1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,360 Welcome, welcome, welcome. A big hello, in fact, to Hemel 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:06,560 and Hatfield this morning that are joining in. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,720 And if I was Chuck, I would say, come on everybody, give them a 4 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:14,040 big cheer. And now we're going to have a 5 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,160 big cheer from them. We can hear you through the 6 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:18,960 airwaves. No, it's wonderful to be 7 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,080 together and to be joining together across our sights this 8 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:24,120 morning. As you've heard, my name is 9 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,560 Claire and one of the pastors here, and this morning we have 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:32,320 the absolute joy of launching our Love Your Street 2026 11 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,080 Missions Month. I think you can do better than 12 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:37,920 that. We're launching Love Your Street 13 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:46,040 2026 Mission Month. Come on, we are super excited. 14 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,360 If you have been around the last few weeks, you might have seen 15 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:51,800 the The Vision video that went out. 16 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,120 And if you were here last year, you will have been part of Love 17 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,000 Your Street. But essentially, we're stepping 18 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,480 into a month of greater missional intentionality. 19 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:03,680 So we're always called to be missional. 20 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:05,840 And you might think, well, why are we doing a special month for 21 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:07,960 it? Well, just like we have rhythms 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,360 of prayer and rhythms of Bible reading and rhythms of worship 23 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,000 and solitude, we're having a rhythm of intentional mission in 24 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,240 our church just to help us to recalibrate our hearts with 25 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,320 God's heart for our streets and our neighborhoods and the people 26 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:26,880 that we see in our everyday lives. 27 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,760 And I don't know about you, but sometimes I just need a bit of a 28 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,000 kick to get myself back in gear. Eyes wide open, ears open to the 29 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,480 Holy Spirit to see the people around me. 30 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:40,640 And, and so we are stepping in this year and we're going again, 31 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:46,680 and we're asking God to ignite an even bigger wildfire. 32 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:50,680 As Taron talked about last week, We're wanting him to spur us on 33 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,800 with greater love for the people that we see everyday. 34 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,640 And we're going to do that this year by we've set ourselves a 35 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,760 bit of a faith igniting goal because we are human and we 36 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,720 forget and sometimes it's good just to kind of have something 37 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:05,880 that we're that's pushing us along a little bit. 38 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:12,240 We've, so we've set this goal of 3 / / / 3000 Acts to be 39 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,520 outworked across the places that we live and we work as a church 40 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:20,280 family in this next month. And I want to say this because I 41 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,680 know when we talk about numbers like that, some people are like, 42 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:24,040 Oh, I don't like a number, Claire. 43 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,840 That makes me feel a bit like we're just pushing to a goal to 44 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,680 pat ourselves on the back and that feels a bit off track with 45 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:32,960 God's heart. And so don't get hooked up on 46 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,920 the number. The number is not about the 47 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:36,800 number and patting ourselves on the back. 48 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,480 It's actually about us remembering to celebrate what 49 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,640 God is doing. And so we're each week you get 50 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:46,840 the opportunity to fill in a form out in the atrium if you 51 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,120 are a paper kind of person and you can just tell us what you 52 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,640 did and any stories of God that came up. 53 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,520 Or you can fill out, there's AQR code online. 54 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,920 So you can do it in the week as you do things and literally 55 00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:01,760 anything counts, right? It could be that intentional 56 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,920 moment in your driveway to actually stop and talk to your 57 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:07,400 neighbor that you've maybe not talked to in two years. 58 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,680 It could be when you get off the tube in London, taking a moment 59 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,560 to say hello to the person, experience homelessness that you 60 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:15,520 just walked past on a normal day. 61 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,560 It could be that you're gathering your neighbors for a 62 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:21,480 BBQ, you're going to invite your whole street to your house this 63 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,920 month. It could be prayer walking your 64 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:26,000 streets. It could be a whole host of 65 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:27,680 things. But this is what it is not. 66 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,160 It is not us as a church in this building putting on an event. 67 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,440 It is you, the church, the people that we call the church, 68 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,160 getting out on your streets and your neighborhoods and asking 69 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,840 the Holy Spirit, how does he want to bless the people that 70 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:45,920 you see every single day with more of who he is? 71 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:47,640 And he's going to do it through you and me. 72 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,920 Amen. And last year you will have, if 73 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:54,000 you were here on our celebration standard, you will have heard 74 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 the sounds of the Kingdom breaking in, the sounds of 75 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,880 stories of people coming to Jesus, of fresh revelation, even 76 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:04,040 in in US. God's going to work in US in 77 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:09,240 this month and people being kind of formed and and their horizons 78 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,440 expanded on what God's heart looks like. 79 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,960 And so we are believing for more getting it on. 80 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,200 I'm just going to take a little wardrobe. 