Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] But this morning, we are going to go into the Old Testament. If you've got your Bible with you. Anyone still carry the paper Bible around? Come on, give us a wave.
[00:00:12] Love it. How many people prefer the digital version?
[00:00:16] Give it a wave. You know, both versions work. One's not better than the other. As long as you've got the word of God getting into you, that's what matters. And some people, like Roger, have both. So well done. Brilliant.
[00:00:30] This morning we're going to be looking at a man called Jonathan, a faithful friend of David. A man that could have been king, but he chose to serve and support David because he saw something bigger than himself.
[00:00:46] I pray that we would learn from the courage and the selfish, selfless heart. Not the self. The selfless heart of Jonathan. We're going to look in 1 Samuel, chapter 14. You'll find that just before 2nd Samuel. You're welcome. Always here to help.
[00:01:03] 1 Samuel 14, 1 15. Let's read these verses together. One day, Jonathan, son of Saul, said to his young armor bearer, we don't get his name. What should we call him? Bob? Frank? George? Anyway, we don't know his name. A young armor bearer. Come, let us go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side. But he did not tell his father. Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about 600 men, among whom were Ahijah, who was wearing Ephod. He was the son of Ichabod's brother, Ahitab, son of Phineas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left. On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff. One was called Bozes and the other Seni. One cliff stood north toward Michmash, the other the south towards Geber. Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. Do all that you have in mind. His armor bearer said, go ahead. I am with you heart and soul. Jonathan said, come on. Then we will cross over toward them and let them see us. If they say to us, wait there until we come to you, we will stay where you are and not go up to them. But if they say, come up to us, we will climb up. Because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands. Can we just stop there for a minute? Because I don't think that that's really a real sign.
[00:02:46] I think Jonathan was just up for a fight.
[00:02:49] If they call you up, of course they're going to call them up. They're not going to go down to them, are they? And Jonathan's like, yes, the Lord has given us a sign. Anyway, let's carry on. I find that very fascinating.
[00:03:03] So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost.
[00:03:08] Look, said the Philistines, the Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in. The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor bearer, come up to us and we will teach you a lesson. So Jonathan said to his armor bearer, climb up after me. The Lord has given them into the hand of Israel. Jonathan climbed up using his hands and feet with his armor bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer followed and killed behind him. In that first attack, Jonathan and his armor bearer killed some 20 men in an of about half an acre. Then panic struck the whole army. Those in the camp and field and those in the outposts and raiding parties. And listen to this. And the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.
[00:03:53] Let's pray as we look at this word together today. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. The lamp to our feet, the light to our path. Father, we thank you for the example of Jonathan and his armor bearer who so faithfully serving your purposes, show great courage and strength and stepped out in faith. God, I pray we would learn from their example. And Lord, wherever we find ourselves in our home situation, whether it be in our business, whether it be in our schools, whether it be in university, wherever it is we are living life and experiencing you, God, I pray we would step out and faith with the courage of Jonathan. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:04:40] Today I want to encourage us with a message I want to call Front foot Faith. Front foot faith. How many athletes do we have in the house? We've got some amazing athletes, actually, we've even got some professional athletes here in this place. But I've played football all of my life. It's the round ball football, just in case anyone's wondering.
[00:05:01] And one of the things I would always hear and then when I began coaching, one thing I would always begin to say is stay on your toes. Be on your front foot. Dears. My friend, come.
[00:05:14] Yeah, come, come.
[00:05:17] All right.
[00:05:18] When you're looking for a fine specimen of sporting talent and ability, look no further than this guy.
[00:05:31] This all right. I want you to do a little something for me. I want you to stand. Yep. And I want you to just kind of rock back on your heels. Just. Yeah. Just kind of be on the back foot. All right.
[00:05:43] All right. Okay. All right. Now just lean forward a little. Just be on that front foot.
[00:05:51] Oh.
