Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Good morning. What a joy it is to see you this morning. It's great to be back. It's been a few weeks since we've last been here, and some of you may have never met me before. My name is Mark Pugh, and sort of my role is apostolic lead, overseeing the church here. And it's great to be with you today. God is good.
[00:00:23] Oh, come on. He's even better than that. God is good.
[00:00:27] And all the time, some of you got no idea who Ron Canoli was, but you still know that.
[00:00:34] Amazing.
[00:00:36] Well, this morning, I believe there are some important decisions that are going to be made in these seats.
[00:00:43] Just a few days ago, I was meeting a group of others looking at Bible translation in a room called the Churchill Room. It was a room that was used during the Second World War. Churchill met with Eisenhower and. And in that room, they made decisions about the D Day landing. And we were sat in that room making decisions that felt like they were maybe of less significance than those decisions many years previously. But I want you to look at the chair you sat on this morning. Just take a look at it for a moment. They're old secondhand chairs that we gathered from all sorts of locations when we moved to this building a year ago. But I wonder what decisions are going to be made in that seat today.
[00:01:25] And I pray that in these next few moments, as we look at God's word together, that you and I will make key decisions, that this will be a moment we'll remember for many days to come. So let's pray, Father, as we come to your word now, we pray that you will help us, lead us, guide us, and give us great courage. I pray to respond wholeheartedly to everything you want to do in us and through us. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
[00:01:53] You know, there are too many followers of Jesus that are dulled and blunt.
[00:01:59] Too many remember days when they were sharper than they are now.
[00:02:03] Too many rely on someone else to bring their cutting edge.
[00:02:09] Today we're going to look at how you can get your edge back, how you can know a spiritual sharpness in your life that you've either lost or maybe you've never even found it before.
[00:02:24] It is God's desire that you have such a spiritual edge in your life.
[00:02:32] That doesn't mean to say we don't go through difficult circumstances or seasons, but in every season, you and I are called to be spiritually sharp.
[00:02:44] There's something stirring in this nation.
[00:02:47] There is a move of God that is breathing through a generation.
[00:02:52] There is something historic that's taking place.
[00:02:56] There are leaders of all denominations, all sizes of churches, all communities that are noticing something has shifted in the atmosphere.
[00:03:08] I A few years ago, the noise and the sound of the new atheists were rising and patronizing those who had faith in those who believed in God.
[00:03:19] But today their voices are quiet and the voice of the church is rising up because God is doing something new. In these days now, this has not happened by accident. This has happened because God's people have been on their knees seeking the face of God.
[00:03:38] It's happened because God cares about the millions of people in this nation that need to get on their faces and to find the one their hearts long for. It's happening because God is a God of compassion who grieves over the state of our nation.
[00:03:53] And we find that as God decides to raise the spiritual temperature over a nation that the enemy seeks to increase the level of darkness in a nation as well.
[00:04:05] Both of those things often happen in parallel.
[00:04:08] Just a few weeks ago, our government made some decisions that felt incredibly dark in this nation.
[00:04:15] Decisions that took people life from the womb. Decisions that took care away from many of our older people in society for that end of life. Bill and I find it fascinating and grievous that in the midst of God doing something new that the enemy is still very much at work in our nation.
[00:04:39] But the darkness will not overcome the light.
[00:04:43] It cannot overcome the light.
[00:04:46] The light of Christ came into the world and the darkness has not, cannot, will not overwhelm it. This is a day for the church to shine brightly. Something new is stirring.
[00:04:58] World events are hotting up. Wars are increasing.
[00:05:02] Sociopolitical divides are widening in nations around the world. Changes are happening at an unprecedented rate.
[00:05:11] Things have changed on the world stage in the last 12 months that previously would have taken generations to happen.
[00:05:20] And in the midst of that, we have compromised churches who no longer hold to the scriptures.
[00:05:26] And in the midst of this, see how many CS Lewis fans there are in the room. Aslan is on the move.
[00:05:35] Aslan the LION in the C.S. lewis classic, the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe gave the kids some weapons.
