Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Well, one of the things I love as a father and I've enjoyed in the journey is see my children go from milestone to milestone. How many people have enjoyed that as a parent, seeing your children achieve their first thing? I remember Josiah's first football game, where he scored his first goal. I remember Rosie's first dance recital. She did her dance, and she must have been four at the time, and everybody clapped at the end of the dance. And so she went off the stage and everyone was clapping and she enjoyed it so much that she ran back onto the stage and took another round of applause.
[00:00:38] I love how Zoe, she is such a creative designer of things. The first clay model that she made, she's now created a whole world of clay creations and is doing stop motion. But I love that our children have achieved their first. And it's such an incredible experience to watch in the early days, things like learning which shoe goes on which foot. Foot. Well, I think we've got that bit right now.
[00:01:08] You've been tall enough to reach the door handle or the snack cupboard.
[00:01:13] Our kids are always hitting those milestones, but in most cases, there are wet beds before dry nights. There's tears, as the shoelaces can't be tied this day, but maybe tomorrow we'll be able to tie them.
[00:01:29] And as tempting as it is as a parent, sometimes we want to just dive right in and we want to help them, and we can, but it's the journey of walking alongside them as they grow.
[00:01:42] Part of their growth towards maturity comes from doing, failing, giving it their best shot, and then falling down again and going again.
[00:01:51] Our rules as a family, they're pretty simple. Take risks, make mistakes, take responsibility. I found myself as a parent in the early days. Oh, be careful, be careful, be careful, be careful, be careful. If we teach our children to be careful, they don't take the risks they need to now. We need to teach them how to make good decisions. But if a child's climbing a step that's one foot high, let them do it, because they'll fall down and they might hurt themselves. Now, if they're climbing off that balcony there, Wisdom says you step in, but come on. So we said to our children, take risks, make mistakes, take responsibility. I remember one day I was home. I was working up in the upper floor of our home, and I heard this smash. And I knew it was a window. We had a rumpus room down below. There were about six windows. And Josiah would kick what should have been the softball up against the wall and practicing his football skills. And we Had a rule, just the softball, not the proper football.
[00:03:01] So I heard the smash, had a quick listen to hear there wasn't a blood curdling scream of blood pouring out of her body.
[00:03:08] So I didn't rush down. Amy wasn't there, which was probably good.
[00:03:13] And I just wandered down the stairs and there was my son in the corner and I'm going to have to pay him five pounds for telling this story but it's okay, he'll benefit from it. And there he is in the corner and he's crying. I said, what happened buddy?
[00:03:29] I broke a window. I said, I can see that.
[00:03:33] I said, are you okay? Have you hurt yourself? He says, no, I'm okay, I'm okay.
[00:03:39] I said, we've got three rules in our house, don't we buddy? Take risks, make mistakes. I said, which step are we up to? Take responsibility.
[00:03:50] I said, what should we do? Can I help you clean it up? I said, yeah, you can do that. I said, you get a couple of these big pieces and I'll take care of the rest. I said, what else could you do? Can I pay for the window? I said actually you can't because you can't afford the cost of this window.
[00:04:06] But I will take some of your pocket money and some of your savings and I'll cover the rest. How does that sound?
[00:04:12] And I said was it a good shot? He says, yeah, I just connected with the volley so perfectly and it just went in through the window.
[00:04:22] He learned something of that day.
[00:04:24] We learn from our failures. We learn from the steps that we take and the faltering steps that we take and we grow together.
[00:04:32] And there are so many milestones and not all milestones are great milestones. So in keeping with with the devetters, we keep it real. We're going to play a little game. You want to play a game with me? The next five statements you're going to see on the screen, four of them are true about me before I was the age of three. One of them is a lie. So you can see which one of these is true. Have we got that up there? Here we go. So A I had my stomach pumped for eating poisonous berries. B pulled a six foot bookcase on top of myself while attempting to climb it. C, almost round in a pool. D crossed a four lane motorway by myself to go for a look at river. E, swung off the top floor balcony so probably about that height and broke my leg. So how many people think A is the lie?
[00:05:19] Just give us a wave. Alright? How many think B is the Lie.
[00:05:24] How many think C is the lie? How many think D is the lie? Oh, okay, how about E? How many people think E is the lie? Well, the lie is the bookshelf.
