Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Is God good?
[00:00:04] Oh, come on. He's better than that. Is God good?
[00:00:10] You know, you might think it's not really important whether you cheer or not at that moment, but if there's someone sitting next to you who's not sure if God is good, and they're using your reaction to measure whether they. Whether he's good or not, they may not be very impressed with God. So is God good?
[00:00:28] Good?
[00:00:30] Well, if you try and slice me open and try to find out what the passion of my ministry and my call is, it's simply this. I want people to know that they have everything they need within their lives to do extraordinary things for God.
[00:00:49] So I don't believe that those of us that get to serve on platforms are the people who do the ministry. I believe that we are here to. To help empower you to do works of ministry. And I believe that the whole purpose of church is that we're a worshiping community, we're a loving community, we're a caring community, and we're a mobilized community. And in these next few moments, and I know it's super warm, and I'm going to be briefer than normal. So I'm only going to preach an hour this morning. So you're going to be okay that this morning I'm going to give you a real simple tool that if you can apply this in your life, you will be able to step more into the things of God than you've stepped into before.
[00:01:36] Is that deal?
[00:01:38] Are you ready for that?
[00:01:40] Okay. I need your imagination, because I want you to imagine it's early morning, and you come down the stairs in your quiet home, and you walk towards the kitchen and you fill the kettle with water.
[00:01:59] And while the kettle is boiling, you go to your cupboard and you take out a tea bag.
[00:02:06] And then you go into another cupboard and you pull out your favorite cup, and you drop the tea bag into your cup, and you wait for the click of a kettle.
[00:02:14] And then you pour the water from the boiled kettle into the cup and. And the magic begins to happen.
[00:02:25] The water begins to fuse with the contents of the tea bag.
[00:02:32] And the longer you leave it there, the more the flavors begin to infuse throughout that water until it changes color. It literally transforms in front of your eyes from right there that morning in the kitchen. It's like one of the first miracles of the day.
[00:02:55] It's no wonder that every problem in life is fixed with a cup of tea.
[00:03:00] I know that I Wimbledon this afternoon in the final between sets, they'll pull out their teapot and they'll pour their cups of tea, the players. That is because it fixes everything.
[00:03:11] You know, our problems in life. We often say, hey, let me put the kettle on, fixes it all.
[00:03:18] But you know, the wonderful thing about this picture is that it's a metaphor for a verse that I'm about to read to you.
[00:03:29] And the verse is Colossians 3:16.
[00:03:33] And it says these words, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
[00:03:44] In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
[00:03:57] I'm not going to get chance to unpack all of this verse with you, but I want to look at the first few words.
[00:04:04] It says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
[00:04:11] Now, just in case my painting of a picture in your mind was inadequate, I am going to illustrate anything could go wrong.
[00:04:24] Maybe you thought Mike was just being very kind and ensuring that I wasn't going to go thirsty.
[00:04:32] So this is hot, hot water.
[00:04:38] It's going to take a while.
[00:04:45] It's going to take a while.
[00:04:53] It's going to take a while long.
[00:05:01] I think you can see enough water in there. And then the magic, the wonder.
[00:05:12] Just watch this.
[00:05:33] It's seven for those of you didn't count.
[00:05:36] It's a righteous number, seven.
[00:05:40] I'm a bit concerned that we found duff teabags, but. Ah, there you are.
[00:05:50] I know you all know how to do well, most of you know how to do this.
[00:05:57] If you're a teenager, you just assume, you give your orders and someone does this. But do you know one of the amazing things about this? First of all, I don't know if you ever tried to make tea with cold water. It doesn't really work.
[00:06:13] It needs some heat. It needs to find heat in its reception of the water.
[00:06:19] But I don't know if you see that the longer the bag is in the water, the more the taste and the flavors infuse and change the water. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I can't actually separate those now.
[00:06:36] There is no way I could change my mind and say, let's take the tea bags out quick and let's take this back to pure water. They are. The water is now changed, it's infused, it will never be clear water again.
[00:06:53] It's forever impacted by that. And the longer those bags dwell in the water, the more it changes. Do you know this is a picture of what being a follower of Jesus is, that we have been given the Word of God, the Word of Christ, not to read, although reading is an important part of it. Or not just to listen to, although that's an important part of it. But for the Word of God to dwell in us.
[00:07:33] And the more it dwells, the longer it dwells, the more it changes us.
[00:07:40] You see, being a good follower of Jesus is not about you and I trying to decide to be better people.
