WEBVTT

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do i have to do oh let's come on i was going to say do i have to do anything to the microphone

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but no obviously not good morning um i'm thankful for what erica read about god being with us in

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every circumstance because the notices are going to be so slick this morning and i spent most of

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friday evening editing a video putting information on subtitle all sorts of stuff and then obviously

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uploaded the wrong video but there we are at least you got to see our beautiful faces

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but the new one will go out right let me start that we are in john's gospel continuing in john's

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gospel there's a busy summer coming up and so we're going to have quite a bit of a break from

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john's gospel as uh uh weeks go on but uh we're still there for now we've arrived at john chapter

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7 and my passage is the first nine verses john chapter 7 from verse 1 after this jesus traveled

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around galilee he wanted to stay out of judea where the jewish leaders were plotting his death

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but soon it was time for the jewish festival of shelters chris told me this morning in his

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version it's the festival of booths or tents and jesus brothers said to him leave here and go to

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Judea, where your followers can see your miracles. You can't become famous if you hide like this.

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If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world, for even his brothers didn't believe

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in him. Jesus replied, now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. The world

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can't hate you, but it does hate me, because I accuse it of doing evil. You go on. I'm not going

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to this festival, because my time has not yet come. After saying these things, Jesus remained

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in galilee i've got two titles for what i want to say this morning first one is the courage of

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conviction and the second when the call of god on our lives is greater than the pressure we face

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when you read these verses and you think about what was really going on you can see the kind of

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pressure that jesus was under every day of his life he was somebody who uh who had who enjoyed

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life. He had fun with people. He spent time eating. He was accused of eating and drinking

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with sinners. He was somebody who was a live wire in terms of society. But at the same time,

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he carried a lot of pressure. John says quite casually, the Jewish leaders were plotting his

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death. Think about that. The Jewish leaders were plotting his death. Can you imagine what it's like

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to live a life that just by virtue of who you are causes people to want to kill you to plot

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to kill you that if you go to the wrong place at the wrong time they will kill you that's that's

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out of my experience and we know what it's like to have people argue with us or disagree with us

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or criticize us but to have people actively plan to wipe you out is something else some people will

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know what it's like to face opposition for being a Christian, but this is another level. Jesus was

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facing it. Many people have faced it. Many people still continue to face it in the world that we

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live in. But fortunately, by the grace of God, at the moment, in our experience, it's very rare.

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But in reading the passage, and you see how Jesus dealt with it, he was carrying this burden. He knew

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that people hated him so much that they wanted him dead. And yet there was no panic or sense of

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crisis, just a calm adjustment. He wanted to stay out of Judea because if he went there,

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they'd probably kill him. So he decided to stay back, to stay somewhere else so that his mission

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and ministry wasn't disrupted. He used calm wisdom. He wasn't intimidated. Brutal opposition

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didn't make him question, am I doing things? Am I on the right track? Surely if I was doing the

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right thing, nobody would want to kill me. They'd all want to be my friend. But he didn't question.

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he didn't second guess he didn't self-doubt the pressure was real but it wasn't enough for him to

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change anything it wasn't enough for him to change course or change his emphasis or change his or try

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and pretend to be something that he wasn't pressure only damages something when the pressure inside

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is less than the pressure outside saw you know like a balloon popping i saw that it was that

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tragedy of the people that went down to the view of the Titanic where their thing imploded under

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the pressure of the sea and saw a video about it the other day. Just the power of pressure

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because what was inside wasn't strong enough to withstand the pressure outside. What pressure do

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you face? How does it make you feel? Does it create anxiety, fear, doubt, uncertainty? Does it cause you

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to question yourself or your motivation for living for Jesus when you set your values and you set

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your direction and you set your vision and people take it the wrong way or they misunderstand or

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they criticize or whatever and you think maybe I'm on the wrong track could be financial pressure

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could be emotional pressure could be relational pressure could be anything but pressure has the

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capacity to change us to to cause us to go in on ourselves to cause us to change direction

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to cause us to doubt the stance that we've taken and we live in a hostile environment to genuine

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faith the fact that we face pressure doesn't invalidate our faith it actually proves that our

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faith is genuine you shine a light in dark places and you discover all sorts of nasty things

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speak words that challenge the status quo and pushback is immediate the pressure to conform

