Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Following on from this news, I want to break into, um, away from our series. We've got two concurrent series at the moment, one on the book of Acts, and we've got one on, uh, financial wellbeing. And I wanna break into both of those. And I wanna do a one-off this week that's very pertinent to the things we've just looked at on stepping into God's promises because that's what we've seeking to do as a community. We've had many prophetic words over the life of the church that he is gonna make a way. We have hundreds of you in the church that have heard the Lord speak to you about all sorts of things in your life. You've opened up the scriptures and there's promises that you sense the rainbow word of God come to you and say, this is for you in your life. And I wanna just look for these next few moments of how do we step in to the promises of God?
Speaker 0 00:00:54 And as we look at this, I pray that all of our hearts will be courageous. All of our hearts will rise to the things the Lord wants to say. I'm gonna use a story that we've been using for the past few months as a picture that I referenced in the video of where we feel that God has been leading us to a place of containment where we feel like the decisions that God's been asking us to make have actually compounded our problem. They've compounded our difficulties about um, you know, squashing together and losing facilities in the area. And we feel like God has been hemming us in. And the picture that we've used to describe that in the scripture is when the Israelites leave Egypt and behind them, the Egyptians change their mind. They begin to chase them and in front of them there's the Red Sea and they felt trapped.
Speaker 0 00:01:50 And I've discovered so many times in my life that the move of God in my life often comes at a place where I feel trapped. And there's a reason for that. Not because God's into trap in us, but because we only really listen to him when we're in a place where we've got no other solutions. It just feels like we are Mr. And Mrs. Fix it. And if we can find a way through ourselves, we will find a way through. And God has to bring us to a place where there is no way out unless there's a miracle we feel we've been at that place as a church. So we're gonna look at this story, Exodus 14, and I'm gonna look at a few verses outta this story. We're gonna start verses one to two in Exodus 14 and they'll appear on the screen. It says, then the Lord spoke to Moses, tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pahar between amygdala and the sea.
Speaker 0 00:02:50 You must camp in front of Zeon facing it by the sea. You see, God didn't say you should or you I'd like you to consider this. He says, you must camp there, you must. Then we read on verse nine, the Egyptians. Now Pharaoh's heart has been hardened once again and he begins to gather with some of his forces and the chariots and begin to chase the Israelites, having regretted releasing them. And then the Egyptians, all Pharaohs horses and chariots, his horsemen and his army chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside p harath and in front of Baal Zon. First question, the first thing I want us to note about stepping into the promises of God is that we need to be where God wants us to be. You cannot step into the fullness of God's promise for your life if you are living in a place of disobedience before him.
Speaker 0 00:03:57 God bless my relationship. I know we're living together, we're not married, but would you bless my relationship? No, God, I know that um, you know, I know that I'm sort of pilfering from my company, but would you bless it? No, O because God calls us to be in a specific place in order for us to step into his fullness and his promises. And it's really important we understand that it's really important that we understand what the scripture says, that obedience is better than sacrifice. If you find yourself continually coming before the Lord say so, sorry God, sorry I've messed up again. Sorry God, I'm in a place where I know it's not right, but sorry, I'm still here. God is merciful, he's kind, you forgive you. But I don't believe until you actually turn from that and move to a place where he's calling you to camp, that you are able to step into the fullness of all he's got for you.
Speaker 0 00:04:57 Yes, you're saved. We're saved by grace alone. Yes, he loves you. His love is not dependent upon our actions. Yes, he's kind and merciful. Yes, he will forgive time and time and time again. But if you wanna step into the John 10, 10 life, I have come to bring you life in all its fullness. There has to be a compliance of our heart that says, God, what you ask I will do. And the Israelites, they can't at the specific place and it felt like it was a place that wasn't a good place camp, I would've been tempted to have said, Hey, this is not the time to camp. This is not the time to stop. This is the time to run. You know, the seas there, the Egyptians are there. We probably can't I run them, but let's at least try. But God said camp and camp in a specific place. God calls us to specific obedience in our life and it's really important that we say yes.
