Hillsong Church - Surviving and Thriving

today come on let me see put your hands up all right we'll sing this together and we have [Music] you in [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] five see that you [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] we love you thank you for your life for God thank you Jesus thank you for your love it was just three words but it ain't [Music] just a childlike truth that comes to [Music] my first bread to the I need to know is this age [Music] jeez [Music] [Music] they say jeez [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] just three days come on church a change [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] first love me Jesus with arms held high lord I give my no we found in Christ in your love for with for in your crazy eyes the greatest romance love of God we signal again [Music] enjoy for [Music] in your grace [Music] my [Music] second chronicles chapter 4 7 verse 14 it says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways I will hear from heaven and I'll forgive their sin and I'll hear their land and in the next verse it says my eyes and ears will be attentive to the prayers offered in this place Church this morning he's attentive to our prayers and Jesus gave us a prayer to pray in his name the Lord's Prayer and it's a prayer of comission and a prayer of mission and what's beautiful is that we don't need to pray it in our own strength or believe that we're the ones to make it happen but we just pray in Jesus name and when we pray in Jesus name we are invoking the power of heaven when we pray in Jesus name we are invoking the name that is stronger than anything that is strong we are invoking the name that through heaven and earth were made we are invoking the name we are invoking the name that has no rival so this morning church as we pray the Lord's Prayer together in Jesus name would we stand in that authority in that confidence amen amen come on let's sing this together [Music] father heaven holy is your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven [Music] lead us [Music] [Music] [Music] see small [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we do want to say thank you and Jesus you have no rival you are the Almighty God and father I think of everyone gathered here and those Father that are watching on mine but I don't believe anyone's watching or here by accident but I believe you love that father there's an open heaven over their lives and Lord that today though that you'll arrest our hearts that you would have your way father in Jesus name Amen amen welcome to church welcome to church and if you're watching was so thankful then hey you're just part of the service okay you're part of the service so that's so good look you know in my hand I'm holding a whole lot of prayer requests you know people that have again that have been watching online and email us and say can you please pray many people here in the room have put in prayer requests saying look we need miracles we need breakthroughs and you know we're gonna pray for them there's a whole lot of glue forms as well they're people that are puttin friends and family who they want them to know Jesus like they know that right and you know what we're gonna pray for that but a lot to pray for especially in since last weekend who knows we have a new prime minister in Australia so what we want to do we want to do what the Bible says we want to lift up our government to God and pray for God's blessing and God's wisdom and God's favor amen and so come on if you need a miracle you lift up your hand but if you want to join us you reach out your hand and we're gonna pray together father we thank you in Jesus name firstly Lord we thank you for the rain father we prayed and we know when you've caused the terrain and we keep we need the droughts broken father we've lift up our new prime minister father we pray like you said peace in our land father that you'd bring wisdom and Gardens not just ahem but father ride across our parliament and father we lift up every prayer request law you see every hand writes to you and we declare that in Jesus name father your will would be done father your kingdom would come then you would bring miracle turnaround because your name is above every name so come on we declare [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] like I said great to have you specially if you're newer visiting and actually you've come on a really cool cool Sunday maybe that's why you're here is because we've got baby dedications this morning and and I'm gonna ask people who are dedicating their their children start to come up on the stage now listen if you're the official family photographer there's a lot of pressure a lot of pressure but we've got our reserved front row for you so coming to make sure you get some good photos and as people come up what do you say hide someone tell them haters you've gotten better looking since last week get to know them maybe invite them for a coffee afterwards which would be really cool well I think everyone's out when you grab a seat grab a seat so I think before we do anything else we should actually meet everyone we're going to be dedicating and so here we have mafia mafia might wanna just Marva is sleeping there so we have dedicate more via which is pretty cool and this is Camila hello Camilla you can wake up that's also fantastic fantastic and here we have how do you say alehrer le era hello did you just do a hair like five minutes before you left this morning check a hair out guys she looks so cute look at you you look so beautiful yes yes and here we have a little handsome Harry who's who we got here Israel Czech Israeli our guys bowtie and everything hey you're the man look at oh no socks and rolled-up cheese say you are cool hey you are cool and here we have Alina hello Alina look at you sweet huh yes so beautiful beautiful and Andreas hey mate yes he's shot ladies not shy hey all right and little baby Sugar Ray Hey [Applause] Sugar Ray sugar ray have a year sugar ray heavy and you're gonna be a boxer mate when you grow up hey yeah look at you how old how old is he is one yeah I thought he was one when I saw him that is so awesome hey look this is a big deal and you guys know this is a big deal because what we're doing is well what these guys are doing what we're gonna do together as a family is they recognize that there Charles don't knock soon but the Bible says that before the foundation of the world God had chosen them and so they these guys were born right on time in the plan and the purpose of God and what we want to do with you is we want to dedicate them to the Lord with you and we want to believe that the purposes and the plans that God has for them that God will be faithful and and everything that God has installed for them that is gonna take place and so we want to pray and believe together amen so let's do that together church why don't we stand I'm gonna ask Kali to pray and let's dedicate each of these guys to the Lord it's all pray together Church Lord we thank you for every single individual life that's represented here every single child is important to you we thank you for the blessing that they are to these families Lord and we thank you that you have a plan and a purpose for every single life represented here and it is good and lord I just pray for wisdom for the parents Lord as they bring up their children in the way that they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it