Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Good morning, church.
[00:00:05] It's so good to see you this morning. There's a few things going on, eh?
[00:00:10] There are things changing. I was saying to one of our elders before the service, I wonder whether we should change our name to Pivot Church, because I tell you what, you are the best at just swiveling, adapting, changing. You are remarkable. And I wonder if you can give each other a round of applause for your adaptability, your ability to change.
[00:00:33] I know some churches that have spent the last 30 years trying to decide which side of the room they can move the piano to without causing a major ruckus of the next agm. And we move in buildings like it's gone out of fashion. But thank God for his leading and his guiding. And I thank God for your faithfulness in following. And I want us to thank God for all of those people that are on our eldership and church session and staff team that are weekly making decisions that require lots of understanding information, but they are giving themselves to make good decisions for this church. I wonder if you can give a thanks to all of those people on our team, our wonderful team. Thank you.
[00:01:20] I.
[00:01:22] I feel so guilty in some ways because I'm all over the country. You've released me to be involved in leading Elim. And last time I was in here there were carpet tiles and today there's not. And there's a smell of talcum powder in the air, which is just amazing. And I know that's taken an enormous amount of work for people to do and there's a lot more still to do. And this morning I want to talk about thresholds. I want to talk about moments in our life where we are required, that one more step takes us into a new place. And we have those threshold moments in all of our lives. I remember one of the biggest threshold moments for me was as an 8 year old child or on a campfire in the forest of Dean where someone gave an invitation to know Jesus as my Savior. And they invite us to step forward towards the flames. And I stepped forward and I gave my life to Jesus. The step was a threshold moment in my life that changed everything. I remember another moment where I was on a Christian camp and I was 15 years of age, if I remember correctly, and someone prophesied over my life and they invited me to the front. And as I stepped forward, it was a threshold moment because I know that at that moment I was dedicating my life to serve the purposes of God. I remember another aisle that I stood at the front, I walked to the front while my wife to be stepped the threshold down to the aisle and she turned, took my hand, and we both give ourselves to one another for the rest of our lives. And that was a threshold moment in my life. And I remember 12 years ago now of a threshold moment where we came and we gave ourselves to come and serve this beautiful church and to serve this wonderful work of God here in Rediscover. And we thank God for all that he's done over those years. But I believe the best is yet to come.
[00:03:10] The best is ahead of us. And we have more thresholds to step over. There are more days of destiny to walk in. And I regularly involved in seeing people step over thresholds. One of my roles is often speaking to people, to leaders, to our fellow ministers around the country and asking them whether there's a season change in their life. I remember there was one church last year that the minister, we approached him around taking on a new assignment in a new church. It involved him traveling hundreds of miles to get to this new assignment. But he said yes. And then a few months later, I was visiting the area where that church that he left was, and I was driving in the car with the regional leader of that area, and I noticed the church that I'd never been to their building. And I said, is that that church that that pastor left a few months ago? He said, that's the one. I said, I've never been in. He said, I'll swing by, we'll go and take a look in the building. It's a lovely building.
[00:04:09] So we pull into the car park and the car stops and I say, hang about. I've taken away their pastor. You know, they're going to be angry with me if I go in there.
[00:04:18] So he said, oh, they'll be fine. It'll be okay.
[00:04:22] So we parked the car, we walked into the building. The first person we met was a deacon painting the walls. And he said, you're the guy who stole our pasta.
[00:04:32] I looked at the regionally, I thought. I thought I was going to be safe.
[00:04:35] But, you know, I see people taking threshold moments all the time. And that's where we are at as a community. We are stepping over a threshold. We're doing it regular. It's not just about buildings. It's about church plants. It's about you finding the that which Christ has taken hold of you. It's about you reaching out to become the man, the woman of God that God has purposed you to be. But as a church community, we're stepping over a Threshold right now, there's something new that the Lord is doing among us. And. And we're going to take these few moments to celebrate together. And we're going to take these few moments just to make a commitment before the Lord that we will follow him closely. And there's a beautiful story that is in the book of Joshua, Joshua, chapter three. And we're going to look at the scripture on the screen, and I'm not going to read all the verses from this chapter, But Joshua, chapter 3, verse 11 to 17, it says these words.
