving God doing new things even in this place. Here today I am making a way in the wilderness and streams, in the wasteland.
[00:04:43] And let's be honest, we've been on a journey as a church over the last few years, talking about the apeast graces, apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, shepherding and teachers.
[00:04:53] In each of us, God has wired us in a particular way where we probably have a tendency towards one of those five graces.
[00:05:02] Now, this journey, this move, all the apostles say, yes, this is amazing, this is incredible.
[00:05:09] The prophets probably that sense of, yes, this is something new, let's step into something new. The evangelists, new territory to reach.
[00:05:16] But probably us teachers and shepherds, we're probably a little bit more apprehensive on the journey because we want to make sure. I want to make sure that the change is managed and that everybody comes on the journey. The shepherds are saying, we want to take care of those that are having to go from that place to this place and then to the next place.
[00:05:37] But don't you love that God's body, Jesus church has all of those parts and each of us are needed on that journey.
[00:05:47] Last Sunday we received a prophetic word I want to share this morning as I lead into my message in horse riding. There's an event called the Puissance. I don't know if I've pronounced that right, meaning power. And it requires incredible courage.
[00:06:02] Horses face two jumps, one a smaller one with poles, which they can see through the poles and see on the other side. And then the big jump, the high jump, which is over 7 foot tall, is a wall that you can't see on the other side.
[00:06:18] Now, a horse generally won't jump unless it can see where it's landing.
[00:06:24] But in the journey of this discipline, the first jump is training the horse to get over the first one.
[00:06:35] Now when it comes to the next jump where they can't see the other side, that horse is relying on the rider to have gone over the course to know where the landing place is.
[00:06:47] And so when they get over the first jump, committing to the second jump is a trust in the rider.
[00:06:55] Now, if the horse doesn't commit, it can be disastrous for horse and rider.
[00:07:03] Fortunately, in our situation, we have a rider who we can't injure.
[00:07:08] God's not fallen off the throne, but he will lead us, he will guide us. He will take us to this place where we will step and leap into the next place.
[00:07:19] Pop up for us was the five foot jump.
[00:07:22] It was that leap to see what would happen if we could step out in faith from this place.
[00:07:29] Now we can come back to here and think, oh, have we stepped backwards?
[00:07:33] No, because there's a few steps in between before we take that next leap. And I really sense that this season, and this is where the word came, is that God is preparing us in the weeks and the months, however long it takes here to adjust our step, to say, God, we trust you as a rider, as a leader, the one who's taking us into this next place, that we will leap to that safe place.
[00:08:00] What a good word, eh?
[00:08:02] So good.
[00:08:04] Rediscover. We are passionate about seeing people live the life God has designed for them. And growth means change.
[00:08:11] And change is how we grow.
[00:08:13] And to move to new levels of strength and kingdom influence, we all have to go through change.
[00:08:19] Imagine a caterpillar resisting the chrysalis.
[00:08:24] So that was a good life, crawling around and eating some food. And I'll go to sleep now.
[00:08:31] That's it.
[00:08:34] Imagine if we didn't go after the everything that God's got for us, the exceedingly above and beyond all we could ask or imagine. That's what God has for us as individuals and for us as a church.
[00:08:51] We don't want to stay as caterpillars. When God is saying, I want you to become that butterfly, I want you to grow, I want you to become all that I've got for you.
[00:09:00] And I love that we often personalize the words in scripture, but remember the scripture was written for all of us. It's the together, it's the family.
[00:09:09] We receive those words together.
[00:09:13] Change is difficult. How many people love change?
[00:09:16] How many people actually, really, really like change? Honestly?
[00:09:19] Great. Yep, Wonderful. How many people really don't like change. You like things the way they are? Yeah, yeah. I would say the majority of us would feel that way.
[00:09:29] But how many people who also said, I don't like change could testify to change in their life leading to something much better than where they were before? I think we could all agree with that.
