1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,320 Good morning. In my country, we say Kyota. 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:07,000 Can you say Kyota? Is anyone from New Zealand here? 3 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:09,040 There's usually a few Kiwis around. 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:11,680 None. Oh, my goodness, we haven't. 5 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,320 We haven't come as far as St. Albans yet. 6 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,440 Oh, my goodness. We'll have to change that. 7 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,520 Hey, it's wonderful to be here. You. 8 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,560 I'm sure you know this, but your pastors are absolute legends. 9 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:25,720 Long before we met them, we had heard their reputation. 10 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:30,000 And so we were very privileged to come to Scotland a couple of 11 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,320 years ago and we spent the whole time taking notes. 12 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,400 And I think when they came over to New Zealand to see us, they 13 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,520 said, Oh my goodness, we recognize this place because 14 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,920 you've copied all our ideas. But they're, they're wonderful 15 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,280 leaders and they're, they're legends throughout the whole 16 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,160 movement. Just very quickly, I want to 17 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:49,720 show you my family that I've left behind in behind in New 18 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,360 Zealand. So we've got 4 kids. 19 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:54,000 They're a good looking lot aren't they? 20 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,440 That they, they, they've got the good genes from my wife Lizzie. 21 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:03,280 We've got 4 kids and five grandchildren and they send 22 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,480 their their love. I actually heard that my son Ben 23 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:10,360 was here a few years ago with a a kids conference, which is 24 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:11,800 wonderful. He loves travelling around as 25 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:13,680 well. My goodness, isn't our world in 26 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,280 chaos at the moment? A lot of people coming to this 27 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,440 conference in Portugal couldn't get there because they were 28 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,720 coming through Dubai. And I was just thinking, felt 29 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,880 the Lord saying to me, you know, this is a time where Christians 30 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,880 need to be really strong. You know, we've got to stand up. 31 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,160 We've got to become strong in our faith. 32 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,040 And so I want to talk about being strong in our faith today. 33 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,320 I want to talk about spiritual fitness. 34 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,520 It was interesting when I was coming today, saw a few people 35 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,560 out there jogging. New Zealand is a is a big place 36 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:48,080 for for physical fitness. I've got a friend who just did a 37 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,480 100 kilometre cross country run just recently. 38 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,040 It makes me exhausted just even thinking about that. 39 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,960 But you know, in the new year in New Zealand, it's probably the 40 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,080 same here. Everybody signs up to the gym, 41 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:03,880 they go for the month and they bring all these extra machines 42 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,960 in and then after the month, month, everybody sort of forgets 43 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,039 about it and they got on with life. 44 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:10,759 I didn't realise. Do you realise that you're 45 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:14,040 Pastor Chuck? He's a physical legend as well. 46 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,280 Did you realise that? I mean, we call him Chuck Norris 47 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:21,600 around the world because but you know, he came, he came to our 48 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,640 place and he was out running every day and he's the legend. 49 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:27,320 And I thought, how does a pastor get as fit as this? 50 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,760 And you may not know this, but he's got a secret and I'm going 51 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:32,960 to reveal it to you today. I didn't ask permission, but I'm 52 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,440 going to reveal it. If you look carefully at his 53 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,680 hands, he has a very special ring. 54 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,560 Have you seen Lord of the Rings? You know, my precious, all that 55 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:42,600 sort of stuff. Well, if you look on his hands, 56 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:44,960 he's got a special ring. It's actually black. 57 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,120 In his case, it's called an aura ring. 58 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,360 And I don't know whether it's super powersome or what it does, 59 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:54,760 but I thought to myself, I said to my wife, I want to look like 60 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,520 Chuck. So I bought a ring as well 61 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:59,160 because there's a picture of it on the screen. 62 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,720 It hasn't done the same thing for me, unfortunately. 63 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,320 I'm still working on it. But what it does, they're quite 64 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,000 incredible rings because what they do is they encourage you to 65 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:11,680 keep fit. It tells you what, you know, it 66 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,440 reminds me that my blood's still there, which is good. 67 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,760 It tells me my heart's pumping, which is also very encouraging. 68 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,920 But I over the holidays, we have our summer holidays over 69 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:24,320 January. And I was doing a lot of, you 70 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:26,320 know, walking up hills and all that sort of stuff. 71 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,160 Nothing like chalk, my goodness. But you know, I was going for a 72 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,360 couple of hours and it was encouraging me to say, you can 73 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,160 do this. You go, you good thing. 74 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,120 I mean, I'd even just get out of bed and it would say awesome, 75 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,800 you're off to a great staff. I thought, wow, this is great. 