The Community Church: Sermons and teaching

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Okay. So I'm hoping you trust me. What I want you to do the whole time I'm speaking is hold both of these. You don't need to make notes. I don't think this morning, but I want you to have these in your hands So you're conscious of them while I speak. I had a picture. God gave me a picture.

US sat like this looking that way. He gave me a picture of people coming in. I'm being asked to sit in a certain place, and he gave me a picture of sitting with these two scrolls. The one that looks blank isn't blank. He's got far less words on it. And it's a it's taking out of all the words that God has brought us since the beginning of the year, just taking out a phrase, just highlighting a phrase, this with its incredibly small print, is the full list of everything that God has been saying to us as a church since January.

Okay, when we think of the Bible, Malcolm is talking to us about the Bible last week and he was talking about how important it is and that it's refreshing and that it's food and that it's nutrition. And it's it's just vitally important to how where to live our life. And you would be horrified, I hope, if I was standing here with a pair of scissors and starting to cut bits out.

Hopefully you would think that was a more than slightly dodgy thing to be doing and I'm not going to do that. A malcolm was talking about how there are books in the Bible that maybe don't make a huge amount of sense to us or sections in books in the Bible, which doesn't mean that we don't read them, we should still be them.

And he was talking about how there are sections that maybe we don't understand. We should still read them and we wouldn't take scissors to this. But one of my questions this morning is how much do we really believe what's in this? My concern for me is never the stuff that I don't understand because I don't understand it. I can't do anything with it.

Bits in revelations, bits in Ecclesiastes, some of the stuff that goes on in the Old Testament. I can't explain necessarily. I still believe it's 100% the word of God, absolutely wholeheartedly. What concerns me is when God comes along and shows me something in His Word, maybe because I'm reading it on my own, or maybe because somebody stood here like me talking about it and I suddenly see something that I haven't seen before, and I suddenly understand something that I haven't understood before.

And then I challenge myself. How much of that do I actually leave out? How much of that do I actually walk out? How often do I remember bits of verses which are the promise and the thing that's going to happen and the thing that's going to come. And I forget about the if my people when you because you have I can't do anything with the things I don't understand, but I have a responsibility once I understand to do something with it until they figure out yeah.

So this is how he has done a great job for me since the start of the year. Any words that have come that have been prophetic or encouragements or confirmation of things he sent to me, this is their much bigger than yours, but this is all the words that have come written out. And this is actually written out on your little sheet in very tiny font.

And my question comes again, just as with the Bible, you would be horrified, wouldn't you, if I started chopping things out of the Bible, I hope equally we'd be horrified if we weren't trying to live up and taking on board everything that God tells us and everything that God speaks to us. And the thing that I found fascinating with this, not surprising, but fascinating, is the themes that the spirit over and over and over again.

And what we need to remember is we're at the end of February, so we are two months into 2024. So where is sixth, sixth of the way in to the year? The one that I put at the top is Tim actually where Mike spoke, I think on the 31st of December when he talked about having all the time in the world.

And originally Mike was going to talk about having all the time in the world, not basically saying there's a pressure, no pressure, there's an advancement, a quickening in God's kingdom, and we need to be paying our part. But what Mike actually emphasized was that we have got all the time in the world, as long as everything that we're doing is everything that God wants us to do.

There was a song about whatever we've known, whatever we see that God is a God of increase, that there's more of him and we've that on several occasions. But there's two other aspects that came in that one was giving everything that we all, all of us giving every single bit of us. And the other thing was wherever we go, letting God have His way, there was a word about embracing Mystery Woman in tough times.

And we don't understand. There were words about expecting miracles and raising our expectations. There were words about whatever God does inside of us isn't just for us. It's for us to turn around and to face out and to take that out. Malcolm spoke about verses out of Revelation four and talked about scrolls and that Jesus is the one stands there and opens the scroll.

But when he spoke about it during the prayer and fasting week, he said, I would love to know what the scroll holds for our church. I would love to know what that holds. This is what it holds. It's what God has been telling us week in, week out, as we come together as a body. It's what God has been telling us.

We don't need to know what the outcome is. We don't need to know what the increase is. We don't need to know what the mores is. What we need to know is what God's asking us to do and to walk faithfully in everything that God's asking us to do, everything that God's asking us to do. There was a word that started, Are you ready for change?

As you look for fulfillment of my promise of increase, are we prepared for the words that God brings to impact in such a way that our lives have to alter? Or do we come into a meeting by week and God speaks week by week, and then we go home and we forget about it and we come back the next week and God says something along the same lines and we hear it and we go home and we forget about it.