[00:09:42] So how do we, how do we do this? What's our approach when it comes to changing before? We have to, not because we have to.
[00:09:50] If you'd like to open your Bibles, we're going to the Book of Acts this morning.
[00:09:54] We're going to just touch on a few of these verses here and I'm going to summarize the story because we're looking at the story of the stoning of Stephen and where Saul found his part in that story.
[00:10:08] Stephen, a man of incredible character and a love for God. In fact, Stephen was appointed by the apostles because of his relationship with God, to do an important work, feeding and taking care of the widows.
[00:10:22] There was something in Stephen's life. He was so passionate about God. He was so passionate about preaching the gospel that he was caught by the Sanhedrin.
[00:10:33] They brought him in and they said, stop preaching.
[00:10:36] And Stephen says, no, thank you for the opportunity. Now I have you all in front of me.
[00:10:43] And so you read the first 50 verses and he goes for it. You want a summary of the gospel?
[00:10:52] Read that passage. And he just goes after it. He says, this is the journey of the Israelite people who God loved and set apart and yet they just ran away from God. And idolatry and disobedience, all of that was a part of the journey.
[00:11:09] And then he ramps it up right to verse 51. And I don't know, I'm not sure how you'd respond if I said this to you.
[00:11:17] And I didn't say it was scripture.
[00:11:19] You stiff necked people.
[00:11:22] Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised kids. You can talk to your parents about that one later.
[00:11:29] You are just like your ancestors. You always resist the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:36] They said, thank you for that correction and rebuke. We receive that.
[00:11:41] No, they didn't. They picked up stones.
[00:11:46] Not pebbles, but stones that would crush a man's skull and took him out and stoned him.
[00:11:54] And there was a man that was standing there holding the coats of the stone throwers called Saul.
[00:12:03] And the text reads that he approved of the killing of Stephen.
[00:12:08] And then he went out and he began to persecute the church. He was doing God's business. He was so passionate about what he was Doing? He was persecuting. He was collecting and imprisoning and killing. If somebody needed to be killed, he was quite happy to do that as well.
[00:12:24] And he went out and he began to terrorize the church, the followers of Jesus.
[00:12:32] And yet, as Stephen was murdered for preaching, Saul was about to have an encounter with God.
[00:12:39] And it was Saul who had this encounter. I think probably the biggest change in somebody's life that we see in the Bible was the change from Saul, who then became Paul. So I want to look at three things very quickly this morning. Change begins with a God encounter.
[00:12:57] Change begins with a God encounter. Acts 9:3:5. He's heading to Damascus to do God's work. So he thought, it says, as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
[00:13:18] And he asked the question, who are you, Lord?
[00:13:22] He's like, I know I should know who you are, but I think I've misunderstood who you are.
[00:13:31] And the response is, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
[00:13:36] He was blinded in that moment.
[00:13:39] When he was healed, it said scales came off his eyes. So God blinded him, put scales on his eyes.
[00:13:45] But real change often happens, and it begins when God interrupts our momentum, when we're going about doing our business, doing what we think we're supposed to be doing, and we probably are.
[00:13:58] And my advice for anybody seeking the will of God is keeping faithful exactly where you are.
[00:14:05] Don't go looking for something else. You walk and live faithfully where God has placed you. But there will be a moment where God says, I want to move you. I want to change your circumstance.
[00:14:16] I want to pick you and your family up out of New Zealand, and I want you to move to the uk. Just a small change, but how many here in this room have come from another nation, come and studied from another nation, and you found yourself. I know one amazing woman in this church who was just going to come and do a degree we love Esun.
[00:14:39] And a few years later, she's still here, serving the purpose of God because she's prepared to have that momentum interrupted by God.
[00:14:50] Saul wasn't looking for Jesus.
[00:14:53] Jesus was looking for Saul.
[00:14:55] You need to understand, if you are here today wondering why you're in church, you might have thought it was a good idea to be here today.