in the mighty name of Jesus bless these families amen amen look one of our pastors has got a vibe or hopefully the first baby Bible that your child will have as well as a certificate to represent the day this important day than being dedicated and straight out of this service we have got a morning tea in the western foyer around the back for you guys and your families and friends come I want to give these guys a hand as they make their way back fantastic awesome how cool hey and Spain look up your family and friends please please if this is your first time just pretend you've been coming always okay because what do you take a seat well it's actually quite fitting that we actually dedicated babies this weekend because who knows what next weekend is it's Father's Day that's right Father's Day Hillsong Church we always make the special days special okay so this is what we want it this is what we're doing it for Father's Day firstly Sunday morning Pastor Brian will be speaking and so he'll be speaking right across the whole church for Father's Day which is really cool and then we're gonna take Sunday night and we're moving our Sunday night service and we're moving it to Friday night okay we're moving Sunday night to Friday night we call it Sunday meets Friday start 7:00 p.m. and this year we're really really excited we've got Jenson Franklin who's going to be preaching okay if you've never heard Jenson you don't want to miss Friday night starts at 7:00 look if you work in the city why don't you just working so you can finish a little bit early beat all the traffic back go home get relaxed and come to church Friday night here Jenson we got international food vegetable out the France we've got Korean food we've got Indian food we've got Italian food and lots of other food can remember right there but it's going to be awesome and that's going to be before and after so make a great family night of it which would be really really cool but right now we're going to continue in our worship without giving and Kylie's going to come and encourage us so thanks Carly thanks Sam because Sam's day we'd love to give you a huge welcome to all our visitors and if you are new or visiting please don't feel under any pressure to participate at least part of the service but if you'd like to you of course more than welcome who has found themselves saying if I had more money I would I would buy a new house I would find your car I would go on an overseas trip or if you younger I would buy new clothes lots more clothes that's what my daughters would say I would buy lots of new clothes but you know over the years I found that if I've changed a job because it offers more money or I've had a pay rise that it's not long before my lifestyle has absorbed that money and I'm saying the same statement if I had more money I would be a more generous person I would keep more money to the church I would sponsor another compassion child you know money promises so much yet it always leaves us wanting more but God says if we put him first that's the way that we're meant to live and in Matthew 6 it says don't be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God by giving people who don't know God in the way he works fuss over these things but you know both God and you know how he works steep your life in God reality God initiative God provisions don't worry about missing out you'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met and so this morning as we continue to put God first by bringing our tithes and offerings let's just believe that God will honor us as we continue to put him first amen all right hold your giving in your hand and I'd love to pray for you lord I thank you for a faith filled people that are here this morning I thank you that your word says that as we continue to put you first in every area of our life that all of our human everyday needs will be met and lord I just pray that you will put blessing on your people that you will go with us today and through our week in the mighty name of Jesus and we all said together amen now our host if you'd like to receive our giving it's we turn our attention to the Church news to find out everything that's going on this week Thank You Harry I need you to help me make another video for engaged another video nice I don't think so I'm an artist you know and now blowing up since that first video I can't even show my face anymore what if I don't proper famous what do you mean you can't I can't even go to Taj day anymore do not asking for much all I want is a really simple ad showing people that if they just go to engage we can help them with any next step they want to take people think next steps and engages all four new people but it's not well anyone can take your next step find a connect group volunteer know more about the Bible all these things will be done through engage there you go we just did it what we just did the video yeah might film that there you go don't steal better what do you mean I'll show you [Applause] [Music] here's to the fathers of little ones the fathers of teenagers the father's with empty nest the fathers who are still waiting the fathers who adopted the grandfathers the great grandfathers the stepfathers the spiritual fathers the foster fathers the single fathers the fathers who have lost a child the fathers who are passed on his legacy lives on we honor beauty tuning in to the voice he's calling you to outrageous contain God's eyes dreams he wants to do more in here than you ever could imagine he must have take you further than you could ever go he wants to do in you what you could never do [Applause] [Music] [Applause] proccess been such a dream all of the stuff that we wanted to come see who's actually here if you want to develop a culture of creativity this is definitely the conference be [Music] [Applause] [Music] freedom [Music] well hello everybody welcome to church all those that are connected right across the country great big welcome to you we've got people in every state or nearly every state up there in Queensland here in New South Wales in Victoria Tasmania Western Australia Northern Territory and Bali and Church of the air so wherever you are great big welcome to church this morning and I've got lots of visitors and different people that are attending church today so I just want to take a moment while we're connected because we are going to get on with a service and you've all got different people speaking but we wanted to just relaunch the Hillsong foundation which is a strange theme to even talk about because in many ways it never actually really stops it's just that we throughout the period of the foundation that goes from July 1 all the way through to June 30 and if it follows the fiscal year the financial year and we're able to do incredible things we want this is that period now where we're wanting to inspire people to rejoin and get back involved and perhaps you don't even need to be reinstall ready I sold out kind of had me at hello so to speak and we just want to try and help people to understand a bit about it so there's a brochure that's on your seats you might want to pick that up right now it might be on the floor you might have knocked it onto the floor why don't you grab this you'll see on the screens this one only says our backyard but on the screens we're talking about our home our backyard our world and on the back it talks a bit about the Hillsong foundation and it says here the Hillsong foundation is an avenue