1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,200 Father, it's just a privilege to be in your presence and with 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,880 your people, to be in your house. 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,720 Better is the moment with you than 10,000 elsewhere. 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,120 I'd rather be a doorkeeper in your house. 5 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,640 Such a privilege to be together and in your presence. 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,560 Would you speak over us this morning? 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:34,800 I pray in Jesus name. Good morning you very beautiful 8 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,040 people. You are a very beautiful people. 9 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,640 For those of you who don't know who I am, I was part of this 10 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,960 church for just over 20 years before we left 3 1/2 years ago. 11 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:56,360 We felt that I mean, we started with three CI in Hosentin wish 12 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,360 school in the in in the in the school hall. 13 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:07,040 And I've called this morning God stories. 14 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,960 The brief that Steve gave me when he asked me if I'd preach 15 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:14,680 was he he said just tell your story and frame it in the Great 16 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:18,520 Commission. So I just called it God stories. 17 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,520 And I for the last three months, the church I come from now we've 18 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,560 been going through Hebrews 11. We spent three months camping in 19 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:35,120 Hebrews 11, and the first verse of Hebrews 11 reads this verse 1 20 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,000 of Chapter 11. Now faith is the assurance of 21 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,960 things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. 22 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:49,720 When we started, I turned 55, I said to my wife, we need to pray 23 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,200 about whether this is where we die or could the I know, you 24 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,600 know, I never imagined in a million years that I'd ever go 25 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,720 anywhere else. I was the last person I ever 26 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,320 thought would immigrate. We said goodbye to many people 27 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:04,280 who are immigrating for all sorts of reasons. 28 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:06,360 But I was that I'll never do that. 29 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:08,240 You know, why would I ever want to do that? 30 00:02:09,479 --> 00:02:11,640 I just felt like this was where God had planted me. 31 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:15,720 This was my roots were deep. My friendships were long and I 32 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:17,360 thought, why would I ever do that? 33 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:21,080 And then at age 55, there was the scratching in my heart and I 34 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:25,840 said to him, I just feel like we need to pray if maybe God has 35 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,920 something else for us before we die. 36 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,160 It was a crazy thought and it was an absolutely crazy prayer, 37 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:38,680 but I prayed and and then it just grew in my heart and I felt 38 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,960 like the Lord said to me, another flock to pasta, another 39 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,360 vineyard to tend, another field to plough, another flock to 40 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,720 pasta, another vineyard to tend, another field to plough. 41 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,720 And I said to him, maybe we need to do more than pray. 42 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,360 I'd worked at the same place for 30 years. 43 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,200 I'd never had it. That was the only job I'd ever 44 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,680 had my whole life was at the University of Pretoria teaching 45 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,440 Vietnam medicine. And I said, and you know, if I 46 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,440 were, if we were going to move, it would have to be with a job 47 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,000 and the only place to go would be international because there's 48 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:16,520 no other vet schools in this country. 49 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,760 And I said, maybe we must just be crazy and put our hands in 50 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,560 the air and I must write job applications and see what 51 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,240 happens. And so I started. 52 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,320 I'd never written ACV in my life. 53 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,680 I'd never imagined I'd apply for another job. 54 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,200 I had kept no records at all of what I'd done. 55 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,480 It took me weeks to try and cobble together an academic CV. 56 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:38,880 And they went in there. I did. 57 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:40,080 I don't know how accurate it was. 58 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,360 There were no lies, but I'm sure there were many holes. 59 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,440 And I started applying for jobs all over the world and I just 60 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,840 felt like, I just want to see what happens in my heart as we 61 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,680 do this. And we applied all over the 62 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,040 world. And every time we applied, it 63 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:00,600 was like the excitement just grew. 64 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:07,120 And then I became so convinced this and you know, I'm, I'm a 65 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,760 conservative, non adrenaline junkie, non adventurer, kind of 66 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:16,920 I'm just, I'm a straight line, you know, I'm not looking for, I 67 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:21,000 would never bungee jump, you know, spiritually or naturally, 68 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,280 you know, So for me to think I'm going to take at my age, three 69 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:28,960 teenagers and a wife and just head off to the ride off into 70 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,040 the sunshine, I was like, that's not me. 71 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,920 You know, I don't need that kind of adventure in my life, not at 72 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,040 that age. But there was this thing in my 73 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,240 heart which I could not get away from. 74 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:47,040 And the 6th, I said no to a couple of authors, a bunch said 75 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:48,920 no to me, which was an experience. 76 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,800 You never think anyone would say no to you, you know. 77 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,200 And there was one last one that I applied, took like 18 months 78 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,800 of applications and interviews and one last one. 79 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,040 And I said to, I mean, one last time, never again. 80 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:09,160 This if God doesn't do this now we've put our hands up, we've 81 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:10,920 showed our colors. We said, Lord, whatever you 82 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,320 want, we'll do it. And I've never heard of this vet 83 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:15,480 school. I've never been. 84 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:17,600 I mean, I've been to America a few times, but I've never been 85 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,400 that far South. All I knew about Alabama was 86 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:24,240 Forrest Gump. And that's where we landed up is 87 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,400 Alabama in Auburn, which is a college town. 88 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,960 And I sent an application in, it was the 6th application, and I 89 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:38,920 said last time, and I knew immediately when I did that this 90 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,360 was where God wanted us to be. I didn't know a soul. 91 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,480 I'd never been there. It was COVID. 92 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:47,000 We couldn't even travel for the interview. 