WEBVTT 00:00:09.879 --> 00:00:12.919 Hi everyone, this is Emma from Encounter Church, 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:15.900 Henley, and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:19.079 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast, 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:21.760 you can have an encounter with Jesus that will 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:25.379 change your life. And now, get ready for an inspiring 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:29.760 message from our preaching team. Hey, it is great 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.500 to be here with you all tonight, if we haven't 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:35.119 met yet. My name's Mike, I'm one of the pastors 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.500 here at Encounter and I spend most of my time 00:00:38.500 --> 00:00:42.060 at Prospect but I wonder, I dabble in Henley 00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:45.560 as well and I gotta tell you some fascinating 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:49.299 news. It is 6 .55 and I am not known for preaching 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:55.700 short. 4 .55, 4 .55 and apparently I'm not known 00:00:55.700 --> 00:00:58.380 for telling the time either but that's a new 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:02.020 one for me so I will do my best but man who's 00:01:02.020 --> 00:01:04.439 excited to hear what God wants to say tonight. 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:08.239 Is it just me? Somebody's got to have some excitement 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:13.239 for the word. It's hot. Thanks Jess. Hey our 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:15.200 teaching text for today is from Matthew chapter 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.819 13 verses 3 to 9 and really it's more the teaching 00:01:18.819 --> 00:01:21.799 text for the series. Here it is. A farmer went 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.400 out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.000 seed some fell along the path and the birds came 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:58.879 and ate it up. Alright. Once at our home in Valley 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.719 View, where we lived many moons ago, I came across 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:04.079 something pretty extraordinary. We had a swing 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.760 set, and it had bark chips down the bottom, because 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:10.020 safety, you know. And growing out of the bark 00:02:10.020 --> 00:02:12.639 chips was a cherry tomato plant. And it was it 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.319 was like one of my the most exciting things I've 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:17.659 ever seen because like this is where my children 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:20.199 go to fall. You know, this is not where things 00:02:20.199 --> 00:02:22.960 grow. But out of the bark was growing a cherry 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.580 tomato plant. And against all odds, what must 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:28.099 have happened is one of our kids has had a half 00:02:28.099 --> 00:02:30.159 eaten cherry tomato and dropped it because again, 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:33.719 children into the dirt and bark chips and somehow 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:37.159 it has grown up into a plant. Now that is very 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:39.400 unusual. I have tried that accidentally with 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:42.229 numerous other fruits and vegetables, has never 00:02:42.229 --> 00:02:44.930 worked out for me. So it had already produced 00:02:44.930 --> 00:02:46.729 a couple of little mini tomatoes. I was very 00:02:46.729 --> 00:02:49.650 excited for how we could move it. I started planning 00:02:49.650 --> 00:02:53.930 and by the next day it was dead. Because Jenny 00:02:53.930 --> 00:02:57.870 Wardrop, the legendary black thumb of your gardening 00:02:57.870 --> 00:03:01.250 horror stories, who I did not expect to be in 00:03:01.250 --> 00:03:04.009 the room today as I told this story, but that's 00:03:04.009 --> 00:03:06.289 all right, had already killed it. She'd gone 00:03:06.289 --> 00:03:09.210 weed spraying and had drowned everything in glyphosate. 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:12.740 and my precious little cherry tomato plant had 00:03:12.740 --> 00:03:14.139 died. Because of course if you've seen a cherry 00:03:14.139 --> 00:03:17.000 tomato plant, the stems do look like a weed until 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:18.879 you go and go, oh there's tomatoes growing on 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.539 it. So just a quick spray and it was dead. And 00:03:21.539 --> 00:03:25.400 do you know why it died? A, because Jenny is 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:27.139 like maybe the worst gardener in the planet. 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:30.120 No, no bless her. Like she tries. The effort 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:32.900 is there. It's like God has given her other gifts. 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:35.939 It's okay. But the real reason it died is because 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:39.379 we had valued a neat but dead garden. over a 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:43.580 wild but alive one. We had valued a neat but 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:46.120 dead garden over a wild but alive one. We had 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.780 killed the fruits of growth so we could have 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:54.050 control. And this is what happens when we're 00:03:54.050 --> 00:03:56.449 not careful with the Spirit of God and the Kingdom 00:03:56.449 --> 00:03:58.789 of God. We spent the last six weeks considering 00:03:58.789 --> 00:04:01.110 revival. We've been using gardening analogies, 00:04:01.169 --> 00:04:03.330 hence the parable of the sower. We've considered 00:04:03.330 --> 00:04:05.430 what it looks like in our lives when God shows 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:09.289 up in power. We spent four weeks talking about 00:04:09.289 --> 00:04:11.909 things we could do to posture and position ourselves 00:04:11.909 --> 00:04:14.229 to be ready. And then last week in week five, 00:04:14.490 --> 00:04:16.839 Tex and Pieta at our different locations. preached 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:18.879 about the fact that it's God's revival, not ours. 00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:21.399 So if it's going to happen, it's going to come 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:24.519 sovereignly from God. And a working definition 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:27.600 of revival is this, that revival is the quickening 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:32.519 of the ordinary work of God. Now, not our work, 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:35.819 God's work, God's work. That's revival is God's 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:39.199 business. What I mean by this is the ordinary 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:43.699 stuff of God extraordinary to us. And when revival 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:46.800 happens, God's normal begins to happen more frequently 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.500 on earth. We