Nothing to say, yet
Transcription
The speaker promises to release the audience soon but wants to pray for them first. He emphasizes that God loves them and that they are important to the church. He talks about the upcoming training and equipping program called Activate 24, which will focus on evangelism. He also mentions a missions trip to the Philippines and asks for prayers for Pastor Dave, who had a mild heart attack. There is also a description of what a life group is like and encourages people to join or start one. And I promise you'll be released soon, but what I want to do is I want to pray for you. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to call the eldership down, and they're going to come and they're going to surround you guys, because I want you guys, if you guys just look at me for one minute, just turn around and look at me, turn around and look at me. I want you guys to know this, and I want you to understand this simple truth. And it's this, God loves you. God loves you. And for me as a pastor of a church, I want you to understand that you are important. You are valued and you are important. Because to be honest with you, at best I may have 30 years left. At best, if that. If that. That's depressing, isn't it? That's a bit, that's a bit sad, isn't it? Harper. But Isla, what age are you? Eight. Eight. Eight. What's 30 plus 8? 38. Hands up if 38 is young. Yeah. And why I say that is because when I'm gone, you're here. When I'm gone, you're here. And this church needs its children, this church needs its young people. Because if you aren't here, then this building's not here, then the church is not here. And so as a church, we value you and you are important to us. So before we release you into a mass exit out, can we pray for you? Is that alright? So church, let's stand, let's lift up, reach out your hands. Elders, let's gather around and just lay hands on whoever you can reach. But Father, I pray for our young children this morning, Lord God. Father, I thank you for them, Lord God. Father, we just now just go around, we just lay hands on our children, Lord God. Father, we pray that they'll have an encounter with you, Lord God. Father, that you just would not be words on a page, Lord God. Father, that you would indeed be truth in their life, Lord God. Father, you'd be a reality in their life, Lord God. That they would have an encounter, an authentic relationship with you, Lord God. And Father, as a church, we value them. As a church, we love them because you love them. In your name we pray, amen. What's next? What do I have to say now? What? Kids exit. Off you go. The exit stage left. So that's awesome. Kids are awesome, aren't they? Yes. Wonderful. Thank you, worship team. Awesome. If you've come in late and you didn't hear my welcome, I'm not going to make you stand up. But you know who you are. So welcome to you. Some notices just while we get going. This week, I'm excited. You would have got a, well, it's been on Facebook and a text went around, but we are starting our, you know, for us as a church, training and equipping is part of our vision, our vision to heal and equip and transform the community that we live in. And so part of our vision is the training and equipping the saints. And so I'm excited that this week we start to activate 24. Those of you who knew Andrew Cannon, he was with us at the end of last year. We're doing a monthly Zoom with him. And the dates, I think we've got flyers that will go out today with the dates, but I'll send a text again with a Zoom link. It'll be in an email. And it's going to happen on Tuesday night. And typically they're at the end of the month, but all the dates are planned out. Andrew is in the UK and he's going to teach and equip us, especially in the whole area of evangelism, which is really, for us as a church, important. And it's going to really help us just be able to share our faith in a real way. So Andrew is going to be in the UK. He's going to be via Zoom. So that link will go around at 7.30 to 8.30 on Tuesday night. You can do it from the comfort of your own home. You can be in your dressing gown with a hot chocolate and a wee choccy biscuit there by your side. Or you can be fully dressed in whatever you want to wear. You can wear a Superman outfit, I don't care. But that's coming up this Tuesday night. So again, there'll be a Zoom email go around. That email will have the Zoom link. And all going according to plan. You just hit that blue line. And the wide world of internet will do the rest for you. If it doesn't, you should have bought a Mac. No. You should have Apple. No. If it doesn't and you're trying to get on, just give me a text. I'll have my phone handy. I'll be your IT person for the night. And I'll try my best to work that through. In just under four weeks, we have a team heading away to the Philippines for 12 days. Aaron Short and Aaron Tressler, myself and Lyle, are heading over to the Philippines. I've had a relationship with the Philippines since 1999. And I haven't been there since 2010. But we've had Josh Bryan with us in 2019. And so as a church, we really want to crank up our international missions again. And so myself and Lyle are going over to do some ministry