[00:05:52] Can't knock this rock over. Oh. All right. Thank you. That's all I needed just for now, but Amazing. Let's give it up for des. What A man on the back foot. A little touch, and he was over on the front foot, leaning in. He wasn't going anywhere. And when you think about it, when you look at so many examples in the bible, we see steps of faith, we see action that takes place. And we're gonna look at three areas around this area of front foot faith that I believe. We can be encouraged, we can be challenged, and I hope that we will be able to step out in these areas tomorrow.
[00:06:34] We gather here on a Sunday. Sometimes I think of Sunday as almost like the locker room where you come together, you hear a bit of a message, maybe you get some refreshments, you get your next assignment to go back out again. This isn't it. This isn't why we exist, to come and meet here on a Sunday. We come here on a Sunday so that we can go out and we can be in a influence. We can be a part of the kingdom and business and our schools and our homes. We love this. This is so important. But this isn't why we exist. We exist to go out, to be a part of what God is doing in the kingdom. So I've got three thoughts this morning.
[00:07:13] The first one is that action precedes breakthrough. Action precedes breakthrough. When you look through the bible, you think of the story of the walls of Jericho. God told the people to march around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they had to march around seven times. There was action that was required. Then the walls came down, and an incredible victory took place.
[00:07:39] What about when the levites had to step into the Jordan river?
[00:07:44] They didn't just step in and wait for the water to stop. They went in and they. They say that they probably would have got up at least waist high into this flooded river that then banked up once they'd taken the step.
[00:07:59] Jesus says to Peter, come to me, Peter.
[00:08:03] Out on the stormy waves. And Peter had to step in order to see that miracle take place.
[00:08:11] Now we've got to Remember there are 11 other disciples still in the boat.
[00:08:17] But he stepped.
[00:08:19] Action precedes. Breakthrough. Jonathan I love. He's a decisive, some might even say slightly impulsive leader who just went after. He was. He was ready to go at any notice. Verse 1. Let's just read it again. One day Jonathan, son of Saul, said to his young armor bearer, come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side. But he did not tell his father. Now, just a little word of advice. This is not encouragement for young people to not tell your father or your mother where you're going. The Bible says very clearly that we are to obey our parents, we are to honor them.
[00:08:55] But in this instance, I wonder if Jonathan knew that his father would say no, his father would say no. And maybe he operated out of the principle of better to ask forgiveness than permission, which also is not in the Bible, just in case you're wondering, and I'm not necessarily advising that. But for whatever reason, Jonathan carried something in his heart and he stepped out without his father's knowledge. Verse 2 and 3 describes how Saul and his notable warriors, some of them were named. One of them was wearing Ephod. I thought that was interesting that that was added in the mix.
[00:09:37] And they were sitting under a pomegranate tree. And it says, no one was aware that Jonathan had left.
[00:09:43] So even though he was the son of the king, his significance within that group wasn't enough that he would disappear. I think if Saul had have gone, everyone would have gone, oh, I wonder where Saul is. But Jonathan was gone, and no one really noticed that he was gone.
[00:09:59] Verse 4. On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff. One was called Bozez and the other Seneh. One cliff stood to the north towards Michmash, the other towards the south in Gebah. Now, it's important to note that when we read names in the Bible, whether place names or people's names, they hold significance.
[00:10:22] It matters. And I think in some cultures, names don't matter as much as others. Some, when a name is given, there is a significant background and understanding of what that name means. Some people just choose a cool and a popular name and they call their child that. But many are very thoughtful in the names that they give. And I think names hold incredible value. Now, Bozez in Hebrew means slippery.
[00:10:50] Sina means thorny cliff.
[00:10:53] So Jonathan chooses a path between a slippery cliff and a thorny cliff.
[00:11:02] I find that imagery really interesting, and we could probably unpack that with a whole other sermon. But I love the fact that he wasn't bothered that it was slippery on one side and thorny on the other side. The path in which he had to go, even if it had to go through those difficult places. How many people know that breakthrough is often on the other side of comfort?
[00:11:25] But actually we have to push through discomfort. We have to step out of what's comfortable and what we know. We have to step into an unknown. That is what faith is.
[00:11:35] I've always thought that if it requires faith, we'll probably get to about 80% certainty.
