This Changes Everything [PART 10] | Shaun Hornsby | Sunday 14th June

[00:00:09] I don't get that. Welcome everywhere. It'd be lovely if I did. Thank you so much. What a joy to be here. [00:00:14] Thank you, Mike, for inviting me this morning to share a few thoughts. Isn't God good? [00:00:20] He's so good, so kind to us, and he's just doing wonderful things. Friends, and I'm so encouraged. If we've never met before, it's a real honor to meet you. My name's Sean. I don't come alone. I've got a wonderful wife coming up to eight years married, would you believe it, called Emily. [00:00:38] And we have a little boy called Elijah. He's two years old. He is a mini tornado, just with excellent hair. Okay. You'll see him running around at some point, 2ft tall with 10ft worth of personality, which he gets from his mom, let me tell you. He gets from his mom. [00:00:53] I used to be employed here as the church. I was here for 10 years, would you believe it? [00:01:00] And I came to Exeter 13 years ago as I just felt God inviting me down to see what he was doing here. And I've loved every single moment. There's been so many landmarks that have actually happened in this building. It's been a while since I got chance to be able to share in this place because of my role. I'm one of the national directors at an organization called British Hue for Christ. If you've heard of Billy Graham before, he's the man that started British Hue for Christ here. Coming up, 80 years, our 80th year anniversary next year, which is a real significant milestone for us. And I get the joy of being the National Director of Evangelism, which means that part of my role is to go around the country and to invite young people to follow Jesus. Friends, let me tell you, we are seeing some amazing things happen in the younger generation right now. And I believe we're walking in some of the answered prayers, that many of you in here who have been following Jesus for a long time have been praying, God, wake up a sleeping giant in this younger generation. And I believe God is answering those prayers. And I want to start just by saying I'm deeply thankful. Thankful for the parents in the room, the grandparents in the room, those who believe in young people, those who pray for young people, those who want for the best for young people. Because what we are seeing right now and what I get the joy of being part of is because of the seeds that you have sowed in the supernatural. So a deep thank you from myself and many other youth organizations that get to work with Young people right now. [00:02:18] I've not always been a Christian. [00:02:20] I became a Christian when I was 16 years old, a young person. Hence why I love ministering to young people. Now, who here was started following Jesus before the age of 25? Just give me a raise of hands. This is the importance of youth ministry right there. Look at that. So many young people are Christian, curious. They are asking questions about faith, about Jesus, about God. And I was one of those that was running away from God. I didn't have questions about God. I was the opposite. At 16 years old, raised in a place called Scunthorpe. It's as bad as it sounds. Okay. It's not a nice place. [00:02:53] Raised there. For most of my childhood, running away from God was with friends that didn't know Jesus. My parents were faithful followers of Jesus, praying for me on a regular basis. Yet my life was running the opposite direction in many ways. Invited to go to church all the time, and wanted to do anything but go to church. And then my parents, when I was around 16 years old, they moved to the northeast of England. I know I've got some fellow Northeasterns in the room. They moved to the northeast of England. And every weekend I stayed with my grandma, who was. She was amazing. She let me do whatever I want, pretty much, which was great for a whole year. It was beautiful. [00:03:28] She didn't know I was there for half it. I think she was just. It was great. And every weekend I used to go up to my parents to. They were part of this church, small church of around 70, 80 people. The average age was definitely over 60. There was no young people there. And as I moved there, I had no friends. I didn't know anyone. I didn't know the area. And I can remember on one of the first few weekends of moving to this place, the Northeast, my parents invited me to go to church on the Sunday. [00:03:55] I had nothing else to do. So I thought, well, why not? I'm here for a few days, going back to school on Monday. Let's go. So I went to church. [00:04:03] And it wasn't a great experience for me. [00:04:07] I realized within five minutes that I didn't like quiche and I didn't like tea and coffee. So I thought, why on earth am I here as a young person? [00:04:14] So what I did is I sat at the back of the room. I put some headphones in, and throughout the whole service, I just listened to music. [00:04:20] I didn't engage with anything. I didn't hear the welcome, I didn't hear the worship. I didn't hear the sermon or the preach? I just sat at the back of this church just thinking, mom, dad, please, can we go home? [00:04:31] I noticed that the service started to end as people started to stand up and speak to each other. So I realized my time was about to come to leave. And I was overjoyed at this point to be able to leave this place. And just as I was hoping and waiting for my parents to come