1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:04,440 Morning everyone congratulations to the newlyweds as well Gabriel 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:07,800 and Hannah. That's really cool. 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:12,360 Can you believe that some people say, oh, if I become a 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:16,600 Christian, does that mean I have to go to church and and yet the 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:18,720 the truth is we get to go to church. 6 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,640 Isn't that so brilliant? I just, I'm, I'm loving our 7 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,560 church today for some reason. I always love it, but I just 8 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:30,840 anyway, so this is the part of the service where we're going to 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,600 read the Bible and then we're going to try to understand its 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,000 meaning for our lives today. And so if you've got a Bible 11 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,520 with you in the original book version, then you get a special 12 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,880 Gold Star about you, You know, if you've got it on your device 13 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:44,800 or whatever, that's good too. We're going to be reading in a 14 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,320 moment from the book of Acts, chapter 13. 15 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,640 And just so you know, there's, there's like a, there's a 16 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,280 contents page at the beginning of every Bible. 17 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:59,080 I, I and I, in all kind of seriousness, you know, for some 18 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,720 of you, you're new to church, you're new to the Bible, you're 19 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,000 new to faith and you're like, I've no idea how to find 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,440 anything. The contents page is there's 21 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,680 always one and there's no shame at all in just having a look. 22 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:14,480 And also just to say the book of Acts is about that far, about an 23 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,880 inch from the front and it's about, I'm going to say 9 24 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,400 millimetres from the back. So metric and imperial, there be 25 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,120 more or less the same in all Bibles. 26 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,880 Let me just say before we open up the Scriptures together, just 27 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,680 you may be are aware you maybe not that as well as having 28 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:38,000 responsibilities in leadership in this church, Karen and I also 29 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,080 carry some other leadership responsibilities in our family 30 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,240 of churches. So, so this church is part of a 31 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:45,920 movement called the Vineyard Movement. 32 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,240 That's about 2 1/2 thousand Vineyard churches in 100 33 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:50,600 different countries around the world. 34 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:55,760 And in this country, there are about the Vineyard churches in 35 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:57,960 about 150 locations. And we have some 36 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,040 responsibilities there. And one of the responsibilities 37 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,120 that I have is that I am, I lead A-Team called the Multiply team, 38 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,720 which is a team right at the heart of the Vineyard whose 39 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:14,600 responsibility is to provoke and initiate and train and resource 40 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:16,720 church planters, church planting. 41 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:18,560 So new churches in new different places. 42 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:24,400 The truth is that you know, like if you're, if you were going to 43 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,600 go away to university somewhere in the UK or Ireland or you're 44 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:31,600 going to get a new job somewhere or maybe you meet someone online 45 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,600 and there's a love interest for that's the reason why you want 46 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,560 to move to a new place. There are a whole bunch of 47 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,400 Vineyard churches around the UK and Ireland, but there are also 48 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,920 lots of towns and cities all over the place where there are 49 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:49,720 not churches like a vineyard. And so we, we want to see new 50 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,840 churches planted all over the place and as one of the ways to 51 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,000 kind of flush out people who maybe, you know, that's part of 52 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:58,760 their future at some point down the line. 53 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,240 Me and Taran are hosting a conference. 54 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,480 It's called the Multiply Summit. And it's happening in two weeks 55 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,640 time. And it's really for anyone, it's 56 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:09,800 not really, it's not specifically about church 57 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,240 planting. It's a conference for anyone 58 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,880 who's trying to hear God about the future, right? 59 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,600 So if you're there will be a whole bunch of people online or 60 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:24,760 in Hemel or Hatfield, hate, hate to you guys or, or, or in the 61 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,880 room, you're like, I think, I think I just need to hear God 62 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,280 about my next step or about where I'm headed in my life. 63 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,440 Then that's what this conference is for. 64 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:35,240 It's called the multiply summit two weeks time. 65 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,200 Now the really cool thing is that you, you already know the 66 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,400 venue because it's here, right? So so you can come. 67 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,240 It's an and we just wanted to throw open the invitation. 68 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:48,880 You are welcome to come to the multiply summit. 69 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,400 It's two weeks time. It's a Friday night, Friday the 70 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:55,600 19th, I think Saturday the 20th. So it's Friday night, all day, 71 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,480 Saturday up until about 5:00. You will need to buy a ticket, 72 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:01,400 although the tickets are very reasonable. 73 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,880 And so to buy a ticket, you have to go to the Vineyard Churches 74 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,160 website, not the Versa website, the Vineyard Churches website. 