76 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,880 I've got my Apple Watch as well. And they both encourage me. 77 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,080 They're like a couple of little fans. 78 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,240 They're saying you go, you are awesome. 79 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,640 You're going to become like Chuck, you know, they're just 80 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,880 really encouraging. And so I, it was exciting to see 81 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,200 myself get a little bit fitter as the time went on because it 82 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,360 would show me that my heart was getting a bit fitter. 83 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,800 I was doing a bit more cardio and stuff like that, encouraging 84 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,400 me to sleep more. And I want to tell you physical 85 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,720 fitness is great, but I want to talk about spiritual fitness 86 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,640 today. You know, Timothy says, sorry, 87 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,120 Paul says to Timothy in one Timothy 4 verse 8. 88 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:20,880 Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much 89 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:23,800 better. Promising benefits in this life 90 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:28,240 and in the life to come. You know, we have a body, a soul 91 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,920 and a spirit. Did you realize that hopefully 92 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:32,920 all of you have got our bodies here today? 93 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:34,520 I think most of you have. That's good. 94 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,400 I've got a little diagram coming up and it'll show us that we've 95 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,240 got, we've got the body part of us, we've got the soul part of 96 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,280 us, which is the mind, the will, and the emotions. 97 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,560 But we've also got this part called the spirit as well. 98 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:50,760 Hopefully that diagram might come up and you'll see it there. 99 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,520 There we go. And so often we think mostly 100 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,080 about our body and we think about our soul. 101 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,800 We can exercise our body to become like Chuck our soul. 102 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:07,600 You know, we get counselling and we do mindfulness and all those 103 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,040 sorts of things, but our spirit is the part of us that relates 104 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,680 to God. And in one Thessalonians 523, 105 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:19,600 Paul says, now may the God of peace make you holy in every way 106 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,400 and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless 107 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,920 until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 108 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,880 You know, I know people who are incredibly physically fit, but 109 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,080 spiritually they are malnourished. 110 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:36,760 They don't focus on their spirits at all. 111 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,440 And God actually does want us to be physically fit. 112 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,920 He wants us to have healthy minds as well, but he wants our 113 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:48,280 spirit to grow. And a spiritually physical, 114 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:52,520 sorry, a spiritually fit person is a person that is incredibly 115 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,080 close to Jesus. That's what a a spiritually fit 116 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,880 person looks like. I've got a diagram coming up 117 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:02,400 here and I want to talk about what our lives are like. 118 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:07,320 This diagram here, you'll see it has Jesus in the centre. 119 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,200 You know, there are lots of things that we can have as 120 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,640 passions in life. Some of us might really love our 121 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:15,040 work. That's a bit strange. 122 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:20,320 Maybe we have passions like sport and running and you know, 123 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,000 you'll have English football teams and different things that 124 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,560 you absolutely love. We love the All Blacks in New 125 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,200 Zealand. Family is obviously very 126 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,320 important, but what have you got in the centre of your passions, 127 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:36,400 in the centre of your life? You know, the goal of our lives 128 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,560 as Christians should be to have Jesus in the centre because the 129 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,920 definition of a God is the thing that you love the most, the 130 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:46,920 thing that you're most passionate about. 131 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,960 And I want to ask you today, what is at the centre of your 132 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,800 life? What is the absolute passion of 133 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,480 your life? Because as Christians, the 134 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:01,040 journey of our lives should be that we try to bring Jesus into 135 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,160 the real centre. Now don't panic. 136 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:05,640 Today if you look at all those other things and you think, oh, 137 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:10,400 maybe it's my family, maybe it's, you know, my technology, 138 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:14,800 maybe it's music or whatever The thing is, over our lives, God 139 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:19,280 wants us to get spiritually fit by bringing Jesus into the 140 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:21,960 centre. You know, we often hear the 141 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,320 saying Jesus is Lord. What does that actually mean? 142 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:27,920 Well, it means that Jesus is the boss. 143 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,320 It means that he is in charge, it means he is the greatest joy 144 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,640 of our lives. And we can sing about Jesus 145 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,120 being Lord, but if he's not in that centre circle then he 146 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:40,800 actually isn't Lord of your life. 147 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,840 The famous missionary to China, Hudson Taylor said Jesus is 148 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,920 either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. 149 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,920 So my challenge today is what is the centre of your life? 150 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:59,000 What is in the inner circle? Because whatever that is, is 151 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,320 your God. You know, when people become 152 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,200 Christians, there are some people that totally change. 