[00:05:34] Look.
[00:05:36] That's what it says. Don't look this way.
[00:05:40] Look.
[00:05:41] The Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River.
[00:05:50] Now, if you've not been around church very long, you might not realize that the Ark of the Covenant was a symbol in the Old Testament of the place of the presence of God.
[00:06:02] We are in New Testament times now where Jesus has given himself for the church. He died and he rose again, and then he gave his Holy Spirit to come and be with us all. The presence of God doesn't live in boxes, doesn't live in buildings, doesn't live in services. The presence of God now lives in everywhere and is in his people.
[00:06:23] But the Ark of the Covenant at the time was the place that the presence of God was understood to be.
[00:06:32] So here they are, following the Ark of the Covenant, it says, and the Ark of the Covenant will lead you across the Jordan River.
[00:06:41] Now, the Jordan river, it has various flows at various times of the year.
[00:06:48] We're going to read in a moment that this Jordan river was in a time of flood.
[00:06:53] It was in the harvest season. The rains came and the river filled. And the Jordan's not a very clean river. Like, if you've ever been to Israel and been baptized in the Jordan, then God bless you, because it's not a clean place.
[00:07:10] It's. You know, it's when you think of just the places that you might want to be baptized in warm, beautiful, crystal water.
[00:07:17] The. The Jordan is not that.
[00:07:19] So this was a busy river. It was full, it was choppy, and it was dirty.
[00:07:26] And this was the river that the presence of the Lord was going to lead them through. Often God leads us through mess.
[00:07:32] God leads us through chaos. God leads us through circumstances that look insurmountable. God leads us. We expect him to lead us through pretty scenes where the. The sky is blue and the weather's warm and the grass is just gently swaying at a perfect length. And we expect that God's going to lead us through beautiful pastures. And of course, he always, always leads us, but he leads us sometimes through some of the most chaotic scenes.
[00:08:02] And the presence of the Lord led them.
[00:08:05] First point.
[00:08:07] I believe the presence of the Lord has led us this far.
[00:08:12] I remember when the opportunity for this place came on our radar.
[00:08:16] I believe the presence of the Lord opened the door, gave us favor.
[00:08:20] And isn't it amazing? We've been here around 18 months now, and we haven't paid a penny rent on this building during that period of time. That's amazing, isn't it?
[00:08:32] And we want to honor the owners of this facility for their kindness and their generosity. God has used them in order to bless us over this period of time. And there are some things that have happened in us and there are some things that happened around us that I believe are part of the purposes of God, to prepare us for the future.
[00:08:53] Because when God leaves us, we don't always know. I'll talk more about that in a moment, but I wonder if we can just express our gratitude altogether for the generosity of those who have provided this space for us over these 18 months.
[00:09:15] Verse 12 says, now choose 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the Earth. And as soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream and the river will stand up like a wall.
[00:09:33] So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. It was the harvest season and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river's edge, the water above that point began backing up at a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarathan. And the water below the point flowed onto the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho. This was quite a moment. This is fairly new in Joshua's leadership. Joshua was standing in Moses shoes. That's always a challenge when you're stepping into a situation that someone like Moses. You wouldn't want to follow Moses, would you?
[00:10:20] If you were going to be a leader of all Israel, you wouldn't want to follow Moses. What a. An incredible leader that man was. And yet we see that God did something similar, almost like as a seal of Joshua's leadership in a similar way to with Moses. That Moses, part of the sea Jordan. The Jordan's now parting and the water standing up. And so this was a moment where Joshua was taking a brave step. He was stepping out, he was following the leading of the Lord. And in all of our lives, you see, it'd be easy to draw parallels from this and say, well, you know, the leaders, the Joshua's are the marks and the mikes and the Amy's and the elders, those are the Joshua's. But not Jesus is the Joshua.
[00:11:02] Joshua is the type of Jesus. And Jesus now lives in all of us by the power of the Spirit.
[00:11:08] So all of us are called to step into over thresholds, into new possibilities. All of us are called to be people of the miraculous.
[00:11:16] This is not for a select few. This is for the people of God. This is not the leadership of the church. Hey, we're going to do this and you say, okay, we'll follow.