to me, there was an old man called Albert. [00:04:46] Albert at the time was in his 80s, faithful follower of Jesus. He actually planted the very church that I was sat in at that point many years ago. But he wasn't leading it. He was one of the elders in the church. I can remember him vividly walking back down through one of the aisles where I was sat at the back. And he had a walking stick, and he walked really slowly towards me, and he sat next to me. And as soon as he sat next to me, I took my headphones out and I obviously said, hi, is everything okay? And he started to speak to me about this man called Jesus. [00:05:14] A man I'd heard about in lessons and I'd heard my parents speak about him, but a man I had no idea what it was like to have a relationship with. [00:05:23] He started to tell me that he'd been praying across this week that for the first time in many, many years, there would be a young person that would walk through the doors of the church. And then he looked at me and said, and here you are. [00:05:33] I think you're the answer to one of my prayers. [00:05:36] He then started to say, I feel like God's got a word for you. Can I share it? [00:05:40] I've never heard God speak before. I didn't even know if God was real at this point. And he started to declare some words over my life. Firstly, he said these words, sean, God loves you. [00:05:51] He loves you so much. [00:05:53] He has a plan and a purpose for your life. [00:05:56] But not only that. As I was praying for a young person to walk in the room this morning, I felt that God was telling me that there was going to be a ministry on your life that you would communicate with young people throughout your life. [00:06:06] And then he started to ask me if I've ever had a relationship with Jesus or knew about God. And I said no. In that moment, with tears in my eyes, he revealed the person of Jesus to me and he led me to the Lord. And my life was completely transformed from that moment onwards. [00:06:22] Now I know you might have walked into church for the first time this morning. You may have been following Jesus for A long time. And you know what I'm saying when I communicate that we can all remember the moment that Jesus first showed up in our lives. But here's what I love about the story. There was two things that Albert taught me. Firstly, he didn't wear the clothes that I wore. We certainly didn't wear the same clothes. He certainly didn't listen to the same music that I listened to back then. And that's probably a good thing for him because I wasn't listening to very good music. [00:06:50] There was no commonality between us. I'd never met the man before. We weren't in a friendship. We weren't in any form of like, you know, partnership in friendship or anything like that. There was just a man who was from a different generation to a young person. There was nothing in common between, between us. And as he faithfully declared Jesus to me and introduced me to him, here's what I learned. That relevance and commonality doesn't change people. But being faithful to the person of Jesus always does. And I'm so glad that Albert was willing in his older age to come up to a 16 year old boy and say Jesus is after you. He wants to know you, he wants to have a relationship with you. That's the first thing I learned. The second thing I'm so thankful for, I'm so thankful for is that Albert was willing to share with me the person of Jesus. [00:07:32] I don't know if I would be here right now if there wasn't someone called Albert who introduced me to Jesus. I don't know if I would be here right now, stood in front of you doing the things that I get the love and joy and privilege of doing. If it wasn't for a faithful follower of Jesus called Albert who was willing in boldness to break down the barriers between a 16 year old man and an 80 year old man to willing to step across the parapet that's there often that will disconnect the two generations. I'm so thankful that Albert but was willing to do with me what I believe. And here's what I'm gonna share about a little bit this morning we're all called to do which is to introduce other people to this man called Jesus changes our lives. [00:08:13] If you're not here, if you're here this morning and you don't know as I'm sharing those thoughts before, I've never had that moment. I don't know what it means to follow Jesus. [00:08:20] All it takes is one prayer. [00:08:22] All it takes is one moment. It doesn't come through a preacher. It doesn't come through a gifted communicator. [00:08:29] We can't do those things. But friends, Jesus can. [00:08:32] Romans, chapter 10, verse 14. There's a real powerful passage of Scripture in the New Testament where Paul starts to write to a church. And one of the words that he says is a fascinating little passage of Scripture. But he's imploring people to share Jesus with other people. And he simply says these words. How will they know if you do not tell them? [00:08:53] How will the world know if you don't tell them? [00:08:57] Not just Sean, but every single person that follows Jesus. The people around your life that you know yet don't know Jesus, how will they know if your life and your words don't reflect the person of Jesus to them in a way that implores them to consider that there is a man and there is a God call Jesus that wants to have relationship with us. [00:09:16] Last week we heard Mark speaking about