Speaker 0 00:06:01 And it's important I find in my life to say yes when he asks. There's a lot of deferment goes on, I believe, with the will of God in our lives. There's a lot of delay. Sometimes we complain about the speed of God on things and God's, he's never early and he's never late. He's always bang on time. But I, I think God has probably got more calls to complain about our timing, to be honest. He's so gracious. He's so kind. But he wanna time that we delay, we hit that snooze button and say, I, I know I'm gonna get up. I know I'm gonna obey, but just not yet. I know that I'm gonna surrender, but just not yet. I dunno how many young people I've met over the years that have sort of thought, well, I'm gonna go and live a wild life and I'll come back to Jesus when I wanna settle down. And you'll find that he'll forgive you and he'll have mercy. But you'll also find that you've got some wounds and some cuts that you need not had and you missed out on. You haven't enjoyed life for those 10 years of wandering. And that's an assumption that you're gonna have that period of time. None of us knows that we've got tomorrow.
Speaker 0 00:07:11 None of us knows what the future holds. But when we come to that place of saying, not tomorrow, not next year, but now I simply come before you and I obey. I believe the Lord has been working on our hearts, maybe the eight years of us looking for a building of being because our hearts weren't right. Maybe there have been things about our life that we've not been in the right place. Maybe we've not been in the correct place in our attitude. Maybe we've felt that a building would be something that would be the answer to the future of this church. And it's not the building. Maybe God's needed to give us a temporary home to remind us that everything in this life is temporary. Maybe God's needed to give us something that we don't own. Because he's saying you own nothing. You steward everything.
Speaker 0 00:08:08 That's one of our values here as a church. Maybe we've not been in the right place and maybe coming to this place and I don't think there's any accident that we've had an intensity of prayer in the church over the past five or six months. Still beautiful to see on a Monday evening increasing numbers of people just gathering to pray and people every week come in and trying for the first time. And discovering that a journey of God with in prayer is powerful and it avails much the prayers of righteous people. It makes a difference. I believe it's not accidental that we began to say, come on church. Now we sense that in this confined place that our answer is not a campaign. Our answer is not a project. It's not to deploy more people to look around the city for more opportunities. Our answer is in the place of prayer.
Speaker 0 00:09:02 And I believe as we pray, God moves mountains. He changes situations, he provides needs, he opens doors, he makes miracles. He releases the supernatural as we pray. And the church today is not weak and disempowered because somehow God has gone on holiday or somehow the management of the church is not who it should be or the structure of the church is not what it should be. That maybe the church is so powerless today because we're so prayerless, because we're trying all our gimmicks and our worship songs and our programs and our ideas. And all the time the scripture reveals to us that God's people in prayer are formidable and powerful.
Speaker 0 00:09:54 Ask. And it shall be given. You seek and you will find, knock on the door will be opened. And I don't believe this is just a journey for the leadership of the church. I believe we're all leaders in this church. We're a family. We all have a part to play in the purposes of God. And I believe that the prayers of righteous people avail of much our motives, our dedication, our holiness, our surrender to the Lord is a part of what the area that God wants us to camp. And he wants us to live in that place of absolute obedience to him. And that means that there are things in our life that, and this is different for everybody, that there are things in our lives when we say, God, I surrender all. There will be some things that God will say to you that you can protest and say, God, that's not sinful. Why do you want me to give that up?
Speaker 0 00:10:55 We found in our life over the last six or seven months, there have been things that the Lord has asked us to lay down and to give up. And they weren't necessarily sinful. And I can make some rational case that they were distracting. I could make some clear case that our life is better off without them, but they're not sinful. You wouldn't run to the front and say, I need to repent of these things. But that's what, when we are in relationship with God, we begin to take on his opinion on all sorts of matters.
Speaker 0 00:11:30 I love that the, the Celts in, um, so Celtic Christianity, that there was a, there was a sense that they prayed and they'd have divine times of prayer, but they made sure the prayer was a rhythm of their day because they didn't wanna make their life feel compartmentalized into the spiritual and the ordinary God is in all of it. Amen. And God is really interested in not just the sinful stuff on your internet browser. He's interested in what you spend your time looking at. That could be positive or negative. He has an opinion. Yes, as we were reminded last week, he, it's not just 10% that he's after in our finances. God is interested in all it's all his. And he's interested in our surrender and our submission and so, and our, our ability to say, God, everything I have is yours. My days, my time, my attitudes, my friendships, my resources.