[00:11:25] That's not what this is about. This is about all of the people of God who are filled with the Holy Spirit rising up in the purposes of God and stepping into the miraculous possibilities.
[00:11:34] And that's what God's called us to be as a church.
[00:11:37] We are a people of the miraculous.
[00:11:42] Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed. As the people passed by, they waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.
[00:11:58] And then chapter four, I'm going to read from verse five to seven, just two verses.
[00:12:04] It says if I can find verse five.
[00:12:09] Oh, it's after verse four.
[00:12:15] It's not that my eyes are getting worse, my arms are getting longer. I think that's the issue.
[00:12:21] He told them, go into the middle of the Jordan in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick one stone and carry it out on your shoulder.
[00:12:32] 12 stones in all, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel.
[00:12:36] We will use these stones to build a memorial in the future. Your children will ask you, what do these stones mean? Then you can tell them.
[00:12:47] They remind us that the river Jordan stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord's covenant went across.
[00:12:53] These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.
[00:13:00] So we're a people that the presence of God goes before us. We're a people that believe we can walk in the water, in the challenges, in the impossibilities. And there have been numerous of those in our past, in our past story, we got testimonies of the miraculous provision of God. And I won't go over some of those because I spoke on some of those a few weeks ago. But we have testimonies, we have built up chapters of a book in the story of Rediscover where God has provided time and time and time again. And we will continue to build and add chapters to that story of God providing blessing, leading, guiding time and time and time again.
[00:13:41] And we today want to celebrate what the Lord has done on this journey. And we see here that their celebration was to take 12 stones, one for each tribe, one for each people group, and one for each participating tribe of the nation of Israel that they would take one stone that was from the Jordan, from this dry riverbed now, and they would take it out and they were to build an altar that would remain that its purpose would be to be a testimony to that which was.
[00:14:16] We've always felt that there would be some things that we would pick out of the riverbed of pop up church that would both be a testimony and would both be a help and an understanding to the future. Like for example, we've often felt that the things that we would accumulate on this journey would be helpful for the future. We didn't know that we would be stepping into the new building possibility that we have in front of us, but we just sensed that the things that we would acclimatize. So for example, we raised quite a lot of money in order to take on this building. And in the beginning we thought we were going to have to put it into rent, but we've been able to put it into equipment and all of that equipment goes with us to the next place. It's prepared us. Our sound system will fit really well in the next place. Our tech will fit really well in the next place.
[00:15:07] I missed the soft play this morning. I always like have a little slide before I preach. Couldn't do it today, but we're hoping that will fit in the next place. There's all sorts of things that we've accumulated that we will want to take the best of to the next place. And so out of this experience we're going to grab some things and we're going to take them and they will continue to be a part of the story and the testimony of God. And I was trying to think of 12 things that we can take and think, oh, not a 12 point sermon flip.
[00:15:37] I'm going to do them quickly and if I don't do them quickly, you'll get five.
[00:15:44] So the first, I believe one of the lessons that we've learned from this pathway of obedience, this pathway of following the leading of The Spirit is this God is the God of the miraculous.
[00:15:57] And when we follow him and obey him, we see the miraculous happen.
[00:16:02] God's intervention often comes after the first steps of faithfulness and obedience are taken in our lives. And I love seeing each of you step into places of obedience and following the leading of the Spirit. Some of you are doing that right now with all sorts of ways that you can participate in the future project of this new building. You know, I don't know if we've said these figures publicly, but the new building is valued at 1.9 million.
[00:16:33] And we have agreed to buy it for 1.575 million.
[00:16:38] And the eldership felt that we would.
[00:16:41] Well, it gets better.
[00:16:43] The eldership felt that we would put an offering of that amount. And God, if you want us to have it, then let them say yes.
[00:16:52] And we feel, you know, it's a building that's valuable. It's valued easily at 1.9.
[00:16:59] So, you know, but we just felt this was right to put in an offer. And you all stood. We didn't tell you what the figure was, but you all stood one Sunday. You all put your feet in the water and said, God, if you want us to have this, then I pray that they will accept this offer. And they did.
[00:17:16] And also, just, you know, I won't go into some of the deal, but there was someone connected to the sale of the building that has also put some money in in order to get to that level, so to be able to get us for that amount. And I believe that God has done a miracle among us, and God has made a way for that to be possible. Isn't that amazing?