153 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,560 They become radical in so many ways and sometimes they almost 154 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,040 seem a little bit too radical. When my day, they went out and 155 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,320 smashed all their CDs and you know, they got rid of a whole 156 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,400 bunch of stuff and they were telling everybody about Jesus. 157 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,440 They were excited and everything seemed to change. 158 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:26,880 Rather like one of the songs we sang. 159 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,320 Your talk is different, your walk is different. 160 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:31,520 That's what it looks like to be a Christian. 161 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:35,960 But I've noticed in recent years there are people that become 162 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,520 Christians and nothing much seems to change. 163 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,880 Their language is the same, their integrity is the same. 164 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,000 They still pretty much do what they used to do. 165 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,800 Not not much seems to change other than they just start 166 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,560 coming to church. Number of years ago Liz and I 167 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,520 were counselling a lady who was have having marriage problems 168 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,280 and she said to us my husband likes going dancing at 169 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,880 nightclubs. We said Oh yes she said he 170 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:06,960 actually takes his wedding ring off before I he goes. 171 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,880 Do you think that's a problem? And we said yes, I think that's 172 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,160 actually rather a serious problem that that, that that 173 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,960 you've got there. And you see what he was doing is 174 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,000 when he was at home, he had his ring on saying, I'm a faithful, 175 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,480 wonderful husband. But then he would take the ring 176 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:24,360 off and who knows what would happen. 177 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,600 It was sort of like conditional faithfulness. 178 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,800 And I want to ask the question today, when you go to work, are 179 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,600 you still faithful to Jesus? When you're with your mates in 180 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,760 the pub, are you faithful to Jesus? 181 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,480 Are you a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 182 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,720 Friday, Saturday Christian? Or are you different when you 183 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,960 come along to church than you are during the rest of the week? 184 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:53,960 You know, some people are just Sunday Christians and they say 185 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,240 they've become a Christian, but really all they've done is 186 00:09:57,240 --> 00:09:59,840 they've added something onto their lives. 187 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:04,600 In my country we have a thing called sleep outs or granny 188 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:06,680 flats. I think you call it an annex. 189 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,080 And so I want to just show you what a what a house looks like. 190 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:12,920 There it is. That's my life. 191 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:14,440 Imagine your life looks like that. 192 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:16,920 Imagine you're just an ordinary life. 193 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,640 And then you become a Christian and you add an annex on the 194 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:22,640 side. It'll come up. 195 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:25,080 There we go. You add Jesus onto the side, 196 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,960 he's just attached. So your house looks exactly the 197 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:29,800 same. Your life looks the same, but 198 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,800 you've just got this little attachment that you sort of 199 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:34,960 visit once a week. You go in there and just have a 200 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,280 wee look around and think, oh, this is a nice wee annex, isn't 201 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,120 it? But God does not want to be your 202 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,800 annex. He does not want to be your 203 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,080 granny flat. I'll show you the next slide 204 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:46,960 which shows exactly what he wants to be. 205 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,840 He wants to be the whole house. He wants to come and he wants to 206 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,280 take over the whole thing. He wants to totally redecorate. 207 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,880 So when people come into your life as they think, wow, this 208 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,120 place has changed. This, this place is a whole 209 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,560 different place. I mean, I can sort of vaguely 210 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:07,720 recognize what it was, but something is radically different 211 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,000 there. And I want to challenge you. 212 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,440 When Jesus came into your life, is that what happened to you? 213 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,600 A man came up to Jesus once and he said, what is the most 214 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,880 important thing that I could possibly do with my life? 215 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:24,880 If I was just going to have one focus, if I was just going to 216 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,040 follow one commandment, what would that be? 217 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:34,880 And Jesus said to him in Matthew 2237, Love the Lord your God 218 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:38,600 with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. 219 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,040 This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is 220 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,240 like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. 221 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,040 Friends, when we become Christians, God wants us to love 222 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,680 Jesus with every single thing that's in US. 223 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,440 He encourages us to bring Him to be the greatest passion and to 224 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:02,520 come to the absolute middle of our circle. 225 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,160 You know, it's not enough just to be part of the Christian 226 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:10,360 culture, not enough to just come along to church and raise their 227 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,200 hands when our hearts are in different places. 