Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Good morning. Rediscover church. How are you this morning? You guys are looking great. I feel like we're just part of a great big family. This morning feels awesome. I'm like, I just want to move to Exeter and be a congregant in this church. It just feels so warm and loving and family orientated. Just fantastic. And I'm actually, I'm very glad that you've got a New Zealand pastor helping lead the church because it means you, you may have had some practice in trying to understand me. So I, if you, if you don't understand me, just pray for the gift of interpretation and see what happens. It is, it's such a joy to be here. So good to be able to spend some time with you, to minister the word of God with you. This morning I'm here with my amazing. Are you taking photos of me? That's lovely. I told her off the other day because she never takes photos of me. I'm always taking photos of her. I'm like, this is, this is, this shows how much you love me. And so she's now taking lots of photos of me. Can you stand up? Judah and Bex, can you stand up? Just wave to everybody, say hello. This is my lovely wife Bex and our son Judah, who has just turned 15 and our other son Rocky who's really good mates with JJ.
[00:01:09] He just turned 12 like a couple of days ago and so he's off having a great old time and it's just so awesome to be here. I want to honour your pastors, Mark and Nita Pugh, who are just great leaders, great friends of ours and have ministered in our church and I just so honored to be able to be here and speak to you guys and share the word of God. And thank you to Lee and Drew for housing us and looking after us and feeding us and caffeinating us and just fantastic. We are. New Zealand is a, is a country of coffee snobbery and so we do not tolerate instant coffee. We do not tolerate average filter coffee. We are, we are the creators of the flat white. And so I pray the anointing of New Zealand upon England that it would just spread. But I hear you've got all press coffee in town so we're going to be heading there later and just so glad to be able to come and to hang out with Mike and Amy who are just such good friends of ours. We miss them dearly. So Mike was one of our campus pastors in my role. We have seven campus churches across Auckland and in the next city north called Whangarei. And Mike and Amy lead our Whangarei campus for nine years. Nine years with us. But Mike and I and Amy and Bex and I, we started in ministry 20 years ago. Mike was my boss to start with when I was a youth pastor. And then Mike and Amy have served us so faithfully for the last nine years. It's. It's one thing to have colleagues in ministry, but there's another thing to have brothers and sisters in ministry who just have your back and love you. And. And these guys have been just the most amazing friends.
[00:02:45] So it broke our heart to say goodbye to them, to come to Exeter. We knew it was God, but it didn't mean I had to be okay with it.
[00:02:54] And all I ask. I know you are. And I know they feel so loved and supported. And I was chatting with one lady this morning who said, mike and Amy just feel like a breath of fresh air in our church. And I think that is one of the highest compliments you could get as a pastor and a leader is to bring, like, a fresh window of refreshing in God to a place. And all I ask. They are some of our favorite people. And I had. I did say to them before they left, any day you're done with this, you're coming back to a job. All right? So if you don't treat them good, we're taking them back. That's all I'm saying.
[00:03:32] We're looking after him. You better be.
[00:03:36] But all I can say is look after them, love them, care for them, bless them.
[00:03:43] If you understood what they gave up in New Zealand to follow the call of God to come to Exeter.
[00:03:49] It's a massive cost. It's a massive call. And I was so in awe of their bravery to step forward when God said, go to the other side of the world. Leave the city of a hundred beaches. And when I say beaches, not like your beaches, proper beaches, White sand, subtropical, beautiful places to leave that and come here where they had, you know, their kids didn't have friends, and starting everything brand new, and the New zealand dollar gets 30p.
[00:04:21] I've. I bought a coffee, and it cost me nearly 20 New Zealand dollars. I'm like, something's wrong. Anyway, it's a huge cost. We love them, and we know you love them, and. And they will pour every part of their heart and soul into this place. And we're so grateful for it. We're so grateful for the call of God expanding what we're doing beyond the world. And to have this Relationship to just look after them is what I'm saying.
[00:04:46] So Bex and I, we've been married for. Hey.
[00:04:53] So our church has seven campuses. We've got three schools, we've got a Bible college, we've got a counseling hub, we have mission work all around the world. And, and so life is very, very busy. Like Mike said, Easter weekend, Easter Sunday, we had nearly 6,000 people in church and the place is just going crazy. We get seeing so many souls saved. We're doing so many baptisms. How good to see baptisms today. Just my favorite thing. Absolutely. Bex and I have been married for 20 years in September. We got married when we were 12. It was arranged, it was wonderful.