[00:11:44] Because if I could just work it out on my own, if I could do it within my own resources. So let's say I had a thought. Des, I want to take you out for lunch. I'm going to take you to a fine dining restaurant, Burger King.
[00:12:01] Nothing but the best for my friend.
[00:12:04] Is that going to require faith for me to take Des the Burger King? Like it's not that far away. I think we could probably walk.
[00:12:14] It's within my budget. I reckon I could stretch far enough to buy him some Burger King.
[00:12:21] It's not really a faith decision, is it?
[00:12:24] But sometimes the faith decisions that we feel, we sense, we wonder, could it be perhaps God is in it? There's.
[00:12:33] I don't know if it's right. And so what we can do is we can just go back footed on that one. We can step back and go, oh well, maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps not. Rather than perhaps go, we go, perhaps wait.
[00:12:51] And I wonder if that front footed face would say, God, are you asking me to take a step? Are you asking me to step into something that I don't know yet? Are you asking me to step into a place that might feel a little bit uncomfortable?
[00:13:08] Just as a point of interest, how many people are wrestling or considering with what, as I'm describing may feel like a bit of a faith step? Just give a show of hands, right? Have a little look around. There's a bunch of hands raised. Some of you might not even wonder about that.
[00:13:30] But I wonder if we can step forward with faith, believing that breakthrough is coming on the other side.
[00:13:40] I was having a morning cuddle with Zoe, our youngest, and she said, dad, you know how the Bible talks about the wide road leads to. To destruction and the narrow road leads to heaven and to God? She said, would Cathay Lane then become heaven?
[00:14:04] The road to heaven? Now we're staying in a tiny little lane. Or to get there, we've got to go through this little lane. And I don't think it's the smallest lane. We thought it was the smallest lane in England, but it's not. We found another one that's even smaller than that. Amy would probably call it the highway to Hell rather than the highway to Heaven. That was her introduction to UK driving.
[00:14:25] We now have wonderful Devon doors. Okay, anyone else got Devon doors with those BlackBerry bramble scratches that you pull over Now? In New Zealand we have this really unique concept. We thought, why don't we have roads where you can get two cars past each other?
[00:14:43] We went a step further and we added another one for parking on either side.
[00:14:50] Novel. Don't know whether it'll catch on, but sometimes the path to breakthrough. It's that narrow road, isn't it? It's that path that doesn't maybe seem as comfortable or as easy.
[00:15:06] I love this verse 6. Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, come, let us go over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LOR will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. This is the statement I want to focus on today. Perhaps the Lord, perhaps the Lord.
[00:15:27] Would we be curious enough to ask and answer that question? Perhaps the Lord. Because sometimes we can have a perhaps the Lord moment and go, ah, better not. Rather not. Seems too hard, seems a bit too difficult. Perhaps the Lord, with that question, that faith step that you're thinking of, is that in the form of a question at the moment? Perhaps the Lord is wanting to move in this place. Perhaps the Lord is asking me to do this thing.
[00:16:02] Perhaps. Now, some people call it a hunch.
[00:16:06] I like to call it a God nudge. You ever had a little God nudge where you just think maybe this is from God? We're not totally sure.
[00:16:16] But then when we look at it we see, well, maybe God is in this.
[00:16:21] Amy and I had a little perhaps Lord moment back in February.
[00:16:27] We were sitting in a car picked up by Mark from the Exeter train station. We're here, we thought, for a very short visit.
[00:16:35] And he said, it's been an interesting week. I've been nominated for the general Superintendent of the UK movement, Elam movement. And Amy gave me a perhaps the Lord look, which turned into a perhaps the Lord conversation, which then when we found out that Mark had got the job, I wrote my resignation letter and sent it immediately without a formal job offer because perhaps the Lord might be in this.
[00:17:10] Terrifying. Like it was terrifying selling up everything and moving. But on the other side of the perhaps the Lord.
[00:17:19] I hope we're in the right place. It's like well committed now, but that perhaps the Lord, come on, we feel it, sometimes we sense it and we can just write it off because it doesn't quite seem to fit with our comfort zone.
