Roger Ward 17/03/24

The main ideas from this information are: - God wants to bring transformation and change in our lives. - Transition can be uncomfortable and challenging, but it is necessary for growth. - The speaker shares his personal journey of transition from a shift worker to a counselor. - God provides provision and healing in our brokenness and fearful places. - The speaker discusses the stories of Jesus, Joshua, and Moses as examples of transition in the Bible. - Taking off one's shoes symbolizes surrendering one's rights and submitting to God's plan. - Transition involves learning new ways and stepping into God's calling. but is God, because He died and He rose again. So that's the foundation on which we stand when we begin to look at the fact that God then takes us and He causes us to change. Bible talks about that, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. So there's a transformation that God wants to cause to occur within our lives, but that causes change. That means we're constantly in a state of transition. That means at times we get very uncomfortable. That means that this is a state that we as Christians, as Jesus said, if you're gonna follow me, take up your cross daily. And that's what we're gonna look at today. So God's been talking to me at the start of this year because for me, transition is just how life has been for the last four or five years. And you're gonna learn a little bit about me, and I apologize for that in advance. Maybe more than you wanna know, but you're gonna learn a little bit. So I have a beautiful wife, Susan, over here. I have two beautiful grown daughters and a son-in-law. And I've been at that stage of life about, what was it, four years ago when I was 50 years of age. And I began to talk to the Lord because my kids had all flown the coop and they're doing great things. And it's like, okay, I go, what do you want me to do next in this stage of life? Just stay at T.Y. and work there? I was a shift worker there for 25 years. And I say to you guys that if you are somebody that goes to work, to put a roof over the head of your family and put food on the table, you are a hero. I now deal in the area of counseling, changed profession, so to speak. And primarily what we're dealing with is lack of fathering and brokenness in the world. This is my conclusion. So if you're a man who goes to work, you don't particularly like the job you do, but out of a sense of duty and having to at times, you get up and go and do a job and maybe you don't like it, but you go because you're putting a roof over the head of and food on the table to create a stable place for your family, for your whanau, for your tamariki, for your children. I honor you this morning. And those women that stand with you and create a stable home for those young ones to grow up in, to become their own person, to become strong within themselves. God, I honor you woman too. And if there's been difficulties and there's been brokenness in your family and your lineage, I honor you too because God is the one. He is the one that brings the brokenhearted and He repairs the breach. He is the one that causes healing to be part of your story. So anyway, there's this job at TY, so I'm on the bricks. I'm dyslexic, so my career and working has always been just laboring tasks, but always the ones that pay the most, right? So I used to work at the Friesenworks. And then for 25 years, like I said, I was at TY. So I'm on the bricks and about five years ago, maybe longer, I'm doing a hideous job on a down day, which is under this conveyor and you're rolling it around on this carbon dust and you've got all your gear on and I'm working away there. And back in the day, you've got a broken off shovel and you're scraping the stuff out to the side and it's all dusty and horrible and you're actually rolling it around and to do it because there's only so much room. And back in the day with this broken off shovel, I'll be saying, there'll be meaning in this job because it'll be like, Lord, I'm doing this because Rachel, she needs braces and at least she needs dance lessons. And like I said before, there's meaning in it when the kids are there, but at this stage, they're flying the coop and it's all over and I'm getting this total sense of dissatisfaction in life and there's no meaning in my work anymore. There used to be meaning, but there isn't at the moment. And God begins to talk to me underneath this conveyor and he says to me, Roger, what do you wanna do with this stage of your life? God begins to poke and prod. And he said, well, I've always done pastoral care and I kind of like that. And people kept saying to me, the dear friend, Jenny Beer, and she'd keep poking at me, said, Roger, you should go off and study to be a counselor. Had a number of people at that stage who were saying, Roger, go off and study to be a counselor. And I'm like, yeah, right, I'm just lexic, man. I hated school with a passion. But transition. And God began to put a desire in my life and I believe a calling to do that. And off I went and studied. And it's just study, you have these placements. So you go and work for