ALL IN Service 24 | Sunday 19 September, 2021

[Music] [Music] my good morning everyone welcome to saint paul's online worship uh as we celebrate tawiki otero maori maori language week we've got a great service lined up today a little bit later on we're going to hear from johnny esther as they share about how god leads us in the big and in the small moments of our lives i imagine it's been a bit of a challenging week for some of us as it feels like we i don't know it feels like we're stuck in a bit of a time warp perhaps or an eternal never-ending groundhog day as we found out the news that we're remaining in level four for a bit longer i don't know about you i was really looking forward even just to a slight shift even if it was pretty much the same as level four but just with some takeaways but the good news is this morning you don't have to get into your car uh to be to go anywhere to be in church this morning as chris and the team are going to lead us now in our opening song so let's get into it kia ora good morning st paul's it is wonderful to be back with you i hope that you're having a good week um the sun is doing some crazy stuff today so um if i appear angelic in the middle of any of these songs it's all planned it's all part of it um hey i am very much looking forward to being back in a room with all of your beautiful selves can i just get a quick show of hands uh who's looking forward to that too that's fantastic um can i get an amen church thank you thank you very much that's good it's good to have a bit of feedback you know to the camera here all right hey today is a new day and today is a gift from god and we're gonna start by singing praise the lord o my soul so sing along with us one two three four [Music] praise the lord praise the lord hold my soul praise the lord and everything within me praise the lord hold my soul praise the lord with all of my being praise the lord on my soul praise the lord let everything within me praise the lord hold my soul praise the lord with all [Music] [Applause] [Music] lord i want but i won't forget your kindness you freely given me forgiveness you've covered me with love and crown me with compassion [Music] praise the lord and everything within me praise the lord hold my soul praise the lord the lord my being praise the lord o my soul praise the lord everything with me praise the lord praise the lord [Music] i will praise you for your goodness hillary's [Music] praise the lord everything within me praise the lord o my soul praise the [Music] lord and everything within me praise the lord [Music] and everything that's living everything on earth everything in heaven every tribe and tongue every saint and sinner praise the lord everything that has breath and everything that has breath everything that's living [Music] praise the lord [Music] i praise the lord they say praise the lord on my soul praise the lord everything within me praise the lord hold my soul praise the lord with all of my [Music] my with all of my crazy lord [Music] all right i hope they got the blood pumping we will be back with you very shortly for some more worship [Music] oh uh wish it songs song's done hey thanks chris and the team in case you're wondering what on earth is going on here chris just kind of asked me and the band the other band to be on standby for worship this week so yeah just letting you know chris we're still here um we're waiting ready to go whenever you are so just let me know about that and i'm sure you'll get in contact soon and don't worry about me what i think chris probably meant was that he wanted me ready for the second the second block of worship he but in the meantime just wanted to share something that's been keeping me sane in the last week unlike lou last week with her amazing creative table settings i've been seeing how many days in a row i can go wearing the exact same clothes and so far i've managed about a week and before you judge i know that there's other people in the simple community who are doing the same thing right now so let me know if you can beat that or uh maybe not hey anyway that's uh that's enough over sharing for one moment uh donald and caitlyn's stories uh live now for some pools kids on all the usual platforms we also have another 90 second devotional for youth going live after today's service right time to pass the mic now to the lovely jane as we can hear more about her new online coffee connect group and after that we're going to hear a bit from debbie about what she's been up to during lockdown uh to keep herself sane but also what she's been doing for a really good cause our coffee morning this morning went really well we even had cindy all the way from taiwan connecting with us she got up at 5 30 in the morning to connect with us how's that for a commitment we had some great times of sharing what's going on in our lives right now and also what some of our plans are so we're going to do the same thing again next wednesday at 10 a.m so do bring your coffee your chats and your cats and we'll see you there bye hi everyone so i've just completed running out my mount everest all 8 849 meters of it the idea started in lockdown 1.0 when i challenged myself to run up my driveway and to the equivalent of mount cook i wasn't keen on doing everest this time until i had the idea to raise money for something i really care about gun boot friday providing free care and counselling to our young people five to 25 years old i know from personal experience just how real the better with depression is so this was my way to do something i know will positively affect some of our young people it was both a physical and mental challenge but also incredibly rewarding there were days when i just had to keep saying you got this jib you got that and i would think about those currently doing it real tough and they inspired me to push through and not give up i'm learning through this not to be afraid of