WEBVTT 00:00:09.940 --> 00:00:12.699 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:15.279 Henley, and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.000 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast, 00:00:19.019 --> 00:00:20.839 you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:24.359 change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:28.760 message from our preaching team. Thank you so 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:33.640 much, Tex. Yeah, I wanted to open by saying There's 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:37.340 a great cloud of witnesses that is for you encounter 00:00:37.340 --> 00:00:40.259 Henley and I have the great privilege of being 00:00:40.259 --> 00:00:42.520 part of that. So there's people praying for you 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:44.500 regularly. There's people inside your church 00:00:44.500 --> 00:00:47.539 praying for you regularly and I am far outside 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:50.100 your church because I live up in Woodside and 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:51.799 I'm praying for you regularly because I love 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:55.840 this church and I love Ash and Tim and Tex. And 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:57.920 Encounter is a special church for us as a family. 00:00:57.979 --> 00:01:00.179 So I am the Minister of Woodside Uniting and 00:01:00.179 --> 00:01:02.439 also I get the great joy of working with Tim 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:05.379 in the mission resourcing team of our Synod. 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:08.439 Encounter is a beautiful church and my whole 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:11.379 family love it. I'm married to Danika and I've 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:14.560 got two kids, Gideon who is six and Ardent who 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:18.739 is four. And Gideon, my son, came with me to 00:01:18.739 --> 00:01:21.519 your first service. almost two years ago, and 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:22.819 on the screen there's going to be a picture of 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:26.959 Gideon, it's the next slide, and we came to your 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.060 service and it was such an honour to be here, 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:33.120 and Gideon just loved the church and loved the 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.519 service and loved the glow stick that he got. 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:39.239 So this is him, like this is in the car after 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:41.480 the service, after your first service, which 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:43.760 if it's almost two years you'd be creeping up 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:47.980 to what, a hundred and something. And the next 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:49.900 day Gideon wakes up and he goes to Ardent, still 00:01:49.900 --> 00:01:51.780 holding this glow stick and he's like, Ardent, 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.560 and he's like holding it right here. I went to 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:59.680 party church last night and it was amazing. And 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.939 so in our family, we refer to you as party church. 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:06.019 So yeah. So I've got a new logo for you. No, 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.360 just joking. I don't. But I love that. I love 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:11.599 that my son sees the vibrancy of your church 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.370 and goes. That's a party church. That's a church 00:02:14.370 --> 00:02:17.210 that celebrates. That's a church that is joyful 00:02:17.210 --> 00:02:19.530 and filled with the Spirit. And I've got the 00:02:19.530 --> 00:02:22.490 great privilege this afternoon of launching you 00:02:22.490 --> 00:02:25.370 into a new series called Life to the Full, because 00:02:25.370 --> 00:02:29.210 you're almost two years in. And there's an energy 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:31.169 and a burst of life that comes when you launch 00:02:31.169 --> 00:02:33.469 something, or when you give birth to something, 00:02:33.610 --> 00:02:36.669 or when you start something. But you get two 00:02:36.669 --> 00:02:39.729 years into something and it gets a bit two years, 00:02:39.830 --> 00:02:42.949 doesn't it? I mean, lots of people came to visit 00:02:42.949 --> 00:02:45.310 me when my son was born. No one's like, oh, you've 00:02:45.310 --> 00:02:46.909 got a two -year -old, I've got to come over right 00:02:46.909 --> 00:02:51.030 now. No one. We see this in relationships. You 00:02:51.030 --> 00:02:52.830 get to that two -year mark and you're like, oh, 00:02:52.830 --> 00:02:55.949 man, that person will tell the same joke every 00:02:55.949 --> 00:02:59.830 time a prompt is given to them. Oh, man. And 00:02:59.830 --> 00:03:01.110 like, you know it. You can just see the train 00:03:01.110 --> 00:03:02.689 coming and someone says, have you been to here? 00:03:02.689 --> 00:03:03.909 And they're like, oh, no, they're going to tell 00:03:03.909 --> 00:03:07.949 that story again. We do this with jobs. You're 00:03:07.949 --> 00:03:09.250 two years, and you're like, oh, really, this 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:13.830 is it. Okay, yeah, I'm not going to go to that 00:03:13.830 --> 00:03:15.830 spot in the morning tea time because it's going 00:03:15.830 --> 00:03:19.650 to be a nightmare. And Jesus calls us to have 00:03:19.650 --> 00:03:21.590 life to the full, not just when we birth something, 00:03:21.729 --> 00:03:23.550 not when we just launch something, not when we 00:03:23.550 --> 00:03:27.849 start something, but all the time. So let's pray. 