[00:17:33] He's the God of the miraculous.
[00:17:35] When we look to him, we follow his presence.
[00:17:39] And I believe it's really important right now that we know that we will not step into the fullness of what God's got for us. If we just thinking on a human level, if we're just thinking about bricks and mortar finances, we won't see the fullness of God. There's something spiritual going on here. You know, there is a spiritual realm.
[00:17:56] There's a spiritual reality over all of our lives. Do you know, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood? And, you know, there's a lot of flesh and blood wrestling right now. There's a lot of angst in our nation. There's a lot of anger around. But our wrestle is not against flesh and blood. Our wrestle is against spiritual powers of darkness in the heavenly realms. And there's a battle over your life that's around the works of darkness. But the enemy wants to take you out. He wants to stop you from walking into the miraculous. He wants to keep each of us from the purposes and the fullness of God. That's his purpose.
[00:18:32] And there is a spiritual reality. Do you know when we gather together as the people of God, it's not just the sound that travels out of the building that's the testimony. There is a spiritual dynamic that takes place in the heavenly realms. When people worship, you know, we cleanse the environment. I believe when we lift our voices and our hearts in worship to God. Do you know when you go into your workplace or your university space or your college, you carry a heart of love for God, and it shines a light into darkness even before you said a word. Because there's a spiritual reality to our lives. There's a spiritual dynamic. There is a battle taking place.
[00:19:11] And right now the enemy will want to bring around significant forms of discouragement into our life because we're at a threshold.
[00:19:23] He targets the thresholds. The enemy targets the thresholds.
[00:19:28] He will want all sorts of distractions to become such a feature in our life that we miss the opportunity.
[00:19:40] And I'm going to ask us to do something that for those who have been around here a while might find this fairly familiar. For those who are fairly new here, you might find this strange. And if you've never been to church before, you're going to find it nuts.
[00:19:58] And I sort of like partly apologize for that, but just give you a buyout just to stand and watch what's happening if it's completely unusual to you.
[00:20:08] But there is a radar in our life that can be tuned into the things of the spirit.
[00:20:16] We have a choice to see things with our physical eyes.
[00:20:20] I was speaking to a group of worship leaders yesterday, and I was saying, when you lead songs, you're not leading songs.
[00:20:27] You are leading a triumphant procession of people honoring the king of all kings.
[00:20:34] You're leading a spiritual act.
[00:20:38] You can't just practice your songs and rehearse. You have to fast, you have to pray. You have to make sure the radar of your life is orientated in a spiritual direction.
[00:20:48] And church I want to encourage us right now, we are not moving buildings. We are stepping over a spiritual threshold.
[00:20:57] And in order for that to happen, we can't just lift carpet tiles, although we mean to do that. We can't just paint walls. We can't just raise money. We have to be in tune with the spirit.
[00:21:09] They followed the ark of the Covenant. We want to Follow the leading of the Spirit. I'm going to ask us to stand, and I'm going to ask us to just take a moment, just to close our eyes.
[00:21:24] And I would like you, just as you got your eyes closed, to say, is there a strategy of the enemy that I'm aware of going on in my life right now?
[00:21:39] Am I discouraged? Am I offended?
[00:21:43] Am I hurt?
[00:21:45] Am I feeling inadequate?
[00:21:48] Am I feeling unworthy?
[00:21:51] What is the enemy strategy?
[00:21:57] Because he has won against every single one of our lives.
[00:22:05] And now, on top of that reflection, I'd like you to add, in this truth, no weapon formed against you will prosper.
[00:22:21] And I'd like you to declare that. Come on, lift your voices and say, no weapon formed against me will prosper. And again, no weapon formed against me will prosper.
[00:22:36] Now, you might need to orientate your spirit if you speak in tongues, which is a heavenly language that God gives people when they're baptized in Holy Spirit. When we give our life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives in us and purifies us and cleanses us. But when we have another experience called the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he fills us and he often brings gifts. And one of those gifts is a gift of tongues, which is a language we've never learned.
[00:23:01] And I find speaking in tongues regularly is a great way for me to orientate my spirit with God.