[00:07:48] It's not that we read like a code of conduct, and suddenly, as Christians, we become better humans in society. The purpose of following Jesus is that he purifies the water of our life, and then he gives us his Word and his spirit to live within us, to change us.
[00:08:10] But the Word has to be applied.
[00:08:14] It has to dwell.
[00:08:17] It has to connect to the reception of a warm heart.
[00:08:24] And if that doesn't happen, then these just sit on the shelf and we don't find the transformation taking place in our lives.
[00:08:36] Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
[00:08:42] Someone sent us a hamper recently, and in the hamper it had a box of tea bags from Betty's Tea Room in Harrogate.
[00:08:52] These tea bags would have cost a bit of money, I'm sure, because these are prime tea bags.
[00:08:59] There's quality to them. There's no costs there that have been scrimped. It's quality content. The Word of God, I guarantee you, is quality. It has the ability to change any life.
[00:09:15] I keep traveling around the country and around the world, and I keep meeting people whose lives have been transformed by the infusion of God's Word in their heart.
[00:09:27] He's changed lives.
[00:09:31] There are people all over this room whose lives have been impacted by the Gospel. That's why many of us stood on beaches yesterday, because we are not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God unto salvation.
[00:09:47] And there are millions and millions of people across the globe that are discovering that Jesus is transformative and he is able to do incredible things in our life when he is applied.
[00:10:03] And the longer the Word of God brews in us.
[00:10:08] Another way you could have said these verses is, let the Word of Christ brew in you.
[00:10:14] Let it permeate, Let it sit within you, let it stir within you. Let it be something that's the meditation of your heart.
[00:10:23] Something remarkable happens.
[00:10:28] I love when I hear stories of people that have applied a promise of God in their life that is contrary to the circumstances and the needs of their life at that time.
[00:10:41] I love when people take the Word of God and they apply it into their life and they pray it through to completion.
[00:10:50] They grab a hold of one of those special brews of God and they keep holding on. They allow it to stir within their spirit until they see the reality of that permeating and change in their circumstances.
[00:11:07] I'm sure there are testimonies in this room of people who have experienced that. There have been many times in my life when the word of God has come through as a promise revealed. But it didn't look like it was that in the beginning. We had to infuse it into warm hearts in our lives, into in order for it to become part of our understanding and our transformative experience.
[00:11:31] It's meant to dwell in us richly and this is the simple thing that we're about to do.
[00:11:39] And now you could easily walk away from this and get nothing from this.
[00:11:46] But I'm gonna set you just a moment of some practical work and I'm gonna set you some homework. You don't have to do it. You won't fail if you don't do it. You're not going to be refused entry next week if you haven't done this.
[00:12:02] But I am going to give you seven tea bags and I'm going to invite you to get these seven teabags brewing in warm hearts in your life. They're not tea bags, they're scriptures.
[00:12:17] I'm going to invite you to do something that years ago used to be a regular part of following Jesus.
[00:12:27] In fact, today, often the only part of the church that does what we're about to do is the kids work.
[00:12:37] And that is we're going to memorize some scripture together.
[00:12:42] I don't know when the last time you memorized scripture.
[00:12:45] I said you're not going to be refused entry next week if you fail this prayer, but you are going to be refused exit today unless you do this.
[00:12:53] Joking.
[00:12:55] So I've got seven scriptures for you and there's a URL that we've got on the screen. I believe if you go to rediscoverchurch.com dwell you will see seven scriptures. We're going to put them on the big screen as well. But you can access this URL anytime from your phone or from your laptop or your TV tablets. And you can access these seven scriptures. And I encourage you to maybe screen grab them on your phones, to maybe copy them into notes, to maybe print them out and put them around your home. And I want to encourage you this week to memorize or begin to memorize these scriptures and over the next few weeks to see if you can remember all seven. I'm not going to Put a time on that. Some of you will do that in the next few days. Others, it'll take weeks for you to do this. But it's amazing when you remember scripture in your life. It's like you allow it to permeate in the warmth of your heart. And God begins to brew his transformation in us, not just because we've remembered, but because when we've remembered, no one can take that away. And. And it begins to dwell in us richly.
[00:14:14] It dwells within our lives. There's so many situations that I remember. A few months ago, I was facing a very challenging situation. And I didn't. If I'm honest, I didn't have the answer in terms of how I was going to resolve this. And I was feeling a little vulnerable as a result of that. And I felt the Lord begin to give me some scriptures that I'd remembered about him being my shield I and my protector, and about him being my wisdom. And these verses kept going around. It was like I dropped the teabag of the Word of God in my life. And suddenly the clear water became infused with faith and infused with hope. Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
[00:14:57] All too often we're trying to build faith by hearing stories or by being in atmospheres. And the Bible doesn't say that, but faith is built by atmosphere. It says, faith is built by the Word of God.