[00:05:42] Peter received a sword and a shield.
[00:05:45] Susan received a bow and arrows and a horn.
[00:05:50] Lucy a dagger and a healing drink.
[00:05:53] These were not toys or mementos of their meeting with Aslan. They were tools to be used, not toys to be played with.
[00:06:03] Likewise, Jesus has given you and I tools that are meant to be sharp edged and ready. Because there is a kingdom adventure that you and I are needed to engage with in these days.
[00:06:17] I'd like to take you to a passage of scripture in 2 Kings 6. Those of you who are reading through the Bible in a year with us as a community will have read this just a few days ago. 2 Kings, chapter 6, verses 1 to 7. And I'm reading from the new living translation.
[00:06:35] It says one day the group of prophets came to Elisha and and told him, as you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small.
[00:06:49] Let's go down to the Jordan river where there are plenty of logs.
[00:06:54] There we can build a new place for us to meet.
[00:06:58] Alright, he told them. Go ahead.
[00:07:01] Please come with us, someone suggested. I will, he said.
[00:07:06] So he went with them.
[00:07:08] When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees.
[00:07:12] But as one of them was cutting a tree, his axe head fell into the river.
[00:07:17] Oh, sir. He cried. It was a borrowed axe.
[00:07:21] Where did it fall? The man of God asked.
[00:07:25] When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot.
[00:07:33] Then the axe head floated to the surface.
[00:07:36] Grab it, Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.
[00:07:43] I have no doubt that everyone in this room is busy.
[00:07:48] We're probably all busy building something.
[00:07:53] Maybe you're busy building a career, Maybe you're busy building a family.
[00:07:59] Maybe you're busy building a home or even a legacy.
[00:08:06] But in the busyness of the hustle, we can easily lose our spiritual cutting edge.
[00:08:15] This story we've just read is a story where growth is happening.
[00:08:20] We see their numbers of the prophetic company are growing and their desire is to not stifle that.
[00:08:27] And they desire and design and they clarify their vision that they're going to build a bigger place for the expansion of this group.
[00:08:39] They feel something of the pressures of growth. Growth always brings that pressure in our lives, not just our organizations.
[00:08:48] But they feel they needed an edge.
[00:08:55] They know they can't chop trees with their bare hands.
[00:08:59] So they stand back and hope someone else will bring a cutting edge to help them get the task done.
[00:09:10] But in this room, I believe every single one of you are designed to have a cutting edge in your life.
[00:09:21] And for those who've lost it, for those who've paused it, for those who've never found it, in these next few moments, I believe I'm going to give you some keys in order to pick it up and to run with it.
[00:09:37] Because in these days of expansion, in these days of advancement, God needs you to have a spiritual edge for his glory.
[00:09:47] See each of the gifts we use to build our Careers, our family, our legacy. They're meant to have a spiritual edge which also builds the kingdom.
[00:09:57] We're all called to be kingdom builders.
[00:10:00] I think the thing that really naffs me off in terms of what we've made modern church to be is that we so easily delineate those who are the professional believers and those who are everyone else.
[00:10:15] And we see great churches like this with great staff teams, and we think they're the really spiritual ones. They're the ones who need to get on their face to make sure that they have a spiritual cutting edge. But that's not how God sees it at all. God does see that they need that, but he sees that all of us, we're all part of the same team.
[00:10:36] We're all called to have a spiritual cutting edge in our life.
[00:10:42] There's no delineation in God's sight. In the Old Testament, there may have been a group of priests and then everyone else, but we're in the New Testament now and God has made it possible for you and I to be the priests of God. The priesthood of all believers is what we believe.
[00:11:03] We're all called to be kingdom builders, but that takes more than skill. It takes spiritual cutting edge.
[00:11:11] I want to look at a few things in this story that I believe will just help us unpack something the Lord is wanting to do afresh in us.
[00:11:21] First thing we read in this story was that the axe that they were chopping with was a borrowed cutting edge.
[00:11:34] And I want to reference two seemingly contradictions regarding a borrowed edge.
