We are one church. We love God, love people, love
His mission, and love His church.
Welcome to the One Church podcast.
Some years ago a young lady we knew was baptised and this was
her story. She writes this When I was 13 my
mum died. Two years later my dad also
died. Growing up as a first born,
orphaned and entirely responsible for the life of my
younger sister has not been easy.
Having lost my parents, our money and inheritance, we were
left alone and I was at the edge of reason.
This resulted in my life in drug abuse, suicide, contemplation
and other things I will not go into.
There's an expression that means to lose all you have to hit rock
bottom. And I hit rock bottom and I
realised that when you hit rock bottom, there is a rock at the
bottom. His name is Jesus.
And from the pit of nothingness, God has blessed me in my life,
rescued me and provided me with everything I lacked.
I have found Him to be my father, mentor, my Saviour, my
courage, my wisdom, my resting place, my daily bread and my
strength. People everywhere are looking
for a purpose. They're asking, is my life
making a difference? And the truth is that many are
missing the plan that God has for them.
People can climb a ladder successfully their whole life
and then realise it was on the wrong wall because in the end
very little is going to matter. Money, position, fame will be
forgotten because one thing is important, to know Jesus for
ourselves and then to live the life we were created for because
we get one life. Reincarnation is a lie.
You are now living the one life you have been given.
Now how's it going? When your Creator made you, you
were wanted and precious, and you were born with a purpose,
whether you realise it or not. And today I want to remind us
all about the life we were created to live, because God
created you to live a certain life.
And if we've not started this life, Jesus with Jesus, there's
an invitation here today. And if you have begun and you've
got lost on the way, there's an invitation to get up and start
again. And if you've begun and you're
continuing to walk in it, there's an invitation to keep
going with passion. And we're here looking in Luke
chapter 3 and we'll just read 2 verses together.
When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised
too. Let me just pause there.
If you've not yet been baptised in water, I'd like to point out
to you that single verse which overcomes every single argument
in this room. Because Jesus, at the age of 30,
having lived a sinless life, was baptised in water.
How much more should we be baptised?
And if you've not been baptised, stop praying for the right time,
not looking. Stop looking for a date when
everybody can come and see you. It's time to get baptised in
water. Just decide go and see your
sight. Pastors, don't put it off
anymore, get baptised anyway. And as Jesus was praying, heaven
was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form
like a dove and a voice came from heaven.
You're my son whom I love with you.
I am well pleased. This is the life you also are
created to live. Firstly, to walk with an open
heaven. As he was praying, heaven was
opened. People can say God is distance,
but His promise has always been that He will be close to you.
I've known since I met Susan that I would always be second in
her life. Jesus was forever going to be
first and that she was going to walk with Him first.
But I've discovered this, The closer she is to Jesus, the
closer she is to me. Because something happens when
we walk closely with Him. We are destined to live close to
Him. And a life with an open heaven
is a blessed life. It's a life that knows God.
It's a a life that experiences his grace and his forgiveness.
It's a life that knows closeness in every season, closeness in
the summer times when life is alive and thriving.
Closeness in the autumn, when things begin to lose their
shape, when they start to wane. Closeness in the winter, when we
face death and when we face sadness.
Closeness in the spring when new life and New Hope comes and we
begin to hear again, just perhaps you're called to live a
life that knows closeness in every moment.
Stephen, as he was being stoned to death in the book of Acts,
said this. Look, I see heaven opened and
the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
We were never promised an easy, stress, free challenge, free
suffering, free life. Sometimes it's been taught, come
to Jesus and everything will always be sorted.
And if we kind of teach that kind of gospel, we don't prepare
people for the challenge of living in a fallen world, in a
world where there is sin and brokenness and selfishness.
The reality is, is that it is a fallen world, and suffering and
challenge are part of the journey.
But he has promised an open heaven where he is always close
in every season. John the Apostle writes in the
Book of Revelation. After this I looked, and there
before me was a door standing open in heaven, and the voice I
had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, Come up
here and I will show you what must take place.