81 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,080 And so I want us to this morning, just open our hearts in 82 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,840 this room for God to move in here first, right? 83 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:31,600 Because this isn't a program. This isn't a nice thing to do. 84 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:36,880 This is God changing his people from the inside out and 85 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,520 impacting the world around us. So let's pray. 86 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:47,280 Holy Spirit, we just invite you to come this morning in this 87 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:54,740 room. God, we want to be marked by 88 00:04:54,740 --> 00:05:04,880 your heart for your world. For what you're doing in the 89 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:11,720 places that you put us in. And so we choose this morning to 90 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:16,560 open our hearts in this room right now to allow you to speak 91 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:25,000 to us. Come Holy Spirit, I pray give us 92 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,160 fresh revelation of your Word this morning in Jesus name, 93 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:35,840 Amen. So as I began to think and pray 94 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:38,920 over this month, the Lord led me to this scripture that we're 95 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:40,880 going to unpack this morning together. 96 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:43,440 And I want you to turn to your Bible. 97 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,280 If you have a physical Bible, get it out right now. 98 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:49,400 If you don't have a Bible, we'd love to give you a Bible for 99 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:51,960 free or you can open up your device. 100 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:54,600 And we're going to be turning to Matthew, which as you can see in 101 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,320 my Bible is a good kind of halfway almost to the back. 102 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,640 If you don't know where Matthew is, go halfway through the 103 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:01,560 Bible. Go a bit further and you'll find 104 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,920 the book of Matthew you and we're going to be turning to the 105 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:10,040 chapter 5 and then looking down to verse 13. 106 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:13,080 So I'll just let you find your spot. 107 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,400 Brilliant. And we're going to read the Word 108 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:22,520 of God together. It says you are the salt of the 109 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,640 earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made 110 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,760 salty again? It is no longer good for 111 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,640 anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot. 112 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:41,240 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be 113 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,360 hidden. Neither do people light a lamp 114 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,360 and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on it's 115 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,400 stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. 116 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:55,760 And in the same way, let your light shine before others, that 117 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:01,000 they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 118 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,960 Amen. We're going to look at what a 119 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,560 missional church is this morning. 120 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,400 And the first thing that struck me in this passage is that a 121 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,840 missional church is a church that understands that everybody 122 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,320 gets to play. You know, at the start of this 123 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,720 Scripture, there are two tiny words. 124 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,240 Jesus ultimately is unpacking what it means to be missional in 125 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,000 these these few verses, but he starts with two tiny words. 126 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:40,320 You are, you are the salt of the earth. 127 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:46,560 You are the light of the world. Notice what he does there. 128 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,920 He makes a definitive present tense declaration over the 129 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,600 people that he's talking to. And he's doing that in this room 130 00:07:55,600 --> 00:08:00,400 this morning to us, which I find really striking, actually, when 131 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,960 you look at how most of us here be missional and the narrative 132 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,320 that plays in our head, because it often sounds a lot more like, 133 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,480 gosh, I'll, I'll, I'll be better at mission when I understand the 134 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:16,200 Bible a bit more or when I'm a bit more grown up in Jesus, then 135 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,760 I'll get really good at being able to share my faith. 136 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,160 Or when I've overcome. I've still got stupid thing that 137 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,040 I just that niggly sin. It just, it just seems to taunt 138 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:27,400 me. And I, when I've sorted that 139 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:29,840 out, then I'll be, you know, then I'll be a good light that 140 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,280 I, I want to make sure that everybody sees my life well. 141 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:35,440 And, and if I've got sins still, then I can't possibly show my 142 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,919 faith because it will just look hypocritical. 143 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:42,720 Jesus looked at us in this room this morning and he looked at 144 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,040 the group in front of him and he said you are the salt of the 145 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:48,840 earth and you are the light of the world. 146 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,840 And the, and the group in front of him were his disciples. 147 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,880 In fact, they were the newly called disciples. 148 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,840 They just said yes to following him. 149 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,120 And if you look at those those disciples, they're quite the 150 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:05,720 motley crew, to be honest, a bit of a chaotic mix of passionate 151 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:11,040 people, slightly confused people, impulsive disciples and 152 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,600 honestly a bit broken. And surrounding them was this 153 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,640 crowd of men and women and children who simply were 154 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:21,040 captivated by Jesus as he had gone around the villages. 