over there. And Aaron and Aaron, the A-Team, as I like to call them, they're coming over on what you could call a reconnaissance mission. They are going to scout and talk and visit and mission and just go everywhere and everywhere and come back with a fire in their hearts and a project in their hearts to take a team back and do. So there will be another missions trip coming up at some point over the next 12 or so months. And that will be a missions trip that will do a practical outwork in the Philippines. And so we're excited. Well, I mean, I say I'm excited. I mean, I'm as excited as I can be about travel because I am a homeboy at heart. But anyway, I am excited, and so that's going to be happening, and we're away on the 14th of March. And so that's cool. For those of you who haven't caught up, Pastor Dave, who really wanted to be here today, is in hospital at the moment. He had a mild, I will say the word mild, heart attack on Friday night. And he is good. There's nothing wrong with him. He's been exercising in the hospital and telling people about church, saying he should be here and this and that. But he's flying. He's quite excited, to be honest. He's getting a helicopter ride to Dunedin this afternoon or at some point today to have some tests done. But he is good. He's in good spirits. But if we can just continue to uplift him for continued health and the doctors doing tests so they can do tests and find out what the cause is and fix it and make it go away in the name of Jesus. That's my medical knowledge coming out of that. I think that's what they say in the hospital. Let's just get them better and make it better. So that's cool. Adam, where's Adam? Adam, come on. You've got an announcement. Thank you, Jono. I want to take you guys on a journey, a little journey here. So to do that, what I need you to do is all close your eyes first, please. Everyone close your eyes. Now reach behind you and grab your imagination hats. Take your imagination hat, put it on. There's some very creative imagination hats there. I love it. So what I want you to do, I want you to imagine it's a weeknight and you've just finished dinner or tea if you're from Southland. You've done the dishes and you get in your car and you go for a drive. You go for a drive through the streets of Invercargill and you pull up outside a house. You get out of your car. You walk up the driveway. As you're walking up the driveway, the front door opens and a familiar face is behind the door. And they greet you, maybe with a handshake or a hug, but definitely with a smile. And as they walk you down the hallway of their house, they're asking you, would you like a hot drink, cold drink, glass of water? And they lead you to the living room, and in that living room are a whole lot more familiar faces, people that you know. And they are all very, very interested in you, asking how your week's been, what you've been up to, how your family is. And you're very, very interested in them, the same thing, very interested in their families and how they've been. And shortly the host comes back with all the drinks, hands them around and sits down, and you start chatting. You might be talking about the message on Sunday. You might be talking about a scripture that means something to somebody. You might be talking about a world event. You might be talking about a prayer need. You might be talking about the neighbors. You might be talking about lost friends, missing friends. And this goes on for an hour or so, and there's a really good discussion, and there's a really good bonding, and there's a really good uplifting. And then there's a prayer session, and that prayer session might be for those missing friends. It might be for some prayer needs. It might be for some hope. It might be for the church. It might be for the nation. It might be for the country. It might be for the leaders of the country. And after that, there's a little bit of chatter and taps on backs, and you leave, and you go home, and you feel uplifted, and you feel different, and you feel like you belong to something a little bit more personal and a little bit more important. And that, my friends, you've just virtually experienced the life group, okay? And if you are in a life group, then you'll know what I'm talking about, and hopefully I've just done it justice, okay? It's way better than what I've just described. If you're not in a life group, then I'd really, really encourage you to seek them out. Find out what's happening around the place. Can I ask all the life group leaders to stand at the moment who are here? So these are our wonderful life group leaders. Shirley looks after us all. She's life group mother. If you want to know anything about life groups, come and see one of these wonderful people. Most of them, I think, meet on a Wednesday night, but they can be on other nights too, I'm sure. If you want to join one, if you want to start one, if you've got a question, come and see one of these people. I'm a life group leader too, by the way, very, very new, green life group leader, but happy to share my experience too. But what a life group is for is for... You can sit down there, guys, thanks. Or can you stand up again? No, that's okay, thanks. So