228 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,400 You know, I want to read to you the scariest verse in the Bible 229 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,880 as far as I'm concerned. Ever listen to this in Matthew 230 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,400 721. This is Jesus speaking, He says, 231 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,640 not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the 232 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:31,160 Kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father 233 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,160 who was in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 234 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:37,560 that's judgement day. Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy 235 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:41,280 in your name and in your name drive out demons and before many 236 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:45,360 miracles? Then I'll tell them, I never 237 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,560 knew you away from me, you evil doers. 238 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:53,640 Isn't that a scary verse? This is people who turn up to 239 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:57,000 Jesus on Judgement Day and they're expecting to get in And 240 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,960 they, they say, Jesus, you recognize us. 241 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,280 You know, we were not just average Christians. 242 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:04,600 We were, we went to Verso Church and St. 243 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,600 Albans. Impressive. 244 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:11,400 You know, we were on the worship team and we, we, we did usher 245 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:15,040 and we did all sorts of things. And they're expected to get in. 246 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:19,520 I mean, not even only that they were on the ministry team, they 247 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:22,120 were doing miracles and casting out demons. 248 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,480 And Jesus says, I don't even recognize who you are. 249 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:32,160 What a scary thing that is. And he says, I never knew you. 250 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,760 When you look at that Greek word, the Greek word gonosco to 251 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:41,520 know, talks about intimacy, talks about being very close. 252 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:46,360 It's the type of word both in Greek and in Hebrew. 253 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,960 They have a similar word that talks about the intimacy between 254 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,840 a husband and a wife. And Jesus is saying he wants 255 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:58,720 intimate relationship with us. He wants to be close to us. 256 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,160 I want to show you another diagram of circles. 257 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:06,000 And this is how we know God. You know, how well do you know 258 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,280 Him? You know, there could be people 259 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:12,080 here in every part of these circles and that's OK because 260 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,760 we're on a journey. There are some people in our 261 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,040 society that are completely unaware of Jesus, don't even 262 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,760 know anything about him, and they're on the journey. 263 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,560 Hopefully there are some people that know about Jesus, so 264 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,400 they're a wee bit closer. There are others that would be 265 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,400 like an acquaintance. I know him just a little bit. 266 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,040 I've encountered him. I, I want to get to know him 267 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,360 more. There are people that would say 268 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,440 I'm a friend, I'm a friend of Jesus. 269 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,600 But you know, Jesus wants something even more than that. 270 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:46,200 He wants intimacy. He wants incredible closeness. 271 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,640 What does it look like to have incredible closeness with Jesus? 272 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:55,400 Well, I know lots of old people. I'm becoming one myself 273 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,520 actually. But I know lots of old people 274 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,200 who have walked with Jesus for many years. 275 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:06,040 And you can tell a person that is very close to Jesus, we've 276 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,800 got a friend who's passed away and has photos going to come up 277 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:10,480 on the screen. His name is Bruce. 278 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:13,920 He's the granddad of one of our pastors. 279 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,560 And Bruce walked with Jesus for decades. 280 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,920 And you'd go and talk to Bruce and anytime you just said the 281 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,360 word Jesus, he would burst into tears. 282 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:28,560 Tears would just stream down his face. 283 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,680 I remember once, probably the last time we saw him, Liz said, 284 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,920 oh, Bruce, you just love Jesus, don't you? 285 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,360 When he just burst into tears and he said, oh, yes, I do. 286 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,320 And all these tears would would come down his face. 287 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,880 And I remember thinking to myself, that's the way I want to 288 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,840 end up. I want to become so close and so 289 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:52,880 intimate with Jesus that just the thought of him would bring 290 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,560 tears to my eyes. You know, I know a few elderly 291 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:00,880 people who are like Bruce, been very close to Jesus all their 292 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:02,960 lives. And it's wonderful because as 293 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,440 they get older, they get excited about seeing him. 294 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:06,880 You know, most people fight death. 295 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,280 I don't want to die. Give me any pill you can to keep 296 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,000 me alive. And these people are saying, oh, 297 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,800 I just can't wait to die. I can't wait to be with Jesus. 298 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,000 And I was with one lady that was, you know, in the process of 299 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,520 passing away. And she said to me, tell me what 300 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,000 it's like to be with Jesus. And I told her, you'll open up 301 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,280 your eyes and Jesus will be there. 