[00:11:41] The first one is this borrowing can give you access to something that you've not worked for.
[00:11:49] Someone may have worked very hard to save up to buy that ride on lawnmower that looks really fun.
[00:11:58] And you've not saved up and made provision for that ride or lawnmower, but they offer to lend it to you. And so you ride around on your five foot garden trying to work out how to fit this thing around. But you're having fun because someone else has enabled you to have something that they've contended for and won.
[00:12:21] Many people want to borrow the faith of others.
[00:12:25] They want to borrow something that someone else has contended for.
[00:12:31] We go to conferences and we ask for impartation.
[00:12:35] Will you give me what you have?
[00:12:39] I know you've spent years building it, but will you give it to me now?
[00:12:45] We hope that by having hands laid on us, or maybe our hearts stirred by the books of skillful authors, or the conferences that are laced with fantastic communicators, that somehow we can get what other people have.
[00:13:03] But we can't build the kingdom with someone else's spiritual edge.
[00:13:09] We can learn from them, we can be inspired by them, we can be led into growth by their influence, but we cannot just borrow what they have contended for in their walk with Jesus.
[00:13:25] Where are your faith stories?
[00:13:29] Where are those times that you have trusted God on your journey in your life that enable you to build a spiritual edge that allows you to cut through into the present days?
[00:13:43] Where are those times that you trusted God experience him come through for you.
[00:13:49] You cannot build your faith merely on the stories of others.
[00:13:54] You have to have your own stories on your own journey.
[00:13:58] We can be inspired by other people's faith, but we cannot borrow their faith.
[00:14:05] When you feel a heaviness around your life, it will be your experience of the last time you put on a garment of praise that will bring you a likely breakthrough in the present time.
[00:14:20] You cannot go into a time of adversity and darkness and just take someone else's previous breakthrough because they put on the garment of praise. You have to put the garment of praise on for yourself. You have to go into the fitting room of faith and put it on and say, I'm choosing today to wear a garment of praise, choosing this day.
[00:14:43] But we look at others and we think, they're like Joseph. They've got their clothes of many colors. They're the favored ones. They're the favored ones. They're the special ones.
[00:14:54] And God all the time has a garment of praise for you to place on.
[00:15:00] And we look on admiringly at others and think, if only I could be like them. Do you know the scripture says you, you can that there's a garment of praise for you?
[00:15:12] Come on. If you're wearing that garment of praise, why don't you give the Lord a shout right now? Why don't you just lift up praise to him? Because it fits you, it suits you, and there are times it's the last thing you want to put on in the morning. There are times it's the last thing you want to wear in the middle of adversity. But you need to put on your garment of praise because there's an edge in your life when you do.
[00:15:37] What about when you orientate your life towards generosity?
[00:15:42] It will be your giving that will evidence to you that you cannot out give God.
[00:15:49] We can bring testimony after testimony onto this platform and they can tell you the stories about how they felt stirred by the Spirit to be generous with what they have.
[00:16:00] And somehow every time they gave the God more than abundantly blessed them and we can hear those stories and say, wow, that's amazing. But you can't build your faith on their stories.
[00:16:15] You can be inspired by their stories, but your faith will grow as you begin to test the generosity of the generosity of God.
[00:16:25] That's what it takes.
[00:16:27] And that's where our cutting edge comes from.
[00:16:30] It's the sharpening of the adversity, it's the trials, it's the challenges, it's the stepping out, it's the practice. No sword ever got sharp by sitting on a shelf.
[00:16:44] Swords get sharp by being frictioned against something else. That's where the edge comes from. And there are too many believers in the church in the UK that have put their swords on the shelf and they've not taken the word of God and they've not sharpened it against their circumstances.
[00:17:02] And it's time for the church to rise up, to sharpen up, to get their swords off the shelf and to use it in their hand. A double edged sword.
[00:17:13] There's something powerful and precious that the Lord's doing in our day. But you have to have your own faith and your own journey in this.
[00:17:20] What about when you want to walk in courage?