[00:05:23] And we love pastoring. I've been on staff as a, with our church, I got saved in our church and I've been on staff with our church for 23 years this year. And so my heart is leadership, my heart is pastoring, and my heart is that the church would grow. And so that's what I want to speak to you guys a bit about today, is that you collectively, as the church, the church would grow, which it is, but also you personally and individually that you would grow. Because that's how hard as leaders and pastors is. Not to maintain something, not to keep it at status quo, not to have a nice little holy huddle where all the Christians gather and we sip on some average coffee and then we go home. No, our heart is that you would, every time you come and every day you wake up with breath in your lungs, that you would grow into the fullness of what God has got for your life. So what I want to do is I want to take us to the book of Revelation. So if you've got a Bible, open it up. If you don't have a Bible, that's okay. Just sit next to a Christian. They'll have one.
[00:06:26] That was a joke.
[00:06:29] In the book of Revelation, there are seven letters written to seven churches. And these seven letters highlight an area of dysfunction, an area of lack, an area of where growth is needed for that particular church. And what I'd love to do today is go on a rapid fire journey.
[00:06:51] We're going to hit all seven letters, all seven areas that need to grow. And I want to go about this by inviting you to ask the question, is there something God is calling me to grow in? Is there an error? God is calling us to, as a church to grow. But maybe for me personally, maybe God is calling us to grow in these two. So we've got, I don't know how many point sermons you're used to. Here in Exeter, we normally do three point sermons. Today you've got a seven point sermon. It's got more points than a hedgehog.
[00:07:24] So hold on tight. We're going to go on a nice wee journey and I promise we'll be done in time for tomorrow. Here we go. Number one. The first area that God is calling the church to grow in is this. I've worded this way. Number one, remember the love.
[00:07:41] Remember the love. Says this to the church in Ephesus. Revelation 2, 3, 4. You have persevered and endured hardship for my name and you've not grown weary yet. I hold this against you. You've forsaken the love you had at first.
[00:07:57] I remember when I first got saved. I didn't grow up in church. All of this was very foreign to me. I grew up in a great home, a loving home. I have an identical twin brother. He's not a Christian. So if you see me somewhere doing something I shouldn't, it's not me safe to assume, but I met Jesus in a radical way when I was 18 years old. I was at a point in my life where I was feeling lost and empty and searching and looking for meaning and looking to try and figure out my place in this world and what I'm here for and why we're here. And I looked at the complexity and the wonder of the world. I thought, this can't be an accident. This can't be a mistake. And so I went on this journey to discover God and discovery, like what I was here for in the first place. And I remember going to church and I began to hear about this God that loved me and this God who had a plan for my life. And it began to resonate with my heart. And so one afternoon as I was working in an office building as a high school student in my final year of high school, I prayed the first genuine prayer I'd ever prayed. And I said, God, I don't know if you're real, but if you are, you can have my life.
[00:09:07] And in that moment, in that instant, not in a church, but in an office block in a place we call Penrose.
[00:09:13] The Holy Spirit fell on me from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I was overwhelmed and overcome with the tangible presence of God. I felt love and joy and peace and purpose, everything I was searching for in my life. God met me physically and tangibly in that moment. And I realized the God I heard about when I went to Church just showed up when I called on his name. And this is so real and so overwhelming. It was actually so overwhelming that I, out loud, I said, stop. And the whole office looked at me like, stop what?
[00:09:46] So the very next opportunity I had, I got to church. It was a Sunday night service around. It was seven o' clock service back then. And I came down the front and I got on my knees and I gave my life to Jesus. And from that day to this day, my life has never been the same since. It was a true born again experience where God radically transformed my life.
[00:10:05] In the instant I said yes to Him, a whole myriad of things fell off my life and God just moved powerfully. And I remember, like, I remember the greatest regret and thought I had on the journey was, why did someone not tell me sooner?
[00:10:23] Like, if only I'd known when I was younger. I've wasted so much time and God is real. And I remember just being in awe of God. It was like seeing the world for the first time and seeing beauty and wonder. And just like, I remember lying in bed at night going, God, I can't believe you called me. You saved me. I was just so in awe of God and in love with God. And then someone asked me, steve, do you want to come help out with the youth group? I'm like, do I ever. This is amazing. Like, God called me and now he wants to use me and I can have a positive difference in the lives of some young people. And so I got, I got in on it. And then within two years of being saved, the church asked me if I'd come on staff in youth ministry. So I got paid like 10 hours a week to do youth ministry. And this was my response. You're going to pay me to do this?
[00:11:13] This is, that's outrageous. I'd do this if it cost me.
[00:11:18] I'd pay to do it. And you're gonna pay. I could not believe it. I was like, man, let me add it. I want to do anything. It was incredible. But here's what happens over time. Over time, what was once a joy becomes a chore.
[00:11:32] What once we did out of a, like, just a sense of love and awe for God and what God did, did in us in the beginning. Now it's like, it's not quite the same.
[00:11:45] Like, we used to come to church and be like, oh, I just can't wait to meet with God. And now we're like, I didn't really like the third song.