Honestly How much of what God so tells us and talks to us about as we gather together. We can we do we really take the heart and take home the things that aren't on. Here are all the words that have come, that have been for people. And we've gathered together the sort of there's somebody here who all four people here this morning, and that's great because we come together as a body and God always wants to talk to us, a body and always in our body and in our family.

There are people who are under challenge. There are people who are in need. There are people who are going through all sorts of different things. And God wants to meet us where we are in all of that. And He comes and talks to us, doesn't he, Week in, week out, about all of those things. But it doesn't matter what we're going through in the sense of walking out the purposes of God.

It's houses very clearly in Scripture that we have everything that we need to walk out in, everything that he's asking us to do. And it's up to us whether we choose to do that or not. And whatever situation and circumstance we find ourselves in, We still have a part to play in walking out his kingdom, in bringing in his kingdom.

Jeff, for a word about open the doors, open the windows of your life, pull up the blinds, draw back the curtains. I'm coming to breathe the rest of my spirit and blow through this house. And we've been reminded of that. But further on, it talks about everything is disturbed by the wind, a change as my breath rushes through the house like a great cyclone.

It will blow away everything that is not rooted in me. There will be challenge. There will also be the thrill of the new thing I'm doing among you, the throngs of new people I'm sending to you. There was a word about not hiding, but it was a time not to hide. Time to be visible. A word about the promises of God.

That the promises of God are not just for us as we're static or we're waiting on him, but they're there as we move, as we go. There was so much more in 24. There was a word about winnowing God, wanting to come and take out stuff that's no longer of him, put in stuff us to put down stuff, be able to pick up something new.

Jeff spoke about chapters in life, and chapters come to an end, a new chapter, chapters begin. We has a word about choosing thankful, peaceful, hopeful, fruitful, full, full. You choose your God. You choose thankful, Peaceful, hopeful, faithful, fruitful. You choose what you and Diane spoke to us about the incredible consequence of Yes. And they were talking about how whatever God is up to, they want to be a part of it.

And that whenever we respond and we say, yes, we should respond with expectation because God's going to take us into new things. John spoke for us about self-sacrifice, living self sacrificially come in and then go beyond fire, not lukewarm, greater things because Jesus increases and therefore I decrease a mem. One of the prayer and phrases briefly, maybe I'm finished off.

You came right at the end of firm phase and she said something like, You've had a great time together. Now go. And when you read the words through, there are two aspects to the words that you read. One is about coming, one is about God meeting us where we are. One is about God fulfilling needs and answering prayer and bringing healing and freedom and life.

And the other half is about going, leaving, going out, facing outward, taking everything that God does for us and everything God's doing for us and going out with it, which is why we're bound this way. I believe that God is challenging us to whole heartedly embrace what He's saying and believe in a God who wants us to live to the full and have life to the full.

But his his definition of life to the full know our definition of life to the full and life to the full with God is when we're fully obedient and we're fully submitted when we're looking to hear from him. But then we're looking to put into practice whatever he says. And it's not our choice, is it? What he then says he will come and challenge us.

He will come and ask us to do things differently. He'll look at our attitudes and our hopes and our dreams and our aspirations, and all of those need to come in line with what God is asking us to do, what God is asking us to do when we read this book. We know it's inspired by God and we read this word and we believe it's inspired by God.

My question is, when God comes and talks to us as a group of his family, as a body of his believers week in, week out, saying the same thing, week in, week out, how much do we really believe that that is for us, whether it's somebody standing up here unpacking verses in Scripture, whether it's somebody standing up and saying, I believe God wants us to understand this, whether it's somebody standing up saying, I've had this picture, whether it's somebody standing up, bringing a testimony to an encouragement, how much do we really believe that the God who wrote this is the God who is saying, That's my question, Because for me, these go hand in hand.

There is nothing in here that isn't backed up, if you like, in Scripture. That's our benchmark, isn't it? When anybody ever gets up and says, if it is contrary to this, we don't believe it's God. But when people come and week after week basically say the same things in different ways, different nuance, different aspect over and over again, and it doesn't contradict weight to be put on this.

How important do we think this is? I found it interesting this year that Mike and I have been here in this room on a Sunday morning. The least we probably ever have. We've had reason not to be here. We've been cooking next door. We haven't been very well. But I knew for this year that I needed to know the fullness of what God was saying because otherwise what happens is you hear it secondhand, you hear and I'm not decrying this, but you hear the sound bite out of what God says.