[00:05:38] So the rest of you, your winners. Okay, I did all of those things and now all of you are saying, and what were your parents doing? Right? Come on, how many people were thinking that? Right, well, my mum and dad, they love the Lord and they have four children who love the Lord and are raising kids who love the Lord. So maybe they didn't always keep an eye on this mischievous child, but they did a pretty good job. So I wouldn't say that's a great achievement to be proud of, but one of the greatest achievements I've ever seen as a parent is seeing my child take their first step.
[00:06:11] It's cool, isn't it? It's like, you know, they shuffle, they shuffle, they crawl, they pull themselves up on the, on the, on the table and then fall down again. It's like, ah, when are you going to take your first steps? Can I just put it out there? Parents of children, it's not a race, okay? They'll get there. They will walk at some stage. Don't compare yourself to another parent and their child who started walking at 10 months old. Yeah, Honestly, just relax. And even a second child, if a second child, the first one went at 12 months and the other one hasn't moved at 15, they have just learned efficiency, right? It's like if you're prepared to expend your energy moving them around the house, they're just, they're just growing in wisdom. It's like they will get there eventually.
[00:06:59] But I know the amount of times they got up, they walked, they stumbled, and I love watching. There's about three or four children at the moment in this church that are learning how to walk. And I love watching them toddle their way and they look over their shoulder as though their parent can't catch them and they're running as fast as their little legs can take them and they stumble and they fall and they have a little cry and then they get back up again and they go again. And I love watching those first steps and that stumble that takes place.
[00:07:33] But why do we see the walk as so important?
[00:07:36] Because I think it's a part of something we call our Christian walk. Ever heard that phrase before? That we are on a Christian walk? We're on a journey. We're on a journey in our faith. And for some of us in this room today, we've been on a journey how many people have been walking with Jesus for more than 30 years? Give us a wave. Keep your hand up and wave. If it's been over 40 years you've been walking with Jesus. All right, that's me. I'm still waving. How many people over 50 years have been walking with Jesus? Come on, keep it waving. You want to see those hands? How many people have been 60 years walking with Jesus? Those hands are still waving. Come on. How many 70 year olds have been walking with Jesus? Yes, down the front, Another one there. How many? Any other I know. Brenda Harris up the back. Someone else. Anyone been walking more than 80 years with Jesus?
[00:08:27] Can I see one? Can I see one? No, not quite. Come on, let's give it up for all of those 50, 60, 70 years walking with Jesus.
[00:08:38] I want to give another round of applause for those that have begun their journey with Jesus in the last 12 months. Come on, give us a. If you have started your journey with Jesus in the last 12 months, give us a wave because I know these people. Yeah, amazing. Who else has been here? Yeah, I remember that day. That was a great day. That's so good. That's amazing. Amazing. So in this place we have people on all forms of their journey, different steps on their journey. But listen to some of the scripture that describes the walk of faith.
[00:09:11] 2 Corinthians 5, 7. We walk by faith, not by sight. Micah 6 8. He is showing you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Ephesians 5:1 2. Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Would you pray with me this morning as we unpack what it means to walk with Jesus and walk with others? Heavenly Father, we thank you for all you have done today. We thank you that miracles have taken place in our midst, that you are a God that does miracles today as you did Jesus when you walked this earth. And Father, I thank you for your love that you've shown to us in this place this morning. Lord, would you speak to us about what it means to walk with you and with others in Jesus name? Amen.
[00:10:14] For me, to walk is to walk with consistency, to walk on a journey.
[00:10:22] Some days when you're walking, you wonder, can I take another step?
[00:10:27] But you manage to get another step. Sometimes you stumble, you fall, you get up and you walk again.
[00:10:35] I Know, there are moments in our life when we rush and we run fast and we run hard. How many people have experienced those moments where it's like every day just kind of blurs into the next, where you are running so fast and it feels like there is no rest?
[00:10:54] Now, those are seasons. But can I also suggest that a season in the physical sense is also 13 weeks.
[00:11:03] And if you are running and you have been running at that pace for more than a season, then maybe there's some habits that might also need to change within your life. Because I don't think we're created to run at full pace. There is a rhythm in which God allows us to walk. He gives us seasons for growth, for pruning, bringing back to them, bring new growth. And I want to encourage us that we would walk at a pace that is sustainable.