[00:11:56] That moment where we all had to talk out loud. And it was Quiet. It's a bit awkward then. Like, I know Mike was good last week, but he was okay this week.
[00:12:11] Oh, you know, like, we used to pray, God, use me, send me. Like, I'm. I'm here, God. And now it's like, oh, if I have to, I have to give.
[00:12:21] Do I have to tithe? I guess I probably should.
[00:12:26] Do I have to be involved?
[00:12:28] Do I have to serve?
[00:12:30] And we become a little bit critical of everything that's going on. Like, what once was a joy.
[00:12:36] It's kind of lost something in the mix and God's commendation or encouragement to this church. Actually, it's a bit of a rebuke where he's going, hey, you've lost something.
[00:12:48] Go back to what the love you had at first. What he's saying is you're doing all the right things.
[00:12:53] Like, it's all looking good, sounding good, you're praying. You're doing all the things you're supposed to do, but you're not doing it with the right heart and right reason.
[00:13:01] You've missed the very reason you're there in the first place. And here's what I would say.
[00:13:08] Do you remember what it was like when you first got saved?
[00:13:11] For some of you, that's, like, really recent.
[00:13:14] For some of you, it was a long time ago. For some of you, you've come in here seeking, and you don't even know who Jesus is yet. And I'm just so glad you're here. You've come to the absolutely the right place.
[00:13:23] But for some of you, do you remember what it was like? Just that awe and wonder and that new sense of life and joy and excitement and like, I can't believe God called me. God wants to use me. And perhaps I would say the greatest next step of growth for your life is to go back to that place and remember the love.
[00:13:45] Remember the love you had at first. And then we go. The second letter. You guys ready? Number two. Number two.
[00:13:52] He says this. Don't run from suffering.
[00:13:56] Don't run from suffering. To the church in Smyrna. Revelation 2. 10. Do not fear what you're about to suffer.
[00:14:03] Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. And for 10 days you'll have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
[00:14:13] I remember I got saved in the year 2001. And I remember for the first, probably 10 years of that journey of knowing Jesus, I heard a lot of messages about breakthrough, about miracles, about God moving and breaking through in your situation, I heard loads of messages about the healing power of God and the miracle power of God and how God wants to show up and transform things and God will take it and God's going to turn it around. But and don't get me wrong, I 100% believe in the miracle power working of God. I 100% believe in the power of prayer. Like that young girl we just spoke about this morning. I 100%, I've seen God do miracles. I've seen seen God heal things that I cannot explain apart from God. I believe in the miracle power of God. But what happens to the Christian when the breakthrough doesn't come or the healing doesn't come or the miracle you've been praying for doesn't come and when God doesn't move the way you anticipated, believed he would wanted him to.
[00:15:20] And I've seen, because here's the truth. We believe in a miracle working God. But life is not all cupcakes and rainbows and flat whites from New Zealand.
[00:15:31] You're going to encounter suffering and hardship along the way. And I've seen far too many Christians fall away from their faith because they believe that God was just supposed to make everything all better.
[00:15:44] And what happens when he doesn't? And I want to encourage you, rediscover church, to grow beyond a shallow theology, grow beyond the shallow theology of believing that God is just there to make your life better and make you happier.
[00:15:59] Because if we're going to have a theology of breakthrough, which we must have, we must couple it with a theology of suffering.
[00:16:06] Because I don't know about you. As I read the New Testament, I see the majority of the New Testament is a journey of suffering.
[00:16:17] And actually what I've discovered is that suffering is part of the discipleship journey and it's part of God's process to grow you. Hence why he says endure suffering.
[00:16:31] Let me share some of my story.
[00:16:34] This moment right here for me is a full circle moment.
[00:16:39] This is quite a powerful moment for me because this is the first time I'm preaching in the UK since 2019.
[00:16:46] And the last time I preached in the UK in 2019, we were here as a family. I was preaching at an Elam Church in Birmingham City.
[00:16:55] And as I was preaching the second service in Birmingham City, I was mid like I was going for it just like I am now. And mid preach I was hit like with what I felt like was a baseball bat across the head and I had severe vertigo right in the moment of preaching. So a room about this full the Stage is like twice as high. I don't know why, they just love to be higher in Birmingham.
[00:17:18] But I remember just stumbling and grabbing the pulpit and going, whoa. And the world just spun.
[00:17:25] And somehow, some way, I managed to fumble my way through the rest of the message, all while still feeling incredibly dizzy.
[00:17:34] And that moment began a five year journey for me of living with a balance disorder. So what happened was at that moment, something happened. I had a virus or something that went into my inner ear. And in your inner ear there's a balance organ, the vestibular center of your ear. And the virus I'd caught, whatever it was had done damage to the nerve in my right ear. And it caused me to have now a lifelong balance issue. I didn't know this at the time. All I knew was something happened in that moment and I never recovered.