different organizations, different agencies, and a very common placement is you go work at a school. Well, I hated school, so there's no way I was gonna go work at a school. And then we've got Cleo and, oh, sorry, Troy here, and we've got Sandy Dean, the counselors in schools. That was never my intention. As I finished my degree, I've got a dear friend, Valua Jack, and he basically, and we have a really close friendship, and he was very insistent this one day as I was finishing my degree that I was to come and work with him for a couple of days a week out there. And again, I hate, so there's all that transference going on there. Now, why do I say all this? Because as God begins to put us in a place of transition and causes us to confront some things that we have struggled with in life, so maybe some fears, maybe there's areas of brokenness, God actually has provision in the fearful place. He has provision in the fearful place. He has provision in the fearful place. And I think that's what we need to do. Fearful place. He has provision in those horrible transitional places that he can bring you in and cause you to flourish, even amongst something that you're not comfortable in. And we're gonna look at, in Matthew chapter four, we're gonna look at actually three characters in the Bible, Jesus, of course, being one. Gonna look at Joshua and Moses. And we're gonna look at their points of transition and how it is that God moved them from one state to another. And the story of Jesus that I'm particularly focusing in on today is in Matthew chapter four, or Matthew end of chapters three, is that stage where he goes and John the Baptist sees him coming. And he says, here comes the Lamb of God whose sandals I'm not worthy to unlatch, to unloosen. But Jesus goes down into the water of baptisms and he gets driven out for 40 days and 40 nights by the Holy Spirit to be tempted of the devil. But as he goes into this water of baptism, it's this transitional stage. This becoming from one state to another occurs. The first thing he has to do is he has to take off his sandals. I don't have time to look at it, but in Deuteronomy chapter 25, there's an understanding of what that means. And really what it is, what it means to take off your shoes in biblical times is it means that I surrender, I give up my rights. First thing we do when we come to Jesus, repentance requires that. Look, God, I don't understand, but I get something that you're wholly right and I'm wholly wrong. You're 100% right. I don't understand the picture. I remember there's a 15 year old boy. I don't understand what life is and how it works, but God, you seem to have a doubt. I do not. So taking off sandals represents that I surrender. Let's have a look in Exodus chapter, Exodus chapter three in verse one to five. Now, Moses kept the flock of Jericho's father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led that flock to the backside of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, even unto Herod. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him out of the flame of fire, out of the middle of the bush. And he looked and he beheld the bush that burned with fire was not consumed. And Moses said, now I will turn aside to see what this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called him out of the middle of the bush and he said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not near to me, put off the shoes off your feet for the place which you stand on is holy ground. This was the story of Moses' transition from what he was into something he became. And the first part of his transition was that he comes along and that the first part is, look, take off your rights. Use your will, but take off your rights. First qualifying factor, if you're gonna know what it is to transition along with God is that you take off your shoes, you take off your rights. Moses started out as the son of Pharaoh. He was in the king's palace, so to speak. He had all there was, all the good stuff. He knew what it was to walk in a way that was what we would call secular. And then he began to understand who he was and what he was called to do. And as soon as he did that, he killed an Egyptian guard because that's the way he knew to exert authority, by force. And God takes him for 40 years, places him on the backside of the desert, and he learns what it is to be a shepherd. He has a stink of linen and you know that wolf smell in the sheer and sheer, it's a hell of a smell. In the sheer and sheer, I hate that smell. It's a stink of linen on him all the time. Takes him out there and then God begins to call him back to the purpose which he had entrusted Moses to do. The first thing he says to him, come along son, but let's take your shoes off, boy. Let's take your shoes off. He had to first go out to the desert to learn a new way. And when he comes back in, God begins to speak to him of what it is he wants him to do. And he says, I can't do that. I can't do that. I stutter. How am I supposed to do this job when I can't even talk properly? So he gives him Aaron as a priest to speak on his behalf. He says, I have no power or