if you're the longest serving member of church yet, a life group is for you. If this is your first morning here and never been to a church or church yet before, a life group is for you. They're not for the super spiritual. They're not for the people that have got it all together. Come on, folks. They're not for people who everything's working out perfectly for them. They are for real human beings. So please, I encourage you to find a life group. Awesome, very good, very, very good. The Life Group Championship is underway, and it started last year. I think it was won by Ange and Zol, the best life group of church yet. But we started fresh, and it's a close race at the moment. But Adams is out in front by a nose, and that's all you need to know. So... How do I figure that? It's because I'm in it. Funny. Awesome. Let's open the Word of God, eh? Amen. I enjoy, before I do that, I went in the holidays. I mean, I'm okay saying it because I'm okay with it, but I'm not a gardener. We bought a house, and we've bought three houses over the years. And the first house, the second house we bought was owned by a couple of older people, and they had this massive garden, and it had a glass house, it had tomatoes, it had corn, it had, like, everything in it. And in my head I was going, yeah, that's me. But it's not, and it died. And the house we bought now had lovely three garden plots, and I took them out, put grass down. Because when you know, you know. And I know that I know that I know that I know that I'm not that person. But I've got to give a shout-out to Murray. I went down to Murray's house during January, and Murray, stand up. I mean, I'm telling you right now, you deserve a chocolate. I saw Murray's garden, and it was amazing. There are so many vegetables. I've got silverbeet, I've got carrots. I mean, the garden was astounding. And you need a chocolate, because I saw the sweat that you're breaking into, lugging dirt everywhere, doing this, putting drainage in. And the thing is, he just doesn't have one. He has multiple places of garden scattered around Invercargill that he tends to. His vision is just to feed those who need feeding. Isn't that right, Murray? And so if you know people that are struggling, if you know people that need that, chat to Murray. Because Murray will go out, he'll get some veggies to give to them, and it's just an incredible blessing. And it's that stuff that is, I mean, it's unseen stuff. But it makes an incredible difference in people's lives. So Murray, I salute you this morning in the ministry that God has called you in and you're doing, because it's an amazing, amazing work. I enjoy movies. I am a guy that I do like a good movie. And when I find a good movie, I enjoy it. In fact, I could go back over my life, and there's probably two or three really, really good movies that I really enjoy. The last one I saw, and I'm excited even more so because I'm making a third one, is Top Gun. Top Gun Maverick. Hands up if you have seen Top Gun Maverick. Hands up if you haven't. Shame on you. It is truly an astounding movie, not for the fact that it takes me back. I mean, honestly, when I saw it for the first time in 1986, I think it was released, for some strange daft reason, I thought, I could do that. And for a moment in time, for a moment in time, I wanted to be a pilot. And then I found out exactly what that actually meant. I'm not going to half-flag that for a joke. Not me. But the movie was amazing. And they've just said that they're now making a Top Gun 3, which I am totally, I'm just excited for that. But there's other movies that you watch. There was another one a few years ago, and I'm ashamed to say it, I've never been to a movie again and again and again, but I saw this one six times at the movies. I just went back and watched it. In fact, I could have walked back out, walked back in, and sat down and watched it again. It was that, and it wasn't The Sound of Music. I went to a Catholic school, and it definitely wasn't Barbie. I went to a Catholic school, and I was, I mean, you know, they wanted to reward us because of our good behavior, and so we were at St. Joseph's at the time, and the nunnery, convent is the right word, was there, and they led us over to the convent, and they sat us down, and they said, we just want to reward you for your good behavior, and they chucked on The Sound of Music. And we looked at it going, what have we done? What have we done wrong? What have we done to deserve this? No, it's not The Sound of Music, and it definitely was not Barbie. But it was the greatest showman. And I'm almost ashamed to say it, because it's like, really? But I went and saw that six times. But my all-time favorite movie, and this is a movie that I absolutely love. In fact, it is the movie that I went, I've got the DVD. I could watch it. I could go get my cup of coffee. I could come back. I could press play, and I could watch it again and again and again and again. And I guarantee you this, you will not be able to guess what it is. But the movie that I absolutely love, the movie that's my ultimate favorite, is the remake of The Count of Monte Cristo. Now, that surprises you, doesn't it? It's got Jim Carbazil in it. But if you haven't seen it, I wouldn't go back and watch the first one. But I definitely watched the one with Jim Carbazil in it. But it's just a great movie. I absolutely love it. In fact, if I'm talking to someone and they're asking me what the movie is, then I'll say, this is the favorite movie. You've got to watch it. