1 00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:02,480 If we've not met before, my name's Chris. 2 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:07,320 I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm going to be speaking this 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,400 morning. I've got into a new little habit 4 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,920 on a Sunday morning of I have a coffee to start with, and then I 5 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:18,120 refill it with hot water when it's just about finished. 6 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:19,800 So it's a sort of murky look. Can you see this? 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,760 It's really nice. It's one of those things you 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,040 know, sometimes you'd like. I only ever drink green tea if I 9 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,440 met A maybe like an Asian food place and it tastes brilliant in 10 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:31,480 that context, but I don't tend to have it elsewhere. 11 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,320 This is becoming a Sunday morning thing for me, kind of. 12 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,320 It's quite nice. Too much coffee gets me too 13 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,640 amped. So it's quite a nice, good day. 14 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:47,080 So my name's Chris. I've been speaking this morning. 15 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,600 Hi Tom, nice to see you. And my, the theme for this 16 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:52,960 morning is being led by the spirit. 17 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:57,120 And I'm conscious that often when I speak, I'm, I'm sort of 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,760 laying out plans and sort of strategies and sort of this is 19 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,240 where we're going. And, but actually some of the 20 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,200 talks that I like listening to the most are talks when you're 21 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,520 just kind of soaking in what is it like to know Jesus and what 22 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:11,880 is it like to follow? What is it like to follow God? 23 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,560 And so I'm, I'm trying, my aim is that this talk will be more 24 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:16,680 in that sort of space. It's not a kind of an action 25 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,240 plan, a kind of strategy for the city. 26 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:23,240 It's a really I wanted to speak into the just a life of walking 27 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:24,840 with Jesus, a life of following God. 28 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,200 And I'm hoping that as we do that we'll just, we'll just be 29 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,360 encouraged and different things will speak to different people 30 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,040 and, and it will be an encouraging time in being in the 31 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,000 kind of the world view, the mindset, the Spirit of God 32 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,080 together. We're doing a bit of a review 33 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,560 actually, as elders at the moment on we go through kind of 34 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,280 different areas of the church doing review different areas. 35 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,680 Maybe we're looking at our teaching and our, and our talks 36 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,320 and something that came out of our meeting on Wednesday was 37 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:55,240 the, the, the idea of a talk on on a Sunday. 38 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,760 It's not, it's not a sort of a it's not quite like a Ted talk 39 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,240 in terms of information, but the, the, the desire is it when 40 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,720 we get together as church like this is that I'm not just 41 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,600 winning you over with my clever ideas, but actually together. 42 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,840 We are sitting in the in the presence of God in the in the 43 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,080 Scriptures. And there's something of an 44 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,720 encounter with God that we are looking to have looking to, for 45 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,560 the life of Jesus to become real to us, the Spirit of God to be 46 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:23,240 speaking to us in our present time. 47 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,760 So inspired by that, I'd like to pray, Lord, that as we have this 48 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:33,160 time together now in your word and as, as I, as I speak, I want 49 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:38,120 to pray that for us as a, as a church family, visitors and, 50 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:40,960 and, and, and regulars alike, that this is a time when you, 51 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,320 you feed us, you encourage us, you inspire us, you deepen us, 52 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,400 you strengthen us. Pray that this is a moment of 53 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:54,640 encounter with you that brings us life in Jesus name, Amen. 54 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,080 So I'm going to share a few things and then I'd love to 55 00:02:58,080 --> 00:02:59,600 finish. We'll finish, I'll finish 56 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,280 speaking at least by 12 at the latest, and then we'll have some 57 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,760 time to, to pray and love to have some time to pray together. 58 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,000 So the theme of this. Oh, thanks, Andrew. 59 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,880 It's a nice moment of quiet as we're going into the new year. 60 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,360 Or, you know, some of you just heard Charlie's news for the 61 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,600 first time and might be, might feel the weight of that. 62 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:27,640 And, and yeah, I, I certainly have, and I've been tracking 63 00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:29,440 with him for some time. I found what he said this 64 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,440 morning about, did you hear what he said about when we're 65 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,440 triggered, it can be like a sort of, he talked about a bull's eye 66 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,760 on a dartboard. And, and, and we can kind of try 67 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,480 and avoid those, those pain points or those triggering 68 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,560 points or actually they're places that we can meet with God 69 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,400 in quite profound ways. And, and I think that's, that's 70 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,400 increasingly been my experience as I've been walking with Jesus 71 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,120 and I shared with shared with you as a church back in 72 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,040 November, Alice and I shared that we'd actually been quite 73 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,800 discouraged towards the instead of third, second-half of last 74 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:04,920 year. We were already we're battling 75 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:07,760 with discouragement personally in ways that we hadn't before. 76 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,520 And, and to kind of update on that, I, I think now I'm feeling 77 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,560 wonderfully strong in my faith in a, in a kind of a gentle and 78 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,200 a quiet way. And I think what I think what 79 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:23,480 that, what that time of there's some time of darkness. 