authority. He says, what's in your hand? I have a shepherd's staff, that'll do, use that. And that shepherd's staff would go into the river Nile or be turned into blood. That shepherd's staff would go into the Red Sea and the Red Sea would part. That shepherd's staff at the beginning of the process was thrown on the ground, become serpents. So what's in your hand? I love that. So God doesn't need much. He just needs what's in your hand and he just needs some willingness for you to begin to move. But sometimes because of our fear and insecurity, our past, our things we have suffered, our trauma, we do not want to move. And God understands that too. So he walks very gently with us. At times we have capabilities, these things we can do, but we don't have the capacity to contain what it is God wants to achieve in us. So sometimes we just at times need to just sit with our capabilities and through that, our capabilities and through life and life's experience, allow God to create and enlarge our capabilities, our capacities. 40 years on backside of the desert. And I know myself many times in life and in ministry, I felt washed up, pushed to one side, forgotten about and done for. About seven years ago, I had a bad experience. And as far as I was concerned, I love Jesus, but church, man, it is over. I am done. My relationship with me and church is finished. And this dear pastor, Steve Coulter from my old church, Arapuku, he knew I was going through a rough time. He just called out and created space. He created just space and allow me just to come out and be part of. And we thought, oh, we'll go out there for a wee while and then we'll probably find a church in town, heal up a little bit. Well, seven years, well, I'm sorry, seventh year later and we still travel out there, 45 minute drive to Arapuku every Sunday. And it's been great. But Moses on backside of the desert and God convinced him to call him out. It's time to transition. They begin to pick up the calling of what it is that God had him to do. Joshua in chapter five of Joshua 13 through 15, we see the story where Joshua was by Jericho. He lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing before him and his sword was drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, no. Interesting story. Joshua, again, 40 years, he's been trudging around in the desert with the people of Israel. It's been handed over to him to become the leader that would take them from the wilderness, 40 year experience again, that number 40, and take them into the promised land. And he's a goer. Joshua wasn't someone to hold back, but he's also afraid because the word kept coming to him all the time. Don't be afraid, Joshua. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. So it's all right to be afraid, but it's not all right to give in to our fears. It's okay to have the emotion, but it's not okay to give in to it and let that be the ruling factor of our lives. And verse 14, and this guy said, no, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell down on his face and worshiped him and said, what does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord said to Joshua, again, take off your sandals, off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so. I love that in verse 14, when this commander who's actually, a few theologians talk about it, and there's a study called Christology, and it basically looks at the fact that that is Jesus, and the burning bush, the one speaking out to Moses was Jesus. So Christology looks at that, and it says that that was actually the person of Jesus Christ present with these two men also. But what Jesus says there to Joshua, he says, the question, are you for us? Or are you for our adversaries? And God just says something real simple. He says, no, semicolon. Semicolon indicates that that's the end of the statement. All I have to say to you, Joshua, at the moment is no. Sometimes we pray and we need to actually hear a no. Sometimes God comes into our lives and he just needs to reset us. And sometimes, no. It's not about you, Joshua. Church, yeah, it's not about you. You're a church that's in transition. You've come out of one movement and you've moved into another one. You're in transition. You're in time of quite phenomenal growth. And you have much to do in the city. No. It's not about church yet. It's about God, about what he wants to do and the people he wants to deliver. And the ordinariness of who you are as an individual. Because he is the commander. It's about him and what he wants to do. And Joshua's given the strategy so uncomfortable. This great city, and what are we gonna do? We're gonna go, we're gonna walk around seven times, seven days, on the seventh day we're gonna shout. Awesome strategy. Of course, we know in the story and archeologists have actually found that and it's not that the walls fell down, it's that they were actually pushed down into the earth. How cool is that? Joshua didn't know that. And when God was handing over the mantle from Moses to Joshua, what God says to Moses was rehearse in the ears of Joshua all those things that I have done. And church, as you are transitioning