[00:18:11] So from that moment I was like, this is crazy. I don't know what's happening. It's a very scary thing as a preacher to be up in front of 400 people and then all of a sudden feel like you're going to fall over.
[00:18:22] Worst case scenario.
[00:18:25] And then the difficulty as a preacher is Sundays come around real quick and you gotta do it again and you gotta stand up in front of people again. And so for me, what it felt like was it was a bit like having a brain injury. I was so tired all the time. I had major brain fog. I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't think of anything.
[00:18:46] We finished our time in the UK, I came home and get this, 2020 was the year I was inducted as the senior pastor of our church.
[00:18:54] So I went from leading like kind of a campus of our church to leading seven at that point, I think five or six campuses. And it was this massive step up in responsibility. So I show up, I'm supposed to be the senior pastor, the man of God. I'm supposed to be up there preaching and I can barely function.
[00:19:11] I'm sleeping three hours every day I can. It's like the world is disconnected from my brain.
[00:19:17] And so what I find is every time I can be okay. But then every time I get up to preach, I. I feel like I'm about to pass out. Like the world spins again and I just get really uneasy. It's like the feeling, you know, when you step off a curb on the street you didn't see and you're like, whoa. It's a bit like that over and over and over and over again.
[00:19:36] So then I'm freaking out. I'm going, what is this? I Don't know what's going on. Something, something happened to Birmingham and I never came right. And so I was with doctors with everything and no, no answers, no solutions.
[00:19:50] But every time I get up to preach, I'm feeling really spun out. It becomes difficult. So now I start to get really anxious about preaching.
[00:19:58] Now I start to get really anxious about standing up in front of people. Because every time I do I feel really uneasy. And that's not the only place I do, but it's one major one.
[00:20:07] And so I start to develop a bit of anxiety.
[00:20:13] And then that little bit of anxiety becomes a big bit of anxiety and I develop an anxiety disorder. So now I'm anxious about everything, all the time, everywhere.
[00:20:24] And then I remember having my first panic attack while I was preaching.
[00:20:29] And that is a scary moment, man, when if you've never had an anxiety attack or a panic attack, your whole body goes into full scale alarm mode. Your heart rate goes through the roof, your fight or flight response goes crazy. All your adrenaline and cortisol pumps through your. You can feel it go through your body. You can taste it on your tongue. It is the most like, unnerving, scary experience. And to have that, like at that point in time, we were running three morning services back to back in our church in Botany. And each service had 4, 500 people in it. So can you imagine, you have a panic attack in the first service.
[00:21:06] You managed to get through it and then you gotta do two more and it just began to escalate. Then I stopped sleeping because I was so anxious about Sunday. I'd sleep until Wednesday. From Wednesday night I was like, Sunday's close, I gotta do that all over again.
[00:21:23] So then I'd stop sleeping. There were some weeks where I would sleep a total for the week, about eight to 10 hours for the whole week. I remember many Sundays having one hour's sleep and having to show up on a Sunday to try and preach. And now it's getting harder to leave the house. Now I'm anxious just about going to church. I'm anxious about talking to people. The whole thing is escalating beyond my control. And then the sadness set in.
[00:21:47] Because the best friend of anxiety is depression.
[00:21:50] And so then I'm no longer just anxious about what might happen. Now I don't see hope or future. And I'm thinking to myself all the while, God, you called me to do this when I was in my early 20s. I clearly heard you tell me, give your life to this church.
[00:22:08] And God's not answering.
[00:22:12] Nothing.
[00:22:13] I'm praying I'm calling every healing evangelist I know. I'm texting all my mates. Mike was in the mix with us. You know, he was right there in the thick of it with us. And, guys, I need prayer. I need help. I'm not doing okay. I need God to heal me. I need God to heal me. So something happened in Birmingham. I'm not okay. I need God to heal me. And God was silent.
[00:22:35] And I remember lying.
[00:22:37] And it felt like the more I prayed, the worse I got, the sadder I got. And then I remember lying in bed at night and I would just fantasize of heaven in a very unhealthy way, because in my mind I can no longer function and do the thing God asked me to do.
[00:22:56] I've now lost joy for tomorrow.
[00:22:59] I've now lost hope in any good coming.
[00:23:02] So now the answer for me is to take the ultimate step and end my life.
[00:23:10] And so those are the thoughts that are going on in my mind. And I had many days where that was the only viable option for me. And it became a very entertaining option.
[00:23:23] And it came to a point where I remember lying in bed. I mean, I was. I had this one day where I just broke down. I was on the floor crying for three hours because I'm like, I'm done. I've got nothing left to give. I'm so anxious, I'm so depressed. I've got no hope, no joy. I don't know where God is. I don't know. I'm alone in the dark. I'm right in the valley of the shadow of death.