75 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,240 And you need to click on events and you'll find it. 76 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,440 You'll find it there. We would love you to come. 77 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:17,040 You know, the worships going to be epic. 78 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:18,720 Eduardo and the team are going to do that. 79 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:20,600 And so we already know that's going to be awesome. 80 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,680 And then our friends Jeff and Sherry Surat, who are remarkable 81 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,240 leaders from from Denver and Colorado. 82 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,840 They've been on the staff of Saddleback with Rick Warren and 83 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:35,000 they've been the kind of world's experts on church planting and 84 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,560 different things like that. And so we'd love you to come. 85 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,680 You're super welcome. 19th and 20th, come and speak to me 86 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:42,640 afterwards. If you're in this room, I'd love 87 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,600 to tell you more about it. OK, Can we just pray for a 88 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,920 moment? Lord, we understand that for 89 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:56,360 2000 years the followers of Jesus have been gathering around 90 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:00,280 this book and trying to hear your voice. 91 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:03,880 And we're just kind of stepping into the flow of that. 92 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,000 And we pray that by your word and Your Spirit, we would hear 93 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,440 your voice and that you would guide our lives. 94 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:15,760 Amen. Amen. 95 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,120 So we have been in this series working our way through the book 96 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:25,680 of Acts and called Impact. And we've been stopping every 97 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,840 time the Holy Spirit is mentioned. 98 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:31,120 And we've been doing that for months and months and, and, and 99 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,920 we're kind of coming into land with that in the next, I don't 100 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,360 know, a few weeks or so, but we're in Acts chapter 13. 101 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:39,800 And here's another mention of the Holy Spirit. 102 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,160 So Acts chapter 13 reading from verse one says this. 103 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,080 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and 104 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:54,840 teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who they called Niger, Lucius of 105 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:57,920 Cyrene, Manaean who had been brought up with Herod the 106 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,920 Tetrarch and saw while they were worshipping the Lord and 107 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:07,560 fasting, the Holy Spirit said, there he is the Holy Spirit, The 108 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:12,360 Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the 109 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,360 work to which I've called them. So after they had fasted and 110 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:20,200 prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 111 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:26,360 The two of them sent on their way by the Holy Spirit went down 112 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,040 to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 113 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,480 And that's going to be our text for this morning. 114 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,000 I don't know what you do for a living. 115 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,360 I know what some of you do for a living, but not all of you. 116 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,160 I imagine there are some people in the room who are medical 117 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,640 doctors and your passion is medicine. 118 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,840 And I imagine that on a Friday night or Saturday night, there's 119 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:51,320 nothing you could imagine doing more just really enjoying 120 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,640 yourself than watching like, ER or, or, or the Pit. 121 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:56,880 Hands up, if you've watched the Pit. 122 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,400 Yeah, it's really cool. I love that thing. 123 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,960 But anyway, so I imagine you're sitting there and you're 124 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,280 watching it and you're watching them like get some kind of it 125 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:08,600 like a rib spreader and spreading open the ribs and then 126 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,640 like, you know, squeezing someone's heart like that. 127 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,000 And I imagine you're just like, now that is medicine. 128 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,080 In fact, you're probably not. You're probably like, they never 129 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:22,800 do that in real life because as you know, your heart is just 130 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,080 beating a little bit faster when you do somebody do medicine 131 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:27,920 really well. Or perhaps you're really into 132 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,360 cars. Maybe you're a mechanic and you, 133 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,680 you know, you're watching Top Gear or you're watching one of 134 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,720 those Youtubers, Matt Armstrong or something like that, someone 135 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,040 like that. And you're like, hey, there's 136 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,920 the Bentley Continental GT super Sports or the, you know, 137 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,360 whatever it is and you're like, now that's a car or whatever it 138 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,160 is. Well, the truth is that I'm like 139 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,960 a professional Christian, right? I'm a pastor. 140 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,680 And so when I read stuff like this about a brilliant church in 141 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:04,680 the Bible, I'm like, now that's a church, you know, my heart's 142 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,320 beating faster. And to be honest, that's not 143 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,480 exclusively reserved for pastors, right? 144 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:14,120 You know, if you know and love Jesus and you love his church, 145 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,800 and then you read something in the Bible and you just think 146 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,600 that is so brilliant, you know, that's open to you as well. 147 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:25,560 You can take that. But what I want to do this 148 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:30,240 morning is, is to point out two ways in which this church that 149 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,200 we've just read about is brilliant. 