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In my former book Theophilus, I 
wrote about all that Jesus began

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to do and to teach until the day
he was taken up to heaven. 

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After giving instructions 
through the Holy Spirit to the 

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apostles he had chosen after his
suffering, he presented himself 

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to them and gave many convincing
proofs that he was alive. 

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He appeared to them over a 
period of 40 days and spoke 

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about the Kingdom of God. 
On one occasion, while he was 

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eating with them, he gave them 
this command. 

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Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait
for the gift my father promised,

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which you've heard me speak 
about. 

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For John baptized with water. 
But in a few days you will be 

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baptized with the Holy Spirit. 
And that's our text for today. 

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My wife Taran and I, we've been 
living in Scotland for the last 

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21 years until really recently, 
but before that we lived not 

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very far away from here in 
Watford. 

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Oh, OK, we've got some Watford 
people in the house. 

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This is going to be fun. 
So, so, so we're in Watford and 

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we started to sense the Lord 
calling us away. 

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And, you know, we went on a bit 
of a journey and we ended up 

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being really, really clear that 
the Lord was calling us to move 

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just the two of us and our 
newborn baby to Scotland, to 

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Aberdeen of all places. 
And, and we were excited about 

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that. 
We were less excited about 

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explaining that to our family 
and the people who had just 

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become grandparents. 
And so, you know, we were super 

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nervous that and our remember 
driving down the motorway 

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towards Devon where Taran's 
parents live and just praying, 

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Lord, please will you let this 
go OK. 

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And just being super nervous 
about how they might respond. 

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And so we get there late at 
night and we are, we, we go 

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straight to bed. 
We get up the next day. 

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The fatted calf has been, you 
know, killed. 

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And there's a big lunch ready 
and all of the family are coming

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over the, the grandparents and 
the siblings and the dog. 

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And, you know, it's like a big, 
big event. 

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And, and, you know, I could 
hardly get through my roast lamb

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or whatever it was because I was
so nervous. 

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And then eventually, after the 
meal was finished, I said, well,

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you know that we've been seeking
the Lord and we've been asking 

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him, like, where we should go. 
And we've been pursuing a number

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of different options. 
Well, we're now at a place where

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we feel fairly clear that the 
Lord is asking us to move to 

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Scotland and in fact to 
Aberdeen. 

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And there was a really long 
pause. 

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And then eventually Terence 
Granddad, who at that point when

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he was in his 80s and he was 
kind of like the patriarch of 

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the family, he suddenly spoke 
up. 

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And in a very kind of grave and 
sombre voice, he said no. 

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He said no, you can't go to 
Aberdeen and you definitely 

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can't move to Scotland at all 
because, and we were wondering 

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what he's going to say. 
And he went they won't have AB 

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and Q in Scotland. 
And I was like, I'm fairly sure 

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they will have AB and Q in 
Scotland. 

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He said, no, I was there during 
the war and they didn't have AB 

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and Q then, and I very much 
doubt they've got one now. 

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And my point is, you might be 
wondering what my point is. 

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I believe, or many of us would 
believe that there are loads of 

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things that we absolutely 
couldn't live without. 

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But it turns out that actually 
there are loads of things that 

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we think we couldn't live 
without that we really could 

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live without. 
I remember we had some friends 

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who were asking the Lord, Lord, 
we'll go anywhere, We'll do 

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anything for you as long as 
there's a place where the Pizza 

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Express, my wife, Taryn, you 
know, when people say literally 

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and they, they, they, they don't
actually mean literally. 

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Well, Taryn, literally when, 
when she was pregnant with our 

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first child, she literally 
doubled her own body weight. 

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And, and you know, I couldn't 
possibly comment on the reasons 

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for that, but they may have had 
something to do with the fact 

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that she just couldn't leave the
house before she'd consumed a 

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full tub of precooked cocktail 
sausages. 

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Now, you're welcome. 
Now, we might believe that that 

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our life just couldn't go on if,
you know, without chocolate or 

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without coffee or without B&Q or
without precooked cocktail 

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sausages or Pizza Express. 
But the truth is there are very 

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few things that we actually 
can't live without. 

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But what I want to talk about 
today is how we as human beings,

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never mind we as followers of 
Jesus, we cannot live without 

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the presence and power of God. 
We can't live, Oh, I'm enjoying 

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this. 
This is good. 

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We can't live without the Holy 
Spirit. 

