We are one church. We love God, love people, love
His mission, and love His church.
Welcome to the One Church podcast.
Firstly to say, if you're joining us on our podcast,
you're here at the 11:30 gathering at our central site
and you are so welcome. On the screen is a jar of
marmalade and we received 2 jars of marmalade from Graham who is
an experienced marmalade and jam maker and I wanted to send him a
message so I took a picture of our nearly finished jar and I
sent him a picture that said this.
Still loving the marmalade in the Heinz house.
Nice. Now I am part of a WhatsApp
group which is 32 ministers from around the world who connect
with Pastor Dom in Singapore. And recently there's been
communication specifically praying for a pastor in Pakistan
who where war has broken out near him.
And today we pray for Pastor Hanuk.
And the messages in the chat went like this.
Praying for safety for you and your church as you lead in this
difficult time. We declare safety over you in
Jesus name. May the hand of the Lord protect
you. Pray for you and your nation.
And then a message from me that said this.
Still loving the marmalade in the Hinds house.
Now how it got there, I have no idea, but it was there for half
an hour in the middle of this very serious chat.
Nobody said a thing. And eventually somebody sent me
a message saying did you mean to send a picture of marmalade to
this chat? Many years ago, I used to do
Twitter. And I I thought that to send a
private message on Twitter, you put the name of the person's
account, then you can say anything you like and it goes to
them. And one day, it was a Sunday
afternoon, I think it was, my son Thomas sat crying in
laughter on his Twitter account as he read back to me all the
private messages I had ever sent anyone ever, because I'd done it
wrong. And when he got to one, I
thought, I thought we were going to have to take him to the
hospital because this is what the message said that I sent to
one person, it said this. It was to a shoe company, it
said this. I recently purchased a pair of
your shoes and I've noticed after a couple of weeks there is
a slight odour in the shoes that I'm uncomfortable with.
I sent that to every single person who followed me on
Twitter. It was shortly after then I
deleted my account. I've never ever been on it
again. And I don't do any social media
whatsoever because who knows what I might send to somebody.
Just recently, Susan and I have felt there's been some
intimidation over some people in, in various situations in
their lives, even in ministries. I feel the spiritual temperature
is up. And if you felt intimidated at
work, or intimidated in your house, or intimidated in your
family, or intimidated in your mind, or intimidated in your
health, the Lord just wants to lift that off you right now.
There's a verse on the screen that says this.
Do not fear their threats. Do not be frightened, but in
your hearts Revere Christ as Lord.
Just if you're able to put your hands out in front of you, do
that. Father, I pray in the name of
Jesus for every person here who has just felt a measure of
intimidation. For the majority, it's a lie
from the enemy. And we lift up Jesus in this
room and we command fear and intimidation to be broken.
I pray that some of the situations represented in this
room would change and be broken in the mighty name of Jesus.
And may people in this room leave full of joy, even though
nothing may have changed on the outside, full of joy, that
intimidation has been lifted off them in the name of Jesus,
everybody said Amen. Can I just say feel something
else? I read a verse from Hebrews free
those who all their lives are held by their fear of death.
There's one or two people in the room here and you carry a fear
of death, whether it's because someone close to you died in a
way that was very painful, or whether you just have not yet
come to terms with the fact that you need to give your life to
Jesus. You do not need to leave this
place with the fear of death. God's heart is that you would
love life and love getting ready to go and be with Him one day.
If you are not a Jesus follower, there is something about dying.
Let me tell you that he's far more terrifying than you ever
imagined. But you do not need to carry
that fear. And he wants to set you free
today. Well, it's been good to get back
to the words of Jesus and we're looking today at the phrase
change and become like little children.
And here we are in Matthews Gospel chapter 18.
On the screen we read at that time, the disciples came to
Jesus and asked, Who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of
heaven? And he called a little child to
him and placed the child among them.
And he said, truly, I tell you, unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of
heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the
lowly position of this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of
heaven. And whoever welcomes one such
child in my name welcomes me. Now, before I open up this
passage, I was stirred to just share, very briefly, seven
thoughts about being a parent and a grandparent of children.
