Hillsong Church - Activating Our Advantage

the great be welcome to Hillsong Church this morning to know what you stand [Music] [Music] [Music] who didn't feel voice this morning we sing [Music] just [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to be surrender this [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] brokenness see [Music] I've been [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you God be present [Music] we can come into this place such gratitude well that you have done for us but bridge that noose truly so amazed come into your presence boldly for Jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] believe it you've been singing like you've been singing what a song what a declaration of truth that beautiful brand-new song that to my knowledge we've only been singing for two weekends learning it and it guys you're singing it like you believed it when I believe that there are people in the room today that you know you are facing darkness you are facing challenge and it's life in that song and there's truth in that song is anointing in that song amen so praise God for that why don't we just turn our hearts heaven with what do we just pray again pray again and commit the remainder of the service to our amazing God so father in heaven you are the best Lord you are amazing and we love you is so grateful father we're so grateful for your son Jesus Christ that he has come and that he is life and light and salvation and ummit's and father we commit ourselves to you father our worship our fellowship father got every part of that worship father got the word we committed all to you and I pray father God that the agenda that you have find and perfect it for this day father go the agenda your heart in your will for our lives father God shall see fulfillment in Jesus name and everyone said [Music] one of my most favorite things to say always is that as to echo the Word of God says His mercies I knew every morning so despite the challenge of yesterday or last night you're in a new day and I have confidence in my god and he never fails and there is mercy and today and there's mercy and truth in the Word of God that's going to be preached to us shortly by pastor Paul ji-yong there's mercy in today so heaven expect and hard hey church yes amen do you believe in prayer I think you do so as always we're gonna pray for these prayer requests and if you're new or visiting today huge welcome to you if you have wandered in here and never been with us you're so welcome in our midst a you're amongst friends so we just unashamedly love the Lord Jesus Christ he's made a difference in a life in he's good he's a good good guy and we believe in praying for needs that people have submitted and many people online I was saying this to the other services that um they know that Hillsong is a house of prayer they know that there's a fervency and faith within the house that when we pray we are truly believing that the will of God will be outworked on these lives and so we pray for lots of requests that come from online and from the channel and different places but your needs are important and you know last night I woke up at 2:00 a.m. for a split second I woke out but these words were resounding from psalm 41 I'd read it earlier in the week and I literally said Lord be my kind healer was from sum 41 be my kind healer if you're in the place this morning you need healing you neither touch of God then you have a kind healer you have a good guide and I was saying today to the other services also you know we don't I don't believe that we demand healing we take authority over darkness and the plans of the enemy but we don't demand the healer to come and heal us we invite him and we allow him to draw near as we draw near so if you need healing in your bodies today he's here so father we commit all these prayer requests to you as always we ask that you have your Divine Will upon them father pour out your spirit father have your will well we don't know every circumstance or every situation but Lord you do then you ask us to pray and sell we bring them to you we petition you on their behalf father God have your Divine Will and we look forward to recovery and answered prayer and miracle set in motion in Jesus name Amen and there the tree everyone say ain't that the truth ain't that the truth totally praise the Lord amen and Trust it to you Amen so that's good you have it to be in the house of God you actually look amazing you sound amazing all right we're a friendly Church actually aren't we amen so you get a minute on the clock roughly but I want to challenge you to find some of your pets don't know or don't converse with in your little circle of wherever you set like I sit over there and I'll say something good to them speak life into them amen challenges out off you go come and take a seat if you would give me a wave if you've met somebody new in that moment give me a wave well it's pretty good we're gonna come around our giving moment right now so if you can stop preparing for that you can use the car facility on or under your chair many ways on the screen a lot of people like to use online but is it okay if I set the tone for our giving moment this morning thank you in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 4 it says this it says let each of you look out not only every say not only not only for his own interests but also everybody say but also for the interests of others this became really true to me a few years ago when I had the opportunity to go to Cape Town South Africa with a bunch of Kingdom builders on a missions trip and among a whole lot of experiences that we had there was one experience and one experience that stood out and that was in a local school with a whole lot of students that were somewhat disadvantaged in from impoverished neighborhoods and we had the opportunity to feed a classroom full of students young kids and as the food came in their eyes were so wide as the food was put down in front of them they obviously hadn't seen food that much olive oil but there was one little girl as everyone started ate their meal there's one little girl that pulled out a little container from her bag and portioned off a little bit of what she was given put it in her container and returned it to her bag so I asked because it stood out to me while everyone else was getting stuck in and what they find is that there are some students but also think of their younger siblings so they take what is given to them and they're hungry it's not as if they're giving out of their yeah their fill they're actually giving out of their hunger and I reminded me of this scripture that we don't look only for our own interests but also looking out for the interest of others and thank God for a church filled with people who are constantly looking out for the interest of others so can I pray for you this morning as we do that father I thank you for what your faithfulness in our life father thank you for all that you've given us and Lord today we portion aside that