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And if I could sum up where 
we're going to go over the next 

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season of life as a church 
across all of our expressions, 

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it's that and the teaching 
series that we're going to start

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digging into, which is called 
impact. 

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You know, the kind of the 
central thesis of the whole deal

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is that we are dependent on God,
we're dependent on his spirit. 

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We're dependent on the power and
the presence of God that you and

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I were born to know the voice of
God at the core of who we are. 

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We're born to recognize his 
voice. 

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We're born that whatever 
beautiful or perfect purpose He 

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has laid out for each one of us,
it's actually impossible to 

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complete it without being full 
of the Holy Spirit. 

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So we don't need pretty much 
more of anything at all. 

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But we do need much more of the 
Holy Spirit. 

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If we want to make an impact 
with our lives, if we want to 

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make a dent in the universe that
echoes on into eternity, we need

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to be full of His Spirit. 
And you know, as we were 

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preparing to come to versa, from
the moment where we knew we were

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coming, we were like, Lord, what
on earth are we going to do? 

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Like on the 1st Sunday and the 
Sundays after that? 

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What journey in the scriptures 
are we going to go on together? 

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We began to sense that the Lord 
would have us do this. 

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So what we're going to do is 
over the weeks and months, 

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probably up until the summertime
at least, we're going to walk 

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our way through the book of 
Acts. 

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And as we do that, we're going 
to stop. 

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We're going to kind of linger 
wherever the Holy Spirit is 

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mentioned. 
And we're going to try to 

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understand what was going on in 
that moment. 

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And therefore what might happen 
in our lives today if we were 

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to, to kind of seek to 
understand it and to appropriate

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everything that's in the text in
our lives today. 

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So that's pretty much where 
we're going. 

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And so as we do that, and this 
is really a kind of introductory

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session, as we do that, we're 
going to observe all kinds of 

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things. 
So, for example, we're going to 

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observe that the disciples were 
dramatically changed when they 

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received the Holy Spirit. 
This kind of amazing inner 

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transformation occurred in their
lives, where they went from 

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people of absolute fear to 
people of remarkable courage. 

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We're going to observe how the 
church went from kind of like, 

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just really ordinary people 
making all kinds of mistakes. 

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And they carried on making some 
like, you know, meandering into 

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some places they maybe wished 
they hadn't. 

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But they went into a season of 
remarkable fruitfulness for the 

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Kingdom. 
And we're going to see the lame 

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walking and demons fleeing and 
the dead being raised. 

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And we're going to see some 
amazing ways that they were 

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guided by the Lord and by his 
Spirit. 

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And we're going to see that the 
only explanation for any of it 

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is Pentecost. 
The only is I don't know whether

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you've ever seen a bouncy 
castle. 

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You know, when it, when suddenly
you unplug it, like without the 

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power, you've got nothing, 
right? 

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You know, suddenly it's just all
deflated. 

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And, and that's really the 
journey that we're going to go 

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on. 
Without the power, we've got 

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nothing. 
And by the way, what an amazing 

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vision for a life that we would 
live, the kind of lives for 

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which the power and the presence
of God is the only explanation, 

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right? 
The people look at us and they 

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say, well, even though I 
understand their education and 

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their experience and their 
background and all the kinds of 

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things that have happened, 
there's still no possible 

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explanation for how that could 
have happened with those people.

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That's the kind of life that's 
going to be laid out before us 

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over the coming months. 
You know, they said of Jesus, 

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who is this man? 
And they asked each other, where

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does this man get his power 
from? 

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And they asked the early church 
or of the early church, like, by

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what power do you do these 
things? 

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Oh, that they would ask the same
of us, by what power do you do 

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those things? 
And so that's going to be the 

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invitation over the next season 
as we journey together. 

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And today in the in the time 
that I have left, I just want to

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take some time to look at the 
critical foundations that the 

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author of our text today, Luke, 
lays in the early verses of the 

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book of Acts that really go to 
lay a foundation for everything 

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else that is to come. 
I think there are really 3 

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foundational truths that we need
to understand. 

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It's like assumptions. 
He's like stepping in and saying

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these three things really matter
if you're going to understand 

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the rest of the story. 
And the first one is this. 

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Jesus is alive and he's at work.
This journey begins the the the 

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book of Acts begins with the 
risen Jesus, right. 

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So he's no longer in the tomb. 
His body is no longer wrapped 

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in, in burial clothes. 
His body is no longer subject to

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decay or to rigor mortis or 
anything like that. 

