We are one church. We love God, love people, love
His mission, and love His church.
Welcome to the One Church podcast.
Today, as we think about the whole of what One Church is, I
want to look at this phrase from Acts, and it's the phrase, what
kind of house will you build for me?
And here's in the passage, the Most High does not live in
houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, heaven is
my throne and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or
where will my resting place be? This passage is a quote from
Isaiah in Acts Chapter 7 that forms part of Stephen's speech,
the Sanhedrin, that resulted in his death.
And I was moved by the last three things he said in his life
before he entered to be with the Lord.
The last three things recorded that he said.
With this, I see heaven opened and Jesus standing there.
Jesus, receive me as I come to you.
Jesus forgive those who stone me.
Now. They were his last three
statements that have been left throughout history.
Pretty powerful last words. And in this passage, there's a
question. There's a question that He asks
us, and it's this What kind of house will you build for me?
I want to set two things in place.
First of all, any house built for the Lord will always be too
small because the Most High does not live in houses.
He cannot be contained by what we think we can do.
He is always greater and He is always more.
And secondly, I just want to state this, that any house not
built by him is always in vain, because unless the Lord builds
the house, the builders labour in vain.
And yet every day in church life we are building a house.
It's formed and fashioned by the things we believe, the way we
live, the words we declare, and the heart of our message.
And we're continually as a church answering this question,
What kind of house will you build for me?
Someone sent us a word in the second week of January.
Then they're not part of our part of God's Kingdom, but they
sent us this, he says. I was praying for one church
over the Christmas break and the Lord gave me a vision a couple
of times. I saw the Lord holding out a
golden garment. It was clearly very heavy and
looked a bit like chainmail. And I asked him what it was and
he said this is the mantle of his favour.
And I saw him handing it to 1 Church.
And then he said hold this favour wisely.
As you move into 2026 for my favour, we'll bring you into a
season of explosive growth and explosive fruitfulness, but you
will only be able to hold on to this favour with a heart of
humility and gentleness. Do not be like King Uzziah, who
started well but then became strong in his own eyes and lost
my favour as a result. And we've been thinking over
these last few weeks, how can we continue to humble ourselves and
live in the favour of the Lord? What kind of house will you
build for me, Susan? I came to Leicester in the first
Sunday of September 2007 and we came to lead a wonderful church
called Trinity Life Church that that time was, had just been
finished being led by Brian and Marge Nidlock.
And it was a caring church with a real passion for the world and
a passion for Jesus. And we LED this church for 15
years. One church that we're all part
of now was birthed in 2022 when Trinity Life Church and All
Nations Church were brought together by Jesus to serve one
another. Both churches had already been
blessed, but we have been so much stronger together and for
the last 18 years we've been building the house and we've
been answering the Father's question, what kind of house
will you build for me? So what kind of house is in our
hearts that we're aiming to build?
Firstly, it's a house centred on Jesus.
The church is not primarily the buildings that we use, the
gatherings that we have, the structures that we put in place,
the songs that we sing, the small groups.
It's not even the compassion outreach.
It's always firstly, without exception, about exalting,
honouring and sharing Jesus. And one church is a house
centred not on its leaders, not on its achievements, not on its
reputation, but centred on Jesus, the one who always stands
above all others as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
All the praise always goes to him, all the honour always goes
to him. All the breakthroughs are only
because of him. Every good thing that we ever
have in our house is because of Jesus.
He is always the centre, He's always the focus, he's always
the reason. And in him Paul writes in
Colossians everything holds together and the the way of how
we lead is this. We stand aside, we come off any
platform, we kneel down and we always make it about Jesus.
What kind of house will you build for me?
Well, our prayer is this, Father, help us build a house
with you that makes your heart glad because it's all about
Jesus. And in fact, if you look at any
part that we are as a church, we want you to find Jesus.
And if you can't, we want to change it until you can.
We don't want you to just be fixated with people or fixated
with platforms or even meetings moments.
We want you to be focused on Jesus.
Every act of kindness, every moment of generosity, every
second of serving is to honour Jesus.
He alone gets the glory. It's a house.