which is yours Lord to further what you're building and what we thank your father for salvations and for many that have been helped through our giving this morning we bless you for it in Jesus name Amen amen the containers can go down the row and as you're giving this morning where you turn to the screen and check out Church news [Music] here in this great gathering for worship I have discovered this appraised life everyone on the hunt for God is here praising him all the power mondays are before her worshiping or the poor and powerless to our children their children will get in on this babies not yet conceived will hear the good news that God does what he says [Music] it's not actually a conference that is only for creative aspect because they're all credit to be creative on what every round we find out something [Music] gifted and graced by God for his glory because actually the truth is God's gifted everybody for a reason and a person communicators architects accountants you are uniquely gifted and grace for God to use you when he has put you to do what He has called you to do [Applause] [Music] oh hello church I'm your senior pastor just in case you didn't recognize me and I really want to talk to you about your ability to hear from your church if you're not hearing from us through email or any other form of communication it's probably because we can't we can't any longer be in connection with you unless you give us specific permission if you were to go to my Hillsong dot-com you can give us consent we've got jobs available and creator Department IT graphics in TV and accountancy and administration and maintenance so many areas of church life and so that's true across many of our locations and most importantly for the families of our church we are limited how much we can talk to you about your children Hillsong kids or your young people and fuel and wildlife we need your consent even to be able to talk about those things with you would you please go to Michael song Todd Kolb do it for you do it for us so that we as a church can be a family a community and not a whole lot of strangers on a Sunday love you god bless amen everyone say get connected and also spring at Hillsong Oh what else are they gonna give us no amen right now we're linked to a unwilling King actually to all of our locations up and down the country and around the entire universe hallelujah not really just Australia but welcome nice to see your church hope you having a great morning so far Amy and why don't we get Hills give those guys a chair amen we love you guys definitely one house many rooms for these days and you know the tomb tell us that today across this weekend there'll be a tea services in Australia alone and so again one house many rooms one big family every now and then we have the occasion to gather together under one roof but this is who we are this is the nature of the kingdom these days and it's good as an early man absolutely beautiful so fantastic hey um anyone excited about the idea of ascent do you know what a centers it's not the perfume the person is wearing next to you as an ascend ok it is the name that we have put it on the worship conference it's a language everyone say language language is important to me it's like prophetic language it's not just some marketing thing that we pull out of the air like wouldn't that be good we try not till we try to wait on that on the heart of God and the Spirit of God for the language that wraps itself around certain things that we bring to the table and I know I've been explaining this but honestly Church it's not a sorry we don't have enough things going on in life why would we add another conference to the landscape why would we do that and we mentally ill no we would not we would do that out of conviction and it's only our second ever because last year Brian felt compelled by the Spirit of God is supposed to care center Richard and he said you know what we have a distinctive on a house we have a distinctive to bring the sound of worship and to bring something they're champions the arts and the arts coming into the landscape a gain of the church so that we can actually bring the gospel to a lost world and so we stepped out in faith not knowing if this conference would be five people 500 people or whatever and you know what this place was full and people came from all around the world and not only that but many watched online and you know what we're compelling your church we're inviting you with four weeks left to position yourself and you think I'll really yes because you know what there's a grace upon your church there's an anointing there's a conviction in that room by the grace of God it needs your faith and your presence and your spirit and you know I don't know if I've mentioned already and this service but you know um the team especially Hillsong UNITED and the team at all morphs you know are right in and conceiving and birthing beautiful new songs like that song that we just sang they're gonna be here and we're gonna be cutting out and recording that as part of this like one lovely part of it but I just want to encourage as many as possible see yourself in the creative space created in the image of a creative God whatever you do in life with your kingdom builder or really an an artist and a musician or whatever see yourself in the equation hey and let's be here by the grace of God yeah I just want to give due diligence to that because there's always a lot on the landscape a I probably said landscape about twelve times today it's my favorite word and the other thing is just community and I know across you know our church this weekend it's a fresh focus and you focus on connection and the power of connect groups and so if you haven't yet found a pathway forward into the life of this house and you want to don't linger the outcome can be part you know what have you go out to all the locations some the next steps locations out there on the foyers just chat to someone because pathways are important amen amen all right apparently everyone say apparently apparently I'm preaching next weekend [Applause] I'm already picking out I'm already having a pick out I'm picking out help me Jesus to find the heart of God but I actually believe that something's growing in my spirit so that was something apparently I was going to tell you about the apparently is apparently um Brian sent a greeting to us over the weekend so why don't we just look to the screen having the most amazing night as part of our Hillsong there is more worship and book tour it's an amazing night so far we've got so much more worship to come and it's going to finish on a great end but in Australia [Music] in Australia that's good in Australia Sunday so we want to give a call out to the church there well as in church firstly we're always thinking into you every weekend and every Sunday we love you having the best night as you can see in Tulsa in Oklahoma it's and and so we just wanted to say hi to you guys we know you pray for us we know you love us I know my heart