150 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:34,600 Like, like just a couple of things. 151 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:37,440 And then we're going to speak a little bit about God's guidance. 152 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,840 But, but the first reason that I love this church in the book of 153 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:45,080 Acts in Antioch is that it's a stunningly diverse church. 154 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,480 So Saul and Barnabas, they've they've visited their brothers 155 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,840 and sisters in Jerusalem. They've just come back. 156 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,600 The leadership community. It's like the the leadership 157 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:58,960 group, the leadership team of the church in Antioch. 158 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,920 They gather together and they want to hear what it is that 159 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,000 Saul and Barnabas have got to say. 160 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,320 But what's amazing about this leadership community is it's is 161 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,600 it's, is I've forgotten how to speak. 162 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,400 It's extraordinary diversity there in verse one. 163 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,160 First of all, there's Barnabas. Now we know from Acts chapter 4 164 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:20,920 verse 36 that Barnabas is a Levite from Cyprus. 165 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:25,680 So he's a European Jew. Secondly, there's someone called 166 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:30,480 Simeon who's also got the name Niger and that the word Niger is 167 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:36,000 a Latin word, it means black. So he's he's most likely, that's 168 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:37,680 most likely referring to his colour, right? 169 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:42,400 He's a black African. Then there's Lucius of Sireni. 170 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:47,680 Sireni is in modern day Libya and so he's a kind of North 171 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,480 African Libyan. And then there's Manaean. 172 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,680 Manaean. It says about Manaean that he 173 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:56,480 was brought up with Herod the Tetrarch. 174 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,120 Now what's quite funny, I was, I was Googling this this morning 175 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:01,560 because I wanted to get my facts right. 176 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:06,920 And that's what you do, right? You look at Google and it's said 177 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,760 that there are actually six different Herod's in the Bible. 178 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:14,240 And so I won't list them all, but there is 6 people called 179 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,360 Herod. But Herod the tetrarch is, is 180 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,320 Herod Antipas. And he was the one who was 181 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,280 responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. 182 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,280 And so this guy Manaean, he's grown up in royal palaces. 183 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:32,320 In other words, he's he's grown up with opulence and with with 184 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,760 opportunity and with influence. He's he's someone who's known 185 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,520 extraordinary wealth. Maybe he's the foster brother or 186 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,120 the best friend or something like that of Herod the Tetrarch. 187 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,120 And so there are people even just in this small group in the 188 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,360 church in Antioch. There are people from southern 189 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,240 Europe, from northern and other places in Africa potentially, 190 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,400 and then also from western Asia. And there are people who've 191 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,960 grown up with extraordinary wealth and people who really 192 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,440 haven't. And can you see this? 193 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,800 This is an extraordinarily diverse group of people. 194 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,960 And we're only like, I mean, what's the maths? 195 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,240 11 chapters from the birth of the church. 196 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:17,080 And the the church starts off just with Jews in Jerusalem. 197 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,880 And then suddenly it's like this enormously diverse group of 198 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,720 people, black people, brown people, white people, people 199 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:27,600 have known extraordinary influence and opportunity and 200 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:29,960 wealth and people who really haven't. 201 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:31,720 It's a stunningly diverse church. 202 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,320 And the truth is that the church always flourishes best when 203 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:40,160 she's diverse. I was a while ago changing the 204 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,600 brake pads on my wife's car. She's got a Mini Clubman, right? 205 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,600 So, and I was, I was like, no, no, I don't need to read any 206 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:48,840 instructions or anything like that. 207 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,920 I'll just, I'll just, I'll just know what to do. 208 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,040 And then I really quickly got myself into hot water. 209 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,560 And so I found this website for mini owners, right? 210 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:00,640 It's like a forum. And so I go on to the Mini 211 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:03,360 owners forum. And then I'm like, OK, well, 212 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:05,840 it's actually a Mini club man F50 four. 213 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,040 So then I go on to that and I find the Mini Mini Clubman F54 214 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,280 owners. And then it's like a section for 215 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,520 people who own Mini Clubman F50 fours that have been 216 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:17,960 manufactured between 2014 and 2017. 217 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:19,920 And then I go on to that section there. 218 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,200 And then there's a section for people who having problems with 219 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:26,160 their front brake pads for their Mini F54 manufactured exactly 220 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:30,600 between 2014 and 2017. And I'm like, here's my people, 221 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,480 right? There's my tribe and I'm 222 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,080 chatting away to them and they're helping me figure this 223 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,400 thing out. And my point is that we all 224 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:40,840 imagined, didn't we? We were, we, we were sold a 225 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,840 vision of how, how the future was going to be, you know, that, 226 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,680 that we are the world, we are rich people. 