And at once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne
in heaven with someone sitting on it, a picture of an open
heaven, hearing God, seeing Jesus touched by his presence.
You were called to walk through an open door under an open
heaven with the closeness of God.
This is the life you were destined for.
This is the plan God has for you.
It's not a future hope. It's a now reality and we have
to live in it. This is the life we're created
for. But the passage goes on, he
says. And as he was praying, the Holy
Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove.
The life he's destined for you is to be Holy Spirit filled.
When you became a Jesus follower, something happened in
your life. Look at this from the book of
Ephesians. When you believed, not before.
When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal.
The promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance. The Holy Spirit at conversion
comes to live in US. Every Christian has Holy Spirit
living in them. But there's more.
The word dunamis is used around 120 times in the New Testament.
It means strength and power and ability.
It's the root word of dynamite for Mary.
She was told that the Holy Spirit would The Holy Spirit
will come on you and the power, the dunamis of the Most High
will over shadow you so that the one to be born will be called
the Holy One of God. For Jesus, they said about him,
with authority and power dunamis, He gives orders to
impure spirits, and they come out, and through the bride in
the name of Jesus, He still does that today.
And Jesus said to us in Acts, you'll receive power dunamis
when the Holy Spirit comes on you to be filled to overflowing.
This is the life you were created for, to have the
dunamis, the dynamite of the Spirit in your life.
I was rereading this week an account of a moment in the
Hebridean revival when God came in power over these simple
people. Susan and I went to that area
last year and we read this in that moment when the Spirit came
in Dunamis power, it says. A solemn hush came over the
church and the whole congregation lingered outside,
reluctant to disperse. Others were drawn from their
homes by an irresistible power, and the Spirit of God fell on
the people, and they were so gripped with the subduing
presence of God that no one could move any further.
The sense of being filled with the power of the Spirit.
When we encounter the Spirit, it changes us.
Paul puts it like this. The Spirit God gave us does not
make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Do you know if you've been an introvert your whole life?
You find it hard to talk to everybody?
You you prefer your own company or you you you, you shrink back
rather than engage. When the Spirit comes on you,
you can be His mouthpiece. That changes a generation, which
is why God can use anybody when the Spirit comes on him.
You were created to encounter the dunamis of God, to know the
power of the Spirit, to experience His presence flowing
over you and and to walk with the gifts of the Spirit to speak
in tongues. Every single believer can be
filled with the Spirit and speak in tongues.
It's not an elitist Pentecostal gift.
It's not a gift that's for a few people who like intercession.
When we speak in tongues, we build ourselves up in the Holy
Spirit. Every person can stop
complicating it in your head. I'm making it up.
Oh, I've tried so many times. Susan, when she was waiting to
be filled with the Spirit, went into a room and she would almost
open her mouth and put her tongue out and wait for God to
come and go. You have to speak, and as you
speak, you develop tongues and interpretations.
When there's a public tongue, there needs to be a public
interpretation. Come on Brian, keep interpreting
tongues, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, discernment,
healing, miracles come when the dunamis of the Spirit comes on
you, and the fruit of the Spirit when it begins to manifest
through as if we're all on a journey.
Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, all the attributes
that you truly want in your life.
They come to you as you allow the Spirit to move through you.
They're all here in the Spirit. This is the life you were
created for. This is why you were made.
Be a brilliant doctor, an amazing nurse, a phenomenal
teacher, a dynamic student. But this is the life you were
created for. We read this as the Spirit came.
We read in our passage a voice came from heaven.
You were created to hear him speak, to hear God speak.
Our God's a speaking God. To learn to hear him speak is a
journey. And sometimes he is close to you
and silent and you have to wait. I rarely find that easy.
I'm sure you don't. But we live in the instant, but
God in the eternal. We have to wait.
But He's a speaking God. He's closer than you imagined.
So how does He speak to us? Well, firstly and always.
Firstly and most powerfully, He speaks through the Bible.