Speaker 0 00:12:35 It is all yours, Lord, how can I use this for your glory? How can I listen to your voice and live a life of holiness and obedience to you? So to step into God's promise, we need to be found in the place where God wants us. Secondly, we need to not retreat to the past because of doubts about the future. Verse 12 of Exodus 14 says, isn't this what we told you in Egypt? This is the Israelites complaint. Or Moses, leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians. It would've been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.
Speaker 0 00:13:18 Change at the best of times is difficult. Some people find the adventure of change, very exciting. Other people find the adventure of change to be overwhelming. And that's not a weakness or a strength. That's just a difference. And um, those of you who got apostolic grace on your life or prophetic grace, you'd be like around the building. Yes. What we can do, what we can pioneer those with more shepherding grace in your life. Um, you'll be thinking of all the implications, the bus routes, all of the, you know, oh, the attachments that you've had in meeting here. Those with teaching grace on your life will be thinking, I wanna see the details of this. And we're all different. The evangelists just be thinking, let's just, nevermind Bill. Let's just get onto the streets. Let's win people for Jesus. We're all different in terms of how we frame this stuff.
Speaker 0 00:14:12 And it's not one's right and one's wrong, we're just different. But the reality is that change is a part of our life and change is a part of this world. And change is a part of God's purposes. And following him always results in change. Change in seasons, change in times, change in calls, change in environments. And there is a moment of enthusiasm that we can find in our life. It's, I I I've never been on a diving board in my life, okay? In a swimming pool. I, i just cannot think, why would someone do that? There are steps. Just use the steps to get in the water. <laugh>, why I, I got one, one of those high ones, it's just like Tom Dailey, what are you doing? Come down and behave yourself. But I've seen videos of people who have like among their friends, they've said, go on, go on, you can do it. Come on, give it a go. And under peer pressure, they begin to walk up the steps and they make their way to the middle landing and they carry on to the next. And I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And they get to the landing with the diving board is, and I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And then they step forward and they look down.
Speaker 0 00:15:33 I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it. <laugh>, we all have those moments. The Israelites had that moment here. They were in a place where they had been following the leading of the Lord. Moses had brought this nation out of captivity, not out of service, out of captivity. They were slaves, not servants. And we see that ability to get cold feet. And I found this, that the enemy, when we are faced with those moments of standing on that diving board of stepping into something that God calls us to do. 'cause every time we step into a promise of God, it involves us leaving something that we become familiar with and going into something that's unknown every time, every time. I've never known a moment where that doesn't happen. I've never experienced a breakthrough in my life. That's not cost me something. I've never known a time in my life where I can see the fullness of what God's put in before me without that diving board moment.
Speaker 0 00:16:41 It always involves that. I remember one of the biggest challenges, we were, um, voted leading a large church in the middle of Birmingham. And uh, we loved it there. And God's hand was clearly upon the life of the church. And it was a really dynamic, exciting place. God was saving people. There was some wonderful things happening. And at the same time, I was pioneer in a youth ministry in my spare time, whatever that was. And, and this and this youth ministry began to grow and develop. It's now what's called limitless today. And it didn't exist back at that point in, in, in the way that it does today. And so it was just like, how are I gonna carry on to be involved in leading this church and developing this youth ministry? And I felt God say that we should leave the church and lead the youth ministry.
Speaker 0 00:17:28 The problem was the church had a salary. It had a team, it had a building, it had resources. The youth ministry had nothing. It had no money, no computer, no offices, no income. And so to leave to step into that, I had to leave that we had to leave that our third child was about to be born. Can't believe he's now six foot four. But he was about to be born and we had a mortgage. And yet this place had nothing. There was no things to be confident in. It was the diving board, it was leaving that and diving into that. And God fulfilled his promises because it was God's purpose. And I think, and I look back today and I think what would've happened if I had bolted and said, let's go back down the stairs. This is scary. It is scary, but God is greater every time.