80 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,680 Really for me, what that time did is it sent me into needing 81 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,840 God, seeking Jesus in a, in a kind of refresh and a more kind 82 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:32,160 of humble and a broken way, probably deconstructed some of 83 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,560 my pride and some of my self-reliance and just a sort of 84 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:42,160 simple coming back to Jesus, You know, he lived and he died and 85 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,400 he rose from the dead. And these things are true and 86 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,160 they carry me and they transform me. 87 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,200 So, so I, I coming into 2026 from in a kind of gentle and 88 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,480 sort of humble sort of, I've always even had a sort of weak 89 00:04:55,480 --> 00:05:00,960 place of like of actually hopeful expectation of, of 90 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,520 walking this year with God and, and, and I'm excited about that. 91 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,960 And I'm and I'm and I'm really up for it and say I want to look 92 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,880 at a couple of passages that give us insight into what it's 93 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,360 like to be led by the Spirit of God, which is certainly my 94 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:23,400 desire, desire this year. And the first one is from the 95 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:28,120 Old Testament. It's from Zechariah chapter 4. 96 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,040 Yeah, chapter 4, verse 6. And I've got it, I've got it on 97 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,320 the screen here. You can find it in the Bibles on 98 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:36,240 the table if you'd like to as well. 99 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:38,480 So this is this is what's going on here. 100 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,960 Bit of context. Israel is in quite a broken down 101 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,720 state as a nation. They I wonder if I do, should I 102 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,600 do a really quick run through of the Bible creation? 103 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,200 So Adam and Eve well created Noah's flood. 104 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,120 Things go wrong. God speaks to Abraham and says 105 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,200 to Abraham, I'm going to make you into a mighty nation and 106 00:05:58,200 --> 00:05:59,320 bless the whole world through you. 107 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:03,040 That's the start of Israel. Abraham has Isaac and Jacob and 108 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,360 and they're going to go on from there, the generations and then 109 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,080 Israel goes on and they say we want to have a king. 110 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,280 We want to have a king that the nations around us and so God 111 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:14,400 says, OK, I'll give you a king, but it's not ideal. 112 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,640 So it starts off Saul is Israel's first king and and he's 113 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:24,480 quite a a self self focused man does a lot of damage for Israel. 114 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,720 Then David is the second king and he's really a a king in the 115 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,520 spirit of or later see more fully realised than Jesus. 116 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,160 That's a man after God's own heart. 117 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,320 And Israel really flourishes through the time of David and 118 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,520 then his son Solomon. And that's the kind of the 119 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:41,160 golden age of Israel when it's people are coming from other 120 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:42,840 nations around the world to visit Israel. 121 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,480 But in the subsequent generations of kings, Israel 122 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,360 repeatedly turns away from worshipping God and it does 123 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,840 things as what it sees right in its own eyes. 124 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:55,360 And this is sort of self destruction that comes from a 125 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,200 nation doing things and according to their own wisdom 126 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,240 without worshipping God. And after time, after time, God 127 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,160 says, if you keep on doing this, you're destroying yourselves and 128 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:05,920 you're going to be taken away into exile. 129 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:08,680 And so that happens. So then Israel is then taken 130 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,560 away into exile. They're going to Babylon and, 131 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:15,080 and, and the, the wonderful city of Jerusalem is destroyed. 132 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,440 The temple is destroyed. But God's whispering through the 133 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:21,600 prophets all the time, I'm going to bring you back. 134 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,280 I'm going to bring back a greater restoration. 135 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:25,240 I'm going to deal with the problem of the human heart, 136 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,640 which is always the problem which was needed to be rectified 137 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:30,640 and these whispers that point towards Jesus. 138 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,040 And in the meantime, he also says, I'm going to bring you 139 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,840 back and I'm going to make another temple in Jerusalem and 140 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,720 I'm going to restore you. And this is all the precursor 141 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,400 before we get to to the end of the Old Testament. 142 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:44,320 And then Jesus comes and in this ultimate fulfilment, But in that 143 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:49,440 time of saying to Israel, you're going to come back and build a 144 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,320 second, another, another temple. The nation actually is in quite 145 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,520 a vulnerable and weak place, you know, very different to the time 146 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,840 of David and and Solomon when it was so powerful. 147 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,360 And it's into that context that this prophet Zechariah is 148 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,480 speaking and he's encouraging the people of Israel, saying, 149 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,120 saying, walk with me. And I'm going to I'm going to 150 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:09,880 restore you. I'm going to rebuild this 151 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:11,960 temple. And I'm also going to do 152 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,280 something fuller in humanity through the coming of Christ 153 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:17,360 that he's whispering about. So this is the context here. 154 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,480 There's a man called Zerubbabel. He's a priest who's leading the 155 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,880 building of the temple. And Zechariah says to him here, 156 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,360 he says, this is the word of the Lord to you, Zerubabbel, not by 157 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:31,000 might nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord. 158 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:34,559 So with our question of like, what does it mean to be led by 159 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,480 the Spirit? I've been studying this passage 160 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:41,039 and looking at this passage and I think I've often looked at 161 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:45,360 this just sort of skim Reddit and thought, ah, it's not by our 162 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,120 own efforts that God does stuff, but it's this kind of cosmic 163 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,400 sort of ray gun by which the Holy Spirit will ZAP things and 164 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,360 sort everything out. And so that that's the, that's 165 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:56,600 the kind of key to the Christian life. 166 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,200 That's how. But actually, on a bit more sort 167 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,440 of a closer inspection of, of this passage, that's not really 168 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,800 what's going on. God's not saying I'm just going 169 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:11,680 to cosmically do it for you by this plasma gun of my spirit 170 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:15,720 sort of thing. But looking at the, the Hebrew 171 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,040 of these words. So this is originally written in 172 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:23,520 Hebrew and the word might, which is I think I can bring it up 173 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:28,320 here, the word might in Hebrew is hail. 174 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:30,960 Hail. And what might means is, is a 175 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,160 kind of military strength, wealth, social power, 176 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,280 institutional might. It was the kind of might that 177 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,480 that King David had that Solomon had in those days when they 178 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:42,640 could just, they could just they, they brought in treasures 179 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,320 from around the world to build the temple like the most 180 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,160 precious stone, the most precious timber and stuff came 181 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:49,720 from all over the place to to build this. 182 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,720 It was, it was a real it was an empire, you know, at its peak at 183 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:55,640 it was doing doing so. But but interesting there. 