155 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:23,360 And they were trying to understand this man who was 156 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,800 blowing their minds apart about their understanding of faith, 157 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,560 which up to this point had all been embedded in religious 158 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:37,040 performance, external behaviour and an identity and a position 159 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:41,000 that was based on their own merit or what society said about 160 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,240 them. And Jesus walks into them this 161 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:49,800 on this mountainside and he says you are the salt of the earth. 162 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:54,840 You are the light of the world. You are my image bearers because 163 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:56,800 Jesus was called the light of the world. 164 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,120 Right now he's looking at them and calling them the light of 165 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,280 the world. And you know, in 2 Corinthians 166 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:05,680 520, it says that he, we, it's phrases we are as ambassadors 167 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,160 and ambassadors don't represent themselves, do they? 168 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,720 They represent the person who sent them who and they go in the 169 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,440 authority of the one that they were sent out by. 170 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,160 And so we have these two little words this morning. 171 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:27,240 You are in fact, these two little verses that we're going 172 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,440 to unpack here this morning. They come right after. 173 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:31,960 If you look in the Scripture, the the verses before are the 174 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,240 beatitudes. The blessed are the poor in the 175 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,560 spirit, for they will see the Kingdom of God. 176 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:41,280 Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. 177 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:45,280 Blessed are the persecuted for my name's sake who experience 178 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,920 rejection. And there's a guy that I love 179 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,800 reading called Dallas Willard and he puts it like this. 180 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,840 He says that the beatitudes are not a list of requirements. 181 00:10:55,080 --> 00:11:00,000 They are the list of the kind of people God has chosen to work in 182 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,800 and called bless. He just says that they describe 183 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,800 what it looks like to have the Kingdom of God working in 184 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:11,000 someone's life. And so Jesus has told this group 185 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,640 the kind of people that the Kingdom of God works in, and 186 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,960 then he delivers these two verses and tells them how they 187 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,080 will go and impact the world around them. 188 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,160 Bringing home the reality that I have said many times when I talk 189 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,080 about mission, that we are called to the Father and He 190 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:31,800 commissions us to go out and tell the world about this 191 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,200 beautiful relationship that we have with Him. 192 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:39,640 The inward transformation of the Kingdom always spills out. 193 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:42,880 You are blessed to be a blessing. 194 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,520 And so I want to remind us as we start into this month of mission 195 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:53,040 that we are a Church of ordinary, extraordinary, 196 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:58,320 slightly broken, hungry for his presence, longing for 197 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,320 breakthroughs in our life. Some of us will feel on top of 198 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,640 the world this morning, and some of us will feel like we're in 199 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:09,760 the valley floor. But it's not about our ability. 200 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,760 It's about our God-given identity that is yours because 201 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,160 you belong to Jesus. It's not about your competence 202 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,720 this month. It's about our response to give 203 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,680 Jesus our yes as we go to Him as our Father. 204 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,960 It's not about for failing or succeeding admission. 205 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:32,240 It's simply about giving Him our faithful presence, the one who 206 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:34,760 has given us His. Amen. 207 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,600 And so church being missional is not for a few. 208 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,520 It's not for the missions pastor or those crazy people that love 209 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:44,680 to go out and tell their friends about Jesus. 210 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,960 In fact, it's John Wimber, the guy who started this wonderful 211 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,360 family that we are part of in the Vineyard, says everybody 212 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,800 gets to play. It's not the spiritual elite, 213 00:12:56,040 --> 00:13:00,320 it's the whole body of Christ, brand new to the most mature, 214 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:03,040 moving together in the power of the Spirit. 215 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:09,320 Everyone gets to play your missional identity as a present 216 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:13,040 tense gift from Jesus, not a future goal that you have to 217 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,960 earn. And actually, last year someone 218 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,440 shared a testimony on our celebration Sunday and they said 219 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,560 it like this. Over this last month, I've 220 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:23,720 realised I'm not too broken for God. 221 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:27,880 In fact, as I learnt to just say yes, it blew my mind that people 222 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,600 said yes to being prayed for. And what absolutely blew my mind 223 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,800 was when someone's pain in their knee disappeared when I opened 224 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:36,400 my mouth. Amen. 225 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,200 It's for everyone. Sorry about my cough here this 226 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,520 morning. Secondly, A missional church 227 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:49,440 lives as the people of both and Jesus. 