[00:23:44] And a friend of mine, Pastor Mike Griffiths, who's on our team and he's a counselor, he came, he picked me up off the floor. And that began a three month journey of the beginning of recovery out of anxiety and depression.
[00:23:57] And he walked that journey with me every single day. And it was the most brutal, difficult, hard journey I've ever had to face. And I remember one night lying in bed and I'd been praying for months. This is like eight, nine months now. I've been praying for eight months. God, heal me. God, heal me. God, heal me. And the more I prayed, the worse I got.
[00:24:16] That's a weird thing to say as a preacher, isn't it?
[00:24:20] But then I remember lying in bed and I had to stop praying that prayer. And I had to pray a new prayer. And this was my new prayer.
[00:24:29] God, I trust you.
[00:24:33] Even though I can't see you, Even though I think I'm alone, even though everything's falling apart.
[00:24:42] I've trusted you before and I'll trust you now.
[00:24:46] And that was the moment I began to get better.
[00:24:50] When I stopped trying to see the suffering as the issue I needed fixing and started to see what God might be doing in the midst of it all.
[00:25:00] And I tell you what, along that journey, it was a brutal three months, days. I couldn't go to church for months on end and. But it began this restorative journey. And through the process of walking through the valley, I met the God who is in the valley of the shadow of death.
[00:25:18] I never met him before.
[00:25:20] I never known the God who is with me in the valley of the shadow of death. I never knew the God who was with me in the darkness. I never knew the God who would outwork something quite miraculous and powerful in the midst of suffering. I didn't know that God would actually form me into a greater image of His Son. When I go through the fire, I never knew him. But I found him and I discovered him. And it's been the most brutal and beautiful process because over the last, especially those first three years, a lot of Steve died and a lot of Jesus came to reside.
[00:25:54] And I'm grateful for Mike and Amy. I'm grateful for Bex, I'm grateful for my family for going with me on that journey.
[00:26:01] And I say all that to say this like, I'm good, I'm good.
[00:26:07] The balance disorder is a thing. I have many tools that I use to help me with it. One is wearing a hat. I'm not trying to offend anyone by wearing a hat in church. What it does, it takes away light stimulation. If I'm in a busy, light filled, dynamic environment, it's like my brain can't process everything. So I wear a hat like 99% of my life because it just takes away stimulation and it makes my life way easier. And in order to preach, it's just a helpful tool. So it's not something that makes me look cool, although it does.
[00:26:34] It is a medical aid.
[00:26:37] Some of you have walkers.
[00:26:40] My sister over here is a wheelchair. I have a hat.
[00:26:43] It also helps that I'm totally bald.
[00:26:46] And so, glory to God.
[00:26:51] Just because I'm a Christian or a pastor does not make me immune from suffering. And I share that story because I know some of you are in that place, some of you are in the valley of the shadow of death. If you've never experienced anxiety or depression, it is a very foreign concept. But if you've experienced it, if you're in it, I'm here to Tell you you can meet God in a way you've never met him before. And there is a way through and a way out, and God will bring you to that place.
[00:27:18] Being a pastor or a Christian or a preacher did not make me immune to the suffering that I needed to go through. But let me tell you, it grew me, it shaped me, it changed me. I believe I'm a better dad, I'm a better pastor, I'm a better husb. I'm a better leader because I went through the fire in the valley.
[00:27:36] So don't run from suffering.
[00:27:38] Some of you are in the midst of suffering. You're like God, just take it away. Begin to pray a different prayer.
[00:27:43] God, I trust you in the midst of suffering.
[00:27:47] And what is it God you're wanting to do in me through this process? Because you might be amazed to learn that the presence of suffering doesn't mean the absence of God.
[00:28:02] Let's move forward.
[00:28:03] Number three. You ready? Number three.
[00:28:07] Stop with the compromise to the church in pergamum. Sounds like a spice that lives at the back of your cupboard.
[00:28:14] Honey passes the pergamum. It's next to the coriander.
[00:28:19] I have a few things against you.
[00:28:21] You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
[00:28:31] So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against you with the sword in my mouth. Friends, when it comes to Jesus, God is not interested in compromise.
[00:28:45] And there is this challenge to this church that they have allowed teaching, they have allowed immorality, they have allowed sin to come in and it's bled into their faith. And so now they are living a compromised type of faith and God is calling them to repent and to move away from compromise. Church. God does not call you to perfection, but he does call you to repentance and obedience. You're never going to be perfect, but you can live a life of daily repentance and obedience. I remember as a young youth pastor way back in the day when I had hair and I look cool.
[00:29:24] I remember I went to Christchurch for a leadership youth pastors and leaders gathering and we were there. It was a conference. It was great. We got to the last night of conference. I was tired. We were worshiping and I really felt. I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit on my life. I felt like God just spoke to me in the midst of that moment and said, there is sin in your life and you need to confess it to somebody.