227 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:50,680 You know, it's like we're, we're, we're going to be mixing 228 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:53,720 with, like our life is going to be full of the energy and the 229 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:57,920 vitality and the colour of just knowing people from all over the 230 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:00,200 world. And EasyJet is bringing us 231 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,640 closer together and the Internet and mobile phones and we're just 232 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,480 going to be connecting with all kinds of different people. 233 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,480 And yet the truth is technology is doing the exact opposite to 234 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:14,440 us, right? I don't need to hang out with 235 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,800 anyone who owns anything else. And the other than a mini club 236 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,320 man manufactured between 2014 and 2017, you've got problems 237 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:29,280 with their brake pads. The algorithms, right? 238 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:34,440 The social media algorithms are reinforcing our preferences and 239 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:37,640 making it so that you never have to mix with anyone who doesn't 240 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,720 believe the same things you believe and who doesn't who 241 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,080 doesn't see the world the way that you see the world. 242 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:49,800 Everything is is mitigating against us knowing anyone who 243 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:54,400 who is like different from us. And yet can you see the Bible is 244 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,240 casting a vision for us about an entirely different way to live. 245 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,520 So we would be the kind of community that is like we're 246 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,320 mixing all the time with people who haven't. 247 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:09,400 We have nothing in common with other than the cross of Jesus 248 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:13,760 Christ. That the Spirit of God would 249 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:20,800 unify people of incredible difference in diversity in a way 250 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,400 that is totally counter cultural. 251 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,560 You know, I'll never forget years and this isn't in my 252 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,880 notes, but years and years ago we had a barbecue in our church 253 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:32,760 in Scotland. And I've been chatting to this 254 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,000 guy before the the church service on the Sunday morning 255 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,440 and I knew for a fact that he was sleeping in a car park. 256 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:42,640 And to be honest, he smelled like he was sleeping in a car 257 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:45,040 park. But there he was at this church 258 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:49,280 barbecue and there was a three legged race and he was strapped 259 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:54,240 to a guy who was responsible for the finances of all of the 260 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:58,160 decommissioning of the oil rigs in the North Sea. 261 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,760 Where else in the world does that happen but in the local 262 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,320 church? And maybe it just takes Taryn 263 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,920 and I to come from another country to come here and be part 264 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:15,360 of this church, to say to some of you who have just been here 265 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,280 for so long that you can't see it anymore, that what God is 266 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,200 doing in this church is incredible. 267 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,240 Let's just have a look around this morning and just look at 268 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:28,320 the difference in the diversity and people from all kind. 269 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:30,920 And I'm not just talking about ethnic heritage, although that 270 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:32,520 is obviously incredibly important. 271 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:36,800 I'm talking about people with PhDs and people who just didn't 272 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:41,400 really get on at school, right? People who are hugely wealthy 273 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:42,880 and other people who are really not. 274 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,920 People who are creatives and artists, artists and all of 275 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:48,440 that. And other people who are really 276 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,800 good at maths and science. People who are extroverts and 277 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,280 people who are introverts. People who are loud and people 278 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,440 who are quiet. And the Lord is knitting us 279 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:58,880 together into this incredible thing and he's been doing it 280 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:00,200 since the beginning of this church. 281 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,280 But you can kind of see it accelerating over time, and I 282 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:08,520 couldn't be more excited. And so the first thing to notice 283 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:12,240 about this church in Antioch is one of the reasons why it's so 284 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,560 brilliant is because it's stunningly diverse. 285 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:18,720 And what I want to say to you is if you're from Brazil, then you 286 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:23,560 don't, OK, You don't need to stop being Brazilian when you 287 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,000 walk through the door, right? Just bring it. 288 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:30,320 Just bring it if you're Nigerian, if you're, if you're 289 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:35,760 Welsh, if you're from Yorkshire, like wherever you're from, bring 290 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:37,640 it. Just bring it in all of its 291 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:39,240 diversity and all of its richness. 292 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,280 We, you're welcome here. We want you here and we want you 293 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,000 to bring your whole self into this community. 294 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:47,600 There's a stunningly diverse church. 295 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,720 The second thing is it's a church that hears the voice of 296 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,440 the Holy Spirit and is led by the voice of the Holy Spirit. 