93 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,720 My interviews were all done on Zoom starting at 5:00 in the 94 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,000 afternoon, ending at 3:00 in the morning because of the time 95 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,560 difference. I sat in my office at night 96 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,720 doing these interviews, 3 days of interviews, 20 people you 97 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:04,920 interview and in the end I was offered the position and I just 98 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:06,160 knew. I sat with the elders. 99 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:08,880 We went through it, they felt excited about it, we all felt it 100 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:13,680 was right and we moved. I want to show you the church 101 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,480 that we ended up going to put some pictures together. 102 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:22,920 This church was planted 11 years ago by a crazy Italian American 103 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:25,800 who grew up in metropolitan Atlanta. 104 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:32,480 So he's like Steve. He likes, he likes, he's big 105 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,320 city, kind of a guy, you know, would never dream of camping. 106 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:46,000 The first meeting was a few people in a Lutheran Church 107 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,800 hall. It's been going 11 years now. 108 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:52,160 You can go to the next one, Ricky. 109 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,680 When we arrived there, the church had been meeting in a 110 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,000 converted shopping center. It had grown massively. 111 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:06,480 And as we arrived, this building was being built just as we left 112 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:08,560 this one, which had just been finished. 113 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,680 We moved there. And you know, we, we coughed 114 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:16,400 blood to pay for this place and we landed there and we'd never 115 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,160 given a cent. And we moved straight into a 116 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,480 brand new building. The church has grown 117 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:25,080 phenomenally. That building. 118 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:30,400 The first day was too small. The the guy who leads, his name 119 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,000 is Miles. You can go to the next one, 120 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:33,760 Ricky. That's the inside of the 121 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:35,320 building. It looks not too different to 122 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:40,280 this in term time. They have 5 services on the 123 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:44,480 Sunday to try and fit people in. We meet in two different places 124 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,640 across the city. People started watching online 125 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,320 in cities around the US, the Southeast, families just in 126 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,080 living rooms in Birmingham, 2 hours down the road, that's now 127 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:01,920 2000 people in the City Hall in in Nashville, just up the road, 128 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,400 it started just six months ago with a family in a lounge. 129 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,640 There's now nearly 600 people sitting in a school gymnasium. 130 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,680 The guy's really Apostolic and the Spirit just started moving. 131 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:19,000 This last Easter. We took a sports arena at the 132 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,840 university, which is almost unheard of, that a church would 133 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,600 take a university sports arena for the Easter service and they 134 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,480 were 10,000 people and you couldn't get a seat. 135 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:34,280 God is just and within a year of being there I just knew that the 136 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:36,720 the reason God moved us was his local church. 137 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,760 I always said I would never move without a local church story and 138 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:44,320 this was our local church story. When we arrived at Atlanta, I 139 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,880 had three teenagers, my wife, my precious beautiful wife who was 140 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,400 so brave, who's right with me? She said to me before we left, 141 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:54,800 she said, you know Andy, if you don't get this job, I'm going to 142 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:56,320 be more, more disappointed than you. 143 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:03,200 My first day at we left at the airport on the 4th of April 22, 144 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,280 my first day at work at the Auburn University vetting 145 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,880 school. I was felt like a grade one on 146 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,560 my first day at school. You know, I've only had two jobs 147 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:15,400 and this is only the second job I've had in my life. 148 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,200 It was the most awful experience. 149 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:23,360 It was, it's a discombobulating experience to suddenly land up. 150 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,160 Have you heard that word before? Discombobulating. 151 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:29,200 I teach my American friends new words too. 152 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,160 It's a, it's a, it's a dislocating experience to land 153 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,760 up in a new place like that. 10 suitcases, three teenagers and 154 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:41,880 my wife. Atlanta airport. 155 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,640 We went to an Airbnb in Atlanta. We knew no one. 156 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,000 We'd never been there. And we started from scratch with 157 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,320 nothing. It was crazy. 158 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:52,880 We slept on the floor for three months. 159 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,800 We bought five forks and five spoons and five plates just so 160 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,960 we had something to eat off and eat with. 161 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:01,640 And I started a brand new job, and I honestly think they 162 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:05,120 thought I was the janitor on my first day. 163 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:12,280 This crazy guy with an accent. You know, I've always felt like 164 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:17,360 I want a story. And I want God to tell this 165 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,600 story. I want my life to be lived in 166 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:25,320 fulfillment of promise. I want my life to be the product 167 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:30,880 of a relationship with Jesus where something of my faith 168 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,800 finds expression in the way I live out the life that God has 169 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,720 given me. And when I I felt when I 170 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,960 arrived, I wanted a story. I've always, since the age of 171 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,080 16, I felt like God put something in my I want a story 172 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,360 and I want God to be the teller of this story. 173 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,560 I don't want the story to be about me. 174 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,640 I want the story to be about him, but I want him to write a 175 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,840 story and I want him to write me into that story. 176 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,280 And so I felt like I need to. When I got there, I immediately 177 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,800 felt like I need to start reading stories. 178 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:07,760 And so I read Ruth and I read about Naomi, and I read about 179 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,360 Boaz, and I read about Nehemiah and I read about Hosea, and I 180 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,960 started burying myself in the stories of these men and women 181 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,200 of the Old Testament looking for God. 182 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,520 Would you fill my heart for the next phase of our lives? 183 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:23,120 I said to the kids, when we left, we were a family on 184 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:25,360 mission. I have no idea where we're going 185 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:26,800 to go and where we're going to, what we're going to do. 186 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,160 But that church, we're going to serve coffee. 