[00:29:48] Now, as a pastor and a leader, that's a very uncomfortable situation.
[00:29:52] Like, I don't want to tell people stuff. You know what I mean? Like, we've all got. Don't look at me like, you're all so holy. You've all got junk. Like, we've got problems in New Zealand. You got problems in Exeter, I'm telling you.
[00:30:05] So I'm standing there, I'm a youth pastor, I'm a youth leader, and God's like, confess your sin to somebody. I'm like, I don't want to do that. That is not what I'm going to do. I'm like, nope, that's not the Holy Spirit. I'm just going to continue worshiping. The longer I worshiped, the more, like, intense that impression that you need to confess your sin to somebody. And I'm going, I don't want to do it. It's not gonna happen. I'm being a good pastor, and I'm ignoring God. And then there's this lull in the worship like we had today. And the drummer gets out of his drum cage. You don't have a cage. You have electric drums. We have a cage. Put them in the cage. They're like, anyway, that's the joke. I'm not gonna tell that. He comes out of the cage and he says, I just have a word for somebody. The Bible says, in one John, confess your sins in the book of James, confess your sins one to another, that you will be healed. I'm like, this is. No.
[00:30:59] So now it's getting more and more intense, and God just. I couldn't stand it anymore. So this is what I do. I look around the room for the least judgmental person I can see.
[00:31:09] You know what I mean? Like, you're not going to go and see the person in the suit and tie? Like, I'm not. So I look around and there is a guy there with bare feet and dreadlocks. I'm like, that's my guy. I'm gonna go. If I'm telling anyone anything, I'm gonna tell this guy. So I don't even introduce myself. I just walk over to him. I grab him by the shoulders, I turn him towards me, and I just say, brother, I need to tell you something. And he just looks at me. I just start unloading my sin. Like, I just start confessing my sin to him. What was amazing is in that process, I just felt this liberation this freedom, that what I'd kept secret and hidden, I was bringing out into the light. And in that moment, God started. It was like God started to heal my heart, heal my spirit. And I was like, I'm weeping by the end of this. And at the end of telling him my sin, I just go, oh, brother, thank you so much. And this is no word of lie. He looks at me and he goes, I don't speak English. I was like, yes, God is so good.
[00:32:09] He was a French backpacker who just walked into the church that night. I don't speak English.
[00:32:17] God, you're so good.
[00:32:24] Maybe for some of us, we've allowed sin to creep into our lives.
[00:32:29] Like, you're here, you love Jesus, you're in rediscover church. But there's something that's crept in, causing compromise.
[00:32:37] My encouragement to you is deal with the compromise and don't tolerate it. And maybe today there's an opportunity at the end of the service to come and just talk to somebody from someone. Take it from me, it is the most liberating thing.
[00:32:49] Confess your sins one to another, that you may be healed. A great step of growth is to no longer just tolerate it, but to actually deal with it. Number four, we're moving forward.
[00:33:00] Fourth area is this. He says, deal with Jezebel, Revelation 2:20. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food, sacrifice to idols. This is an interesting one because Jezebel is a character from the Old Testament. She's from the book of Second Kings. And you. You read in the Book of Second Kings that there's a king called Jehu who actually killed Jezebel. So she's long gone. So either there's someone else in their church who's got the unfortunate luck of having the name Jezebel too, or we could assume that maybe it's a spirit that God is alluding to. Now, my experience, I've been on church staff for 23 years. My experience in church is that often we can brandy the Jezebel thing around way too flippantly. Everything's a Jezebel. That's a Jezebel spirit. That's this. And can I be honest and say I don't think it's that helpful to do that?
[00:34:07] See, Jezebel is all about promotion of immorality.
[00:34:12] Jezebel is about division, fear, intimidation, manipulation, control, power.
[00:34:22] And let me say this gracefully and tactfully Sometimes in a church community, there can be a person or people who seem to just sow division. Everywhere they go, there's always issues.
[00:34:39] There's always a bit of immorality happening around them.
[00:34:45] Maybe they want position or power. They undermine the church and they undermine unity, and they actively are immoral and lead people astray. And I would suggest as a church community, sometimes we are far too soft at addressing those issues. We go, it's all about grace. And God's like, don't tolerate Jezebel.
[00:35:04] So my encouragement is, in a church community, don't tolerate Jezebel. Can I also be so bold as to say that I think sometimes we can all be a little bit Jezebel.
[00:35:17] Sometimes we all are a bit manipulative or controlling or divisive. And my encouragement to us is don't tolerate it in yourself either. Let's move forward. That's a great area of growth. Number five, make sure you're alive.
[00:35:34] Now, I've got some questions about some of you, but I'm pretty sure most of you are alive.