Speaker 0 00:18:28 And I find that the propensity of the whispers of the enemy in our lives, he seeks us to play down the past bondage. The Egyptian, the Israelites said, let's go back and serve them. You didn't serve them. You were their slaves. You weren't working for them for minimum wage. You were absolutely at their mercy. None of their service stuff. You were enslaved. You were captive. And the enemy always makes us think, I wasn't that bad. Yes it was. Yes, yes it was. Don't be like that proverb that says like a dog returns to its vomit. Don't go back to that which the Lord has set you free from. Don't step back into what the enemy has held you captive of in the past. And now the Lord has set you free. Don't go back. But you might get moments where you think, oh, it was, it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 0 00:19:26 Yes it was. God has set you free. The enemy seeks to get you to play down past bondage. And he seeks to get you to play up the instability of future scenarios. And they said we we're gonna die in the wilderness. Who said they're gonna die in the wilderness? God never said that. Their fears said that. Moving on verse 13 to 14, beware of the power of our words, Moses said to the people, don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation that he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you must be quiet. We've confessed with our mouth today that our lips are ordained to praise. But there are times when the greatest statement of faith is silence.
Speaker 0 00:20:27 Reese Howells in his book The Intercessor or book that was written about his life called the Intercessor, very challenging read. There was a moment he was praying for his friend to, to get healed. And he prayed and he fasted and he made commitments. He walked for miles every week just to go and be with his friend, to lay hands on him. And there came a moment when his friend hadn't been healed, but God said, I've done it. If you pray one more prayer, it will be an act of faithlessness, not faith. I've told you I've done it. Trust me now. Now there are times you've gotta get that word from God. You've gotta get that sense of breakthrough in your spirit. You can't just use that as an excuse to say, well, I'm never gonna pray. I'm never gonna bring anything before God because I trust him. No, no. We have to partner with him. And he calls us to partner with him. He calls us to stand in the gap on his behalf into situations. But there are times when it comes to a moment when faith says, be still and know that I'm God.
Speaker 0 00:21:34 He's from your striving. Know that I'm God. God is not worked into a frenzy by our words. Our prayers are powerful, our prayers are important, but there are times we just need to be quiet. The Lord will fight for you.
Speaker 0 00:22:00 There's another dynamic to this as well. I wonder if they hadn't been given an instruction to be quiet. And you remember there were other occasions in the scripture when people were quiet in faith. You think of the moment that the Israelites walked around the walls of Jericho over seven days they were to be quiet. It was only on the seventh time, on the seventh day that they were lifted their voice and they sounded their horns and they shouted That was the breakthrough moment. But there was a silence by faith. It takes a lot of faith to be silent and not fight back. It takes a lot of faith to put your trust in the unseen rather than the power of your words. It takes a lot of faith.
Speaker 0 00:22:41 And I wonder whether their words might have begun to say to one another, Hey, come on, let's, let's get our utensils, let's get our let, let's make some rudimentary weapons. Let's form into, into, uh, armies and let's get different groups and let's be prepared for the Egyptians who are advancing on us very quickly. I know we're gonna be overpowered, but let's do it. I think their words may have come up with some things that might have taken away from a sense that it's the Lord who fights for you in regards to the prayers that we've been praying over buildings in this city and over the advance of the gospel in this city. You know, it's God that will do it. It's not us. He'll work with us. He'll partner with us. He'll stir our hearts. He'll provoke us, he'll challenge us, but it'll be him.
Speaker 0 00:23:31 It's not our cleverness, it's not our ingenuity. It's us being the right people in the right place at the right time. Simply because God has placed us there. The Lord will fight for us. And we need to realize this in a world of full of accusation, in a world that's full of, um, of loud noises against the church and against those who believe the scriptures, we have to learn that we haven't always gotta fight back. The Lord will fight for us. We have to just trust and believe and hold onto his promises. But there's another thing. I find it so easy. It can be so easy for us to be backseat drivers with our faith. You know, a backseat driver. If you've ever had one in your car, have you ever been one of those backseat drivers then? Um, I just got a word from God for you. Stop it. You make your words make no difference. Careful. It's one of Nita's favorite statements to me. Be careful. Oh, oh, sorry, I forgot about that. I forgot I was driving a vehicle. I forgot that I could hurt someone or crashing into someone if I'm not careful. Parents, you do it all the time to your kids. Be careful when you go to the park. Oh, thanks for that mom. I'd forgotten about that little detail about my life. Be careful.