187 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:34,080 We're going to just do what we've always done and I've cried 188 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:39,040 out to God, give us a story. Write us into your story load. 189 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:42,960 And you know, there's all these Old Testament stories and the 190 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:50,040 Hebrews 11 is this concentrated fire of stories of great men and 191 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:54,160 women who lived by faith that God used very, very, very 192 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,520 imperfect men and women who God used to write his story. 193 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,320 It starts in the beginning, God, and it's never ended. 194 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:11,520 And I think the biggest danger, the thing I fear most, is that 195 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:17,600 the older we become, the more distracted we become, the more 196 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:21,320 fascinated we are by the trivial and the banal and the 197 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:25,680 superficial and the stuff that doesn't matter and the weighty 198 00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:28,560 and the heavy things that matter to God. 199 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:33,040 The eternal things, the deep things that those things no 200 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,840 longer hold our attention, but we become distracted by all the 201 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:38,320 stuff that really doesn't matter. 202 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:44,320 And I felt like the last thing I want my soul to do is shrink 203 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:50,080 into smallness. And as I read Hebrews 11, I see 204 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,720 old men and women and young men and women whose souls never 205 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:58,800 shrunk back into smallness. They stepped forward into what 206 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:01,520 God had for them. Their posture was one of faith. 207 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:07,200 They leaned into expecting God to tell stories. 208 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:09,560 And you write their lines for them. 209 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:11,160 Because this story's never about you. 210 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,360 It's always about God and His glory. 211 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,200 But he chose that. He couldn't tell his story 212 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,320 without you and me and each one of us. 213 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:24,720 You know, not a single person in this Hebrews 11 has a story 214 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:26,480 anything like the guy next to him. 215 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:33,240 We live in a culture that's so competitive and so comparative 216 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,680 and so always looking to the side to see what someone else is 217 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:39,600 doing. And so comparing that we just in 218 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,800 our attempt to be different, we all just end up being the same. 219 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,560 And not a single one of these men and women told a story 220 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:48,720 anything alike the guy next to him. 221 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,560 And none of them could boast of the story that was being told 222 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:54,560 through their lives because they had nothing to do with the 223 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:57,640 story. Besides, they trusted God. 224 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:03,320 They put their faith in the word that God spoke over their lives. 225 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:06,920 And the story just got told. The things that were certain 226 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,040 were suffering, pain, difficulty. 227 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:15,320 And the other thing that was certain was God's Kingdom came 228 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:18,920 and his will was done on earth as it was in heaven. 229 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,600 And my heart as I read these stories grew and I said, God, 230 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,120 tell your story through this family of mine. 231 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,360 Let us all together be a family on mission. 232 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,240 There's a passage in Corinthians, which I just love 233 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,960 compares Moses getting the law, where God writes with his finger 234 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,720 on the tablets of stone, backside and front side. 235 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:46,560 He writes original in stone and then he says that was the law. 236 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,280 Now God has written with his finger on the tablets of your 237 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:52,760 heart. God does not make photocopies of 238 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:56,520 anybody's life. He writes originally in each one 239 00:14:56,520 --> 00:15:01,040 of us with his own finger. And I said, God, would you write 240 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,000 on the tablet of my heart? Would you write something 241 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,720 original? I don't want to be anybody's 242 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,440 photocopy. I want to, I want you to tell a 243 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:17,160 story through this family of mine that's original and not 244 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:22,200 like anyone else's. And that's the product of a, a 245 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:27,040 promise. You know, you can, you can do a 246 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:32,280 lot just by working really hard. But I don't want my life to be 247 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,240 the product of just hard work. Of course it involves hard work, 248 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:39,640 but I want to live in fulfillment of promise. 249 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,560 You know, Isaac was the product of a promise. 250 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:44,280 Ishmael was the work of the flesh. 251 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:47,440 And I don't want to be an Ishmael. 252 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,240 I don't want my life to tell an Ishmael type story. 253 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,160 I want my life to tell an Isaac like story. 254 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:58,080 The product of promise. God spoke a word and you know 255 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,520 it's not. When God speaks a word, who 256 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:04,760 cares what the end looks like? Who cares how much it might 257 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:06,000 cost? You just know it's going to cost 258 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,920 you everything. That's the only thing you can be 259 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,520 certain of. It will cost you everything and 260 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:15,880 you have no control and you're fine with that. 261 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,680 The finger of God writing something genuine, authentic and 262 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,360 original in your heart and in your life. 263 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:35,960 A unique story. I it's been a massive adventure 264 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,360 for us as a family. It's, you know, the Instagram 265 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:41,720 pictures. I don't believe in those things 266 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,200 because they just always only show you the good times. 267 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:47,120 It's they've been some very dark days. 268 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,240 There's just no doubt about it. We've had some difficult times. 269 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:55,960 But I can tell you, I stood in that church and you know, we 270 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,240 were, no one knew who we were, who we were, which was 271 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:01,680 wonderful. I, I'd always said, you know, 272 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,400 we've been leading here at 3 CR for all those years. 273 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,720 I always said that the new members leave your CV at the 274 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,839 door. I'm not interested in how 275 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:13,240 qualified you are or what you did in your last church. 276 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,319 Just leave your CV at the door. Just be a son in the house. 277 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,480 And I said to Irene, we're going to just leave our CVS at the 278 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,160 door. All our church experience, 279 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:23,040 everything we've, we just leave it at the door. 280 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,359 We're going to just make coffee. And that's what we did. 281 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,440 We made coffee. We swept floors. 