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He is alive. 
Like he's fully alive. 

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00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:08,120
You know, it's not the kind of 
alive where you hear people say,

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well, yeah, I suppose he's kind 
of like alive in our hearts or 

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in our memories or something 
like that. 

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No, no, no. 
Luke wants to tell us Jesus is 

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like, properly alive. 
In fact, he's more alive than 

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many of you are looking this 
morning. 

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He's like, now just to let you 
know, when I say things that 

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aren't very funny, right, the 
journey that we're going to go 

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on together is you laugh. 
I preach better. 

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00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:36,760
That's how it works. 
So, OK, so he's really alive. 

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Verse three. 
He presented himself to them and

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gave them many convincing proofs
that he was alive. 

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And he didn't just do that once 
so that they were like, oh, I 

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wonder, you know, did we 
hallucinate that? 

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Did we, you know, were we, was 
it just wishful thinking that 

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one time? 
No, no, Luke tells us he did 

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00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,840
that over and over again over a 
period of 40 days. 

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In other words, Luke, Luke wants
us to understand that the 

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Christian Church is the only 
movement that has ever existed 

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00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:09,080
that's still being led by the 
founder after his own death. 

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00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,800
Also, in addition to that, Luke 
wants to go one further and say 

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he isn't just alive. 
He's still doing things. 

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He's still at work. 
If you're the kind of person who

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00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,840
likes to circle things or 
underline things in your Bible, 

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00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,520
highlight things, and I hope you
are because that's a really good

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00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:34,880
way to deface your Bible. 
Perhaps a good word to circle is

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the word in verse one where it 
says began by former book 

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Theophilus. 
He's talking about the Gospel of

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00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:44,360
Luke. 
Actually, he's saying in the 

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00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:49,320
Gospel of Luke I wrote to you 
about all that Jesus began to do

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00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,200
and to teach until the day he 
was taken up to heaven. 

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00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,600
So he's telling us that 
everything that's captured in 

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00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,480
Luke's Gospel, all the amazing 
things that he did. 

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00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,680
So, you know, the, the feeding 
of the 5000, the calming of the 

205
00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:09,200
storm, the, all of the healings,
the paralyzed man, the man with 

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00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,640
leprosy, the 10 men with 
leprosy, the woman who'd been 

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00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,080
bent double for 18 years and so 
on and so on. 

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00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,040
Every amazing thing that he did 
and all the amazing things that 

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00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,640
he taught. 
That was just the beginning. 

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00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:22,920
Jesus was just getting started, 
right? 

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00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:25,600
All the way through he, he's 
kind of doing amazing things. 

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00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,480
He's teaching amazing things all
through his life and ministry, 

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00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,480
all the way through the cross, 
through the resurrection and 

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00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,200
beyond into all of his post 
resurrection experiences. 

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00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:40,240
Luke is telling us that was just
him like beginning and he is 

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00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:46,000
still doing things today. 
He was just getting started. 

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00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,160
If you're new to church, and I 
know that there are some people 

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00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,720
in this room who are new to 
church, that might surprise you 

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00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,760
because you might have thought, 
well, the church is kind of like

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00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:01,400
a a well meaning, earnest group 
of people who are seeking to 

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00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,840
live according to the teachings 
of Jesus after he's disappeared.

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00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,440
And to be honest, we are a well 
meaning, earnest group of people

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00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:12,840
and we are seeking to live 
according to the teachings of 

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Jesus. 
But the difference is that we 

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believe he's still here. 
He's like here and he's doing 

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00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:25,800
things in our midst. 
Even today we're expecting him 

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00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,080
to show up. 
We believe that he's here right 

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00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:34,760
now, just this week in our staff
meeting on Tuesday. 

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00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:36,600
It's amazing, actually, the 
staff meeting. 

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00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,960
In some ways, I wish you could 
all come to it, but people have 

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00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,680
the opportunity to share what 
Jesus is doing in and around the

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00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:45,720
church. 
And this week there was the most

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00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:51,080
amazing story from just about 
one particular person whose life

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00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:54,200
has been dramatically changed by
Jesus. 

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00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,080
And, you know, he's obviously 
experiencing a lot of 

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00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,320
difficulty. 
And yet he wrote in and Natalie,

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00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:03,920
one of the team, she read out 
this letter and I've got the 

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00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,160
permission to share some of it. 
So. 