[00:17:34] But God is saying, perhaps the Lord, maybe you need to ask God that question. Perhaps God, you are doing something and I need to be aware of it.
[00:17:45] Here's what I've learned over this journey of faith, asking these perhaps questions, perhaps the Lord questions can take us from sitting under a pomegranate tree to taking a mountain for the Lord.
[00:17:58] Or it might take us from a little place called Whangarei in little old New Zealand on the bottom side of the world. In fact, the map's deflating at the moment and New Zealand's gone. Like it's off the map, like you can't even see it. Do you know, some maps in books, they don't even put New Zealand on the map and they don't even know it's missing. That's the scary part of it. New Zealand disappears and everyone goes, we're fine, we're okay. But who would have thought that a perhaps moment brings us from this little old place in New Zealand over to heaven and Devon in the uk.
[00:18:37] But you know, to walk out God's plans, it's a front foot faith. It's perhaps the Lord is doing this.
[00:18:45] Now, you're going to find this hard to believe, But I believe 90% of our destinies could be unlocked in these next nine words. Are you ready?
[00:18:55] Come on, you better write this down.
[00:18:57] Do the last thing God told you to do. Here we go.
[00:19:05] I dropped the mic, but Rob would kill me.
[00:19:08] Do the last thing God told you to do.
[00:19:12] Now for some that might be something as simple as, and this could be a word of knowledge, but it might just hit home for a lot of us. Go to bed earlier to wake up earlier so you can spend more time with God to hear his voice and then walk out what he asks you to do. Now for some of us it might be slightly harder and it might be we need to forgive somebody and release them for the offence that we've held towards them because that has got us stuck for some. God said you've got to give that gift of your time, of your money or whatever it is to that person and bless them because that's going to unlock something of generosity in your own life.
[00:19:56] Perhaps, perhaps. But come on, what's the last thing God asked you to do? Have you done that?
[00:20:03] And as I'm saying this, you go, I know what it is. It's like Every time it comes back to this God you keep reminding me because he's so kind. He so wants us to step into his best for us. And so he will keep reminding us. Holy Spirit will gently remind us time and time again to keep stepping, to step into that place where the miracles could take place.
[00:20:29] So action precedes breakthrough. The second thing this morning is believe God will do it.
[00:20:35] We put our belief in ourselves and our ability to get something done, but I know how much I fail.
[00:20:45] And sometimes we put our belief in other people to get things done, but they also fail us. We've been singing about a God who does not fail. He is not capable of failing. When he declares something, when he says it to be true, when he says it will happen, it will come through. And we've talked a few weeks ago about the yes, no, and the weight. If you're in the wait, keep stepping.
[00:21:08] It's not a passive wait that's back on the heels. It's a front foot wait with faith, isn't it? Believing that God is still moving, God is still bringing his promise into being.
[00:21:21] But believe God will do it. Perhaps the Lord wants to take me to take a step in my business. Perhaps the Lord wants me to call that person. I can't stop thinking about. Do you ever get that you're just spending time with God or in worship or you're just with him, you're just aware of his presence and then somebody comes to mind? Has anyone ever experienced that before?
[00:21:42] Okay, do you know what that is? That's just a simple nudge from God who wants every human being on this planet to be connected in love through him, to say, hey, reach out and say hi. Reach out and love them. Reach out and encourage them. Prophesy, bring a word that would encourage them. Today, how many people have received a text or an email or a call like that from somebody, hey, just thinking about you. Give us a wave if you've received one of those. How good does that make you feel? How encouraged do you feel when somebody reaches out and says, hey, I was thinking about you and this is what the Lord showed me about you. We've got to be connected in that sense. And I'll come to that a little bit later on.
[00:22:25] Now, is this license for us to do whatever we want and expect God to come through with it? God is not a genie in a bottle. He has a plan and a purpose and understanding it. And walking out that plan is the challenge of faith. Walking in faith. But here's what I like to do. If I'm in one of those perhaps God moments going, is this God, Is this not? Is this more me or is this more God? And we're weighing that up. Here's a filter that I pass these decisions through. Number one, does it honor God and bring him glory?