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:33.050 Oh Lord God, I thank you for encounter. For the 00:03:33.050 --> 00:03:36.830 spirit of this church, the humility, the kindness, 00:03:37.009 --> 00:03:40.849 the grace. And so I pray, Lord, that whatever 00:03:40.849 --> 00:03:46.610 I bring right now, that if it's of You, let it 00:03:46.610 --> 00:03:49.550 land, let it stick, and anything that's of me 00:03:49.550 --> 00:03:53.330 would just fade away. We want to encounter You, 00:03:53.330 --> 00:03:57.349 we want to see You, we want to behold You. And 00:03:57.349 --> 00:04:00.909 so may Your Word speak to us, we pray. In the 00:04:00.909 --> 00:04:06.020 powerful Name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. If I was 00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:10.400 to ask you how full is your life, how would you 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.099 answer that question? Now, you don't have to 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:13.759 yell out, I don't need to hear how your week's 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.659 been, I would love to after the service, but 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:21.100 how full is your life? Because I dare say I would 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:22.819 answer the question maybe a similar way to you. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:24.879 I think back on my week, and I might even pull 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:27.759 my phone out and look at my diary and go, oh, 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:31.319 it was pretty busy, or actually, it was pretty 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:33.370 light. And I would kind of answer that question, 00:04:33.649 --> 00:04:36.870 how full is your life based on how many blocks 00:04:36.870 --> 00:04:40.089 in my calendar were full and how many blocks 00:04:40.089 --> 00:04:41.910 were next to each other, which meant I had a 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:44.170 back -to -back day. And if you're anything like 00:04:44.170 --> 00:04:46.790 me, how many nights out I am, because I like 00:04:46.790 --> 00:04:49.449 being home. And if there was a lot of nights 00:04:49.449 --> 00:04:51.189 out, I would say, oh, it's been a pretty big 00:04:51.189 --> 00:04:53.470 week. And if there were no nights out, I would 00:04:53.470 --> 00:04:56.670 say, oh, it's been a great week. It's been amazing. 00:04:57.209 --> 00:05:02.519 It's been so good. But the question of how full 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:05.680 is your life, if I changed it and said how full 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:09.259 of your life with life, how full is your life 00:05:09.259 --> 00:05:13.060 with living, with life, with joy, with peace, 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:15.980 with compassion, not just how busy you are, not 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:18.660 how much is in your calendar, but how much life 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:20.600 is present in your life? How would you answer 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:23.860 that question? Because you might answer that 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:25.199 radically different. You might go from going, 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:29.300 oh, this week's been great to, oh. I've actually 00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:34.100 been pretty angry most of this week. Or you might 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:37.079 go, oh, I went into the prayer room this week 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:40.079 and it set the course for my whole week. You'd 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:42.300 reflect and think, oh, there's moments where 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:44.300 I've not acted in the way I want to and there's 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:45.839 moments where I have or there's been moments 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.360 where the God has spoken to me and there's been 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:49.740 moments where I walked out of it and I was like, 00:05:49.740 --> 00:05:52.899 oh, I missed the mark. How full is your life 00:05:52.899 --> 00:05:56.629 with life? Because the promise of Jesus is a 00:05:56.629 --> 00:05:59.209 life and life to the full, a life of abundance. 00:06:00.029 --> 00:06:02.509 And if you're like me and you're doing a Bible 00:06:02.509 --> 00:06:04.670 reading plan at the moment, you've just hit Leviticus 00:06:04.670 --> 00:06:08.589 or Numbers in the Old Testament. And the Bible 00:06:08.589 --> 00:06:10.329 is full of comparisons. And one of the biggest 00:06:10.329 --> 00:06:12.970 comparisons is the difference between life and 00:06:12.970 --> 00:06:15.649 death. And if you're slogging through Leviticus 00:06:15.649 --> 00:06:18.089 or Numbers like me and you're like, Farah, why 00:06:18.089 --> 00:06:19.769 do I have to tear down my whole house if there's 00:06:19.769 --> 00:06:22.459 a bit of mold that won't go away? Because in 00:06:22.459 --> 00:06:24.480 that day, in that culture, what brings life? 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:28.740 What brings death? And they didn't have domestos. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:31.240 And so if mould wasn't going to go away, you 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:32.519 tear the whole thing down because it's going 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:34.740 to bring death. But if something's going to bring 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:37.339 life, like loving your neighbour or showing compassion 00:06:37.339 --> 00:06:42.579 or forgiving, do it. And so that's critical to 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:44.220 this passage. And the context to this passage, 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:45.939 and we're actually going to go a bit more through 00:06:45.939 --> 00:06:48.939 it than our text brought, was literally just 00:06:48.939 --> 00:06:51.629 before this moment. There's a man who's born 00:06:51.629 --> 00:06:54.470 blind and he's brought before Jesus and people, 00:06:54.589 --> 00:06:55.810 just before this, you don't have to worry about 00:06:55.810 --> 00:07:00.730 it just yet, people say like, who sinned? Did 00:07:00.730 --> 00:07:03.110 he sin or did his parents sin? Like why is he 00:07:03.110 --> 00:07:08.370 situation like this? And Jesus goes, no, like 00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:10.949 I'm not even going to answer that. I'm just going 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:14.410 to heal this guy. And the guy is healed and the 00:07:14.410 --> 00:07:16.470 Pharisees are religiously, they get really upset 00:07:16.470 --> 00:07:19.379 with this fact because a, Jesus healed someone 00:07:19.379 --> 00:07:23.240 on the Sabbath, and B, it's not them. And so 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:24.860 they kind of get the guy's parents, they get 00:07:24.860 --> 00:07:26.279 the guy, and they're like, what happened and 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:28.360 who did this? And it's great, because eventually 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:30.019 it just gets to the point where the guy's like, 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.379 well, I don't know what to tell you, but I was 00:07:34.379 --> 00:07:39.839 blind, and now I see, and that guy did it, so 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:42.980 your problem. And he just walks off the scene. 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:48.050 And literally then Jesus says these words. Very 00:07:48.050 --> 00:07:50.990 truly, I tell it to you, Pharisees. So he's speaking 00:07:50.990 --> 00:07:53.649 to the Pharisees, to the religious elite, those 00:07:53.649 --> 00:07:56.689 that are so upset. How dare Jesus heal on a Sabbath? 00:07:56.949 --> 00:07:58.449 That's the day off. Doesn't he know that God 00:07:58.449 --> 00:08:00.910 should take a rest? This guy can be blind for 00:08:00.910 --> 00:08:03.089 another day, been blind his whole life. He should 00:08:03.089 --> 00:08:05.850 wait another day. Get to Monday, get off the 00:08:05.850 --> 00:08:08.410 weekend, Jesus. We are upset. We are angry. We 00:08:08.410 --> 00:08:09.970 will make this guy be embarrassed. We'll get 00:08:09.970 --> 00:08:13.170 his parents involved. Is this guy your son? Yes. 00:08:13.490 --> 00:08:17.759 Maybe. Why? Yes. No. What? Okay. And he says, 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.620 I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheep 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:23.660 pen by the gate but climbs in by some other way 00:08:23.660 --> 00:08:27.040 is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.480 the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.200 opens the gate for him. The sheep listen to his 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:36.399 voice. He calls his own sheep by name. He leads 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:40.740 them out. When he's brought them out all on his 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:43.779 own or all his own. He goes on ahead of them 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:47.340 and his sheep follow him because they know, they 00:08:47.340 --> 00:08:49.299 know his voice. They don't just hear his voice, 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:51.840 they know his voice, but they will never follow 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:55.100 a stranger. In fact, they will run away from 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:57.580 him because they do not recognise a stranger's 00:08:57.580 --> 00:09:01.320 voice. Jesus used this figure of speech, but 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:03.580 the Pharisees did not understand what he was 00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:05.940 telling them. It's great these moments where, 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:08.440 like I look at them, like it seems pretty obvious. 00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:13.100 Pharisees, you're not helping. you're actually 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:16.340 stealing when people should be free. And Jesus 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:18.360 comes and he says, I, like he literally says, 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:21.879 I'm the good shepherd. I'm the one. And they're 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:24.179 like, this is very confusing. I am the good shepherd. 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:27.659 Hmm, okay. And let's just look at some of the 00:09:27.659 --> 00:09:29.100 things that the good shepherd does. It's on the 00:09:29.100 --> 00:09:32.320 next slide. The good shepherd, the sheep listen 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:36.059 to his voice. The sheep are called by name, they're 00:09:36.059 --> 00:09:37.899 led out. He goes before them. He doesn't follow 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:39.899 from the end going, all right sheep, get going. 00:09:40.259 --> 00:09:46.620 He leads them out. and they know his voice. In 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:48.379 the Pat Sellers household, that's my family, 00:09:48.659 --> 00:09:51.659 I'm a Pat Sellers. We got chickens for Christmas, 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:56.460 two chickens for our two kids. And we got the 00:09:56.460 --> 00:09:59.879 chickens and the kids were very excited and were 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:02.779 like, okay, you have to name them. And my son's 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:05.019 like, Jenny. I'm like, good, that's a good, solid 00:10:05.019 --> 00:10:08.929 name. Love that. You named your... Lion, last 00:10:08.929 --> 00:10:10.350 Christmas Jenny, and now we've got a chicken 00:10:10.350 --> 00:10:12.149 called Jenny. I can't wait for you to name something 00:10:12.149 --> 00:10:14.870 else Jenny next year. And I look at my daughter, 00:10:14.950 --> 00:10:20.330 I'm like, what's your chicken? Cocky Cock. That's 00:10:20.330 --> 00:10:24.690 also a strong name. My in -laws come over, oh, 00:10:24.690 --> 00:10:25.950 they've got the chickens, what are their names? 