297 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,120 We've often seen, you know, in our journey so far through the 298 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,920 book of Acts, the way that the Holy Spirit empowers people, 299 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:06,319 right? So, so you know, we started off 300 00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:10,119 in Acts chapter 2 where the Holy Spirit is like tongues of fire 301 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:12,599 filling people. You're filled with fire when 302 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:15,920 you're filled with the Holy Spirit and, and how people 303 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,720 suddenly start speaking in languages that they haven't 304 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:19,960 learned. And they're, and they're, 305 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,920 they're speaking with enormous courage and boldness and they're 306 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,119 being empowered in all kinds of different ways. 307 00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:28,440 But what struck that me in this passage wasn't so much how the 308 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,760 Spirit empowers the missionaries so much as the Holy Spirit 309 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,320 directs the mission. You know, I don't know whether 310 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,520 you noticed it, but actually that's what's happening. 311 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,720 We've been seeing it all the way through the book of Acts, 312 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,640 actually. And when you when you see it, 313 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,960 you can't Unsee it. It's the Holy Spirit who tells 314 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:51,360 Philip to go and stand by that chariot over there and then it's 315 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:54,680 the Holy Spirit who whisks Philip off afterwards. 316 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:58,320 It's the Holy Spirit who directs Peter to go to Cornelius house 317 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,880 in Acts chapter 10. It's the Spirit who stops Paul 318 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:07,680 from going into the province of Asia and then prevents him from 319 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,240 going to Bithynia. It's the Spirit who says in in 320 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:15,160 verse 2 in our passage set us set apart from me, Barnabas and 321 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,000 Saul for the work to which I've called them. 322 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:19,840 And then it's the Holy Spirit who sends them on their way. 323 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,760 So the point is the Holy Spirit is like masterminding this whole 324 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,680 thing. In fact, George Eldon Ladd, who 325 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:31,680 was a theologian kind of from the middle of of the 20th 326 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:35,440 century, who was incredibly influential right at the birth 327 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:40,080 of the Vineyard movement in in the second-half of the 20th 328 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,080 century. He said this, the whole 329 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,080 operation, he's talking about the mission of the church, the 330 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,640 whole operation is masterminded by the Spirit. 331 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,840 Without the Spirit, there would be no mission and no story for 332 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,960 Luke to write. And so my point is this, the 333 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,560 Holy Spirit has a master plan for the nations. 334 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,240 If you, if you, if you're a kind of the, the sort of person who 335 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,440 likes to picture things in your mind, maybe you could picture 336 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:11,880 one of those big war, big maps they have on the wall in, in war 337 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,840 films, you know, where they're like moving tanks from this 338 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,760 place to this place and moving soldiers from this place to this 339 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:20,400 place. Or maybe it's on a big table and 340 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:22,440 they're like pushing them along. Have you seen that? 341 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,160 And it's like the Holy Spirit has got a plan for everyone. 342 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:30,440 He's moving the Peter here and Philip there and, and Saul and 343 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,080 Barnabas there. He's like directing everyone as 344 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,120 to where they should be. And not only does he have a 345 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:38,880 master plan for all the other nations of the earth, and not 346 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,240 only does he have a plan for all the people who've gone before 347 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:46,680 us, he has a plan for us. He has a plan for Saint Albans 348 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,760 and for Hertfordshire, for Hemel and Hatfield and, and London and 349 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,560 all these kinds of places. He has a master plan and he's 350 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,400 moving people around. Taron and I, to be honest, we 351 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:03,320 have no idea why we're here. But somehow in the master plan, 352 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:06,400 it's like Chuck and Taron move from Scotland to there, and then 353 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,120 you move from there to there. And and, and so so the 354 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:11,680 responsibility we each have is Lord. 355 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:22,280 Where are you calling me to? It's inconceivable that you 356 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:27,200 haven't found yourself in your workplace by accident, right? 357 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,000 It's like it's a whole mindset that needs to change when we 358 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,400 start to think. The Holy Spirit has put me here 359 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,440 in my workplace, in my family, in my friendship group, at the 360 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,000 gym I go to or don't go to in my case. 361 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,160 There's a vision being cast for us today about the kind of 362 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,840 church that we could and should be, a church that is led by the 363 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,400 Spirit. You know it's not. 364 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:04,280 We need to not reject the idea of human leaders in the church, 365 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:05,960 right? This is a human leadership 366 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:11,080 community that we've just talked about, but actually we want the 367 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,200 Holy Spirit to be like the senior leader, right? 