Speaker 0 00:24:49 Oh, we need to, you know, we need to slow down here. There's traffic lights. There's traffic lights. I know I passed my test 30 years ago. I know. Break, break
Speaker 3 00:25:02 <laugh>.
Speaker 0 00:25:03 Give me a break. <laugh>. And I think sometimes the church is like that with God. God, stop. Stop. Come on. God's like the battle is the lord's. I will fight for you. I will lead you just simply trust and our words. Sometimes we need to sit in silence and trust God. Not sit in silence in boredom. Not sit in silence and fall asleep. But we need to sit and just trust that God is driving exactly as he wants to drive. And we are obeying exactly as he wants us to obey. The sound of faith is often silent. The sound of faith has two sounds. Silence and praise and knowing the right one for the right season is really important. But sometimes what comes out is not synchronized with God's plans. And be careful of our words. Be careful of when someone comes to you and shares something that they feel God has been stir in their hearts. Realize that your answer to them at that moment could crush or release. Oh, I think that's a mad idea. I think that's crazy.
Speaker 0 00:26:31 I've, I try to avoid using anything when someone comes to share a vision with me that would be regarded as derogatory or regarded as um, taking the wind out of their sails or pop in their balloon because maybe just maybe God is speaking to them. Maybe just maybe God has revealed something into their heart and I want to help 'em explore that. Maybe it's not God, but help 'em explore it rather than give them your opinion. Be quiet and listen to the spirit. What's he saying? Fourthly, it's just another 18 to go <laugh>. Um, number four, pull up the tent pegs. The Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. Break camp.
Speaker 0 00:27:30 That meant the camp that they had created in the place that God had told them. He was now telling them to pull the pegs up to pack the tents. That's what break camp is. It's flattened the campfires. Put everything back in bags. You're on the move. Pull up the pegs. I was fascinated with 10 pegs and was fascinated at these little thin bits of metal that go in the ground through a guy rope. How much stability they can bring. A bit of canvas on the field. Always amazed. I fascinated. I love, that's probably too strong a term. I quite like lying in a tent and hearing the rain pitter patter on the canvas and it not getting through to me. It's a lovely feeling. You're that close to it and you can't get me <laugh>. And then you look and see a puddle. Okay, you can, but the pegs, the tent pegs, this little bit of metal holds, it foundations it into the ground. And God says, I want you to take out everything that's been securing you to this spot. I want you to not put your confidence in those temporary small securities. I want you to trust me.
Speaker 0 00:28:53 I've been reading a lot of missionaries at the moment, been reading about um, Jackie Pollinger in Hong Kong and the braveness, this young girl who went with no organization. In fact, people try to discourage her. She goes to Hong Kong and she goes to the Wall City and she goes there as this young woman and she has nothing really no plan, no idea, no finance, no support. And she pulls out her tent pegs and she goes in obedience and the thousands of lives that have been impacted by the gospel as a result of her obedience. I wonder who and what the Lord is encouraging you to pull out your Tempe here. You know, we we're not, we are not getting rid of this building. We're gonna hold onto this building. Um, we're not quite sure what we'll do. We'll keep the prayer room downstairs and the offices downstairs. Maybe we'll make this available to other groups during the week. But we, we are not gonna get rid of this. But we, there's times God says, pull the pegs out. Pull them out. And trust me, God is saying to us, I am your security. 'cause if your security's a 10 peg, you might have got away with it this far. But when the winds howl,
Speaker 0 00:30:13 It will gab, it will pull them out. It's often the small things that prevent steps of faith quickly. Moving on. Number five, everyone is involved, but God is in charge. Verse 16 and 17 says, as for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. As for me, I'm gonna harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh. All his army and his chariots and his horsemen, the staff. It's a powerful symbol. Some of you will have heard the story of me sharing that. Fran, are you here this morning? Yeah, Fran, a few weeks ago on one of our early morning elders calls. So we, we meet every Thursday morning, seven o'clock online. Uh, whatever people are we, we gather as elders and we meet weekly and we pray. And it was the morning that we were praying about whether we go for this building or not and you know, could we afford it? And all those sort of things, all those questions. And we prayed and we prayed about this picture and we said, God, we pray that as we lift up our staff, that you would open the waters.