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the pressure to fit in the pressure not to stick your head up not to not to speak out not to be

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noticed is huge in our society if you stand out you face pressure and you face pushback

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in our families in our workplaces in our communities and yet as the people of God we

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have the word of life and so we hold out the word of life that means we stand out that means we're

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different that means we can't afford just to mold into the background can't just pretend to be

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a nice group of people that that sing together on a Sunday morning and you know we will never do

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anybody any harm we're not going to do anybody any harm but you know what I mean we've got nothing to

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nothing to threaten anybody at all and yet if we hold out the word of life people will have an

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opinion it's a word that calls us to change calls us to align our will with the purposes of God

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causes us to sacrifice ourselves to lay down our ego to to put everything else aside and to and

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to truly follow Jesus and that's not popular Christianity but it's genuine and it's powerful

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just coming to terms with it ourselves shows us how difficult and life-changing the process is

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now you apply that to a whole community and imagine our vision one of our values transforming

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communities what does it take to transform a community it actually takes a group of people

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that will stand up and stand out and will speak out people that will actually hold out the word

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of life and say this is the way to life this is what we're this is this is who God is this is what

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he wants from us this is this is how we come to know him and that creates pressure we're not just

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solving a few problems or trying to to add value to life but we're trying to turn everything or

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where God wants to turn everything on its head he wants to dethrone the powers and principalities

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that have controlled people's lives and have controlled communities have controlled families

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and controlled streets for generations and the gospel threatens all of that and brings all that

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into the light and that's what Jesus was doing he wasn't just by being who he was they didn't want

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him around they wanted him out of the way because he was messing with the status quo he faced

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pressure from those who hated him but there was a different kind of pressure as well that he faced

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and he faced pressure from not just from his enemies but from his brothers and those closest

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to him they didn't get him said the jewish leaders were plotting his death but his brothers said to

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him leave here and go to judea where your followers can see your miracles you can't become famous if

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you hide like this if you can do such wonderful things show yourself to the world for even his

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brothers didn't believe in him and so the pressure came from his brothers as well pressure to dance

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to their tune john says they didn't believe him but they believed enough to have an idea of the

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kind of things he could do the idea for the potential impact he could have and they had

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their own strategy and they had their own agenda and they thought oh i know if we manage this well

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we can really see something happen they had no understanding no sympathy no time for his vision

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and agenda they had no idea they could see they've seen some miracles i thought oh well we could

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create some sort of miracle circus and and and everybody could come and they could get their

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healing and they could get their whatever and you know he could make a name for himself we could

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make a name for ourselves and then you know the world is going to be changed jesus and that's not

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how it's going to work that's not how i changed the world that's not how my father has it has

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has instructed me that's not the the mission and the vision i carry and so i'm not going to do it

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but the pressure to be something uh according to the will of other people was big and was huge so

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he was facing on the one hand people who wanted to kill him on the other hand people who wanted

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him to do something that wasn't according to his core vision and his core plan that God had given

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him. So they said, leave here and go to Judea where your followers can see your miracles. You

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can't become famous if you hide like this. If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the

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world. Have you ever wondered why Jesus came 2,000 years ago and didn't come now when we've got

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internet and tv networks and you know he could he could he could go around the world in a heartbeat

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but he was just in a small community hiding away like you don't become famous by doing this but

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but god in his wisdom sent jesus at a time when there was no internet and there were no airplanes

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and there was no none of the stuff that we would think you would need in order to take on a world

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transformation ministry but jesus had his own plans and he had his own agenda and we learned

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from him how the the pressure of the world the pressure of the culture the pressure of of what

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we feel would be a good and effective ministry isn't always what's on the heart of God and so

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they wanted to make him famous because that way he would reach more people and do more good

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and they all had an opinion about what he was doing but he didn't take his direction from

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anyone any of them there was a timetable his father had given him and that was it

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he was sticking to it. My time has not yet come. No apology, no explanation. He just knew he had

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that conviction of his calling. He wasn't making things up as he went along. He wasn't seeing how

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things worked out and adjusting his policy depending on the opinion polls. You're seeing

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which way things are going. This is where following Jesus really begins to bite because

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we have to be of the same mind and the same caliber. Because we all know what pressure is

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like, don't we? Pressure to become something, pressure to achieve something, pressure of people's

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expectations on us, pressure of people's disappointment in us, pressure to prove

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ourselves, pressure to keep everyone happy. And one of the most powerful gifts God gives us

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is conviction, not energy or enthusiasm or stubbornness, but conviction that carries us

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through against the pressure. Focus on what is right, what should be done, regardless of the

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outside pressure. Remember teachers at school saying, have the courage of your convictions.