the woman at the well who was here. Wasn't that a brilliant sermon? [00:09:23] The series that we've been on called this Changes Everything has been brilliant so far. Mike and other people have spoke so well into it. And I just want to come off the back of what Mark shared last week. And don't worry if you weren't here. I'm going to give you a fast track of basically what happened. But there's this really powerful story in John chapter four, and it's called the Encounter of Jesus with the Woman at the well. The woman at the well. And the woman at the well was a fascinating woman. She was completely opposite to Jesus. They weren't meant to be speaking, certainly in private. Samaritans and Jews didn't like each other. If you look back at the context, historically, there was no meant to be conversation happening between the two of them. Yet Jesus comes and Mark spoke about the one that comes, the one that comes looking, the one that comes searching for his people. And Jesus encountered this woman and she realized very quickly that she was speaking not just to a normal human being, but she was speaking to God in flesh. She was speaking to the one who is the Messiah, the one who's going to save the world, redeem us back into relationship with God, to help us live a life where we can know God and do life with him. And at the back end of that scripture, Mark just spoke about how she left without her bucket. She came for water with a bucket and she left with a transformed heart. She came with a baggage and she left with freedom. She came with all kinds of Issues in her life and their one moment with Jesus completely transformed her. And she skipped away in glee and in joy. After having one encounter with Jesus, with the story actually end there. And that's what I want to speak about this morning. Would you turn with me to John chapter four? If not, it's going to come up on the screen. So it's not a problem. We're going to read two parts of this story. Verse 28 onwards, it says these words. [00:11:01] Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? So they came out of town and made their way towards him. [00:11:14] Meanwhile, his disciples had just got back to Jesus and they were urging him, rabbi, you need to eat something. You must be really hungry. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you know nothing about. [00:11:24] Then his disciples, they said to each other, could someone have brought him food? [00:11:29] My food, said Jesus, it's to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. [00:11:35] Don't you have a saying? It's still four months until harvest. That's what you've been declaring. And I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest. [00:11:45] Now moving on to verse 39. It says these words, Many of the Samaritans from the town believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony. He told me everything I ever did. [00:11:55] So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged Jesus to stay with them. And he stayed for two days. And because of his words, many more became believers. They said to the woman, we no longer believe just because of what you have said. [00:12:08] Now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man is really the Savior of the world. Hallelujah. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you would just come and speak to us just across the next 15 minutes or so as we share some thoughts from this amazing woman's life and the power of her story. The power of a testimony that turned a town upside down. Where once she was rejected, now she is leading people to Jesus in such a beautiful way. [00:12:37] Father, I'm so thankful for every single person in this room. I'm so thankful that you love them deeply, that you have a plan for their lives. I'm so thankful that every person that follows you in this room has stories where you have intercepted by your grace and you have caused the testimony to rise up because of your goodness and because of your kindness. And I pray as we look at this woman. We would be reminded, be reminded of the goodness of God in our lives. [00:13:03] But also we would be challenged and encouraged to take that and use it for those that need it. [00:13:10] We pray this in your powerful name. [00:13:12] Amen. [00:13:14] So this Samaritan woman seen as unclean, back in the context of when Jesus was walking a few thousand years ago, Samaritans basically were seen as like half Jews. They weren't people that the Jews would see as a full Jewish. So there was this rivalry, this disconnect that would happen between the two groups of people. They would never interact. Samaritans were living in Samaria. In fact, most of the time, Jesus or any of the disciples or any teacher, any person that would speak on behalf of God, they would never walk through Samaria. They would go around it. It's really peculiar that it says that Jesus had to walk through Samaria in this passage of Scripture because he had a plan. And he walks through and he goes to the well. He sits at the well. Typically, the women who would go to the well to draw water, they would go in the earlier hours of the morning where it wasn't warm, and they would do it together as a community and as a family. Here we find we're at midday and there's a woman by herself. This tells us something. This woman had been rejected from her community. She was lonely, she was abandoned. She did not have