Hillsong Church - The Disciplines of Decrease

[Music] singing God this morning you wanna wake you did come on let's step in [Music] come on every books the cross [Music] together [Music] Oh [Music] my whole to wanna base or bother I'm [Music] crunching [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh meseta [Music] come on one more time we see [Music] forgive oh this round him for thing [Music] [Music] my just stitch [Music] - [Music] consumes [Music] till the ah [Music] [Music] it was [Music] sure [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] it was just ah [Applause] when this [Music] rose [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so what can we start to figure this small you know these lovers Jesus there you go you're good to you are [Music] - I - I so I am your father so you are who you are [Music] by you is who I am - I am - I am your good father [Music] - eye to eye come on one more time [Music] - are you sure - yeah see [Music] [Music] thank you go [Music] he was there before you know as honestly as I know broken by the days Comber spirit of my soul to arise [Music] a trauma base rusty come on everyone [Music] my child because [Music] my [Music] it's Ryerson [Music] [Music] [Music] ha [Music] [Applause] is all [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Jesus [Music] see [Music] come on [Music] [Applause] stronger than Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] father we just thank you for your presence in this place today and Lord we thank you that you are Emmanuel God with us God with us in all the details and all the other other things that matter Lord you are walking with us right now thank you for your presence thank you that we're gathered here at the start of a brand new week when Lord you know you know everything that's a here and you have a way through the big welcome to Hillsong Church this morning here at Hills and people watching online massive welcome to you who's so grateful to have you in church this morning are you good I know you've all had time for a bit of a sleep in but at our 8 a.m. service this morning when we came in early it was one degree has it warmed up outside somewhat somewhat great to have you in church this morning and like I've said welcome to everyone watching online Wow the second half of the year has come this is an important Sunday it's a great Sunday we've got so much to be grateful for today with the conference in a few moments we'll be thinking our volunteers but I'm excited about today because over our year we've had this this declaration that there is more and we're believing for a whole lot more of God's more on our life can you say Amen my hand I've got prayer requests this morning and the great thing is there's there's three great prayer requests reports somebody has been absolutely cleared of cancer and we're grateful to God in the last service someone was thanking God for 65 years of marriage Wow and a little nine-year-old a little nine-year-old that we have been praying for has come out of a coma so can we give God some praise the answered prayer and as always as always in church family there are the hires and there are the lows there in the mountaintops and the valleys and there are people praying for job for comfort from a suicide and a family for healing the visas and also as a church family this morning there's two very precious families in our church Lindley and Sarah Joyner this week tragically have experienced great loss in their family and literally and Sarah we are praying for you and as a church we love you and we're gonna walk this journey with you and then of course there is the Phoebe family olive and Joel here today this week they lost Mel Holly's husband Mel very suddenly went to be home with Jesus and it's a great loss as a church a great loss to you as a family you just need to be assured of our love our church loves mel deeply and he'll be deeply missed and we want to say thank you for sharing your husband and sharing your dad with us because he's left a great great deposit he's home with the lord but the loss is very very real so let's stretch out our hands and our hearts because all of these people all of these families they matter come on church I need you to rally and pray amen father this morning we thank you that Lord you are constant and you were all time Lord leading us father and Lord where there are miracles needed where jobs are needed where breakthrough is needed where healing is needed father today Lord we thank you that you are able to extend your mighty arm and do great works today we pray for nothing short of miracles and father we thank you that you are the God of all comfort a comfort that surpasses understanding through our precious church families this morning and that's what we asked for today that Lord in the days and your comfort would be overwhelmingly so real of Jesus and you say Amen this morning amen and I amen and the service for mail will be next Saturday morning at 10:30 where there will be a lot to be celebrated from this incredibly generous pastor and friend to us all so I love to you today all righty I think it'd be really cool if you just took a moment nearby didn't just go hey but welcome somebody genuinely to church shake their hand maybe give us all a hug get to know somebody that you don't know [Music] all righty and please be keeping Pastor Brian and Bobbie and all of our team in your prayers because while still song conference for us in Australia has ended they are only a third of the way through so that we have Hillsong conference in Europe happening in London in the coming week and then they go on to New York for Hillsong conference in the USA so lots happening and lots to keep them in our prayers all right Sam Sam's gonna encourage us around our giving this morning thanks Donna look if you're visiting this part of the services