Speaker 0 00:31:32 God we need a miracle. We need you to be the waymaker, the miracle worker, the promise keeper. We need you to flatten the mountains and melt like wax in your presence. Lord, we need you. God, would you raise up a staff that afternoon? Fran, who's got beautiful prophetic gift on her life. She'd arranged to meet me about four weeks previous, but she was unwell and so she rescheduled it. And it was the afternoon after that elders meeting and she walked into my office carrying a staff and she said, God told me weeks ago to give you a staff because you have a need for it, that he's going to cause the waters depart. How many of you know that timing of that was pretty impressive? How many of you know God cares about the detail of these things? But why a staff staff was really significant for Moses, it's a stick. Well a staff, it brings strength to the body by the result of you providing strength of the hand on the arm. And then it stabilizes, it brings strength and it's meant to be on the floor. 'cause if you take the staff off the floor, if you hold it up, it's no longer providing that strength. A bit like that picture that Noah shared about raising hands and exposing the heart. It's a vulnerable place. Moses, this strength, I want you to lift it up to become a vulnerability. And I want you to trust me.
Speaker 0 00:33:00 This staff symbolic of power and strength. When it's lifted up, that natural strength is gone. But the full reliance on God is exposed. God is our strength. He is our refuge and our strength. He's our ever present hell at all times. And when we put our confidence in him, he will not let us be shaken.
Speaker 0 00:33:29 To step into God's promises always involves. And there's no shortcuts for this church. There's no shortcuts in your life. You can't hang around other people who've done this and catch it off them. You can't travel to Bethel and get laid in the hands on and then because of their breakthroughs, you get the breakthrough. That's not the way it works. We all have to travel this journey together. Yeah, I hope that my kids pick up some things from me, but they have to learn their own lessons in life, right? You have to learn your own lessons in life. Just because you hang among a community of faith doesn't mean to say you are a person who's full of faith, right? It means that hopefully you'll be inspired, but you still gotta do the journey. You still gotta walk the path. And to step into God's promises always involves leaning on Christ so that he is the strength of our hearts and there's no other way. And then finally, let's look at verses 29 31. But the Israelites would walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left that day the Lord saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Speaker 0 00:34:48 Wonder about that. Felt like to them their oppressors squashed, destroyed into the power of God. When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in him and his servant. Moses, it's my prayer that as you and I walk through adventures of faith, steps of faith, you see the issue is not how we organize church. Although organization's good. It's not how we administrate things. And I know that's true. I know that it's the heart of, it's our heart that matters. It's not the structure. Give you an example. Someone I know was speaking to a pastor of a large church in the States who just arrived at this church and he said, what's the church like? He said, it's the most unloving church I've ever been to.
Speaker 0 00:35:57 It must be awful for the minister to be saying that about his congregation. I speak in such glowing terms about you guys. People think that you are like the fourth member of the Trinity when I talk about you when I'm out, you know? Right? Like this is the best church. You need to come and meet these guys. They're just beautiful, wonderful people. They love the Lord, they love each other and and I, I speak with and it's not made up. I speak with such glowing terms after being here 10 years. I feel like I love this church. I love you guys so much. I'm so grateful to God that he's brought me to be a part of this community. I'm so grateful to God. But the minister in this story, he said they're the most unloving church. He said What we're gonna do, we are gonna get everybody. And it was a big church, thousands strong in the next few years we're gonna get everybody into small groups. So they reoriented their staff, they reoriented their program and they got everybody into small groups. They trained up all these small group leaders. They got all the homes arranged. And they spent about three years implementing this on the church. And my friend caught up with him a few years later and said, what's it like now? He said, we've got a hundred percent of people in small groups said, oh, well done. That's amazing. Well done.