00:10:26.389 --> 00:10:30.029 My son, Jenny. Oh, great. My daughter, Cocky 00:10:30.029 --> 00:10:36.149 Cock. Are we keeping that Nick? We will give 00:10:36.149 --> 00:10:39.480 it one day. One day the next day we get up have 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:42.080 the chickens done in the eggs cocky cock. Okay 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:47.419 Arden sweetie Great name. No bad idea and brainstorming 00:10:47.419 --> 00:10:52.759 Can we pick another one? And she's like hmm How 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:56.980 about blossom That's wonderful. I think you said 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:59.279 Blossom, which is your favorite Pokemon. I don't 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:01.360 mind. It's not cocky cock. That's wonderful. 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:03.899 Blossom it is. Blossom whatever it is. That's 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:06.759 great. And that first week was just so funny 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:08.379 with these chickens because my daughter's like, 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:11.220 I want to hold them. It's like, okay, sweetie, 00:11:11.539 --> 00:11:14.159 we've just gotten them. They don't trust any 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:16.919 of us. And so they would just run away with my 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:18.580 daughter chasing them for an hour. Like they 00:11:18.580 --> 00:11:20.220 don't let me pick them up. It's like because 00:11:20.220 --> 00:11:23.879 they don't know you. They don't trust you. You're 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:25.299 gonna have to give it some time, but I want to 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:27.539 hold them. Yeah, but they don't want to be held 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:32.460 they don't Then a week later or a week or two 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:36.039 later the chickens would go outside and Jenny 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:39.700 blossom Thank You Jesus And they come running 00:11:39.700 --> 00:11:41.399 to me and my daughter's like why are they running 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:44.919 to you? I'm like, sweetie. I feed them If you 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:47.159 want them to run to you you get out there first 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:50.419 and you feed them The chickens know their name 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:52.690 and they know who's gonna feed them And so they 00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:56.110 will come to us. And it's interesting because 00:11:56.110 --> 00:11:57.710 there's a moment where the disciples, there's 00:11:57.710 --> 00:12:00.350 this big crowd and Jesus says something slightly 00:12:00.350 --> 00:12:02.610 offensive. So the crowd start to disperse and 00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:05.330 Jesus says to his most closest followers, are 00:12:05.330 --> 00:12:08.610 you going to leave me too? You can. I'm going 00:12:08.610 --> 00:12:12.370 to keep offending people. And they say, where 00:12:12.370 --> 00:12:14.730 else would we go? You have the words of life. 00:12:16.180 --> 00:12:18.379 Where else could we go? You're the one that feeds 00:12:18.379 --> 00:12:20.559 us. You're the one who knows us by name. You're 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.940 the one that leads us. We know your voice. We 00:12:22.940 --> 00:12:24.659 can't actually go, even if you're offensive, 00:12:25.539 --> 00:12:29.720 even if you're going to get us in trouble. And 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:32.120 to be known by the shepherd isn't just to be 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:34.460 acquainted. It's not like a quasi -stalker relationship. 00:12:34.580 --> 00:12:36.580 Yeah, I know Jesus. I know when He was born, 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:39.080 Christmas Day. I know when He died, Easter. You 00:12:39.080 --> 00:12:42.559 know, I know some of these words. It's actually 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:46.330 you're known. There's a living breathing depth 00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:48.529 of relationship with the one who calls you by 00:12:48.529 --> 00:12:53.809 name And then Jesus carries on he says therefore 00:12:53.809 --> 00:12:58.090 Jesus said again very truly I Tell you I'm the 00:12:58.090 --> 00:13:01.110 gate for the sheep all who have come before me 00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:03.590 are thieves and robbers But the sheep have not 00:13:03.590 --> 00:13:07.610 listened to them I Am the gate whoever enters 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:10.110 through me will be saved. They will come in and 00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:13.340 go out and find pasture And then we get to the 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:17.039 text. The thief comes only to steal and kill 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:19.360 and destroy. I have come that you may have life 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.600 and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:26.039 and the good shepherd lays down his life for 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:29.860 the sheep. There's life. There's death. There's 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:31.820 an option. Who is your shepherd? Who is the voice 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.840 you're following? And as I think of this passage, 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:37.600 there's one that comes to steal, kill and destroy 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.779 and who Jesus is talking to is the Pharisees. 