368 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:17,840 The rest of us, we're kind of under shepherds, under God's 369 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,000 shepherding. You know, I'm not an 370 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,560 unintelligent person. I've got A levels in mass 371 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,320 physics and chemistry, although I didn't do as well as my 372 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:27,920 parents might have hoped I would have done. 373 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:31,680 And and you know, my wife, Karen, she is an amazing leader 374 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:36,560 and she's like strategic and visionary and creative and ever 375 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:39,960 so kind. But what we don't want in this 376 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,720 church is to just live on and follow a whole bunch of good 377 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,640 ideas. What we actually want is God's 378 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:49,640 ideas, right? We we want to, we want to be led 379 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:54,040 by the Spirit of God. And so the vision being cast for 380 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,360 us today is that we would become a church a bit like Samuel in 381 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:00,040 the Old Testament. You know, young Samuel, he says, 382 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:04,440 speak, Lord, your servants are listening. 383 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:09,280 Or like Isaiah, you know, Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who in 384 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:14,720 Isaiah chapter 6, he just says, here I am, Lord, send me. 385 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:21,280 Or a church like the Israelites in the book of Exodus who like, 386 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,400 they're hungry and they're grumpy and they're, they're, you 387 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,400 know, emotionally fragile and they're walking around in the 388 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:34,760 wilderness until God says, here you go. 389 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,440 And he sends a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by 390 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,120 night. And he guides them from the 391 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:45,240 wilderness and into a land filled with promise. 392 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,440 And as a church is so important that we become like that the 393 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,960 week that we allow ourselves to be led by the pillar of fire and 394 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,000 the pillar of cloud. And so how would we do that? 395 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,600 How would we go about just posturing ourselves as a 396 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,640 community in such a way that God would lead us by his Spirit? 397 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,800 Well, let me just point out some completely obvious things for a 398 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:11,560 few minutes and then we're going to pray for each other. 399 00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:16,680 The answer is found in verse 2 where it says this while they 400 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:22,280 were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said 401 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,440 set apart for me, Saul and Barnabas. 402 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:31,160 So this isn't just like, Oh well, I just, you know, whilst 403 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,160 I'm peeling the potatoes, I occasionally pray to the Lord. 404 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:36,560 You know, I mean that would be a good thing to do. 405 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,880 There's a whole has anyone read brother Andrew the practice of 406 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,960 the presence of God? He literally talks about peeling 407 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,240 the potatoes whilst whilst speaking to the Lord, right? 408 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,000 Don't don't let me stop you doing that. 409 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:49,720 But that isn't what they're doing here. 410 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,080 You know, this isn't just, well, as I'm driving in my car, I 411 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,760 sometimes cast my mind to the Lord and just he and I have a 412 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,160 little conversation. It's not really that either. 413 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:00,240 Although don't, don't let me stop you from doing that. 414 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,680 There's an intensity and a sincerity and an intentionality 415 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,120 about what they're doing here. They this is a community that is 416 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:12,720 posturing themselves in a deliberate way to hear the Lord 417 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,520 and I just want to land on three particular applications, three 418 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,000 decisions that we might make as a church family. 419 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:21,680 The first one relates to worship. 420 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:30,680 While they were worshipping the Lord, the Holy Spirit said the 421 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:34,840 influential Bible teacher John Piper says that that it's 422 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:39,320 impossible to overestimate the significance and importance of 423 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,520 this moment in the whole of human history. 424 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:47,840 Before this moment, there's been no mission trips beyond the 425 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:52,760 immediate locality that you know, they've not visited Spain 426 00:24:52,760 --> 00:25:00,160 or Asia or or Greece. There's been no intentionality 427 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:02,240 when it comes to mission. There's been no missionary 428 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,880 journeys, no organized mission just outside of that little part 429 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:12,320 of the Eastern Mediterranean. And from this moment in Acts 430 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:16,160 chapter 13, suddenly the missionary movement is born and 431 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:17,920 people start travelling all over. 432 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:24,040 And this, this, this kind of almost inconspicuous little sect 433 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,080 of the Jewish religion that is just a few thousand people in a 434 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,760 very localized part of the world, suddenly within 2 1/2 435 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,880 centuries becomes the major dominant religion of the Roman 436 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,680 Empire. And now there there's barely a 437 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,800 country on earth that isn't filled with followers of Jesus, 438 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,600 2.4 billion of us across the globe. 439 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,120 And all of that can point to this moment when the Holy Spirit 440 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:50,680 said, now go and start to do this thing in an intentional 441 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:52,680 way. And how did all of that happen? 442 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,240 That all began in a time of sun worship. 