[00:15:11] Now, I thank God that when there's a room full of people full of faith, it transforms an atmosphere. But if you are living off that atmosphere, your faith is shallow because God is calling his people to be full of His Word. Let the Word of God dwell in you.
[00:15:32] Let the Word of God dwell in you.
[00:15:35] See, you're almost remembering a few lines of a verse already.
[00:15:41] So let's look at these seven verses together.
[00:15:45] I love this verse from Psalm 139, and it says these words, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
[00:15:57] Your works are wonderful, and I know that full well.
[00:16:03] If you're feeling like you don't know that you have any worth or value, if you don't know that God has made you for a purpose, if you don't think you're as loved as the next person, get this teabag in your life and allow it to brew within you.
[00:16:22] Let the Word of God dwell in you richly.
[00:16:25] Thank God you can talk to counselors. Thank God you can go to your small groups and receive prayer. Thank God you can receive encouragement in this environment. But it's the Word of God that transforms Us.
[00:16:38] And when you get this in your spirit and suddenly God brings it back to your remembrance.
[00:16:46] I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Is anybody fearfully and wonderfully made here this morning?
[00:16:53] Anybody know that God has made you uniquely? God has made you in his image. He has put his nature within you. Anybody know that if God is for you, then no one can be against you? How many of you know that God has put his life and his joy and his image and he stamped it upon your life?
[00:17:14] How many of you know you weren't an afterthought?
[00:17:17] You weren't just a mistake.
[00:17:20] Your parents may have not planned you, but you were not a mistake.
[00:17:25] Others might have told you that you're not loved, but you're not a mistake because you have been fearfully and wonderfully made.
[00:17:35] And I tell you, if you feel low on your self image, let this verse drop into the warmth of your heart and let it do its magic in you.
[00:17:48] So I wonder, could you learn that verse?
[00:17:51] I wonder whether you could learn this next verse.
[00:17:54] James, chapter one, verses two to three.
[00:18:00] Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
[00:18:09] Because you know that that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
[00:18:17] There are other Scriptures. Romans 5 says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of glory of God, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character. And character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his hope in our hearts by His Holy Spirit. You see, when the Word of God is in you, you don't need a phone or a scripture. It's in you and it can permeate and transform you. I believe everyone in this room can be transformed by the Word of God.
[00:19:00] So consider it pure joy.
[00:19:02] You see, when you're facing a trial and a difficulty, when you are going through difficult days, when you're facing that challenge at work or that challenge in your family, and this scripture comes to mind, consider it pure joy.
[00:19:18] When you face trials of many kinds, suddenly the Word of God begins to drop into the warmth of your heart and it begins to change your outlook and your perspective.
[00:19:32] That's when you become kingdom people.
[00:19:35] Look, another verse together. Ephesians 4, verse 32.
[00:19:41] Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ Jesus forgave you.
[00:19:54] When you're faced with an offence and someone has really hurt you.
[00:20:00] And that happens in every sphere of life where there are people, including church.
[00:20:07] And when someone has offended you, they've let you down, they've disappointed you, maybe even intentionally hurt you.
[00:20:17] To know a scripture that tells you the kingdom response, it's like God's Word dropping into our hearts and bringing around the potential of transformation. Be kind and compassionate to one another.
[00:20:43] I see lots of conflict in church.
[00:20:47] I see lots of people who fall out and they've got their ideas how to fix it, but there's no idea like God's idea.
[00:21:00] Be kind and compassionate.
[00:21:04] And when you allow that to sit within you, that's the word of God dwelling in you richly.
[00:21:12] And it provokes your feelings, it challenges your desires, it stretches your capacity.
[00:21:22] And suddenly you see the water change in color in your life.
[00:21:26] And the grace of the Lord flows.
[00:21:30] It flows through the power of his word.
[00:21:33] Colossians 3:23 says this.
[00:21:39] Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
[00:21:48] If I was to ask for a show of hands as to who's got a really bad boss at work, I won't do that. Just in case they're watching on Livestream this week, it would be slightly awkward.
[00:22:00] But the chances are at some point in your life you will have a boss. You will have an employer that will feel onerous to you.
[00:22:09] And the scripture doesn't tell you to stop giving it your best because your boss is a pain in the neck.