228 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:56,000 Gosh, my word, Jesus goes on, doesn't he? 229 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,280 In this passage, to use two quite famous metaphors if you've 230 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:04,160 been in the church for a while. And I want us to explore them 231 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,040 this morning. But you know, when we often look 232 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,520 at this passage, people often explore them as two separate 233 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,360 things. But I found something 234 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,920 fascinating as I was preparing and intriguing that these two 235 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:21,280 items, salt and light in the physical, were both highly 236 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:23,680 essential items for society at that time. 237 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,400 They were incredibly valuable and they were absolutely life 238 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:32,920 giving commodities for flourishing, for life in back in 239 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:34,400 the Near East, Ancient Near East. 240 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,520 But something that I'd never read before was how that they 241 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,120 work together. Fascinatingly, back in those 242 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:48,200 days, they would sprinkle salt onto the oil Wicks of the lamps 243 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:54,280 because what the salt contained, the sodium crystals, cause an 244 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,640 effect that made the flame burn brighter and hotter and longer. 245 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,640 The salt literally enhances the light. 246 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,280 And I thought, gosh, Jesus isn't stupid, is he? 247 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,000 He wasn't just giving us a menu choice here. 248 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,320 Like some of us feel a bit more like salt. 249 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:17,000 We love to be working behind the scenes, to be faithful presence 250 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,320 in people's lives. But I'm not going to show my 251 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,320 light too brightly, right? Or, or maybe some of us feel 252 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:24,200 like we're, yeah, we love it. We're out there. 253 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,920 We love to let the love of Jesus be on display. 254 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,000 What Jesus was doing here is that he's saying that we're 255 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:36,920 both, we're both salt and light, not one or the other, because we 256 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,320 carry the Holy Spirit and we walk as people who bring the 257 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:42,840 Kingdom. And there's a double portion for 258 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,040 you this morning to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life 259 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:51,240 like salt and like light, like presence and proclamation. 260 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,200 Because you know what? Kindness without clarity could 261 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,160 just be seen as another act of Community Action. 262 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,280 And proclamation without love is just noise. 263 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:06,880 The way of the Kingdom is beautifully, radically both and 264 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:11,800 showing and sharing who Jesus is. 265 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,960 Amen. Wasn't that I loved finding that 266 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,520 discovery in my reading this week and I thought good. 267 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:20,360 The the the premise of love your street is biblical. 268 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:21,600 This is a good thing. Wonderful. 269 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:25,760 Thank you Jesus. So let's dig in to these two 270 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:30,480 items a little bit more closely. Salt. 271 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:36,520 A missional church, lives as people of faithful presence in 272 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:40,760 our world. Think about salt with me for a 273 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:47,320 moment. Salt is tiny, tiny, tiny grains. 274 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,320 In fact, it almost brought my salt shaker this morning because 275 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:53,240 I know that I'm becoming known as the props. 276 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,880 Lady Sue told me this week. You should bring your salt 277 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,000 shaker, Claire. Imagine the Schultz Saker is on 278 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,720 my hand. The salt is these tiny grains 279 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:04,400 that are powerful and in the natural. 280 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:09,079 Salt enhances flavour. It preserves goodness. 281 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:17,079 It tenderizes what's tough. Don't get too lost thinking 282 00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:19,640 about your tender steak for lunch on the BBQ. 283 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:22,960 But you put a good amount of salt on a steak, right? 284 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:25,440 Like that's what makes it just melt in your mouth. 285 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:31,160 But in order for the salt to do all of that, to do what it's 286 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,360 intended to do, it has to leave the shaker or the pot that it's 287 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:38,440 in. It has to interact with the 288 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,480 surface of the thing that it will bring its goodness and its 289 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:46,160 impact too. And I was thinking about this 290 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,720 growing up, my step mum, who I love deeply, she had this funny 291 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:51,040 habit. We'd always have guests come, we 292 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:52,680 had a lot of people from different places. 293 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,000 My parents were pastors, so there was always people coming 294 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,200 through the doors. And she had this funny habit of 295 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,800 receiving gifts, some random ingredient from some place in 296 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:02,880 the world. And she was a meat and potatoes 297 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,360 cooked. So the extravagant ingredients 298 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:09,640 just didn't add up to our cooking theme in our house. 