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00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:08,600
So this is what he wrote. 
He said, I hope to see you on 

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00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,360
Wednesday. 
I should have been with you at 

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00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:14,000
church on Sunday, but there were
some altercations in this house 

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00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,400
and I had to call the police. 
I've mentioned to you before 

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00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,120
that it's very difficult to deal
with addicts who are on crack 

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00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:25,640
cocaine. 
Don't worry about me, because I 

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00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,640
know that having found Jesus, 
the Lord is looking after me. 

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00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:34,680
And because you both devoted so 
much time to me, I've made it. 

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00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,960
I walked tall. 
Now you will see this in me. 

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00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,720
I can't thank you guys enough. 
I'll see you on Wednesday and 

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00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,080
you will see that I'm no longer 
lost in the desert of my sad 

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00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,520
mind. 
I'm a special guy. 

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00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:48,920
God bless. 
Isn't that beautiful? 

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00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:57,000
And that's just one like on, 
that's just one, I think it was 

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00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,600
Christmas Eve at the Carol 
service, there were like 15 

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00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,040
people who gave their lives to 
Jesus in that one moment. 

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00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:05,000
And that's just part of a wider 
move of God's spirit that is 

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00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:06,840
sweeping this nation at the 
moment. 

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00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,760
And and you're going to get 
really bored of hearing me talk 

258
00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,960
about this, but but it is 
actually amazing that we are 

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00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,440
living in a moment where God is 
moving in this nation in a way 

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00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,200
that people haven't known for 
hundreds of years. 

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00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,920
And the Bible Society just did a
report. 

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00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,160
It was actually they 
commissioned a really like 

263
00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,760
proper organization called you 
Gov to do a really big sample 

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00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,280
size survey of the whole 
population. 

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00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,400
And what they discovered was 
that more than 2 million people 

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00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:39,120
have joined the church in 
England and Wales in the last 

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00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:41,280
seven years. 
I mean, that's incredible. 

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00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:42,760
I mean, yeah, you could clap 
that. 

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00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:47,760
That would be good. 
And what they found is there are

270
00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,560
actually five times as many 
young men in church as there 

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00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,480
were seven years ago, and there 
were four times as many young 

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00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,920
women. 
But there are people of all ages

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00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:58,320
joining the church at the 
moment. 

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00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:00,400
And I know that there are people
in this room. 

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00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,320
It's like you're almost 
wondering, like, why am I here? 

276
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,120
How am I here? 
How did I get here? 

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00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,360
I just feel compelled to come. 
Well, the truth is that Jesus is

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00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:13,400
alive and he's at work and he's 
at work in your life. 

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00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,720
GK Chesterton said at least five
times in history, the Christian 

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00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,280
faith has to all appearances, 
gone to the dogs. 

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00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,480
In each of these 5 cases, it was
the dog that died. 

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00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,600
I love that. 
We shouldn't be surprised that 

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00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,880
God is at work in our nation 
because Jesus is alive and he's 

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00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:37,000
at work. 
That's the first thing. 

285
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,080
Secondly, the world is ready and
waiting. 

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00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,640
Whenever we approach a passage 
of Scripture, it's always a good

287
00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,160
idea to just try to have a try 
to have a look at what the 

288
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,480
context is. 
You know, often as Christians, 

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00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,680
we like to just take one verse 
and write it on a fridge magnet 

290
00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:55,640
and stick it on the fridge and 
completely ignore whatever the 

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00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,560
context is. 
But that's a bad idea. 

292
00:16:57,560 --> 00:16:59,800
So. 
So if we were to look at the 

293
00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,320
context immediately surrounding 
our verses, we'd start to 

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00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:07,400
understand that when Jesus makes
this promise, that is to do with

295
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:10,079
being filled with the Holy 
Spirit, being baptized, being 

296
00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:14,000
drenched, being being 
overwhelmed by the Spirit of 

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00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,880
God. 
He's doing that because of the 

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00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,240
call that he's given to the 
church. 

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00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:22,640
And in fact, you know, if you 
were to look at the verses 

300
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,359
immediately before the ones that
we read now, you're like, well, 

301
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:27,680
hang on a minute. 
You read the Acts chapter one 

302
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,560
verse one. 
There are no verses in front of 

303
00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,000
this one to one. 
In one sense you're right. 