[00:11:35] I love the 23rd Psalm. And we'll probably do a series maybe towards the end of the year or into next year, looking at the 23rd Psalm. But what we see in the 23rd Psalm is everything. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And it goes on in every part of that verse or that psalm, that song. There is great intention from the shepherd right through to. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, would you believe that God allows us to walk through valleys?
[00:12:11] I've seen it. I've experienced it. The deepest, darkest moments of my life when Amy and I wrestled through the battles that we've gone through.
[00:12:21] They are the things that have grown us the greatest.
[00:12:25] And yet God says we walk through those. We don't camp, we don't stay. That is not our lot, that is not our portion. That is a part of our journey where we walk through to where he makes us lie down in green pastures. So we have green pastures and we have dark valleys. And Jesus is saying, walk with me.
[00:12:48] Ten years ago, I ruptured my Achilles tendon. So anyone who's ever ruptured a tendon, there's this sick, horrific, nauseous feeling that you experience when that tendon goes.
[00:13:02] This is how it kind of happened. So we were about to move to the church in Whangarei, which we left. So nine years we spent leading that church. We were leaving a place called Tauranga. We'd brought two churches together, really felt God was calling us to move up. And we had two Elim churches that were not really that far apart. And so we went through the process of bringing the two churches together to become one. They ended up been able to buy their own Building and the church is now flourishing. It's just amazing what God did there.
[00:13:33] But we were about to move up. I was packing all of the boxes and I played football, I still do.
[00:13:39] And I was playing some indoor football. It was my last game before we were about to move. Amy was seven and a half months pregnant, wasn't in a good place with her mental health. Three months of insomnia had led to a pretty deep, dark place. And so I was going out for my last game of football and Amy says, mick. So she called me Mick because I'm quarter Aussie, quarter Kiwi, half Dutch. All right, so that's my beautiful mix. I don't admit the Aussie part too often, okay? But sometimes Amy likes to speak to Aussie Mick. And so she goes, mick, do you think that's a good idea, going out to play just before about to move?
[00:14:22] What if you get injured?
[00:14:25] Now, there's a reason wisdom is described as a her in the Bible.
[00:14:31] Just saying God could have chosen to say her or him when it comes to wisdom, he chose her because women have incredible wisdom. I said, babe, I'm not getting injured. I'm bulletproof. I'm 37 years old, I know what I'm doing.
[00:14:49] It was like a shotgun. Seriously, they describe it like somebody shot you in the back of the leg. And it sounded like it too. I thought, honestly, someone had jumped on the back of my leg and I'm turning around going, ref.
[00:15:02] There wasn't anyone even close to me. The detendant had ruptured and this sick feeling and it was just like, horrible.
[00:15:11] So I've got a little bit of a dilemma because Amy's staying with her parents at the stage. I'm packing the house.
[00:15:17] It's about 9:00 at night. There is no way, no way I'm telling Amy that I have ruptured my Achilles tendon. I call my dad, who's a physio, did a little video call and he did a little squeeze test. So when you squeeze the calf, the tendon should react. He says, there's no response. In fact, I could feel the gap between. So, like, I could put my finger in there. It was like, no, it wasn't there a little while ago. And so I was in a pretty bad state. And so I went to ae, they put a cast on it and it was one of those moments where I went, how do I even tell Amy this?
[00:15:58] So I went to sleep in our other house because I was packing and getting all the boxes ready and then drove back round to her mum's place where she was standing and said, funny story, not so funny. And I'm there with my moon boot. And it was not good. It was horrible.
[00:16:20] But you know what? Probably the hardest part of this journey was, was when they took the moon boot off and they said, right, time to take a step. Like, there's no way I'm taking a step, because I hadn't put any weight on this of significance for probably about 12 weeks.
[00:16:43] And they would gradually reduce the angle so that I could then walk.
[00:16:50] And then they're saying, you step on it. I'm like, it's not ready to be stepped on.
[00:16:54] I know what happened 12 weeks ago and I don't want that to happen again. And the specialist says, no, no, no, you have to walk on it. Like you walk on it. I was like, this is not.
[00:17:05] And I had to take the step.
[00:17:09] I had to commit to that step.
[00:17:13] And I wonder if in our Christian journey, sometimes we trip, we fall, we make a mess, we get it wrong, even face plant and hit the ground and God invites us to get up and walk again.
[00:17:31] I wonder if anyone said, can't do it, won't do it. Don't feel like I can.