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I didn't know what they meant, but I think now that I do. Conviction needs courage.

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The two are inseparable. They go together.

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If we have conviction, we need to have courage.

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We need to have determination.

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We can't have a conviction

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and then just change with the wind

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and say, oh, well, sorry, I think I might have made a mistake.

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We have to have a conviction that says

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whatever happens, we have to have a conviction

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that says, okay, they're plotting my death.

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I'm not letting go of my conviction.

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I'm just going to adjust

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the way I handle this situation.

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Or people are telling me, you've got real power.

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You've got real ability. You've got real potential.

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you could do a lot, you could become famous

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you could become rich

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but my conviction says

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this is what I'm doing, this is the way I should go

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and I'm not moving regardless

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of the pressure that you put

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on me

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because without conviction and the courage we need to have

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with it we just get blown about

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from one thing to the next

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you can see it in politics can't you, policy and decisions

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are driven by the greatest pressure

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lobby groups, if you've got a voice

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around people that

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are political leaders. You can get stuff done.

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Doesn't matter what they say. If they come up

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with a plan, if you've got a loud enough

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voice that says, actually, we want it done differently,

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they'll do it differently. There's a man,

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I don't even know how to say his name properly,

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French people among us will correct me,

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Alexandre

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Auguste Ledru

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Roland. He was a leader in the

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French Revolution. I mean, I'm not an

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expert on the French Revolution, it's just a

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benefit of Wikipedia.

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But he said, this is a quote that

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I've carried around for many, many years,

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he said, there go the people, I must follow them, for I am their leader. We simply cannot live like

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that. There go the people, I must follow them, for I am their leader. But we're not like that

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as followers of Jesus. We need to quietly, calmly, humbly focus on what God is showing us,

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follow him with absolute determination, whatever is happening around us. Because this gospel message

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that we have is the hope of the world. It is the answer. It always has been the answer,

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always will be the answer the way we understand it the way we interpret it we were going through

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a training yesterday we're thinking about you know how we communicate in our in our culture

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in our modern world with all the different uh types of people that we encounter and the types

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of people that we are ourselves you know what how does the gospel make sense and all of that is fine

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but the gospel itself remains the power to change lives and transform situations it's the hope of

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the world and it can't do anything if we allow it to be changed every time the pressure changes

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or we just decide to give people what you know do an opinion poll and say what would you like

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the church to be jesus said to those these people they had a plan for his popularity they said if

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you go to judea you can become famous you can do the miracles you can do whatever and he said

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the world hates me because i accuse it of doing evil you imagine his pr team scratching their

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head saying you can't say that jesus it's not it's insensitive people loved the miracles they

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loved being fed turns out they weren't so keen on the confrontation that came from jesus words

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really challenging and difficult to hold out the the message that god has for us and so we have to

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confront the call to transformation in our own lives and hold out that same to others without

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fear without compromise not talking about being unpleasant not talking about being argument not

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talking about being you know like like the church can sometimes get a bit of a bad thing but just

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with that conviction this is the word of God this is the word of life this is the opportunity that

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we have come and meet Jesus and so the church community is the engine room of transformation

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not enough just to come and be you know just enjoy the services we have to think about what it means

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to be a follower of Jesus and do it without compromise Jesus had said elsewhere if anyone

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wants to follow me they must take up their cross and follow me you ever thought about that if you

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take up your cross and follow jesus there's only one place you're going there's only one destination

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to be crucified it's like that it's the end there's no you don't get to sort of go on you know

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take up your cross and follow me and go off on a on a side road for a bit of a jolly

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there's only one direction that you're going in plenty of time to reconsider your life choices

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as you're dragging your cross up a hill.

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What am I doing?

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But the Bible says that Jesus did it for the joy set before him.

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He endured the cross for the conviction in his heart

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of what he was doing, for the reality.