sharing my story but by being honest with it knowing it can help encourage others and open conversations that may have otherwise stayed shut god's shown me that what i think is just an idea i had is actually something god please because it is not something i could have done in my own strength i'm incredibly grateful for the community around me the support and the amount raised has blown my mind and i just honestly thank god is amazing and he will use us in ways we don't always expect big ups to him for getting me to the top thanks so much debbie so awesome what you're getting up to let's support her if we can because the reality is mental illness can impact any one of us it impacts the way we think and feel and behave as well as our relationships and enjoyment of life and so i want to invite you to listen to a brand new podcast that's been released this week where my colleague richard bonifant kind of shares his personal story with uh of living with depression for more than 30 years and what insights he's gained in terms of how to recognize it and navigate it really well it's a super helpful conversation and that's live now on our website and on our app okay as we continue uh with worship allow me to pray god of rest i realign myself with you today give me the strength to defy anxiety and control and i offer you my worries i bring you any weariness or demotivation or feelings of being overwhelmed and i choose to trust you and i welcome your presence your peace your shalom today put a new song in my heart and give me new imagination to see fresh possibilities in my life and in your world today amen [Music] [Music] and great is thy faithfulness oh god my father there is no shadow turning with thee thou change is not thy compassions they fail not and as thou has been thou forever will be [Music] great is thy faithfulness greatest thy faithfulness morning by new mercies i see all i have needed thy hands have provided great is thy faithfulness lord unto me [Music] [Applause] summer and winter spring time and half is sun moon and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to thine great faithfulness mercy and love and great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness morning friday morning new mercies i see all i have needed thy hands have provided [Music] faithfulness [Music] for sin and the peace that injured my own deep presence to cheer and to [Music] with ten [Music] faithfulness greatest life faithfulness [Music] two [Music] mercies have provided [Music] is [Music] me greatest lie faithfulness great is thy faithfulness morning by morning new mercies i see and oh i have needed thy hand has provided great is my faithfulness lord unto me [Music] [Music] i [Music] i [Music] we why [Music] [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] we [Music] [Music] we keep believing we're still in hope [Music] we believed [Music] we keep believing [Music] without seeing [Music] but now we see is [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] father as we pray together this morning we're so aware of our total dependence on you as we face the many unknowns that lie ahead we once again find our hope in you as an anchor for our souls firm and secure right now we hand over our cares and sorrows to you and we receive the supernatural peace you promised us we choose to put our trust in you again today thank you that when it seems like everything's falling apart we know that jesus holds the universe together by his mighty word give us eyes of faith to see that your holy spirit is being poured out right now over our tarawa we sense the call to pray as we've never prayed before for heaven to open over our land we want to see blind eyes open and lost ones returned to you give us courage to bring the gospel wherever we go and let it be accompanied with signs and wonders and miracles that testify to the power of your resurrection we ask you to give us soft and tender hearts fill us with love for those most like us and for those who at least like us those we agree with and those we don't bring the healing to our land that springs from your cross beginning with us today may your mercy and grace flow over us wash us clean set us free make us whole amen acts chapter 10 verses 9 to 23 about noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city peter went up on the roof to pray he became hungry and wanted something to eat and while the meal was being prepared he fell into a trance he saw heaven opened up in something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners it contained all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles and birds then a voice told him get up peter kill and eat surely not lord peter replied i have never eaten anything impure or unclean the voice spoke to him a second time do not call anything impure that god has made clean this happened three times and immediately the sheep was taken back to heaven when peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision the men sent by cornelius found out where simon's house was and stopped at the gate they called out asking if simon who was known as peter was staying there while peter was still thinking about the vision the spirit said to him simon three men are looking for you so get up and go downstairs do not hesitate to go with them for i have sent them peter went down and said to the men i am the one you are looking for why have you come the men replied we have come from cornelius the centurion he is a righteous and god-fearing man who was respected by all the jewish people a holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say then peter invited the men into the house to be his guests well good morning sit fools it's so great to be here with you again this morning we are going to continue our stories thing we've been really loving it and we particularly loved anna and ben's story from last sunday and i've just been talking through some of those