[00:17:24] It'll be your past adventures against the lion and the bear that will be your story to help you against the Goliath.
[00:17:32] You can't go around hearing other people's bear and lion stories and think, well, because God helped them, he's going to help me with Goliath.
[00:17:41] You have to have your own stories.
[00:17:44] What are the stories of faith in your life?
[00:17:48] When was the last testimony that you had of God stirring you to something fresh in him?
[00:17:57] Well, the good news is this.
[00:17:59] God is with you.
[00:18:03] God is preparing you.
[00:18:07] So there's this anomaly that we can't borrow faith, but there's. This is the contradiction because although we can't borrow our faith from others, there is another element of this, that a spiritual edge or spiritual power can only be received from God's generous grace, that we are steward in it from him. It's his power, it's his authority, it's his life. So it's never ours. It's his.
[00:18:41] Jesus didn't say, go and cast out demons in the name of the power that I've given you. He said, go and do it in my name. It's his authority. We speak on his behalf. That's why we can be courageous.
[00:18:57] That's why we can stand bold against the forces of darkness in this world. And we're not standing in our own strength. We're standing in the authority of Christ.
[00:19:08] When you and I pray, we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. There's an authority on our life.
[00:19:17] If you have very little in your bank account and a multi millionaire comes up to you and says, I'd like you to go and I would like you to speak to that person and I would like you to hand them this check, you don't think, well, I can't afford it, you have a check from the millionaire in your hand. You are the messenger of their authority, of their generosity, and the church is the messenger of the power and the presence of God. We don't own it. It's not ours. We don't have a right to it, other than Jesus gave us the opportunity through his death and resurrection so that we can enter into this.
[00:19:55] People get confused when someone has failed in ministry that they still seem to have an anointing on their life.
[00:20:05] Let me tell you why that is.
[00:20:07] It's because their cutting edge was a grace on their life which was supposed to point people to God, not to them.
[00:20:15] You know when a life fails, when a brother or sister in Christ falls and we don't carry stones in our pocket because by the grace of God go all of us.
[00:20:30] But I found over the years and I've been involved in all too many situations where this happens, the Spirit of God has been whispering to them about repentance for years and they have ignored the voice of the Spirit.
[00:20:46] Eventually the prophet turns up and confronts them in their sin.
[00:20:50] But all the time the oil begins to run out, the edge becomes blunter, the sword becomes less sharp. In their life, the light reveals the darkness and eventually the edge does go.
[00:21:06] If the Spirit is convicting you, my exhortation to you is heed the Spirit's warning.
[00:21:12] Getting your edge back is really important.
[00:21:16] Secondly, as well as being a borrowed edge, there, there was an honest cry.
[00:21:23] In his company of the prophets, he was honest. He identified that he had lost his edge.
[00:21:30] I see too many people carrying on, bluffing their way through blunt Christianity.
[00:21:36] They find excuses or other projects.
[00:21:39] Things begin to demand their time. And they don't say, I've lost my edge. They just say, I'm busy doing something.
[00:21:45] Other struggles maybe take their attention, but the real issue is they've lost their edge. Have you lost your edge? It's time to get it back.
[00:21:55] There was a Christian songwriter a number of years ago who pretended to his family. Yes, I used that word. He pretended to his family and his church that he had terminal cancer.
[00:22:09] The News went global, even appeared at conferences singing his most famous song, which was entitled Healer.
[00:22:19] But the illness was fake.
[00:22:22] Why?
[00:22:24] Because it was a distraction for the pressures that he was carrying in his life of losing his spiritual edge due to a long standing addiction to pornography.
[00:22:35] Eventually he had to admit he'd lost his edge and confess his sins and cry out to God.
[00:22:45] King Saul did something similar in 1 Samuel 15. He disobeyed God. But instead of crying out and recognizing that he had disobeyed God and he'd lost something, he created a distraction by building a monument when the prophet arrives. What have you been doing, Saul? I've been building a monument. No, you've been disobeying and losing your edge.
[00:23:12] If you've lost your edge, then confess up.