Living words. I could share you what God has
said to me from my journal this week, but that's not where I
want to go. He spoke to us in 2007.
He said to us from Genesis 12, one to two go from your country,
your people and your father's household to the lands I will
show you and I will make you and I will bless you and you will be
a blessing. And we felt the the Lord quicken
us that we should come to Leicester from where we were.
And even though we were in Nottingham at the time, it felt
literally like 1,000,000 miles away to come.
And we came. And I'm so glad we did in
response to His Word. And it changed everything in our
lives and has always been worth it.
And we've been here just a short time.
And the Lord spoke to us from the Word to place compassion at
the heart of our vision. It's not this He said again in
Isaiah 58. The kind of fasting I've chosen
to loose the chains of injustice and untie 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, is it
not to clothe them and not to turn away from your own flesh
and blood? Welcome to the mission of the
Church. The Church has never been a
Bless Me club. This is my seat.
I went to a church recently for and this lady came to see me and
said would you like to sit? It was a funeral and she came
and said would you like to sit in this seat?
This was always their seat. May somebody sit in your seat
every time you arrive? May somebody new be there
forcing you to go somewhere else.
May it feel uncomfortable. We as the church are to open our
doors and help people. The church should be good news
to every person, should be the best thing there is everywhere.
You're the church that helps people, that loves people, that
welcomes people, that goes the extra mile for people.
And to place compassion at the heart of our church was a
sacrifice building on the vision that was set before we arrived.
We carried on in establishing open hands.
It's we sold a house as a church and invested heavily.
It was stretching with volunteers and time and pressure
and it wasn't easy. The complex needs of people, the
setting of systems in place. But as I look back 17 years,
every need was met an open hands continues to be a blessing to
10's and 10s of thousands of people who visited our centres
in high fields and Saint Matthews and it changed our
hearts. And then what about in 2013 when
he spoke to us to become multi site as a church?
Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide.
That's such a powerful picture with this as a larger tent
surrounded by many tents. Lengthen your cords, strengthen
your stakes. You'll spread out to the right
and the left. Your descendants will
dispossessed nations and settle in their desolate cities.
The heart of God here in Isaiah talking to to a specific group
of people but promises to us through Christ and we didn't
want to be platform driven as a church and I have a growing
growing periphery of people who love the celebration but didn't
really carry the heart and vision of the house.
Don't let that ever be said of you don't just go on for a top
up. The body of Christ is more than
a top up. It's a dynamic army that changes
the world when it does what he calls it to do.
And why do we go multi site? Because it was to inspire us to
train more leaders. And I look now we've just
invited 198 leaders to our next leadership gathering.
And if you got an invite, I'm waiting for the response.
What hindereth thee? It challenged the periphery
because everyone's needed. It gave room for the gifts of
the Spirit. I think.
I think that's next week in every side we it addressed any
ego that it wasn't about the senior leaders.
Sometimes we can get this picture, this green room culture
of the mighty man or woman of God, separate from the people
coming in. I don't want to disappoint you,
but that ain't us. Because without the grace of
God, I'm done. But we still have this vision.
Next week in Beaumont Le School, next week in the Oak Centre in
Braunstone, next week in a Manor School in OB, next week in the
Charnwood Dance School in Loughborough.
And here in the central site we'll go again.
What? Needing everybody to play their
part, inviting everyone to carry the vision of the house,
pressing in for souls and community and breakthrough.
This is what God said to us. And I just want to say during
August, if you're part of the central site, why not take one
week to go and try a more local site to you, another, another
one church site and go and bless them and see what happens.
You were created to hear Him speak.
He speaks firstly and most powerfully through the Bible,
but He also speaks through prophecy.
This is the call of your life. In 2021, the Father spoke to US.
One church came from 2 churches who joined together and Acts 27
and 28 became what we lived through together and it was a
prophetic word to us all. One of us had been in a
shipwreck and needed a Malta that would be a safe place that
showed unusual kindness, would help restoration and healing and
being equipped and to go again and with honour and very little
agenda. We served one another and God
moved and our hearts were knitted together.