[00:23:08] And I'm going to ask us as a community to lift our voices. If you don't speak in tongues, if you've not been baptized in the Holy Spirit, then maybe in this moment you can say, God, I pray that you'll fill me with your spirit and he will hear your prayer. You don't need someone to come and lay hands on you. The Holy Spirit is real and he's with you, and he can fill you. If you've never spoken tongues, maybe you can say, God, would you give me a gift of tongues if he doesn't? If you've not received that, then people will be happy to pray with you later, after the service. But for now, maybe you can just pray in English and maybe even say those words, no weapon formed against me will prosper. So come on, let's all lift our voices in tongues now.
[00:23:47] Come on. This is an orientation of our lives beyond the things that we see are natural to the Spirit.
[00:23:53] We're a spiritual people, following the leading of the Holy Spirit.
[00:24:07] No weapon formed against you will prosper.
[00:24:10] The Lord is our leader. The Lord is our guide. The Lord is our truth.
[00:24:14] The Lord is our victory. The Lord is the strength And a song of our lives.
[00:24:19] He has become our salvation.
[00:24:22] Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I fear? What can men do to me? Whom shall I fear?
[00:24:28] Hallelujah. Lord is my refuge and strength, My ever present help in times of trouble. Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I fear? I just pray for all oppression that's descended on people's minds. In the name of Jesus, I pray God that you will lift and set minds free. Lord, I pray that you will unclutter our lives so that we'll be people of the Spirit as we follow your lead into this new season. As we walk across this threshold that we will follow your lead in be empowered by the Spirit. In the name of Jesus we pray. Be empowered by the Spirit in Jesus name and Lord, we ask that you come and presence yourself powerfully in each of our hearts and lives.
[00:25:12] In Jesus name, Lord, we acknowledge that you are the God of the miraculous.
[00:25:22] We can't make miracles happen. All we can do is believe and trust you.
[00:25:28] And we thank you that you part the waters.
[00:25:33] You provide the way in Jesus name.
[00:25:38] Amen. Amen. Just take your seats a moment. You've already worked out. I'm not going to get through 12 points, but there you are.
[00:25:46] Faith activates promises some of those here this morning. You are already stirring with a sense of God giving you a faith, a statement of faith for your life. I remember a number of years ago we were leading a church in Birmingham and we had a campaign where we were raising funds for a project in the building and we gave pledges in the same way that we have invited the church here to give pledges towards the new building. So we need to raise probably half a million upwards in order to be able to step into this next threshold as a church community.
[00:26:20] And we felt God stir us to give a certain amount of a pledge. But it was a pledge that was more than we had. We didn't have that much money at all and it was beyond this. But we felt stirred by the Spirit because the Spirit was leading us and guiding us. So we entered a pledge and we put that in. And we made a commitment to God that somehow we would trust him to provide our needs in order to make that pledge a possibility.
[00:26:45] Well, something happened in the weeks ahead and that was we had an anonymous check come through the post. It was in those days where banker's drafts could be created without any identifier of the name of the person who was given it. And it just had a simple note in there. It said, treat yourself to a holiday.
[00:27:03] Now we hadn't had a holiday, we couldn't afford a holiday. And the thought of having a holiday was a beautiful thing. But this check allowed us to fulfill our pledge.
[00:27:13] But because we didn't know who'd given it, we didn't really feel like it was possible to go to the person who donated it for our holiday and say, would you mind if we give it to the pledge that we've made to the church?
[00:27:24] So we didn't know what to do. So we prayed and we made a decision. And the decision was this, that we were going to fulfill our pledge to the church, that this was God's miraculous provision. And there was probably 150 pound left over and we were going to buy a tent and go on a camping holiday.
[00:27:44] So that's what we did. It almost was the last holiday me and Nita had.
[00:27:50] Nita doesn't do tents.
[00:27:53] This was an opportunity for her to prove that.
[00:28:01] But it was a beautiful miracle.
[00:28:03] Do you know, a year later, maybe even less than a year later, Nina was not in the afterglow of that camping holiday.
[00:28:15] She was stood in the home saying, God, I really feel like we need a holiday.
[00:28:20] Feeling tired, carrying a lot, feels like we need a holiday.
[00:28:27] I get an email that morning from a place in the Midlands called the Westmoreland Safari Park.