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But the problem is with movies is I might think it's great. And my review might be great. But you might go and go, it's not so great. And I've had that where I've gone, watch the movie, watch the movie, watch the movie. And I'm expecting to come out with them going, it's so good. And they come out and go, oh, no, I hated it. It was terrible. And we all know those people. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. We all know those people. And they go into a movie or they watch a movie and they come out and they're excited. It's like they've been amped up with this movie. They're telling you this and that. And the next thing about it, it's the best thing ever. It's the last bread. You've got to watch it. And you go and watch it, and you come out and it's like, I didn't like it. I've been that person. Because I guarantee it, you all have probably been that person at some point in your life. Then you get the other people that go into a movie and they go into it and they come out and they go, that was the worst movie I've seen in my entire life. It was awful. There's no storyline. There's no car chases. No gunfire. It was nothing. It was not even worth seeing. I wouldn't even pay the ticket. I wouldn't even hire it online. I wouldn't even watch it on TV if it came out. And you're left there going, well, I don't want to watch that movie. And I've been that person. I've been that person. And I'd probably hazard a guess that many of you have been that person as well. But there's a person that is worse than those two people. There is a level that is worse than that. And it's the person that comes out of the movies and you ask them, how was it? And they go, oh, it was all right. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. Like, I wouldn't go watch it again, but I mean, I'm not disappointed I didn't see it there. And they're just like, and you're left there going, should I go see it or do I wait for the TV? And those people are annoying because you simply don't know what to do. And it's not even just with movies. You can do it with food. You get those people that are so excited about food. And they, I mean, I was so excited about my food this week that I had to share it with you. In fact, I wanted to make one here today if you haven't seen the social media. But I've just discovered possibly what is the best sandwich out. Mercedes, I'm telling you, it was the best sandwich I've ever had. Honestly, if I had one here, I'd give it to you to try because I'm sure you would say this is the best thing out, this sliced bread. In fact, for morning tea, I've actually prepared. You see, I'm one of these guys that just, I'll just try anything. And so I figured that, well, white bread is good. Nothing wrong with white bread. White bread and butter, that's good. We all do that, eh, yeah? So I thought, cool. So white bread, butter, and peanut butter, well, that's a good combo. I don't think there's anybody there that would say that's awful. It's a good combo. And then I was thinking, noodles. Spicy noodles. And I thought to myself, peanut butter sandwich noodles. Well, I like noodles. I like peanut butter sandwiches. Let's just put them together. And I made this peanut butter and spicy noodle sandwich, and it was great. You should try it. Not plain noodles, but spicy noodles. Something to give you a bit of oomph. And honestly, I encourage you, go and try it. You're going to do yourself a favor. There's a lot of haters out there. A lot of haters out there. But we do it with food reviews. You go in and you get these people, and they go, man, that was the best steak I've ever had. And you make your decision based on what they had, because they ramped it up and took it up, and it was good. Or you go in and you get these people that go, oh, that was the worst restaurant ever. The service was awful. The food was awful. And you just go, well, I'm not going to go there. But again, then you get these people that they go in, and they go, oh, it was all right. Like, I wouldn't rave about it. Like, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't the best steak I've ever had. But it wasn't awful either. It was all right. And you just don't know what to do. We do it all the time with stuff. You see, when you hear a good review, you see a good effect. But if you hear a bad review, you see a bad effect. But when you see an average review, when you see something that is just, it's not bad, it's not good. I don't hate it. I don't love it. But it's just there. You don't know what to do. And that's called indifference. Indifference. Indifference is defined as a lack of interest, a lack of concern, a lack of sympathy or unimportance. It's not bad, but it's not good. So does it really matter? Does it really matter? You see, the problem with indifference is indifference neutralizes you. Indifference neutralizes you. What do you mean