184 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,120 He's saying not by that. That's not the means by which 185 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,120 you're going to build this temple Zura bubble and the and 186 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:02,360 the second. So there's the there's the 187 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,400 military might in the form of a tank. 188 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:10,600 And then nor by power. And this word power is KOA in in 189 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:11,520 Hebrew. I'm sure that's how you 190 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,640 pronounce it. And it means it means kind of 191 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:19,560 the personal and to the political power and capacity and 192 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:21,800 strength and ability. So the sort of ability of an 193 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:23,720 individual to to sort of win you over. 194 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,000 So I've got like a little persuasive looking person as an 195 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:30,480 image as an image there. And and so he's saying not by 196 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,040 not by military might, not by the great power of this 197 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,920 incredible oratorial or charismatic leader or, or, or, 198 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:41,080 or crafty politician, but by my spirit says the Lord. 199 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:47,280 And what he goes on to say is that is that in in verse verse 200 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:49,360 8, then the word of the Lord came to me. 201 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,440 The hands of Zerah bubble have laid the foundation of this 202 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,960 temple. His hands will also complete it. 203 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,800 So how is the way the spirit is going to complete the building 204 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,120 of the temple? It's through this person Zerah 205 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,440 Bubble, who actually is is in quite a position of weakness and 206 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,880 he hasn't got this great army and great resource behind him 207 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:12,440 and he hasn't presumably got quite the same winsome 208 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:14,000 personalities maybe King David had. 209 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,800 I don't I don't know, but God is saying that the Spirit of God is 210 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,160 going to work through zero bubble to complete this building 211 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,240 of the temple. And I just, that's my first 212 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,320 passage that I wanted to look at is that, and I find real 213 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:28,560 encouragement that there's and the God, and we see this 214 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:30,760 throughout the Bible, don't we? God will often take people to 215 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,360 quite weak places of weak weakness in order to, and we see 216 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,480 that same many times in the stories in the Old Testament. 217 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,720 And we see it in the people that he chooses to use in the New 218 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:42,080 Testament. And the way he uses them is, is 219 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:47,520 that weakness is not a an absence of God, but it's a but 220 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:49,560 it's a place of opportunity for God. 221 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:53,440 And so I think part of being led by the spirit is and it, and it 222 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:55,600 also is everybody had to probably, you know, really crack 223 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:57,800 on with the kind of nuts and bolts of the difficult stuff. 224 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:01,840 It wasn't like, great, I'll just rack up this temple 2.0 easy 225 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:03,880 job. You know, we see there's a lot 226 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:05,920 of battling, there's a lot of discouragement to overcome. 227 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,360 And there's, there was a material drama, challenge, 228 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,320 effort, energy draft that was required in the building of the 229 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,000 temple. And, and, and sometimes we can 230 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,360 say that that can't be God. It was too difficult. 231 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,280 You know, we if, if it's the Holy Spirit, it must be easy. 232 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,320 There must be this sort of, you know, turbo charged. 233 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,440 But I find encouragement here that actually God works through 234 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:30,960 us in a, as in a place of weakness, often in a, in a 235 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,720 broken and challenging world being led by the Spirit. 236 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:39,040 And then the second passage I want to look at is in Acts 237 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:43,400 chapter 10, when Peter has this vision, that is the starting 238 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,200 point for the church expanding beyond just the Jewish world 239 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:51,280 into people like me. I'm not Jewish, probably most of 240 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:56,760 us here aren't Jewish, but Peter had this vision which propelled 241 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,000 the church into the rest of the world. 242 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,040 And it's, it's a cool, I like that. 243 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:03,840 That's one reason that I like this is because I've been to the 244 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,080 place where Peter had this vision and I've got some 245 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,960 pictures here. This is this is Tel Aviv beach 246 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:13,000 and Alice and I went with filming Biblios, her Bible 247 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,880 course in 2018. We had this brilliant time 248 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,240 buzzing around Israel, visiting all the different locations for 249 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,600 filming. And this is I think our last 250 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:23,640 day. Tel Aviv beach is just up the 251 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:30,000 road from Jaffa or, and this is, so this is probably like from 252 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,720 that beach view, I don't know, 20 minute walk, just sort of 253 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:35,320 South. And this is the altitude Jaffa. 254 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:37,480 And this is Simon the Tanner's house. 255 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,400 And Simon the Tanner, as we'll read about in a minute, was the 256 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,360 man who's where Peter was staying when he had this vision 257 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,120 of a net being let down with all these impure animals. 