282 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,920 Irene helped decorate the new church building and we opened 283 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,280 our home and we had people to dinner. 284 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,280 You know, if you invite Americans into your home, that's 285 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,760 quite a thing. They won't invite you into their 286 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,280 homes. They'll take you to a restaurant 287 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:44,880 and now let somebody else cook for you. 288 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:49,320 And Irene bake cakes. No one could comprehend that 289 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,440 someone would bake a cake from scratch in their own kitchen. 290 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,480 And we just did what we what our hands found to do. 291 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:04,000 And a year later, they asked me to join the eldership team. 292 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:06,600 And you know, I stood in that church. 293 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,720 And although I, I was, I was nothing in the church. 294 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,400 I I just could not not think like an elder. 295 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:19,680 I could not, not see things as a shepherd and I just, and it was 296 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:21,720 a complete shock. Irene said to me, they've asked 297 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,800 you to do what she said. They don't even know us. 298 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,520 I said, I know, honey, I have no idea where this comes from, but 299 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,440 I do know that it's right. And I do also know that that's 300 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:38,840 the reason why God brought us here, whether down the road or 301 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,600 in another hemisphere. It's nothing to God. 302 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,280 And that was the story that God was telling through our lives. 303 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:54,800 And as I read through Hebrews 11, I just want to touch on a 304 00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:00,120 couple of stories that just really grabbed me in in Chapter 305 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:03,520 11, verse 7, it speaks of Noah. It says by faith, Noah, being 306 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:08,440 warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear, 307 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:10,840 constructed an ark for the saving of his household. 308 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,840 And by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the 309 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,040 righteousness that comes through faith. 310 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,160 And you look at Noah and you think, what can I learn out of 311 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:22,400 Noah's story? And sometimes the best way to 312 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,120 understand Scripture is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. 313 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:27,160 So Jesus comments on Noah's life. 314 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,360 In chapter 24, Jesus speaks about Noah and it says for as it 315 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,360 was in the days of Noah, so it will be the coming of the Son of 316 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:36,040 Man. For in those days before the 317 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,240 flood, they were eating and they were drinking, they were 318 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,640 marrying and they were giving in marriage until the day when the 319 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:46,520 flood came. You know, I worked out it took 320 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,760 probably about 75 years to build the ark apparently. 321 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:52,240 You know how many Monday mornings? 322 00:19:52,240 --> 00:20:02,280 That is 3900 Monday mornings. Noah lived through 3900 normal 323 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:08,840 blue Monday mornings. He he married three sons of I'm 324 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,040 sure he was a granddad and babysat, changed nappies, 325 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:18,400 cleaned up vomit and built an ark and preached righteousness. 326 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,040 Everyone thought he was crazy and went on for 75 years. 327 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,560 And you think, you know the monotony of normal life, all 328 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:31,560 those normal Tuesday mornings, nameless, faceless, just 329 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,360 apparently meaningless. But you know, the lens through 330 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:39,360 which Noah saw his life was so completely different to the lens 331 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:43,560 that others saw life through those 3900 Monday mornings. 332 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,680 For Noah, he saw them through a promise. 333 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:48,360 He started telling them it was going to rain. 334 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:51,640 It had never rained a day in the life of the earth up until that 335 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:53,760 point. They thought he was absolutely 336 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:57,360 crazy. The lens he saw life through was 337 00:20:57,360 --> 00:20:59,040 the promise that God had given him. 338 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:04,360 And those 3900, three, 1900 Monday mornings were shot 339 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,920 through with meaning for that man and his family. 340 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:13,440 They were on mission every Monday morning, counted every 341 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,680 Monday morning mattered. And I think to myself, you know, 342 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,640 how many Monday mornings are we still going to live through? 343 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:23,240 And what's the lens through which you see your Monday 344 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,520 mornings? You look at Abraham and Isaac in 345 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:32,000 Hebrews in just a bit further down verse 17 for Abraham for by 346 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,520 faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he had 347 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:40,120 received the and he had received the promise was in the act of 348 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:43,360 offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac shall 349 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:47,160 your offspring be named. He considered that God was able 350 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,160 to even raise him from the dead from which fig. 351 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,360 For which from which figuratively he did receive him 352 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:56,760 back by faith. Isaac invoked future blessing 353 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,880 upon Jacob and Esau. I think to myself, you know, I 354 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:04,280 read the story of, of Abraham and Isaac and I think you know, 355 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:08,440 Abraham, he, he was old and Sarah was old. 356 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:10,640 Sarah was barren. She'd never had children. 357 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,640 And God gave them a promise that they would have a child in their 358 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,280 old age. I mean, Abraham tried to 359 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,600 manipulate things a little bit and he had Ishmael along the 360 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:21,440 way. But in the end, the child of 361 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:23,720 promise was born Isaac in their old age. 362 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:29,480 And now God asks Abraham to sacrifice him and he says to his 363 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,520 son, one day, son, we're going to go up on the mountain. 364 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:33,240 We're going to sacrifice to the Lord. 365 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,040 And he bundles up some wood and puts wood on Isaac's back. 366 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,280 And he carries flame in one hand and a knife in the other. 367 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,600 And his son says to him, Dad, where's the sacrifice? 368 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,080 And Abraham says to him, son, the Lord will provide. 369 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,520 The Lord will provide. And they walk up the mountain, 370 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,800 and he lays Isaac down on the wood and ties him down. 371 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,400 And he's raises the knife to sacrifice. 