is always with you every weekend no matter where I am in the world I just want to say a special hello at the hills campus to the beautiful woman over there on the left my wife Bobbi and how good it is to have Paula Murray speaking these are the kind of friends that you could only dream of having in life and we're grateful you guys to speaking with us today hey having the most amazing Sunday because I know God wants to do great things and so say hi to ben hi ben I love you I love you too Ben say hi to armed hi Lauren I love you say hi to your wife I've been God bless we love you what might cheer for that's right amen good fun hey part of the adventure and you got a no Church when you do travel like that you are greatly loved you as a church as the congregation you greatly loved around the world amen so I hope you felt that yeah amen did you see little Tracy down the front remember Tracy she was here at college and an amazing story and married an American love those Americans who ran private joke anyway she's in Phoenix now and our Phoenix church there and leading worship and crushing it so it's awesome beautiful wedding a sturdy feet Brian gave expression to how much pastor Paula married married young mean to us and they are good friends and not unfamiliar to your church Paul's been here many times and you're like family but truth of the matter is they are great friends and they're trustworthy and they're loyal and that's a lovely lovely quality and I'm excited they're doing an incredible work in New Zealand for many years now but in a great church or ministry they're a great expression of the kingdom good life and so we're pumped that Paul is bringing the word across all of our campuses today and so in tonight so why don't we put our hands together and give him the best ever welcome [Applause] [Music] come on let's give it up for Jesus the same [Music] and for Erica we can do better than come on lift up I better shout this morning [Music] territory west you shall well [Music] New Zealand come on you need a kingdom spirit got to believe in the Kiwis in Jesus name Amen so great to be connected and if you're on the Hillsong Channel or you're online I tell you why we serve an amazing God you know I've been walking with God my whole life and no choice when I was a kid because my parents said you go to church but they discovered after years of religion that Jesus could be known grew up in Holland they did and they had to go to church there was no talk of a personal relationship with Jesus but when I was I think about a year old my dad went to a meeting that was held at the time by a pastor Brian's father and he was just telling people you can get to know God and they did you know and I've discovered I just feel just before I get into the word again wherever you are whatever campus just hear this today God has got so much more than you've ever realized as possible for you and I'm thankful that I still got a wide-eyed expectation you do a lot of life how many know there's a lot of stuff that happens you don't expect but when you get close to God you go you know what God's gonna use every bit of a hammer for good and I don't know about you but I need a fresh touch of God today and the Holy Spirit is here and you need a miracle come on even before we get to the word why don't we just say God move father we thank you that we can come into a building that's made with human hands and yet it's filled with the presence of a eternal God and to today we ask that you just breathe into the dry areas of our life the dark places that God we'd walk out of this place knowing God is for us and there is so much more their God the God that we serve is willing to take us where we're at and enlarges if we just follow his leading enabled me today all the way across Australia all the way in a parley all the way for everybody online today just to hear that God is good in his God amen amen all right in round just say to somebody boy you do smell good today whoo you look good in that color and find you where do you see wherever you are thank you team thank you Peter so cool are you excited to be in church I forgot to do this in every service so far so let me be really quick oh no I'll do it afterwards we go I brought a couple of books and well one book I wrote called God money of me I mentioned it I think last year when I was here it's a book about how do I create a pathway to financial freedom I never heard in my existence in church that you need to understand the law of sowing and reaping because you can give everything away but not create a pathway to freedom and God wants to teach us how to build up equity that will go generationally and if you really have a struggle with finances and finances are ruling you rather than you being in a place where you're deciding your future then I'd encourage you to have a look at it because it's my life journey through that big challenge then I wrote a book called failure freedom and I wrote it because nobody told me I should fail I always hid from failure in other words I thought failure and sin belonged in the same sentence no they don't sin is a failure but failure is not a sin you will fail every time you do something you've never done before thank God there are other campuses online that are responding it's great to have you online city we love your new castle that was amazing well it is right now anyway but this thought of come on let's get used to failure if you haven't been there before you're gonna fail but you learn from failure failure the people they say see I told you would fail of people that do nothing so you're gonna learn to fail to build a significant life as they're called I want to tell you about one of my failures in fact Marie and I had recently been married we'd be married for 37 years and this took place I think about 35 years ago I was here in Australia and and we had a that was so old it didn't work anymore and we had a piece of lawn in a place that we rented and somehow I found myself I think it was a trip with somebody to America and and I went into one of these American stores that was so big with so many options at about a quarter of the price back there and I was like I've gone to heaven cuz I'm quite practical and I thought this is amazing and then I saw these mowers as I said maybe 25% the price of here in Australia and then as I look further these bows had things that Australian Mo's didn't have back then you could pull a handle and actually mow the lawn for you self-drive at Will's I know you're getting really encouraged by this it's kind of like I said well I gotta push this thing and that's gonna drive me then not only that not only did it have a book stop but it had a key start just prayed about I thought yeah I need one of these and so you just turn the key and it would roar into life you didn't have to keep pulling it and and then you would just pull a handle and it would really take the pressure out of mo in the Lord and I said I need one well I was pretty young and naive so I bought it I'm gonna took it