443 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:02,760 I just find that so fascinating. And isn't it so important that 444 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,040 we start to raise our expectation about what God might 445 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:10,800 want to do in our worship? You know, so, so often I find 446 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,960 myself getting so caught up with, is it too loud? 447 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,560 Is it not loud enough? I, I, I'm not sure I agree with 448 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:18,360 the words of this song. I don't like this song. 449 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,640 I, oh, I like this song. It's like all about my 450 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:22,960 preferences, right? And I'm so caught up with my 451 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,200 preferences that I'm forgetting that God might want to speak to 452 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,040 me in a way that might change something about the world. 453 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:36,320 Maybe we need to start like coming into church and just 454 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,920 being like, OK, Lord, maybe this is the day when as we're singing 455 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:43,560 songs of love and adoration to you, Maybe you want to drop a 456 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:49,240 holy bomb in my life. And so we as a community, we 457 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:50,840 like, we are so blessed, aren't we? 458 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,600 So blessed by the guys who service week in week out in 459 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,080 worship with they do such an amazing job. 460 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,440 It makes it a lot easier, doesn't it, to hear the Lord 461 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,160 when the guitars in tune. And so we're, we're, we're very 462 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,880 grateful for that. But let's as a church, let's 463 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:09,760 just say Lord in the worship, if you spoke to them in the Bible 464 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,480 during the worship, we'll have it. 465 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,200 That's the first thing, worship. The second decision that we need 466 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:20,400 to make is about unfortunately, fasting. 467 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,320 Hallelujah. It's actually quite shocking, 468 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,000 isn't it? The the part that fasting plays 469 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,280 in this passage. I don't know whether you noticed 470 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,000 it actually comes up gloriously twice. 471 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,560 Verse 2, while they were worshipping the Lord and 472 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,960 fasting, the Holy Spirit said, and then after God spoken, it 473 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,280 says verse 3. So after they had fasted again 474 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,920 and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 475 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,600 I don't know about you. I'm not, I'm not delighted about 476 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,480 that. I'm the kind of person, you 477 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,240 know, if you have to fill in a form and you have to fill in 478 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:03,000 your hobbies, right? I'm the kind of person who would 479 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,640 have written on their CV, though I've written ACV for a while, 480 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,280 but I write, you know, what do you like to do? 481 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:15,160 Eating with friends, you know, or I might, I might put cooking 482 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:16,960 or baking. It's very hard to think of 483 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,200 something that I enjoy doing that isn't in some way food 484 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,960 related. During this is my confession 485 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,920 during COVID, the thing I missed most when we were in lockdown, 486 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:34,480 Nando's, right? So but friends, this is this is 487 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:42,120 actually a thing fasting in the purposes and promises of God is 488 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,720 is is a thing. In Matthew chapter 6 in the 489 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:50,480 Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about hidden devotion, 490 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:55,160 things that we might do in in a kind of private way that honour 491 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,760 the Lord and posture ourselves in order to to be blessed. 492 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:04,320 And he says when you give right, when you give, not if you give 493 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,320 when you give, he says make sure you do it in a way that your 494 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,120 left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing. 495 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:14,600 In other words, this is a kind of a private devotion when you 496 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,360 give. Second one, when you pray, not 497 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,000 if you pray when you pray, make sure that you don't do it in an 498 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,280 ostentatious way, but just do it in a way that has real integrity 499 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,680 to it. When you pray, when you give, 500 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:32,440 and then he says when you fast. This is Matthew 6 verse 16. 501 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:37,840 When you fast, don't look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they 502 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,440 disfigure their faces to show that others that they're 503 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,240 fasting. It may just because they can't 504 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,360 help it, because it's so miserable, but truly I tell you, 505 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,320 they've received their reward in full. 506 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:52,000 When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that 507 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,720 it will not be obvious to others that you're fasting, but only to 508 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:59,000 your Father who's unseen and your Father who sees what's done 509 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:06,320 in secret will reward you. This is so this is like the hop, 510 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,200 skip and the jump of the Christian life. 511 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:12,200 When you give, when you pray, when you fast, This is this is 512 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,720 the three things that would be normal to followers of Jesus in 513 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,720 his expectation. Now, I just want to put this out 514 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,360 there. There's a narrative out there 515 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:26,520 that says when you fast, you're going to experience all kinds of 516 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,840 glorious, you know, encounters with the Lord, right? 517 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,240 Or, or when, when you fast, you're, you're, oh, you'll never 518 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:38,520 know his presence like when you fast or when you fast, you'll 519 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:41,520 just get this incredible mental clarity, right? 520 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,760 And, and if you've been, if you tried fasting once and you're 521 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,640 like, it didn't work for me. I just felt hungry. 