for every person who calls Hillsong home to practice the biblical principle of generosity by sowing financial seed into building the church and the lives of individuals families and their communities both locally and globally and over the years we've seen tremendous things take place as a church together I think back to all those years ago you know over 20 years ago 30 years ago when Pastor Brian first started what was then called a hundred kingdom men and it was to get a bunch of business people together with the idea to be inspired to give a million kingdom dollars to see the church expand and to see the work of the Lord go forward and over all those years now there's been far more than a hundred there's men and women there's teenagers young people all kinds of people retirees and it's now really comes into that big umbrella called the Hillsong foundation and so whether it's Keenan builders or Vision impactors or the army of faithful believers this is what we do know more and more every year a whole host of people the greater Bret's of our church family love to be involved in this as we either save up until June 30 next year or we do part payments periodic whatever you want to do and we see great miracles take place there's all kinds of stories you can get all the information there but you know things like our campuses or new church plants or partnering with incredible organizations around the world like pre-emptive love coalition or a21 and vision rescue in India just different things that were able to do as a local church even looking after issues in our own backyards locally I wanted to read a scripture and then I want us to pray and we're gonna stand and just worship for a moment and obviously in different services people are doing different things so you can jump out when you need to but I wanted to make this more than an announcement I want it to be something that is more than rhetoric that we actually prayerfully consider what the Lord would have us do because that's when you feel the adventure that's when you feel the lean in and you feel like God is partnering with us to do something incredible and this is first in Jeremiah I've been thinking about the last couple of weeks and this is well before what's happened in our land with a new prime minister it's in Jeremiah 29 verse 4 since this is what the lord of heaven heavens armies the God of Israel says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem the context is talking about people that the Lord has placed in different cities in different parts of the world and as you think about Hillsong Church right now in Australia where 30 different locations 31 different locations 88 different services around the world we've got Pastor Brian and Bobbie you're doing lots of different Hillsong churches everywhere and you think about where God has scattered thus in different cities and I want this to apply to wherever you are right now in the city that you're in this is what the Lord says build homes and plan to stay plant gardens and eat the food they produce marry and have children then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren I can't wait for that day multiply do not dwindle away it's about church community expanding and growing all across the earth in every city where our campuses are multiplied do not dwindle away and work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you pray to the Lord for it for its welfare will determine your welfare pray to the Lord for the city that he has placed you in because the welfare of the city where God has put you will determine your welfare so I want us to stand right now can we all stand every campus wherever we are take a moment to pray for the city that God has placed us in all across this great nation even up there into Bali pray for the city God has placed us pray for our government and pray for God's peace and prosperity because we are linked to the blessing of the city that God has placed us in so father we thank you for where you've put us for the campus that we're in the city that you've assigned to us and God we do ask right now for your peace and your blessing your prosperity in the city that we're in named that city right now where you are God we ask your blessing your peace on that City we know that our welfare is connected to the city we're in ur so we take a moment Lord and we pray for our government we pray for our Prime Minister we pray for our leaders for the opposition leaders for our cabinet Lord front bench back bench nor we pray for social leaders civil leaders will we pray for people in every sphere of influence we ask that you would bless them that this nation would be blessed that we'd be blessed because we live in this nation and we ask you to bless it it's a father now we ask speak to us what would you have us do how would you have us contribute how can we through the Hillsong Foundation make this next season a great season in Jesus name speak to us we pray in your most holy name Lord amen amen why don't we sing this together you guys got to go you can go but why don't we worship let the Lord speak to us right now [Music] to Oh [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] would you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] where would we be without you Lord we're so grateful we're so grateful for all that you're doing for all that you've done father lead us on in your precious name in Jesus name and everybody said a man well let me add my welcome to church great to have you here especially those that are still connecting with us in a couple of campuses it's great to be in church together and if you do want to get involved in the Hillsong foundation just go take that brochure with you all the information is there Hillsong comm slash foundation and you can figure out how to play your part and be part of it it's gonna be a great journey in front of us when you give someone a high five grab a seat Thank You team good job thank you sir I know we have a lot of visitors here at leastat Hills wherever you are maybe your first time to church a great big welcome to you could into understand that for all of us it can be a little bit intimidating you walking in and thinking what what's going on here but all of us remember when we were first time one time yeah so just relax be at home as as best you can just try and hide settle in to whatever whatever works for you I want to share a simple thought with this today it's Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 verse 35 it's actually a verse that I was that we were studying in my one hour connect this week Hebrews 10 verse 35 it says do so do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord remember the great reward it brings you to not throw away this confident trust you have in the Lord remember the great reward it brings you don't throw away don't throw away this confident trust that word confident trust if you look it up in a Greek dictionary you can get these things on apps on phones these days it's very simple very helpful it does mean confidence it does mean trust it means boldness in fact it's exactly the same word if you have a look in the same chapter but back in verse 19 where it says and so dear brothers and sisters we can boldly we can boldly enter the most heavens most holy place because of the blood of Jesus we can boldly enter not because we're good not because we've done something great but because of what Jesus has done in fact this whole chapter is about experiencing