by that? What does that look like? Well, I had this experience this week of indifference in my own life. Now, for those who know me, I mean, I like cars. I mean, I used to sell cars back in the heyday when I was young and single. I'd be driving all the flashiest cars, and I'd own all the cool cars. I'd buy and sell, and then I got married, and I'd still continue to buy and sell. In fact, my wife should be thankful I wasn't a real estate agent, because she'd come home and go, where's my car? I said, I've sold it. Here's a new one. Just because I just loved, I just liked buying and selling. It was a passion in me with cars. And this week I was deciding whether or not to sell our car. Not that it's a bad car, not that it's a good car. It's just a car now. I mean, I'm in that point in my life where it's just a car, and I just don't care. And I was looking at this other one that was at auction, and I put a few bids on it, but I was like, oh, I don't know, do I want it? Don't I want it? I don't know if I do. And I was top bidder. I was like, oh, do I? Don't I? And then they rung me, and they said, you can have it for that. I said, I want it for that. I want it for this. Oh, we can't do that. Sorry. I was like, oh, what does it matter, because I don't know if I actually want it. I don't know what I want to do. They rung me back and said, it's a miracle. The owner said you can have it for that. I'm like, well, I don't know if I actually want it for that now. It neutralized me. It neutralized me. I wasn't able to make a decision because I actually just didn't care enough. I wasn't able to make a decision because it wasn't important enough for me. I wasn't able to act out. I wasn't able to do anything because of just a lack of concern. It wasn't the fact that I hated the car. It's just the fact that I didn't love the car. It's not the fact that I didn't need a car. It's the fact that I just didn't want a car. I found myself in this neutral place where I was absolutely useless. And that's what indifference does. That's what indifference does. It neutralizes you. How does indifference look in the church? Now, when I say in the church, I don't mean our Sunday services. We've got to get away from this mentality that the church is our Sunday services. It's not. The church is everything. It's everything. It's just our Sunday services are an aspect of the church. But how does indifference look in the church? Because I would suggest to you this, and I read a couple of articles this week, and I would suggest to you this, that indifference is hurting the church. Indifference is killing the church. It's not the fact that Christians hate church but they don't love church. It's not the fact that they don't love God or they don't hate God. And indifference is neutralizing the church. All the studies you read at the moment, all the statistics you say will say to you, the church is declining. That it's not important to people anymore. And sadly enough, they're not even talking about the unbelievers. They're actually talking about the believer. They're talking about us, the church, and they're saying indifference is causing a decline in the church. Now, many things can cause indifference. I mean, let's be honest. When you've been going to church for 30 years and you've heard the same messages, you've seen the same thing, you've seen people come, you've seen people go, and you do fall into relationships. But the truth is indifference is neutralizing the church and neutralizing us as the church. When it comes to indifference, when it comes to that place of you just, you leave the service and you go during the week and you say, someone asks you, how was church this week? And you go, oh, it was all right. I mean, it was all right. I didn't love it, didn't hate it, but it was all right. It was okay. The worship was a wee bit loud. The preacher, he wears a cap and it just bugs me. But the worship was okay and the preaching was all right. Don't get me wrong. I mean, see, the person who's hearing that is now in a point of, well, do I go or don't I go? Do I want to go? Do I want to be a part of that? You're going through a tough time. And as a Christian, we know tough times come. We know tough times come. We know good times. We know the mountain. We know the valley. But our indifference neutralizes us to be effective for him. You see, there's a word, you know how some words, they get so overused, they lose the oomph behind them. And there's a word that's bandied about church and has been bandied about for years and years and years, and it's this word called passion. And the word passion has been overused because the word passion has been interpreted as you've just got to get excited about church. You've just got to come. You've got to do this. You've got to do this. You've got to get involved. You've got to do this, this, this, this. And you've just got to suck it up. You've got to be happy. And it's turned into this word that actually many Christians go, I don't want to have passion because I've got no more time to give. I've got no more things I can offer, so I just. But when you have a zeal for God, when you have a zeal for him, that remedies the indifference. That counteracts indifference. In