[00:17:38] Anyone testify to that. Moments where you said, actually, I don't think I can. I don't think I'm good enough. I don't think I'm strong enough. I think I'll fall again if I try. But actually, God is asking us to walk and take one step and then another, and then another.
[00:17:59] This church is called Rediscover Church.
[00:18:03] For the last 10 years, we have been rediscovering church, unblocking some of the wells of ancient times where God was doing things. And maybe we just kind of missed it. And when Mark and Nita came in, they really sensed that it was a time to rediscover what church would be like. And this morning, this was church.
[00:18:25] This was us laying hands on the sick and seeing the miraculous and giving our hearts to God and worship and our young people and our kids just doing amazing things for God.
[00:18:36] And I wonder if in this next season, in fact, I don't wonder. I know in this next season, it's time for us to rediscover another aspect of church, and that's to rediscover discipleship.
[00:18:50] Now, the moment I say this word, a few people go, ooh. It kind of feels a little bit like when I say evangelism, some of you go, evangelism, love it. Fantastic. And 90% will go, whew no, thank you.
[00:19:05] I believe God is asking us to go on a journey of steps, to rediscover discipleship.
[00:19:14] Now, as we go through this. This is just a. This is a soft entry. Okay, I'm giving you a soft entry. It's going to be a journey that we will walk through over the next few months.
[00:19:25] But I have benefited from someone discipling me over many, many years.
[00:19:31] Different people at different times, speaking into my life.
[00:19:36] Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. I'm not going to unpack that verse today, but it comes with a promise. He's going to be with us.
[00:19:47] First of all, his authority is given to us. So there's a promise of his power.
[00:19:52] But secondly, there's also the promise that says, and I will be with you always, even into the ends of the age. So there's the power, but there's also his presence that Jesus offers to us on that journey.
[00:20:08] So I want to talk this morning about three walks that we need to have in our life. The first one is our walk with God. Our walk with God, Genesis 3. 8. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. So before Adam and Eve sinned, they would spend the day working, doing what God had asked them to do, being a good steward of all that he'd given them. And in the evening, in the cool of the night, they would walk together.
[00:20:41] Can you imagine? Just imagine what that felt like to walk with God.
[00:20:47] How was your day? Adam had a great day. Named a hippopotamus today. God goes, wow, how'd you come up with that name?
[00:20:56] Can you imagine just walking with God as though it was the most natural thing to do?
[00:21:04] Well, that is our portion. That is what God offers us every single day of our lives. Through the work of Jesus on the cross, through his resurrection power, we get to walk with God daily. Jesus says, I will give you my spirit to empower you to be my witness.
[00:21:25] So we can walk daily with Jesus because of the work of the cross. Now that's good news, right? That's great news.
[00:21:34] So we can have a walk with God.
[00:21:39] The challenge is, how is my walk with God going?
[00:21:44] I think if we were to have a conversation in our seats with each other, and I won't today, but I wonder if each of us would say, you know what? My walk is a little faltering, or actually my walk has never been stronger than it's been before.
[00:22:02] What I love is that God wants to walk with each of us individually. It's not the special people, it's not the anointed people, because we're all anointed. We had an incredible message from Mark just a couple of weeks ago that we are all anointed. We are all appointed to do the work of the ministry. So each of us have that incredible privilege of walking with God. But walking with God is a choice that I make. I wake up in the morning and I walk with Him.
[00:22:33] But my dream for all of us is that our walk would be one of joy.
[00:22:40] Sometimes I look at some Christians and think a smile wouldn't go wrong on your face.
[00:22:47] If you're happy and you know it, tell your face, come on, you've been saved, you've been set free. You are free to walk with Jesus.
[00:23:00] Just remind your face every now and then.
[00:23:06] We get to walk with God.
[00:23:09] Okay, here's the challenge. I've stumbled, I've fallen, I've torn my Achilles. Spiritually, whatever you want to call it, God says, walk again.
[00:23:21] Now, he is the specialist, which means if he says, walk again, he knows that you can, with his power, with his presence, walk again. I think so many of us are caught up in the condemnation of the enemy. There's two things that start with C. Conviction. Condemnation.
[00:23:45] Condemnation is from the enemy. He says, your past, your mess.
[00:23:51] It disqualifies you from God's love. That's condemnation. That's a guilt and a weight that you should not be walking with. Conviction identifies sin in our lives. Disobedience, offence, unforgiveness, an attitude, gossip, whatever it is. Conviction goes, that was wrong. To which we respond, it was wrong. God, please forgive me. And I go make things right with the person that I did something wrong to.