God's kingdom because of and through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ that's what we get to experience we get to be at home in God's presence to be confident with God's kingdom which is why you should be able to come to church any church on the earth and just feel like I'm home not because it's where I live not because I have contributed yet but just because of what Jesus has done the finished work by the way the finished work of Jesus is when he died on the cross rose from the dead and then ascended back to heaven to the throne and because of all that Jesus did every person now has access if they were dressed just trust him which is why the Bible says here in 35 so do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord remember the great reward it brings you I want to speak from the subject this morning surviving and thriving surviving and thriving I've grown up on the beach pretty much my whole life within you know a kilometre or so I've always been able to smell the ocean in fact everywhere we've been my whole life and some some days more than others and some days it doesn't smell that good especially there's lots of seaweed around I'm wondering if there's anybody that's ever run into trouble at the beach anyone ever been a spot of bother at the beach I'm not talking about where the your locked your keys in the car or whether your stuff got flogged I'm like in the water actually in the ocean you actually jumped in the ocean and kind of got stuck in a rip or got stuck and like bit freaky few people are waving other campuses it can be quite troubling y'all got friends who love the beach but hate the sand which is real disturbing because I don't know how you can actually enjoy it fully if you don't like the sand but I've been in situations as it's surf I've been surfing for over thirty thirty years now and so I've been in different situations where it's been intimidating and large large waves that have pounded down and I feel like I was going to lose my life and it's quite disturbing when those things happen and I've been involved in many rescues rescuing people from the surf one time I was at our local beach at Maroubra and right at one of the ends there's well the rocks are the RIP can run out real real fast and I was there with a whole bunch of other people because people were swimming the flags are down in the middle but everyone wants to swim up this north end where it's kind of protected from the wind but people just getting dragged out dragged out and we're just pulling them out one at a time out of this heavy rip that was taking people right out and it can get quite scary can get really scary one time on a Perth I connected this is a story for you guys because Christian who is there in Perth and Nathan and I could go from the city campus we went surfing one time at coogee and it doesn't normally break there's no not normally any waves it could you and we're surfing out off the front of coogee at actually in front of Gordon's Bay off a reef and as we're surfing out there with big big waves because it's the only time it breaks when it's big and I do remember saying to Krishna's we're paddling out I'm thinking it's a lot bigger than I thought it was from the sand from the beach it didn't look as bad as we paddle out we had to jump into the ocean pool to actually get out and as we paddled out these big waves were coming and I said to Christian because he's he and surf it's great but he just hasn't got as much paddle experience and so I said to him in the big waves come if I yell to you don't paddle out and try and get under them just paddle to the side and you can go around the way is because it's really deep and they break he and they don't break over there and no sooner had I said that then these big waves started to come and so I'm you know a Christian now paddle the sideways sideways but he wouldn't paddle sideways for some reason he must have panicked and he tried to follow Nathan and ire and as we paddled out towards these monster waves like up the size of the screen big waves I get under the first wave and as I go I'm going under the wave I look back and there's Krishnan behind us and the wave comes down and lands right on him and I panicked he's panicking obviously the wave all the white waters around and I can't see him and then more waves come that's free waves went through and then finally Nathan and I were frantically looking for Krishan in the white border couldn't seem anywhere and I just thought we've drowned one of our campus pastors like the horror within moments like seconds all these images come on I'm gonna have to talk to Danielle now I'm gonna have to explain this and the kids how do I face the kids all these things going through my mind and up on the cliff up on the headland right up high like 80 feet up on the cliffs people are yelling out and pointing and we're trying to figure out what's happening and then we see Christians stuck in a rip and he'd lost the surfboard it'd been busted it's on the rocks he's stuck in a rip that's gone down we finally get to him we bring him back between our two surfboards and as we're out there stranded in the middle of the ocean so deep I hadn't even thought about sharks yet but we're right out there in the ocean and he's between our boards treading water and to a try and we can't talk they're too far away but we're trying to signal like get get the life go get a jet ski we did get someone to bring a jet skier and so it seemed like forever it was only about 15 minutes of waiting in the water waiting for a jet skier to come but as the jet ski started to make its way from coogee around from lap aru's around the corner comes the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and it makes its way all the way around to us and it's hovering above us with the rescue swimmer about to jump out into the water all the water's kicking up with the wind and Chris Collins between us and he's yelling out oh no and I'm like Christian we're stuck we're stranded he's like it's gonna be too expensive it's funny are you in the middle of drowning what goes through your mind reminds me of another time I was surfing at my local beach at Maroubra and I was out surfing on a break and it was kind of breaking here it was breaking over there there was nothing in the middle because it was deep and I saw a lady stranded in this rip and she was kind of gasping for air and you know too far away to get to her and a wave came so I caught this wave and I was going across this wave as fast as I could not got as much speed as I could but when the wave stopped I kept going and I drove off my board just as she had gone under and pulled her back up so I bring her onto the front of my board and I've got a small surfboard it can't carry two of us so I've got my hand up trying to get the attention of the lifeguards on the beach and she finally looked up splattering she goes what are you doing as I'm trying to get the attention of lifeguards she goes how embarrassing now I didn't fight [Applause] like the crazy things that happen I've been in this situation - so you a video I took this video just a couple of days ago of just our local beach and it doesn't look that big right it's a beautiful day sun shining the beginning of the week and I disguise about to go in there's a couple of people you can see a couple of people out in a moment you'll see them out far right-hand side over there and as you watch the ocean I don't know if you know this this is a little