302 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,480 And she said, oh, I can't wait. And I came and saw her a couple 303 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:30,480 of days later and she said, oh, I'm still here. 304 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,880 She said, I, I go to sleep and I think I'm going to wake up and 305 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,960 see Jesus just like you said. And then I, I open my eyes and I 306 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:39,720 think, oh, I'm back here on earth. 307 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:44,080 And she said, I just wake up so disappointed because all I want 308 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,760 to do is just be with Jesus. Don't you want to end up like 309 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,000 that? Don't you want to be in that 310 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,120 intimate place? What I want to tell you quickly 311 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,600 how you can head along that path, how you can become 312 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,880 spiritually fit. There's five things just very 313 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,200 quickly. Number one, make a decision that 314 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,079 Jesus is going to be the passion of your life. 315 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,880 Just decide it. Today I'm going to make him in 316 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:14,480 that inner circle #2 ask the Holy Spirit to help you because 317 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,119 the Holy Spirit is your coach. He's like your aura ring. 318 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:20,319 He says, come on, you can do this. 319 00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:23,520 You can become more like Jesus. You know, you're off to a good 320 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:28,000 start. You know #3 prioritize spending 321 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,320 time with Jesus everyday. And I'll come back to that in a 322 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,360 minute #4 find others who will go on the journey with you. 323 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,480 Do you know, we're designed to be a team to do this together 324 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:42,800 and #5 commit to a number of weekly habits that will get you 325 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:48,280 close to Jesus? Now, do you know that just as 326 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,880 you go to the physical gym, you can see I don't go there 327 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,440 particularly often, but I want to tell you something. 328 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,360 I probably shouldn't say this, but their son Kaya, who's 329 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:58,920 probably here somewhere, he's a legend, man. 330 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,960 He is a legend. I mean, he's, he's at the gym 331 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,680 the whole time, this guy. And it's incredible. 332 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,680 And, and I haven't been to the gym all that many times, but but 333 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,880 when I do go, I know there are lots of different exercises that 334 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,760 you do. They exercise different parts of 335 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,520 your body. And do you know, all throughout 336 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:22,920 history people have actually gone into the spiritual gym and 337 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:28,240 they do spiritual exercises or spiritual habits practices they 338 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:32,160 call them, or disciplines that actually help you become closer 339 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,120 and closer to Jesus. And very quickly, in the time we 340 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:38,640 have left, I want to go through six of those things, six key 341 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,200 disciplines that we can do, the 6th exercises that will help us 342 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:45,480 come close to Jesus. The first one is worship. 343 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,240 The second one is prayer. The third one is the Bible. 344 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,800 The 4th 1 is fellowship. The fifth one is giving. 345 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,440 And the 6th 1 is mission. And let's very quickly look at 346 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,040 those exercises and then we're done. 347 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:02,080 So let's look at the first one, worship. 348 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,760 You know, when we worship, it exercises our spirit. 349 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:12,440 It opens us up towards God. You know, when I want to get 350 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,680 close to God, the first thing I do is to start to worship. 351 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:19,880 I put on a, you know, some music for some worship music. 352 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,480 I might sing myself, I might play my guitar or something like 353 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:27,320 I, I want to do something that's going to open my spirit towards 354 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:29,600 God. Romans 12 verse one says. 355 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:32,880 And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to 356 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,080 give your bodies to God because of all he's done for you. 357 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:40,360 Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind that he will 358 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:43,720 find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship 359 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:45,680 him. Just giving your whole self to 360 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,400 God and say Lord, everything I do, I want to be a worship to 361 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:51,920 you. I looked up the Internet 362 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,720 definition of worship. I think it was on AI so you 363 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:56,640 can't completely trust it, but this was a good one. 364 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:00,680 It called worship. It calls for complete, undivided 365 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:05,760 devotion, utilizing 1's entire being, emotion, spirit, and 366 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,400 physical effort to serve and honour God. 367 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:12,360 Isn't that cool? The Westminster Shorter 368 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,400 Catechism is not light reading, I want to tell you. 369 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:19,240 But the first part says what our purpose is in life. 370 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:24,320 Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 371 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:26,280 That's the purpose we're on Earth. 372 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,920 To to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. 373 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,280 Let's whip on to the next one, which is prayer. 374 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:36,240 So the first one's worship, second one is prayer. 375 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,360 And I want to tell you, prayer is a two way conversation. 