see miracles, we see salvations 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:51.980 in their dozens, we see healings, we see people 00:04:51.980 --> 00:04:54.759 being broken from addictions, deep transformation 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:56.980 in life. This is the stuff of the kingdom of 00:04:56.980 --> 00:04:59.399 heaven that God calls a Tuesday or whatever, 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:02.439 and we call it revival. It's when heaven breaks 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:04.819 into earth, or what Jesus called the kingdom 00:05:04.819 --> 00:05:08.189 of God is near. What is miraculous to us is normal 00:05:08.189 --> 00:05:11.170 to God. This is the last week of our revival 00:05:11.170 --> 00:05:13.970 series and tonight's sermon is meant to be about 00:05:13.970 --> 00:05:16.430 what it looks like when the spirit goes wild. 00:05:17.170 --> 00:05:19.970 When we actually trust God to do what God wants 00:05:19.970 --> 00:05:22.350 to do and let Him do it and get out of the way. 00:05:22.750 --> 00:05:26.329 Mark Sayers, your boy puts it this way, revival 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:30.649 is just renewal gone viral. Right? You probably 00:05:30.649 --> 00:05:33.430 heard us use the line before, his line, personal 00:05:33.430 --> 00:05:35.850 renewal precedes corporate revival. Well, if 00:05:35.850 --> 00:05:37.569 enough people do personal renewal and it goes 00:05:37.569 --> 00:05:40.490 viral, that's his definition for revival. We're 00:05:40.490 --> 00:05:42.589 not meant to control the wildness of the Spirit 00:05:42.589 --> 00:05:44.689 of God in our lives. That's not what we're meant 00:05:44.689 --> 00:05:46.990 to do. We're meant to respond to it. So what 00:05:46.990 --> 00:05:49.149 does it look like? Well, you gotta, there's only 00:05:49.149 --> 00:05:50.870 one place you can go if you're exploring revival. 00:05:50.930 --> 00:05:52.550 You gotta go to the book of Acts, right? You 00:05:52.550 --> 00:05:55.069 have to go to the book of Acts. I love Acts. 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:57.829 In Acts, the church is working out to do what 00:05:57.829 --> 00:06:00.329 to do with the Holy Spirit as it goes. It's make 00:06:00.329 --> 00:06:03.129 it up as it's go along. I deeply relate to everything 00:06:03.129 --> 00:06:05.310 going on in the book of Acts as a church planter, 00:06:05.310 --> 00:06:08.350 but really far more as a human being. I make 00:06:08.350 --> 00:06:11.810 it up as I go along a lot. However, in the book 00:06:11.810 --> 00:06:14.350 of Acts, they have the Spirit of God. They're 00:06:14.350 --> 00:06:17.089 not alone. The Spirit of God is with them. Not 00:06:17.089 --> 00:06:19.509 in the way that we might normally talk about 00:06:19.509 --> 00:06:21.829 it. The way we would normally talk about God 00:06:21.829 --> 00:06:24.389 is with you sounds like a hallmark card. like 00:06:24.389 --> 00:06:26.490 thoughts and prayers and I don't mean that to 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:28.810 be disparaging I mean this is our default we're 00:06:28.810 --> 00:06:30.810 like yeah yeah God's with you I'll be sure to 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:32.889 pray for you later narrator they did not pray 00:06:32.889 --> 00:06:35.569 later like this this is the sort of thing we 00:06:35.569 --> 00:06:38.870 do by accident but the early church now that's 00:06:38.870 --> 00:06:42.329 true it just doesn't have any impact the early 00:06:42.329 --> 00:06:45.910 church had authority authority in the Holy Spirit 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:48.970 and they went with it now Acts is brilliant for 00:06:48.970 --> 00:06:51.529 us Because it's not Jesus doing these things, 00:06:51.769 --> 00:06:53.670 it's a bunch of disciples mucking it up as they 00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:56.069 go along, which means we don't really have any 00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:59.050 excuses. All the excuses are like, well, obviously, 00:06:59.089 --> 00:07:01.670 but that's Jesus. Not anymore, it's not. This 00:07:01.670 --> 00:07:03.610 time, it's Peter. You remember how successful 00:07:03.610 --> 00:07:06.389 Peter was in his day job? That's right. So bad 00:07:06.389 --> 00:07:08.209 that Peter, Jesus had to be, why don't you throw 00:07:08.209 --> 00:07:10.250 the net over the other side, like, career fisherman. 00:07:13.149 --> 00:07:16.750 But this is what happened to the ordinary bungling 00:07:16.750 --> 00:07:19.589 apostles in the book of Acts. They perform miracles. 00:07:20.129 --> 00:07:22.810 They meet together every day. They share all 00:07:22.810 --> 00:07:25.310 their possessions. They prayed until they got 00:07:25.310 --> 00:07:27.170 what they were yearning for. They were under 00:07:27.170 --> 00:07:30.470 enormous spiritual attack and physical persecution. 00:07:30.829 --> 00:07:33.829 It was all happening and the miracles. Now, can 00:07:33.829 --> 00:07:37.149 you do that? I don't just mean the general, can 00:07:37.149 --> 00:07:38.689 you do the miraculous? Because I know enough 00:07:38.689 --> 00:07:40.810 of you well enough to know what your normal lives 00:07:40.810 --> 00:07:44.529 look like. But do you have the spiritual capacity 00:07:44.529 --> 00:07:48.990 for that? I don't know if I do. Like honestly, 00:07:50.430 --> 00:07:53.129 it's a lot. And so as we come to the end of the 00:07:53.129 --> 00:07:55.889 series, I would love you to think of this, not 00:07:55.889 --> 00:07:58.410 so much as the end of the series, but as a catalyst 00:07:58.410 --> 00:08:01.290 for 40 days of prayer and fasting. And we're 00:08:01.290 --> 00:08:03.649 calling it revival to resurrection, because that's 00:08:03.649 --> 00:08:05.250 where we're going. We're going to the resurrection 00:08:05.250 --> 00:08:08.610 of the Son of God at Easter. Revival only comes 00:08:08.610 --> 00:08:12.470 out of resurrection. I want you to ask yourself 00:08:12.470 --> 00:08:14.990 two key questions tonight. The first is, do I 00:08:14.990 --> 00:08:18.240 want revival? Like, do I really want it? Not 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.180 do I want to say my church is having a revival. 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:25.420 Do I want what it costs to have revival in my 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:29.500 life? And the second is, can I handle revival? 00:08:30.280 --> 00:08:33.200 Like if revival comes, can I handle it? I remember 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.759 when we launched our church, as Tex said, he 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.039 was there day one, confused, not yet Christian 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:40.679 that God was leading and he couldn't see it. 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:42.799 Yeah, I actually read that email this week. It 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:44.820 was a lengthy email about how he doesn't know 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:46.620 what's going on, but he thinks maybe Jesus, but 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:49.480 not yet. It's fantastic work. It's fantastic 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:53.480 stuff. And I remember praying for salvation. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.620 And I'd be like, God, give us the nations, give 00:08:56.620 --> 00:08:58.179 us hundreds. And I remember a couple of weeks 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:00.620 ago going, What would you do if I gave you 100 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:03.620 salvations today? Like, seriously, what would 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:08.039 you do, Mike? They're like, I don't know. Would 00:09:08.039 --> 00:09:10.159 you pray for them? Like, probably not. I can't 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:12.580 pray for 100 people, probably. No. And we don't 00:09:12.580 --> 00:09:16.740 have the infrastructure. What about 50? Nah. 00:09:17.379 --> 00:09:20.779 20? I reckon we can manage 20. So God was like, 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:24.179 okay, so 20 is revival for you. So if you're 00:09:24.179 --> 00:09:26.879 going to steward people's spirits well, I can't 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:32.039 give you 100. That's awful for them. And so God 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:34.700 could only give me what I could manage, give 00:09:34.700 --> 00:09:36.639 this church what we could manage. By the way, 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:38.639 we didn't get 20 salvations, so like, don't get 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:39.940 me wrong, it wasn't just asking and getting. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:41.860 All right, I want to talk about three things 00:09:41.860 --> 00:09:44.019 in this message tonight. I will go as quickly 00:09:44.019 --> 00:09:46.379 as I can, which I don't really know how to do, 00:09:46.379 --> 00:09:49.139 but I'm going to do my best. Three ways, thanks 00:09:49.139 --> 00:09:51.950 Tex, it looks like when God... goes viral, goes 00:09:51.950 --> 00:09:54.169 wild among us and what it looks like in days 00:09:54.169 --> 00:09:56.450 of revival. Here is number one. When we have 00:09:56.450 --> 00:09:59.870 revival the word goes wild. The word goes wild. 00:10:00.269 --> 00:10:04.250 Acts chapter 8 verses 29 to 39 with a few cut 00:10:04.250 --> 00:10:19.759 out for brevity. How can I unless someone instructs 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:22.139 me? And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage 00:10:22.139 --> 00:10:24.940 and sit with him. So beginning with the scripture 00:10:24.940 --> 00:10:27.120 that the eunuch is reading, Philip told him the 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.100 good news about Jesus. That's verse 35. When 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:33.820 revival comes, the word goes wild. People begin 00:10:33.820 --> 00:10:36.700 to be strangely drawn to the scriptures and receive 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:39.360 radical conviction from God. That's the result. 00:10:39.419 --> 00:10:41.500 When you let yourself be drawn to the scriptures, 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:44.120 the end result is meant to be personal conviction. 00:10:44.920 --> 00:10:46.740 Sometimes we read the Bible as if it's something 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:49.620 to tell other people their faults. That is not 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:53.059 the way of Jesus. Jesus is asking you to immerse 00:10:53.059 --> 00:10:55.279 yourself in the Word so that you can learn what 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:56.820 it looks like to be formed in the image of the 00:10:56.820 --> 00:10:59.120 Son of God, not to tell someone else what they're 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.559 doing wrong. At the Hebrides revival in Scotland, 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:03.620 which I'm sure I've mentioned 50 times in the 00:11:03.620 --> 00:11:06.179 last six weeks alone, for months people had been 00:11:06.179 --> 00:11:08.299 waiting for God to move and one night a young 00:11:08.299 --> 00:11:11.120 man stood up, Bible in hand, I think there's 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:13.259 something to that, and he began reading from 00:11:13.259 --> 00:11:16.740 Psalm 24. Who may ascend into the hill of the 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:20.059 Lord, or who may stand in his holy place? He 00:11:20.059 --> 00:11:22.600 who has clean hands and a pure heart. He shut 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:24.860 his Bible. Looking at his companions, he said, 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.500 Brethren, it seems to me so much humbug waiting 00:11:27.500 --> 00:11:30.720 as we are, unless we are rightly related to God. 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.580 I must ask myself, are my hands clean? Is my 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:39.450 heart pure? He then began to pray. At that moment 00:11:39.450 --> 00:11:42.029 something happened in the barn. A power was let 00:11:42.029 --> 00:11:45.529 loose that shook the parish from center to circumference. 00:11:46.049 --> 00:11:48.370 God had visited them and neither they nor the 00:11:48.370 --> 00:11:52.669 parish could ever be the same again. Let me ask 00:11:52.669 --> 00:11:54.470 you church, how seriously do you take your Bible? 00:11:55.809 --> 00:11:58.330 What I mean by that, because I hear people all 00:11:58.330 --> 00:12:00.990 the time who tell me that Bible reading is hard, 00:12:01.470 --> 00:12:03.370 so I'll come to the meaning in a second, but 00:12:03.370 --> 00:12:05.669 listen, if you're here and you find Bible reading 00:12:05.669 --> 00:12:08.120 hard, you're not alone. But I just want to encourage 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:11.200 you, everything that is good for you is hard, 00:12:11.940 --> 00:12:15.460 okay? Generosity is hard, exercise is hard, fasting 00:12:15.460 --> 00:12:19.700 is hard, you're about to find that out. But if 00:12:19.700 --> 00:12:22.039 you want to see the fruits of revival, watch 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:23.679 what happens when you take reading the Bible 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:25.740 seriously. Here's what I mean, here's what I 00:12:25.740 --> 00:12:27.700 don't mean by reading the Bible seriously. I 00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:29.340 don't mean doing devotions because you feel like 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:32.240 it's the right thing to do. I don't mean reading 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.320 the Bible because you think you're just going 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:37.139 to become a better moral person. I don't mean 00:12:37.139 --> 00:12:40.120 doing something that you feel obligated to do 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:42.580 out of a spirit of legalism. What I mean is you 00:12:42.580 --> 00:12:45.720 treat the Bible not as a book of simple reading 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:47.460 that you finish and put away and go, I've done 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:50.860 my job today, but as words from God's mouth to 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:53.860 your ears to be believed and obeyed. The point 00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:57.320 of the Bible is to obey it. to learn how to live 00:12:57.320 --> 00:13:00.080 like Jesus. It's meant to convict us so we take 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.200 our preferences and our culture and our background 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:05.240 and let God convict our heart. And we take all 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:06.919 these things and we go, these are realities, 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:09.399 my emotional reality, physical reality, relational 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.320 reality, all of this. But God, you are above 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.740 and beyond all of it. Convict me Lord, tell me 00:13:14.740 --> 00:13:17.440 what I need to do. Tell me how to manage this. 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:20.360 You let God disciple the flesh out of you and 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.620 disciple the spirit into you. That's the vision. 