and as you're coming against your struggles and your difficulties, rehearse in the ears of each other the things that God has done. Because even Joshua, the mighty man Joshua, he was afraid. Even he struggled, even he had fear. And sometimes we just need that encouragement. Sometimes we need that love. Sometimes we need that afi so that we can carry on and we can push through the feeling and the emotion of. And sometimes we just need to sit. One of Joshua's greatest strengths was that when his predecessor Moses would go up into the tent of meeting, the meeting place with him and God, what he would do is Joshua would go and he'd just hang out because the presence of God there was manifest presence. And he would hang out in that and as Moses would disappear out of it, Joshua would just hang around, he'd just stay in the presence of God. That's where your strength is. The antidote to fear is not more faith. The antidote to fear is love. The antidote to fear is connection. The antidote to fear is connection and love and a place to be and the ability just to sit. It's not in the doing, it's in the relationship with. If anything, Pastor Dave has ever taught me, it's all about relationships. Everything is about relationship. Relationship with God first. Relationship horizontally and vertically. Relationship with God, relationship with people. So we're looking now at Matthew chapter four in verses one to 11. We're looking at Jesus now. Jesus came, he's been baptized, his shoes have come off. He had signified there was nothing in him to repent from. John the Baptist knew that and he had struggled even baptizing Jesus but because of the ability and the wanting to show how to do this Christian walk, Jesus went through everything that we have ever gone through and way, way more. So off come the sandals. He's taken out into the wilderness for 40 days, 40 nights. He's led up into the wilderness in verse one to be tempted off the devil out of chapter four, verse one. And went fast for 40 days and 40 nights. He was after a hungry and when the tempter came to him and he said, if you'd be the son of God, command these stones to be made bread. If you'd be the son of God. As you're in transition and things get tough and difficult things begin to happen to you, your circumstances begin to speak a message to you. And maybe some people, naysayers, some negative people in your life will say a message to you as well. And the first thing we need to do is to be a little bit more careful about what we're saying. And the first thing that the enemy of your soul goes for is your identity. When Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism, the voice of the Lord was heard and it said, this is my beloved son in who I am well pleased. He hasn't entered into his ministry life yet. In a sense, we would say he hasn't done anything for God. He's grown up, he's been a tradesman, he's been a carpenter. Hasn't done anything for God. This is my beloved son in who I am well pleased. As we're gonna see, the three areas that the devil tapes him in and all these areas have to do with doing something. But we sit in the place of free gift of salvation. I don't have to do a thing. And we'll see that in Jesus as we go through. If you're the son of God, cause these stones to be made bread. Then he comes back, you know, and he says that sustenance doesn't come from food, it comes from the word of God. I don't have to do anything to prove to you nothing. That's the attitude we have to have in the face of adversity. I don't have to prove anything to you. You have to sit in a place of strength, sit in a place of stability. I'm a son of God, I'm the daughter of God. That sounds a little bit arrogant, but it's actually a place of strength and a place of security that God wants to move us all into. What happens if I get up here and I make a mess of this preaching today? Well, God's gonna still love me. My mother will still love me, she's sitting down there. And Susan, well, she might still like me. No, she'll still love me. But sometimes we are afraid to move because we're not sitting. And again, there's nothing wrong with feeling the emotion of fear. So the reason we don't move is because we're afraid to do something because what happens if I fail? What happens if, if, if, if, if, if, if, what happens if church, what happens if you try to plant another church in the city and you fail? Ooh, oh my goodness. What about you personally? You try something that God's calling you into. Maybe Pastor Jono comes to you and suggests that you do something and, or maybe Pastor, I don't know how you guys work it, but they see something in your life and they begin to call it out and you're like, ooh, scary. I think that's one of the strengths that Pastor David always has. He sees something in life and begins to call it out. He's encouraged that out of you. Ooh, I can't do that. That's okay to fail and have a go. It's okay, why? Because you just loved. It's all right to do something different because you're a son, you're a daughter of God. You're in the house, you belong. You don't get kicked out. Sometimes we've been afraid to change, to try, to be different, to adhere to the word of God because of fear. Jesus sits squarely in the strength of his identity that I am a son of God. I ain't got nothing to prove to you, devil. Devil takes him up to a high pinnacle, a high place and says, if you're the son of God, just cast yourself off here because the Bible says that God's gonna look after you unless you dash your foot against a stone or something to those words. Again, do something to prove it. You don't have to do anything to prove it. The reason we do things is because we come from a place of love, a place of belief. I'm a son of God and I have a sense that God wants me to do something else. What the devil tries to do is get behind there and push it up. I'll pray for you this afternoon. Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to go to university at the age of 50 years of age? You can't even, can't even write your name hardly. When people say dyslexic, I'm not talking, I have struggled spelling a little bit. I can't spell to save my life. And school is hideous. And I struggled, I cried and I, I whinged and I moaned through my degree. Sandy Dean over there smiling and laughing because she heard plenty of that. And my beautiful wife was so gracious and put up with me. And I always say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I'm still a kid, I'm God's kid. And when we church at our pookie, it's like pray for me. I'm struggling and I was, and I did. When God calls us, it doesn't mean it's easy. But there's a desire he puts in there. There's the ability to do something that he gives. And there's a pushing back against what the devil meant in your life for harm and hurt. There's a pushing it back against that and there's a redeeming of that. There's a buying back even of your trauma. There's a buying back of those negative experiences in your life. There's a buying back of those things that it might give glory to God and cause productivity in his kingdom. Because here's what church has, it's not about church has. It's about God. That he might be glorified in your midst. It's not even about people getting saved. This is a controversial thing I'm about to say. Does God want people to be saved? Yes, he does. This will is that none will perish, that all will come to know him. But it's not about the saved or the unsaved. It's not about the church. It's not about the individual. It's about God first. When we put God first, the Bible says, when you lift me up, I will draw all men unto me. So evangelism is the secondary thing. The worship and the lifting up of God is the prime thing. It's the first thing. The glorifying of God in your life and allowing him to live and breathe and have his being is the first thing. It's the place. It's where we sit. It's what comes out of us. And then the happenings begin to occur within your life, your ministry, your community as a church. Because as you lift up God, as you glorify him, and by glorifying, I mean that he comes first. You take up your cross daily and you fail and you whinge and you moan through your degree. I can't do this. But you lift God up. He comes first. You take off the sandals off your feet. And you allow that purpose, that call, that desire that goes place within your life as both a church, as an individual, as a community to be seen in him. Jesus knows what it's like to struggle and the garden of Gethsemane, he has what we would call a panic attack and a horrendous one. He sweats drops of blood and he's going, God, hey, can you take this cup from me? It's another time of transition in his life. And it cost him a gear and everything, but he went through that so that we can identify with the fear, the brokenness, the mental illness, if you want to give it a label. But he identifies with everything, every pain, every abuse, because all that happened on the cross and then some. So there's a transition taking place there, a supernatural transition. A supernatural transition. So you can take all your fears and your pain, because you see it taking place in the person, in the man, in the God-man Jesus Christ, on that cross, and you take all your fear and you put it into the cross, that's where your pain belongs. So you begin to identify with him. And you see the death and the resurrection. Because God always hears the final say. And church, yeah, God is gonna have the final say. Injustice issues in your life that you've suffered with, God's gonna have the final say. Struggle and pain that has come against you personally, God is gonna have the final say. And that starts with taking your shoes off, giving up your rights, and beginning that adventurous walk with him, that call to adventure, that call to being uncomfortable, that call to being something that you weren't before, that transitional process. Yes, you've come out of one movement, you've gone into another, you're growing, and you're probably gonna plant churches and facilitate a move of God in this city. Are you up for that church act? Is that part of your DNA, is that part of who you are? Yeah, man, I'm excited for you. I'm so excited that last year, God began to talk to Susan and myself about