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When he said, Father, if it's possible, may this be taken from me,

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but nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

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Everything.

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He was sweating drops of blood through the stress and the pain

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and the confusion that he was in.

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And he was saying, if there's any other way, let me take it.

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But he knew, nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

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that conviction courage of his own convictions that kept him on track no matter what the pressure

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was i was thinking about our corporate vision and 146 and all that lies ahead of us and a sensible

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question that people ask often is what is your vision what's the vision and sometimes i think

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we answer in the wrong way because 146 the whole broader vision of the church is not our idea

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we're not trying to get as exciting a plan as possible hoping to draw the attention of God

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and you say oh that looks really good I'll come in on that like dragon's den we pitch it to the

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Lord here's our vision says yeah I mean I'll give you 10 grand it's not like that it's his to start

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with he's the one who pitches it to us this is what I'm doing and so we're coming in on something

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so so you know before as we've said before before any of us were here before the estates were

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built before the pub was built when the pub was built god already had a plan for this place and

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if we have and we need to have the humility to say it's not about our vision or our faith or

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our energy or our fundraising but it's about that god has a plan and we need to get in on it

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and we need to be the ones saying thank you lord yeah we're in because often we look at it and say

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i'm not sure it's going to work i'm out like the dragons yeah i like i like the idea but not for me

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we need to say no we're in we're getting in on this and there's been many pressure points along

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the way times when we could have doubted or been tempted to give up things that would have caused

00:20:16.550 --> 00:20:20.470
us to give up said many times we've joked haven't we how phil france said when he looked at it said

00:20:20.470 --> 00:20:27.820
no it's going to cost a million pounds we said oh no don't be silly well add it up and uh he was

00:20:27.820 --> 00:20:35.160
right and we might have backed off if we'd have known that but because we've stepped into an

00:20:35.160 --> 00:20:39.160
unfolding purpose of God, he's shown us what is possible.

00:20:40.060 --> 00:20:43.400
And through miraculous provision, even recently,

00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:47.380
you know, we were saying, well, we've been very practical and pragmatic, maybe we'll just do the ground

00:20:47.380 --> 00:20:51.440
floor. God has made it possible for us to do the upstairs as well.

00:20:52.180 --> 00:20:55.880
And we thank God for that. And that place is,

00:20:55.940 --> 00:20:59.660
I mean, it was there the other day, the place is, it looks like, somebody said, you know,

00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:03.660
maybe knock it down and rebuild it. It looks like we have done. I mean, there's

00:21:03.660 --> 00:21:09.360
got no roof on it and whatever there's but it but it's coming together and this year by the grace

00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:16.040
of god it will be done gives us enormous confidence for the future even against the pressure of the

00:21:16.040 --> 00:21:21.500
unanswered questions last week at wilmslow i was telling uh we had a great time at wilmslow robin

00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:27.040
marion white's church in wilmslow parish hall we had a great time with a small church there

00:21:27.040 --> 00:21:31.580
and i was telling the story of erica's mum and dad my parents-in-law and you may have heard it

00:21:31.580 --> 00:21:33.460
I've probably told it because I talk about them quite a bit.

00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.180
But I think it's relevant to what I want to say today.

00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:39.260
And they were both lined up to go to Zimbabwe.

00:21:39.320 --> 00:21:41.460
In 1964, they were Elim missionaries,

00:21:41.800 --> 00:21:43.200
selected as Elim missionaries,

00:21:43.260 --> 00:21:46.460
and they were part of a team that were going to Zimbabwe.

00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:50.060
The actual team that was later massacred in 1978.

00:21:51.980 --> 00:21:54.100
And their tickets were bought and they were paid for

00:21:54.100 --> 00:21:55.580
and all the logistics were in place.

00:21:55.580 --> 00:21:57.500
And then one day at their church conference,

00:21:57.600 --> 00:21:59.460
the mission board people took them aside and said,

00:21:59.580 --> 00:22:00.440
actually, David and Margaret,

00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:04.740
we want you to go to Ghana instead they said oh that's a bit of a change

00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:09.810
you know how long have we got to think about it and they said well 20 minutes

00:22:09.810 --> 00:22:16.320
and Erica's mum Margaret said that as she prayed and lifted her heart to God she

00:22:16.320 --> 00:22:22.780
said she heard God say so clearly Margaret I'm going to Ghana would you like to come with me

00:22:22.780 --> 00:22:28.620
he didn't say you're my people for the task I'm going to give you a great ministry in Africa you

00:22:28.620 --> 00:22:32.060
know this is you know you're the people that have got everything that I just said I'm going

00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:33.880
Do you want to come and see what's going on?