Romans 12, verse 1, we read a passage, and it's titled in my Bible, A Living Sacrifice to God. And it starts off, And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be. Let our bodies be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly a way to worship him. And it continues on, and we get down to verse 9, and it says, Don't just pretend to love others. I mean, I know no one in here does that. Don't just pretend to love others, but really, really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring them. And then it says this in verse 11, Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. In some versions it says do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. That word fervent literally means to boil. So when you put a pot on a stove and you turn it up, and we've all done it, you put a lid and you walk away, and when you walk away it's just sitting there doing nothing. And then you go back and you continue watching The Chase on TV. And then all of a sudden you can hear this noise, and for a moment you go, what is that noise? Then you remember, I've got a pot on the stove, and you go out and the water's just, the worst thing is when you've got something in there like potatoes or something, and you know it's going to do damage, and it's just going to clean, but it's boiling away, and you take the lid off, and it's still boiling away, and you know it's hot because you can see that it's hot because of the boiling that is happening as it's under the heat. That is what fervent means. It means to boil, to boil. So if you're fervent, if you are a fervent person, your spirit is alive. It says don't be slothful. Don't be lazy and zeal, but be fervent in spirit. And it doesn't stop there. It says serve the Lord. Serve the Lord. It's quickened. It's boiling for something, and God ought to be the big boil in your life. We read in Revelations 3, and we read the letters that are sent to the churches, and the letters sent to the church of Laodicea, and it says this in verse 14 of chapter 3, write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's new creation. I know all the things you do. I know everything you do. I know all the good stuff. I know all the programs you run. I know the services that you do. I know the ministries that you are doing. I know everything that you do, that you are neither hot nor cold, and I wish you were just one or the other. Either hot or cold. Not indifferent. Not neutralized, because when you're neutralized you are useless. Either hot or cold. Fervent and boiling. He's saying I wish you were hot. Not just hot. I wish you were boiling. I mean it's an absolute miracle that I can actually eat noodles, because I had a traumatic event growing up eating noodles, and it haunts me, and it's only been in recent years that I've been able to eat noodles again, and I remember it. I was at Apirima College. I was in a classroom. I was in one of the science ones that goes, I was in about the fourth row back. It was lunchtime. Back in my day you could bring stuff to lunch and they'd heat it up for you. So I brought noodles. I was expecting hot noodles, and so when it came around I grabbed my noodles, I grabbed my fork, and I went in and I put them in my mouth, and they were lukewarm, and I spat them out. I thought that is the foulest thing I've ever had, and I spat it out, and I've never eaten a noodle since that day because of that event, because they weren't hot. And it says here, but since you are lukewarm water, since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say I am rich, I have everything I want, I don't need a thing, and you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, so I advise you to buy gold from me, gold that has been purified by fire, then you will be rich. Being hot for him, being, in Christian jargons we use the word, being on fire for him, having a fervent spirit, serving the Lord. It's not about doing more. It's not about a fake excitement that you stir up and hype yourself up to do it. It's a fervent, a fervent boiling from the within that begins at the cross, that begins at the foot of the cross. When we meet him at the foot of the cross, when we do as the song says, we have that realization that I was once lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. When we have that encounter with him at the cross, because at the very beginning of everything when it comes to God, it's our encounter with him, it's our relationship with him, it's our love for him, it's our zeal for him, it's our passion for him. Out of that place, out of that position, our doing will come, but you won't find that out of the doing. What you'll find is you'll get burnt out. What you'll find is you'll get tired. What you'll find is you'll become indifferent, and you will be useless. The cross. Jesus. It's living in him. It's finding our zeal in him. It's finding our passion in him. It's coming back to our first love, which is him. And when we have that, our doing ability, our doing ability, you'll find you'll have an amazing amount of time on your hands. Because you see, we prioritise what's important to us. We prioritise what's important. Whatever's important, we prioritise. I like golf, but I don't love it. The