quotes and passages this week and really mulling those over and so we're just going to keep that story theme going uh today yeah we just want to share a few of the stories that have been really relevant to us in terms of what it means to follow god how do we become radically responsive to him and that's both in like the really big decisions of life the big hinge moments uh where we change direction but also just in the everyday realities the small things will be hear his voice um in every context that we're in and i don't know if you can remember way back to may um when we were all free and we left the city at will and we celebrated pentecost sunday and one of the things we focused in on is that god's presence with his people in the old testament was depicted as a single fire but at pentecost that fire divides and separates and it comes to rest on every believer and what's really amazing about that is it expresses this reality that now god is working out his purposes in the world through each of our unique stories and so what you are doing what god is doing through you is actually unique to you and i think that gives incredible meaning and purpose to actually just what we bring in in our life context which is why we're really loving this series but especially the story that we heard with peter getting this vision from heaven and then sharing the gospel with the gentiles it's a really interesting demonstration of just the transformation that peter goes through it's a incredible kind of before and after spot the difference picture that we have because the old peter back in the gospels when jesus was in the formative stage of his ministry peter was constantly out of tune he was a decisive leader but he was constantly being knocked off balanced by what jesus was doing and yet what we see now is just a completely different peter who is getting revelations from the holy spirit but it's really bold and in tune and he's acting on them decisively and so we see this uh story this image this morning where peter sees this blanket come down which is really about not animals but the gentiles and then he responds and goes and preaches the gospel to cornelius and his whole household and what's really incredible about this is that peter is not focused on you know how controversial and world-changing this is like he would have been in the old days he's just focused on what god is asking him to do and getting on with it and i think it tells us a lot about uh responding to god in the big things but also you know in the little things of everyday life right absolutely i really love the section in acts chapter 3 where peter and john are walking on their way to the temple and they come across a lame man and they ask them for money but this time peter stops and he says no i don't have any money i can give you but i've got something way better than that and he reaches out and touches that man and the healing power of god touches him and that man is now healed this just shows that peter is now just in the flow of the spirit he's passing on what he's been given and you know that's the way that we're all sort of challenged to live and i must say i aspire to that to live like that all of the time but life sort of comes along and and can dull us down i think it does dull us down the pathway through last year i realized that i'd just gotten life have gotten very monotonous and i will sometimes uh say to god god life is so boring can you just mix it up a bit i want to get back back in the flow giving life outside of marriage and family right exactly so i had prayed this prayer johnny often asked me why i pray them because often god will answer in quite dramatic ways and it'll be quite disruptive to life but i had prayed this and so what started happening was god started speaking to me between the school gate and um the church car park on my way to work so this one day i'm driving along not thinking not about god or praying or anything but this thought just came darting through my mind and it was that i was to pray for this friend and for her son and then i was to tell her that i'd been prompted to pray and this prompt sort of had a real urgency to it uh such that i pulled the car over to the side of the road and texted her a message and i i wasn't quite sure even what i was saying so i just said you know felt prompted to pray for you and this this particular son she's got three sons so but it was really specific this word i got back on the road drove to work and uh when i got there i had a response and she said you know thanks for your prayers um not sure why i need them there's nothing really going on for us but hey thanks anyway well i sort of read that and felt a bit stink actually i thought oh man i got that totally wrong this is a friend that doesn't come to church very regularly and i had really thought that i must be on the money with something and so this just felt like a bit of a mess well two days later i got a message from her and she said that she hadn't been able to figure out why i had been praying for her and her son but now she knew why as she was messaging me her son was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital he was having a major anaphylactic shock he was in australia she's here in auckland and she was on a facetime call with him as he was losing consciousness and she said to him she said hey i know you're going to be all right god had esther praying for you two days ago that experience massively emboldened my faith and also really spoke volumes to her and her son that god was looking out for them and had prompted that prayer on that day when you tell god that you're willing he just keeps on speaking and so probably a couple of months later actually i was cooking dinner and just had this urge to play a particular spotify playlist the kids are constantly adding in random songs to my playlist and this mali solar song came on and i was sort of struck by