friendship groups. Jesus goes on to tell that to her. He says, look, I know you've had a rocky life. You've had a difficult life. Men probably haven't treated you so well. You've had five husbands, and the one you're living with right now isn't even your husband. I don't think Jesus was doing that in a condemning way. He was doing it in a way to relieve her from pain that she'd experienced in her life and to allow her to know that. I know every detail of your life, everything you've gone through, every pain, every hardship, every struggle, every point of failure. I know, and I still love you. Where men have rejected you, I will not reject you. I call you home, and there's this moment where they're at the well. [00:14:46] Jesus knows this is a risky moment in many ways, because if there's a woman that goes away from the town and is seen alone with another husband, another man, then it would cause all kinds of stereotypes to arise in the town. So this woman's probably cautious. She's thinking, why is this man, who's a Jew, a rabbi, a teacher, speaking to Me, a Samaritan woman who's had all kinds of issues in my life. The people, if they see this, I'm probably going to get stoned. I'm probably going to get killed. I'm probably not going to live. [00:15:11] And Jesus looks at her, and he has this radical encounter with her. Because Jesus is the God who comes looking for all people. There is no one too far from his grace. There is no one that his love will abandon. He is the one who looks for his people, wants to be close to his people. If you was to look at the Gospel, in fact, if you was to look at the whole Old Testament and the New Testament combined, this beautiful book called the Bible, you can come to your own summaries and conclusions of what this book is about. It could be a book of love. It could be a book of salvation. I like to see this book about a book of God's presence. Desperately trying to get back to his people. [00:15:44] Jesus walked alone in the garden in Genesis, chapter 1 2. And he was close to Adam and Eve. And then sin came and distorted everything, and there was a fracture, and humans started to run away from God. And then throughout all the Old Testament, we start to see this picture of God consistently trying to get back to his people. [00:16:02] He wants to have. He wants to be close. From the temple to the tabernacle to the ark, constantly trying to get his presence back where it belongs, which is close to the people of God. There's then few hundred years of silence, and the New Testament comes about. And in the New Testament, we see God taking this to a whole new level. So much so that he's willing Himself to come into the world, leave the beauties of heaven, into the brokenness of this world, so he can be close again to his people. He calls himself Emmanuel, the one who is God with us. A very specific name given to a very specific mission. God is after his people. And he comes and he dwells. And he does moments like this where he turns up at people's lives. And he says, I am the fulfillment of what you need. You won't get satisfaction outside of me. [00:16:46] Come and be close to the presence of God. Come and be close to the person of God. And he does life. And then He. We know the story. He lives perfectly. [00:16:55] And he gets crucified, he dies. He roses again. He lives and he declares to his people, the story is yet not over because there's more people that need to know what you know. So then what does he do? He says, I'm going to send you a Helper in the book of John. And he will come and he will reveal the spirit of truth to you. He will declare the things that I want to declare and he is going to live inside of you. And the Bible calls this that we become living tabernacles of God. The Holy Spirit in the presence of God, wants to live in us. Why? We're going to get there shortly. But you find it in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that we would become ambassadors of Christ and that God would compel people through our lives to come and be reconciled unto Him. [00:17:35] And that is why the church is here. [00:17:38] That is why we exist. [00:17:40] That is why we are here to call people back to the person of Jesus, whether it's amongst one another in this room or whether it's to exit or endeavor, that this church rediscover. Church would be a church that would declare to the nations and to the world, you need Jesus. [00:17:56] He's the One that is the answer to all the problems in this life. He's the One that will bring remedy to your life. And as a 16 year old boy, I experienced it for the first time. I was seeking for all satisfaction outside of the things of God. And just one moment with God allowed me to taste and see that he is good. [00:18:13] Allow me to realize that he is the One that I need. Even at 16 years old, whether you're 16 or you're in your 80s, the answer is still the same. Today. [00:18:22] God is the one we need and he is pursuing his people. [00:18:27] This woman has one of these moments. [00:18:30] She's like, I am face to face with the One who is the One we have been praying for to come and solve the issues of this world. And he's here. Do you know, in this passage of Scripture, what's fascinating is that in John chapter four, according to the book of John, this is the first time that Jesus publicly reveals himself as the Messiah to someone. [00:18:49] It's the first time that he