258 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:50,760 And God was saying to him through this vision that the 259 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:54,760 church, the message of Jesus that is no longer just, I'm not 260 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,280 confining it just to the Jewish community anymore, but it's for 261 00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:59,760 that, but it's for everybody. And I found this to be one of 262 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,360 the most powerful places that I went to, went to the tomb where 263 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:05,720 they think Jesus might have been buried and, and lots of other 264 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,800 sites around and Israel. But I found this, I don't know, 265 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,160 maybe it's because it's the point where I get to be included 266 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:14,600 as a non Jewish person. But I found it a profound 267 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:16,400 impact. That roof, that flat roof up 268 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,880 there was the place where where this stuff happened. 269 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,120 There's Alice doing a talk just next to it. 270 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,440 Let me read. Let me read this. 271 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,080 Oh, actually to say So what I want to do as we, I'm just going 272 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,080 to read it, read the passage shortly, but I want to look at 273 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:35,160 it as we're looking at being led by the Spirit. 274 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,640 I find quite a helpful thing that these five WS of guidance. 275 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,880 And I want to just look at this passage through the lens of 276 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,960 these five WS of guidance. And so I think I've got them up 277 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:48,280 here. Here they are. 278 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:50,840 And I put them on here in the order that they come up. 279 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:53,680 I think in this passage, the first one is the working of 280 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,960 circumstances, Second one is the witness of the Holy Spirit. 281 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,320 The third one is the word of God, the Bible. 282 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:01,960 The 4th 1 is the way of peace. And then the last one is the 283 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,560 wisdom of the Saints. And so we'll look at how they 284 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,400 they come up. And another piece of context 285 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,600 before we go into this passage, which again I find really 286 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:15,320 encouraging, is that the point at which Peter has this vision, 287 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,400 has this revelation is he's no longer like a kind of a new 288 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:21,240 believer in Jesus. He's no longer he's not like 289 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:25,240 fresh from his fishing boat and just starting to followed Jesus 290 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:26,640 just starting out life as a Christian. 291 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:28,200 He's actually been a Christian for many years been a 292 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:30,560 significant he's he's one of the key leaders in the church in 293 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,720 Jerusalem at this point. He's preached on at Pentecost 294 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,320 and he's seen thousands of people become Christians. 295 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:41,040 He's healed that crippled beggar in in front of the temple in in 296 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:46,800 Acts chapter 3 amazing miracle. He's overseen a lot of a lot of 297 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:48,760 other various challenges. He's been in prison through his 298 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:51,040 faith and he's been miraculously freed from prison. 299 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:54,640 So he's been walking with God in this way, walking with Jesus for 300 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,000 many years. And, and still he hasn't got it 301 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,120 all right. Still he hasn't, He's still, 302 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,240 he's still learning. And I think this again, this is 303 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:05,720 a joy of being led by the Spirit of God, by a joy of following 304 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,200 Jesus that we're always, we're always growing. 305 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,040 I, I think Christie looking at Christie and Celebrate Recovery. 306 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,440 You know, I think you that that community does this so well. 307 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,360 It's a life of continually being transformed, continually being 308 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,840 changed. And, and, and we see that 309 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,720 happening to Peter here. So let's read the passage. 310 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,960 Let's read about this revelation that happened on this rooftop in 311 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:29,120 Jaffa. I'll read it out to us. 312 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:36,440 Acts chapter 10 from verse 9. About noon the following day, as 313 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,240 they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went 314 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,640 up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted 315 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:44,800 something to eat. And while the meal was being 316 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,360 prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and 317 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,480 something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its 318 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,040 four corners. It contained all kinds of four 319 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:56,720 footed animals as well as reptiles and birds. 320 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,520 I'll just comment on this point that these are animals that are 321 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:05,720 historically they're unclean within the Jewish religion. 322 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,160 So within the Old Testament it was, it was wrong for Jewish 323 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,280 people to eat these. These are ceremonially unclean. 324 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,319 Verse 13. Then a voice told him, Get up 325 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,960 Peter, kill and eat. Surely not, Lord, Peter replied. 326 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,160 I've never eaten anything impure or unclean. 327 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:22,440 The voice spoke to him a second time. 328 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:24,920 Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. 329 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:28,840 This happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken 330 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:31,520 back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about 331 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,280 the meaning of the vision the men sent by Cornelius. 332 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:41,080 Cornelius was a Roman, he was not a Jewish man, and he came 333 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,880 sent by a vision from God to come and find Peter. 334 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,200 So verse 17, while Peter was wondering about the meaning of 335 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:51,640 the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where 336 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,560 Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. 337 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,080 They called out asking if Simon, who was known as Peter was 338 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:57,840 there. While Peter was still thinking 339 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,200 about the vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, three men 340 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,840 are looking for you, so get up and go downstairs. 341 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:06,320 Do not hesitate to go with them, for I've sent them. 342 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:09,680 Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the one you're looking 343 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,840 for, why have you come? The men replied, We've come from 344 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,200 Cornelius the centurion. He's a righteous and God fearing 345 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,600 man who is respected by all the Jewish people. 