Speaker 0 00:37:14 He said, what's your like? He said, we have the most unloving, small groups <laugh>. 'cause the issue is not the structure, the issue's the heart. Just because you're in a church that's got a structure that you like, you can't bypass the need for your heart and my heart to be surrendered and to serve the Lord with everything. Yes, there's no shortcuts. The Lord calls this and it's only then
Speaker 0 00:37:49 When a church is surrendered. It's not when it's got big buildings. It's not when it's got wonderful programs. Praise God for all of those things. But it's when the people of God take on the nature of God and they represent the heart of God and they reveal the glory of God, that's when Jesus becomes famous in our city. We might get some newspaper interest about this building. We might get some publicity and we will maximize that in order to put the message out across the city. We'll embrace that and we'll try to make as much noise about good news for the city, but it will change no one. If our hearts are not filled with his glory. Seeing a hundred churches planted around the southwest will will not happen because we've got an academy. It will happen because those people who come on the academy have got surrendered hearts and they reveal the glory of God. I believe we can see something beautiful take place in St. Ives, the most beautiful parts of the uk. And it's so good to see you guys with us today. But I believe that God has a plan for Saint Ice. And it doesn't take hundreds of people. It takes people with surrender hearts to say, God in my life, do what you desire to do.
Speaker 0 00:39:06 And his glory will be revealed. Young people. It doesn't take a youth center to reach a generation. It takes young people filled with the glory of God. And I pray the youth center will attract them and it'll bring them into proximity. But I pray that they won't leave better skaters, I pray they will leave transformed by the power of the gospel.
Speaker 4 00:39:26 Every
Speaker 0 00:39:27 Generation, tribe and tongue adoring the
Speaker 4 00:39:31 King of all glory. Let's pray together.
Speaker 0 00:39:42 Jesus, thank you first of all that you make promises over our lives. You haven't left us without adventure. Thank you that there are truths for us to enter into
Speaker 4 00:40:00 Thank
Speaker 0 00:40:00 You. We could spend all our life. We never need to hear another prophetic word from a prophet. We just need again to your word. And there are hundreds of promises in there for us to step into. Thank you for the prophetic as well. But Lord, you've given us everything we need already to step into the fullness of your promise. And I pray, Lord, that you'll help me. You'll help us to be people
Speaker 4 00:40:23 That
Speaker 0 00:40:24 Don't miss out.
Speaker 4 00:40:26 Help us Lord, we pray.
Speaker 0 00:40:30 Just while you're praying, there's a promise. The Bible says that if we will confess our sins, that's not a very fashionable word today or if it is, it's used about diets and food. But the sin the Bible talks about are things of ways of living that are outside of God's ways. It's basically doing a d I Y job with our life rather than trusting God. And if you've never given your life to Christ, you have sin in your life,
Speaker 0 00:41:00 You've thought things are against the will of God, you've said things against the will of God, you've behaved in a way that's against the will of God. And that probably means that there are parts of your life that you have some areas of shame that are locked away in a cupboard and you hope that no one finds those things out about you. But I want you to know that God, he knows all about what's in that cupboard and he also has the power and for and freedom to be able to take everything out of that cupboard and to give you a fresh start.
Speaker 0 00:41:30 And the Bible makes this promise. If we will confess our sins, he is faithful and he's just to forgive us every time. So I'm gonna pray a simple prayer. And if you wanna give your life to Jesus, either for the first time or to come back to him, we're all gonna pray this prayer out loud. And if you are saying it for the first time, or if you are meaning it as a prayer back to God, then particularly think about the words that you're saying. God will hear them 'cause he listens. Let's pray this prayer everybody together to help those who pray it for the first time. And it goes like this, Jesus, I thank you that you gave your life on the cross and paid the price for my sin, for I'm sorry for all the mess of my life. Please forgive me, clean me, cleanse me, purify me, set me through, and fill me with your spirit that I might follow you all the days of my life. In Jesus name.