[00:28:36] The Westmoreland Safari park is one of those places that you go into in your car and the monkeys nick your windscreens and your number plates and your wipers.
[00:28:48] It was that place and we'd been there with the family. We'd taken them to that place.
[00:28:56] And when you bought your tickets, you were given another ticket for a free return for the family, for the same car, for the same number, you could return for free.
[00:29:13] But there was something you had to do in order to get the return. You had to write these words, I love West Berlin Safari park because.
[00:29:22] And then you had to write some things after it.
[00:29:26] So we pull up in the car to enter the West Midland Safari park for the second time, using our free ticket. Anita says, you need to fill this in.
[00:29:36] So I quickly grab a pen out of my glove box and I quickly write something fairly random down. I don't know what it was. I love Westminster Fire park because my number plate survived or something like that. It wasn't clever, it wasn't a marketing beautiful moment for them and we just hand it over. We get in for the second time. This email that had the morning that need to prayed for a holiday was from the Westbourne Safari park and it said, you have been entered into the prize draw, or it's the finals of the prize draw of a holiday of a lifetime.
[00:30:12] And I thought a friend of mine was winding me up, that I was gonna phone and I was gonna ask for Mr. Sea lion and he was gonna laugh on the other end or something.
[00:30:20] So I thought it was a joke.
[00:30:22] So I phoned Nina. I said, I've had this really weird email. She said, well, it's probably timeshare, but just, you know, look into it. So I emailed back and they said, yes, Mr. Pugh, you're in the final.
[00:30:32] The owner would like to meet you for lunch on Sunday.
[00:30:37] So we negotiated the time so I could go to church first and Nitra and I go and we sit down and we were expecting this room to be full of finalists and maybe being sold some timeshares in Namibia. But there was just Nita and I and the owner and his wife. And we're sat there at the table and we're getting on ever so well with them. This guy owns this whole place and he's an incredible, interesting guy. Didn't have a faith. His wife was into some other spiritual things that weren't Christianity and all of it strange. She kept saying, I can see a really positive aura over you both.
[00:31:15] It's Jesus.
[00:31:20] We had two hours with them and then we saw the owner nod to the waiter. The waiter came across with his big plaque and it said, winners of the holiday of a lifetime. Mark and Nita Pugh. We won a 10 day all expenses holiday to Namibia. We had four private flights, an internal airplane.
[00:31:41] We stayed in the place that Jennifer Lopez and Paul Newman had stayed in the previous year.
[00:31:47] God blessed us.
[00:31:50] Now, I'm not saying this to say if you want a holiday.
[00:31:57] What I am saying is whenever you follow the leading of the Lord, he works it out.
[00:32:07] He works it out.
[00:32:10] And one of the things that I'm convinced that's going to happen here and rediscover is there are going to be hundreds of miracles of testimonies and stories of people who have experienced the provision and the blessing of God.
[00:32:28] I don't think we're going to step into over the threshold of the new building, but by us praying on a Sunday for five minutes, say God, will you provide the needs? And someone randomly deposits in the church account all of the needs.
[00:32:43] How I believe it's gonna happen is that you and I are gonna follow the leading of the Spirit and we're gonna do it with joy.
[00:32:54] Cause you know, the scripture doesn't say God loves a giver, doesn't say that. It says, the Lord loves a cheerful giver.
[00:33:03] He loves those that are hilarious in the privilege of partnering with the work of the Spirit.
[00:33:12] And when you and I partner with the leading of the Spirit, God does miracles and God releases joy.
[00:33:23] And I believe when we walk across the threshold of the new building, it's not going to be us just saying, wow, look at this place. It's going to be, wow, look what the Lord has done in and through all of our lives. And there is going to be a joy that's going to break out in this community. There's going to be a joy of testimony. There's going to be a joy of wonder. There's going to be a joy of miracle after miracle after miracle of what the Lord's going to do. And walking across the threshold into the new building. That's not the fulfillment for that's the start of the next chapter. That's the start of the next chapter of reaching the southwest and beyond with the glory of the Lord. That's the next chapter of you and I stepping into the fullness of what God's got for us. That's the next chapter. And it won't just be the building. It will be the testimonies that you and I gain on the way to the building that will be part of a new faith adventure that this church goes on. And we become a people that stand strong and convinced that if God is for us, who can be against us? There is a victory on this church. There's a call on this church to rise into the fullness of new days in the Lord. And I believe that God is calling us to be liberated from the shackles of the past, to be liberated from the limitations, and to step into the fullness of all he's got for us. If you believe God has invited you into that, why don't you give the Lord a big cheer right now and thank him for the privilege of serving him, the King of Kings. We get to serve. We get to partner with him. Hallelujah. God is good.