346 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,840 A holy Angel told him to ask you to come to his house so he could 347 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:26,480 hear what you have to say. Then Peter invited the invited 348 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,080 the men into the house to be his guests. 349 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:36,320 So looking at this passage, my murky coffee, it's really nice. 350 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:40,840 So looking at the passage with five WS of guidance, the first 351 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,160 one that comes up I think is the working of circumstances and 352 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,800 going back to this location where Peter's Peter is staying 353 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,520 there he was that on that roof and that house there that 354 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:54,880 there's. So this is probably maybe like I 355 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,840 can't remember, maybe like a 45 minute drive from Jerusalem. 356 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,880 So it's on the coast of Israel and, and interestingly, it's 357 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:05,960 quite a gentile area. So there'd been lots of people 358 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,360 around who weren't Jewish. And interestingly, Peter is 359 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:11,720 staying at the home of Simon the Tanner and the Tanner. 360 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:15,400 A Tanner is someone who prepared skins, like animal skins, 361 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:17,520 leather. And and again, for a Jewish 362 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,240 person that was really unclean. You don't go near the the the 363 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,680 processing of like dead bodies of leather because because you 364 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,360 would become ceremonially unclean. 365 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:29,920 So it would but interestingly, God's got and the other thing 366 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,160 about Jaffa is it's support that's on the edge and it's a 367 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,080 place of launch really into the rest of the world is the 368 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,960 Mediterranean. So so Peter is already 369 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,240 positioned in a place where he's connecting and closer to people 370 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:45,640 who aren't Jewish than than he normally would be. 371 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,200 And if for some reason he's staying in the House of this, 372 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:52,200 this, of this Tanner of this man who again, Ceremonia, it feels 373 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:56,080 like God is setting him up to be propelled out from just the 374 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,200 exclusiveness of the, the sort of Jewish context with which 375 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,360 he's in which he's grown up so faithfully and say, well, and 376 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:06,640 then we also see that, and I haven't read this bit just for 377 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:11,960 for time really, but that that, that and Cornelius, this, this 378 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:16,320 Roman centurion has already set out to come and find Peter to, 379 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:21,440 to ask him to, to, to tell him about tell them about Jesus and 380 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,000 reveal Jesus to them as a household. 381 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,960 So there's an interesting working of circumstances, our 382 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:33,600 first W that are going on there. Secondly is the second W is the 383 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,280 witness of the Spirit. And let's take a look at the way 384 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,920 that the Spirit speaks to Peter. So just looking back at our 385 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:45,520 passage here, about noon the following day, as they were on 386 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:47,280 their journey and approach the city, Peter went up onto his 387 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:48,440 onto the roof of his house to pray. 388 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,040 So he, Peter here is keeping the kind of Jewish rhythms of the 389 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:54,720 Jewish people would typically pray three times a day. 390 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,520 And this is his noon, his midday time of prayer. 391 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:01,040 So he's got this prayer rhythm and he goes up, goes up to pray. 392 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:06,160 And as he was praying, the Spirit speaks to him in a 393 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,560 vision. And I was interested in the way 394 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,320 that he kind of has a dialogue with God in this, in this, in 395 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:14,320 this vision. He's, he's, he's told get up, 396 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:16,200 kill and eat. And he kind of responds. 397 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,800 Surely not. I've never eaten anything impure 398 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:21,120 or unclean. It's, it's got a sort of, it's 399 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:24,840 got a sort of softness and a kind of an inquiring heart to 400 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:26,160 this. He's not, he doesn't shut it 401 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,920 down, doesn't kill it off immediately soft to the voice of 402 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,360 God. And I noticed that I can 403 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:35,960 sometimes I think just be quite hard to the voice of God. 404 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:38,200 And I can dismiss it as being, oh, that can't be God. 405 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,800 I think I was saying to Charlie and Meredith on Monday, I think, 406 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,400 I think this week just gone. Just I was praying in the 407 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,000 morning and I was, and I was saying to God, really, I'm just 408 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:52,040 quite disappointed with with, with how I've been as a as a 409 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,600 parent, as as a, as a father to my kids. 410 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:59,960 And I was just, I found a lot of life just in in just expressing 411 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:02,400 my emotions to God just quite freely and quite openly and just 412 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,080 like saying where I'm at. And so, and I was just kneeling, 413 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,800 kneeling on the floor in our bedroom, just saying God, I'm, 414 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,120 you know, there are things I'd like to have done differently 415 00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:14,400 and I'd like to have. And, and as I was just there 416 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,160 kneeling on the floor in my bedroom, just praying, I felt 417 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,320 God's begin. The voice that I've come to 418 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:23,440 recognise as the voice of God just began to speak to me and 419 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,040 say and just encourage me about how I've been as a father. 420 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,320 And my instant reaction to that was go away. 421 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:32,600 That can't be, that can't be, that can't be God. 422 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:37,040 It must be myself just trying to sort of placate myself and, and, 423 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,640 and if and if I look at that, those things that I felt God was 424 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,480 saying are actually things that others who name me well have 425 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,160 said to me about my parenting. And actually I would agree with 426 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,480 them. And I think that they do make 427 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,720 sense. But I was interested in myself 428 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,200 how easily I could just swap that away and dismiss that as 429 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:56,440 being Oh no, that's just too nice. 430 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,960 And so I'm interested. I take that to this passage and 431 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,440 I think, you know, I wonder what Peter's level of sensitivity was 432 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,960 to this grown up is how old was he here? 433 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,480 Maybe I don't know, somewhere between, I don't know, 25 and 35 434 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,720 maybe. You know, he'd grown up never, 435 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,960 never eating anything impure or being around unclean stuff. 