with me to the airport to go home and I hadn't even thought about it but the lady behind the counter said what's in the box it says MOA I said yeah Samoa what do you do with that I'm taking it back to Australia no you're not we don't allow engines on this engine I said but I need to long story short I had to ring somebody who came to the airport to pick it up and then they had to ship it which took months and it ended up costing me I think two or three times as much as the Australian mower but having said that I was still excited because I'm getting a mower where you can turn the key and it helps you mow the logs so I got it out of the box and and I put oil where the oil was gonna go petrol where the petrol was been ago and kind of put the handle together cuz I'm quite practical and then turn the key nothing I thought you flipping lemon hey let us say that in church I don't know it's like it's like after all this and the key doesn't work so anyway it had a handle so I pulled the handle it roared into life and I'm thinking oh it's not so bad cuz it's still Moses the lawn kind of for you I tried I don't know how many times in those first three months to start it with the key but it never started it's about twelve months into it I hadn't for a long time tribal I thought I might try it any one more time and I was kind of leaning over and I was pulling on the handle that engaged the wheels at the same time I turn the key and it roared into life and I realize I had been a typical male which never read the instructions my life could have been so much different had I really read the instructions I want to be very honest this morning you're a part of this incredible church called Hillsong where your leaders are prepared to do whatever it takes whatever God says to do despite what people may think or not think and I seeing an incredible global impact my question is is that the same for you is this something that the Bible is saying that if we're really honest is not out yet reality and so I go to John 14 and this happened personally in my journey where I read the words of Jesus to his church before he goes home to the Father he says most assuredly or I want you to pay attention don't just take notes and do church again but listen to this I say to you if you believe in me the works that I do said Jesus you're gonna do and greater works than this well I spent most of my life going yeah we've seen some pretty amazing things but I'm not sure we're living at that level whatever you asked verse 13 in my name in other words not with my name not with your agenda at the front my agenda following behind but when you ask according to my heart my will when you ask him my name that's the stuff I'm gonna do and my father's gonna be glorified in the son in fact if you ask anything aligned with me that I will do and I'm gonna pray said Jesus the Father that he would give you another helper that he would abide with you the Spirit of Truth whom the world that doesn't know me cannot receive whom the world either neither rather sees or knows but you know him he dwells with you and will be in you I found myself reading that and saying God I want to see more and I felt do I see him do I really know the Holy Spirit when was the last time the Holy Spirit had allowed a volume than everything else in my world it's kinda like well I'm a believer that Jesus died for me that's fantastic but you know that God wants you to live the kind of supernaturally empowered life that she can be a change in your workplace a change in your university a change in the history of your family because God wants us to step into not a same old same old life but we're gonna experience the power of heaven in other words I felt like God was saying are you activating your advantage you got God with you God is around you God is in you God is wanting to lead you and yet so often it's like well I'll just make up my own mind and pray that God will bless me and I wonder if there is something in this and it's kind of like the Holy Spirit knows who I am I'm I'm an active person anybody else like that it's kind of like okay if it's not working and yet which should be working we're gonna work until it does work I learnt that from Pastor Brian it's like we'll work all through the night but we're gonna make it happen Marie and I have had some challenges in our marriage I got the mic so I'll give my perspective we will we go on a break and she's a passive relaxer relaxer and that means give me a book let my feet hang maybe in a pool and I just want to chill out I'm an active relaxer we're gonna kill something well throw all those they've got a feeling we were to build something we will it go on come on a catamaran until it falls over we we're just gonna do something here I don't have many supporters so we're there to work out the difference in you know three and a half years ago it's like the Holy Spirit came alongside me said Paul you know you're wired and it's good to give everything but I want to take over and if you just live with natural control you're gonna live with supernatural limitation and it was kind of like oh god that's tough and the picture I could illustrate it is when I was young and you didn't know how to drive you'd get a driving instructor and the driving instructor would sit in the seat opposite you in those days some of the cars had two steering wheels just in case it had two sets of brakes and two accelerators Murray when we're driving through Auckland traffic's still thinks our car has a break as we're cutting in and out and I'm a visionary so well I'm looking miles down she says we're gonna have an accent you know it's just I'm not throwing her under the bus I'm just saying what I'm saying and it was like I felt like the Holy Spirit say you used to say you can't do it so you wouldn't attempt it now you can do it and you're committed to do it at any cost and now that you know you can do it I want you to get out of the seat and see what I can do and in the last three and a half years through our Ministry of life we've seen more than the twenty four years before and I wonder come on every campus every one that's tuning it I wonder if we're still pulling the starter rather than going there's a better way because if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us many of you have heard and she's a great illustration Helen Keller born in 1880 she contracted as a little girl a virus that caused her to be both deaf and blind and because of that as a young little girl she never learned to speak she was mute as well at the age of 8 her parents made a decision which was a brave decision at the time but a great one she they found somebody that could become a life partner an educator for their daughter Helen her name was Anne Sullivan and so Anne Sullivan began by just describing letters with her finger on the touch and the feel of Helens hands so that she could start from there and then eventually went to a place where she taught Helen how to speak and she did that by taking Helens fingers and when she would