helpful tip right for people who love the beach but don't understand it what's the water what's the white parts of the water what we call the white water and see how it's shifting see how it's it comes in it goes back out and it starts to drag see how it it's like a bit of a shift down a drag one time I surfed at this beach and I paddled in down here and before I even made it at the back I was already 500 meters down the beach so if you don't know what type of drag is happening you don't know about the currents and the undertow as this guy jumps in you can see the water curdling it's starting to pull the water out it's dragging there's shallow banks here there's a deep bank in the middle then it's shallow again the reason it goes white and then green and then white and then green is because the different levels of the sand and when I would train our kids surfing when they were five and seven we'd sit on the beach and they weren't allowed to go in until they could tell me where's the RIP which waves the water running where is it safe and where's it dangerous I taught them that from a very young age and you might think what did I come to church for a surfing lesson well you didn't but the metaphor between the beach and the waves in the ocean and the currents is incredible for life because there are all kinds of currents in our society that when you drum when you jump into the river of life maybe sometimes we don't realize there's a current sweeping us down towards a different thought or there's that it looks great looks shallow but there's an undertow that pulls you out there's gutters you probably don't know that there's gutters that run horizontal to the beach which is where often sharks swim I one time got dragged across the sand as the waves were going out and down into a ditch and put my foot on a shark as it was swimming through the ditch I've got so many experiences and the metaphors for surfing and life and the waves and the currents and the the way things drift and change and it can look great and all of a sudden it changes really really quickly really quickly you can be a beautiful day the clouds come over the wind comes up and if it's a ground swell it can come within minutes it starts to shift and everything can change and it's huge and the difference between surviving and thriving becomes the difference between your thriving is all about living loving it living the dream but surviving becomes all about not dying and there's a huge difference between living and making sure you're not dying so one time right down the south end of this beach I was out surfing with both my kids and it was one of those days where it was started like this and within about an hour the clouds would come over the wind had come up the swell started to come in and I could tell within moments this is getting big too big for them okay for me but too big for the kids and so I said to my son I want you to go and I'm going to take you in now harmony you stay here stay at the back here past the breakers pass the waves I'll come back for you I took Eli in put him on the beach I turned back around and raced back out to get harmony and the waves had already picked up and they'll starting to come in and I couldn't I couldn't get to her and the first one broke right on her back and I'll show you this picture this is a picture of surviving there's her surfboard in three parts my first wave broke on a on a back broke her board into three pieces and so now she's stranded out right at the back of this surf stuck and all she's got to hang on to is that last little part of her board with the fins and the the leash that goes down not enough to kind of keep her afloat and she's out there and I can't get to her and waves are coming and shutting down the whole Bay and I didn't realize but out there surfing with us at the same time was a young guy from our citycam this is aims2 Vida who is a Navy SEALs guy Navy guy rescue swimmer and so he gives her his surfboard he says take mine she jumps on that and because he can he's a Navy guy he swims against her rip right around the corner and comes back into the beach and that's how harmony got saved that day because someone was out there and was able to assist her because this is what happens when you're drowning when you're in the middle of a drowning situation when the life just takes it all in it everything seems like it's coming down and you can't breathe two things happen your panic and the second thing is you look for anything that looks like it can float anything that looks like it can blow and the difference is that picture surviving and she's got a smile on her face that's 35 minutes later she didn't look like that when she first came in and then the next picture this is thriving this is what it's meant to be like that's what Weis is meant to look like you meant to be in your grace zone like loving life loving the gift that talent the time the experience loving work loving marriage relationships loving all these things and sometimes we're surviving but God wants us to thrive in fact as you read through Scripture again and again what you see is God trying to get us to a place where we can thrive sure there's times he has to save us and we may be the seasons where we're in surviving mode but if we can see that where he's trying to take us into thriving mode and I want to show us just simply how these things play out or maybe it may be the best way to do this I'll come down here let me come down I need a ship with somebody we're gonna con sit here to lobby gonna come here I'm gonna ask a couple of questions I'm I set you in the last service two is a strong guy and I wanted to ask a couple of quick I'm gonna get too personal but I want to ask you because you've got I saw you holding your boy as were singing songs I thought he's strong enough to be able to handle this because a little bit illustration and you might need a bit of strength but the thing is it says he's so do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord throw away that word in the great throw away it means to disconnect from something fixed right so don't throw away don't disconnect from things that are fixed in your life because when the currents come and when the Riptide is there and the waves and the wind and storm it's so easy to be kind of thrown by everything in fact in Ephesians chapter 4 it says that be careful of the different winds of teaching and all the undercurrents of society that they try to move you and shape you and take you from one side for the other be wary of that stay true hold on so don't disconnect too quickly from the fixed things in your life okay but have this confident hope there's boldness that if I'm holding on everything's gonna be okay remember the great reward it brings you so here's easy analogy a couple couple of thoughts you guys got a got a car just need to make like I said hold on a speciai yeah you gotta hold on okay so I want you to hold that for me I need someone else's got a hold and I'm gonna hold in need throw this so I'm gonna hold him anyone else Drive a holding you got a holding car okay we're gonna try and get back here you ready bad throw sorry okay we can get a little bit of sorry I want a coat hanger or anybody let's see if we can create a bit of a bit of tension in the rope well oh here we go okay so we've got a car think about the things in our life right the things that try to bring security and comfort in our lives and the Bible says do not throw away this