436 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,360 This is a whole change of worldview to him. 437 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,920 And yet he had this, he had this softness, softness to to him, 438 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,280 Word of God. So the third, the third W of 439 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:37,600 guidance, the word of God is that when we when we think we 440 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,920 might be hearing prophecy is it is it lines up with the lines up 441 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,280 with the teaching of the Bible, lines up with the revelation of 442 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,720 Jesus in the Bible. So it's a question here. 443 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,920 Peter's hearing this abstract thing, which is completely 444 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,520 contrary to his, to his upbringing and his religious 445 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:56,960 training and history. Why should he therefore accept 446 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:58,160 this as being God speaking to him? 447 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,400 It could just be it looks like it's a bit abstract and AWOL 448 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:04,760 actually, if we compare it to the word of God, which obviously 449 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:06,880 wasn't the New Testament, obviously wasn't written at this 450 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,080 point, but he was there with Jesus as it was all happening. 451 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:14,640 We see that that throughout the life of Jesus, Jesus was 452 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:18,840 constantly showing, showing the people that his message and his 453 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,240 life wasn't just for, wasn't just for Jews, wasn't just for 454 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,280 Israel. I'll just rattle a few a few 455 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:28,280 examples. Jesus birth the Magi, the wise 456 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,600 men come, they weren't Jewish. He goes. 457 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,040 Jesus goes into Samaria and meets the woman at the well, 458 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,920 reveals himself to her and she reveals Jesus to her whole 459 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:37,960 village. He praises the faith of the 460 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,200 Roman centurion. He heals the centurion servant 461 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,440 and said that many would come from the east and the West to 462 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,320 enter the Kingdom. He travelled across Galilee into 463 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:49,720 a Gentile area and and healed someone who is demon possessed 464 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:52,480 and sent them out as a witness to their own community. 465 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:55,040 Responded to the persistent faith of a Canaanite woman and 466 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,840 granted her request. Made a Samaritan the hero of his 467 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,040 parable of the Good Samaritan cleansed the temple and said it 468 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,800 was supposed to be a place of prayer for all nations. 469 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,520 He welcomed Greeks who sought him and spoke of drawing all 470 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:07,920 people to himself through the cross. 471 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,760 He ended his ministry by commanding his disciples to make 472 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:16,000 disciples of all nations. So the word of God spoken by 473 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,200 Jesus revealed that actually what Peter was seeing here 474 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,680 wasn't just some abstract and AWOL and different thing. 475 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,800 It was completely consistent with the with the revelation of 476 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:31,000 Jesus way of peace is our is the 4th West of guidance. 477 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,880 And throughout this description of events, Peter comes across, 478 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,640 he comes across as pitiful and he seems to sort of wonder at, 479 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,960 at what's going on. He wonders at the at the word. 480 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:44,480 And then when Cornelius comes to the house, he, he welcomes him 481 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,160 in and he's hospitable to him. And so let's, let's, let's, 482 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:54,800 let's say you can see that Peter has this peace and sense of 483 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,600 rightness about what's going on in his spirit. 484 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:01,040 And then the 5th W is witness of the Saints. 485 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,920 We don't just discern the spirits leading on our own as 486 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,400 individuals and say that God says this to me, I'm right off I 487 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:10,800 go. But we, we do, we do it in 488 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,400 community. And in this passage here, we 489 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,880 don't see that straight away, but we see in Acts Chapter 11, 490 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:18,840 after it's all happened, he goes to Cornelius's house. 491 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:22,680 The Holy Spirit is poured out on the on the believers there. 492 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,000 They come to experience all that Peter's experienced really. 493 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,560 And then Peter goes back to Jerusalem shortly afterwards and 494 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,520 the believers there, the the believers that basically rebuke 495 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,280 him, say, what are you doing? You're going into a non Jewish 496 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,600 house and you're meeting people, Peter people there. 497 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,360 And he, Peter explains all that's happened, explains the 498 00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,680 vision, explains everything. And, and, and they basically say 499 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,040 verse, Chapter 11, verse 18, when they heard this 500 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,880 explanation, they had no further objections and they praised God 501 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,360 saying say that even to Gentiles, God has granted 502 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:06,200 repentance that leads to life. So there's a quick whiz through 503 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:12,520 of Acts chapter 10. And I just like seeing the way 504 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,680 that God reveals himself to Peter, the way he speaks to 505 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,720 Peter, the way he leads him in this passage. 506 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:20,640 And I want us to have some time to pray. 507 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,360 So I want to just be quite quick in this last bit. 508 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,760 I've got a prophetic word to share with us from Liz Evans. 509 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,160 And some of you might know Liz, she's been investing in us as a, 510 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,600 as a staff team over the a bit the last year we've been Alice 511 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:34,560 and I've been tracking with her since about for about the last 512 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,200 five years or so. She's a prophetic lady and I've 513 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,120 I've learnt a lot from her. We had a good time with her 514 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,840 recently in November, we had a, an encouragement evening for a 515 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,400 prophetic encouragement evening for hopes boat and life group 516 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,600 leaders. And, and within that she shared 517 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:51,280 a prophetic word for us as a church. 