[00:35:40] Revelation 3:1. And to the angel of the church in Sardis, write, I know your works. You have the reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
[00:35:52] That's a brutal rebuke. I remember years ago, Bex and I and our family, we went to Los Angeles and we went to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
[00:36:04] Now, let me just do you all a favor and say, don't go.
[00:36:09] If you want to see it, just go Google Street View and just wind your way down the road. That's as we went. I thought, Hollywood Walk of Fame, the stars on the ground. It's going to be awesome. It's Hollywood. It is the most dead place on the planet I've ever been.
[00:36:25] I've never been to a place more void of life than the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I could not leave that place fast enough. It was so dead. Spiritually dead and dark and it just was horrible. The thing that we say these days, it gives you the. It gave me the ick.
[00:36:45] It was just. It was. It was this place we thought was alive, but actually when we went there, it was dead.
[00:36:55] And Jesus gives this warning to the Pharisees, too. He says, hey, you're like whitewashed tombs on the outside. You're all white and beautiful and you look all good, like you're ticking all the boxes, but you are dead on the inside.
[00:37:07] There is actually no real life going on inside of you. You're far from God. And perhaps today, church, there are some who are in the room who you look like you've got it all together with God. You know the catchphrases, you know the songs. You can pray the prayers. You don't even need the words on the screen to sing. You got those things memorized off by heart. You can quote scripture. You've got it all looking together. But the reality is, on the inside, you're dead.
[00:37:34] And the challenge to us, and the challenge to this church is make sure you're alive. Don't just look alive, be alive.
[00:37:41] Don't just. God's not interested in you, just ticking religious boxes so you look like you are doing all the things God wants you to do. God wants you to know him, to be filled with the Spirit, to have the rivers of living water welling up from within you. God wants you to be alive on the inside. And here's what I've discovered. If you come alive on the inside, the outside takes care of itself.
[00:38:04] Make sure you're alive. Number six, we're landing the plane.
[00:38:10] He says, just hold on.
[00:38:12] Just hold on.
[00:38:14] Revelation 3:10. Because you've kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have so that no one may be able to seize your crown. This one's really simple.
[00:38:36] I think that one of the greatest things you could do for your own growth in God is just simply not quit.
[00:38:46] Like, sometimes we're like, I need to grow, so I've got to do this thing or do that thing. Some seasons of your life, all you need to do to grow is stay, is stand firm. Is not quit. Is be tenacious. And like my life verse has become First Corinthians, 15:58. Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For you know that nothing you do for him is ever wasted.
[00:39:15] The summary I give that verse is this. Don't quit. And for some of you here in this room, you're looking for, what is it I need to do? And God's going, just hold on. Don't. Don't quit. If you can. If you can stay long enough, you'll see what I'm bringing you into. If you can stay long enough, you'll see the breakthrough. Don't quit in prayer. Keep showing up in prayer. Don't quit on the church. Keep showing up in church. Don't quit on Sundays. Keep showing up on Sundays. Don't quit in the Word. Keep Showing up in the word. If you just hold on, you'll come out the other side. Side.
[00:39:47] And for those. Yeah, come on. If for those who've weathered the storm and for those who've walked the journey of faith, you'll know what it means just to not quit, man. Everything's falling apart around me, but I'm going to hold on.
[00:40:01] I'm going to hold on. I feel like if I'm, if I'm honest, 90% of my journey that's taking me to the leadership role that we have and discovering God. And 90% of what got us here is just showing up, just not quitting, just being stupid enough to go. I'm just going to keep trusting God.
[00:40:25] I'm going to keep showing up. I'm going to. This hurts and this is hard, and I'm offended and I'm hurt, but I'm going to keep on going.
[00:40:32] And I keep pressing in. I'm going to keep trusting God. Some of you here today, you've showed up and you said to God, I'm done.
[00:40:41] This is it. I quit.
[00:40:44] I can't do it anymore. I believe the word of God for you today is don't quit.
[00:40:51] Hold on. This could be the greatest season of growth you've ever experienced if you just refuse to quit. Here's my last point. Maybe the band can come and join me. Number seven. He just says this. Turn up the temperature.
[00:41:06] Turn up the temperature.
[00:41:09] Revelation 3, verse 15 to 16. I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold.
[00:41:15] I wish you were either.
[00:41:18] Wish you were one or the other. So because you're lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
[00:41:27] It's a delightful piece of imagery.
[00:41:31] I.
[00:41:34] Okay, so full disclosure, I have adhd. I don't know if you picked that up.
[00:41:42] And because I have adhd, I, I, I'm, I'm in. I get into stuff. You know, I, my wife would call them. I don't know what you'd call them.
[00:41:51] Phases, hobbies, interests. Things are like, that's. I'm doing that.