[00:24:23] And then I walk in freedom.
[00:24:25] Because there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so my encouragement, walking with God. I don't know what your walk with God is like, but are you walking in condemnation or constant revelation of conviction?
[00:24:41] And this is a. The conviction is the grace of God saying, walk in relationship with me.
[00:24:49] So it's just daily it's like, oh, don't know if that was a good thought. God, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. He goes, forgiven. Now keep walking in freedom. You make a mess. I know none of us husbands have ever said something we shouldn't to our wife, right?
[00:25:04] Don't hold onto that for four weeks.
[00:25:06] Just ask for forgiveness, make things right and walk in freedom with God.
[00:25:16] I love this verse and my mind, when I Read Scripture. Sometimes I have these pictures. I'm a visual person, so I have these images and pictures. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
[00:25:28] There's this picture of, you know, a young child taking their faltering first step. And most of us, we catch our child on their first step, right? It's like they're about to take their first step. They stumble, but they don't know how to take the second step. And so they kind of fall into the arms of the parent that catches them.
[00:25:46] And I just have that picture. I've always had that picture. As I've read this passage, draw near to God, and almost before my feet touch the ground, God draws near to me.
[00:25:59] So it's like the step of faith that's met with God's loving arms. That's the picture I have of draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
[00:26:08] The second thing that I believe that God is asking us to do is to walk with friends. First walk with God, but walk with friends. Hebrews 10, 24, 25. Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. Did you know it's possible that we can get into bad habits as humans? Did you know that?
[00:26:40] And if we don't have somebody around us to help us, the likelihood of those bad habits becoming deeply ingrained in our lives, that increases.
[00:26:52] I've got an accountability partner. We looked at our stomachs and said, ain't working like they should. And so we've got this little conversation that's going on. It's like, how you doing? How's that body fat going down?
[00:27:07] Bit of accountability. Not a bad thing, right? It's good. It's good.
[00:27:12] We gotta walk with friends. Craig Rochelle, he said, show me your friends and I'll show you your future.
[00:27:19] We had Tim Alford preach last night. We're going to get him down and preach on a Sunday. He leads the limitless youth across the nation. And he said, if you take your the average of five friends that you hang out with, that would sum up your life.
[00:27:37] So you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. He also said, ouch. That could be an ouch for some people.
[00:27:45] You think of the five people that invest in your life the most is that might go up or down in terms of character.
[00:27:58] Some decisions we need to make, right about the people that we associate with who are the people that are investing into our lives?
[00:28:06] Last night I watched over in that corner right where the Minto family are sitting together. I watched five young men aged 11 to 14 years old as the call was made, who's going to stand up and step out? Who's going to do that? These five young men, 11 to 14 years old, stood. They had their arms around them from our young people, from our youth ministry. They were kind of arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, ranging in heights, different stages of puberty. But I'll tell you what, I was just weeping as I saw those five young men standing together. And I went, if they stick together over the next five to six years, when they are released into adulthood, they will be so much further ahead if they try and do it on their own.
[00:29:00] I was so blessed to see that. My question is, who's got their arm around your shoulder? Who's walking with you? Who are the people that are sitting in your life?
[00:29:12] Life groups. This is the place where discipleship takes place, when we gather together around the word of God and the collective wisdom within the room. I want to encourage you, if you're not in a life group group, find a way to build that into the rhythm of your week and of your month. Because as you walk in relationship with others, you will grow. I promise you.
[00:29:40] God exists within relationship. Father, son, spirit. He wants us to do the same in relationship.
[00:29:49] And as the team come this morning, I want to give us our third one. We walk with God, we walk with friends.
[00:29:58] And we walk with another generation.
[00:30:01] We walk with another generation. Judges, chapter 2, verses 6 to 10.
[00:30:08] After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him, those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Joshua, son of nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. That's a good life lived. They buried him in the land he'd been allocated at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
[00:30:37] And this is one, I think, of the most tragic verses in the Bible I've read this before.
[00:30:43] After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.
[00:30:56] This passage is one of the passages that convicted my heart so much to say, I will spend the rest of my life investing in generational ministry, seeing generations connected for his glory.
[00:31:13] Church we're only one generation away from our kids not knowing the Lord and what the Lord has done.