Seven thoughts. You might want to write these
down and go and do some work on them later because none of us
are fully there yet. The first one is this.
Want to be a great parent, a great grandparent?
Get yourself sorted out. Many parents never get over
their imperfect upbringings. All of us, our families were not
perfect and we can carry wounds and baggage into the way we
parent children. Get sorted out, get healed up,
forgive and don't pass on your rubbish to your kids.
Give your children, your grandchildren A healed you,
healed you. Secondly, love your husband or
wife and the children see everything and to give them a
picture of unity and togetherness is precious.
Don't argue in front of your children.
Never criticise the other to your children and let them see
you being affectionate, appropriately affectionate to
one another, expressing love and working through challenges and
they learn to do that as well. And if you are divorced or
separated or perhaps in a very difficult relationship, never
forget how precious you are and speak as well as you can about
the other person to your children.
Thirdly, pray for them. Spend less time being concerned
and more time praying. Get promises from the Father.
Pray over them. Storm the heavens.
If your children drift from their walk with Jesus, intercede
for them. Cry out and let them see you
praying on a Monday night. Susan and my granddaughter stay
with us. 1311 and 10 they are and we we love Monday nights.
Susan picks them up from school and they have snacks in the car.
I think our little rule of no eating in the the new car lasted
one week and snacks in the car and they arrive.
And I cannot tell you how many different things we do from
artwork to productions, to dressing up to competitions to
games, puzzles, everything you can imagine happens on a Monday
night. It's truly, I won't say
exhausting, but testing. And in the morning, we have our
devotions. I go in the lounge, our main
larger room. Susan goes in in a different
room and we pray and we're up early and we have our devotions.
And we've just felt that the granddaughters need to just come
into what we do. And so we get up.
I, I get a cup of coffee this morning, coffee, one of the
delights of life. And I go into the lounge and I
begin my devotion at about two minutes past six.
Rosie will wake up every week and she you'll hear she comes
in, comes in, comes in, she's got her hoodie on her and she's
ready and she kind of nods at me and goes and sits down.
She has a little gadget in the morning and going to play a
game. No volume, can't hear anything.
And she just does A and about 6:10 Zoe will come down, She
arrives, she's got her hoodie on and she wants a a cuddle in the
morning. That's fine.
And then she goes and sits down with her game, no volume.
And I pray as though they're not there.
And so I will pray out loud. I'll read my Bible, I'll walk up
and down and pray in tongues for 10 minutes loudly.
I'll pray for the family just being a little bit quieter when
I'm praying for them so they can't hear, but and they get to
see me praying. Why?
Because I they learned something that prayer is very normal.
Pray about everything falsely. Remember that everything will be
all right when you're a parent. Even with her son dead on the
bed, the woman who built Elisha a room said this.
Everything is all right. Trust Jesus, be consistent, no
panicking. Your children are amazing.
It's going to be all right. Be fun to be with in the family.
Enjoy every stage. I loved having teenage boys.
The mess, the smell, the beauty of every age.
We loved every age of children. Don't be fazed by it.
Don't get serious. You know, we, we are to
encourage our children to do well in education and I
understand that, but they are never defined by how well they
do in their Sats or their GCS ES.
They're always more than that and I just want to remind you,
my eldest son left school at 16 with uni.
He had some educational special needs in his life.
He left school with no qualifications, pretty much did
a couple of small jobs and then at 19 years old decided himself,
and this isn't the way it works out for everybody, decided
himself he'd go back to education.
He did an access course, went to Southampton University, did a
degree, stayed on, did a master's and then works for a
bank and it's doing phenomenally well in life.
You're not defined by what you are at 16.
And if you're concerned about your 16 year old children, a bit
more praying and a little less worrying calling out to God
because God can turn them around.
I was thinking about me when I was 19 drifting just come out a
very trying to be make it in a very bad rock group.
And then we gave it our best shot and where I was at 19.
And God rescued this, this hurting kind of drifting young
man and and put his spirit in him.
If you can do it for me, you can do it for anybody.
Parenting is to be enjoyed, not endured.
Fifthly, ask for help. You're going to make mistakes.
Be quick to say sorry. Don't dwell on the past.