522 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,600 Then I just want to say to you, it doesn't actually say anywhere 523 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:56,200 in the Bible that I can find that you would experience mental 524 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,320 clarity or that you would hear God's voice in a remarkable way, 525 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,880 or that you would like encounter the 7th heaven or something like 526 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,360 that. In fact, if you think about it, 527 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,280 Jesus, when he fast for 40 days, right? 528 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:12,680 Does he hear God's voice? Well, mainly he hears the 529 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:23,660 devil's voice, right? And then it says Jesus fasted 530 00:31:24,180 --> 00:31:31,060 for 40 days and 40 nights and he was hungry is what it says. 531 00:31:31,700 --> 00:31:35,380 So if when you're fasting, right, if when you're fasting 532 00:31:35,620 --> 00:31:39,420 you are not feeling especially connected with the Lord, you're 533 00:31:39,420 --> 00:31:44,760 mainly feeling connected to the side effects of not eating, then 534 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:49,320 I just want to endorse that from the Bible and say I think that's 535 00:31:49,320 --> 00:32:00,090 what it is. I think it's actually the 536 00:32:00,090 --> 00:32:02,450 opposite of what some people think it is. 537 00:32:03,570 --> 00:32:08,850 Fasting is about surrender. It's about coming before the 538 00:32:08,850 --> 00:32:13,770 Lord and saying if I don't even eat, then I become a terrible 539 00:32:13,770 --> 00:32:17,960 person. It's about waving the white 540 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,760 flag. I surrender to you, Lord, I need 541 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,280 you. I need you for everything. 542 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:31,760 I'm powerless without you. And the truth is I actually I 543 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:35,800 can't think of a better time in our lifetimes to fast and right 544 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,120 now to to surrender before the Lord. 545 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,560 We're living an incredibly complicated and angry world. 546 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:49,840 We're living in chaos, and I'm not only talking about the 547 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,240 potholes, right? The world is the world's broken. 548 00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:02,040 And yet in this moment, God is moving in the most remarkable 549 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,000 way. Wouldn't this be a really 550 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,080 important moment for us as a community to come before him and 551 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,000 just fast and say, I surrender to you, Lord. 552 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,160 And so let me just say this. If you've fasted before and that 553 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:18,840 in fact, let's just try this, Put up your hand. 554 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,600 If you fasted before and you're glad you did it. 555 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:24,280 OK, Loads of us. Yeah. 556 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,360 Brilliant. And and I should probably just 557 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,240 just for the sake of balance, put up your hand if you fasted 558 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,040 and you you'd not glad you did it. 559 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,280 OK, one or two anyway. Anyway. 560 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:38,080 But my point is, if, if fasting has been something that you've 561 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,080 tried before, then why not consider building a rhythm of 562 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,120 fasting? And maybe once a week, it's like 563 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,240 I'm going to skip. And this isn't intermittent 564 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,920 fasting, by the way, This isn't just like for the sake of my 565 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:51,760 health benefits, I'm going to not have breakfast or I'm going 566 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:54,320 to reduce my eating window. I'm not talking about that. 567 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,480 I'm talking about for the purposes of surrendering before 568 00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,560 the Lord. I'm going to now only do it if 569 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:01,120 your doctor approves of it, right? 570 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,920 If there's a medical reason why you shouldn't do it, then then 571 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,040 fast something else. But for the rest of us, let's, 572 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,639 let's make this a habit. And if you've never done it 573 00:34:10,639 --> 00:34:14,719 before, do it once and see how you get on fasting really 574 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,760 quickly. So worship is a is something we 575 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:19,920 could do and take more seriously. 576 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:21,800 Fasting is something that we should implement. 577 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,199 And the third thing if we want to be guided by the Lord as a 578 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:31,719 community is obedience. The Holy Spirit said verse 2 set 579 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,000 set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the witch for the work 580 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,120 to which I called them. What was their response? 581 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:44,360 Their immediate response was OK verse 3. 582 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,920 So after they fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them 583 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:50,600 and sent them off. It's all very well listening to 584 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:52,639 the Spirit of God. I mean really listening. 585 00:34:53,679 --> 00:34:59,200 It's another whole thing to then do it, to put it into practice, 586 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,960 whatever he's asking us to do. And the interesting thing is 587 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:04,600 they don't. There's so much that they don't 588 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,280 know, right? He hasn't revealed to them the 589 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:09,040 full journey. They don't. 590 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:12,040 They don't know what they're going to be doing when they go. 591 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:18,200 They don't know whether they'll be back in a week or a month or 592 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:23,000 a year or never. But they do know the first step. 593 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:30,080 And so that's what they do. And we've got to, as a church 594 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,040 community, we've got to posture ourselves in a way where we 595 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,440 really listen for the voice of God in all kinds of ways, not 596 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,720 just in a peeling the potatoes way, but in a no, I, I'm 597 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:43,920 posturing my life in a way that if God was speaking, I would 598 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:47,200 hear him. And then we've got to make sure 599 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:51,840 that we do whatever we're told. Why don't we stand?