00:13:40.889 --> 00:13:44.190 to the leadership, he's saying, you're not adding, 00:13:44.970 --> 00:13:47.409 you're not, you're distracting, not only like 00:13:47.409 --> 00:13:51.629 you are stealing and you are destroying. It's 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:54.830 no wonder they crucified him, like he was saying 00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:58.309 it as it was. And when I think about what steals 00:13:58.309 --> 00:13:59.850 from us, there's gonna be a few things on the 00:13:59.850 --> 00:14:03.490 screen. There's so many things that steal from, 00:14:03.590 --> 00:14:06.009 and it's, like you notice if someone's trying 00:14:06.009 --> 00:14:08.330 to steal your car, don't you? Like if someone 00:14:08.330 --> 00:14:11.350 like, Yeah, like, obviously, Nick, but like, 00:14:11.389 --> 00:14:12.690 often we think this first, like, oh, it's going 00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:14.690 to steal the big stuff. No, it's, it's often 00:14:14.690 --> 00:14:17.269 it's the small stuff. It's the things you don't 00:14:17.269 --> 00:14:20.370 notice. It's all the little distractions. And 00:14:20.370 --> 00:14:22.129 I'm going to explain all these things, but it's 00:14:22.129 --> 00:14:25.870 the small things that are stolen from us, where 00:14:25.870 --> 00:14:28.389 we're distracted into spiritual oblivion, as 00:14:28.389 --> 00:14:31.350 Ronald Rollheiser talks about. We're a distracted 00:14:31.350 --> 00:14:36.529 age. Even right now, it's like, oh, when's this 00:14:36.529 --> 00:14:39.220 guy going to finish? Because like, There's always 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:41.440 stuff we could be doing right now. Your phone 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:44.200 might be buzzing. There was a sermon last year 00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:46.360 where, as I was preaching, I heard one of my 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.179 kids call out. It was like clear as a day. I 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:50.320 was like, as soon as dad is finished, we're going 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:55.460 home. And I was like, that's the one that wants 00:14:55.460 --> 00:14:57.159 to be home like me? That's great. That's awesome. 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:00.799 There's these moments where our attention drifts, 00:15:00.860 --> 00:15:02.440 where there's little things that distract us. 00:15:03.100 --> 00:15:05.320 And I know because I listened to the Vision Sunday 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:07.889 sermon from a few weeks ago from from Reverend 00:15:07.889 --> 00:15:11.649 Mike and how he spoke about our phones. Like, 00:15:11.649 --> 00:15:13.470 I love that intro. I was listening to it on the 00:15:13.470 --> 00:15:15.570 podcast and I was like, I need to watch the video 00:15:15.570 --> 00:15:17.110 because obviously he's staring at his phone. 00:15:17.470 --> 00:15:20.409 But I knew I could hear he was distracted. And 00:15:20.409 --> 00:15:22.350 these phones, they are discipling us. You're 00:15:22.350 --> 00:15:24.850 being shaped and formed by your phones. And it's 00:15:24.850 --> 00:15:26.990 amazing how the echo chamber occurs within our 00:15:26.990 --> 00:15:28.850 phones. I know that you guys teach on this, you're 00:15:28.850 --> 00:15:31.629 aware of it. But it was made really clear to 00:15:31.629 --> 00:15:35.590 me this week. Did anyone watch the Super Bowl 00:15:35.590 --> 00:15:38.960 halftime show? A few of us, yeah, yeah. So Bad 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.480 Bunny performed as I watched that on Monday night 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.000 with my wife. And then throughout that week I 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.360 was listening to a bit of his music and I started 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:48.419 watching some of his Saturday Night Live skits. 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:50.960 His carpool karaoke is quite funny if you want 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:52.679 to be distracted later, not now in the sermon. 00:15:53.659 --> 00:15:56.059 And when it all came home for me was that I'd 00:15:56.059 --> 00:15:57.480 been listening to his music throughout the week. 00:15:57.539 --> 00:16:01.360 I don't know Spanish, but I love it. And then 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:03.980 I went on Friday night to go find a pizza shop. 00:16:04.299 --> 00:16:07.620 And as I'm typing pizza in Google Maps, you know 00:16:07.620 --> 00:16:10.059 how it does the auto suggestion? It's like, you 00:16:10.059 --> 00:16:12.919 know, pizza, P -I -Z. It's like, Puerto Rico. 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:18.340 I'm like, I'm in Mount Barker. Thanks, Google, 00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:20.580 for the suggestion. I'm not going to Puerto Rico, 00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:24.259 which is where Bad Bunny's from. So it's also 00:16:24.259 --> 00:16:26.220 made me go, how much of this music did I listen 00:16:26.220 --> 00:16:31.220 to this week? Our phones, they're not always 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:33.330 as obvious as that. Sometimes it's just an ad, 00:16:33.350 --> 00:16:34.570 and you're like, oh yeah, that's interesting. 