[00:35:04] So the other 10 points were good, but hey, it doesn't matter.
[00:35:10] We're going to ask you to do one simple thing when you leave today.
[00:35:17] And it's a symbol.
[00:35:20] We don't have stones to take away from this building, but we do have carpet tiles.
[00:35:32] And I'm going to invite all of us to take a carpet tile and to keep it somewhere.
[00:35:42] Keep it somewhere in your home, in your garage, in your shed, or wherever you want to put it.
[00:35:48] Make it your prayer mat.
[00:35:51] Use it in whatever way or store it in whatever way you want. But I want you to take something that when the grandkids come around in years to come, say, granddad, why have you got that one odd colored carpet tile in the middle of living room? No, no.
[00:36:13] Tell you what. I got faith. I haven't got faith that I get away with that.
[00:36:18] Why have you got that one piece of carpet tile?
[00:36:23] Let me tell you.
[00:36:25] Let me tell you what the Lord did.
[00:36:28] Let me tell you about the doors he opened.
[00:36:31] Let me tell you about the miracles he fulfilled.
[00:36:36] Let me tell you.
[00:36:39] And may these carpet tiles be a testimony.
[00:36:45] May they be like an altar in our lives and in our home just to honor the Lord.
[00:36:50] You can pick them up in a few places. There'll be some on the door.
[00:36:54] There's a pile of them being put there by the door that you just pick one up and take it with you.
[00:36:59] You can go into discovery land. As long as there's not a child standing on one, you can pull up a bit off the floor.
[00:37:07] If you want to take more than one. If you want to take 12 and build an altar out of them, then feel free.
[00:37:14] But I believe there's testimonies of what the Lord has done in this place.
[00:37:19] Some of you will write stories about what the Lord has done here.
[00:37:25] Who's given their life to Jesus in this building?
[00:37:30] Come on, raise your hand nice and high, would you? Come on.
[00:37:34] Amazing.
[00:37:38] Amazing hands all over this room.
[00:37:43] If it was just one of you, it would have been worth it.
[00:37:50] Because one life saved is the greatest miracle there ever is.
[00:37:56] In a moment, I'm going to give some people the opportunity to be the last people to give their lives to Christ in this room.
[00:38:08] I wonder what encounters you've had with the Lord.
[00:38:12] I wonder what faithfulness you've shown.
[00:38:14] I wonder what sacrifice you've given.
[00:38:18] I wonder what your testimony will be.
[00:38:24] Lord Jesus, we thank you.
[00:38:29] All our lives you have been faithful.
[00:38:33] All our lives you have been so, so good.
[00:38:37] We thank you, Lord Jesus, for your kindness and your mercy.
[00:38:46] All my life you have been faithful. Faithful.
[00:38:50] Feel free to stand with me.
[00:38:53] All my life you have been so, so good.
[00:39:00] With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. Sing that again. All my life you have been faithful.
[00:39:15] All my life you have been faithful.
[00:39:21] All my life you have been so, so good.
[00:39:29] With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.
[00:39:42] Hallelujah.
[00:39:47] We honor you, Lord.
[00:39:50] We honor your presence.
[00:39:53] We honor every miracle.
[00:39:56] And as we cross over this threshold now from one chapter into the next.
[00:40:02] Help us to stay really close to you, Lord.
[00:40:06] Help us to be sensitive to the leading of your spirit.
[00:40:10] Help us to follow faithfully.
[00:40:12] Help us to keep trusting.
[00:40:15] Help us to trust even when we don't know the conclusion.
[00:40:20] Help us to have peace in the mystery of following you.
[00:40:26] And Lord, I thank you for hundreds and hundreds of miracles across this place.
[00:40:32] So, Lord, I pray your blessing upon our lives.