00:13:24.139 --> 00:13:27.220 Everything that is good for you is hard. It is 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:30.259 hard to do that. Last week, as we were preparing 00:13:30.259 --> 00:13:32.379 and praying for the amalgamation with Enfield, 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.700 which was very exciting, I had a phone call from 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:37.679 the Gideons. Now, if you're not familiar with 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:39.779 the Gideons, they are the heroes that deliver 00:13:39.779 --> 00:13:42.379 Bibles in every hotel and get them out to students 00:13:42.379 --> 00:13:44.899 in school, probably prisons too. Everywhere you 00:13:44.899 --> 00:13:48.019 can go, Gideon's Bibles turn up. And they are 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:50.779 just amazing. They have never rung me before. 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:53.200 They rang me the week of the amalgamation. They 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.200 said, hi, your church has just come up on a prayer 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:58.279 list we have this week. anything we can pray 00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:02.059 for so well as a matter of fact yes there is 00:14:02.059 --> 00:14:05.279 and so they prayed and then they rang me last 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:08.100 week and they said how did it go and I said well 00:14:08.100 --> 00:14:11.200 we received a unanimous vote for amalgamation 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.480 now what you probably don't know is that our 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:15.419 prayer was not that we would amalgamate with 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:18.519 Enfield our prayer was that it would be unanimous 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:20.379 so that there was a level of unity that only 00:14:20.379 --> 00:14:24.059 God could bring I can work a room well enough 00:14:24.059 --> 00:14:27.419 to get a vote I really want to probably Right? 00:14:27.580 --> 00:14:30.720 Like that's gross, I'm just being honest. I cannot 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.600 create unanimity among two large groups of people. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.139 I can't do it. Only the Spirit of God can do 00:14:37.139 --> 00:14:39.519 that. And what we were praying for is not something 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.840 we could do in our own efforts, but something 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:44.820 only God could do. Something that only in the 00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:47.059 Spirit's power could happen because we wanted 00:14:47.059 --> 00:14:49.720 the kind of church where nobody is left behind 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.480 and unity is going forwards. And that is what 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.159 we got. And when is the last time that you trusted 00:14:55.159 --> 00:14:57.240 God, not with the sort of prayers that you could 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:00.960 solve yourself, God, I pray that my sister treats 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:04.159 me better next time I'm rude to her. You can 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:07.159 solve that. When was the last time you trusted 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:10.440 God with God -sized prayers? like really trusted 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:13.259 Him. There is a passage in Scripture where God 00:15:13.259 --> 00:15:18.700 compares Himself to an unjust judge. Jesus compares 00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:21.379 God the Father to an unjust judge and He teaches 00:15:21.379 --> 00:15:24.799 His disciples, just keep knocking, just keep 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:26.899 knocking. If it's a prayer that is big enough 00:15:26.899 --> 00:15:29.220 to be worthy of the attention of God the Father, 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:31.700 keep knocking. Don't just do it once and go, 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:37.080 well, I tried. No. God's there going, come on, 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:40.039 how much do you want it? How much do you want 00:15:40.039 --> 00:15:42.440 to? God the Father is the only one that can answer 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:45.759 these prayers. When you read the Bible, not as 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.419 a book, as a task to be finished, or as something 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:50.539 you think you have to do. When you read it as 00:15:50.539 --> 00:15:52.779 a book to be believed in, a book to change your 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:55.740 life, it will convict you. It will transform 00:15:55.740 --> 00:15:58.220 you. This is what happened to the eunuch. As 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:00.720 they rode along, verse 36, they came to some 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:02.620 water and the eunuch said, look, there's some 00:16:02.620 --> 00:16:06.620 water. Why can't I be baptised? He ordered the 00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:08.500 carriage to stop and then went down to the water 00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:11.159 and Philip baptized him. The NIV translation 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:13.799 puts it this way, what can stand in the way of 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:17.799 my being baptized? That is a word on fire statement. 00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:20.450 When the Word has gone wild, you're not saying 00:16:20.450 --> 00:16:22.230 things like, well, why should I have to get baptized? 00:16:22.429 --> 00:16:24.830 Explain it to me. Prove it to me. No, you are 00:16:24.830 --> 00:16:27.990 so full of the fire of God that you're going, 00:16:28.110 --> 00:16:29.690 well, what can stop me? Surely, surely I can 00:16:29.690 --> 00:16:32.210 just get baptized now, right? Like, come on, 00:16:32.370 --> 00:16:35.289 let's let the fire be lit. The eunuch isn't just 00:16:35.289 --> 00:16:38.330 reading the Word. The Word is reading him. It 00:16:38.330 --> 00:16:41.190 is preaching to him, convicting him, transferring 00:16:41.190 --> 00:16:45.250 him. And this is how God chose to reach Africa. 00:16:45.869 --> 00:16:49.490 Beginning with this one man, the theologian and 00:16:49.490 --> 00:16:51.669 revivalist pastor Leonard Ravenhill puts it this 00:16:51.669 --> 00:16:54.309 way, I'm going to use a few quotes from him tonight, 00:16:54.529 --> 00:16:57.470 they're crackers. One of these days, some simple 00:16:57.470 --> 00:16:59.870 soul will pick up the book of God, read it and 00:16:59.870 --> 00:17:01.850 believe it, then the rest of us will be embarrassed. 