conditions have to be absolutely perfect for me to go, I'll have a game of golf today. I like fishing, but I don't love fishing. And the conditions need to be absolutely perfect for me to even think of getting out of bed at six and go to river and fish. But when you love golf, it could be raining, snowing, it doesn't matter what the weather is outside, you're on that golf course. If you love fishing, it doesn't matter whether you've had an all nighter, it doesn't matter whether you've had a bad night, it doesn't matter whether you are, it's raining, it doesn't matter whether, you will be at that river at six o'clock in the morning because you love, there's a zeal, there's a passion for it. When you love Jesus, it doesn't matter how busy you are, you'll find time. When you love Jesus, you will serve him enthusiastically, you will serve him with a zeal, you will serve him with a fervent, boiling spirit because it's important and you love him. And as I read these articles of the dying church, as I read these articles of the churches, I read these and go, I know what I'm reading, but I don't see it in my spirit. I know what I'm reading, but I don't see it in my spirit. I see a growing church. I see a church that's alive. I see a church that's impacting. I see a church that is growing vegetables for the poor. I see a church that is feeding those ones who can't be fed. I see a church that is clothing people that can't clothe themselves. I see a church that is meeting and loving each other during the week. I see a church that is loving the community that it's in. I see a church that is powerful because it doesn't have a spirit of indifference. It has a fervent, hot heart for him. That's the church I want. I don't want a big church. I just want an effective church. And as an eldership, man, we've got some vision to go. I said it, I think, a couple of weeks ago when I preached. We've got a vision to plant another congregation in the city because our heart is to plant congregations in the heart of the community which is affecting the heart of the community, that's reaching the heart of the community, that is the light in the heart of the community because of a fervent heart to serve the Lord. I don't do this because I like it. I do it because there's a fervent heart, a hot heart, a boiling heart for him. And I wonder if you're here this morning and you've been in that place of, I don't love going to church, but I don't hate it. Lifeship does nothing for me. I don't love it, I don't hate it. I'm sharing my faith. I don't hate it, I don't love it. There's just that indifference. I believe God would say to you, he wants to take that indifference out of you and he wants to place within you a fervent spirit. He wants to place within you a fervent heart that will be hot, that will be boiling for him. And you might be here today and you just think, man, I just need that fresh touch from him. I just need that fresh encounter. I need to come back to the foot of the cross. I need to come back to that day that I got saved and I just need to spend a moment remembering of where I was and where I am now through what Jesus did on the cross. I'm gonna invite the worship team to come and if that is you this morning, if that is you this morning, if you're battling with that indifference, if you feel neutralized because of that indifference, if you feel powerless because of that indifference and this is your morning to set that apart, this is your morning to set that aside, this is your morning to find a new zeal in him. Not a new zeal to attend church, not a new zeal to attend a life group, not a new zeal to do something, a new zeal for him because it's in him that everything comes out of and if we have that zeal, if we're running red hot for him, you'll no longer be ineffective, you'll no longer be indifferent, you'll be focused, you'll be sure, you'll be running a race. If that's you, just lift your hand up right where we sit. If you're battling with indifference, you're battling with that spirit of, just lift up your hand. You might have been in church for 40 years and you're in that place. Just lift up your hand so I can see it. Just keep it lifted, eyes open. If that's you, just be bold. Stick it up and say, yeah, that's me. I want a new zeal for God. I want that ferventness to be ignited within my spirit for him. Jesus. Let's all stand to our feet this morning. And if you lifted your hand, you see the good thing about this building is it's equipped with an altar and it's equipped with a door. And I want people using the altar more than they're using the door. So if that's you this morning, if you put your hand up, and even if you're, there's just, I mean you know that you know that you know that the spirit of God is just, he just wants to, he wants to meet with you this morning. So if that was you, you put your hand up or you didn't put your hand up and you know you need to be, I would like you to come out down the front. We're at eldership. We spoke at eldership. We want to lay hands on people. We want to have ministry times. We want to come as an eldership with an expectant heart that God is going to move on people's lives. All right, come down to the front. Stand down to the front.