where people gave the opportunity to to give and so on the screens is the different ways that people do that so many of you give online during the week and so huge big thank you but also to look if it is your first time or maybe you're visiting with us please don't feel like you're under any pressure our church that I have two churches I want to or you can if you like but there's no pressure hey I want to encourage you quickly just before we give in Matthew chapter 6 verse 21 there's a very enlightening scripture and it said Jesus says wherever your treasure is wherever your treasure is there the desires of your heart will be also in other words your treasure follows your heart and your heart determines what you treasure I saw a photo the other day and I'm going to put it up there because I it gives you a glimpse into my heart any moment no that's not it there's nothing in my heart and set my wife Ballu thanks thanks thanks fellow it's funny you know finance because money actually doesn't care how you spend it I've never had an argument with a $20 note I've had an argument over my wife what I'm gonna do with the $20 note but I've never had an argument with a $20 note because money doesn't care how you spend it so why the big deal when it comes to this moment when it comes to church life you know what when people don't treasure God's house they don't understand what people would do this but when you treasure God's house and you treasure God's work and you know what Jesus has done in your life and you're wanting other people to understand and experience what you have then it's not a big deal to honor God and put him first with your finance Jesus said whatever you treasure there your heart will be also amen so hey let me pray for you let me believe God with you as we receive our giving father I want to say thank you so much Lord you're faithful and for us we're just responding out of everything you've done in our own lives in and that Jesus radically radically changed us and we want to say thank you for that in Jesus name Amen host if you like to host us that would be fantastic and as they do I watch the screens because we've tried to take a snapshot of everything that happened at Hillsong conference which was just a week ago so check out the screens is the more the watchmaker is at work to decide balance creation in this image there is more if you're still living under the condemnation of bondage of sin look to Jesus look at the Grace and the goodness which is the glory of God there is more you do belong in your sphere you are graced you are gifted and you are called to that speak the best gift we can give someone else is a better ask what's most powerful for all of us is if we change before we have to we got to begin to realize we're in the midst of this incredible god-breathed miracle you can turn things around you can turn people around with the right words over the years we've seen over 74,000 children's sponsor do not leave them fall and we have to pick up these children yeah honestly we couldn't be more proud of years of church and the contribution you've made talk the church how to have fun and make worship fun but also know how to get serious with God is an inspiration God gives you more he can do it through a language he can do it through the outpouring of his spirit he taps into a part of you that can actually receive what God has for us house god is love it isn't just what he does it's who he I believe the church needs to take back ownership of love my beautiful husband here has something that he wants to give to you that you have something to sew into an abyss into the life of another person just they'll be please sit down to stand explain your fashion today you have to be able to see the ankle yeah ankles are pretty provocative so gotta have those out I want to thank Judy Smith for the outfit that I'm wearing tonight I was very conservative that dance you did yesterday taken away need to wake up with a bit of a hug came this morning person XE a little hard I could see something moving but uh what a chicken how long have you been dancing for 20 years only 10 years old amazing young and free conference high school student come here unified under the one name of Jesus I let you sit down I'm gonna let you walk back you stay right here I'm afraid but you're right too I came to announce grace is contagious and that's why I don't have to be ashamed or afraid to come into his presence with my issues and come before him never be another new in the history of the world and so stop minimizing who you are because perhaps your gift looks different he wants to give me more that's a new beginning today is a stake in the ground history is made it's the beginning not an end beginning of a whole new day there is more there is more come on we should really give God honor come on why do we put our kids together what an amazing conference over 20,000 people gathered together in the largest auditorium that our country has and still we could have put more people in it really is part of a miracle and without God obviously it would never happen but the other part of conference and the bit where we want to just focus on right now is that over 4700 volunteers gave their time took holidays had to help make conference have and we're so thankful and what we'd love to do what we love to do we just like to pick one on behalf of many and just to really honor and where is GAF law gavel or come up here you go come on haha yes this guy [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this guy can I say this guy is the real deal and not just conference but week in week out but we want to honor you especially because the way you work so hard a conference and and we just love you and we appreciate everything you've done so there's a box of chocolates don't let anyone take those and a Bible so on behalf of all the