[00:15:04] God has arranged for you to be here today. He has drawn you in. There are things that have started to take place in your heart and in your mind that have Caused you to ask questions. And you are here for a purpose.
[00:15:16] God has desired and designed for you to be here today. It is not by accident. It is by purpose that you are here today.
[00:15:27] Why do we need to change?
[00:15:29] Because continuing on the wrong path only leads us further from God's will.
[00:15:35] Jesus loves us so much, and he doesn't want us to walk blind and will always give us a chance to change.
[00:15:44] How many people have gone through a moment where you know God asked you to change, but you didn't change because you didn't want to change?
[00:15:51] Yeah, come on.
[00:15:53] And then God gave you another chance and you still didn't take that chance.
[00:15:57] I mean, I don't know how many numbers I need to put on that. But then there was a moment where that thing that God asked you to do, you did it. And you're so thankful you did.
[00:16:08] You're so thankful you forgave that person. You're so thankful you laid down that offense. You're so thankful that you. You sowed into that person's life when you blessed them rather than cursing them. Come on.
[00:16:18] When we. God is so patient with us on the change, he will allow us every opportunity to change.
[00:16:27] But my advice to all of us is, please don't wait till the end of our life to make those changes.
[00:16:33] Let's get aligned with God's will and purpose. If that nudge keeps coming, come on, let's not ignore it. I believe this is a season where God is going to interrupt all of us.
[00:16:46] Because collectively, what God is asking us to do when we settle into our new home is going to require all of us being inconvenienced for the sake of the kingdom.
[00:16:58] We want to see every person that walks into this place saying, what is it with this Christianity? I want to see every single one of those people discipled to have someone walking with them one on one to say, whatever questions you have, let's find them together.
[00:17:17] That's when a community gets changed and transformed.
[00:17:22] My question to us, all of us today, where is God stopping you?
[00:17:25] Challenging you? Confronting you?
[00:17:29] Is there sin in your life that God's. Come on. Will you release that? Will you surrender that?
[00:17:36] Is there fear that's just kind of got you locked in. You're kind of locked up at the edge of the jump and you say, I can't commit. God's saying, will you leap? Will you trust me? I've gone before you. I know where you will land. You'll be okay.
[00:17:52] Sometimes the most loving thing God can do is bring us to the ground.
[00:17:59] Sometimes it's actually at the very bottom.
[00:18:03] I've always said I can't fall very far from flat on my face sometimes. It's a really good place to start your day.
[00:18:10] God, I don't know what today holds, but I'm going to get flat on my face and I'm going to surrender to you and that I'll get up when you say and I'll walk where you asked me to. Second thing this morning.
[00:18:24] Change requires obedience, not just revelation.
[00:18:28] We can go, oh, I know I need to change God. Show me in the scripture. Show me. I've got to change. Wonderful.
[00:18:34] Nothing's changed.
[00:18:35] You've got a revelation.
[00:18:37] But revelation requires then obedience. And walking that out. Acts 9, 6.
[00:18:44] He's blind, he can't see.
[00:18:47] He doesn't know what to do. And Saul hears God saying, now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.
[00:18:56] Abraham, pack up your family, go to a place.
[00:19:00] I'll show you when you get there.
[00:19:02] Take your son Isaac, the one you love. I'm going to go sacrifice him on a mountain that I'll show you when you get there.
[00:19:09] How many people would like the full maps and direction and how long it's going to take to get there? Can I sign up for that?
[00:19:18] But here's what I know. If God showed me that, I would run the opposite direction.
[00:19:27] If everything that this has been for our family, if I kind of knew, I probably would have stayed in New Zealand.
[00:19:39] But I'm so thankful that I have a family and a wife who is prepared to change at the cost for you, for us to be here, to do what we're doing, to join this adventure.
[00:19:57] What is God going to do in this next season if we would take our revelation to a place of obedience?
[00:20:06] Revelation alone isn't transformation.