[00:31:23] Just one now, whose responsibility is it to disciple my children?
[00:31:31] It's mine. First and foremost, the majority stakeholder. That's me.
[00:31:39] However, I also know that my kids need others that will disciple them.
[00:31:49] I want to see and hear and be around the wisdom of those who have gone before me.
[00:31:56] I sat with an amazing woman, 90 years old, lost her husband seven years ago. Could have said, I'm done. Yeah, I've lived my life. She is still charging, still longing to speak into the next generation. So give me some girls. I want to lead some girls and take them in Bible studies.
[00:32:17] I need it. We need it, right?
[00:32:20] Because I don't know what I don't know until I know it.
[00:32:29] I love this church. I love the heart of this church.
[00:32:34] To reveal the glory of God to the Southwest and beyond. I love this.
[00:32:40] And how do we make sure that this continues? We don't let a generation go.
[00:32:47] The pressures that are on our children and our young people, they haven't gone through depression or a war. Sometimes we can go. They're a soft generation. No, they're not. They're not a soft generation. The pressures they are facing and going through, they need love, they need wisdom, they need authenticity, they need character through conversations, being real with them, talking about the stuff that kind of hurts a little bit and saying, but God is with you and he's walking with you.
[00:33:23] And discipleship is generational.
[00:33:28] Just starting a discipleship group and we've got a range of 17 years old to 70 something love. It can't wait to sink my teeth into discipleship across these generations.
[00:33:42] What would it look like if everybody had an arm around their shoulder?
[00:33:49] Here's my dream.
[00:33:51] That we wouldn't believe for 20 salvations on a. In a year or 50 or 100, but we would find a hundred people or 10. I'll take 10. Just 10 would be enough for me.
[00:34:05] He says, I will walk and disciple someone who gives their life to Christ.
[00:34:12] You might only be two years ahead of them in your journey. You might even be a week ahead of them.
[00:34:18] It's not as hard as we think it is.
[00:34:22] And I can't wait over these coming weeks and months to release us all into discipleship.
[00:34:30] Because let me just say it this way. When Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations, he was giving us a command with his promise of power and his presence.
[00:34:45] And if we haven't had the privilege of discipling someone, then we're Actually missing out on some of the adventure that God's called us to.
[00:34:57] What I want to do this morning is I want to pray.
[00:35:01] I want to pray for us all.
[00:35:03] But I wonder if today you felt like God saying, I want you to just take a step in faith. And it might be a step of faith today, not necessarily something that is action that will come in the weeks to come.
[00:35:18] But I wonder if you would be prepared, as I pray this prayer, to stand in your seat and say, I need to take another step with my walk with God. Or maybe I need to take another step or a first step in my relationship with others friends. I gotta find some friends around me. And maybe others are saying, you know what? I need to reach out to a generation above or below, because I need it.
[00:35:48] Here's what's exciting. Church is already happening.
[00:35:52] A couple of weeks ago, we put out the call. Who would be able to host some students in their homes? Well, we had 24 students say, I'm in for a free meal. Come on, students.
[00:36:02] I know the baked beans you're cooking and noodles. All right, you're after a decent meal. That's great. We had 15 to 16 hosts respond and say, yeah, come around to my place.
[00:36:16] That's about 10% of our church connecting. That's the start of discipleship. We don't know where these relationships will go, but what we do know is that when they gather together and they have a conversation, you're going to grow. And I want to encourage you students, come on, give us a wave. If you're a student, you're studying. Amazing. Love you guys.
[00:36:38] I know you love to hang there, and I love that you love being together. But can I set out a challenge that when you come in on a Sunday. Sunday, Go find someone else.
[00:36:50] We need you. We need what you carry. We need the life, the passion that you carry.
[00:36:56] I don't want to. Just a pocket of students. I know you like to stay together, but there is a richness in this place that you can grow from. Encourage them.
[00:37:07] Step out, step out. We're all not that scary, I promise.
[00:37:13] But here's what I encourage you to do. When you go and you have a meal, say, can you tell me your story and the hardest moment of your life and how God helped you through that?
[00:37:23] Ask for that story, and then ask them to pray for you. And then those of us who are hosting, find out what their holy discontent is. Why are they studying? Why are they doing law? Why are they becoming doctors? Because there's something inside of them that wants to grow and wants to help this world. And then get them to pray for you.
[00:37:46] And look at what happens. The generations walking together.