[00:23:17] See, this man who lost his axe head didn't distract from his loss.
[00:23:22] He admitted it and he cried out for help.
[00:23:26] I love the term of the prophet here.
[00:23:29] It's probably a little bit of an annoying phrase if you've lost something and someone says, where did you last hand it never quite sure how helpful exactly that phrase is, but the prophet asked something similar. But his response was going to be much more helpful. The prophet asked, where did it fall?
[00:23:51] I ask you, where were you or what were you doing when you began to lose your edge?
[00:23:57] Was it an offense?
[00:24:01] Was it a disappointment?
[00:24:04] Was there a grievance in your heart?
[00:24:07] Was there a failure, a sin?
[00:24:10] Where did you lose your joy?
[00:24:12] Where did your fire go?
[00:24:15] Where did your anointing disappear to? Where was your passion?
[00:24:21] Point it out, because God wants to do a miracle there and that leads us onto the miracle.
[00:24:31] See, the prophet broke off a stick and he threw it into the river where the axe head fell.
[00:24:41] You and I know that iron axe heads do not float, they sink.
[00:24:50] But this wood that the prophet took, this stick that he broke off and threw into the water, many commentators say it's like a symbol of the cross.
[00:25:01] The cross is that nature defying historic moment where the king of glory conquered sin, death and hell, crucified our shame, took it to the cross with him and rose triumphantly from the grave. It was an earth shattering, life changing, nation changing moment.
[00:25:24] Iron axe heads don't float.
[00:25:27] Likewise, sinners don't become righteous, the dead don't come back to life, the broken don't get restored. Peace doesn't go beyond the understanding of the moment. And hope can't be found in death except by the cross.
[00:25:43] See, the cross changes everything.
[00:25:47] And the prophet threw the wood into the water and the ax head floated the cross came into our lives and our sin was gone and the righteousness of Christ was upon us.
[00:26:03] Our hopelessness was gone and the hope of Christ filled us.
[00:26:08] When we invite the cross into our crisis, miracles happen.
[00:26:15] There's a story of a successful businessman who lost his passion for God.
[00:26:19] He looked apart. He was a well thought of CEO of a large company and even served on a church board.
[00:26:26] But he hadn't truly worshipped God in years.
[00:26:29] He went along to a Good Friday service with his daughter and where the preacher said these the cross is not your retirement plan, it's your restart plan.
[00:26:41] The CEO broke down and he wept. For the first time in 30 years, he knelt at the altar. He repented of his hardness of heart and he rededicated his life to God. Today he leads a regular Bible study in his office and has led over 20 of his work colleagues to faith in Jesus.
[00:26:59] There was a once passionate worship leader who lost a singing voice due to a vocal cord injury.
[00:27:06] As her voice faded, so did her confidence and so did her relationship with God.
[00:27:13] It was almost like she believed that her identity was wrapped up in what she did in her voice rather than finding her identity in Christ.
[00:27:24] One night in a small prayer gathering, she simply whispered these words.
[00:27:29] Jesus, if I never sing again, I want you.
[00:27:35] At that moment, she felt the presence of God rush into her life like never before.
[00:27:42] And she encountered the Lord afresh.
[00:27:46] She invited the cross into her place of need and weeks later, her voice returned. But more importantly, her spiritual edge was restored.
[00:28:01] And as I conclude on this, the fourth point from this story.
[00:28:07] It's okay recognizing you've lost your edge. It's okay knowing where you lost it. It's okay crying out for help. It's okay clinging to the cross and experiencing a miracle. But there was something that needed to be done because these words are given.
[00:28:27] Lift it out.
[00:28:30] Wouldn't it be so much simpler if God did the miracles by Himself?
[00:28:37] I would love that.
[00:28:39] Come on. You would as well, wouldn't you? We just turn up and watch Him.
[00:28:43] It would be amazing.
[00:28:46] Why do we have to lay hands on the sick?
[00:28:50] Why don't he just heal them?
[00:28:54] Why do we have to give an account for the hope that we carry? Why doesn't God just save people?