376 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,360 It's not you just giving a shopping list to God, telling 377 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:46,720 him what to do for the day. Prayer is where we not only talk 378 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:48,920 to God, but we listen to him as well. 379 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,760 And I want to suggest the best part of prayer, the part where 380 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,920 you'll really grow, is where you start to listen to God. 381 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:02,720 John 10, verse 27, Jesus said, my sheep listen to my voice. 382 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:04,920 I know them. There's that word again, 383 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,680 gonosco. I become intimate with them and 384 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,120 they follow me. When you spend time each day 385 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:13,960 listening to God, you will come close to him. 386 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,560 And prayer is incredibly powerful. 387 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,560 James 516. The earnest prayer of a 388 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:24,560 righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 389 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:30,240 So prayer every day is a tremendous spiritual exercise #3 390 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,240 the Bible. Did you know that the Bible is 391 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:39,120 spiritual food? Now we need physical food to be 392 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:42,120 able to stay alive. But Jesus said in Matthew 4 393 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:46,120 verse four, people do not live by bread alone, but by every 394 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:48,080 word that comes from the mouth of God. 395 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,880 Do you realize that when you read the Bible, even if you're 396 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,520 reading it and it seems a bit boring and what you don't 397 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:59,520 understand it spiritually, you are taking in spiritual food 398 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:01,520 which is making you grow stronger. 399 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,800 Something is happening whether you know it or not. 400 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,800 I love this. In Hebrews 4 verse 12, when it 401 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:13,160 talks about the Bible, it says the word of God is alive and 402 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:15,000 powerful. Isn't that cool? 403 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,240 The Word of God, which is the Bible, it's alive. 404 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,000 Imagine that there is no other book on the planet that actually 405 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,800 has spiritual life on it. There's no other book. 406 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,200 You can't get Shakespeare, you can't get TSL, you can't get 407 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,360 anybody else that writes. No matter how brilliantly they 408 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:37,280 write, none of them have spiritual life like the Bible. 409 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:42,440 When you read the Word, life comes into your being, for the 410 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,760 Word of God is alive and powerful. 411 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:49,440 And that word powerful in the Greek is inner gaze, which means 412 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:55,160 energy, power, activity. When you read the word of God, 413 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,400 spiritual energy. You know, when you go to the 414 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,280 gym, I was saying to Kaya about going to the gym. 415 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:02,560 I say, why don't you go to the gym? 416 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,200 You know, what do you love it? He says, I come out and I feel 417 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,440 full of energy. I must try that sometime. 418 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:14,360 So, but that's what happens spiritually when you read the 419 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:16,360 word of God. The 4th 1 is fellowship. 420 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,520 Do you know a real deception that is around these days that 421 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:25,000 is that we are designed to do church all by ourselves, that 422 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,240 we're it's just Jesus and me. It's my personal relationship 423 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,280 with Jesus. That's an incredible deception. 424 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,400 I mean, we do have a personal relationship with Jesus, but 425 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:38,480 we're designed to be in teams X 244 to 46. 426 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,360 All the believers met together in one place and shared 427 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:44,480 everything they had. They worshipped together at the 428 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,240 temple every day. They met in homes for the Lord's 429 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,440 Supper, so that in the early church they were just meeting 430 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,760 all the time because they realized that they were designed 431 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,600 to be in teams. And this is a good word for the 432 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,200 church today in Hebrews 10, verse 25. 433 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,520 Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but 434 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,600 encourage one another, especially now that the day of 435 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,400 His return is drawing near. God has designed us to grow 436 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,720 spiritually when we work in teams. 437 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:21,960 Christianity, the Christian life, is a team sport #5 giving. 438 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:25,200 Now I wasn't asked to speak about this one, but it's 439 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,600 actually the truth. Do you realize that when you 440 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:33,080 give, it grows you spiritually? And I've seen that time and time 441 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,560 again. One of the last bastions of 442 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:40,240 faith is that one of the last bastions, one of the last holds 443 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,880 the enemy has over us is our money. 444 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,200 And when we start to give and when we start to be generous, it 445 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,480 actually explodes our spiritual life. 446 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:55,680 Matthew 6 verse 19 Jesus said don't store up treasures here on 447 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,040 earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them and where 448 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,440 thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven 449 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,880 where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break 450 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,360 in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there 451 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:14,200 your heart will be also. See when we give, we're actually 452 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,520 making God the treasure of our lives. 