confident trust do not disconnect from things that are fixed okay so we got a car and what about a house you guys renting buying okay trending so let's hold that one someone else maybe someone else is renting okay over here really just trying to create some similarity so that we can Oh bro sorry great bounce beds ro okay someone over here they kept putting it so we're here we go hold that so we're renting what about what about Jo be a job what what industry do you work in we okay say in like public service disabilities anyone else work in public service or like disabilities working with in community and those kind of things anyone else down here okay ready it's going oh she have a bad throw I know okay we're gonna get I'm gonna come down how come they're ready here we go back here thanks man all right so here we go thanks man so this is just to help us it's an analogy right we're just trying to we all have lots of different attachments and there could be a whole lot more and you can add more but think about what is it that God has helped bring into your life so far and what are you attached to because the Bible's saying do not disconnect from things that are fixed do not disconnect do not throw away your confident trust which is to disconnect from things that are fix but hang on a second it says do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord so do not throw away this confident trust in a car in a house in a job no it's it's in the Lord so we need to have we have Jesus Jesus wait hold another one rod steer more Magoo you could be Jesus here we go okay we've got it's coming ah look at that so this rock this this rock can be can be Jesus because he is the rock of all ages right yeah yeah but he's sure and he's steadfast and he's immobile so no matter how much life changes for you Jesus the rock of salvation he doesn't move the Bible says he changes not he's the same yesterday today and forever that's why we trust him now there's a reason these colors are different there's a reason this one's red is because I just wanted to stand out for us today but very often in life we can't see a difference between all the things for holding we're not going to saw which one is that am i hanging on to you Jesus or am i hanging on to much - is it my job is that my house my car is that my success isn't my social media interaction what what is it but we hold on to things right to get us through the stormy seasons of life and when the currents come and when the waves come and when life gets out of control and you feel like you could be drowning what do you hang on to because this is what happens to things when we get in those situations one we panic - you grab anything that looks like it can float and I wonder whether we're holding the right things that will actually float like if I've watched people drowning and if you were to throw them a fridge it ain't gonna help them right you don't give them a car well great things it's theory well straight down you know you don't wait at those times you want things that flow not things that take you to the bottom and what I've noticed in life is that so many of the things we're connected to an attached to they change like I'm trying remember you are you the car you the house the house you're renting you renting cars over there okay so I'll give you you have family got kids were just dedicated one of your children so the kids grow family grows and you're like havin another place so you don't always necessarily stay where you always stayed Julia grew up she was born and grew up in the one house in the one suburb her entire life or obviously it was the one suburb because the house didn't move but what I'm saying is it was the one house her whole life until she married me who grew up in a trailer park and because I grew up in a caravan you just hook it up to the car and go to the next Park right and so when our two worlds collided stuff changed like this all the time a little bit unsettling so what do you do when life changes here or when jobs change or when the you know great getting a car right it's awesome what was it Toyota you said Holden so it's a Holden you know Holden great Australian car by the way but you think it a Holden but how many years before you're Holden's not as lovely as it used to be I mean how many and then you see someone else driving you know I want one of those cars I don't want see these things change they shift but he never shifts he never changes so how do you how do you live this life when everything around you can seem to change hang in there hang in there back a couple more scriptures and then when we're done listen like to throw away it means to disconnect from something fixed great rewards means a payment or a salary wages for what you invest in so you get certain return from a car and as you keep a car too long it doesn't give you much at all it just goes down in value everything in our lives is shifting changing temporary it says here in in Philippians chapter three verse seven and eight this is Paul right the Apostle listen to how he talks about all the things that are attached I once thought these things were valuable but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done yes everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have discarded everything else counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ and become one with him you you count everything else as insignificant now you don't treat it as garbage because we we are grateful for what the Lord has brought into our lives people relationships success jobs opportunities belongings possessions all I think we're grateful but in comparison it must be treated as garbage in comparison in fact that word in the Greek garbage I treated as garbage that word garbage is quite a strong word and it doesn't just mean trash it actually means excrement it's like doggy doo-doo right which you wouldn't pick up would you you can't leave that and so everything that seems to be so important he Oliver he wants to go to the car she wants to sell the car you get a push bike but everything how important are the things that God has actually given you and what what place do they have in our lives because it all comes from him but it can often become more than him and I reckon when we trust in everything that's temporary that's when we go back to survival mode God wants you to thrive and this is how it happens look at this Matthew chapter 6 familiar Matthew chapter 6 verse 3 Jesus said but when you give to someone in need don't let your left hand prop your left hand everybody come on Hobart Perth barley Darwin wherever you are don't don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing don't you let's hand what your right hand is doing if you look that up the left hand is talking about a defense hand and that's the offense hand so that would be like you that's your shield and that's your attack that's your proactivity your right hand you're defending the left in ancient Middle Eastern culture the left hand was the hand that how do we say this we have great bathrooms and sanitary and things these days you go back into those cultures still some today you have to use your hand to clean yourself right after you've relieved yourself well that was the left hand in ancient Middle Eastern culture the left hand is the hand you use to clean yourself after you've relieved yourself so you would never use your left hand to shake someone's hand that's humiliating that's horrible you use the right hand