the lyrics which seemed a bit odd to me and the lyrics said um keep your head high keep your head high you're going to get the next one get the next one and i was thinking what's this next what does that even mean and as i'm thinking about that this friend's face came to mind and she had been out of work for over a year had applied for literally hundreds of jobs kept getting down to the last two and missing out and was really struggling and again this quite urgent prompt comes to me that i'm to text her and to tell her about the song to send it to her and just say hey keep your hold your head high you're gonna get the next job you apply for again this felt like a high risk strategy and i kind of argued with god and said god you've got to tell me that this is right because if i send this message she's already really struggling with all these job projections and what if she doesn't get the next job but i just felt god say look trust me send the message so so i did ten days later i got a message saying esther you're not gonna believe it i did i played that song every morning i held my head high and i've just been told that the very next job that i applied for uh i got the job what i love about those everyday stories is they're quite uncomfortable to sort of walk into you know there's a sort of sense of outside our comfort zone uh we're breaching other people's comfort zones but it's quite similar to what peter was doing on his way to the temple for prayer he wasn't expecting that but he had the confidence just to pull that lame guy up to really know that that's what god was going to do so um yeah oh to be that competent i think you're learning that [Laughter] so you know what we're sort of finding is that um god is leading us into this radical responsiveness in these everyday prompts but also in the really big decisions in life and um when we lived in the uk we did a few driving trips around italy and actually some of you were on those trips yeah and we used to have this kind of running joke that in italy you didn't get road signs at the intersections when you needed them you got them a few miles down the road and so you had to sort of take a wild guess and then you found out a few minutes later whether you'd made the right decision or not and anyway we did a lot of u-turns we saw a lot more of the country than we were expecting to it's just our marriage to the limits didn't it was always on the map and uh yeah i would issue yes with 40 u-turns every day and we would blow through that by by lunchtime he still did but you know can feel a little bit like following god uh can be like driving in italy but actually what we have found is that god gives us these really clear signposts that actually help to direct us at key hinge moments in our life and what we've found is that god's spoken to us really clearly in those key moments but then the journey has often been a matter of really trusting those signposts and so as we keep talking today that might be one thing that god is speaking to you today is what are those signposts that he's given you already could you describe them could you write them down and so um an example that we would use is uh the times that god's moved us from one continent to another one really secure context to a brand new one so that's moving from the uk to canada and then from canada and vancouver to out here to auckland and st paul's and what happened was that we were sort of coming to the end of uh our season there and we knew that we're coming to the end of the projects that we had been involved in and uh the position at st paul's came up and it wasn't one we were particularly interested in we were thinking of staying in north america at that time but god sent across our path a number of friends and various people who kind of prepared the ground over a few months by sending us this role and um suggesting that we should do it and uh anyway we sort of uh pushed this back for a long time um until this amazing day where god spoke to both of us separately but at the same time and we sort of went through this radical 180 degree turn um which this is going to describe well by now we had uh already sent so many emails um and messages uh back to people saying hey thanks so much for thinking that this is something that would be um the right people for but but absolutely not i said to one person that god would have to write the instructions in the sky for us to even consider coming back to new zealand because it just wasn't remotely part of our plan but there was this one day where i had been up um most of the night and god had this very clear conversation with me about why i was discounting this possibility and over the course of this conversation had totally changed my heart and really made me open to it which if you knew anything of the history of my story with new zealand that was just to complete that was the writing in the sky and so i just thought how am i going to break this to johnny i wasn't sure how he would respond to that complete u-turn and so we were having coffee we were sitting there on the couch and i forget which one of us sort of started up the conversation but it was a little bit tentative until we quickly realized that god had spoken to both of us within the previous 24 hours and we literally went from having our backs to the opportunity to to facing it and and being open to what god might be saying to us yeah so god often humiliates us by um getting us to say something really bold and then getting us to change our mind so um we ate a little bit of humble pie over that one i still remember that conversation on the couch just um yeah i can't remember who who began the conversation but it was quite sheepish because it was it was a topic that you know we really hadn't gone near because we both are pretty adamant that we weren't coming home one thing that happened over that period was that somebody posted a link to uh cindy rocari's