coming and joining you. As much as I love a wee church out the road, God's talked to Susan and I about coming along, and I'm not coming to do this, I'm just, in fact, I didn't wanna do this, I just wanna come and slide in quietly and get to know you a little bit and be part of. But anyway, the day of saying no is starting to come to an end. The day of taking your shoes off and submitting to God is, we all be sitting there. And I really believe that this word today, not only is it something God's been talking to me personally but it's also something that is prophetic for you as a church and you as individuals also. So I just wonder today, firstly, if you don't know Jesus Christ, if you haven't taken that step where, and let's just all eyes closed and head bowed as we just think about this for a moment, the most important thing that can ever happen for you as an individual is that you come to the belief in knowing that actually that Jesus, that historical figure, he is God. I believe that he is God, and two, that I repent, and that I start that lifestyle of repentance where it's like, God, change my mind, and I'll change my ways of being. And in a sense, that's taking your shoes off. So is there anyone here today, and again, eyes are closed. If you wanna come to know Jesus, I'm gonna simply ask you to raise your hand. I'm not gonna embarrass you and ask you to come up the front, but what I'm gonna do is pray a prayer. So is there anyone today who'd like to raise your hand, and I'd just like to pray a prayer for repentance. I'd like to pray a prayer of belief. I'd like to join that kingdom of God that I'm hearing about today, is there anyone in, I don't know anyone, I don't know everyone here today, but maybe you haven't made that first step. So I see that hand, thank you, sir. Is there anyone else today where you would just like to pray that prayer of salvation, that prayer of, look, I want in on this, I don't understand it, but I have a sense of this destiny, this purpose in this, and I want a part of that kingdom, that kingdom that Jesus Christ talks about. Anyone else today, you'd like to raise your hand and you'd like to pray that prayer with me. Anyone else today? Cool, I'm not gonna labor this any longer, but let's all pray, let's all pray this prayer, if you could follow after me. Lord Jesus Christ, I come to you today with belief in my heart, and in knowing that you are God, and I believe that you died and you rose again, and you paid for my sin, you paid my debt, and you canceled my bill, and today I ask you for the spirit of repentance, that I might have my mind changed, that if you say it's right, it's right, and if you say it's wrong, it's wrong. Amen. Well done. And last thing we need to do today is you need to take your shoes off, and I'm not saying you need to take your physical shoes off. This is a heart thing, and maybe you want to take your physical shoes off as a sign of I don't care if you do or if you don't, I really do not. It's not some religious thing you have to do, but in your heart today, could we just stand and maybe the team could come and play that song about the wine thing? Yeah, that one, that one, that was so good. Let's all just stand today, and again, in your own heart, as we just sing the song, let's determine in our hearts that yes, I am in transition. Your own transition in life, anyway, it's gonna happen. Life has a way of happening. But there's something about surrender that makes it easier. There's something about surrender that takes the onus off out of my control and puts it into God's hands. There's something about surrender, and in a sense, taking your shoes off, that my rights are done away with, and actually, I've become someone else's problem. Jesus said, suffer not the little children to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of God, and it says we become His children again, and it sounds outrageous, but I'm actually giving away my rights. I'm giving away the cares. I'm giving away the worries. I'm giving away the fears. I'm giving away all those things that would hold me back. I mean, I'm gonna snot cry and whinge at times, and we're gonna have my difficulties, but that's okay, because we're family, we're fine now. We can do that together. You might see someone that's struggling, and you might be Jesus to them one day. You might be the person crying and whinging and carrying on, and somebody's Jesus to you the next day, but we've just come together, and we take our shoes off. Amen. So, fathers, we sing this song. Let this be our prayer, Father. Lord, we wanna be an officer. Lord, we wanna be an offering to you. Lord, tough times in life happen anyway, but Lord, let them come. Let them be as purpose for your kingdom. We're gonna suffer loss anyway, Lord God. Why don't we have purpose in it? We're gonna face difficult situations, but why don't we have purpose in that too? Lord, let there be honor in our transitions. Lord, let there be, Lord God, you lift it up. Let there be a glorification of you in our transitions. In Jesus' name. And let this song wash over you as we sing. Let God talk to you. Amen. Thank you, Rachel.