[00:41:57] So the hard thing for me is sticking with stuff, but I've stuck with this one. One thing I got into a couple of years ago was cold plunges.
[00:42:05] Like, you know, ice baths.
[00:42:08] And there's a few psychos in the room, too, so you know what I'm talking about.
[00:42:14] So there's this thing that is, like, it's kind of a trendy thing now is to do cold plunges, like, every day. Get in. Get in. Like an Ice bath.
[00:42:22] So I got into. And I love them.
[00:42:25] I've got a. I bought a chest freezer off. We call it trademark. It's like the trading exchange, like secondhand newspaper. I bought this chest freezer and I like sealed it up and I converted it into a cot. It's full of water.
[00:42:38] So every morning I open up the chest freezer and I get in like a weirdo.
[00:42:45] Six foot three, bald man getting into a chest freezer.
[00:42:49] I love it. The cold and the endorphins. Gifts here and the other things it does.
[00:42:58] Like I said, adhd. Don't read the details. Just love it. But I love the cult and I start to like, crave it and look forward to it. I love the cold. But you know what I also love? I love a sauna or a hot tub. And for me, like a hot tub. Back home in New Zealand, we call them a spa.
[00:43:15] Spa. Spa.
[00:43:18] We, we love a spa, but I don't. I, I want a hot spa. I'm talking. I want it 40 DE.
[00:43:25] I want that thing to sizzle as I get in. You know what I mean? Like, I want, I want to feel that.
[00:43:31] So we, we, we were like, we want to get a hot tub. So we, we couldn't afford a proper hot tub, so we got one of those inflatable ones. You guys seen those, those little inflatable ones? Couple hundred bucks. I was like, we're getting one of those best, one of the best investments we ever made getting this little inflatable spa. So I remember one night, it'd been a long day, full on, and I was like, wait for my spa. At the end of the end of the night, I'm like, just melt into that 40 degrees water. Oh, this is amazing. Every time we would get it, we're like, oh, this is amazing. You know, if you even got one, it's so good. So there's going to be a rush on sales. Down the thing. Use the code Steve g. You get 10% off.
[00:44:15] I'm joking.
[00:44:17] So we.
[00:44:19] I remember getting home and I'm like, I cannot. I've been looking forward to the spa all day. This hot tub has. So I get there, I go to the spa, I take the lid off and I get in, only to discover that the power had gone off to the spa. And the SPA was like 26 degrees. Like something disgusting.
[00:44:37] You know that you get it. I'm expecting hot. And you're like, ugh.
[00:44:41] I felt defiled.
[00:44:43] It was a horrible feeling.
[00:44:46] If you've ever got into something and you're like, ugh, this is because you want to sit and soak in it. You're like, oh, this is horrible.
[00:44:54] I felt like I needed the Lord to show up in that moment. I was like, I just don't feel, I feel gross.
[00:45:01] So, like, I love it really cold and I love it really hot. But there's something about lukewarm that's just not. It's not good. It's not nice.
[00:45:12] Paul says to Timothy, to the young Timothy, he says, timothy, you need a fan to flames. The gift of God that is on your life through the laying on of hands, that gift that God's put on you, you got to get it hot.
[00:45:25] You got to fan it into flames.
[00:45:29] And I wonder if we were to ask.
[00:45:33] There's a beeping noise. Let's just make it obvious we're all thinking about it too.
[00:45:39] Like I said, adhd. This is a squirrel. There it is.
[00:45:46] So I wonder what the spiritual temperature of your life is like.
[00:45:54] Like if you were to give yourself a rating out of like 0 to 10 on the heat scale, Tim, being I'm burning so hot for the Lord and 0 being I'm so cold, like there's nothing there. Maybe you're in the middle like a foot in both camps, which is just, just a horrible place to be.
[00:46:13] I wonder what you would say the temperature of your faith and your spiritual life would be. And here's my simple encouragement.
[00:46:20] I wonder what God might do if we just turn the temperature up a few degrees.
[00:46:25] I wonder what God would do if you would just shift the needle of the temperature of your faith by tomorrow, seeking him in a new way by praying for just a little bit longer, by opening his word on your own and actually seeking God for yourself, not waiting for the pastor to bring the word. I wonder what would happen in the temperature of your faith if you began to get involved and actually use the giftings that God's put on your life.
[00:46:52] The apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, actually going, you know, what God has put in me is actually for the edification and the building up of those around me. It's not for me.
[00:47:02] Every gift of the Holy Spirit is not for you. Apart from tongues on your own.
[00:47:08] Everything else is for the building up of others. And I wonder what would happen if you just started to use that. Would you get a little bit hotter? Would you burn a little bit brighter?
[00:47:18] I wonder what God might do if we just fanned into flames a little bit what God's doing in our lives.