304
00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,560
But the book of Acts is volume 2
of A2 volume work a bit like 

305
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,000
Lord of the Rings. 
It's like a story that kind of 

306
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,040
goes over 2 volumes. 
And the first volume is called 

307
00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,720
Luke's Gospel. 
And so if we were to go a few 

308
00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,000
verses up into the very end of 
Luke's gospel, we would find 

309
00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:59,080
that Luke 24, verse 46, Jesus 
said the Messiah will suffer and

310
00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,240
rise from the dead, and then 
repentance for the forgiveness 

311
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,520
of sins will be preached in his 
name to all nations. 

312
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,880
Can you imagine those poor 
fishermen who've like only ever 

313
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,760
been in this tiny part of the 
Middle East and suddenly they're

314
00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,600
being sent to all nations 
without the invention of a 

315
00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:20,760
plane, a train or an automobile?
It's like an enormous call and 

316
00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,360
that that comes immediately 
before this thing about the Holy

317
00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:25,120
Spirit. 
And then immediately after it 

318
00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:29,080
acts chapter one, verse 8, Jesus
says you'll receive power when 

319
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,920
the Holy Spirit comes on you, 
and you'll be my witnesses in 

320
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,880
Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria
and to the ends of the earth. 

321
00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:43,400
So the context of this promise 
to be filled with the Spirit is 

322
00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:47,960
this enormous call to make sure 
that everyone on the face of the

323
00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,120
earth has the opportunity to 
accept or reject the good news 

324
00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:53,080
of Jesus. 
The whole world is ready and 

325
00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,400
waiting. 
One of the wildest things that 

326
00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:02,160
came out of this report by the 
Bible Society was the incredible

327
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:07,200
spiritual hunger that is present
across the adult population. 

328
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,400
And we don't know about the 
children and young people 

329
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,720
because they, they haven't done 
a survey of them yet, but the, 

330
00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:17,280
the adult population just, I'm 
hungry to encounter God. 

331
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,200
I don't know about you. 
I've been a Christian for about 

332
00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,920
30 years. 
And in that time, you know, I've

333
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,880
done my best to kind of share my
faith with people around me. 

334
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:33,240
And I, it's not been easy. 
You know, I don't know what kind

335
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,720
of a response you've had, but, 
but often I felt like people are

336
00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,240
like smiling and nodding whilst 
thinking in their hearts. 

337
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,320
No thank you. 
Or even, in some cases, open 

338
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,800
hostility. 
But the news is that that things

339
00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:50,000
are shifting. 
And So what they discovered was 

340
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:54,280
that one in three people in the 
adult population in England and 

341
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:58,160
Wales would come to a church if 
only they were invited. 

342
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,080
One in three. 
And so I don't know if you can 

343
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,320
imagine, maybe you work at a gym
or something like that. 

344
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,400
You're like, OK, well, I've 
invited you and you said no, 

345
00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:09,480
I've invited you and said you 
said no. 

346
00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:11,920
So you're the one who's coming. 
You know, it's like, that's how 

347
00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:13,800
that's how statistics work, 
isn't it? 

348
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,440
I mean, it isn't quite how 
statistics work, but the more 

349
00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,800
people you ask, the more it is 
like that, right? 

350
00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,760
So if you ask 1000 people, then 
maybe 310 people will come to 

351
00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:26,800
church. 
And so we have this incredible 

352
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,680
opportunity. 
The world is ready and waiting. 

353
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,960
You'll be my witnesses to the 
ends of the earth, says Jesus. 

354
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,200
And finally, the, the, the kind 
of the third foundation that 

355
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,440
Luke is laying for us is that 
the order of things is this. 

356
00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:47,240
It's God does something in your 
life, and then he does something

357
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:53,040
through your life, right? 
The the order is in you then 

358
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,640
through you. 
A while ago, my uncle moved into

359
00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,680
a new house and we were really 
excited to see his new house. 

360
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,480
And so there was a kind of a big
family gathering. 

361
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:06,480
We all went. 
We were super excited to see it.

362
00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:08,080
We're excited to see each other 
as well, right. 

363
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:09,880
But but mainly we're excited to 
see the house. 

364
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:14,440
And it was a really nice house, 
you know, in a nice area and it 

365
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:19,120
was made of old bricks and it 
and, you know, they were kind of

366
00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:23,000
like beautiful gas St. lights 
outside and all this kind of 

367
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,800
thing. 
And it was a really good house. 

368
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:31,360
The problem was that it was next
door to this awful house. 

369
00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:35,800
It was like a derelict house and
it looked like it had been drawn

370
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:38,920
by a child. 
You know, it was like a child's 

371
00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,800
drawing of a house. 
And the windows were falling out

372
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,920
and half of the building was 
falling down. 