372 00:22:54,400 --> 00:23:00,200 And you think this is crazy and you know, how can I emulate that 373 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,560 kind of faith? It doesn't say that by faith 374 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,480 Abraham sacrificed his son. It doesn't say that. 375 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,240 It says Abraham knew that if necessary, God would raise him 376 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,480 from the dead, a son of promise through which the rest of the 377 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,240 Israel's history was to come. And now I'm going to kill him. 378 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,240 These things are two completely incompatible truths. 379 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,400 It's and it wasn't for Abraham to trans reason those things 380 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,960 out. He just accepted that God was 381 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,600 going to work this and then the Lord provided there was a ram 382 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,240 behind them and that was the sacrifice and you think stuff 383 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,400 now I'm never going to live life like that. 384 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,040 How do I emulate Abraham's faith or for me. 385 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:47,160 The Lord will provide became you know what God calls you to do. 386 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:52,120 He will always provide for and you know, when we arrived in the 387 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,920 US, we we had one car and three teenagers. 388 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:59,320 And at the age in the US, all teenagers have cars by the age 389 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,600 of 16. So my kids were stuck with mom 390 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,920 and dad in one car. And I started saying, God, you 391 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:09,400 know, if this is what you've called us to do and I need you 392 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:14,440 to help. And a guy who doesn't know me, 393 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:18,720 who's not a believer, who's the father of one of the girls in 394 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:23,160 the church where we were fellowshipping, said to his 395 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:24,800 daughter one day, I'm giving my car away. 396 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,520 Don't you know someone who wants a car? 397 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:29,680 He didn't know who I was. And his daughter just said this 398 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:31,400 as a certain crazy South African family. 399 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,920 They probably could do with a car. 400 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,240 And he drove from Atlanta with his wife one day to work where I 401 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,360 was. He gave me the he didn't know he 402 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,280 I'd never met him, gave me the keys, the paperwork and said, 403 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,680 how's your car? I didn't pay a cent for it when 404 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,120 I took it to register the lady at the desk, you have to fill in 405 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:54,880 this form and how much you pay because you have to pay sales 406 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,560 tax on it. And I wrote zero as to how much 407 00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:58,800 I paid. And she looked at me and she 408 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:04,160 said, Sir, you can't put zero. She said I'm going to just put 409 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:08,400 $1.00. So I paid sales tax on $1.00. 410 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,720 But the Lord will provide. He provides for what He calls 411 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,000 you to. Why would He give you more than 412 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,560 what you need to do what you're called to do? 413 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:25,000 Why would he give you more? If you live with plenty, it's 414 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,440 because He's called you to be generous with your plenty. 415 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,040 Provision will follow your faith. 416 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:36,360 So I can emulate. There was a stance about 417 00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:38,920 Abraham. Everything about Abraham was 418 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,920 when he heard God, it was just yes, no question, no 419 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,840 negotiation. He leaned forward with a posture 420 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:51,040 of yes, God speak, yes, I will, no questions asked. 421 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,520 When I read Abraham's story, I think is the posture of my life 422 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,680 a yes, or is it a question and a grumble and a moan? 423 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,400 Or is it a negotiation between God? 424 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:05,560 There's no negotiation. When God speaks, my posture must 425 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,360 be yes. I need to just go forward 426 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:12,120 knowing that the Lord will provide at the last minute. 427 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,280 God will provide and if he doesn't, I'm not called to do 428 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,760 it. He's been faithful to this 429 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:25,440 family of mine right through. That was what I learned from the 430 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,440 king at Abraham. Then you go a bit further down 431 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:32,480 in Hebrews 11 verse 23, it starts talking about Moses, but 432 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,320 before it talks about Moses, it talks about Moses parents. 433 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,200 And there's this interesting verse says by faith, Moses when 434 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:42,360 he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because 435 00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,360 they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not 436 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:48,280 afraid that the King's edict. It was a time in history where 437 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:55,120 they were trying to the Pharaoh was The Wanted to decimate the 438 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:56,480 Israelites. There were too many of them. 439 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,160 He was getting scared of them. Kill all the male children, 440 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:01,400 throw them in the Nile, drown them all. 441 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:08,000 And Moses parents, they didn't disobey the king, the Pharaoh. 442 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:15,320 They just put Moses in an ark. I put him in a basket and pushed 443 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:20,600 him into the Nile. And you have to ask yourself, I 444 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,960 mean, I it's one thing for you to risk with your own life when 445 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,880 you're alone, but when your kids are involved, it's like a 446 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,560 different story, You know, And when I looked at my three 447 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,880 teenagers, you know, they, they came from a private Christian 448 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,600 School here and they went straight into this massive 449 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,040 American public school. They came home the first night 450 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:46,800 of school and we sat down at the dinner table and Rachel said to 451 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:51,920 me, Dad, you can't look at the walls or the back of the door in 452 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,320 the bathrooms at school. I said, why not? 453 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,400 Sweet said, no, Dad, you don't want to know what's on the walls 454 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,000 and the bathrooms and the people. 455 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,240 I mean, the things they faced in those schools. 456 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,360 And I thought to them, what have I done to my kids? 457 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:11,120 You know, what have I? But you know, my kids will all 458 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,920 tell you that they have grown spiritually and then they walk 459 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,960 with God like they would never have if we'd stayed. 460 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,800 The idea that being a helicopter parent and you can somehow 461 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:26,840 shield your kids from the world and protect them from somehow 462 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:34,520 keep them from the altar and from difficulty, it's not 463 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,680 helpful. Isaac, where did he learn his 464 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,200 faith? He watched his father. 465 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,320 His father said such a followable example. 