This is what we are centred on. Jesus.
What kind of house will you build for me?
A house rooted in the Bible. The writer of Hebrews says this.
The Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double
edged sword, penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints
and marrow, judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Traditions change, you know where views change.
Sometimes passions can diminish in people, but the Word of God
is always eternal. The Bible is the foundation of
one church. Tom Hein taught a seminar
recently on the Bible and doctrine to our leaders.
We talked about the the Bible, the Biblia, the library of books
written in three languages by at least 40 male and female
authors, spanning a period of somewhere between 4 1/2 thousand
and a few billion years, depending on your view of
creation. 66 books backed up by over 6000 New Testament
manuscripts, over 10,000 manuscripts in Hebrew for the
Old Testament, and the further 20,000 Old Testament manuscripts
that correlate together without deviation are in unity.
The Bible has lasted the test of time.
It remains the guidance for people around the world.
Every moment lives are being changed as they read the Bible.
It's incredibly cohesive, constructive, elaborate, and the
effects of the Bible remain long after everything else has
stopped and so many of us have been changed by the Bible.
What kind of house will you build?
A house rooted in the Bible. It's why the Bible should be the
focus of a part of your day, every day.
Because unlike anything else, I've just finished reading the
Pelican Brief by John Grisham. I've read that book three times.
In fact, I've read all John Grisham's books probably three
times, if I'm honest. I like him as an author.
Just finished that book and you put it aside.
It goes on the thing and there it is.
I knew everything that was coming because I've read it
before. But in reading the Bible this
morning, God speaks something fresh into your heart and you,
you're left with the thought about how you'll respond.
We believe the Bible. We follow the Bible, we read it,
we study it, we obey it, we share it.
And a house rooted in the Bible is not distracted by side
issues. You know, within the teachings
of the Bible, there are fundamental truths and then
there are secondary issues, and then there are areas that you
can disagree on. And then there are areas which
are kind of your own personal opinion.
The fundamental parts of the Scriptures that we believe never
change. We're a house rooted in the
Bible. We may disagree on one or two
other things lower down the list, but that's all right.
What kind of house will we build?
A house rooted in the Bible. We're also going to build a
house that is accountable and transparent.
The greatest desire of my life, I'm 60 this year.
I want to tell you the greatest desire of my life, without
doubt, is that I finished strong.
Having loved him to my last breath and having completed in
my life everything He wants me to do.
I want to be a humble, accountable man filled with
integrity, with no secrets and no parts of my life that bring
shame to the House of God. And I long for this more than
anything else in the world, because when you live like this,
every part of your life is better.
A house that is accountable and transparent.
Jesus said these words in the Luke.
He said there's nothing concealed that will not be
disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.
Nothing concealed, nothing hidden.
And how are churches LED is so important.
When an article is published about a church, or perhaps
there's a new church plant started, or you hear of
something happening in a church, I often will find myself looking
to see whether it's linked to something beyond itself.
Is it part of the Evangelical Alliance?
Is it accountable to others? Or is it separate, perhaps just
on its own, perhaps even linked to a sect?
Because I I believe and know after all these years that
accountability and transparency are so vital.
The enemy has power in the secret of both a church and an
individual, in the hidden, in the non disclose.
When you personally are honest, can I tell you, you never have
to remember a single thing you've ever said, ever.
You never have to remember what you said to anybody because you
just tell the truth every time. And so you've never got to
think, gosh, what did I say to them?
Did did I get that? How's it going?
Recently I was reading in the book of Daniel a picture of
judgement. It says this.
The courts were seated and the books were opened.
The news is filled with so much trauma, so many things where you
go, how did that happen? Some of the stories that have
been in the news over the last few weeks and some of them we
should be careful what you read because it doesn't help you if
you go too deep into a story. But the reality is this, Nobody
ever, ever gets away with anything.
Sometimes we can think that person got up.
Nobody gets away with anything. And in fact, everything that's
not covered by the blood of Jesus, we will always give an
account of at the end of our lives.