00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:37.180
And so she said yes.

00:22:38.340 --> 00:22:39.580
And the thinker dad agreed as well.

00:22:39.980 --> 00:22:40.640
Of course he did.

00:22:42.510 --> 00:22:44.450
And they decided to go and they met and they went.

00:22:44.950 --> 00:22:46.570
And so they had, you know, they were young.

00:22:47.190 --> 00:22:49.010
They had all that energy and that enthusiasm.

00:22:49.250 --> 00:22:52.130
You think, oh, we're going to Africa, you know, to be missionaries.

00:22:52.330 --> 00:22:55.650
And they arrived at the airport and they stepped out of the plane

00:22:55.650 --> 00:22:58.230
and they got there and there was an elderly missionary

00:22:58.230 --> 00:23:01.450
who they were going to sort of get the handover from.

00:23:01.850 --> 00:23:04.470
And he was there in the airport and his first words to them,

00:23:04.470 --> 00:23:06.730
Instead of welcome or let me show you around,

00:23:06.850 --> 00:23:08.230
he just said, I don't know why you've come,

00:23:09.280 --> 00:23:10.580
because there's nothing to do here.

00:23:12.360 --> 00:23:15.040
And I think, well, that's pressure.

00:23:15.820 --> 00:23:17.060
You've given up everything,

00:23:17.060 --> 00:23:20.480
and you've travelled to West Africa in the 1960s

00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:22.040
with a different place then,

00:23:23.190 --> 00:23:24.690
and there's nothing for you to do.

00:23:26.980 --> 00:23:28.560
And it could have crushed anybody's hopes

00:23:28.560 --> 00:23:30.400
or anybody's dreams.

00:23:31.340 --> 00:23:33.900
But the pressure inside them of the call of God

00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:36.420
to keep going was greater than the pressure

00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:41.800
that was telling them to stop and go home and so they stepped into a into an environment where

00:23:41.800 --> 00:23:47.120
they were told the word over their life was there is nothing to do and they got on with stuff that

00:23:47.120 --> 00:23:52.400
they found to do and god opened up doors and unfolded things and and created relationships

00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:57.660
connections and things and in the 1970s when they moved to a place called quadraso which was quite

00:23:57.660 --> 00:24:03.360
a rural place in that time at that time there was a welcome service for uh them as where erica's dad

00:24:03.360 --> 00:24:10.380
was the district pastor and there were 60 people present at the welcome service and about eight

00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:16.420
years later when they left that place there were 6 000 people at the farewell that's how much it

00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:21.860
had grown and if you go there now it's not a rural place it's like a concrete jungle flyovers and all

00:24:21.860 --> 00:24:26.000
sorts of stuff go on but it's an enormous as far as the church of pentecost is concerned it's an

00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:33.380
enormous uh not just a district it's an area it's an area with many many districts with tens of

00:24:33.380 --> 00:24:38.860
thousands of people there and planted from that moment where they stepped into a place where there

00:24:38.860 --> 00:24:46.300
were 60 people to say welcome you know come to the ministry and erica's mum was the founder of

00:24:46.300 --> 00:24:51.200
the or co-founder of the children's movement in ghana sunday school movement she wrote the

00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:56.260
curriculum uh that what they still continue to teach and everything else there and so they

00:24:56.260 --> 00:25:00.400
started something called the children's movement so for for teaching and raising up children in

00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:07.440
the faith and on the day of her funeral in 2015 uh there was a whole delegation came from the

00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:12.120
church in ghana and they gave a report an up-to-date report on that day that the number

00:25:12.120 --> 00:25:23.610
of children registered in the children's movement was 750 000 but if you if you met them you would

00:25:23.610 --> 00:25:33.150
never know you'd never know because of that humility that says oh i'm going to ghana do you