00:17:02.490 --> 00:17:04.289 We've adopted the convenient theory that the 00:17:04.289 --> 00:17:06.950 Bible is a book to be explained, whereas first 00:17:06.950 --> 00:17:10.150 and foremost it is a book to be believed and 00:17:10.150 --> 00:17:13.349 after that to be obeyed. If you can let the Bible 00:17:13.349 --> 00:17:16.269 disciple you like this, you will see your life 00:17:16.269 --> 00:17:19.529 become more holy, more transformed. The word 00:17:19.529 --> 00:17:22.190 gone wild leads to radical conviction, leads 00:17:22.190 --> 00:17:26.690 to transformed lives. Point number two, when 00:17:26.690 --> 00:17:31.009 revival goes wild in us, people go wild. Acts 00:17:31.009 --> 00:17:33.650 chapter five, verses 12 to 14. The apostles were 00:17:33.650 --> 00:17:35.869 performing many miraculous signs and wonders 00:17:35.869 --> 00:17:38.029 among the people. And all the believers were 00:17:38.029 --> 00:17:40.049 meeting regularly at the temple in the area known 00:17:40.049 --> 00:17:42.930 as Solomon's Colonnade, but no one else dared 00:17:42.930 --> 00:17:46.859 to join them. Even though all the people had 00:17:46.859 --> 00:17:49.519 high regard for them, yet more and more people 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:52.279 believed and were brought to the Lord. Crowds 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:56.279 of both men and women. I love that Luke as he's 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.059 writing Acts wants to be so specific. He's like, 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:00.519 oh, just so you know, everyone's coming to the 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:04.240 Lord. Jefferson Bethke says it this way, a man 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.259 is at his best when he is living for others. 00:18:07.140 --> 00:18:09.660 People go wild in revival, friends, when you 00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:11.420 just follow the prompts of the spirit to love 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:13.619 your neighbours. And you don't try and second 00:18:13.619 --> 00:18:15.779 -guess it or justify it, but you just love them. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.079 Now listen to the vision in Acts 5 that we just 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.599 read. Many signs and wonders. All the believers 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:23.339 meeting regularly. Nobody else dared join them. 00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:26.740 There were no spiritual tourists. Only those 00:18:26.740 --> 00:18:29.119 believers who were sold out, who said, I'm in 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.039 all the way, because they were so visible before 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:36.440 the Jewish and Roman authorities. But all the 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.880 people had high regard for them. Isn't that interesting? 00:18:40.059 --> 00:18:43.500 What was going on amongst the early church caused 00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:45.839 everyone around them to say, I don't know what's 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:48.859 going on, but those guys are great. I want more 00:18:48.859 --> 00:18:51.200 of that. Their quality of life was so powerful 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:53.700 that it drew attention. I want what you've got. 00:18:54.220 --> 00:18:57.039 But even more than that, verse 14, yet more and 00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:59.359 more people believed and were brought to the 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:02.740 Lord. Crowds of both men and women. Because the 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:04.559 vision wasn't to live a nice life that people 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:06.400 looked at and went, that's a nice life. Can I 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.200 have that? We already have Instagram at home. 00:19:10.690 --> 00:19:14.829 we can envy on our own time. The vision being 00:19:14.829 --> 00:19:18.410 brought in the book of Acts was salvation, death 00:19:18.410 --> 00:19:22.289 to sin, life in Christ. That's the vision. Now, 00:19:22.470 --> 00:19:26.390 sometimes we get stressed about the idea of scheduling 00:19:26.390 --> 00:19:29.849 in church on a Sunday and a midweek IDG, middle 00:19:29.849 --> 00:19:33.970 of the week. We're like, oh, that is a lot. And 00:19:33.970 --> 00:19:36.130 the same people are going, why can't we be more 00:19:36.130 --> 00:19:38.650 like the early church? I'm like, my brother in 00:19:38.650 --> 00:19:41.990 Christ, they met every day. And I don't think 00:19:41.990 --> 00:19:43.509 they were complaining to Peter and John about 00:19:43.509 --> 00:19:45.509 it either. Otherwise you get a whole Ananias 00:19:45.509 --> 00:19:47.410 and Sefirah situation. You can read the Bible, 00:19:47.569 --> 00:19:50.309 work that one out for yourself. Look, I often 00:19:50.309 --> 00:19:52.390 hear from people worried about burning out and 00:19:52.390 --> 00:19:54.230 it drives me a little insane as a pastor and 00:19:54.230 --> 00:19:56.910 it can happen. It can happen. We need to be honest 00:19:56.910 --> 00:19:59.910 about that. Here is what I see happen more, at 00:19:59.910 --> 00:20:02.609 least at this church. People just don't have 00:20:02.609 --> 00:20:06.589 the fuel to keep burning. You only burn out if 00:20:06.589 --> 00:20:09.599 you've got the wrong fuel to keep burning. or 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:12.460 if you're in an insane situation. But I don't 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:15.640 think that's what we're in. Pray NYC, Sam Gibson 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.200 says it this way. Most people are afraid of burning 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:20.160 out, but in fact they haven't started burning 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:30.700 yet. Couple of weeks ago we handed out plus one 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:33.420 prayer cards at Prospect. where you write the 00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:34.920 name of someone on the back who you were praying 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.200 for to receive salvation. We asked everybody 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.099 if you hear somebody you're praying for for salvation, 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:43.420 send an email to Hannah or chuck a DM to us at 00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:49.380 Encounter. I received nine responses. I just, 00:20:49.619 --> 00:20:53.220 like I wanted to quit. I wanted to quit that 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:55.400 night. Not because I'm not getting the DMs. I'm 00:20:55.400 --> 00:20:59.420 just like, do we care enough about the lost? 00:21:00.019 --> 00:21:03.220 What are we doing? Does it break your heart? 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:06.680 It should. It should. Not that I didn't get my 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:08.559 DMs, but that we didn't care enough to send them. 00:21:09.140 --> 00:21:11.740 You only burn out if you haven't got enough fuel 00:21:11.740 --> 00:21:14.299 to keep burning. So what is your fuel? Or as 00:21:14.299 --> 00:21:16.400 Leonard Ravenhill would say, are the things you 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:21.539 are living for worth Christ dying for? Friends, 00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:23.720 you probably don't need more me time. You definitely 00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:26.299 don't need more screen time. You need to love 00:21:26.299 --> 00:21:29.619 your neighbour as Christ loved the church. the 00:21:29.619 --> 00:21:31.619 sort of person who suffers from depression or 00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:34.240 anxiety, I want to encourage you, one of the 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:37.119 best ways you can help beat that is to love your 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.880 neighbour as yourself. It's to be in community 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:43.599 and to lovingly serve one another. If you've 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:46.480 got anxiety, like, don't put too many expectations 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:49.140 on yourself. Be kind about that. But one of the 00:21:49.140 --> 00:21:51.480 best ways you can resolve these problems is to 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:53.700 be with people and love people. Take that as 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:55.980 somebody who does have a diagnosis of depression. 