And in November 21, Susan and I were in a meeting on the 3rd row
and somebody asked us to stand up and they said to us, the Lord
wants you to climb up from Habakkuk 2, climb up a
watchtower, stand at my guard post and I'm going to tell you,
the Lord's going to tell you what you are to do.
So we climbed a mountain and knelt in a watchtower, and we
laid everything down. And the Lord spoke to us that
the two were to become one. And we came back and shared it
with others and a miracle happened.
We became one church, laying down our names and embracing
something new together. And look what the Lord is doing.
He speaks through the Bible, through prophecy, through His
creation. He speaks through dreams and
visions. Susan sleeps most nights with a
notebook at the side of the bed to record either the shopping
list that she remembers or anything God might say to her in
the night. He speaks through circumstances.
He speaks through a still, small voice.
He speaks through encouragement. A minister wrote to me this week
and said, good afternoon, pastor, I hope you're well.
And I felt something come immediately into my heart.
And I wrote to them and said, hi, Daniel, we are well.
Never forget how much the King of Kings loves you.
And he wrote back to me and he said, this is the word I needed,
Sir, Thank you. Simple encouragement.
You can hear his voice. He's speaking to you.
This is the life you're created for, to walk with an open
heaven, to be Holy Spirit filled, to hear him speak.
But there's more. A voice came from heaven saying,
you are my Son, whom I love with you.
I'm well pleased you were created to know the Father.
This is the life you were created for to live to know the
Father. 25 years ago I was standing in the NEC, Birmingham
with 11,000 other people with my eldest son Samuel, and I
realised that though the concert he had chosen was not my first
choice of entertainment, this moment with him as his dad was
precious. And as I listened to extremely
dubious lyrics and incredibly loud music, I stood there and
wondered if there were any other Christian ministers at this Iron
Maiden concert. See, the word father evokes so
many emotions. For some of the the word brings
wonderful memories. For others, it's a feeling of
deep pain and disappointment. And whether the word father
stimulates in you an image of protection or vulnerability,
it's important to acknowledge it because it can impact the way
you view God as Father. You were created, yes, but he
became your father when you were saved.
I love this in in Romans we can say he's the Father of all.
He becomes your father at salvation.
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live
in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you received
brought about your adoption to sonship.
Listen to this. And by him we cry.
ABBA, Father. The Spirit himself testifies
with our spirit that we're God's children.
When you believed, you were no longer an orphan.
You were a son with a father. So many live as orphans.
Many Christians live as orphans. Greedy.
Me first, because there might not be any tomorrow.
I'm grateful, I deserve it. Fighting for our rights.
But a son is different. A son knows that they are always
wanted, always welcome, always precious, so they don't need to
fight. This is the Father who sees you
from a distance, who runs to you and embraces you and kisses you
and gives you a new robe, which says welcome home, gives you
shoes, which says freedom, and gives you a ring, which says you
are family. The father's in the room here
and he's close to you. This is the life you were
created for. But there's more to know.
We are loved. You are my son whom I love.
Friend of ours was singing a song about how precious Jesus
is. And as she sang, she sends God
speak to her. That's how I feel about you.
And sometime later she was speaking to another person and
she said this. It's easy for me to hear God
speak about the little things, but harder to hear him on the
bigger things. And that night God spoke to her
again and he said your priorities are all wrong because
I spoke to you about the biggest thing there is in life.
You are precious to me. You are loved.
This is the life you were created for, to be loved.
I know loneliness can be a real thing, and sometimes Susan and I
would love to solve all the loneliness that can be found in
church life, but in the middle of times when you're on your
own, you are always loved. I love these verses here in
Isaiah. This is what the Lord says, He
who created you, He who formed you.
Israel, do not fear, I've redeemed you.
I've summoned you by name, your mind.
When you pass through the waters, I'll be with you.