Hiddenness kills people. Financial manipulation of
others, stealing and cheating, unclean motives, abuse of any
kind, wickedness. People will be judged for these
things and listen to this. Terror will come upon them, but
also for us. I think the small things are so
important in my my motives, my heart, my greed, my unclean
thoughts, my jealousy, my competitiveness, my judgement of
others, any selfishness in me. You know, when the books are
opened, the courts sit down. I wanted to say this.
David Hind was a man after God's own heart and accountability and
transparency in life are so important.
And that's why it's so important in the church because when a
church is open and accountable and transparent, it leads to
health and blessing. That's why you will have seen
our financial statements of last year that Phil put together,
looking at all the giving of the house, all the expenditure so
that you can see and in fact, look, if you want to know more
Charity Commission, you'll get little things that says find a
charity, put one church, Lester, pop it in and then have a look.
And then don't spend the next three hours looking at every
church. You know, right, Don't do that.
But this one, have a look and read what we do and our accounts
and what we did, etcetera. Why do we believe that's so
important? Because accountability is
important. It's why we as a leadership are
not distant or separate or unapproachable.
It's why I, in my privilege of serving the house, am
accountable to our trustees and managed by our chair of trustees
who believe me, watches over me and encourages and challenges me
on a regular basis. It's why we don't exalt a
leader. A good question to ask somebody
who you ever meet, who has power, is this.
Who says no to you, Who says no to you?
And if no one ever says no to them, then they're not
accountable. I I know it's tough.
It's why we welcome questions as a church.
It's why we encourage people to ask us if they're uncertain
about anything to say if they disagree.
We may agree to disagree at the end, but you can ask any
questions. It's why as a church, when we're
wrong, we say sorry. It's why when we're planning, we
do our best to take people with us.
Why? Because we want to be a house
that's accountable and transparent.
What kind of house will you build?
A house that's open for anybody on a walk?
A year ago, Susan and I came to this building in the Lake
District. It's the next slide.
We just go to it. And what this was is it's a
place where people on a journey can stop and find rest.
And it's on a specific walk pattern.
So people would probably sleep in there, I imagine over many
hundreds of years, a place where they could be out of the
elements and pause. And we want to be as a house, a
place for everyone who's looking for a home, everyone who's lost
and hurting, searching, broken, those who are strong and ready
to run, those who are carrying baggage.
But this has challenges. Look at Paul's words in
Corinthians. Do you not know that wrongdoers
will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
And that is what some of you were.
But you were washed, you were sanctified.
You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God. I love that that's what some of
you were. Do you know there's enough
testimonies in this room to probably fill the front of the
Leicester Mercury for the next month?
And there's enough grace in this room to fill the paper as well.
Because such was some of us with our rubbish and our mess and the
things we perhaps would have done differently.
But we have been changed by the gospel.
But when you say you're a church open to anyone, you're welcome.
It leads to mess and sometimes it can be uncomfortable and the
gospel changes us because people arrive with no understanding of
how church life works and it's a journey.
People arrive at one church carrying church pain, and we
want to help them to love the whole bride again.
Families arrive as a whole unit and yet they're not married.
And grace comes and Holy Spirit speaks and it leads to marriage.
I think already this year there are three or maybe 4 marriages
of couples who've recently got saved and decided they want to
get married. People arrive in a relationship
that's not the best for them and we walk with them.
Some arrive with wounds and they get healed.
Some arrive in brokenness and piece by piece we believed in
Jesus name to help them get back together.
Some arrive with doctrinal error and through care and teaching
they change. Many arrive with questions and
gradually in church life they get introduced to answers.
But it can be very messy. One church is not just the
Church of all ages from over 70 nationalities.
It's filled with people who are individually being changed into
his image day by day. It's a house that's open for
everyone. What kind of house will you
build for me? A house that is compassionate
and caring. You know what this message is so
ingrained in Susan of my life is because as leaders we get one go
and actually that space that we're in now will come to an end
sooner because we will get older.
I'm always going to be a passionate lover of the house.
We want to be a house that is compassionate and caring.
These verses again, have become so important to us.
These were the basis of how we began everything in open hands.
Is this not the kind of fasting I've chosen?