00:21:56.349 --> 00:21:58.710 One of the best ways you can combat that in the 00:21:58.710 --> 00:22:01.650 moment is to be with people. It's the last thing 00:22:01.650 --> 00:22:05.430 you feel like, it's the best thing for you. The 00:22:05.430 --> 00:22:07.829 fruit of a people gone wild for Jesus, people 00:22:07.829 --> 00:22:10.049 gone wild, leads to radical love for others. 00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:14.109 That leads to transformed communities. Point 00:22:14.109 --> 00:22:16.930 number three, final point, spirit gone wild. 00:22:18.150 --> 00:22:21.180 Acts chapter five, 15 to 16, continuing on. As 00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:23.039 a result, they would carry the sick out into 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.220 the streets and lay them on cots and mats so 00:22:25.220 --> 00:22:27.359 that when Peter came by, at least his shadow 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:30.559 might fall on some of them. In addition, a multitude 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:32.779 came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, 00:22:33.180 --> 00:22:35.019 bringing the sick and those who were tormented 00:22:35.019 --> 00:22:37.720 by unclean spirits and they were all healed. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:40.980 People lined the streets so that Peter's shadow 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:44.859 might fall on them. In my Bible, 14 pages earlier, 00:22:45.099 --> 00:22:50.500 that guy denies Jesus. 14 pages later, and a 00:22:50.500 --> 00:22:52.380 little bit of time but not that much. People 00:22:52.380 --> 00:22:55.059 are lining the streets hoping that his shadow 00:22:55.059 --> 00:22:58.059 will heal them. Something has transformed him 00:22:58.059 --> 00:23:00.640 because the spirit has gone wild and Peter has 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.759 stopped trying to control it. One of Peter's 00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:05.720 great issues in his spiritual walk was trying 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:08.460 to control what God was doing through him. Jesus 00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:10.259 would do something amazing and Peter's like, 00:23:10.259 --> 00:23:12.220 I'm with you all the way and then he'd explain 00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:14.140 that and say part of this means I have to die 00:23:14.140 --> 00:23:16.119 to myself which I will do literally on the cross 00:23:16.119 --> 00:23:18.599 and Peter's like, no sir that is wrong. Jesus 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.170 is like, come on man. I'm trying here. But we 00:23:22.170 --> 00:23:24.750 do this too, right? We constantly try and control 00:23:24.750 --> 00:23:26.990 what the Holy Spirit is doing because it is more 00:23:26.990 --> 00:23:29.750 comfortable for us to do so. We want the fruits, 00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:32.390 we want the outcomes, but we don't want to just 00:23:32.390 --> 00:23:34.750 give it over to God and say, God, you do it. 00:23:34.990 --> 00:23:37.470 I need it enough. I need what's going on right 00:23:37.470 --> 00:23:40.430 now so much that I want you to bring the crazy 00:23:40.430 --> 00:23:42.990 into my life because without the crazy, I'm just 00:23:42.990 --> 00:23:47.390 living empty. That's how I feel anyway. In the 00:23:47.390 --> 00:23:49.470 story of Philip and the eunuch, the start and 00:23:49.470 --> 00:23:52.450 end of the story of this, Philip, the Holy Spirit 00:23:52.450 --> 00:23:54.650 goes, go and talk to that chariot. At the end 00:23:54.650 --> 00:23:56.269 of that, the Holy Spirit goes, all right, you're 00:23:56.269 --> 00:23:58.569 done now. And literally just takes him physically 00:23:58.569 --> 00:24:00.769 to another part of the world geographically. 00:24:01.369 --> 00:24:03.390 The Holy Spirit is at the start and end of this. 00:24:03.990 --> 00:24:05.690 The Holy Spirit is all the way through with it. 00:24:05.750 --> 00:24:08.170 So often, if you are at this church, you will 00:24:08.170 --> 00:24:11.670 hear us pray, Holy Spirit come. That's what we 00:24:11.670 --> 00:24:14.170 want. That is our desperate desire. The presence 00:24:14.170 --> 00:24:16.960 of God, not the plans of us. That's what we need. 00:24:17.819 --> 00:24:20.680 When the spirit goes wild, miracles become common. 00:24:21.539 --> 00:24:23.779 As a pastor, I hear all sorts of stories about 00:24:23.779 --> 00:24:26.140 miracles, and I guess we're in the miracle business 00:24:26.140 --> 00:24:28.299 in a lot of ways, in the resurrection business 00:24:28.299 --> 00:24:31.039 at least. But also I work in a role where I'm 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:33.180 trying to create healthy systems and processes 00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:35.740 and structures and all sorts of fairly boring 00:24:35.740 --> 00:24:38.220 things to talk about to help you all encounter 00:24:38.220 --> 00:24:40.559 Jesus. Not to manufacture it, but just to kind 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:43.039 of... so I don't screw up the moment as much. 00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:44.640 Like I'm just trying to create some structures 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:47.380 so that when Jesus is moving, I don't screw it 00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:49.640 up. That's kind of the vision there. But sometimes 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:53.259 I wonder, am I listening to God through His Holy 00:24:53.259 --> 00:24:55.480 Spirit or am I just listening to good leadership 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:59.140 advice? What am I actually doing in life? So 00:24:59.140 --> 00:25:01.500 when the spirit goes wild, the spirit of control 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:04.559 in our lives really rises up. So you can either 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:07.440 have the movement of God in the Holy Spirit or 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:10.599 you can have control. You cannot have both. It's 00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:12.599 a Craig Grishow line, he's right though. Let 00:25:12.599 --> 00:25:15.059 me give you an example. I heard a fairly recent 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:18.200 story, as in the last 20 years in this state, 00:25:18.660 --> 00:25:20.660 about a church in SA and they needed a building. 00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:23.539 And so they appealed to the congregation and 00:25:23.539 --> 00:25:26.500 said, in faith, we believe that God's asking 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:28.160 us to have a building. We know where we want 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:29.759 it to be. We know where we're going to build 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:31.839 it. And the congregation said, absolutely. And 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:34.680 to do this, most of the key congregation members 00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:37.099 went to their banks and they remortgaged their 00:25:37.099 --> 00:25:40.579 homes and gave the funds to the church. And then 00:25:40.579 --> 00:25:42.859 within a year, the church had the funds and the 00:25:42.859 --> 00:25:45.079 land for a building. That's the end of the story. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.339 There's not, in case you're waiting for the fall 00:25:47.339 --> 00:25:50.140 after, there's no fall. That's the end of the 00:25:50.140 --> 00:25:53.539 story. Now, let me ask you a question. How are 00:25:53.539 --> 00:25:56.700 you responding to that story as you hear it? 00:25:56.779 --> 00:26:00.559 Because as I heard that story, I had two different 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:04.119 responses at the same time. One of them's like, 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:06.859 praise God, this is what faith looks like. The 00:26:06.859 --> 00:26:09.420 other one is like, oh, I'm not sure. That's a 00:26:09.420 --> 00:26:13.319 good thing. I'm not sure that's healthy. Do you 00:26:13.319 --> 00:26:14.799 know what I mean? Anyone else feeling that tension? 00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:20.099 We are called to be people who somehow live in 00:26:20.099 --> 00:26:23.119 that tension, right? The systems and structures 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:24.720 are so that we don't become the sort of people 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:26.559 that say, give us all your money and see you're 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:27.980 off to, I don't know, where do you want to go? 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:31.660 Europe? Hawaii. No, it's too hot. All right. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:37.299 Alaska. Okay, I think I've lost the moment. You 00:26:37.299 --> 00:26:40.359 get the drift. You get the drift. The point is 00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:42.500 though, here's what I want to do when I hear 00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:44.680 those stories, especially if there's not an asterisk 00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:47.259 on the end. I want to hear those stories and 00:26:47.259 --> 00:26:51.140 go, praise God. End of conversation. Because 00:26:51.140 --> 00:26:54.019 it's not my job to manage what the Spirit of 00:26:54.019 --> 00:26:56.759 God is doing in somebody else. My job is to manage 00:26:56.759 --> 00:26:59.839 my own spirit. And I do that badly enough that 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:01.720 I can't be looking at anybody else and judging 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:04.299 them. My job is to bring my spirit before God 00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:06.980 and go, my life is effectively a mess without 00:27:06.980 --> 00:27:10.059 you. You've produced enough fruit and love and 00:27:10.059 --> 00:27:12.039 grace in my life that I have some structures 00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:13.980 that help me get through an average day. But 00:27:13.980 --> 00:27:16.059 it's a mess without you. So God, would you pour 00:27:16.059 --> 00:27:18.119 out your spirit? Because I want to see what you're 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:20.319 going to do today. I want to be involved in that. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:23.940 I don't want to do it myself. I can't. So here's 00:27:23.940 --> 00:27:26.000 what I can tell you. I'm not asking for your 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.259 money. I want it all. I want your heart. I want 00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:32.339 your life. I want your soul. I want you devoted 00:27:32.339 --> 00:27:34.720 to Jesus with everything you have. You don't 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:37.039 have to do that in this building seven days a 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:39.500 week like the apostles would have done, but out 00:27:39.500 --> 00:27:42.799 there seven days a week, absolutely. Only that 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:45.980 will change the world. That's it. Because when 00:27:45.980 --> 00:27:48.259 the spirit goes wild, the miraculous becomes 00:27:48.259 --> 00:27:52.839 normal and heaven invades earth. One quick quote 00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:55.059 from Duncan Campbell, again in the Hebrides. 00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:58.140 He was talking about a different town. This dear 00:27:58.140 --> 00:28:00.339 old lady saw a vision of the church of the fathers 00:28:00.339 --> 00:28:02.559 crowded with young people and saw a strange minister 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:04.420 in the pulpit and she was so impressed by this 00:28:04.420 --> 00:28:07.660 revelation she sent for the minister. Duncan 00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:09.680 Campbell, very used to dealing with prophetic 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:12.000 old ladies. This is not him though. The parish 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.579 minister was a God -fearing man, a man that longed 00:28:14.579 --> 00:28:16.539 to see God work. He tried everything to get the 00:28:16.539 --> 00:28:19.440 teenagers involved in the church and this dear 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.900 old lady says to him, I'm sure Mr Mackay you're 00:28:21.900 --> 00:28:25.049 longing to see God work. What about calling your 00:28:25.049 --> 00:28:26.710 office bearers together and suggest to them that 00:28:26.710 --> 00:28:28.609 you spend two nights a week waiting upon Him? 00:28:28.970 --> 00:28:32.089 You've tried mission, you've tried special evangelists, 00:28:32.130 --> 00:28:37.750 but Mr Mackay, have you tried God? Have you just 00:28:37.750 --> 00:28:42.009 tried asking God? Have you tried the Holy One? 00:28:42.289 --> 00:28:44.589 One more quote from Ravenhill. You may be stacked 00:28:44.589 --> 00:28:46.650 up with theology, but what good is theology if 00:28:46.650 --> 00:28:51.990 it isn't on fire? Our information and our inspiration 00:28:52.490 --> 00:28:55.329 is meant to turn into transformation. That's 00:28:55.329 --> 00:28:58.589 the purpose. What are we doing with that? Leviticus 00:28:58.589 --> 00:29:02.210 puts it even better. The fire on the altar must 00:29:02.210 --> 00:29:06.410 be kept burning. It must never go out. What are 00:29:06.410 --> 00:29:08.670 you doing to the fire on the altar of your life? 00:29:09.430 --> 00:29:11.630 How are you keeping it burning? Because whenever 00:29:11.630 --> 00:29:14.230 the spirit goes wild, the miraculous becomes 00:29:14.230 --> 00:29:19.779 commonplace. Wounds quicken. Addictions are healed, 00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:24.480 chains are broken, families are reunited, relationships 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:27.920 are restored and salvation after salvation after 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:34.140 salvation comes as God draws people near. Do 00:29:34.140 --> 00:29:40.759 you want revival? Can you handle revival? Band 00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:44.799 you guys can come back up. When the spirit goes 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:49.029 wild it leads to radical faith. And when we take 00:29:49.029 --> 00:29:51.509 that radical faith, coupled with the radical 00:29:51.509 --> 00:29:55.930 love and radical personal transformation, that 00:29:55.930 --> 00:29:58.369 changes the world. That is the vision of the 00:29:58.369 --> 00:30:02.589 Kingdom of God, a transformed world. Is the fire 00:30:02.589 --> 00:30:06.029 on your altar still burning? Listen, this is 00:30:06.029 --> 00:30:10.400 all just an invitation, all of this, right? Some 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:13.359 of you I'm sure, I know because I've had the 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:14.720 privilege of talking to you about it, some of 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:16.940 