for hospitality and generosity you use the left hand for cleaning yourself okay so this is why they would shame people they're trying to punish they would chop off their right hand so that they had to eat and greet and clean with the wrong hand that's why you don't let the left hand which is the flesh and the human hand you don't let the left hand know what the spirit hand is doing got to keep them separate so here's how we fix this to go from surviving to thriving you fast forward your life slowly what you do is you you make a movie in your mind okay and we go all the way right to the end and we pretend that it's your funerals today and you and I were up there and we're up in the rafters and we're looking down you're not having a conversation were looking down and we're looking at everybody and and Suzi's there and the kids and friends and you know everyone's the church people and everyone's around family and we're watching them talk about you and we're watching them tell funny stories man and everyone's just Diggle know themselves and then we start laughing up there and then we're up then we're looking and we start and you start to go Joel do you know George do you know what was really really important in life I think I put a bit of value in some of the wrong areas cuz I can see now what is most important you know when you on the other end fast forward to the end I can see what's most important so then you what you do is you rewind to the day and you start to disconnect from things that are temporary so that you never let go of what is eternal but you don't let go it's not like you go home now and you give your car away who wants my keys to my house like you just give everything away no it's not what I'm saying it's in comparison to so how do you disconnect from all those things that God gives you so that you never disconnect from him is a you do it you come back to the day and because the right hand is the hand of the Spirit and the left hand is the hand of the flesh human you take everything that's not God everything that God has given you and you transfer it to your left hand so put your car over in your left hand you wouldn't you better put Jesus back in your right hand yeah yeah so what you do is you keep these two things separate God and only God him and all his purpose everything about Jesus in your right hand and everything that it gives you in your left hand and never confuse these don't put them together noting your importance does not come from anything in your left hand you don't get any of your value your significance from anything in this left hand your identity is in your right hand this is your idea is this is who you are here not here that can come and go sometimes it does go sometimes it comes back I once with Jules and I one time lost a whole home deposit through an investment we thought was good with trusted people and it went south and I'm not saying I went to Canberra I'm saying it went bad went south and because we're holding only not the home in this hand but only Jesus when this goes Jesus can bring it back again don't get them confused you're a good man boy put them down put them down let's give it it seemed to come back and join me oh no they're rapping red cord around people's heads I want to only read you one last verses the team are coming back up it's so easy to get these things tangled you know and you put things that really are temporary in the wrong hands in fact Sam Zamora said to me in the break between our services he said the way I like to look at it Joel he goes everything in my left hand open Jesus I'm holding him I'm gonna I'm gonna hold on to Christ and everything else goes into my open hand because it can come and go as God pleases nothing nothing of me belongs here it can come and go but that's a done deal that's closed I mean let me say it this way in in Romans chapter 8 verse 35 can anything ever separate us from Christ love can anything ever separate us from Christ love does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death does God just kind of turn his back on us because we're going through a hard time because of one of the things he gave us is not working out no God does not turn his back on us as the scriptures say for your sake we called every day we're being slaughtered like sheep know despite all these things over whelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us if life is good today thank him if life gets really horrible and hard tomorrow thank him because this everything in my other hand can come and go the Bible says it this way naked you came into this world naked you shall return all I need in this life is Jesus I'm reminded of when Paul the Apostle was going through some challenges and he prayed three times to the Lord he said lord please take this away something there is it he's left-handed Lord please deal with this please take it away and God said no no no my grace is all you need she live out thriving is living it out of this place no matter what happens we can do this season because we have him we have him and I'm convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love neither death nor life neither Angels nor demons neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of Hell can separate us from God's love no power in the sky above or in the earth below indeed nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord he's got you he's got you and his is a love that is relentless I want to suspend for a moment can we all stand together every campus that's joined can we stand and can we for a moment as we've seen this song together maybe maybe do a little bit of an inventory through your life what is it you know often we get disappointed at the things that mean too much to us what is it that's a big deal in your life what is it that is so valuable what is it that's important what is it that you feel like you can't do without why not me right now why don't we shift those things across to the left hand you might even want to stand with your left hand open and your right hand closed say Jesus I just want you now he will bring all kinds of great things in your life and when he brings them in that so that he can use them the way he wants through but Jesus you're all I need you're the anchor of my soul the hope of God that's all I actually need I know because I have this confident trust in you I will not disconnect from you because it brings great rewards that's worship it's allow God to speak to us help us in this moment [Music] my soul [Music] stall [Music] you gave to say and this [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] I want you to think about your situation his word is unfailing keep singing software you guys what is what is it that needs to change how do I get something from the wrong hand get your job across to the left hand get your family across but even even the worry the anxiety of loss of regret of mistakes bring it across the lefthand God its own fill it's all here I just want you on a focus on you and just you alone Jesus in my right hands lord help us your name is so much higher Jesus His Word is great the promises assure his word is reliable you can trust him every time my kids come to me with a challenge or a situation even just a story an illustration of the day I always say to them this chapter and verse 2 that this chapter and verse for them may be shown in the Bible where it says that because we can't just search Google for answers we can't just look on social media and hope