To loose the chains of injustice and tie the cords of the yoke?
To set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide
the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked, to
clothe them and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood a
house that is compassion and caring.
Why? Because he's changed our lives.
Because of the teachings of the Bible and because of his call to
compassion, we must help people. The church is to be good news.
It's to be what we are for, not what we're against.
Sometimes exclusivity. You're not welcome to come in
until actually it's so much the wrong message.
You are welcome in all your mess.
There will be challenge, but you are welcome.
And when sin is found, love and grace is.
It's challenged lovingly and we pray, it's confessed and then a
new day comes. We want to help people learn how
to grow as disciples, how to live in blessing as a Jesus
follower, how to thrive as godly parents, how to cope with grief,
how to be contented and not restless and become the person
God always intended them to be. Because you cannot read the
Bible and not realise that compassion is the heart of God.
I love that this week many people have been fed through
food hampers, both in open hands and through one church sites.
People have been have visited our community food store and
been able to access food either free or at a much reduced rate.
People this week have been clothed, helped with furniture,
given practical skills in language, had the opportunity to
receive prayer. I love that last year we as a
church had the privilege to give away 193,000 lbs to open hands,
our mission partners, our denomination, and those in need
among us. I love that.
I love that you know this week, you and me.
As a house, we supported people and missionaries in eight
countries. We supported local charities
that help those who Foster and adopt and who provide care to
ladies who sell sex. This week we invested in
missions that impacted both Arabs and Israelis, brought the
Bible to those who didn't don't have one, represented those who
were persecuted and we gave them a voice.
This week we supported an organisation that reaches
students for Jesus and another that speaks into politics and
government. I love that This week in a slum
of 500,000 people, we've provided water to those who have
known, training to give women a career and hope in life,
discipleship to young ladies, giving them life skills and free
sanitary towels. And alongside this, as a house,
we've sponsored some of the educational needs of around 250
children in the third world. Why?
Because we're building a house that is compassionate and caring
and believe me, not perfect. And every week I hear across all
that we are of people who have visited in hospital, provided
with meals, those who are struggling, who are cared for,
new parents who are encouraged, those who are grieving given
time, the small groups of which there are so many now, providing
a safe place for hundreds of people, and our midweek groups
thriving. I love that.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord.
A house with an eternal perspective.
I love this. Paul says we fix our eyes not on
what is seen. Have you noticed that quickly it
passes. We had a family night last
night. I have two sons, Susan.
I have two sons. Samuel arrived with his wife.
Tom arrives with his wife and three kids.
And we, we, we had a meal together, so we planned for it.
It's so lovely. It's celebrating Samuel's 37th
birthday. I have a son who is 37.
How on earth did that happen? But it passes.
It's gone. You know, we have that lovely
moment. We pray together.
At the end we just stopped and it's gone.
This life is temporary, it comes to an end, we believe, to live a
full life of 708090 years. I understand that, but there are
no guarantees, no second chances.
A week last Saturday I watched a film with Robert Duvallin and I
found myself in my devotions the following morning, distracted by
his Wikipedia page. Why?
Because as a man in his mid 90s, I wanted to know not what films
he did, but is he going to heaven?
Because ultimately none of that stuff matters.
It really doesn't. An eternal perspective.
And because we're that we remind people that this life is not all
there is. Every person is eternal, we all
live forever. Heaven and hell are real and
only through coming to the cross, repenting of our sin and
inviting Jesus into our lives will we be saved and everything
else is rubbish. They're going to be people who
were in church maybe every week, got baptised as babies, believed
in God, even people that led churches who one day Jesus will
say I never knew you because they never came to the cross and
acknowledged him as Lord of all in their lives.
This is serious because we're a house with an eternal
perspective. We talk about the return of
Jesus. You know when Jesus ascended to
heaven days after the resurrection, an Angel said,
this same Jesus who was taken from you into heaven, we'll come
back in the same way you've seen him go into heaven one day on
this planet. Every person I believe at the
same time, you never explain that one.
We'll see him return. Every person on the planet will
bow down, and every person, some with tears of joy and others
through gritter teeth, will acknowledge that he is Lord of
all, and those who've died in Christ will meet him in the air
and we will go and be with him. I tell you, I'm going to fly.