Be generous. I found that making comments
about other people's children is one of the touchiest areas in
life. How dare you speak about my
kids? Don't be like that.
Be open for advice and help and correction.
See families that you admire and say, how do you do that?
All our Sight pastors have amazing children and families.
Sixthly, be ready when they need you.
Children need boundaries, of course.
They need to be trusted and believed in.
I wrote to a message to my 37 year old son this week, said
Sam, thinking of you, just want you to know I love you and I'm
so proud of you. I say that regularly to them.
Talk to them when they're young, read them stories, give them
time. Kids know if you're fitting them
into your schedule. All right.
But the big questions will come just normally in life, one day
they'll ask you a question. Don't be shocked, don't be
disappointed, just take them where they are, be available
when they need you and lastly, leave them a legacy.
Grandparents parents, leave your kids a legacy.
Make a will. If you don't have a will and you
have children, it's time to make one.
Get a will. Who's going to be your guardian
of your children? Who's going to look after?
What do you want to do? That's called being a
responsible parent. Plan for their future.
When the boys were young we saved £10 a month for the kids,
so when they were 18 there'd been many, many payments are
gone in and so we were able to buy Samuel a car when he was 18
and Thomas had a big wad of Wonga and he loved it.
Keep making memories, leave them a legacy out of simple moments.
You don't have to spend money to make a memory.
Be fully there, teach them to keep their word, to be reliable,
to love others. Let them be part of your faith
journey. believe in God together as a family and always give them
an example of prioritising being in church and expressing faith
and seeing you worship and listen when the kids next to you
or around you put their hands up in worship.
Don't let your first words be, AH, stone.
Expect it. And when children and young
people come to this stage to share a word of knowledge or a
gift of the Spirit, don't see it as all cute.
See it as a normal part of children and young people
flowing in the power of the Spirit.
You know, children can speak in tongues.
They can have prophecies. Words of knowledge carry the
presence of God. See, a deliverance is in
healing. Amen.
Seven thoughts. Get yourself sorted.
Love their father or mother, pray for them.
Remember everything will be all right.
Ask for help, be ready when they need you.
Leave them a legacy at that time.
Back to the passage. The disciples came to Jesus and
said, who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?
Who is the greatest? Jesus said whoever wants to be
great among you must be your servant.
And to illustrate this, he brings a little child into the
middle of the room in front of them.
Truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little
children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Well, what are children like that we should become?
What are they like that we need to make part of our lives?
Well, children are always a blessing.
He called a little child to him. They are never inconvenient,
always a blessing. And children will forever be at
the central part of the heart of our vision as a house.
Always. I said to Thomas this week he
was going to speak at Reach. I said Are you ready for the
biggest preach of your year so far?
Why? Because when we teach children,
it's probably at least as much as, but probably more important
than what I'm doing now. And we love children in one
church. And as we go forward together
and more families join us and also more amazing children with
educational needs, we're going to need a bigger team in the
house. When you welcome a child, you
welcome me, Jesus said. Perhaps you wonder why?
Why? Because other churches and we
honour them in their decision. But other churches, they take
the children out for the whole time and like parents, skip into
the meeting. I understand, but there's
something that Susan and I feel so strongly about the family
worshipping together, about being together, about kids in in
the arms, learning how to worship in the chaos of what it
is. Something happens in them and
then going into some teaching geared for them.
And we're going to keep doing that as long as our space
enables us to do that. Secondly, children are
receivers. He placed the child among them.
Not only are they a blessing, they are receivers children know
they need to receive. From a newborn baby crying for
dinner to a young child wanting a hug, watch a child fall over,
they will immediately look for somebody that they need.
They know they can't do everything themselves.
They're always open for help and care and kindness.
Children are receivers children. Thirdly, see and believe I love
that picture of Samuel when he was young and he's living at the
temple with Eli the priest and and God speaks to him and he
gets a bit of bit of instruction on what to do.
And we read this, the Lord came and stood there and said Samuel,
Samuel and Samuel as a young boy said this speak, your servant is
listening. Now you go home and read him on
Samuel's three what the Lord says to him, he didn't dumb it
down for a child. He gave him a very challenging
word to carry. I believe our children will
prophecy. They will bring the word of the
Lord in this house more than ever before.