[00:22:17] The scripture tells you that you work your best, but do it for the Lord, and that's your worship.
[00:22:26] Some people say, how can I work on the tills in a supermarket? Well, there's not many of those jobs left, is there? How can I work in a factory? How can I work in an office? That how can I work in any environment?
[00:22:39] And that be as worship to the Lord. This is it that you do everything unto him like he's watching.
[00:22:55] Christians should be the best employees in the country, because people might, when the boss is not looking, might slacken.
[00:23:07] But Christians know that their true boss is always watching, and therefore we continue our work ethic.
[00:23:17] What about Galatians 2:20?
[00:23:20] It says, I have been there are seven of these, by the way, we're going to get to all seven.
[00:23:24] It says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me.
[00:23:33] The life I now live in the body.
[00:23:36] I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
[00:23:45] Just the mystery of that, that Christ himself, who could have stayed distant, he could have stayed aloof, but he has come among us, given Himself for us, and now the life we now live is by faith because he lives his life through us.
[00:24:06] Get that into your spirit and allow that to brew and allow it to pour out of you. Allow it to be applied into every context of your life.
[00:24:18] Just two more.
[00:24:20] Ephesians 2, 8:9 says, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
[00:24:39] Someone in this room is probably the most holy, most righteous, the sharpest Christian, the most super spiritual.
[00:24:54] I wonder if anybody would like to volunteer themselves.
[00:24:59] I'm sure there'd be more volunteers the other side, wouldn't there?
[00:25:02] So someone in this room is the worst Christian in rediscover and you'd be sat there thinking, oh, I hope he doesn't point me out.
[00:25:09] It's me.
[00:25:13] I love this verse.
[00:25:15] It tells us that none of us can make any of those claims to our own works.
[00:25:21] It's entirely by grace.
[00:25:24] It levels the playing field for us all.
[00:25:29] And that's why anything that sort of super spiritualizes others, to then make you feel less spiritual is not God's way.
[00:25:43] That's why if you cut me open and you see the emphasis of my ministry is always to try to release and empower and equip and mobilize. Because I don't believe that I am any more spiritual than you.
[00:25:58] I don't believe that I have any more merit to come before the presence of God than you do.
[00:26:05] I don't believe I have access to a greater level of authority in the Lord than you do.
[00:26:12] But the question is, have we still got the tea bags in the box or are they applied into our lives?
[00:26:21] Because if you apply them.
[00:26:23] Who wants to be a strong brew for Jesus?
[00:26:27] Come on. Who wants to be a strong brew for Jesus?
[00:26:31] I don't think that's a question I've ever asked before.
[00:26:34] I don't think it's probably a question I'll ever ask again. So it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Who wants to be a strong brew for Jesus?
[00:26:44] Well, you're going to have to do more than soak up the atmosphere at church.
[00:26:50] You're going to have to get this in your life.
[00:26:54] You have to keep taking the word of God daily and let his presence and power do the work.
[00:27:05] And finally, the final verse, Isaiah 40, verse 31.
[00:27:10] But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
[00:27:15] They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.
[00:27:25] This verse has regularly in my life been a scripture that when I feel like I am maybe tiring from the journey now. There are some sensible things we need to do at times in our life. For example, if you've gone all year and you've not taken a break from your work, you need to be sensible. If you ignore the Sabbath in your life, you need to be sensible.
[00:27:49] These are good principles. God given rhythms in fact commands, in fact one of the 10 about taking a day and making it holy as unto the Lord. So rhythms of break are really good in our life. So this scripture can't be claimed if you are not listening to the other parts of God's counsel.
[00:28:13] But there have been times in my life I take a day off, I. I try to make a day holy as unto the Lord, I try to serve him, but I feel tired and I think I'm not sure I can make it. I'm not sure I can do it. And this verse has been a promise that I've not just said or someone speak that over me, but it's a promise that I receive and I say, God, you say in your word, you promise in your word you promised and said that if I will wait upon you, then I will run and not grow weary, I will walk and not faint, that I'm going to soar on wings like eagles.
[00:28:55] That's the promise that you've given, O God. And I'm claiming that promise. You see, when I do that, claiming I'm applying, I'm making sure my heart is hot and receptive to the word of God.
[00:29:12] Church. This is it this morning.
[00:29:16] Seven teabags for your week ahead.
[00:29:21] I wonder whether you could simply make a commitment that you are going to do everything you can to memorize those and to get those into your life this week.
[00:29:36] If you want to get them on audio and have them repeated over you, if you want to write them down in multiple places, however you want to do it. There is no template about how, but there is a promise of when we do it, God's word begins to come alive.