[00:20:09] Saul had to obey, and he did. And he allowed God and others to lead him to a place. Now there's another miracle that's intersected, and we won't get deep into it today. But Ananias, in the meantime, he's about to have his life interrupted a little bit because he has this vision and says, go to Straight street and go see this guy Saul, who's been killing all the Christians, of which Ananias was one of them, probably knew someone Saul had murdered or imprisoned.
[00:20:39] And he says, I want you to go help him. No, would be my response, not a chance.
[00:20:45] I don't want to do that.
[00:20:47] But praise the Lord for Ananias, who was prepared to be interrupted because Ananias being interrupted meant that he was able to deliver this message and pray for Saul, who became Paul, who released all of the teaching that we so wonderfully receive and accept into our lives. The apostle for the nations.
[00:21:09] Change isn't complete when God speaks. It's complete when we submit and we obey and we walk it out.
[00:21:16] Revelation without obedience can become pride.
[00:21:20] We can't step into God's future while we're holding on to our past.
[00:21:25] If you did the trapeze going from one to the next, there's a point where you have to let go and you're flying through the air and you're hoping that you'll catch the next trapeze.
[00:21:37] A little bit of training will be helpful as well, and a safety net.
[00:21:42] But when we know that God has His plans for his people that are good, to prosper us and not to harm us.
[00:21:51] Come on, let's jump on that trapeze.
[00:21:54] Let's just launch into what God has for us and embrace the change before we have to, because God's going to do what he wants to do.
[00:22:03] Why don't we all come on it together?
[00:22:06] Why don't we not just kind of drag our heels, but let's go forward into all God's got for us?
[00:22:14] The challenges are the areas where we've had revelation, but we haven't stepped out in obedience.
[00:22:20] Here's my challenge to us.
[00:22:22] Just do it.
[00:22:24] Come on. Yeah, like the prophet Nike. Just do it. Just do it.
[00:22:31] Yeah, but.
[00:22:33] Well, you know what? You will come around that mountain when the Holy Spirit nudges you again and again.
[00:22:39] And he's kind and he's gentle, and he truly is, but he won't let up. If that's his will and his plan and his purpose for your life, he will keep remind. And as I'm speaking some of you, your heart is going, oh, here it is again.
[00:22:55] That same thing that keeps getting brought up. I'm not bringing anything up. All right?
[00:23:01] The Holy Spirit is nudging something in you. I call it the God nudge.
[00:23:06] And the longer you walk with God, the more aware you know that it's God. You can't deny it. It wasn't the pizza from last night. This is God, and He's speaking to you, and you know it. And just say, yes, Lord, I submit and I surrender. Let my revelation become obedience.
[00:23:23] And the last thing.
[00:23:26] Well, actually, here's the first thing I need some of us to do.
[00:23:30] God's will for your life is found in these nine revelationary words.
[00:23:37] Do the last thing God told you to do.
[00:23:44] For some of us, you're 30 times, 40 times, 50 times around the mountain, and God's saying it'll be there when you come back around again.
[00:23:55] Will you forgive? Will you release? Will you let go?
[00:24:00] Forgiving someone I believe forgiveness is always one of the highest things that people are dealing with.
[00:24:07] When we forgive someone, it is not saying that what that person did was right or justify what they did.
[00:24:14] When I forgive, I release the judgment I have on them, and I give that over to God. I allow God to take full responsibility for taking care of them and their actions. What forgiveness does is it releases them from prison where I've put them, and releases me from that prison.
[00:24:39] Read the story of the unmerciful servant and get a revelation there of the fact that those two were probably inmates because they both ended up in the same jail.
[00:24:54] God wants to set you free. I encourage you. Let that revelation become obedience.
[00:24:59] And lastly, as the team come, and we're going to finish with a song this morning.
[00:25:04] Change leads to purpose that outlives us.
[00:25:09] Change leads to purpose that outlives us.
[00:25:13] Acts 9:15.