299 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,600 And so she would receive them, and they'd come in these 300 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,960 beautiful packages and she'd sit it on the shelf and it would sit 301 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,880 there for years, you know, wonderful coffee that came from 302 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,680 some lovely nation, and we never drank it or, you know, whatever 303 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:27,800 the ingredient was. And I think salt can be a bit 304 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,000 like that too, right? It could stay on your shelf and 305 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,760 it could be safe and contained, but completely missing its 306 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:37,520 purpose. And I think we get to come to 307 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,400 church, don't we? We get to pray. 308 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,400 We get to be in this wonderful place experiencing the presence 309 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:47,240 of God and worshiping and filling up the salt shaker of 310 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,960 our lives, so to speak, because we love the Lord and we're so 311 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:55,960 grateful for what he's done and we should do those things right? 312 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,440 And we hear the warning of not losing our saltiness in this 313 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,320 Scripture and and keeping our distinctness in the world that 314 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,360 we live in. We we know to do that we need to 315 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:07,360 be in the presence of God. But my question for us this 316 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:10,840 morning is what do we do with that freshly salted presence 317 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,320 that's been filled up in this place on a Sunday? 318 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,600 Where do we take it? Because we're reminded in this 319 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,800 Scripture that we are designed to carry it out into our 320 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,640 Mondays, into Tesco's, into the school gates, into the gym, into 321 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,160 the corporate boardrooms, into the lifts at hospitals, the 322 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,960 sports sidelines and the WhatsApp chats. 323 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,840 And sometimes I think we we miss it because we get so caught up 324 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:42,520 in the big miracle that happens in here or the the the latest 325 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,720 amazing thing that happened at this church or that church and 326 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:50,520 we forget that the work of Salt is really spectacular. 327 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:56,560 It's by nature granular. You pour it on, you trust the 328 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,320 process. You can't always see the work 329 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,520 going on. You might not even know if the 330 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:05,160 salt you poured on that steak is actually done it's job for hours 331 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,720 later or maybe months or years, but you poured it out anyway. 332 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:14,280 And just like salt, the work of the Kingdom is about a faithful 333 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,320 people. Through whom we're pouring our 334 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:21,320 lives out in granular ways. Giving our yes, doing the thing 335 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:23,600 that the Holy Spirit is nudging us to do. 336 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,080 Blessing the people in front of us. 337 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:31,040 Not in spectacular ways, in very ordinary, granular ways. 338 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:34,720 Giving up the right to know if it's made any difference or if 339 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,640 it will ever be fruitful in the person's life that you're 340 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,600 standing in front, but trusting that this might just be the one 341 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,960 action that softens the heart. That softens your street. 342 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,360 That softens a community, that brings out someone's God-given 343 00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:53,920 identity and value and holds fast to the goodness in our 344 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,000 world that feels like it's darkening by the hour. 345 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,800 That action might be the thing that's counter cultural shaping 346 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,960 values in a school governors meeting. 347 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,120 Or like the teacher last year who told us that she asked for 348 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:12,760 permission to ask her whole year ten group to go home and read a 349 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,520 gospel over the summer holidays and she got a yes. 350 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:21,040 Timothy Keller says it like this. 351 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,800 To love your neighbor is to seek their flourishing in every 352 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:28,040 single dimension, physical, emotional, social and spiritual. 353 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,640 The gospel makes us a people who pour out our lives for the 354 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,600 common good of the streets that we live on. 355 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:37,840 And I was thinking about Andrea and John. 356 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,640 I don't know if they're in the room this morning, but they are. 357 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,760 They're there. Last year they told us a story 358 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:45,680 about how they knocked on their neighbors doors to invite them 359 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,440 for a barbecue. And they knocked on the, I think 360 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:50,000 it was literally their next door neighbor. 361 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,880 And it was a, an elderly man. And they discovered in a, in a 362 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,040 conversation with him on their doorstep that his wife had had 363 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:57,840 died. In fact, I think she'd passed 364 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:01,120 away almost a year and they were so humbled that they'd been 365 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:04,280 living next to this man and they did not know that this life 366 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:06,000 changing event had happened in his life. 367 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,320 And so they began a conversation and they invited their St. for 368 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,000 his barbecue. And what did it do? 369 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,680 It softened the community. It softened their St. 370 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,560 It started changing the atmosphere to be seen and known 371 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:23,360 and valued by others. Freya was telling me about a 372 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,240 story where she had gone into a supermarket and she had just, 373 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:28,960 she had seen someone in the line in front of her and she just 374 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,440 felt a prompting of the Holy Spirit to pay for the ladies 375 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,160 groceries. And so she leaned over, she said 376 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:35,280 I'd love to pay for your groceries. 