say the letter that she just described on the hand she would feel the vibration and then she'd put her own hand on her own lip and make the same vibration and begin to learn to speak she was the first deaf and I'm a deaf and blind person to get a Bachelor of Arts degree became a profound author and communicator because she had someone who could see what she couldn't see and somebody who could hear what she couldn't hear she speaks of a blindness in those early early years without somebody with her and says it's like it was like a ship in the fog and before my partnership with Anne began I was without a compass and I I didn't know where I was going and I used to cry out like give me light because I don't know what's happening maybe you're in church today and God's got you here because he wants to tell you he can see what you can't see come on he's gonna bring an explanation that you can't work out that if you would just stop and allow him to come alongside she talks about a friend that came to her again she had learned to communicate and the she asked the friend friend you just said you went through the forest explained it to me cuz she had ever seen it so she's always learning tell me what it was like and a friend who was a seeing person said I was nothing really and she just couldn't believe and this is what she said I became convinced a long time ago that seeing people see little hmm are you with me I wonder if we come to church regularly come on we bring ourselves and we worship but we don't see any different I wonder if the place you're in now even your woods you go nah I don't understand the Holy Spirit is there he's with you to show you some things that you've never seen before Helen went on to say you see blind people and seeing people live very differently not that they've got different senses but we blind people use our imagination and seek with our senses wisdom beyond what we currently know can I go back to the Bible John 16:7 nevertheless I tell you the truth said Jesus it's to your advantage that I go home to heaven why because if I don't come you don't have a helper I wonder this week how much have I leant on my helper in the next season how much will I lean on him or will I allow him to show me what I can't see and I've discovered that a blind person accepts the blind but Church people we think we can work it all out whereas I now am saying God teach me how to be more dependent huh to say Holy Spirit you're in the situation I'm in a room where people are saying all kinds of things tell me what to say I want to activate my advantage I remember going to a group of people having a meal one of them was a family member and they were really against the church and didn't like what we stood for living their life which was very compromised to our lives and they just chose the right part of the the dinner table to throw this barbarous well the problem Paul with the church isn't it that it's filled with all kind of hypocrisy and I'm sitting there going how do I respond to that and I'm gonna Holy Spirit Holy Spirit and I just felt this clarity I said well I think wherever people come together there's hypocrisy there's hypocrisy at the local sports club there's hypocrisy come on in most workplaces this so we're not perfect people of courses so I wasn't there too so we're got it all together so it's like but I thank God for that moment I wonder if we could leave church today and go into the next season led by the Holy Spirit a lot of the church I think can I just say as a spiritual dad are inactive we're in something that's doing a great thing but we're not doing much in the Holy Spirit why would you park there I got so much more for you I got so much more for the generations that follow you or we're gift active which is a great thing to do don't be inactive understand your gift be a part of discovering what God has wired you to do and live that out but I think there's another level which is activating the advantage it's letting the holy spirit begin to guide us and it's hard when you've always been in that place where you'll do it to let go of the steering wheel let me give you a couple of thoughts about how can we be led our wheel edible the first thing is through the illumination of God's Word there is something about God's Word that gives us insight and I am somebody that loves to bring the reality of life to the table but it's the quicken Word of God that changes us moves us from a place of just needing more inspiration to a place of Revelation it's kind of like some of my revelation from God's Word is the wilderness is part of the journey it's not that the devil puts us into the wilderness necessarily Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit so that he could define and set a foundation of strength for the ministry that was there to follow so instead of blaming the devil for everything it's like well wilderness is part of the journey but as a teenager I was sharing my faith with friends it was kind of I got to a time when nobody's responding and I'm thinking god this is pointless one day I just as a teenager I remember crying and go god it's just not working and I opened the Bible to second Corinthians 4 and I began to read in verse 3 and Paul writes he says hey Paul he's speaking to me Paul remember that if our gospel is veiled it's veiled from those that are perishing remember that their minds the god of this world has blinded of course they don't believe lest and I just underscore they're the light of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them and I started to ponder and this is what I realized darkness can never put light out you can cover light but you can't put it out never in history can darkness ever put light out so it wasn't about looking for a response in them it was about penetrating what the enemy had with light wherever you go this week be a light bringer come on you buy something from a shop be a light bringer be the spark see somebody behind the till let's had a hard day say hey it's not always easy is it dealing with people but I'm here I'm here to make your day and then I go are you weird no no I'm just here to make you smile I guarantee next time you come out or you're that person that made me feel a little happier why is that it's just a life where we don't tip downunder why don't you tip next time you get something what did you do that for do the unexpected what is it about you you care about people anyway I'm trying to get a response come on let's have good time let's have clarity time let's let's get into the word let let's have something that's working I love it the challenge of having the word by the way can I just throw this out there be careful you don't become a podcast junkie mm-hmm because if the enemy can't take the word getting to you he wants to work at getting it not from your head to your heart so he will try overload so you don't get illumination because the moment you get illumination the inspiration becomes a revelation and the revelation stays with you in the wilderness through the