466 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:45,760 Moses. When you think of Moses, you 467 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:47,840 only you. Do you even know what Moses 468 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:49,960 parents's names were? We don't. 469 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:52,160 I mean, you do. It's in the Bible. 470 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:53,600 But do you know what their names are? 471 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:58,040 There's just Moses parents. But where would Moses have been 472 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:04,640 without his parents? I look at the mum here who was 473 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:11,160 baptized this morning, you know, parents are like pillars, 474 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:19,960 unseen, unknown, and all we want is platforms and that's not how 475 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:25,360 God has called us to live. Can we just be a pillar and 476 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,480 forget about the platform? Church has become about 477 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,880 platforms. It's more about pillars in God's 478 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,800 mind. God wants us to make investments 479 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,480 in the next year. I live in a college town where, 480 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,000 you know, the university did a survey the other day where they 481 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,120 asked the questions. The secular university asked the 482 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,840 question, what are the 10 most important reasons students 483 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,480 choose Auburn University? And you know, in the top 10 484 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,360 reasons kids choose Auburn University of all the millions 485 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,680 of choices they have, there was, there's this church in Auburn. 486 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,720 It's amazing when you think a guy my age gets to invest in 487 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,520 college students the next generation. 488 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:10,440 When you get to my age, please don't retire, start to pour back 489 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:15,800 like Moses parents did and invest in the next generation. 490 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,080 We have students in our room. Last week we had 20 students to 491 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,840 dinner. We put tables together, we 492 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,480 cooked like crazy and that's a regular occurrence. 493 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,920 And we have these kids around our table and it's the most 494 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:33,560 unbelievable privilege to to pull into that generation. 495 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,120 Do you know what Moses appearances names were? 496 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:44,520 If you go to Exodus 6, you'll find their names, Amram and 497 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,600 Jacob. Ed, did you know that? 498 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:48,720 Do you know what those names mean? 499 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:58,320 Chosen people and God's glory. Isn't that what Moses did? 500 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,880 1000 people and God's glory. Moses would never have been 501 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:07,120 anywhere without his parents. One verse about his parents and 502 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:08,640 then it flows and I think it worked. 503 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:12,080 If you read the next verse by faith Moses when he was grown 504 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:13,760 up, what did he do? He changed the course of 505 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,280 history. So you read the next verse by 506 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,200 faith Moses. When he was grown up, he refused 507 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,280 to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing 508 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,040 rather to be mistreated with the people of God and enjoy the then 509 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:26,440 enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 510 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,000 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the 511 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,840 treasures of Egypt, for he was looking for his reward. 512 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,280 By faith he left Egypt not of being afraid of the anger of the 513 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,200 king, for he endured seeing him who is invisible. 514 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,560 By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled blood, the 515 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,080 sprinkling of the blood so that the destroyer of the first born 516 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,840 might not touch them. I love that first phrase by 517 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,280 faith, Moses, when he's grown up, refused. 518 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:54,280 I learned a piece of history the other day. 519 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,960 There was this explorer in the 16th century who landed on the 520 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:03,640 beaches of Mexico and he wanted to start a set up a beachhead 521 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,120 and explore into Mexico and possess it. 522 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,240 And as they landed on the beaches with their ships, he 523 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,920 realized this was going to be significantly more difficult 524 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:13,360 than he imagined it was going to be. 525 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,640 And he started to really worry that his fellow sailors with 526 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,560 mutiny and that he'd be left with no one. 527 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:25,440 So do you know what he did to make sure that no one left? 528 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:31,280 He just burned the ships. There was no way back. 529 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,360 And that's where we get the English saying burn the ships. 530 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,760 If you look up the meaning of that phrase, burn the ships is a 531 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,920 metaphorical expression signifying a complete and 532 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,240 irreversible commitment to a course of action, leaving no 533 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,440 option for retreat or return to the previous state. 534 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:55,280 Moses burnt his ships 80 years before his ministry began. 535 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,680 Son of Pharaoh in Pharaoh's courts. 536 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,560 Wealth and comfort, privilege and power. 537 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,480 And he watches the Israel, the Israeli slaves, and he kills an 538 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,800 Egyptian one day and he realizes this is going to get me into 539 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,000 trouble. And then they discover it's him. 540 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:16,960 And it says when he was growing up, he he could have gone back 541 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,560 to Pharaoh's household and made an excuse and I'm sure it would 542 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:21,400 have been covered over and he'd be fine. 543 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,080 But he realized that's not how he could live his life. 544 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,640 His identity was with the Israelite people. 545 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,000 That's what God had put in his heart when he's grown up. 546 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,360 He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh. 547 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,960 He refused to go back to the palace he choose. 548 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,840 He chose rather to be mistreated with the people of God. 549 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,280 Then enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 550 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,160 I sometimes think we haven't burnt our ships. 551 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,640 We still have too easy a way back to where we came from. 552 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,400 If we're going to live the way God wants us to do we have to 553 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,160 burn our ships. There's no way back. 554 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,200 What are what are your ships? You know, Peter, was this 555 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,120 fishing Nets? And you know when, when you 556 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:10,080 realize you still have ships that can take you back to where 557 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,120 you came from, as when it starts getting hard, when it starts 558 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,199 getting painful, when it starts getting costly. 