00:16:35.350 --> 00:16:38.009 It's all these little distractions that steal 00:16:38.009 --> 00:16:40.210 from us, that steal life, and they don't feel 00:16:40.210 --> 00:16:43.210 like death, but they're not life. All those little 00:16:43.210 --> 00:16:44.649 gaps where you look at your phone and you're 00:16:44.649 --> 00:16:47.909 like, oh, and now an hour's gone. Where did that 00:16:47.909 --> 00:16:51.850 go? There's all those moments when there's a 00:16:51.850 --> 00:16:52.929 strong commitment in the beginning of the year, 00:16:52.950 --> 00:16:54.470 I'm going to do a Bible reading plan, I'm going 00:16:54.470 --> 00:16:56.330 to get in the prayer room, and then, I don't 00:16:56.330 --> 00:16:57.710 know about you, but whenever I open my Bible, 00:16:57.710 --> 00:17:00.090 that's when people want to message me with things 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:05.029 that are urgent. You're like, oh okay, it's the 00:17:05.029 --> 00:17:07.730 little things that steal from us. I've wrote 00:17:07.730 --> 00:17:12.069 escape up there because having chickens, I've 00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:14.089 never realized how many holes were in my fence 00:17:14.089 --> 00:17:16.589 until I got chickens and would come home from 00:17:16.589 --> 00:17:18.390 church and be like, where are the chickens? You're 00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:21.609 like, oh next door. You're like, what? And then 00:17:21.609 --> 00:17:23.410 you just find out there's big gaping holes in 00:17:23.410 --> 00:17:26.930 our fence. Things that steal from us, we are 00:17:26.930 --> 00:17:30.619 sometimes distracted. Also, we choose things 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:33.839 that aren't life. We have these conversations 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:35.420 in church. You'll go up to a pastor after the 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:37.960 service, like, so I can't do this, but can I 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:40.380 do this? And we hear the thing we don't want 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:42.460 to hear. We're like, okay, well, I'm just going 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:44.740 to do it anyway. We'll find the hole in the fence 00:17:44.740 --> 00:17:47.299 and we will jump through it. The sheep will do 00:17:47.299 --> 00:17:50.819 it. Oh, I don't like this. I don't like this 00:17:50.819 --> 00:17:53.880 food. I'm going to get out of here. And I was 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:56.720 taken a few weeks ago where I was in Halls Gap 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.480 camping with my family. and the amount of kids 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:02.140 that are on tablets while camping, which is weird 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:05.059 in itself, but the amount of kids on social media 00:18:05.059 --> 00:18:08.440 on their tablets while we're camping. And I didn't 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:09.859 know what to do because I thought there was a 00:18:09.859 --> 00:18:16.299 social media ban. Is there? Ish. I didn't know 00:18:16.299 --> 00:18:17.640 where to look. I thought, like, am I going to 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:19.220 get, like, the SWAT team? Like, you know, the 00:18:19.220 --> 00:18:20.359 police are going to arrest me. I didn't know. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:21.839 I felt like I was watching something I shouldn't 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:23.880 be. Like, how are these kids all on phone? And 00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:26.599 you're like, there's a hole in the fence. If 00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:28.819 there's a hole, you'll find it. and you'll do 00:18:28.819 --> 00:18:36.420 it. The last one is fear. We're in a world that's 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:38.640 designed to make us afraid, and if we're afraid, 00:18:38.779 --> 00:18:40.980 we just automatically will respond to things, 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:44.640 and it steals from us. I said before that I'm 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.440 in two roles. One is working at Woodside Uniting, 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:49.380 the other one is working with Tim in mission 00:18:49.380 --> 00:18:52.460 resourcing, and in our role, Tim and I, the IT 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:54.920 department often send us phishing emails. Do 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:56.420 you know what a phishing email is? It's one of 00:18:56.420 --> 00:18:57.579 those ones where someone's trying to get your 00:18:57.579 --> 00:19:00.140 credit card details or trying to scam you or 00:19:00.140 --> 00:19:03.559 trick you. And so we get that from our own IT 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:06.099 department. And they're really smart. It'll be 00:19:06.099 --> 00:19:08.160 like your line manager. We're like the day before 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.000 a meeting with them, we're like, you know, Jenny, 00:19:10.140 --> 00:19:13.279 what? So my boss's name is Jenny. That's she's 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:18.640 not a chicken. Yeah. Love it. You know, Jenny's 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:20.900 meeting with you tomorrow. Click this to find 00:19:20.900 --> 00:19:22.779 out your work appraisal. You're like, OK, I better 00:19:22.779 --> 00:19:24.910 click that. And he's like, oh. you got scammed 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:27.250 you're like come on guys can you stop trying 00:19:27.250 --> 00:19:28.910 to trick me I've fallen for this four times in 00:19:28.910 --> 00:19:34.730 one week like and you're just like oh because 00:19:34.730 --> 00:19:38.650 it evokes a fear response Disney Plus you're 00:19:38.650 --> 00:19:41.049 about to lose your Disney Plus I don't even know 00:19:41.049 --> 00:19:43.849 we had Disney Plus click the link oh got tricked 00:19:43.849 --> 00:19:50.230 again