377 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:36,960 And of course the lady's like no, no, no, no. 378 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,200 And she said no, no, I really love to pay for your groceries. 379 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:42,680 And she paid for the groceries. She has no idea what that did in 380 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,280 that life, the life of that Lady, but there was definitely 381 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,480 emotion on her face. But then she said to me, but 382 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,160 what was fascinating is it softened the heart of my kid who 383 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,040 said, mum, why would you do that? 384 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:58,560 And so our small actions are changing the atmospheres of a 385 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:00,840 world outside of us. It's changing the atmospheres of 386 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:02,920 our own families and our own children. 387 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,200 Just by saying yes to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, 388 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,480 the world grumbles and we encourage, the world is anxious 389 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,800 and your words and your actions bring peace. 390 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,760 The world is in economic crisis and your radical generosity 391 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:21,600 speaks a different word. It's like throwing granular acts 392 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:26,080 of everyday kindness, like salt onto the light of the gospel, 393 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:29,360 where there is so much spiritual hunger right now that these will 394 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:33,480 act like catalysts that make the gospel make sense to people. 395 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:38,080 Amen. And lastly, A missional church 396 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:44,440 lives as people of both and faithful presence and a bold 397 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:50,080 voice. The way of the Kingdom is this 398 00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:54,320 beautiful, surrendered, granular presence like salt. 399 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,040 But Jesus doesn't stop there. And we've said he's not giving 400 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:04,840 us a menu option because a missional church isn't called to 401 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:09,800 be undercover. He looks at the ordinary chaotic 402 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,320 crowd and he drops the second declaration over them. 403 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:16,000 And he says you are the light of the world. 404 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,040 A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 405 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,800 We are being built up in the presence of God in this room and 406 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,800 we cannot be hidden. Church. 407 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,480 Another theologian, John Stop, once captured the the weight of 408 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:38,840 these two metaphors perfectly. He said we should not ask what 409 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:43,120 is wrong with the world, for that diagnosis has already been 410 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:46,120 given. Rather, we should ask what has 411 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:51,240 happened to the salt and light. Because if the house is dark 412 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,120 when the night falls, we do not blame the house. 413 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,520 We ask where the light is. And if the meat goes bad, we 414 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,040 don't blame the meat, we ask where the salt is. 415 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,680 Church. We're living in a culture where 416 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:10,520 it is incredibly easy to spend our time pointing out all the 417 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:15,160 darkness. We hear the news, we join in the 418 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:20,120 complaints of the news, we fret about the breakdown of community 419 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,240 and culture. And we look at the brokenness 420 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,320 around us and we can feel completely overwhelmed. 421 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:28,920 And hear my heart in this. I get it. 422 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,560 I've been there. I can sit there and be like, oh, 423 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:37,080 Lord have mercy. But if we walked into a room 424 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,960 that was black, pitch black. You know, imagine you walk into 425 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:41,560 your house at night. It's pitch black. 426 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,600 You don't get angry at the dark for being dark, right? 427 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:48,760 Because that's just what darkness does. 428 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,080 It's dark. You look for the light switch to 429 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:56,680 turn on and church. Our lives in our world are like 430 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,760 switches, light switches that bring a bold light to the 431 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:02,960 darkness. It's unapologetic. 432 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,760 The light switch sits there, right? 433 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,720 And we just press it. It's like I'm here, turn me on 434 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,320 and you flip the switch into that dark room and the entire 435 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:18,480 atmosphere changes. And this is the shift that I 436 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,840 believe the Word is calling His bride to be in this hour. 437 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:26,800 Most people in our world live like thermometers. 438 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:32,240 They reflect the temperature of whatever is going on around 439 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,360 them. We church are like a thermostat. 440 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:40,440 When we carry the Holy Spirit, you don't just register the 441 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,400 temperature around you, you change it. 442 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:45,240 But how do we actually turn up the heat? 443 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,960 Because I know I can't turn all of the darkness in our world to 444 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:53,560 light, right? But I can do it wherever I'm 445 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:55,920 walking. I can bring the light of Jesus. 446 00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:00,520 And it happens when we become bold speakers of the good news 447 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,160 of the gospel, the good news. That is good news at all times 448 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,200 for all people. It is the solution for every 449 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,440 single person alive on this planet right now. 450 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,600 And you hold the good news, and it's out of your mouth that the 451 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,880 world will hear the good news. Amen. 452 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,160 And Tara reminded us of that so powerfully last week when she 453 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,800 talked about the Holy Spirit works through us when we speak. 