you have been from backgrounds where you've had 00:30:16.940 --> 00:30:19.619 some kind of spiritual abuse or at the very least 00:30:19.619 --> 00:30:22.559 an unhealthy system. And for those of you, it 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.720 can be really hard to trust the leading and prompting 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:29.039 of the spirit in the framework of the church, 00:30:29.420 --> 00:30:31.619 right? Like you're here because you trust God 00:30:31.619 --> 00:30:35.000 already or you want to. But sometimes the church 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:37.500 can be a framework that is hard. I'm not really 00:30:37.500 --> 00:30:40.019 asking you to trust me here. I'm inviting you 00:30:40.019 --> 00:30:44.400 to trust God. I'm inviting you because we believe 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.200 our pastors and our elders and our leadership 00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:50.700 team, we're fasting and praying just for a move 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:54.319 of God. There's no agenda of like when we're 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:56.819 fasting to discern the church plant. That's great. 00:30:57.579 --> 00:31:00.059 But this our agenda is more Lord, more of you. 00:31:00.619 --> 00:31:04.640 That's the whole agenda. The whole agenda. And 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:06.839 if God is going to turn up in power and work, 00:31:09.669 --> 00:31:12.730 You don't want to be sitting there with your 00:31:12.730 --> 00:31:15.609 grandchildren going, well I was there when God 00:31:15.609 --> 00:31:18.029 turned up in power or I was there once a month 00:31:18.029 --> 00:31:21.329 and my friends were there a lot. A lot was happening. 00:31:21.809 --> 00:31:24.670 I had some other stuff going on. Like it's up 00:31:24.670 --> 00:31:27.849 to you. This is all up to you. This is carrot 00:31:27.849 --> 00:31:31.910 not stick. This is all up to you. But that's 00:31:31.910 --> 00:31:35.289 not what I want. I want to be in the room when 00:31:35.289 --> 00:31:38.799 God shows up in power. I don't want to miss it. 00:31:39.579 --> 00:31:42.579 I was praying tonight, you know, back home this 00:31:42.579 --> 00:31:46.660 afternoon, I was like, oh, God, am I, what happens 00:31:46.660 --> 00:31:48.660 if the Spirit of God just breaks out and we're 00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:50.599 praying for hours and hours? Am I up for it or 00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:54.000 am I just a bit tired? Like, I just had to ask 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:57.240 that stuff of myself. Where am I? Do I have the 00:31:57.240 --> 00:32:01.819 spiritual capacity to hold revival? The million 00:32:01.819 --> 00:32:03.539 dollar question is, what are you willing to let 00:32:03.539 --> 00:32:07.299 God do through you? If God comes where he's wanted, 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:14.079 are you someone who wants God? William Carey 00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:17.519 says this, expect great things from God, attempt 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:22.700 great things for God. But Habakkuk says this, 00:32:23.500 --> 00:32:26.559 the prophet Habakkuk prophesied in a day where 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:29.920 Jerusalem was in ruins, Babylon had taken over, 00:32:30.359 --> 00:32:32.819 it was chaos. It was chaos for the Jewish people. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.680 But he said this. In fact, I just want to invite 00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:40.579 you, if you're able, could you stand just for 00:32:40.579 --> 00:32:44.880 this moment as we come to a close? I just want 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:46.440 to invite you to close your eyes. I'm just trying 00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:53.079 to trust the Holy Spirit here. And if this is 00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:54.599 new for you, I would just say this. What have 00:32:54.599 --> 00:32:59.539 you got to lose? What have you got to lose? Habakkuk 00:32:59.539 --> 00:33:04.380 said this, chapter three, verse two. I have heard 00:33:04.380 --> 00:33:08.000 the news about you. I'm amazed at what you have 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:12.859 done. Lord, do great things once again in our 00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:19.579 time. Make those things happen again in our own 00:33:19.579 --> 00:33:22.460 days. Even when you are angry, remember to be 00:33:22.460 --> 00:33:29.180 kind. In summary, Habakkuk says this, do it again, 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:36.720 Lord. Friends, we have spent weeks hearing about 00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:40.740 revival and learning about revival and we love 00:33:40.740 --> 00:33:45.000 to teach you this Church. We love to grow ourselves 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.640 and what we know about Jesus. But knowing about 00:33:49.640 --> 00:33:54.539 Jesus is irrelevant unless you know Him. Jesus 00:33:54.539 --> 00:33:58.079 is not an abstract God to be viewed from a distance. 00:33:58.859 --> 00:34:01.660 He's a person or saviour to be loved. and He 00:34:01.660 --> 00:34:04.319 pours out His love on you. If you're here tonight, 00:34:04.339 --> 00:34:06.279 if you've never experienced the love of Jesus 00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:10.179 before, can I tell you, God is here, right here. 00:34:11.739 --> 00:34:13.940 Part of the point of the resurrection of Jesus 00:34:13.940 --> 00:34:16.840 from the dead is that He is very much alive. 00:34:19.400 --> 00:34:22.579 And through the Holy Spirit, He's here in this 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:26.199 room right now, speaking to you, calling out 00:34:26.199 --> 00:34:29.920 to you. He's saying, my son, my daughter, come 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:37.690 home. It's time. I gotta tell you, God comes 00:34:37.690 --> 00:34:42.130 where He's wanted. The Holy Spirit blows where 00:34:42.130 --> 00:34:47.929 He wills. God is looking for people who are hungry 00:34:47.929 --> 00:34:53.289 for Him. Is that you? He's looking for people 00:34:53.289 --> 00:34:55.469 who are offering their spirits to Him and saying, 00:34:55.510 --> 00:34:58.510 God, would you cultivate something in me so that 00:34:58.510 --> 00:35:03.800 I can handle more of your spirit? Is that you? 00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:09.420 He's looking for people who want the wildness 00:35:09.420 --> 00:35:14.199 and beauty of revival more than they want the 00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:20.059 empty, stark, dead control of their own lives. 00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:31.079 God is looking for a generation. that is hungry 00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:34.739 enough for the things of God. He'll blow where 00:35:34.739 --> 00:35:37.199 He wants to. The wind of God, the Holy Spirit, 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:44.300 will go wherever He wants to. Thanks so much 00:35:44.300 --> 00:35:47.000 for tuning in to this week's message. If you 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.780 felt challenged or need prayer, we'd love to 00:35:49.780 --> 00:35:52.420 hear from you on Instagram at encounterhenley. 00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:55.619 Or if you're interested in how you can support 00:35:55.619 --> 00:35:59.400 this ministry, please go to our website. encounteradelaide 00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:02.880 .com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:03.239 you.