tough times in there so I'd rather no less but know it deeper Thank You Darwin you're with me come on fight don't give me all of your theology give me your revelation so wherever I go I'm a light bringer devil you're not gonna fool me I don't have to try and convert anyone I'd just bring light the positive the darkness can't put it out the Holy Spirit's got something to work in the morning and tomorrow next year second thing not only the illumination of God's Word but the still small voice we've got a big mission here at Hillsong but I want to tell you you want to go to that supernatural level you're gonna have to give the Holy Spirit room and I'm so busy on the act of relaxer and it's kind of like I get tired with nothing but I've had to come to realize if I don't give space to the Holy Spirit if I don't take time where I turn down the volume of my soul then I don't get clarity just stop listen how long you're gonna take to talk as long as it takes you to listen come on Holy Spirit's got whispers for you what's my future gonna be he might not give you all clarity but he's gonna give you direction what should I do in their family situation have you asked him do you know him are you listening to them he's a dove he's not just gonna come with as a frightened environment or anxiousness come on the instructor says stops his go left and right Jesus loses John the Baptist his forerunner you know the story it's just a devastating story he's murdered Jesus and his humanity is just I don't think I'm exaggerating but I think he was God smacked in my humanity I don't what are you doing father why didn't you step in ever been at a time where unexpected death something happened you were believing for that was the opposite it's like I don't get it after all he's done for you and the Bible says and I love this mac 135 now in the morning heaven risen a long time before daylight Jesus knew he had to get space before everything that was on the agenda yesterday took place he went out to it and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed it's this place called quiet if we're gonna be led by the Holy Spirit we need the illumination of God's Word but we also need this place called quiet a priscilla shirer is brother Anthony Evans came to New Zealand and for three months he couldn't say a word he's a profound singer and that's what he does but he had trouble with his throat and the specialist said you say one word you can destroy the whole process so he didn't say anything first time I met him was very hard to kind of communicate with him because I could call him anything and he couldn't respond so that was okay but didn't say a word he came back a second time and he sang and was amazing but this is what he said to me he said before the doctor said that I had been asked to write a book and he says I was kind of unsure about how that would all go but it's amazing he said he put it like this the ability to write was so much more inspired and able when the voice was in disengaged and I think in our busy world come on it's not just blobbing in front of a TV it's disengaging and saying Holy Spirit on listening for you and he's gonna say go left when you thought it was right I love to dive years ago I was with a friend that we'd decided we'd go for a dive but he's a bit of a maverick and we got to this brief that was 90 feet down I didn't even have my dive gear but I had committed to do it so I kid it up with another set of dive gear when we dropped the anchor on the reef the current was so strong I'm freaking out cuz it takes so much more anyway I jumped into the water with him we went down we were down about 60 feet and I realized because I was fighting the current and I was already agitated I was losing oxygen and the regulator I had was not my own and they can be tuned differently and it was tuned for somebody I think that didn't need a lot of oxygen and I couldn't get what I needed and I'm just thinking what can I do I'm 60 feet down and I can't get the oxygen if I can't get the oxygen something's gonna happen and so then my muscles begin to tense up as anxiety began to build and I'm in this place of really dangerous territory and I I can't communicate with the guy next to me and he's sort of just keeping on going down and I'm just freaking out and then I remembered the instruction when I learned to dive whenever you find yourself in crisis stop I can't stop in the current so I had to go down another 30 feet to find a rock I could put my arms around I had to make a decision against everything I felt to close my eyes and then breathe slow and deep everything in me was like and I just had to breathe slow and deep then my muscles began to relax my oxygen need began to drop and I got back to the place where I was in control okay look at me some of us are spinning out about what's going on in the current stuff that we're going through you need to get to this place called quiet because the Holy Spirit's gonna give you the answer come on he's gonna give you guide and some of the worst things that have happened in my life yeah let's thank him for that some of the worst things that have happened in my life I look back on now and the Holy Spirit showed me why he allowed that he doesn't make bad things happen but he allowed I remember him being busy in ministry once when I was here in Sydney and it was so busy Murray said to me honey you just got to slow down and I did say this this was under 930 years ago or whatever maybe longer than that in fact thirty five at about the same time as the lawn mow my was probably all that I think of it I said all right for you to say that then who's gonna do it two weeks later I went to a conference in Melbourne in fact I had been who stood in my arms and we ran across this busy road and I misjudge oncoming cars and we were hit and by God's grace we would say we seriously both should have been killed but I snapped my femur completely snapped and had to put a rod through it and even though as a short time in hospital was a 12-week recovery I think it's about week three into it just again I was reading the Bible I just felt like the Holy Spirit Said's so who's gonna do it now it wasn't being nasty he was just saying you were never created to keep coming up with the answer come on you're a Christian you become more reliant in your weakness is his strength and the power of that and here's the final one I'd bring today is I think to be led as we need to have the illumination of God's Word that's a big thought we need that still small voice but we need to have a trust centered obedience I mean it's one thing to believe it it's another thing to say yes wow great message pastor really makes no difference unless we apply what we call to apply newzealand we're seeing things across the church that we've never dreamed seriously possible but one part of it was our part and you might say well that's arrogant no cuz you gotta remember 27 years ago we're in Sydney we love Sydney we want to stay in Sydney we're a part of what God's doing and God says go and we