[00:29:01] Why are we asked to go into all the world and preach the gospel when the Spirit could give everybody a dream overnight and bring them to Jesus?
[00:29:11] Why are we asked to sow generously into church and and into projects into the kingdom when God could write one check and meet every need from His Loose change.
[00:29:23] Why?
[00:29:26] Here's the answer.
[00:29:28] Because he wants you and I to participate in miracles.
[00:29:33] That's it.
[00:29:36] We're called out to reach in faith, to grab hold of opportunities to partner with obedience if we will realize our need, cry out, invite the cross to do a divine miracle, but don't reach out to embrace the cutting edge. Then we won't be able to resume the work of advancing the kingdom.
[00:30:02] Last year, I reread the book God's Smuggler with the the biography, the story of the late brother Andrew, who was known for his adventures of smuggling Bibles into countries closed to the gospel, the iron Curtain, as it was known then.
[00:30:19] When this Dutch man studied at a Bible college in Scotland, he had no income, he had no savings, and he had to pay his way through those studies and carry his cost of living.
[00:30:32] And he had a simple strategy. He prayed for every need.
[00:30:37] He prayed that God's word, which said, I will supply all your needs according to my riches in glory, became his prayer.
[00:30:47] One day, he was short by a certain amount to cover his fees.
[00:30:50] And he did what he always sought to do, was to get on his knees and say, God, you know my need. Would you provide miraculous.
[00:30:58] And he went out for a walk that day.
[00:31:01] And there on the ground was a coin.
[00:31:04] And he could see what coin this was. This coin was a coin that was the exact amount that he had just prayed that God would provide for him.
[00:31:15] And he was about to pick it up with a sense of excitement, but he felt the Holy Spirit say, that coin is not for you.
[00:31:25] Oh, that's a tough thing to hear, isn't it?
[00:31:28] One minute jubilant, the next minute questioning whether God has got his strategy correct or not.
[00:31:37] He then, after picking the coin up, he met a broken homeless man.
[00:31:44] And he knew immediately that God was prompting him to give this coin to this homeless man.
[00:31:53] See, Brother Andrew had received an answer to his prayer, but God was testing his participation in a miracle.
[00:32:00] He was testing his obedience.
[00:32:03] He was trusting. He was testing to see whether brother Andrew trusted the giver of the gift more than the g.
[00:32:15] Not long after that incident, somebody unexpectedly gave brother Andrew a gift that was more than he needed.
[00:32:23] Because God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we can ask, think, or imagine.
[00:32:28] God does miracles, but he asks us to lift it out.
[00:32:35] Church. It's time to get your cutting edge back.
[00:32:39] And let's call time on blunt, ineffective religion. And let's invite the cross of Christ to release miracles in and through one another.
[00:32:48] Come on, let's call time on it. No more blunt Christianity. No more duff edges on our life. No more lack of a spiritual authority in Christ.
[00:33:04] There is something new happen in the nation, but please don't get too excited about it unless you're prepared to be spiritually sharpened and obedient to his voice.
[00:33:16] Because he's going to ask you to participate in this miracle.
[00:33:20] The fields may be white, but the laborers are needed with sharp sickles in their hand.
[00:33:26] Otherwise the harvest will die in the field.
[00:33:30] Church. It's time to get your edge back. Let's stand together, shall we?
[00:33:38] It's time to get your cutting edge.
[00:33:44] If you just close your eyes a moment, maybe you're familiar with what you've lost.
[00:33:56] Maybe you look back and you see there are times in your life where the edge has been sharper.
[00:34:03] This morning, I believe the Lord wants to do a miracle in your life.
[00:34:07] He wants to breathe fresh vision into you.
[00:34:13] There are some in this room that saw that video advertising the church planning academy. And your immediate leap in your spirit was followed up by the words and the assumptions.
[00:34:23] I can't do that.
[00:34:26] I want to let you know there are people who are doing that, not just the course for planting churches, that also had those words come into their minds.
[00:34:36] When I look around this room, I don't see a congregation. I see an army.
[00:34:41] An army with their swords in their hands.