beautiful rendition of the national anthem onto facebook and i played it and really just felt this amazing presence of god every time i played it so i just put it on repeat and so three little canadian kids all started singing the national anthem with me and torreo and what i've learned about the way that god changes my heart is he often does it through music lyrics and there was something about for weeks on end singing what is essentially a hymn is that he completed that process of really turning my heart towards new zealand as me and the kids sort of played that song out in our apartment so we had this really uh clear signpost um at that moment just as god had moved us on really clearly from the uk before then to canada but what had happened um in the two years before that really clear conversation that we had on the couch after god gave us this really clear directive was we felt two years earlier that god had said to us i'm going to really clearly tell you what the next thing is but don't take anything else before i tell you what that is and it was kind of an interesting uh sense that we got because it then led to what i described as sort of two quite ambiguous quite uncomfortable years really where we had come to the end of our study in vancouver and we had plenty to keep us going but uh there was a sort of sense of the future being unresolved like we didn't know what was coming next we couldn't describe that to people um we couldn't uh demonstrate that we had value and purpose by saying what was coming next we really just had to wait and i learned some i think we learned some really interesting lessons uh during that time and you know one of them is that we're talking over this last sort of month or so about the significance of work that it's got real meaning and purpose what god has called us into in our various places of work but we can also come to hide behind the identity and sense of worth that we get from these places these career choices and what i realized is how difficult it is when you step out from that coverage and so for that two years i felt like there was a sense of who are we if it's just us and god if it's just us with the daily manner that he's giving us from day to day uh who are we in those places can we actually learn to be god's people without these other labels that give us a sense of purpose and worth and meaning but i think the other really key thing that we learn is that god gives us clear signposts but then he gives us enough for the journey and we'd sometimes have these seasons where it doesn't feel like a feast it feels like just enough and in that uh season which was a really difficult season of obedience um god really just gave us enough just enough to get by and i remember this really vivid experience that was about a year into that two-year period and we didn't know it would be two years so it already felt like an eternity and i remember just this real sense of getting to the end of my tether just running out of patience and a friend of ours lisa baker who's a part of the st paul's community and lisa you can defend yourself on the message threat if you want to now i remember um there was a visiting speaker coming from the uk to our local church and he was a prophet and he was coming to speak on a wednesday night and liesel said to me like you should totally come along um she kind of pulled me by my ear i'm not sure i didn't want to go i was kind of over the whole thing and anyway we went and i love god's sense of um building the drama and so i'm sitting there i'm in the back row there's about 60 people in that room and over the course of two hours this prophet essentially gave encouraging words for 59 people in that room um excluding guess who and i remember just sitting there after two hours towards the end of the night just thinking that this was confirming everything that i had come to believe that god had forgotten yeah god had totally abandoned us forgotten us and uh you know we were going to die in the beautiful isolation of canada's pacific northwest that's actually the beautiful desert beautiful desert that's actually really how it felt and then right at the end of this meeting just is about to close this guy was it was like he was jolted and as if he suddenly uh recognized me saw me for the first time and he said oh there you are god's been speaking to me about you all day and he proceeded to give this really encouraging word over the course of of the next few minutes and i remember just thinking you know god and his amazing timing gives us just what we need to persevere in these seasons they often feel like a long obedience and a long sort of perseverance trusting that his signposts are actually right unlike driving italy and the amazing thing about that word is he said god's going to present an opportunity to you and you're gonna think it's not the one and and so when the new zealand um emails started coming and we totally didn't i think it was the one it that word really confirmed for us later and hindsight okay ah that's what that's what he was referring to so that also was just um a real confirmation yeah pretty much what we've found is that usually when god makes a calling incredibly clear it's because he knows that you absolutely need to have the certainty of that and see what happened for us is god turned our hearts to coming back to new zealand and then all sorts of doors started slamming in our faces and so the point at which we handed an unnoticed on our apartment and packed all of our worldly goods into a shipping container and bought tickets to come back we actually didn't have a position to come to we got on that plane not really knowing uh what was going to happen when we got here and yet god had made it so clear that we were to come it didn't feel foolish to do that and so we just boldly stepped into this call where god had said no you are going to be at suppose and so we we were able to