And we live in this world that will, in 00:19:50.230 --> 00:19:52.230 big and small ways, just try to make us afraid, 00:19:52.349 --> 00:19:54.390 because if we're afraid, we'll respond, oh, I've 00:19:54.390 --> 00:19:57.690 got to do this. And it steals. It's not life. 00:20:02.450 --> 00:20:06.230 And in this section of Scripture, there's this 00:20:06.230 --> 00:20:07.890 beautiful relationship of the one that wants 00:20:07.890 --> 00:20:11.849 to bring life and the aspects that want to steal 00:20:11.849 --> 00:20:15.069 and kill and destroy in a strong language, because 00:20:15.069 --> 00:20:17.470 it does. All those little things, they take away, 00:20:17.490 --> 00:20:22.990 they take away, they take away. And this fear 00:20:22.990 --> 00:20:27.170 that comes into us, this passage so powerfully 00:20:27.170 --> 00:20:29.490 pushes back on it. And I think of a story I heard 00:20:29.490 --> 00:20:31.970 this week by Rich Verlotis, he's a pastor in 00:20:31.970 --> 00:20:34.490 New York. And he tells a story of, you can just 00:20:34.490 --> 00:20:35.789 go to the blank slide, you don't have to worry 00:20:35.789 --> 00:20:39.130 about that. He tells a story of when he was in 00:20:39.130 --> 00:20:42.220 an apartment building. And he saw this older 00:20:42.220 --> 00:20:44.759 woman who was maybe in her 80s, but she was really 00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:46.779 frail, but really quick. That's the way he describes 00:20:46.779 --> 00:20:49.240 her. And often she'd be on people that would 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:50.700 come into the foyer of the apartment. She'd be 00:20:50.700 --> 00:20:51.980 like, have you seen that light? It's broken. 00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:55.359 Can you fix it? Or this door is broken. Can you 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:57.319 get on it? And what she would do is she would 00:20:57.319 --> 00:21:00.519 often sit in the foyer. And whenever she would 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:02.180 see a neighbor, she would go up to them in the 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:06.440 foyer and she'd say, excuse me. Do you live here? 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:10.019 And the person would go, yes. Oh, which apartment? 00:21:11.089 --> 00:21:15.049 How many bedrooms do you like it and she would 00:21:15.049 --> 00:21:17.910 go through her questions and after the person 00:21:17.910 --> 00:21:21.829 And rich saw time and and they would leave her 00:21:21.829 --> 00:21:25.210 And he saw this happen time and time again then 00:21:25.210 --> 00:21:27.829 one day it was his turn he walks in It was late 00:21:27.829 --> 00:21:29.950 at night and she's in the lobby with her bag 00:21:29.950 --> 00:21:32.589 and a big coat and she sees him. She says hello 00:21:32.589 --> 00:21:38.970 Do you live here? Which apartment? How many bedrooms? 00:21:39.779 --> 00:21:44.460 Do you like it? Can you take me to my apartment? 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:47.859 And Rich, who's a pastor, thinks to himself, 00:21:48.380 --> 00:21:50.059 am I going to get killed by an 80 -year -old 00:21:50.059 --> 00:21:54.460 woman? And he panics and he says, no. And he 00:21:54.460 --> 00:21:56.640 gets into the lift, the door shut, the woman's 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:01.980 sitting there. And he's like, oh, Jesus. That 00:22:01.980 --> 00:22:05.059 was not the right choice. He's like, God, give 00:22:05.059 --> 00:22:08.299 me another chance, please. I shouldn't have said 00:22:08.299 --> 00:22:12.339 no. And the next day, he gets in the foyer and 00:22:12.339 --> 00:22:14.900 she's there. And she's completely forgotten the 00:22:14.900 --> 00:22:18.279 conversation. She says, hello, what's your name? 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.819 He's like, Rich, do you live here? Yes. Which 00:22:21.819 --> 00:22:26.039 apartment? How many bedrooms do you like it? 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:30.279 And she says, can you take me to my apartment? 00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:34.180 And Rich says, sure, I would love to. And they 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:36.440 get in the elevator and there's that background 00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:38.849 music and they press the buttons and. Eventually, 00:22:38.930 --> 00:22:44.410 Rich says, hey, what's your name? And she says, 00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:47.390 Renee. He says, oh, Renee, how long have you 00:22:47.390 --> 00:22:51.089 lived here for? And she says, 50 years. Which 00:22:51.089 --> 00:22:53.890 apartment? She tells him, which apartment? Do 00:22:53.890 --> 00:22:56.869 you like it? And she says, oh, that's all right. 00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:02.650 And he looks and he says, Renee, why do you ask 00:23:02.650 --> 00:23:07.069 people to take you to your apartment? And she 00:23:07.069 --> 00:23:10.809 says, I'm afraid of being in the lift alone. 00:23:14.230 --> 00:23:19.369 I'm afraid of being in the lift alone. Ding, 00:23:19.630 --> 00:23:21.730 door's open. They come out and Rich is walking 00:23:21.730 --> 00:23:23.849 with her and they get a few steps in and she's 00:23:23.849 --> 00:23:26.609 like, you can go now. He's like, whoa, oh, okay. 00:23:27.509 --> 00:23:34.109 Sorry sister, like, okay. You may not be afraid 00:23:34.109 --> 00:23:39.009 of stepping in an elevator alone. But there might 00:23:39.009 --> 00:23:40.890 be a fear for you of, I don't want to be there 00:23:40.890 --> 00:23:45.309 alone. I don't want to be in this stage of life 00:23:45.309 --> 00:23:46.769 like this. I don't want to be alone. I don't 00:23:46.769 --> 00:23:48.650 want to go to that doctor. I don't want to go 00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:50.450 to that place. I don't want to go to that church 00:23:50.450 --> 00:23:54.630 because I don't want to be alone. And this whole 00:23:54.630 --> 00:23:58.730 scripture is Jesus