559 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:20,120 And you begin to think, what are my ships that take me back to 560 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,080 where I came from? What are the, how are the, what 561 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:26,560 are the ways I medicate my pain? How am I trying to numb the 562 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:28,239 difficulties that I'm living with? 563 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,239 And if you still have a ship that you can get on with, get on 564 00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:32,880 to and go back to Egypt, you will. 565 00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:35,600 But if you've burnt the ship, there's no way back. 566 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:38,760 If we're going to live the way God has called us to, we have to 567 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,800 live like that Early explorer. You just burn the ships. 568 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:45,360 Moses burnt his ships. There was no way back. 569 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:55,280 He left and it says that. It says that he, he would rather 570 00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:59,640 read it, he would rather experience. 571 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,440 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the 572 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:05,400 treasures of Egypt. This is thousands of years 573 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,040 before Christ. How can Moses consider the 574 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,200 reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt? 575 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,880 How does that work? Well, I'll tell you how it 576 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:20,760 works. Moses stuck with the people of 577 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:26,320 God and that was the reproach of Christ. 578 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:31,400 When you choose God's people and you choose to suffer with them 579 00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:35,360 rather than go back to Egypt, that's a God honouring thing to 580 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,440 do. Moses chose the people of God, 581 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,000 and if we're going to live the way God's called us to live, we 582 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,960 must choose their approach. Of we choose each other, we 583 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:49,000 choose the people of God. There's no way back. 584 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,040 I'm not going. I'm not going back to you. 585 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:55,320 I choose this people. That's how he burnt his ships. 586 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,160 If you're going to burn a ship, I don't know, I've sometimes 587 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:00,480 thought you'd drop a match on a ship. 588 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,680 It's probably not going to burn. You're probably going to need 589 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:07,120 some kind of fuel or accelerant to start the fire. 590 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,960 What was the the fuel or the accelerant when Moses burnt his 591 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:13,720 ships? I think it was this by faith. 592 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:17,000 He kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood. 593 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,800 If you're going to burn your ships, the ways you medicate 594 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:25,480 your pain, the ways you can go back to your old life, If you're 595 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:30,360 going to burn that and make it impossible to go back, you burn 596 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,400 it by sprinkling it with the blood of the Passover lamb. 597 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:39,000 That's how you don't go back. Moses did that and 80 years 598 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,360 later, you know, you think when he talks about Moses, I would 599 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,600 have thought Moses by faith wrote the Torah. 600 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,840 Moses by faith split the Red Sea, Moses by faith quailed from 601 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,600 heaven and manna from heaven. Moses by faith struck the rock 602 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:54,560 and water came out Moses, all these great deeds. 603 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:59,320 But when it talks about Moses by faith, it talks about how he 604 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,880 refused to go back to Egypt and 80 years later he became the 605 00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:06,200 deliverer. But he was the deliverer because 606 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:11,560 80 years before he decided there's no going back to Egypt. 607 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:16,440 I'm committed to this people and with these people I will go. 608 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:21,560 Poverty, difficulty suffering. With this people I will go. 609 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,800 He burnt his way back. He was, no, there was no way he 610 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,560 was going to be be able to go back. 611 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:34,600 He made a choice. Like Daniel, he resolved, he saw 612 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:39,520 the invisible, the reward which outweighed any wealth in Egypt. 613 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,920 There was no way back for Moses. And I realized that if we're 614 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,520 going to follow God the way He's called us to follow Him, we 615 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:49,880 can't have the option of going back. 616 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,240 There are many stories, but there's one little one here. 617 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:57,880 The last one I want to just quickly talk about Jephthah. 618 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,920 It says in Hebrews 11 verse 32, and what more shall I say for 619 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,680 time, which found me to tell of Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jeff, 620 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,120 the David, Samuel, and the prophets. 621 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,400 I've heard of Gideon, I've heard of Samson, I've heard of David, 622 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,200 I've heard of Samuel, but Barack and Sam, Barack and Jephthah. 623 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:17,360 I've never heard of those guys, but they're in Hebrews 11. 624 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,240 You didn't have time to talk about them. 625 00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:22,000 Who's Jephthah? Have you ever heard of Jephthah? 626 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:25,640 Do you know Jephthah's story? It's the most unbelievably 627 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:27,440 difficult story for us as Christians. 628 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,440 He was in the time of the judges, it says, of Jetha and 629 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:34,800 Judges 11 Now Jetha the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, 630 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,040 but he was the son of a prostitute. 631 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:45,160 Gilead was the father of Jephthah, and Gilead's wife also 632 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,480 bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew 633 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,920 up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall not have 634 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,360 an inheritance in our father's house for you, the son of 635 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:56,000 another woman. And then Jephthah fled from his 636 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,400 brothers and lived in the land of Tobe with worthless fellows. 637 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:03,000 And that collected around Jephthah and went out with him. 638 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:07,200 A crazy kind of a history, you think, You know, his dad was 639 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:11,840 sleeping around. And then this illegitimate child 640 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:15,360 is born and this is Jephthah. And he's the guy in Hebrews 11. 641 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,600 The sons of his sons were there. They're not mentioned. 642 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,360 But Jephthah, the son of the prostitute is mentioned. 643 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,680 And then the story goes, he's, I mean, you know, I mean, Can you 644 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,160 imagine how broken that guy is? He grows up in this family. 645 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:32,160 They kick him out, rejected. You're a bastard child, don't 646 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,680 want you the hurt. But he was a warrior. 