454 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,600 The presence is powerful, and the power of words that come out 455 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,640 of our mouth are also powerful because they're not in our 456 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,480 power, but they're because of the Holy Spirit's power in US. 457 00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:41,680 You know, Acts 18, the mission verse on the on the wall by the 458 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,760 Cafe, the Holy Spirit calls upon you and you become witnesses. 459 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:51,600 Witnesses speak about what they have encountered, and so we are 460 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:55,520 living in this moment of genuine spiritual awakening. 461 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,440 At the moment the ground honestly is softer than we 462 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,080 think. The world is anxious and it is 463 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,880 shaking and it is looking for answers. 464 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:10,400 And there is therefore a fresh hunger rising in your street and 465 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,320 your neighborhood and your workplace and your school. 466 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,960 But how were they here? The good news of the gospel, the 467 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:25,240 light, if we don't tell them the Kingdom of God was never meant 468 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:29,280 to be a private lifestyle choice hidden away. 469 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,400 But I know when I talk about this, I've lost half the room a 470 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,840 minute. I said bold and vocal. 471 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:40,880 You're like, well, that's not my personality. 472 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:46,280 I'm not an extrovert and I'm not, I'm very quiet. 473 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,440 I've not got the charisma to be bold, Claire. 474 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:58,200 I'm not confident. But Jesus offers something very 475 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,960 different about what boldness is in this Scripture, and I want us 476 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:06,160 to see it this morning, He says neither do people light a lamp 477 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,600 and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand 478 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,920 and it gives light to everyone in the house. 479 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:22,800 Maybe real boldness has nothing to do with the volume of your 480 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,920 voice or the personality that you carry. 481 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:31,440 It's simply refusing to live under anything that dims or 482 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:34,880 suffocates the light of God inside of you. 483 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:39,480 Because think about it, lights don't accidentally slide under 484 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,320 bowls. I mean, it's a, it's a slightly 485 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,080 crazy metaphor he's using, right? 486 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:48,200 The only way a light gets under and is covered up is if somebody 487 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,440 places a light or a bowl, a bowl over the light. 488 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,280 And when the bowl covers the flame, it doesn't just hide the 489 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,760 light, it slowly starts to suffocate it. 490 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,920 And so Jesus isn't asking us to be a light that's trying to be a 491 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:08,160 different version than the one he's made us to be, But he is 492 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:10,880 saying carrying the light of God and you don't hide it. 493 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,200 Don't put something over it that's going to dimmer it. 494 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,880 The gospel is bright and bold all on its own. 495 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,760 And so every time we choose silence over obedience, or fear 496 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,360 over faithfulness or comfort over our Commission, it's like 497 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:29,480 we're placing a bowl over the flame of the light of God in US. 498 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:32,760 And so maybe let's get real. Like what? 499 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:37,040 What would the bowl look like? Maybe it's the bowl of fear. 500 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,400 Like if I actually mention Jesus right now, people are going to 501 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:43,840 think I'm really strange, irrelevant, or perhaps extreme. 502 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:45,720 Or like that Christian that I really don't want to be 503 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,880 associated with. Or that movement, that latest 504 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:49,800 headline about the church that fell apart. 505 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:51,480 Gosh, I don't want them to think I'm that. 506 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,800 So we protect ourselves by by being silent. 507 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,880 Or perhaps it's the bowl of low expectation. 508 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:03,640 I've known Jesus for 40 years and for most of my life I've 509 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,640 never seen the world so hungry for him like I have now. 510 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,840 And so growing up, every time I went to share Jesus, it was like 511 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,560 ridicule, ridicule, ridicule. And it's silenced and silenced 512 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:15,600 and silenced. And it made my expectation that 513 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,680 Jesus could actually break in and somebody would actually want 514 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:20,920 to say yes, go really, really low. 515 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:25,120 Or maybe it's the bowl of business. 516 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,480 We're not ashamed of Jesus. We just are moving so fast that 517 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,800 we've never slowed down long enough to make notice the person 518 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,400 in front of us. I think one of the most striking 519 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,520 testimonies that stuck with me from last year was somebody who 520 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,360 sat in this room and humbly wrote. 521 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,680 I'm listening to all of these stories today and I've realised 522 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:50,000 that a whole month has gone past and I've done absolutely 523 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,720 nothing. I've not stopped to talk to 524 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,960 anybody out of the ordinary. My life has been so busy that 525 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,840 I've run the rat race and I've forgotten that I'm on this earth 526 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:08,160 to share and show who Jesus is. And so fresh boldness in arises 527 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,160 in us when we simply surrender the things that hold us back. 528 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,880 And then the Holy Spirit has room to breathe in US. 529 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,040 And we get to speak what He's putting in US without fear, 530 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:24,840 without low expectation. And the bowl is lifting church 531 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,760 and breakthrough moments that are happening across our church. 