[00:25:15] God declares, this man is my chosen instrument.
[00:25:21] From a young age, we are egocentric in our nature.
[00:25:26] We think that life revolves around us, and we kind of behave that way. And we can behave that way right through our childhood, our adolescence, and even into our adulthood.
[00:25:39] But there's a moment, I think, when sometimes people get this revelation. Actually, my life is not about me, but it's about the people that I'm going to lead and I'm going to serve and those that will follow after me.
[00:25:54] I'm not building something for myself.
[00:25:57] Everything that we have gained and earned and saved and invested, when I die, it's gone.
[00:26:06] It's not gone.
[00:26:08] I'm investing it into the future generations that come after me. For my own children, for my children's children. The Bible says a wise man stores up an inheritance for his children's children.
[00:26:20] Who are those that will follow until the Lord returns?
[00:26:23] I want to make sure that they're resourced.
[00:26:26] So that means that my life and my faith, it doesn't exist for myself, my experiences and what God teaches me and how I grow and how I change. And those decisions that I make are for those that God will allow me to be in their world.
[00:26:44] Saul the persecutor becomes Paul the Apostle, church planter, missionary, author of Two Thirds of the New Testament.
[00:26:58] And Paul discovers that God doesn't just change you to make you nicer or a better person.
[00:27:04] He changes you to make you useful for the sake of his kingdom.
[00:27:11] What would it look like in the months ahead if there was an alignment of vision as a church walking in the direction that God's called us to?
[00:27:30] Each armed with the grace and the gift upon your life.
[00:27:35] As we're walking together, we're walking knowing we've got a couple of people in touching distance that we're doing the journey with.
[00:27:45] You know, there was a word and a couple of people felt it this morning that God wanted to minister to those who are lonely.
[00:27:53] Can I. Can I encourage us that if you're lonely, go make a friend, because some of us have created that loneliness also where we have said, this is who I am.
[00:28:12] I'm a person who is lonely and no one wants to know me.
[00:28:17] Can I encourage you?
[00:28:19] Be brave, courageous, Go and talk to someone, introduce yourself, take a chance, and there's a chance that someone might reject you.
[00:28:32] But I know this church and I know the love and the heart of this church. And if you were bold enough to go up and say hello to somebody, it doesn't quite land on the first one. Try another. Because I promise you it won't take long before you find somebody who you go, wow, I could have a friendship here.
[00:28:50] I could pray with this person. This person could encourage me and church would. We have our eyes open because everything's going to look and feel a little bit different for the next few weeks.
[00:29:00] So you might not be sitting in proximity with people that you have before, but around you now are new friends, people who could be, for whatever reason, you've sat where you sat today.
[00:29:13] Let's not assume that that's a coincidence.
[00:29:16] Maybe God has placed you right beside somebody or in the vicinity of somebody that just needs to hear your voice, bring a blessing and love to them.
[00:29:26] God's call on our life is always on the other side of change.
[00:29:31] Imagine if Saul had refused to change now, the gospel would have prevailed. Nothing stopping it till the whole world knows the gospel will be preached.
[00:29:46] But here's my thought, God, if it could be me, I don't want to miss that opportunity.
[00:29:53] I don't want a single one of us to miss the opportunity to be a part of preaching. The goodest news you could ever hear.
[00:30:01] All the English teachers shudder.
[00:30:04] The the goodest news you'll ever hear.
[00:30:10] Your change may unlock someone else's freedom.
[00:30:13] Your change today could be the unlocking of someone else's freedom.
[00:30:20] What purpose is waiting on the other side of your obedience? If you resist change, you'll delay your calling.
[00:30:28] God will give you another chance. But why wait?
[00:30:31] Why wait? If today is the day and your heart is beating going I know God, I've resisted the change too many times.
[00:30:40] As we sing this song to close, would you please get up out of your seat, Come and lift your hands before God and say God, I will not resist that change anymore.