declares, I am He. I am the One that you have been praying for. I find it incredibly fascinating, yet so encouraging, that the first person that God would reveal himself to as the One who was coming to save the world was most likely someone that was a prostitute. [00:19:06] Someone who was far away from God, marginalized, someone who the world had abandoned, rejected. And then we read what Paul says, that God uses the foolish things of this world to confront the wise. That he would choose those who nobody believed in and that he would come and believe in them. That this woman would be the first evangelist that we would see in the New Testament. If you don't think that women have a role to play according to this book, you're reading the wrong book. Because God has a plan and a purpose for all genders, all ages, all nationalities, and all ethnicities. He is calling all people home. [00:19:42] No matter your background or where you have come from, no matter your belief systems, no matter what mistakes you have made in life, there is a God who wants to use you, and he starts with transforming you. [00:19:52] And this is the first point that I want to bring. [00:19:55] There's this amazing, amazing thought that this woman says, I love it. She goes back to a town to these people that most likely did not treat her well. And instead of teaching them theology, instead of taking them through a master class of who this person Jesus is, instead of doing a seminar or any of those things, she just simply says, friends, you might not believe in the word that comes out of my mouth. My track record isn't good enough. So all I've got to say to you is this. [00:20:22] Come and see. [00:20:25] If there is one tool that you could squish into what evangelism is, it is those three words right there. [00:20:33] Come and see. [00:20:35] Come see the one that transforms life. Come see the One who will fulfill you. Come see the one who will heal you, who will provide for you, who will protect you, who will not reject you, who will not abandon you. But he says his love will always be with you, no matter what happens in your life. He is for you. Come and see the one, the one that will transform. [00:20:58] And he does. [00:20:59] He transforms this woman's life. It's an amazing perspective. She starts to share what she starts to share her testimony, her story. [00:21:14] Friends, you are looking at someone in front of you here right now that has made a whole load of mistakes. [00:21:22] You're looking at someone that is not clean and is not righteous and does not have it all together. [00:21:28] You're looking at someone that is still broken, that is still making mistakes on a regular basis. [00:21:34] But you're also looking at someone that has been redeemed by Christ and is now covered by his blood, and that there is no record of wrong that he sees in my life. [00:21:45] And here is this woman presenting the same thing to the people. [00:21:49] You know, I don't have it all together, but I found someone that does. [00:21:57] Come and see. [00:21:59] What is the testimonies of God in your life, of God's transformation? [00:22:04] What are the moments in the recent weeks where you have just seen God intercept in what is miraculous ways to you? [00:22:11] What are the ways that you are seeing God's grace transforming your everyday in this season right now. What are the moments where you have seen God provide turn up in ways that are so unexpected. What are the ways that you have seen God protect? What are the ways that you have sensed God's closeness to your life? Friends, can I encourage you? They are transforming moments, but they are not meant to stay silent. [00:22:35] They should be declared to the world. [00:22:38] Come and see this God. [00:22:41] You might be sat there thinking, I've never even heard of this word. Testimony. Testimony. Effectively it is the evidence of God showing up in your life. [00:22:49] It is the moments in your everyday or your weekly life where you have just sensed God turning up and this woman starts to share her testimony. [00:23:01] Your testimony, you know, is a. [00:23:04] It's a powerful weapon. [00:23:08] Like it really can make a difference in your season. Your testimony. [00:23:12] Sometimes we believe our story and our testimony is just simply for the ears that hear. But according to the scripture, your testimony also doesn't just encourage those that don't know Jesus. But here's what else it does. It strangles the enemy. [00:23:25] It fights against the pits of hell. I know that because in Revelations 12 when it's speaking about what the enemy does in our lives, Jesus comes along and he says this words. He says, you will triumph over the enemy by the blood of the lamb and by the power of your testimony. The word of your testimony. Friends, can I tell you that every time you declare God's goodness, all hell shakes. [00:23:49] Every time you declare that God is for me and is not against me, the enemy is on watch. He is aware that you are living a life that is not according to any other pattern other than the patterns of God that He is with me and he is for me. We should be a people who declare our testimony. [00:24:07] I was so encouraged earlier when we heard people sharing their testimony. It encouraged me because it's not about the success of the individual. It is purely about the goodness of God. I was lost until Christ got hold of my