When God comes and speaks paragraphs, He speaks paragraphs because He wants us to understand the paragraphs. He doesn't want us just to understand the few words. And the danger is that what happens is the bit that we remember and the bit that we talk about is the promise of everything that's going to happen. And that is really, really important that we talk about the promise of what is going to happen.

But The promise of what is going to happen is only going to happen when we do the other half, when we say, God, yes, you have everything. When you say Yes, God, you have everything. So I might quote what you sang this morning. You are I'm living for whatever may pass. Whatever lies before me, there is nothing better than you and Dave emphasize at the end of our worship.

With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now I give you everything. So when God comes along and he says, This needs to stop in your life, God is saying this needs to stop in your life. When God's coming along and saying, There's a new chapter, pick this up. It's God coming along saying, there's a new chapter. Pick this up whenever God speaks to us and whenever God asks us to do something, it's not really a request into question.

It's really God coming along and saying, Do this, and it's not God coming along saying do this because he's a killjoy and he wants to take away something that we love and he wants to do something that we're going to really dislike and make life really, really tough. There are times when we make the choices because that life does become really, really tough.

But God always has the best heart for us. We sang that, didn't we, again this morning? That he's a faithful God. He's always being faithful. He always will be faithful. And whatever he asks us to do, he is going to bring the best out of it and the good out of it because we're going to be in the best place, doing the best thing, doing the right thing everywhere we go and everything that we do.

I I've been in the worship team for decades and I would let worship for I don't know how long. And at the beginning of last year, God really clearly said to me, there's coming a time when this needs to be put down. I love music I love worshiping. And my first reaction, if I'm honest, is I don't want to do that because that means I can't go on a monday night and I can't be with this group of people who just press into God's presence.

And we praise and we worship and God speaks and we just have amazing times. I don't want to be not included in that, but it was very, very clear what God was asking me to do. So for the next year, every couple of months I went back to God and said, Right now, is it now? And then right at the end, in November last year, I suddenly just knew it's time to put it down.

And I put it down. And the very odd thing is I don't miss being there on Monday at all because I've moved into the right thing that God wants me to do now. And where is part of me could have kicked and fought and said, This is ridiculous. God, I need to be in the worship team. I'm valued in the worship team.

I do this in the worship team. I do that in the worship team. It makes no difference whatsoever if it's not the right place. And I believe today there are people here and you know that you are not in the right place, but God is asking you to do something and you're not stepping into it, or God is asking you to put something down and you're not putting it down.

And the thing that amazes me, I mean, it's just incredible. This is going to blow your mind. The worship team hasn't fallen apart. Apart, isn't it? Literally the next week I was just I mean, I love being in the congregation singing, but literally the next week I'm thinking, my word. And as the weeks have gone by and I'm looking and I'm joining in there, that strength to strength, strength, there's people stepping out in ways I've never seen them step out before.

There's people committing in ways I've never seen them committing before. And it's not just because I've come out of something, but me being out of the wrong place has meant that other people can step up more in the right place. It's vitally important that we are in the right place. The reason that was sat like we're sat in blocks is I just this is just what I saw when I knew I was going to speak.

And there's a sense in which we need to learn to be told what to do as people are coming. I was saying to people like just follow and go over to where Mike is. There's people going off sitting somewhere else. There's people I mean, they get a bit complicated at times, but there was people not wanting to sit.

Maybe they wanted to sit next to a certain person and there wasn't enough space on the road. Perhaps it was just an inbuilt I don't like somebody telling me what to do. I want to sit here. Why can't I sit here? Why can't I sit where I choose? But there's a time coming this year when it's vitally important that we do exactly what God asks us to do.

We, regardless of how we feel, regardless of how we think about that, regardless of what we think our gifting is, regardless of whether it makes sense to us or not, we simply have to be obedient to where God wants us to be and where God places us. For some folks, For some folks, as you were. Lastly this morning, there was something inside you that just thought, not again.

What's she doing this time? But in a why can't she just stand at the front and talk like everybody else does? For some people coming in through that door, why do I have to come in through that door? Why can't I come in the way that I want to come in? For some people being told go that way, sit on that chair, sit on that low, sit next to that person, sit where you're asked to sit.

For some people inside, there's a I don't want to sit there, I don't want to sit next to them. I want to sit next to my friend. I don't want to be split for my husband. I don't want to I want to. I want to I want to. And there's a while I see as a really insidious way of thinking that's developed really during and after COVID of my personal well-being.