518 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,240 And I just asked if she would summarise it in a little 5 519 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:59,880 minute clip that I could share with you now and wanted to speak 520 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:02,320 into it a bit more probably at the AGM in a few weeks time. 521 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,240 So really just just sort of playing it to you at this point 522 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,480 without giving much sort of explanation or context. 523 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,000 You'll probably have some questions coming off the back of 524 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,520 it. But again, leading in the spirit 525 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:17,360 for us in community, this is a bit this is just I think it's 5 526 00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:19,280 minutes long. I'm going to play this as we 527 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:23,560 come in to land if I can find it on my on my WhatsApp. 528 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,320 Here we go. Liz Evans, here she is. 529 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:29,320 OK, so here we go. Here's. 530 00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:37,120 The recording that you asked for, I realised that God has a 531 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:41,360 habit of speaking to churches and in Revelation there are 7 532 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:45,720 letters, but in those he kind of tells each of them. 533 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:50,160 I see what's going on, I see what's happening around you. 534 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,880 You're really amazing at this. There's kind of this that we can 535 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:59,000 tweak, and when we do, really when we do, amazing things are 536 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:02,360 going to happen. So when God spoke to me about 537 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:06,920 Hope Chapel in a fairly obvious and easy piece of scripture, the 538 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:12,480 Ezekiel 47 river that came from the altar, which is the place of 539 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:16,840 prayer, it made huge sense that He would use that to speak to 540 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:19,360 you. I mean, praying is a beautiful 541 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:23,040 thing and I know it gains you all incredible results. 542 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,160 And initially we brought that to the Hope boats. 543 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:30,080 But Hope is also a boat. And there are certain specific 544 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,920 things for the church in this passage that the Lord has been 545 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:38,240 showing me. And interestingly, mostly there, 546 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,800 with the exception of 1, I think you've already been speaking 547 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,760 about them. So these three things that I 548 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:49,200 think you all need to be aware of is that the first one sounds 549 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:53,640 very obvious, but there needs to be a substantial shift in order 550 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,800 to realise it. So the first one is of course 551 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,880 the out of the place of prayer, the altar, comes the place of 552 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,920 substance and presence, that the source of life, the river of 553 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,400 life is flowing. It makes the salty things fresh 554 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,800 and brings life. But it's really dependent on 555 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:15,760 going deeper. The Angel measures off 1000 556 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,120 cubits, so one is the number of source. 557 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,200 But you put zeros on anything and it's more impactful. 558 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,520 If I were to give you a cheque for 1 LB, you'd probably not be 559 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,880 very impressed, but if I added a few zeros, you would like it 560 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,560 much better. So there's a promise in the 561 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:37,440 invitation to measure off 1000 more cubits that you're going to 562 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:42,440 go deeper in encounter and in experience and carrying the 563 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,920 source of life with incredible effect. 564 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:50,120 So it's really important that we help you go deeper in encounter 565 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,760 with the source, with God. That's something that we can 566 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,880 help you do, but we're going to have to put time aside to do 567 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,880 that. Each person can also do that by 568 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,720 going into the place of prayer themselves. 569 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,480 The second thing that really came across to me in this 570 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,800 passage and that God seems to care about is to make sure that 571 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,760 your community is working well. Because if you guys are going to 572 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:21,880 be well, we're going to have to have the Ephesians 4 joints and 573 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:26,040 supply working well so that the body builds itself up in love. 574 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,640 And this is in the passage in the symbol of the Nets. 575 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,280 There's been a bit of a fraying of Nets and some people around 576 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,960 the edges are feeling a little bit disconnected. 577 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,640 It's not only important that we pull the community together 578 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,160 because God was speaking to me about how important that is. 579 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,760 It's really important so that other people can come in, then 580 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:51,480 they can feel secure. So we need to address the fact 581 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,160 that some people are feeling a little bit disconnected and the 582 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,680 Lord's seen them because he's addressing the net. 583 00:31:57,680 --> 00:31:59,760 He's addressing those joints and supply. 584 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,960 So, so far we've got bringing you into a powerful place of 585 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:10,280 encounter so that you can carry the source of God and move with 586 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,440 the source of God is a better way to put it in greater measure 587 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,360 that when he moves, you're moving because his power and 588 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,480 authority and purity is what's going to make the salty things 589 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,040 fresh, both for you and for those around you. 590 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,200 The second thing, of course, is that we need to address the 591 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,000 community so nobody feels left out and so that there's an 592 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:35,560 effective net, a web of relationships, of joints and 593 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:40,000 supply that includes everybody, including those who God is 594 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,200 bringing. And this is really on his heart. 595 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:45,680 So if you're listening to this and you're one of those people 596 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,320 who's been feeling a little bit disconnected, God is on it. 597 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,560 He cares about you and things are going to be adjusted. 598 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,520 But there was a third thing that he spoke to me, and that was in 599 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,280 the symbol that alongside the river there were two different 600 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,320 sorts of people. They were fruit trees and they 601 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,440 were fishermen. And here in the passage, we have 602 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:12,400 two different types of people effortlessly being who they 603 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:16,360 were, supplied with everything they need, and they're just 604 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,640 doing their thing. And this is about identity, that 605 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:26,080 each of you has a unique identity that isn't just broad 606 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,720 Bush. I was looking out of the window 607 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:30,480 this morning and I was watching the birds. 