453 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,520 Do you want Jesus to be in the centre of your life? 454 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,800 Whatever you do with your money shows exactly where your 455 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,560 treasure is. You know, Paul said in one 456 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:30,760 Corinthians 16, verse 2, on the first day of the week, each one 457 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,560 of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his 458 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,600 income. And so this is another pattern 459 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,800 that we get into, the pattern of tithing where it can be really 460 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:46,800 hard and really difficult to do. But there is a spiritual growth 461 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,920 aspect that happens when we look at our income and we say I'm 462 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,800 going to be generous towards God and I'm going to do it 463 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:55,800 regularly. It's one of those spiritual 464 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:59,520 things that brings about tremendous growth. 465 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:02,120 And the very last one is mission. 466 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,520 Do you realize that you can sit in church all your lives and you 467 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:12,840 can be so full of knowledge that you become spiritually obese 468 00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:16,720 because you don't exercise your faith? 469 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,640 And so there's a certain point where you can learn it so, so 470 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,440 much, but if you don't actually go out and do the stuff that 471 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,040 God's called you to do, you actually go backwards. 472 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,320 That's why people say, oh, church is so boring. 473 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,120 Oh, I've heard it all before. Oh, I want to get into the deep 474 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:35,560 stuff. Do you know what the deep stuff 475 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,560 of God is? It's actually doing the stuff of 476 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,920 the word. It's doing the stuff. 477 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,560 Oh, I've heard people talk about healing and evangelism so much. 478 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:44,440 Great. Do you do it? 479 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,520 Because that's never boring when you lead somebody to Jesus, 480 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,920 never boring when you reach out in faith and pray for somebody 481 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,120 to get healed. You know, there are two types of 482 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:57,240 mission that we do 1 is ministry. 483 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,600 That's where we serve God within the church and mission where we 484 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,080 serve God in the world. And all of us should be involved 485 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,960 in those two things. Ministry where we take some role 486 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,200 within the church to help our Christian brothers and sisters 487 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,320 and mission either locally or overseas. 488 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,000 We were saying God, we're going to out work our faith. 489 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,680 The very last thing that I'll say before I go is that we are 490 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:28,360 in the spiritual race. Do you realize that we're 491 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:31,200 running this race? And Paul talks about it in 492 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:35,320 Hebrews 12, verses 1 to 3. He says, Therefore, since we're 493 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,200 surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off 494 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:43,160 everything that hinders in the sin that so easily entangles, 495 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:47,600 and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 496 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:52,360 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our 497 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:56,120 faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, 498 00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:01,400 scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne 499 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,360 of God. You know, we're on this race to 500 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:08,480 become close to Jesus and there's all these people have 501 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,520 gone before that are cheering us on. 502 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,840 So you can do it. You can get there. 503 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,480 You can you can become spiritually fit. 504 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,640 And I love this thought of the fact that when we appear before 505 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,360 Jesus, He's going to be so excited to welcome us into his 506 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:27,840 arms. Two or three weeks ago I went 507 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,040 along to see a race where my little 5 year old granddaughter, 508 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:33,720 Honey May was doing a Jew Ethelon. 509 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,240 So did she had a bike ride and a running race. 510 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,000 And I can proudly say today that she won. 511 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,440 And it was great because us grandparents and others were 512 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,920 going go, honey, go. And we were saying run that 513 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:53,040 direction. She didn't really know which 514 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:54,600 direction she was supposed to go. 515 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,720 And she got on the bike and they just said pedal and go this way. 516 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,240 And her dad was running along beside her and go round this 517 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,320 side here. And she fell off once. 518 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,320 And I said, get back up. And there was all these 519 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,320 instructions being shouted out. And then she came. 520 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,080 And when she went through that thing, we just cheered. 521 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,640 And you know, that's what it's going to be like when we come 522 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,040 before Jesus. He's going to be there and he's 523 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,920 going to welcome us and he's going to say, wow, you did it. 524 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:24,480 You obeyed, you kept on going on the course, and now you've won 525 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,000 the race. Friends, I can't wait for when 526 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:33,280 we appear before Jesus and we recognize them and we say, wow, 527 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,720 this race was worth it. Can you stand with me today? 528 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,720 And we're just going to invite the Holy Spirit to come and 529 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,240 we're going to allow him to move today.