that we're going to get some insight or some direction what we need to do is know what God says in his word because that's the anchor of our soul that's the surety we have when everything changes around us we have his word [Music] do not disconnect from that thing that is fixed that hope in God remember that it brings great rewards father bless your people today as we navigate this next season of shifting things that seem to have had too much priority in our lives as we take them from our right hand and willingly purposefully put them into our left hand knowing that we still have them we're grateful for them but we're a little bit more open handed with them we say Lord you've given us this help me to use it for your glory grateful that you've given it to me Lord but nothing of my identity is found in this this is not who I am I am NOT my success I'm not my job title I am not my house I'm not my car I'm not my friends I am all you say I am Jesus I am all you say I am amen it's the kind of message that Connor doesn't finish right now takes the next days and weeks to keep thinking through praying through journaling I I think the Lord will keep speaking to us and he'll go you'll keep seeing that right hand left hand right hand left hand and let's take it out of the right hand put all those things in the left hand so that all that's left is Jesus [Music] can I pray one last prayer for people while we all still connected different campuses people that are visiting with us maybe you've been a few times before I would like us to pray a prayer today to ask Jesus to come into our life to commit your life to God hand it over to God we got that well maybe you know the reason it was read is just so that it stands out but I mean it's also read because it signifies the the blood of Jesus it's only Jesus that saves us our occupation does not do that our belongings do not do that our bank account does not do that our friends our social construct none of those things save us they don't help us and oftentimes in life we are all testimony to this that when we do lean on those things sometimes they cannot actually help the soul they can't fix what's deep down on the inside people can comfort they can empathize they can sympathize but only Jesus saves and maybe yeren a [Music] surviving mode right now feel like drowning I'm talking spiritually we can deal with all the other things later but just spiritually the only way that connect with God is through Jesus it's not even church attendance it's not even Bible reading it's not even giving sums of money to the church that's not what connects you to God what connects you to God is the work of the cross Jesus dying for all of us and all of us saying yes to Jesus so we're gonna pray a prayer our whole church will pray this prayer out loud I'll pray it slowly so that you can pray along with us and if you're with us today and you want to give your life to Jesus you want to surrender to him would you pray this prayer with us as we all pray it outloud would you pray this in every campus in Perth in Hobart in Darwin barley wherever you are pray this with us when we close our eyes and bow our heads in prayer say this out loud say Jesus come on every campus say Jesus I believe that you're the son of God I believe that you died on the cross for me I believe that you rose from the dead so that I could have your power to live a life for you so come into my life Jesus forgive me of all my sins give me a brand-new start and help me live for you all the days of my life now while your eyes are still closed every campus if that was you you prayed that prayer with us if you joined us and you prayed that prayer you can just give us a wave just give me a wave wherever you are wherever you're standing just give us a wave it's wonderful give us a way everything yeah I prayed that prayer wherever you are in other campuses someone at your campus passes up the front just give them a wave we want to help you we're gonna help in any way we can okay why don't you all look up for a second we want to get a Bible to you it looks like this and it's inside this sleeve here and there's a card on the back it says what is your next step and there's a bunch of examples but the best way to get one of these is on your way out of church in a few minutes time we're going to sing that song again but when you go out you'll see out in the foyers you'll see these pop-up stands or desks like next steps desks and different areas like that you'll see some of the Bible pick up areas and you'll see team around there they're just waiting to have a conversation with you and all we want you to do is walk up and get one of these Bibles if you're visiting with us walk up and just say something like I prayed that prayer at the end can I get one of those free Bibles you won't even have to get much out because they're waiting for you I just walk up to the desk but if you just give us five minutes before you pick up your kids before you go and grab a cuppa before you get in your car just give us five minutes just chat to the team just five minutes four or five minutes because there's all kinds of things you can do next but just let them help you with maybe just one thing just one or two things just real simple just help point you in the right direction and it would be really awesome yeah thanks for being in church today Sam campus pastors toy yours [Music] come on that's awesome that's fantastic until le hey mate I'm really believe in tomorrow morning might be sore at all you took it for the team a well fantastic and hey look just before we go and even if you're watching a lot I want to pray for you I want to believe for the week that's ahead but can everyone just say tonight tonight tonight is the crescendo it's the finale of Sunday Night Live okay so a huge highlight for us in August where we basically took turn the whole platform upside down and really present the gospel in a powerful fun practical way so it's a great opportunity to be inviting people 4:30 for us here at Hills in the epicenter 5:30 here which would be awesome the other thing look if you are new and you actually want to know more about church you've been coming a long time and you want to take that next step maybe find a connect group or farm we serve we've got something called engage straight after this service and Brent our service pastor his team will be running that only goes for a very short time but go and talk to us we'd love to help you do that can I pray for you let me believe for the week that's ahead and look at if you are watching and you're in Sydney why don't you come and join us one Sunday you can get on and let us know through concierge through the website we'd love to host you but let me pray for you father I want to say thank you father thank you very one here those that have been watching Lord vite livestream as we go this week we go holding onto Jesus may we have opportunity to share our hope and father I thank you that you've gone before your people father with blessing and favor your protection father your breakthrough and lord I thank you for it in Jesus amen amen amen god bless you see tonight [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we should be in the church we love you and we'll see back here tonight

Channel: Hillsong Church

Views: 26,080

Rating: 4.8264842 out of 5

Keywords: jesus, hillsong, praise, worship, Joel A'Bell

Id: Xkk8Z8vt-Po

Length: 89min 31sec (5371 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 25 2018