[00:29:55] And I believe that you will notice such a difference in your life by, by applying the scriptures that you will begin to get a hunger for more of God's Word in your life because you are noticing the way that it's brewing, its strength and its power within you.
[00:30:15] And when the church becomes a people who are of the Spirit and of The Word.
[00:30:20] That's when we prepare ourselves for a move of God.
[00:30:25] See, we don't want to just plant lots of churches, to have lots of congregations, to have lots of spectators of people turning up just to pick up more atmospheres. We want more churches, to see more armies rise up. We want to go into more communities, see more of the word of God, brood in more people's lives so that more people are transformed and changed. We don't want to just create systems. We want to create people who know who they are in God.
[00:30:53] Women and men and young people and children and people who are well seasoned in life, maybe even those who have listened to the counsel of the world for years. Because there are some tastes that when God's word gets in us, it clashes with some of the tastes that already are in our cup.
[00:31:12] And at those times, you've got to throw away the old brew.
[00:31:16] You've got to throw away the old drink that you've been drinking from the wells of the wisdom of the world and begin to choose a new brew, a new cup in your life. The wisdoms of God, they won't mix.
[00:31:30] They create a concoction that's an ugly cocktail to drink off.
[00:31:35] That's why you know, when the scripture talks about you're neither hot nor cold, I'm the spear out of my mouth. It's that sense of like you're compromising, you're sitting on the fence and there's splinters in your backside. You know there's something going on that's not good.
[00:31:51] The cocktail of the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God doesn't mix.
[00:31:58] We have to decide where our wisdom comes from.
[00:32:03] And I believe, as I look around this room, women, men, young, old, I believe that the Lord wants his word to dwell in you richly.
[00:32:19] Some of you now are thinking about the last time you memorized a scripture verse was back in Sunday school days.
[00:32:26] Some of you might remember more scriptures than you think. Maybe some of the songs that we sing are songs that have been generated from some scriptures. Although I have to say there are probably less songs being written these days that are scripture oriented. I'm less concerned about the tunes and I'm more concerned about what we have. A society that don't know the word of God. And maybe we need more songs with more scripture in there. But that's a high horse that I won't get on this morning.
[00:32:57] But can I invite you to stand a moment?
[00:33:08] This is an invitation.
[00:33:13] An invitation that is so simple, it almost feels embarrassingly simple to bring as a conclusion to a word.
[00:33:24] And as I was thinking about the simplicity of this, I was thinking of the moment that the instruction to Naaman was given to go and dip in the Jordan seven times.
[00:33:41] And his response was, that's too easy.
[00:33:45] Give me something that's more challenging. In fact, give me nicer water to go in.
[00:33:51] That water's a bit dirty.
[00:33:53] Can I go somewhere else? That's too easy to do. And he almost missed the miracle of his leprosy falling off his skin. He almost missed that because it seemed too simple.
[00:34:07] And as I think about the simplicity of what I've shared with you today, if this is not applied, it will just be okay, that was interesting. But if this is applied and you can find a way of getting the Word of God to dwell in you richly, I believe that you can see great fruit this week.
[00:34:26] So there's that. URL. Rediscoverchurch.com dwell and I pray that however you try to memorize these scriptures that you will see transformation taking place.
[00:34:45] That we'll never be separated again.
[00:34:48] The wisdom of God and His Word will forever stain your life with his power.
[00:34:57] Pray together I'm not going to ask for a hand raise, but I am going to ask those who'd like to make a an expressed desire for the Word of God to dwell in them richly.
[00:35:29] I'm going to ask them to repeat after me an adaption of this verse from Colossians 3 that simply says I am going to let the Word of Christ dwell in me richly.
[00:35:52] So if you're making this as a promise before God, as an expression of your best attempts, an expression about maybe reorienting something of your day in order to try to engage with this with your best intentions, then would you say these words after me?
[00:36:12] I.
[00:36:14] I'm going to let the Word of Christ dwell in me richly.
[00:36:24] Let's say that again. I am going to let the Word of Christ dwell in me richly.
[00:36:36] Holy Spirit, come and illuminate our understanding of the power of your Word.
[00:36:44] And I pray Lord, that an army will rise up with a two edged sword in his hand.
[00:36:50] And I pray God that you will give us hunger for your Word.
[00:36:56] I pray Lord, that we won't just be content with the online resources, but we will seek to get the Word off the shelves, off the Internet and into our hearts in Jesus name.