[00:22:59] If I follow through with this thought or this idea, does it honor God and bring him glory? Secondly, does it bless people? Are people going to be blessed because of this action or whatever I'm asked to do? The third thing, does it line up with God's word?
[00:23:14] Is it in line with what the Bible says to be true?
[00:23:18] And lastly, will it build the kingdom of God?
[00:23:22] Now, if you can get through all of those four things and answer yes to all of those. Now, I'm not saying you that's. I'm not saying that's God's will, but I think you're gonna be about 99% there.
[00:23:35] I think you could take a confident step into one of those spaces, because God is gonna be honored, people are gonna be blessed.
[00:23:44] You know, it's in line with his Word. And God's kingdom is gonna be built and strengthened as a result of it.
[00:23:51] I had the desire to publish a children's book when Rosie was born. I wrote the Rose Princess and the special Gift. And we published with a publishing company that promised the world and didn't really come through with a lot. And we invested a lot of money and we said, we'll never do that again. Never, ever, ever, ever again. But every week I couldn't stop thinking about this book that I was writing in my head, a book called Loving the skin you're in. So for 10 years, probably for 10 years, I wrote the book 10 years ago now, 15 years ago, and I wrote it, but I never went to the publishing point. I've done that. I've tried it, lost money, can't afford to do it again.
[00:24:35] And then it was one of those, perhaps the Lord moments where we just stepped. We said, what have we got? We gotta take a chance, gotta have a chance, gotta go for it. And so we had a perhaps quite a significant, perhaps the Lord moment. And so we said, let's sell our house, let's downsize our mortgage. Let's take out a mortgage that we can afford to lose if this whole thing falls over again, and let's go. And so we did. We. We knew the number we wanted for our house, this back in New Zealand. We knew the number that we would hope for. The agent came to us and said, the number is X amount. And it was only 5,000 off the number that we had hoped for. Now in New Zealand, we kind of start low, they go high and you negotiate from about 100,000 into the middle somewhere. That's how it kind of works. So that was their low offer coming to us. And I went back to the agent, I said, look, the number is 5,000, that's all we need.
[00:25:39] Can you go back? Within a minute they were back on the phone to me. They called the other person. They couldn't believe that they were getting it for that price. But that was the number that God showed us was like great. We didn't go back and try and haggle higher. God, if you're in this, this is the number you said. And so we went, we sold the house. We ended up buying a house for the right price. The woman whose house it was, she'd lost her leg through diabetes and so she could no longer climb the stairs. And the amount that they put out there was the amount they needed and it was the amount that we could afford because we got the amount we got. So again, asking price, we said we will pay that.
[00:26:18] And what God did in the journey after that was absolutely amazing. What I thought was one book has now turned into four books within the series and then another two books as well and we've actually got them here available. The Rose Princess and the special gift. The choice is up to you. This is all about the choices we make. This is the salvation message for children. On every page there's a hidden Bible verse with the Bible narrative this is all about and a salvation prayer at the end. Loving the skin you're in. Don't we have a society in our a challenge in our society for our children to love the skin that they're in.
[00:26:56] Great book on identity. This is a book about purpose. Do what you're born to do. About Rosie the Tui. I bet you'll never guess the inspiration for that one. Wanted to sing in a talent contest but didn't have the courage to do so. Saw all of her friends using their gifts and then finally she has the courage to do what she was born to do. And then we moved from the U. Loving the skin you're in the choice is up to you. Do what you were born to do to the we we can change the world. What happens when we take our gifts and we use them for the glory of God when we join together as a team and we've got these two big books which are great for teachers and there is a teachers resource in there now God has Blessed us so much with this project that here's what I want to do with the books. We're just going to have them available. If you can't afford these books, take them, give them away. All I would ask is that parents, you grab them for your children and make sure that they're not grabbing them just so that you know what's coming into your home as well.