Don't get distracted by it, Booyah.
He is the soon and coming king and we, we are a house with an
eternal perspective. So we talk about being ready.
It's good to save for retirement.
I'm always amazed at how many people save for retirement their
whole life and then die in their late 60s having not used any of
it. And you think, God, I don't want
to just it's good to prepare for your retirement.
It's good to prepare for future generations.
It's vital to have a will to pass on.
Those things are important, but they're not the most important
things. Because we're one day, every one
of us in the room, we're all going to die.
And it's a guarantee I can give you.
And nothing you can do can stop it.
No medical treatment, no private insurance, Nothing is going to
stop you one day. Pop in your clogs and we buy
homes. Which good.
We go through training to be the best we can be in our careers.
It's good, education, great. We build our lives, guests.
Yep. But if we live a life that's not
centred on Him, what does it mean?
Keep your gaze on the king. Don't be distracted by anything.
Live in a way to invest for heavenly rewards by living a
generous or the centred life. And remember, one day you're
going to be free from all sin, all sickness, all tears, and
your only focus will be Jesus if you love him.
Sometimes I can be in the middle of a very exciting moment with
family, with friends at church, and all of a sudden I feel this
thing inside. It's like a longing to go home.
It's like something that says, God, I love this, but I'm
longing for something more than this.
I love how Max Liccardo puts, he puts all this when you see your
father, you'll set all your baggage down and all your
longings down. Those you love will shout.
Those you know will applaud. But all the noise will cease
when he cups your chin and he says, welcome home and with
scarred hand he will wipe every tear from your eye and you will
dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
What kind of house are we going to build with our lives?
What kind of house are we going to be?
Let's not just let's not aim to be inefficient and poor, but
let's not aim to be slick and perfect.
Let's be aimed to be the best we can with him at the centre.
A house centred on Jesus. A house rooted in the Bible.
A house that is accountable and transparent.
A house that is open to anyone. A house that's compassionate and
caring. A house with an eternal
perspective. And lastly, let's be a house
that longs for his presence. His presence on the last and
greatest day of the feast. Jesus stood up and said in a
loud voice, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me. As Scripture has said, rivers
listen, living, living. Water will flow from within
them. We believe in the power of the
Holy Spirit. He lives in US.
How does that work? How when I was forgiven at 19,
how was it the God who made everything came to live in me?
God is in you. If you know Him, He lives in you
somewhere. It's beyond my comprehension.
And then He comes upon us with the dunamis, the power of the
Spirit. And there's always more.
Here we are this morning. There's always more.
More of His presence in prayer. More of His presence in
encounter. More of His presence releasing
the gifts of the Spirit. More of His presence empowering
us to take the gospel where He's placed us to be lights.
More of His presence to meet us in our longing.
Are you thirsty? Come to me, he says drink
deeply. And the promise is this rivers
of living water. I'm going to ask you to pray
that we as a church will continue to be this kind of
house. And if you ever see us deviate
from these things that I've talked about today, ring up,
write an e-mail, come and see us and say, excuse me, that's not
what you said you were going to be, and we'll change.
I want to urge you to play your part in the kind of house that
you'll do and you build. Don't be one thing in one place
and one in another. Let your Christianity flow into
your marriage, in your private moments of your life, how you
are at work with your work colleagues, how you speak, how
you think. Let Jesus permeate every moment
in you when you are close to him.
Every part of your life is better.
There's no part that isn't what kind of house will you build?
It's just a a little question from the Holy Spirit to us
today. And Father, I want to just
respond by saying this is the kind of house we want to build.
And it's such an honour that we love your house, we love you, we
love what you are building. You know, Father, we have 4 all
the churches where the Bible is preached, where the gospel is
shared, we cheer them on. We love it where men and women
in huge crowds and under trees and in small house groups are
honouring the things that we've talked about today.
And we bless them. We bless them, and in our small
part of the Kingdom of God, will you come and build something so
great that only you can get the credit?
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine
upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards
you and give you peace.