go what New Zealand to get I grew up there Marie's Australian three kids three boys under five no money go I could have said yeah we'll go it's just not the best timing god no we do it all the time you want me to go and say sorry it's not my fault you want me to restore something you want me to go that you want me to say yes and give that amount of time to build the kingdom if it's the Holy Spirit come on trust scented obedience it's kind of like that's where it's gonna happen if you the Bible says verse 14 of Romans 8 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God and I just want to encourage you you can be a part of an incredible thing that God's doing but God wants you to be led guy wants you to activate obedience and and and he'll often put you in the driver's seat and you go I can't drive this I can't navigate there because as you can because I'm sideyou and then when you can do it you'll say get out of the way and say no I'm enjoying this no you just let me drive trust me and it's kind of like when you begin to realize that you realize everything comes beyond your control I was thinking about blind people and I gotta move real quick can you pray that I can move real quick nobody is prepared to pray for when you blind you accept that you're blind trouble with Christianity my view is today we don't accept that we're blind because we can see but I believe you're spiritually blind I believe no matter who I am no matter how much I'm a Christian I'm still spiritually blind but the Holy Spirit has been given so that we can see so because we're blind we don't really do anything and it doesn't really matter then we realize no God gave us a gift use your gift so now because I got my gift and I understand that my gift can lead me and help me I can oh that's different I don't go there I can navigate I as a blind person I can't walk upstairs but my gift lets me know and so I can walk up those stairs and make it happen and I reckon we've got inactive Christians and then we've got gift active Christians but I reckon God wants us to become completely blind and we become people that are led by someone that sees and so as a blind person I make a choice to drop this or use this in combination with a seeing-eye dog and a seeing-eye dog is a dog that sees what I don't see and so when I get to crossing the road it's amazing I stand on the edge and I hear other people crossing the road but my seeing-eye dog sits down because it can see the lights say don't cross and so while others are risking it the dog is telling me something that I don't feel and everybody else is doing and so when a world says you can do it the dog says don't do it cuz at the end of that journey there's catastrophe and you might get away with it for a while but at the end it's gonna consume you are you hearing me and so that dog becomes a crucial part of my life and that dog becomes my pilot my friend gains access into my home and I want the Holy Spirit come on in the church let's with all of the significant things that God's and we're still saying God we need to be led like I don't want to take the cedar I want you to take the seed or if I'm in the seat I want you and I would suggest that even beyond the seeing-eye dog there is a need for us to have the Holy Spirit come on Rob come and join me just briefly and Rob's been driving me and this is the best way I can describe it is I've got to accept that I'm blind and of course then I need the Holy Spirit let me get set up here in fact I might do something because even though even though I'm blind I can see things that I've never seen with natural eyes because I'm gonna turn in to the holy spirit so now I'm gonna walk a walk that is by faith and I don't know where the edge is but I just heard the Holy Spirit say stop and I can run with confidence Thank You Holy Spirit it's very hard to trust in an Australian Holy Spirit when you're a Kiwi but you see the fact is that the Holy Spirit leads us and wants to be more than a a seeing-eye dog and I want to challenge come on Hillsong I want to challenge my life that I'm gonna tune in to the Holy Spirit not what I see naturally but what I hear him say because this is what the scripture says in John 16 and verse 13 however when he the Spirit of Truth has come he will guide you into all truth because he will not speak of his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you of the things to come he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you and I would reckon we got to thank our Australian Holy Spirit come on as the teen coming from come on give me a good hand are you hearing me I close with one final story and when I was in Sydney I was commissioned for the city campus which was then Christian Life Center Sydney to find a new building there's a lot of pressure because we've been looking for a long time and there was a season of time we needed to get this new building finally we found a building that would work and I found myself in the building around a table with two other people from the church and three real-estate agents and they just looked at me and they said what do you think about building we said well I think it'll work and yet there was something in me that was a bit of a disquiet and I looked at them and they said to me well this is the conditions you need to make a decision now otherwise it's off the table I looked at those two that were with me and they said what's a good building but in my heart it was the big building they make pens I didn't realize but it was in the roughest street of Redfern at the time and I don't if we had a church there would have been very dangerous back then I don't know what it's like now for people to come into church I didn't know any of that naturally but the Holy Spirit really put this unease and I said well if you're saying it's off the table I can't make that decision now so if it's off the table we walk away it was kind of like everything was saying the opposite but I was hearing something here we are so many years on in New Zealand and we've just secured five acres in Auckland and I didn't realize it two months after we had secured the property which was a whole lot of miracles one of the big buildings on the site the property was owned by Bicky and I felt like I'd say you didn't even see it but I just wanted to remind you that if you say no when I say no I'll say yes when you say yes that if you're led by the Holy Spirit there is a supernatural flow come on I don't know about you I don't know what campus you're in I don't know if you're online Hillsong channel out in the country this morning but how many need to know the Holy Spirit is with us come on I'm going to ask every person everybody that's hearing me everybody that's seeing me today if you go I'm in a situation where I need the Holy Spirit to step into right across Australia right up into Bali again as we said on the Hillsong channel online whatever it is just standing your feet right now come on I want you to stand cuz I haven't come here just to preach another message I I'm