[00:27:56] If you want to give them, if you can grab some of these big books, please take them, give them to the schools. If you are able to help and contribute. My business card is out there with the details. You can do that. But the whole heart of this is we work. We've got 5,000 books that were brought over here. We thought we were going to be moving them in New Zealand. We're not there anymore. So we thought we'd better bring them over here and get them out there. So we would love grab a copy if you don't like them or if you do like them, read them, pass them on. We just want to get them out there. So I'm not very good at sales pitches so I hope that was okay.
[00:28:32] But you know what? This was the perhaps moment. This was our stepping out and God has done some incredible things. The testimonies. I know of at least a dozen children who have read the book, prayed the prayer and give their life to Christ. That's the ones I know of, but yeah. So please grab those. They're just out the door.
[00:28:53] We don't have to fear if God is leading us. That's the heart behind this. We don't have to be afraid. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
[00:29:09] You know, we've got to have faith. We got to believe that God can do it. And then the last thing as the team joined me this morning, we got to fight alongside others.
[00:29:18] You'll hear us talk about this and we will continue to talk about this every week. We will probably mention it at some point.
[00:29:25] The faith journey is not a faith journey we do on our own. It's a journey. We have to have people in our life. We need to have people in our world. We need to have front foot fighters that will walk with us on the journey as well.
[00:29:41] I love that Jonathan was brave and courageous, but I want to meet that armor bearer.
[00:29:49] I love this guy already.
[00:29:51] You know his response when Jonathan says, hey, should we go pick a fight with the Philistines? He says, hey, if God's in it, let's go, let's do it.
[00:30:01] Can I ask you, do you have an armor bearer?
[00:30:04] Do you have somebody that is there that if you said let's go, they'll go with you? Come on, give us a wave if you've got someone in your world like that. See, that's cool. That's amazing. That's amazing.
[00:30:17] I would love in 12 months time that if I was to ask that question again, there'd be 90% of hands raised. Now I realize anytime I ask people to raise their hands, probably 50% of you will never do it because you don't do that. But maybe you can just kind of work with me a little bit more as we, you know, because these are really good surveys for us to look around and see where things are at.
[00:30:42] But I wonder if we could all have an armor bearer or be an armor bearer for someone else.
[00:30:48] I've realized my calling in life is to be an armor bearer.
[00:30:51] That's where I'm. That's where I'm best suited.
[00:30:56] And if I can be that for Mark, that's why we moved.
[00:31:01] That's why we came all the way over here so that we could help Mark and Lisa as they serve the Lord for the kingdom purposes.
[00:31:10] But what if we got somebody who's fighting the battle with us? I love his response. Verse 7. Do all that you have in mind. As arma bearer said, go ahead. I am with you heart and soul. I love that.
[00:31:25] Now this is not a yes man or a yes woman. This is not somebody who will just go ahead with whatever you say.
[00:31:32] Because you know, we need our armor bearers also to be people that will bring wisdom and counsel and sharpen us and help us that journey.
[00:31:41] I'm talking about people who are in your corner. When it gets messy, when it gets hard, they're not running, they're running towards you. When they hear you're on the ground and you are a mess and you've got nothing left to give, they are the first person at your door to pick you up, give you a hug and say, let's go again, let's step again.
[00:32:08] We gotta fight alongside others. We have to have others in our world with us. Who is going to battle with you. I Love this. Proverbs 18:24. One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin. But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
[00:32:27] Jonathan had a friend who stuck closer than a brother.
[00:32:31] Now just remember, Jonathan could have been king.
[00:32:35] His future could have been king.
[00:32:39] His father is Hell bent on trying to kill David, who would succeed him. Yet Jonathan could have been king.
[00:32:49] Jonathan says, david, I will serve you. I will faithfully serve you.
[00:32:56] Jonathan had a young man that says, I will serve you. I will faithfully serve you.
[00:33:03] Come on, what does it look like when we have those people in our life? What would it look like?
[00:33:10] You know, I was.
[00:33:12] When I was talking with our pastor before he left, he said, mike, look for the special source and rediscover.
[00:33:20] Look for the special source.