sort of lean back on that promise even when it looked like that wasn't going to happen so and then a little while after that it was confirmed that um i could apply for the role and um and took it um but what happened after that was that so many things in that first couple of years went spectacularly wrong for us on so many different fronts things that we just couldn't really imagine before then things that you may not face in a whole lifetime and i remember just a number of times i'm sitting out at our dining table and saying to each other you know have we actually just made a mistake did we just hear wrong and i think this is where the power of divine signposts really kicks in because what we were able to do in those times which were a number of times was to actually sit down and remember what god had said to us both separately but at the same time about coming and it kind of provided to us a really clear signpost and almost like an anchor where god was able to say it's okay you're meant to be there just keep going and it took me actually back to that night uh where the prophet was visiting in our local church because he gave a really encouraging word and right at the end as this sort of sign off he said to me god bless you where you're going next because you're going to need it and i remember thinking it was such a weird way of ending a really positive word it was kind of like lightning on a sunny day and um again it was almost like god's saying to us a much later sitting at our dining room table it's okay i knew about this you're gonna be okay you're in the right place just keep on going and so we were able to persevere because god had given us really clear signposts that we knew were in the right place johnny mentioned at the start that god works through each of us differently each of our stories is differently the way he speaks to us is really different and yet what i love in the stories of the gospels is that jesus responds to the needs of people really deeply practically we're so grateful for the people who have given us specific words other people have prayed for us when we've needed it others have brought a meal to the door and that's been god's blessing for us in that moment and and we seek to respond to other people's needs in deeply practical ways and so yeah we really encourage each of you to walk out response of faith in the way that god has revealed that to you and maybe it's time for you like me to say god i'm a bit bored um speak to me i'm up for going on an adventure with you and responding to you in new ways maybe with a greater boldness than i've had before each of us carries that holy spirit out with us we're the priest of hood of all believers and so we just really want to encourage you and that today on that pentecost sunday way back in may um i said to the church that i felt that god specifically was leading us into a season where his voice was going to be really clear that we would hear it in a new way and we're really passionate about um as followers of christ and as part of this church really tuning in to god's voice in the same way that peter did in those stories and acts being boldly responsive being on our spiritual toes and so as we come to respond today as we lead into this final song we just want to provide some space to really listen to god this morning because we feel passionate about this idea that god gives us these signposts as kind of divine gifts really as things that we can rely on and really put our strength into knowing that he's got us on the right path and so uh you know one of the things that always amazes us by about our kids is that they're very bold and courageous with their uh requests they're very clear about those they're not ashamed by them and i feel like god is inviting us to be bold with him as as followers and as his friends so we want to invite you to do that this morning are there signposts that god has given you that he's reminding you of do you need a clear revelation this morning do you need clear direction let's be bold and let's ask him for what he has for us this morning [Music] i come into the garden of the lord where i know i have a place the rhythms of your love in me are fall as you leap in your grace and here i will try in the good and perfect shelter of your branches and here i'm my life i can see all the colors in your life and everything [Music] [Laughter] i'm standing in the garden of the earth in the good of your grace you fill me up with each and every breath [Music] and you refresh me with [Music] the good and perfect shout out of your branches [Music] your life and everything [Music] you see me and you know me [Music] you see me and you know me [Music] as your rain pours out on the soil of my life i see fruits of the spirit start to rise as i stand in the warmth of your ever-burning life i see seeds in the garden come to life as your rain pours out on the soil of my life [Music] [Music] i see seeds in the garden come to life [Music] of your branches here [Music] your life in everything [Music] oh [Music] i can see all the colors and your life and everything [Music] i come into the garden of the lord where i know i have a place [Music] m [Music] yamato [Music] for your message today challenging us to be radically responsive to god's call on our lives with ever increasing courage and trust hey don't forget to uh later today we have our 3 p.m online service and that's followed by our 18 to 30s pre-zoom at 5 30. also evening prayer continues tomorrow night at nine with more encounters with jesus so we hope to see you there hey thanks so much for being with us today i hope i really hope there'll be some good news with a shift in level soon so stay safe and stay sane arnold [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: St Paul's Auckland

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Length: 57min 35sec (3455 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021