volunteers we want to say thank you as well [Applause] all right you can be seated and you'll see it on Church news and there's a brochure on your seats to take home but tonight that fantastic deal for conference registrations finishes at midnight tonight so make sure you take advantage of that the best savings that you'll get we're in for a treat this morning Joe LaBelle is bringing the word in a moment and so an awesome word it's a fantastic word for us this morning but we're gonna check out church news really quick then we're going to receive the word [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you know Jesus there where two or three are gathered together together is wanting to assemble together many assemble but when you're jetted someone gathers you where two or three are gathered together in my name fair I am this here in our myths so just for a while let's acknowledge the name that's above every name regardless of where you come from what's the name of the church do you belong to your denomination we're all gathered under one name one soul under one shepherd and his name is [Music] everyone who believes the price is justified Nik righteous from all things it is the power of God and God takes up residence in you it is expected for impossibilities to be defeated [Music] if you're hurting if you're broken all you need is just as little bit of a what Jesus did is he level the playing field of us Oshin way crashing it every snowflake falling down from heaven every flower that blooms it's all in this grand symphony of God's creation and he's in the great is our God in the middle of all of that God wants your voice all right it's great to be linking this morning from Hills here to our church family over in Bali so it'd be cool if we said hello and Bali's said hi back but right now we're gonna get ready to receive the word and in our church we love the people that bring God's Word and have prepared and we love God's Word so in Bali and here at Hills let's stand together and welcome pastor Joel Abell as he brings God's Word this morning come on let's really welcome Joel [Music] the lovely Donna Crouch did so well at Hillsong conference didn't she [Applause] it's brilliant welcome to church everybody great to have you with us Salima buggy all those in Bali great to have you with us as well Telemachus ee it's awesome it's good to be here good to be in church together how great job well done as I would say but goose grab a seat grab a seat thanks team goose not mumbles John chapter three John chapter three there's a passage here about John the Baptist who was the forerunner who would announce Jesus the Messiah they were baptizing people John baptized people in the Jordan lots of people would come to him to be baptized to get ready to follow Christ and it says here in verse 25 an argument then developed between John's disciples and a particular Jewish man about baptism we are baptizing people tonight but we will not be arguing about it so they went to John and asked him teacher are you aware that the one capital o one talking about Jesus the Messiah are you aware that the one you told us about at the crossing place he's now baptizing everyone with larger crowds than yours ah thank you thanks for letting me know that it's great to know we're being outdone by people are flocking to him who needs enemies when you got friends like this and in my Bible you probably can't see it on the screens but in my Bible it's in italics it says what do you think about that there's more people lining up for Jesus to baptize them than the crowds you're getting what do you think about that what do you think about that hey which is the ultimate example of today's social media challenge I was just looking through the feed this morning and I noticed that there's a whole lot more people following Magoo than you what do you think about that John answered them a person cannot receive even one thing unless God bestows it you heard me tell you before that I am NOT the Messiah I'm just an order little boy but certainly I am the messenger sent ahead of him he is the bridegroom and the bride belongs to him I am the friend of the bridegroom who stands nearby and listens with great joy to the bridegroom's voice and because of his words because of his words my joy is complete and overflows so it's necessary for him to increase and for me to be diminished I like it in the New King James Version it is right that he increases I must decrease he must increase but I must decrease if you want a title for this message today it is the disciplines of decrease the disciplines of decrease have you heard the saying less is more there's a there's a way where you could actually do a whole lot more with less if if you filled your life too much with too much you won't get as much done if there's too much but if you would get rid of some things and maybe prune some things in your life you'll find that you will be able to do a whole lot more with less I don't want the next part of my life the next season in my life to be two miles wide and two inches deep I'd much rather it be two two inches wide and two miles deep I don't want to do a whole lot of things in an average way I would rather do few things really really really well and I think as you do get older in life you start to worry less about what people think and you start to become more true to who you meant to be and so I want to talk about the disciplines of decreased because the image I get in my mind is someone who's driving a car you mentioned that the car in front of you who's driving and they're doing the same speed limit as you but they've got their brake lights on which tells me one thing that person drives with one foot on the accelerator and the other foot on the brake you've seen people like that you've seen people drive their car they're actually going quite fast in traffic with