When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over
you. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned. The flames will not set you
ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the
Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
And since you're precious and honoured in my sight, and
because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, and
nations in exchange for your life.
You may have been hurt by some, ignored by others, forgotten by
a few, but you are loved by the One who really, really matters.
You're never alone. You've never once been rejected
by Him. You never pass by.
If you don't respond to him, I don't quite know how it'll work,
But if you're not a Jesus follower and you don't respond
to Him one day with deep sadness and tears, you will be rejected,
which is why you need to find Him in this life.
You're forever loved. Our love is conditional so often
even in a close relationship. If you love me, I love you, but
if you hurt me, you better watch out.
Where is the love of God is? I love you because I love you
because I love you and nothing can ever stop it.
Your life is planned to be surrounded by His love.
Our passage says this. As he was praying, heaven was
opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form
like a dove, and a voice came from heaven saying, You are my
son whom I love with you. I am well pleased.
This is the life you were created for, to walk with an
open heaven, to be Holy Spirit filled, to hear Him speak, to
know Him as Father, to be loved and lastly to live in favour
with you. I am well pleased learning to
live. Not striving for approval of
people is a real journey. Deciding to not make it your
goal to be favoured by people can be a challenge for many.
And we're all on a mission, aren't we?
To understand that the embrace of the Father, the smile of
Jesus and the closest of the Spirit is all we really need and
all that is already ours. The Creator of the universe who
hears the words of 8 billion people at the same time while
storing their individual tears in a bottle whilst holding the
whole universe together with his other hand, celebrates you.
I'm not quite sure if it works like this, but there's probably
a moment when the Father is called.
Maybe Michael, I don't know. One of the angels, I looked down
at you and said, look, look, look, can you see that one
there? They're my child.
And perhaps they look at one another and they go woo.
And the words come again, I love you.
You are made for great things. There is yet more in you.
Reach for everything you're called to be.
I will never leave you or forsake you.
Let's run together in everything I have created you for, with
you. I'm well pleased.
This is the life you were created for.
And what a life we have. This is why we must tell
everyone everywhere of the life they were called to live.
I love that care for the poor is at the heart of our vision.
I love that care for the world is at the heart of our vision.
I love that care for the lost is at the heart of our vision.
I love that the care for people is at the heart of our vision.
And I love that the care for the One is at the heart of our
vision. We will always be about loving
God and loving people and loving His mission and loving His
church and will be a house that calls the best out of you.
This is the life you were created for, to walk with an
open heaven, to be Holy Spirit filled, to hear him speak, to
know him as Father, to be loved, to live in favour.
We're surrounded by so many who are facing despair and
desperation and sadness, and if we're honest, it visits the
church often. The biggest killer of under 50s
in our country is suicide, and I felt compelled to say this to
everyone who's in the room today and watching this online.
But suicide is never ever, ever, ever God's plan.
It's always a deception. It's always a lie.
And you can get some help. Shame.
Sometimes shame leads us to places where we think I'm not
clean, I'm dirty. Hazel stands here and talks
about holiness. And you think if you knew me,
you would not want to touch me. But Grace, the grace caused us
to say there's some repentance to do, yes, there's some change
to make. Yes, there may even be some
consequences. Yes, but you can live close to
me and you can lift your head up again.
If you suffer with sadness and depression, let the shame be
lifted off your life. You are deeply loved.
Never ever feel that you are less.
You're on a journey to wholeness.
And together we'll stand and believe God that we'll all be
more healed than we've ever been and more changed by grace
because he's able to minister to you and me today and take us
from some of what we carry to what we can be.
But if you have considered recently taking your life, I
want to urge you with every bit of my heart today to put your
hand up. Not now.
Get some help. Text a friend, say pray with me,
please. You are never alone.
Today we've heard of what God's plan is.
This is the plan for you and me. I don't know about you, but why
would anyone not want to be a Christian?
Did you hear anything of works having to to earn shame being
poured on you in what I've shared today?
Because the life you were created for, as the Son of the
living God, is to live free of those things.
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.