life. [00:24:21] I was filled with pride until Christ got hold of my life. I was self centered until Christ got hold of my life. I had no hope until Christ got hold of my life. I was filled with unhealthy ambition until Christ got hold of my life. I was dead until Christ Christ got hold of my life. I had nowhere to go until Christ got hold of my life. This is the Christ that we serve and this is the Christ that reigns inside of our life. I once was lost but now I am alive. This is my story. [00:24:50] Not that I made a way but that Christ did. [00:24:55] There is power. In our testimony, God intercepts the journey and he shows her a different way. [00:25:04] And then she starts to realize that as God has transformed her, God then sends her. [00:25:09] She runs back. I love the scriptures and what it details. It doesn't detail too much of what she says. But many of the Samaritans from the town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. That's verse 39. The woman shared her story, and many started to believe. And her words were, he told me everything that I did. [00:25:27] You know, God uses the most unlikely people to do some of his most extraordinary work, right? [00:25:35] There has been a lie that I believed and lived in for so, so long. [00:25:40] And it was this, that evangelism was for the chosen few. [00:25:45] It was for the extrovert. [00:25:47] It's for the ones that were good communicators. Some of us, many of us in this room. But evangelism is for those people there. It's for those people that are good in moments, like I'm doing right now with a microphone in our hand, or someone that was really good and bold at just being able to share their faith. But we know, according to Matthew 28, that we are all called to go into the world and to confess that Jesus is Lord, that people may be going through a journey of discipleship, that we would be people that would lead other people to Jesus. [00:26:16] It's not just about preaching or communicating, because we see that the Samaritan's woman's power wasn't in her eloquence, but it was that people could see that Jesus was changing her life. [00:26:29] Her life was a living testimony. [00:26:32] She had gone from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh that was now beating. [00:26:37] Her eyes could now see in color. She was living in 3D. All of a sudden, there was a newness to her life. Not that she had it all together, but that she knew other people needed to experience that which she had experienced. [00:26:50] I love the passage of scripture that I referenced earlier. 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 20. [00:26:56] It's one of the scriptures that I wish I dwelt on more. [00:27:01] It's a scripture that if we were to allow it to be grafted into our very DNA, the fabric of the way we live, it would change our Monday tomorrow. [00:27:12] It would change our Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening. It would change the interactions we would have with ordinary people out there. It would change the way we speak and the way we see. Because it says these words, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. [00:27:25] As though God were making his appeal through Us and we implore you on Christ's behalf. Being reconciled to God. [00:27:37] What a beautiful picture that God would use ordinary people like me and you to be his ambassadors in this world. [00:27:47] You know, God doesn't need to use us, right? [00:27:50] You know, he's powerful enough to not have to use the broken people that he saved, right? [00:27:55] You know, he can just lead people to Jesus by himself. [00:27:58] Yet according to this book, it is an absolute privilege that we have that God would want to partner with his people, that he would do life with them and he would go with mission on with. He would do mission with them, that he would allow people to follow him as he does the reconciling and saving, that he would place his presence, his breath, his spirit inside of you so that when people come in contact with you, they would see the message of come and see the person of Jesus. [00:28:28] He sends us out into the world in order to be ambassadors of God. [00:28:35] You might have been aware of a little something that's just recently happened. And that little something is called the World cup started recently. [00:28:44] Who's supporting England in the room? Anyone? [00:28:48] Yeah, thought there might be. [00:28:50] Who's supporting Scotland? We got any? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's supporting? Oh, wait, Wales aren't in the World cup, are they? [00:28:57] Sorry, sorry. And I'm sorry. [00:29:02] Shots fired. [00:29:04] I've got an England T shirt, a kit, and I can't wait to wear it on Wednesday. [00:29:09] I'm so excited for the World Cup. Many of you, if you know me, I'm a massive football fan. And yeah, I know it's a surprise to some of you. I love football. [00:29:18] And one of the things I've been reflecting on early as I've been wearing my football kit, is the badge that is represented on our chest. We see the three lions with the one star above us. I was listening to the England manager do an interview with, and as it was his first time with the team, the England team, he said that our number one mission is to get one more star on top of here. The star represents the amount of World Cups won. And as I've been reflecting on it as I wear this