00:25:33.150 --> 00:25:37.550
want to see what I'm, you know, do you want to come with me? They never claimed, oh, we've got

00:25:37.550 --> 00:25:43.230
a ministry. Probably didn't even know there were 750,000 in the ministry she started. Because she

00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:48.890
was just doing, just aligning herself with what God was already doing. Never claimed it for

00:25:48.890 --> 00:25:55.130
themselves. And that's what discipleship is. Not persuading God to bless our lives or our plans,

00:25:55.230 --> 00:26:00.070
but to find out what he's doing and getting involved, regardless of the pressure. What is

00:26:00.070 --> 00:26:04.870
God doing here? What is God doing in your life? What is God doing? What is he leading you into?

00:26:05.330 --> 00:26:09.110
Erica said, you know, we never step into a situation where God is not present. Emmanuel,

00:26:09.330 --> 00:26:13.890
God with us. What is it that you're doing, Lord? Remember though, is it Paul Yonggi Cho? You know,

00:26:13.930 --> 00:26:19.290
good morning, Holy Spirit. What are you doing today? Show me what you're doing. Let me be part

00:26:19.290 --> 00:26:27.340
of it. The builders on Thursday were telling us all about, you know, the roof, you know, might have

00:26:27.340 --> 00:26:31.760
a 20-year warranty and this and that. And the thought crossed my mind. I thought, well, if it

00:26:31.760 --> 00:26:37.290
last 20 years it probably i probably won't have to be worrying about it so you know like but that

00:26:37.290 --> 00:26:44.280
doesn't matter this is not it's not the nick lug memorial hall it's it's the minute it's a ministry

00:26:44.280 --> 00:26:49.440
that god is that he's called us into at this time so let's see what he's doing let's see how far he'll

00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:55.680
take us natalie spoke last week about how she tried to give every reason an excuse not to be

00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:06.090
appointed CEO of Jubilee Plus until she was asked are you called and she said yes and that settled

00:27:06.090 --> 00:27:14.670
it. When I was first appointed as a pastor in 1994, not here in another place, a number of people

00:27:14.670 --> 00:27:23.760
didn't like it. Can't imagine that can you? I didn't have the experience, I was too young etc

00:27:23.760 --> 00:27:29.260
and the same Erica's dad that I've been talking about said to me well they're actually right

00:27:29.260 --> 00:27:31.280
aren't they? He said, you haven't got any

00:27:31.280 --> 00:27:33.440
experience and you are very young

00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:34.670
but

00:27:34.670 --> 00:27:37.430
are you called? I said, yeah.

00:27:37.610 --> 00:27:38.650
He said, well that settles it then.

00:27:41.710 --> 00:27:44.640
What are we called to? We might look

00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:46.400
at ourselves and think, well we're only

00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:48.640
Jordan Thorpe and Batemore, we're only Sheffield,

00:27:48.780 --> 00:27:50.540
we're only, you know, we haven't got, we're not

00:27:50.540 --> 00:27:52.740
like, go on YouTube

00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:54.820
and see the type of churches

00:27:54.820 --> 00:27:56.600
you know, that are really going for it.

00:27:56.660 --> 00:27:58.800
We're not like that. We don't have the smoke machines

00:27:58.800 --> 00:27:59.700
and all the rest of it.

00:28:01.360 --> 00:28:01.980
But are we called?

00:28:02.060 --> 00:28:02.440
What are we called?

00:28:02.460 --> 00:28:04.200
We're the only people here today.

00:28:04.340 --> 00:28:05.540
We're the only community.

00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:09.160
We're the only people where we are worshipping

00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:10.280
and praising the living God

00:28:10.280 --> 00:28:12.500
and we're praying, God, come down to this place.

00:28:13.320 --> 00:28:15.740
We're representing the Lord here in this place,

00:28:15.800 --> 00:28:16.800
now, at this time.

00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:17.840
This is our opportunity.

00:28:18.260 --> 00:28:19.980
Like it was said to Esther,

00:28:20.260 --> 00:28:23.380
that God will do it from somewhere else.

00:28:23.460 --> 00:28:25.660
He'll raise up deliverance for the Jews from somewhere else.

00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:27.700
But who knows that you were brought to royal position

00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:29.020
for such a time as this.

00:28:29.080 --> 00:28:30.020
So will you do it?