In fact, I believe that we will see times when the power of the
Spirit sweeps over our children's work in a new
outpouring. In the name of Jesus, in the
name of Jesus. But children have a natural
genius. They see things in a different
way. They're humble to learn.
If you spend time with small children, you'll begin to catch
again the wonder of learning and looking at life differently.
And children are quick to believe and find faith and walk
with him. They come easily to Jesus.
Falsely children are innocent. Take the lowly position of a
child, Jesus said in our passage.
They're not self-conscious. They get engrossed in play.
They they can be Spider Man or Cinderella.
They can chat to an imaginary friend.
They can sing and dance and around the garden and not worry
what anyone thinks. Children are humble.
They're not concerned about what people are thinking of them all
the time. They live each day to the full.
They get excited about simple things.
Ever watched a child play with the box of an expensive toy?
They're innocent, which is why the stealing of children's
innocence is such a terrible wickedness in our world.
To rob them of that, God forgive us.
Children are close to Jesus heart.
Fifthly, whoever welcomes children in my name welcomes me.
When we welcome children, we welcome him.
They're never an inconvenience. Jesus comes with them.
Let the little children come to me.
When they come, He comes. It's why the countless millions
of children lost through abortion breaks the father's
heart. And there are moments to pause
and find the will of God for the tiny percentage of this number
where a mother will die in childbirth, or a very young
child is pregnant, or there has been terrible abuse.
But we must never ever forget of the approximately 200,000
abortions every day in our world and rules which the UK almost
has the worst rules and laws. God forgive us.
Every one of those children robbed of life was a beautiful
person and had a right to live. I believe every one of them are
with the Father now in heaven. But to take a life like that is
so wrong. Father, forgive us.
And if if that just triggers something in you because of a
part of your past, listen, we love you.
We want to help you. Pray through that.
Just ask for help. There is no condemnation.
There is grace in the House of God.
There's grace in the House of God.
Are you here from a broken relationship?
Are you here having failed? Are you recently out of prison?
Are you in a mess in your life? It's the sin and things in your
past that you're ashamed of. Such was some of us.
But we have been washed and changed by the power of the
blood of Jesus. This is the church where
everyone's welcome. We want to make it safe for you,
Jesus says in our passage. Change and become like little
children. We can get so complicated as
adults. I'm a sophisticated adult.
I've got it worked out. So many of us, it's time to
change. We're so caught up emotionally.
You know the thought of liberating to dance and worship
God. Change means to become
different, to undergo transformation, to exchange one
thing for another, to change and become like a little child.
Well, what could we work on today?
Let's go back to those five points.
Children are always a blessing. Believe you are always a
blessing. He called the little child.
To Him, you were never a mistake, you were never unloved,
you were never forgotten. You are always a blessing.
You're precious, you're valued, you're cared for.
You are full of potential to change the world for Jesus, and
He calls you today to stand before Him as a blessing.
Some of us can curse ourselves with what we say.
I'm useless. I'm ugly, I'm a mess.
I'm nothing. Stop it.
You are a blessing. I am created by God.
I am loved before the foundations of the world, and by
grace I am accepted into the Beloved.
This is the gospel. You're a blessing.
Change and become like little children.
Well, children are receivers. Be a receiver.
Be open for help and then be open to help others.
Be open to receive care and kindness and then be open to
give that care and kindness to others.
And be open for Jesus. He has more for you.
Stop questioning and receive change and become like little
children. Children see and believe.
Be quick to see and believe. I believe.
Help me overcome my unbelief. Don't be too intellectual in
your faith. I know some some of us, we come
at faith from a scientific point of view, trying to understand
different things. Don't try and work it all out
because in the end, He's Lord and you are very small.
I meet some people and you can tell where they are within a
minute because if someone is has a conspiracy theory in their
life or they, they have a specific doctrine that they want
to talk to you about when, when they meet me and they know who I
am, they'll get to it within a minute.
And you know, we start with hi, what's your name?
And very quickly we're at some bizarre thing and I'm thinking
how sad for this person. Leave it alone.