647 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:38,800 A broken warrior is a dangerous man. 648 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:43,480 And he hangs around with gangs. You can just imagine the kind of 649 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:45,600 guy he was. And then the Israelites get into 650 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:46,800 trouble. The Ammonites want to come and 651 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:48,440 make war with them. And they suddenly think we don't 652 00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,280 have anyone to lead us. And I think we're the only guy 653 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,120 who we can think of to lead us as Jeff, though. 654 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:55,200 So they go back and they fetch Jeff. 655 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:56,840 They said, Jeff, you must come and help us. 656 00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,360 And you can imagine, Jeff, that, you know, I wasn't good enough 657 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:00,640 then. Why am I good enough now? 658 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:08,960 But it says the Spirit of God came upon Jeff, this broken man 659 00:40:09,240 --> 00:40:15,200 who had this terrible past. And his brokenness and the point 660 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,560 I, the thing I take away from Jeff's life is if you don't pay 661 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,800 attention to the brokenness in your life, it will end up 662 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,800 hurting people terribly. Jeff has does amazing things. 663 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,520 He writes the Ammonite armies, he completely annihilates them. 664 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:33,360 But in his fear, as he stands on the threshold of this war, 665 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,600 chosen to be their leader as a mighty warrior, that's where it 666 00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,640 says the Spirit came upon him. He starts to tremble and fear 667 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:42,320 and wonder if this is going to work. 668 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,960 And he makes a vow to God. He did. 669 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,400 Why would he make a vow? The Spirit of God's come upon 670 00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:50,640 him, but he's afraid. He makes a vow to God. 671 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:54,040 He says, God, if you give me victory in this battle, when I 672 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,520 get home, the first thing that comes out of the door of my 673 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:03,880 house, I'll sacrifice to you A rash, stupid, silly, unnecessary 674 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:08,440 promise that emanates from a broken man who tried to control 675 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:12,920 rather than trust the Spirit of God coming upon him in some way 676 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:16,080 wasn't enough. He tried to manipulate God by 677 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,640 making a vow to him. And you know who the you know 678 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,560 what walked out of the door when he got home? 679 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,040 The first thing that walked out of the door when he got home 680 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:29,400 after that backdrop was his only daughter, his only child, and 681 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:31,240 he's his. I mean, you can just the 682 00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:34,680 devastation. And she says to her dad, just 683 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:37,000 give me two months. You have to do what you promised 684 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:38,520 God. And she goes into the mountains 685 00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:40,680 with her friends and she mourns the fact that she'll never 686 00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:42,680 marry. And she comes home and he 687 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:46,440 sacrifices her. And you think, why the story in 688 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,320 the Bible have such trouble with that? 689 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:55,200 And I tell you, the thing I take away from that is if you try to 690 00:41:55,200 --> 00:42:00,200 control an outcome rather than trust God or manipulate an 691 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:04,560 outcome by making all sorts of wild and stupid promises, God 692 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:06,920 didn't say how I want your sacrifices. 693 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:12,040 He said I want your obedience and the brokenness where you can 694 00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:15,200 just imagine the woundedness that this warrior man lived 695 00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,280 with. You live with that level of 696 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:20,320 brokenness in your life. It's going to hurt people. 697 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:22,640 It's and it'll hurt the people closest to you. 698 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:24,320 And that's what happened in Jephthah's life. 699 00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:27,800 If we're going to live the way God's called us to live, we have 700 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:32,360 to ask God for real and deep transformation in our lives. 701 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,520 That's what a radical disciple is, someone who's truly 702 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:39,480 transformed from within and feels no need to make rash 703 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:44,640 promises to try and manipulate an outcome we can't live trying 704 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:47,560 to make. You know, God, if you do this 705 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:50,880 thing, I'll do this for you. No, it's just the Spirit came 706 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:52,920 upon him and that should have been enough, but it wasn't. 707 00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:56,760 And Jeff, they got into all sorts of trouble and caused all 708 00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:02,720 sorts of his issues manifested later, His brokenness manifested 709 00:43:02,720 --> 00:43:07,280 later in life and caused major pain to him and his family, 710 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:10,480 despite the fact that this guy's in Hebrews 11. 711 00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,400 And if I look at Jeff, his life and I ask myself, you know, I 712 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:16,720 look at my own family of origin, my own history, and I asked 713 00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:19,280 myself, where is there brokenness that needs to be 714 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:21,120 transformed so that I don't revert? 715 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,360 Do what Jephthah did and try and take control of an outcome and a 716 00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:29,000 manipulate God with my you'll never manipulate God with your 717 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:30,880 obedience. All these with your your 718 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:33,320 promises of it. All he's looking for is for your 719 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:38,960 obedience. Fix what's broken. 720 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:41,240 Let God come and fix what's broken. 721 00:43:41,240 --> 00:43:43,880 Otherwise, it's going to hurt those around you. 722 00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:49,640 Jeff, there's a strange story, but there's lots of meaning in 723 00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:51,800 that for me. If we look at the last verse of 724 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:56,920 chapter 10 of of Hebrews, which is just before Hebrews 11, it 725 00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:59,400 needs to be, I think, the stance of our lives. 726 00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:06,160 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, 727 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:11,560 but of those who have faith and preserve the soul. 728 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,800 We are not of those who shrink back. 729 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:20,000 Father, thank you that you've not called us to shrink back, 730 00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:23,960 but to lean forward into a promise. 731 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:28,480 We've called us to walk forward into what you've called us to do 732 00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:34,200 in fulfillment of a promise that you've given each one of us. 733 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:38,720 I pray that no one here, no one in this body, Father would 734 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:43,120 shrink back into smallness, but would step forward in obedience 735 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,960 and say, I don't care what the outcome may be. 736 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:50,400 It doesn't matter. I that I have no control of what 737 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:54,080 it's like on the other side. I'm just going to have the 738 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,880 posture of yes, I'm going to lean forward into what you've 739 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:02,560 called me to be and I'm going to live by faith in the words that 740 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:06,080 you scribe on my heart. I pray that for each one of us 741 00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,840 thought in Jesus name, Amen.