608 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:32,880 There were great big birds sawing by. 609 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,720 There were those Magpies doing really clumsy flying. 610 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:37,600 They're clumsy little birds when they fly. 611 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,720 And they were little cute songbirds. 612 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:44,080 But each bird had a function and each bird had a song. 613 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,880 It didn't matter how big or how small they were. 614 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:53,440 And this is key, your identity is key to the body and it's key 615 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:58,200 to you effortlessly singing your song, being confident in who you 616 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:03,080 are so that you can bless everybody around you, especially 617 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,240 you. So the three things that we need 618 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:11,719 to address for hope are just firstly, to praise you all for 619 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:13,920 being this incredible place of prayer. 620 00:34:14,679 --> 00:34:17,800 Secondly, we need to make opportunities so that you 621 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:23,360 understand how and where and so that you can come into a place 622 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,199 of encounter with the source so that the power and authority of 623 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:29,880 God is flowing where you are and to you. 624 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:36,000 The second is to address matters of connection and supply in 625 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,600 community and bring everybody in. 626 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,320 And the third is to bring you into an understanding that Jesus 627 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:47,639 in Scripture says you were called this, now you're called 628 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:49,400 this. And that's a reflection of our 629 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:54,239 stories that things happen to us and maybe people give you a name 630 00:34:54,679 --> 00:35:00,440 or you take on an identity which isn't effortlessly happy, that 631 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:06,440 isn't effortlessly secure, but the identity that God birthed is 632 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:10,760 effortless and beautiful. So we need to help you 633 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:15,320 understand what is the name that He gave you and how can you live 634 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:20,400 confidently in that. And those 3 shifts are going to 635 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:26,520 mark a new day for hope. Thanks Liz. 636 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,560 So I just wanted to share to that to you just fairly rawly 637 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:31,960 and then with some more chance to talk about it and process it 638 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,800 at a late at a later date. But yeah, as we come into land, 639 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,760 I guess the key things that I've seen as I've been reading these 640 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:42,600 bits of Scripture and and, and, and, and the life thinking about 641 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:44,240 the life being led by the Spirit of God. 642 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:48,360 This this thing we saw in Zechariah around God working in 643 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:50,120 US and through us despite our weaknesses. 644 00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:53,600 And, and then in in for Peter. I just love the these kind of 645 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,800 rhythm and his lifestyle of prayer, the way that he's 646 00:35:56,800 --> 00:36:00,240 constantly learning and growing. And he's not sort of fixed on 647 00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:03,480 what he doesn't claim to have the full and complete revelation 648 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,080 of everything. But he's he's being led by the 649 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:10,240 Spirit of God in in his daily life in ways that expand God's 650 00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:13,520 Kingdom and, and just see wonderful change around the 651 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:15,680 world. And I, and you know, I always 652 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,840 feel that we as a, as a church, Liz just spoken to that a little 653 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:20,640 bit there some of our church identity. 654 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,280 And we've got this, I think a calling within the kind of 655 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,680 greater Bristol area to, to bring something quite 656 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:26,800 significant. We bring something quite 657 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:28,800 significant. We're fairly small as a church, 658 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,040 but we people often say our hope sort of punches above its 659 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:32,520 weight. And I think there's, there's 660 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:37,080 things that we do in our prayer, in our, in our daily lives and 661 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,600 our work around the city and in who we are a repentant people 662 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,120 who are constantly being changed. 663 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,240 You know, we, we have quite, we have quite an impact. 664 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,600 So I'm excited this year about pressing into more of that and 665 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:51,200 I'd love to pray a prayer for us now and then have a bit of time 666 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:56,360 for us to be prayed for, pray for each other to be to be led 667 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,680 by the Spirit this year. So Lord, I want to just just 668 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:04,240 pray for us as as hope first of all, and again, say this year, 669 00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:08,480 maybe be a church that's led by your spirit into the adventures 670 00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:12,440 into the the works of faith that you've got for us. 671 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,160 Holy Spirit, we invite you to keep on speaking to us. 672 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:19,480 We want to hear your voice, we want to be led by you and we 673 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,080 pray that you use us this year. Amen. 674 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,920 So really mindful of just kids being collected at 12:10. 675 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:33,160 We've got at least 5 minutes for those who've got kids to collect 676 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,560 and a couple of options. I actually, I just primed Tom 677 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:38,400 and Ruth asking if you'd be up for praying for people. 678 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,600 I wondered if you'd be up for coming towards the front here. 679 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:42,840 And I'll be here as well if anyone would like to come. 680 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:46,400 And we prayed for at the front by any, by any one of us three, 681 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:48,920 we'd love to do that or just pray with someone around you. 682 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,880 Or if you'd prefer just to sit and just process with God for, 683 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,320 for 5 minutes, if that's your style, then do that. 684 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:57,280 And I'm just thinking, I just want to be prayed to be filled 685 00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:59,600 with the Holy Spirit, to be led by the Spirit of God this year. 686 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,560 And let's have 5 minutes doing that when we get to 10 past. 687 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,480 Just keep an eye on it. If you've got kids and little 688 00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:09,440 gems particularly to go and whisk them out, great, there we 689 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:09,600 go.