You're never going to get to the end of that.
Come back to the main thing and let's get close to Jesus and
let's place Him first. That doesn't mean you're
ignorant or not trying to learn, but some things you will never
work out because He's God and you aren't.
Change. Trust Him in everything.
Believe again. I've so enjoyed the pictures of
the building coming down and we've been enjoying that through
the day. I was so blessed that in one of
our meetings recently was one of the pastors who believed God to
buy that building and many years ago and just the joy in their
face as they watch what they would believe for for many years
beginning to happen as we take it down next door.
And I love that. I love that and and remembering
our story, the miracles that brought us from where we were to
where we are. It helps me in the moments when
I think God the next steps. How can we possibly do what you
want us to do, How you've done so much already, our journey
over these last four or five years, what you've done in our
compassion work in our church, in planting site and oh, God,
And here on the 31st of May, I'm so excited about that morning
when we gather together from all our sites.
And here we are. And we, we're going to talk
about what we're going to do next door by the help of God.
We're going to talk about where our next site is and who's going
to lead it. And we're going to share some
things. But listen, let's be quick to
see and believe because without God, we can't do anything.
But with him we can do all things through Christ who gives
us strength, change. You become like little children.
Children are innocent. I know a few of you got hurt in
church life. I pray not too much here, but
perhaps in another part of the body.
And you arrived here a little bit wounded, a little bit
suspicious of leaders. I understand that.
I do genuinely believe that the leaders who are part of one
church, what you see is what you get.
This is who they are. We're not hiding lots of things
behind the scenes. Trust the church again.
The bride of Christ, you know Jesus loves the church and trust
people again. Were you wounded?
Were you hurt by somebody? Betrayed trust people again?
Come like a little child and confess your sins and receive
grace and become more holy by His help.
Press in for closeness, breathe His presence, change and become
like little children. Children are close to Jesus
heart. Remember, like children, you're
close to Jesus heart. The Father is especially fond of
you. He's nearer than you think,
waiting to bless you, longing to draw close to you.
At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who then is
the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?
And he called a little child to him.
Place the child among them. And he said, truly, I tell you,
unless you change and become like little children, you'll
never enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is
the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, and whoever welcomes one
such child in my name welcomes me.
Let's pray together. Father.
We bless the children of the house, hundreds of them.
Thank you all our under elevens. We love them.
Lord, we thank you for the privilege of instructing them in
the way they should go. We pray that none of them would
be lost. We thank you for the hundreds of
elevens to eighteens in one church, and we bless our work
among teenagers, young warriors. God, thank you for all that
you're building. We pray that you continue to
build an army to change the world from this house.
And Father, we pray, just believe that you're a blessing
in there right now as you sit there, whatever you've said over
yourself, just say I'm a blessing.
Choose to be a receiver. If you've got complicated, it's
quite simple. If anyone comes to me and asks,
streams of living water will flow.
Ask Jesus said it'll be given when it's within his will seek
and you're fine. Knock, the door will be open.
It's less complicated than we make it.
Be a receiver. Be quick to see and believe.
Stop doubting. Shake it off, I would say I will
trust you in the darkest moment of my life.
I will still believe and trust you.
Become innocent. Invite the Holy Spirit to help
you deal with persistent sin and to become innocent in His
presence. I never forget you close to the
Father's heart. Let's stand together, please in
the room if you are able. Thank you.
Let's stand. It helps you to close your eyes
just so we're not distracted by all the things around us.
Just do that. Just choose again in God's
presence that you will live close to Him.
Help us Lord. In 1994 I made an appeal in the
church that I was part of at that time in Nottingham and I
made an appeal for people to come to Jesus.
And I'll never forget 1994 and I made an appeal and my youngest
son was sat next to his mum. I think on the right hand side
of this building was a rectangular building.
And he stood up and he walked out and he stood in the in front
of me on the carpet. And as he did, three or four of
his friends from different parts of the room all walked out and
stood at the front. And I was deeply moved in that
moment. And those young men have all
gone on to do something great with their lives.
But little children came to the Lord, who like a little child,
needs to come to him this morning.
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.