here to say hey come on there's something I need the Holy Spirit and I'm asking him I'm accepting I'm blind I'm not gonna try and work it out I'm not gonna try I'm you're just gonna say Holy Spirit I need your breath I'm gonna create time gonna go to your word I'm gonna be obedient whatever you ask I'm gonna be obedient cuz I want to pray for your father I pray for every person right now this is a moment this is a time where you're here and I pray that you'd meet us and that you'd come face-to-face this would be a day when something shifts because we're gonna become more reliant on you thank you you're with us thank you you're in us thank you you're our guide thank you we can trust you lead us we pray in the name of Jesus amen I want everybody to stand come on everywhere let's stand if you're not standing can I do one final thing before I go I pass the meeting on we're gonna sing I love this I get to pray for you if you feel like well hey Paul I've walked with God but you know my honest reality is I've stuffed up can I encourage you that God knew and knows everything about it but it's not a God that judges you he's a God that loves you and the whole story of Christianity is that God never condemns he always provides a pathway of forgiveness you can be a believer in God but if you live with habitual sin and compromise you live outside of the experience of his presence he doesn't stop loving you like any great father or mother would do but the way back is to say God I'm sorry and you might go but you know I've tried to get it right will it work this time it'll only work if you allow the Holy Spirit in on the equation but I want to pray for you baby you've never given your life to Christ come on any campus everybody watching you've never said yes to Jesus I was five years of all age when I made that decision and I felt God touch me Christianity is not a religion it's not about signing up to a church you'll need to find a good church home to grow as a Christian but it's about that God loves you he wants to forgive your sins so you can know him come on I'm not taking long I want every head bowed right across I'm gonna ask you to do something if you say Paul would you include me in a prayer just where I'm standing cuz today I'm coming home I'm getting right with God or Paul I'm giving my life to Jesus for the very first time we're with you we're on your side it happens all over the place every week people are finding God come on if that's you right now lift your hand up nice and high and apologetically unapologetically lifted up high just say god that's me fantastic don't put it down just lift it up for a moment just say God Here I am I'm coming home I'm getting right with you and we're gonna pray together we're gonna believe the god of miracles as we worship to intervene hands going up and all the campuses hands everywhere where people are saying yes to gotten today God we thank you that you're the god of greatness today we ask you to forgive our sin to come into our lives today we decide the past won't rule us but we accept your forgiveness and we repent we turn around and we make you our Lord and Savior in Jesus name come on can we give God some praise for every miracle every miracle and as we sing you know I wanna just one more thing tonight if you can be in church really I'm gonna go on from the here and that decision so important because there is an eternity I'm gonna preach about eternity I'm gonna talk about what eternity really has in store and the challenge of eternity and the wonder of eternity and I tell you what have you got friends that have never been a church let them hear that there is an eternity they get to choose and what that looks like even for Christians is a little different to what we think it is so let's believe God for a great night in church amen come on let's sing with worship and just let your heart be lift into God give him all the praise that you can in Jesus name Amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we see [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and that's our pray Holy Spirit we're desperate for touch from heaven and lord I just thank you that this week you'd help us to be led by you and the reality of your presence would be evident to every person law in Jesus name amen amen amen I think we should want to haze together and think Oh [Music] before you go anywhere hey guys thank you thank you thank you for staying to the end it really makes such a big difference and we always finish on time but look if you made a decision to ask Jesus into your life or maybe you know what you you thought I need to but but you didn't in that moment it's not too late even if you're watching online what we'd love to do is we'd love to give you this Bible as a gift if you're watching online and you made a decision for Jesus or want to know more it's just Hillsong calm forward-slash Jesus for everyone here we'd love to put this Bible in your hand and whether you pray that prayer thought I should have we want to give it to as a gift so all the exits everywhere all the exits everywhere there's people waving this Bible around go them say hey I prayed that prayer and we're loved we'd love to get this Bible to you which would be really really cool and on the back there's a car that says what's my next step and look maybe you would need to get connected in the church life to think it how do I do that Bobby talked about connect groups and being part of a small group in the life of the church then in the foyers the stands and talked about getting involved and how you can be involved we'd love to help you with that we've got people there for that maybe you're new and visiting we would love for you to have coffee on us around at the Westin which is just surround the back of us around the corner there please come would love to say g'day but I want to pray for you I want to believe God with you don't forget Paul's books they're out there as well Paul thank you honestly mo that was a brilliant [Music] [Applause] who's looking forward to tonight on eternity I'm really excited about it you know Pino I've been a pastor for a long time and I'm actually excited we talk a lot about what we have what's happening here but not much about what's happening there so hey bring some friends who'd be awesome they will get saved tonight but I want to pray and believe God with you for the week that's ahead it's a father I thank you for each and every person and Holy Spirit again we just lean into you this week speak to us lead us and lord I thank you as we go we go knowing that your grace your favor your blessing has gone before us bless your people Lord in Jesus name published Church will see to know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it makes a big penis [Music] I hope to see you back tonight be blessed

Channel: Hillsong Church

Views: 19,067

Rating: 4.8592377 out of 5

Keywords: jesus, hillsong, praise, worship, Paul De Jong

Id: 6Q2lDO1c5w4

Length: 82min 9sec (4929 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 20 2018