[00:34:48] If you want to re position your life to be spiritually sharp, then the first place to come to is a place of surrender and obedience.
[00:35:02] Said I was in that room earlier this week where the D Day landings were planned. And as we know, that was key to the oppressor surrendering.
[00:35:14] And I wonder what's going on in your life. But I wonder whether right now God is asking you and I to surrender.
[00:35:22] If so, that international sign of surrender, the raising of our hands, would you just lift your hands to heaven and say, lord, I surrender afresh to you.
[00:35:32] I surrender afresh to you. Lord, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would come and bring breathe on every blunt edge.
[00:35:52] You'll sharpen us for your glory.
[00:35:56] I pray from this place this morning, this time, that there will be a generation of the young and the old that will rise up knowing the promises of God, knowing the truth of God, knowing the word of God. They will rise up with a sword and they will rise up with authority. Authority in Christ. They will rise up and they will tear down strongholds. They will take down Goliaths. They will speak life into darkened communities. They will speak hope into the broken. They will speak healing into the Damage. They will speak the goodness of God into our world. There'll be a prophetic voice, a powerful voice.
[00:36:32] God, I pray that you will release a sharp edge, each of your sisters and brothers here as we gather in this place.
[00:36:42] May your presence now lead us.
[00:36:51] Just before we sing that issue of distraction, I use some very provocative, very dramatic examples. But some of you know that your examples are not as dramatic. But there are issues of distraction in your life. Excuses things that you have given yourself to, knowing that you are missing the spiritual cutting edge in your life.
[00:37:18] Holy Spirit, as you see these whispered prayers across this room of repentance, thank you for your mercy and your grace.
[00:37:33] Lord, I pray that we as a gathered community and rediscover.
[00:37:41] I pray, Lord, we'll be sharper than we've ever been.
[00:37:45] I pray that we will cut through the darkness like never before.
[00:37:51] I pray that we'll be braver on our adventures than we've ever been.
[00:37:56] Lord, I pray that you fill this community with courage.
[00:38:00] With courage.
[00:38:03] And may age not be a thing that causes any of us to rule out.
[00:38:08] I pray for a release of a Caleb generation that say, give us that mountain God in my old age. Give me that mountain, Lord. I pray in the name of Jesus that all of us will be people of courage.
[00:38:26] We need every age in this church, from the very youngest newborn baby right through to the oldest longest living member.
[00:38:38] We need you all. The kingdom needs you.
[00:38:44] Don't be content at being in an environment of the presence of where you can't be a part of preparing the way for what God's doing.
[00:38:59] So, Lord, I thank you for this precious community, this precious church community.
[00:39:09] And we pray in the name of Jesus that we will pick up that accent this week in the name of Jesus.
[00:39:18] Come on. If you believe God wants that for your life, would you, in a moment, after I count the.
[00:39:24] Would you lift up not a tame, like British round of applause clap. But would you lift up the sort of victory shout that as the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho on day seven, they knew that God was just a God of absolute victory. Would you just lift up a shout after I come from three. And would it just be a bold one? You might say, well, I'm an introvert. Me too, you might say, but I'm normally quite quiet and quite shy. I get it. But come on. There are times when there's a bigger call. There are times when there's a bigger opportunity. There's times when there's a bigger victory. There's times when there's something greater God's doing. And I'm going to invite you to step into that with an audible shout. I'm not going to invite back to the front. I'm not going to pray with you, but I'm going to ask you to lift up a shout if you're saying I'm in God. So here we go.
[00:40:27] Hallelujah.
[00:40:30] The sh of victory in the house of God. The shout of victory in the house of God. The shout of victory.
[00:40:41] The that sound can be replicated around the Coastland next Saturday as thousands of people gather for Southwest Awake. I wonder whether that sound can be replicated in villages and towns like Cranborough and Newton, Abbott and Plimpton and Crediton. I wonder whether your village and town can have a sound of praise that God wants to raise up. Well, it will happen if we get our cutting edge. So come on, church, let's rise in Jesus name.