kit, I of course am wanting England to do well. I want England to try win it. And that's my hope that I don't think will be realized at any point in this tournament. But it's the hope, right? It's the hope that kills us. But it's there. [00:29:53] And then I read this scripture as I was preparing and I realized that all of us, as we follow Jesus and as we leave this room, there is a badge that is placed on our lives. [00:30:08] And the badge says, not that you are supporting England, Scotland, Wales. [00:30:15] The badge declares to everyone that sees you that I am an ambassador of the King and that I am not of this world, but I have been sent to this world so that you can come and see the God who is so desperately wanting to know you. [00:30:32] The Greek word for ambassador that's used in this scripture, it literally means these words. The verb means to act as a trusted representative or one authorized to speak on another's behalf. [00:30:46] Think about that for a moment. [00:30:49] You have been authorized to speak on behalf of God. [00:30:57] What were the words you would use when you are needing to. [00:31:05] I want to encourage you to use these words. [00:31:09] Come and see. [00:31:14] Come and see. [00:31:17] I wonder whether the band Eve, if you want to come join me. I'm going to come into land in just a moment. [00:31:24] C.S. lewis, really amazing author who I absolutely love, really shaped a lot of the way I see life. [00:31:31] There's a quote of his that I love and it's about the church. And he says these words, the church exists nothing more than to draw others to Christ. [00:31:40] Nothing more. [00:31:41] At the central of why the church exists is to draw others to Christ. [00:31:45] And when we come here on a Sunday morning, that's what we're doing. [00:31:49] We're drawing one another to Christ. [00:31:51] And when we go out of this place, it's also what we're doing. [00:31:57] We're drawing others to Christ, consistently allowing people to know that there's a God that they need to come and see. [00:32:06] For God transforms us. [00:32:08] He then sends us. [00:32:11] And then here's the beautiful thing that happens. There is a promise that God gives in his scripture and it is this, that God will use us, use us to do his work, use us to do his purposes. If I could define evangelism into one small phrase to help break down some of the stereotypes that you may have, the phrase that I would use would be this. Evangelism is simply helping one other person take one step closer to Jesus. [00:32:47] That's all it is. [00:32:49] Helping one other person just take one step, one step closer to the King, one step closer to the church, one step closer to his presence, one step closer to his healing, one step closer to his provision, one step closer to his protection, one step closer to fulfillment, one step closer to satisfaction. One step closer to realizing that in God there is found everything that you need in life. [00:33:18] That's what evangelism is. [00:33:20] It's not just using this. [00:33:22] It's not just for a stage. It's not just for someone that can communicate. [00:33:26] It's your life with a badge on your chest that says I'm an ambassador of Christ authorized to speak on his behalf. So that God would do what? Implore others through you to come home. [00:33:37] There's another reference for the World Cup. Hey, it's coming home. [00:33:43] Friends, if the World cup is coming home, there are also people in your life that desperately need to come home. And they will only come home if you are willing to speak on behalf of God to say, come and see. [00:33:58] I'm going to end with a thought. [00:34:01] It's a story that happened in my life. In fact I've shared this with different groups, but I've never shared it in this church. It's a story that I actually very rarely use because of the nature of the story. The story can feel quite alarming in some regards. But I still stand here today and believe that it was true. And when I became a Christian at 16 years old, Albert introduced me to Jesus. And from that moment onwards I just started to want to read this beautiful book called the Bible. I wanted to know more about this person called Jesus. I didn't want to know about rules and relationship and regulations and what I had to do and what I didn't have to do. I just wanted to know this person called Jesus. So I started reading it and I started reading more and I started to learn to pray and I was praying more by myself at the time. Every time I would go back to my parents house on weekend I would devour sermons and start to hear from people like Francis Chan. Some of you will know who he was. He spoke into my life. I started to read about this person of God. I became so enthused and excited about this God that I just become captivated by because he's revealed himself. And at the age of 17 I was starting to do youth ministry and God was so kind, transformed me. Still being transformed now. He sent me and then he started using me in the church that had about 70 people. I started to do this youth group. [00:35:12] My pastor came up to me at the time and he said we've got no young people, can you help? And I said well I don't know. I've only known Jesus for a few months but I do know how something I like football and other people do as well. So can I just start this football tournament on Friday nights? We started this football tournament