00:28:30.020 --> 00:28:35.100
will you step in and that's the question that God has for us will we do it he'll do it he'll he'll do

00:28:35.100 --> 00:28:39.380
whatever he's planned to do one way or the other he'll do it with somebody else if we don't want

00:28:39.380 --> 00:28:46.260
to do it but what about the opportunity that he invites us into the conviction that he invites

00:28:46.260 --> 00:28:52.710
us into to step into regardless of the pressure because it's not it's not pressure on us it's his

00:28:52.710 --> 00:28:57.250
work it's what he's doing we don't have to make it happen we don't have to you know I can't believe

00:28:57.250 --> 00:29:02.270
when somebody could say a building project will cost a million pounds we would our hearts will say

00:29:02.270 --> 00:29:11.660
it's impossible but here we are and we're doing it because God is able to do he's able to help us

00:29:11.660 --> 00:29:16.880
he's as we step in he's able to cause us to withstand the pressure and to see impossible

00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:26.590
things done so what are you called to have you got every reason why it can't be done every reason why

00:29:26.590 --> 00:29:28.710
you can't be part of it.

00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:31.300
Every reason why our weakness

00:29:31.300 --> 00:29:33.280
is the thing that's going to stop God from doing

00:29:33.280 --> 00:29:37.580
what he wants. It's not really relevant,

00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:39.180
is it? It's true, like

00:29:39.180 --> 00:29:40.720
it was said to me. We are weak.

00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:43.280
We haven't got much money. We haven't got much

00:29:43.280 --> 00:29:45.040
power. We haven't got much talent. I'm

00:29:45.040 --> 00:29:46.840
not being rude. I'm just being

00:29:46.840 --> 00:29:47.660
realistic.

00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:51.220
We could look at

00:29:51.220 --> 00:29:52.420
ourselves as we're a motley bunch,

00:29:54.070 --> 00:29:56.320
but what are we called to?

00:29:56.680 --> 00:29:57.600
What is God doing?

00:29:58.020 --> 00:29:59.320
Are we going to get alongside him?

00:29:59.340 --> 00:30:00.920
Are we going to step by step with him?

00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:02.060
Are we going to seek him?

00:30:03.520 --> 00:30:07.300
We can't put a vision together that would wow the dragons in Dragon's Den.

00:30:08.500 --> 00:30:09.600
But we don't need to.

00:30:10.980 --> 00:30:14.860
Because God is working his purposes out amongst us.

00:30:15.740 --> 00:30:20.920
So maybe the musicians could come and help me.

00:30:21.740 --> 00:30:22.540
Sing something, yeah.

00:30:25.940 --> 00:30:27.000
Think about it.

00:30:28.220 --> 00:30:29.320
Because there's pressure.

00:30:29.860 --> 00:30:31.480
There's pressure on your life today.

00:30:31.480 --> 00:30:33.040
however many people are here

00:30:33.040 --> 00:30:35.640
50, 60, 70, I don't know how many people are here

00:30:35.640 --> 00:30:38.190
but there's different set of circumstances

00:30:38.190 --> 00:30:39.870
for each one of us and different pressure

00:30:39.870 --> 00:30:42.190
that's working on our hearts and in our minds

00:30:42.190 --> 00:30:44.170
lots of things that are making us

00:30:44.170 --> 00:30:46.270
distracting us from the call

00:30:46.270 --> 00:30:47.430
and the purposes of God

00:30:47.430 --> 00:30:50.550
but we need to recenter ourselves again

00:30:50.550 --> 00:30:52.430
this morning and focus again

00:30:52.430 --> 00:30:54.690
on him, what is it Lord that you're

00:30:54.690 --> 00:30:56.890
calling us to, what is it that you're doing, show us Lord

00:30:56.890 --> 00:30:58.830
what it is you're doing because I want

00:30:58.830 --> 00:31:00.730
to be part of it, if you want to be part of it

00:31:00.730 --> 00:31:06.620
respond in your hearts this morning respond and if you want me to pray for you or anybody to pray

00:31:06.620 --> 00:31:12.730
for you come here down the front and we'll pray if you want to settle it there if that helps

00:31:12.730 --> 00:31:18.370
but we're going to worship the lord and think about his word in our hearts thanks chris