532 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:32,680 Even a story last year was a lady who went to her facial for 533 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:34,120 that. She would go to her facial every 534 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,280 couple of months and she'd told her facial practitioner about 535 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,520 Jesus. And she said two months previous 536 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,320 she walked in and she said, I walked in. 537 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,200 And the lady said to me, you know, last month when you told 538 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:45,840 me about that Jesus, would you pray with me this today while 539 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,400 you're here for your appointment for me to accept Jesus into my 540 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,040 life, right. There was a someone else who had 541 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,160 to have the same mechanic his whole life. 542 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,400 And he said during Love Your street last year, I just felt 543 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,480 this prompting to tell him about my faith. 544 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,240 And what I discovered was this guy turned around. 545 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:04,520 He said, I've always felt this longing towards some kind of 546 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,400 religion or or some there's a pull inside of me. 547 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,280 He said, I'm so glad you've told me because I just never knew 548 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,360 what to do with it. He said, well, come with me to 549 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,280 church and he came to church inviting people to church. 550 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:18,400 In this moment, one out of every three people that you invite 551 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,440 will say yes, who is the Lord inviting you this month to 552 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,360 invite to church? In fact, a mum last year said 553 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:27,640 that her kids started inviting their friends to church during 554 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,000 Love Your Street. And she was like, they actually 555 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,440 said yes. And I was bringing a whole car 556 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:33,880 load of kids to church. And she said, I thought, gosh, 557 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:35,760 why am I not inviting my friends to church? 558 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,560 And she said, I had a go and I invited my friend and they said 559 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,240 yes. And she was like, so our kids 560 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,240 are leading the way. We're inviting people to Alpha 561 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,920 and we are so excited. We've got 3 alphas starting 562 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:52,120 between now and September. We've got one starting this 563 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,040 week, 1 starting at the end of June, and one starting in 564 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:58,200 September because we know that there is a hunger, spiritual 565 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:00,360 hunger for people to explore faith. 566 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,760 And so the alpha leaflets are out in the atrium so that you 567 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:05,240 can take them home with you today. 568 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:07,280 Who are you going to invite to Alpha this month? 569 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:11,360 One person, do you know that we've set a goal of over 3000 570 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,159 acts and we have about 1500 people in our church. 571 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,120 So to break that down for you, if we all just did two things in 572 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,840 one month, we would have blown that goal out the water. 573 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:25,920 But Can you imagine if we did two things each and two people 574 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,239 said yes? To come into church or come into 575 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,440 Alpha or come into your house for a conversation about faith 576 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:38,000 or just got to know you. What radical change would happen 577 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:43,679 in our midst where we let the Holy Spirit move church. 578 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:49,960 The light winds, the light always wins, and the spiritual 579 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,600 awakening in our streets will not happen through our silence. 580 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:57,920 It will happen through our bold surrendered yes. 581 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:04,360 Your new definition of boldness is a surrendered yes to speak 582 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:10,480 the the Kingdom comes through you and me when we step into 583 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:17,760 being both and kind of people, faithful, present, attentive, 584 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:23,280 healing, presence on our streets and in our workplaces, and a 585 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:28,320 bold, unapologetic voice of the gospel as you just take down the 586 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,560 things that prevent your light being fully seen. 587 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:37,240 The light in you will do the talking because it is the power 588 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:43,240 of the gospel that comes to save and heal and transform people. 589 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,080 So let's lift up our bowls this month. 590 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:49,840 Let's speak the good news boldly. 591 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:54,320 Not so that people look at us. Not so that Verso gets us an 592 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,440 incredible name for being in this great church. 593 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:57,760 They did a great missioned month. 594 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,240 Why? As the Scripture says here at 595 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:07,160 the end that they may see your good deeds, you're trying your 596 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:12,360 small yes, your big yes, and glorify your Father in heaven. 597 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,840 This is what it's about. We want to see a whole world 598 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:23,080 glorifying our Father in heaven so that one day, one day we 599 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:27,480 would see every tongue and every tribe and every nation gathered 600 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:29,160 around the throne of God in worship. 601 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:33,360 Amen, Amen, Amen. Stand with me, Church.