My personal well-being. I will do whatever God asks me to do once I'm okay. You need to understand. I need my space. I need to be alive. I need, I need, I want I need to be fine. Once I'm fine once I'm sorted, once everything's okay, then I will do what God asked me to do. I don't find that in Scripture.

When I look at Jesus, Jesus from the crowds, but he didn't withdraw from the cloud to have some me time. He withdrew from the clouds. Spend time with God. As David said to us this morning he withdrew to rest and recuperate with his father and that gave him everything that he needed. Then to move on. And when God talks about being yoked and walking with Jesus, just as Sue was saying, it's gentle and it's humble, but it's still a yoke.

We still have to move. We still have to step forward into what he's asking us to move into. It's not a time for us to be considering what I want. I don't believe in the kingdom of it's ever a time for us to be considering what I want. It should always be. What does God want? What does God want?

This morning when I wake up, what does God want me to do when I'm driving home from work and God wants me to go and see somebody and all I want to do is go home. Enough of us. It should be what God wants. Whenever God prompts me to do anything, it should be what God wants me to do.

And the amazing thing with God is that as we do that, He gives us our desires and He gives us our dreams and He gives us our hopes and he answers our prayers, not necessarily in the way that we're expecting, not necessarily giving us everything that we are expecting. And it doesn't work out the way we think. But personally, and I'm sure it's the same for many in here, when I look back at the things I wanted I longed for and I dreamt for, and I look back and I see where I've walked, where my life's taken me, where my life is now.

The blessings I have in that they are way, way better than all these other things that I'd hoped for. I am so glad that some of what I hoped for didn't happen. That didn't come along and say yes to that dream, yes to that hope. He had a better, better plan. So this week, as you go about this, has very little on it.

This has snapshots of what God said. This one contains the words that God brought to us. It's not really about reading them. It's important that we know it, but it's not really about reading them. It's every day, Which am I going to choose? Am I going to choose to walk out in the fullness of everything that I know about God in the fullness of everything I know about Him, whether that comes out of Scripture and out of the Bible, or whether that comes out of the things that he's been saying that he's challenging a song as a body, but individually, am I going to walk out in the fullness of his word, or am I

going to settle for the soundbites and pick the best that I'm comfortable with and the bit that I'm happy with? How radical is my week going to be? How radical is my life going to be? The worship team are going to go back up. This is an old song. I didn't realize quite how old is 25 years old, but it talks about every day.

It's you I live for. Every day. I follow after you every day I trust in you. And our life with God isn't complicated. And our life with God isn't daunting. It's simple. It's just every day. Whatever He asks us to do, whatever he asks us to change, wherever he asks us to go, whatever part of our life he wants that we just say yes.

That we determine at the start of the day to walk with him as he asks us to. I'd encourage you to put both of these somewhere that you see before you leave the house so that you have a conscious choice that when you walk into your day, which am I doing? Am I walking out in everything that God has for me, regardless of the cost, regardless of the inconvenience, regardless of whether it suits me or not?

Am I going to go for everything that he has? Because as I stand here looking at all of you and it's always a privilege to stand and be able to look at everybody, the transformation that would happen in our body, if that is what we all did, the transformation that would happen as we take everything that God does in us and builds into us here, and then we go out and we do as he asks and we speak when he asks and we pray for people.

When he asks and we put aside our preferences, we would not recognize ourselves. If we really left out everything that he's asking us to do. So the musicians are going to play. Mike's going up on the balcony, Mike's going to hang this over that door, and it's a declaration as we walk out. That's what I want to do.

If you're not comfortable walking out there, I know it might be slightly embarrassing. Find a different way out of the building. You can go back out that way. You can go out this way. But I believe there's a real challenge from God today. How much are you going to really walk out? What I'm asking you to do step by step, day by day.

And if you can do the call this and then into the bridge because it's really simple and we just go. But we go declaring that you've already sung that you've already said that in different ways already this morning. But we're simply saying to God every day, which you I live for every day, I will follow after you, is not saying every I'm going to get it right every day.

I'm going to be perfect every day. I'll remember halfway through my day. So I need to be sensitive. It's not saying that. What is declaring is that in our hearts what we want to do is every day it's you I live for. And when I have a bad day, when I get it wrong, and when I mess it up and I wake up the next day, every day you that I live for every day, I will follow after you.

Because every day I want to walk with you, my Lord. So when you're ready, you go that way if that's what you want. Okay. Thank you.