[00:33:25] What do you mean by that? Every church is different. Every church carries something.
[00:33:30] There's something unique in its DNA.
[00:33:33] And so I've been looking for the secret source and rediscover, trying to work out what it is.
[00:33:39] And I think there's three things, if I'm really honest, three things that have really stood out to me.
[00:33:45] It's the church that loves prayer and is growing in prayer.
[00:33:51] Monday nights, if you don't come along, I'd encourage you to.
[00:33:56] Monday night was. It was cold. It was freezing in this building. It was horrible. And we prayed, and the noise and the volume that came out as we sang and we lifted our expectation to God and our faith was powerful. This is a church that knows how to pray.
[00:34:14] This is also a church that knows how to pivot.
[00:34:18] Hey, let's go get an unused building and change things up a little bit. I love that. If this doesn't work, and it will, it is. It's doing what we asked. We were hoping it would be, but we're okay to move. We're happy to go on it. Perhaps the Lord.
[00:34:37] But, you know, the third thing that I am so excited about is the depth of wisdom that is sitting in these chairs.
[00:34:46] As I have conversations, as I hear some of the stories, there is wisdom sitting in these seats.
[00:34:54] Amazing men and women of God who have faithfully served the Lord, who have not stopped, who have overcome those difficult moments and those battles, and you have pursued God with all of your heart and that wisdom over these coming months. I can't wait to see some of that wisdom being passed on to my generation and beyond. Because God is wanting to do a work within the generations in this church.
[00:35:23] And I don't want anybody to be fighting a battle on their own. How many young parents would just love some wisdom from the parent that's gone before them? It's like I'm raising toddlers. I don't know what to do.
[00:35:37] Reach out to somebody who does.
[00:35:39] Hey, what do you do in that difficult moment? Hey, we're just about to get married. We don't know what marriage is going to be like. Could you help counsel us? Could you help walk that journey with us?
[00:35:51] What about every time somebody gives their life to Christ here on a Sunday?
[00:35:56] You know what my dream would be? Is that that person would immediately be assigned somebody who's put up their hand and said, whoever it is, I will walk with them for 12 months until they are firmly planted and they've got a foundation of Christ in building their life on. That's my dream. That's what I love to see. And it's a dream of so many in this place.
[00:36:19] But we gotta do it together.
[00:36:21] Breakthrough comes as we do it together.
[00:36:26] It's a place where we get to tell our story. In Revelation 12:11, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives unto death.
[00:36:37] When we share our story, when we tell our story to others, there is power to overcome the works of the enemy. And I want to encourage us, be bold in our proclamation of our story. A testimony of what God has done.
[00:36:53] The rest of the story plays out as Jonathan approaches the philistine outpost.
[00:36:58] Verse 13. Jonathan climbed up using his hands and feet, with his armor bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer followed and killed behind him. And that first attack, Jonathan and his armor bearer killed some 20 men in an area of about half an acre. Then panic struck the whole army, those in the camp and field and those in the outposts and raiding parties, and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God. As we share our stories as we do life together, as we step out in faith.
[00:37:32] Action precedes breakthrough.
[00:37:35] I believe we make the enemy very nervous because God is wanting each one of us to be front footed in our faith.
[00:37:48] We're going to sing a song in a moment. As the song begins to play, I wonder if God is speaking to you about a perhaps moment, an opportunity, something you're not so sure about.
[00:38:04] As we stand to sing, would you get front footed and actually put some action to that thought and come down the front, stand down the front.
[00:38:16] If you were one of our mature, it's not about an age thing, but if you love the Lord and you really love him, you've walked with him, you'd be, you see somebody come and stand out the front, would you come and stand alongside them and say, would you mind if I pray with you?
[00:38:36] And let's see what God might do.
[00:38:39] Perhaps the Lord, perhaps there's a business that needs to be birthed today.
[00:38:47] Perhaps there's an action of forgiveness that needs to take place today.
[00:38:54] Perhaps you don't even know what it is, but there's such a stirring in your heart that maybe as you take your step, God will show you what that is.