373
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,200
And it's really difficult, isn't
it, when somebody says to you, 

374
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,280
what do you think of my house? 
And you're like, well, your 

375
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,320
house really nice. 
The problem is your neighbour's 

376
00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,840
house not so great. 
It was a bit awkward and anyway 

377
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:59,320
we kind of got through that. 
About a year later, our family 

378
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:04,400
WhatsApp group went wild. 
And the reason was because my 

379
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:09,320
sister-in-law had been watching 
a TV program called Ugly House 

380
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,240
to Lovely House. 
Has anyone ever seen that 

381
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:12,920
program? 
Right. 

382
00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,320
So, so ugly House, a lovely 
house. 

383
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,920
And this was the house that was 
featured my uncle's next door 

384
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,840
neighbor. 
And so they, they, it was, it 

385
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:23,960
was so brilliant. 
They did everything to that 

386
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:25,160
house. 
I mean, there was barely a 

387
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:26,800
single thing that remained the 
same. 

388
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,560
And, and so from the inside out,
they renovated every single part

389
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,360
of it, new kitchens, new 
bathrooms, they knocked a load 

390
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,320
of walls down and put up some 
other walls. 

391
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,320
And then they made the outside 
beautiful new Windows and 

392
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,720
everything else, and it looked 
amazing. 

393
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:48,320
The only problem was that now my
uncle's house looked like it 

394
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:50,520
needed some work. 
You know, there's a, there's, 

395
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,440
there's a scruffy house in every
road, right? 

396
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,800
And if you're looking through 
your front windows and you can't

397
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:58,880
see the scruffy house, that 
means you're living in it, 

398
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:04,120
right? 
So anyway, my point is, and 

399
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,120
again, you might be wondering 
what my point is, my my point is

400
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,640
actually don't we all long for 
it's a bit of a tenuous, I mean,

401
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,760
don't we all long for a 
renovation? 

402
00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:19,440
Don't like, I don't know about 
you, but like my heart is 

403
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:22,960
breaking for so many situations 
around the world at the moment. 

404
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,120
And I want God to do something 
dramatic in Ukraine, for 

405
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:32,200
example, or in the Middle East. 
It's like, oh, Lord, please. 

406
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:37,360
But actually whenever I approach
the Lord, what I'm also deeply 

407
00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:40,360
aware of is, Lord, when you're 
doing all those things out there

408
00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:46,640
in the world, please don't pass 
me by because I know that in my 

409
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,760
own life there are attitudes and
behaviours that are not good. 

410
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:56,680
I'm not going to confess them to
you right now, but like, I just 

411
00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,880
know that I need work. 
I need an inner transformation, 

412
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:07,120
a renovation of my own soul. 
So I just find it really, really

413
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,000
interesting that Jesus is like, 
yeah, I'm sending you to the 

414
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,080
nations. 
Every single person on earth 

415
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,840
needs to have an opportunity to 
accept or reject the good news 

416
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:20,040
of Jesus. 
But before you go, just wait 

417
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:28,280
right there, because I'm going 
to envelope you with my Spirit. 

418
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:35,640
And in fact, in Luke's gospel, 
right at the end, Jesus says the

419
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:37,600
same thing, but in slightly 
different words. 

420
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:43,920
He says stay in the city until 
you've been clothed with power 

421
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:52,960
from on high. 
You know, we need to know the 

422
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:57,360
power of God, the transforming 
work of the Spirit right in the 

423
00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:01,920
core of who we are. 
Even as we go, we we're living 

424
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,800
in this moment of incredible 
opportunity, the kind of 

425
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,880
opportunity that our great 
grandparents would have longed 

426
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:11,680
for. 
But here's how it works. 

427
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:16,840
God has to do something in you 
before he does it through you. 

428
00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:20,960
And so we as a church, that's 
what we're going to ask for 

429
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,320
right over and over again, over 
weeks and months, we're going to

430
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:28,440
say, Lord, we need it. 
Everything that you want to do 

431
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,920
in our lives, you know, we want 
to live the kind of lives for 

432
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,280
which only the power and the 
presence of God is the 

433
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:40,400
explanation. 
We want to, we want to fulfil 

434
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,360
everything that you're calling 
us to do. 

435
00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:47,080
But first of all, Lord, please 
will you do something in US? 

436
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,720
Don't pass us by. 
Why don't we stand?