saying, Pharisees, when people 00:23:58.730 --> 00:24:01.730 are isolated, that's where I am. When you want 00:24:01.730 --> 00:24:03.490 to say they need to be alone and blind, I want 00:24:03.490 --> 00:24:07.190 them to see and I want them to be welcomed. I 00:24:07.190 --> 00:24:11.130 have come to seek and save the lost. So no matter 00:24:11.130 --> 00:24:12.869 where people are afraid, no matter where people 00:24:12.869 --> 00:24:15.309 go, I can't go there by myself, they don't have 00:24:15.309 --> 00:24:18.470 to go there by themselves. Because he's with 00:24:18.470 --> 00:24:21.230 them. And there's this beautiful quote which 00:24:21.230 --> 00:24:26.049 will be on the screen by Flemming Rotlich. I 00:24:26.049 --> 00:24:29.430 love this. It says, imagine a person totally 00:24:29.430 --> 00:24:32.470 committed to your best interests, devoted to 00:24:32.470 --> 00:24:35.200 seeing you flourish. fighting for you against 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:38.339 all your enemies, determined to eliminate everything 00:24:38.339 --> 00:24:41.319 destructive from your life, attentive to every 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:43.740 detail of who you are, never thinking of himself 00:24:43.740 --> 00:24:49.039 at all, but only of you. That is Jesus in relation 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:53.119 to us all. Sacrificial in his life, sacrificial 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:56.140 in his death, this is Jesus in his posture towards 00:24:56.140 --> 00:24:59.359 you. totally committed to your best interests, 00:24:59.420 --> 00:25:01.279 wanting you to have life and life to the full, 00:25:01.460 --> 00:25:04.160 not to have things steal or kill or destroy. 00:25:04.180 --> 00:25:06.599 He's come and he's taken death and he's been 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:10.180 emptied so that we can be full. And just look 00:25:10.180 --> 00:25:13.339 at this quote. Imagine a person totally committed 00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:16.079 to your best interests, because we know we have 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:20.019 those people that aren't, don't we? Devoted to 00:25:20.019 --> 00:25:23.559 seeing you flourish, fighting for you against 00:25:23.559 --> 00:25:27.019 all enemies. Determined to eliminate everything 00:25:27.019 --> 00:25:29.880 destructive from your life, attentive to every 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:33.279 detail of who you are, never thinking of themself 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:38.559 but only of you. That is Jesus. That's Jesus 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:42.720 for you. And this passage, it pushes back on 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:44.079 all the things that the tribe would take from 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:46.599 us and Jesus says, I am the shepherd, I am the 00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:48.980 door. I want to lead you to life and life in 00:25:48.980 --> 00:25:54.000 all its fullness. But you've got to follow. You've 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:59.740 got to hear. You've got to be with me. Let's 00:25:59.740 --> 00:26:10.359 pray. Lord God. You are the one that knows us, 00:26:10.359 --> 00:26:13.980 who sees us. You're not just some abstract thought 00:26:13.980 --> 00:26:19.220 or concept, but you're a person. A person we 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:23.059 can know, and a person that we can love, and 00:26:23.059 --> 00:26:25.519 a person who knows us, and a person who loves 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:34.140 us. And so in this space, Lord, we want to hear 00:26:34.140 --> 00:26:36.319 your voice. We want to follow you. We want to 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:47.200 be guided and guarded by you. Lord, I had a sense 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.539 this week as we were spending time together that 00:26:49.539 --> 00:26:54.019 there might be some here who see that and hear 00:26:54.019 --> 00:26:58.240 that and hope that it's true, but don't believe 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:02.980 it's true. that there's been circumstances in 00:27:02.980 --> 00:27:04.900 their life that have led them to believe that 00:27:04.900 --> 00:27:07.259 you're not for them, that you're indifferent, 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:16.839 that you're unaware, that you're distant. And 00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:19.440 Lord God, I pray that as your spirit is here, 00:27:19.500 --> 00:27:22.339 that you would bring us closer to your reality, 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:28.680 that this is who you are. That regardless of 00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:31.059 the circumstances, regardless of the situation, 00:27:31.059 --> 00:27:34.259 you are the God that is for us, not against us. 00:27:36.380 --> 00:27:38.259 And when we see your life, Jesus, when we see 00:27:38.259 --> 00:27:41.339 you empty yourself so that we can be filled, 00:27:42.299 --> 00:27:47.559 that is God. That the eyes of heaven, the heart 00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:49.839 of heaven, the voice of heaven is towards this 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:58.349 place and this people. That you are near. as 00:27:58.349 --> 00:28:05.970 near as each breath we take right now, that you 00:28:05.970 --> 00:28:15.630 are here, that you are our best friend, our holy 00:28:15.630 --> 00:28:24.609 God, that you love us. And so as we worship now, 00:28:24.630 --> 00:28:26.769 as we sing to you God, we pray that our hearts 00:28:26.769 --> 00:28:34.200 would would be lifted to you. We pray this in 00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:59.039 your name. Amen. encounteradelaide .com .au. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:01.960 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.