within six months we have over 100 young people turning up to this field. And I learned in that moment to preach. We'd play for an hour, little seven aside tournaments, we hired out this big 3G pitch. Three pitches. And then at halftime time, when it got to 7, 8 o', clock, 8pm we gathered everyone in and we gave everyone drinks. And then I just said, guys, sit down for five minutes. And then we're gonna carry on playing football. And that's how I learned to preach. I learned to preach in a football pitch because I started declaring that moment. Not all the wonders and mysteries of God, but what I started to declare to these young people is that you need to come and see the one that I've just experienced at 16 years old. You need to come and explore what he's got for your life. [00:36:01] Every week we saw young people giving their lives to Jesus. The church didn't know what to do because the youth group became bigger than the church. [00:36:06] Two very different generations happened. And they were like, how does this work? [00:36:11] There's one night I went to bed and as I went to sleep one night during this time, I was 17 years old at the time. I can remember being woken up about three in the morning because I had this dream that still marks me. It still rests on me to this moment. And the dream was this. I'm sorry that there's so many football references, but it's another one in the dream. [00:36:32] I promise you this is about Jesus and not football. Okay. [00:36:35] This dream was that me and my dad, we went to a football stadium that I'd been to. In fact, it's the. I support the best team in the world called Stoke City Football Club. And we were watching Stoke play and I went to the stadium. Des is not going to like this one called the Stadium of Light. It's Sunderland stadium. He's a Newcastle fan. And sorry, I don't know if we're going to have worship at the end. Sorry. [00:36:57] And I was up in the rafters. Like when you go to watch Sunderland play at Sunderland as an away team, you are so high up, like you're close to being raptured yourself. Like, Jesus is about to return. [00:37:06] And I was up there with my dad. And I can remember vividly in the stream seeing the ball being passed around. And I was so happy to meet my dad at this football game. We were supporting Stoke. Like I can remember vividly seeing the manager at the touchline, like this big. And then in the middle of this football game, it was like second half I. All I can remember in the stream were these really loud trumpets that just came out of nowhere, like. [00:37:28] And I can remember vividly seeing one person on the pitch, pass the ball. And the other player was just stood there like, what on earth is going on? The ball just went straight past him. I can remember that happening in this dream. [00:37:41] And it just kept going. [00:37:44] Like the trumpets got louder and louder and louder and everyone was confused. Everyone in the stands around us were looking at each other going, what's going on? They're getting their phones out, trying to figure out what is this, this loud noise, what's this alarm that's taken place. And then I can remember in this dream looking at my dad in fear. [00:37:59] But what I saw in my dad was no fear at all. He's been following Jesus for a long time. [00:38:06] What I saw in my dad was joy. [00:38:10] And he was jumping up and down in the middle of these thousands of fans. And he was looking at me. He was going, he's coming back. [00:38:18] Jesus is coming back. [00:38:20] He's here, son. Jesus is here. This is the moment where we meet him face to face. He's here. He's coming home. He's back. He's back. And I didn't know what to feel in this moment. I was only 17 years old and I was like so confused, thinking, oh gosh. And then I can remember vividly my phone was in my pocket. I had an iPhone at the time. And it started vibrating and I pulled it out and I can remember looking down and at the time in school, it was one of my closest friends. [00:38:42] I'd done life with him. We played football all the time together and it was him. And I swiped across and I answered it and I said, hey man, does it feel okay? And he said, can you hear that loud noise? [00:38:51] And I was like, yeah, can you? He was like, yeah. [00:38:54] He said, what is it? And I went, well, I don't know, but I think it's that Jesus is coming home. I think that Jesus is returning. And I'll never forget the words on the end of that phone. [00:39:05] He said these words, well, what does that mean for me? [00:39:15] I'd not told him, I'd not shared my faith. [00:39:23] Fear was gripping me for not allowing my faith to be seen to him. [00:39:28] And I said, I don't know. I don't know what it means. [00:39:32] I don't know what it means. [00:39:33] And I woke up, 17 year old Sean, you can imagine what I did. I got on my knees and I started to pray. [00:39:42] It marked my life. [00:39:45] And I'm probably only just realizing the reason why God gave me that dream right now in the last few years, because for my life, God's called me to be an evangelist, to share the gospel with other people, to allow people to take one step closer to Jesus, to say, come and see. It might not be the same for your life, but what is the same for your life? [00:40:04] So you're an ambassador of Christ and that God authorizes you to speak on his behalf, that you would declare to the world, come and see.