you keeping up but their brake lights are on they got their foot on the brake at the same time what's dangerous about that is if that person actually does need to stop we don't know because their brake lights already on and I feel like sometimes we're trying to get more speed and more traction out of our life we're trying to put the right things in and put our foot on the gas but we haven't realized that our foots also on the brake and sometimes you would be much better to stop trying to increase the acceleration but just take your foot off the brake sometimes you can do more with less there's a great scripture talks about that sin 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 7 says you do well and excel in every respect and I want you to think about these six things and how you're going with them how how well are you going are you excelling in these six different areas because I believe the Bible wants us to I think God wants us to he wants you to excel he wants you to live your best life now he said back at Jesus said back in John chapter 10 in verse 10 the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy but I have come that you might have a rich and satisfying life so if we can put these things into practice we will live a great satisfying life we'll be able to excel in all these areas take a look number one unstoppable faith in powerful preaching revelation knowledge passionate devotion sharing the love and grace filled generosity six different things that we can excel in which one are you doing best at which one would you be excelling in which one do you need to work on well I want to do something a little bit more creative with this thought today but it's highly practical what I want to do is look at not so much what more do you have to do we're talking about the disciplines of decrease in the spirit of this year we've seem that there is more why the earth would we talk about decreasing some things that we're trying to become more because I think if you can take your foot off the brake you will find more so in regard to all these six different things let's look at what areas we can take our foot off the brake and experience more number one unstoppable faith how on earth do experience more unstoppable faith who is the person in your mind when I say unstoppable faith that come straight to mine what type of personality what type of person I know if we wanted anyone to pray right now people would probably think straightaway Sam tomorrow Sam tomorrow takes every opportunity to pray he'll pray even if there's nothing to pray about Sam's always praying about something he's always praying and I love standing next to Sam because he's always engaged he's always praying it's an unstoppable faith maybe that was the the highlights real and you started to see at Hillsong conference if people like Judas Smith or Donna Crouch or some of these people maybe it's and people like Reinhardt Bonnke who are the who is that the people that you think about have got unstoppable faith because we often disqualify ourselves because we compare ourselves with people who look like they've got great faith Matthew chapter 17 verse 20 the passage the context of this is there was a man possessed by a devil and the disciples were trying to cast out the devil trying to do an exorcist with this person that was possessed and it wasn't coming out that the exorcism was not successful Jesus shows up cast the devil out and the disciples say why couldn't we cast out the devil and this is the response from Jesus he told them it was because of your lack of faith I promise you if you have faith inside of you no bigger than the size of a small mustard seed someone say small spall mustard seed you can say to this mountain move away from here and go over there and you will see it move there is nothing you couldn't do how big does your faith need to be to tell a mountain to get up and move to the other side how big does it have to be Jesus gives us clarity here your faith can be as small as a mustard seed which back in those times was the smallest of garden seeds herb seeds that would become big big giant plants you only need faith as small as a mustard seed yet we look around and we disqualify ourselves because we don't have great faith like somebody else but I'll tell you what we've got to do we've got our foot on the brake and that brake is called out and what we need to do is learn the discipline of decreasing down if you could decrease your doubt you would see that the small faith you have is all you need to get great things done would you be willing to take your foot off the brake would you be willing to decrease your faith to decrease your doubt don't decrease your faith but would you be willing to take your foot off the brake because we all think we have to do more try hard and put more acceleration more more strength into faith when often all we need to do you only need a little bit of faith you could have decreased you down in in English we're reading this I don't know it's all what it is in bahasa but we're reading it in English it says it was because of your lack of faith and Jesus said if you had faith no bigger than the size of a small mustard seed both those words in English are the word faith but in Greek they're different words the second word when Jesus said if you had faith as small as a mustard seed is the word pissed us in Greek which means this certainty the surety this I'm absolutely convinced that God can actually do this the first word faith in the Greek is a different greek word it's a leg opposite ear which means you are actually concerned or troubled about believing you're struggling to have that confident assurance which is actually talking it's describing doubt when we read scriptures like this I don't know if you've done this often I used to think that Jesus was quite upset with the disciples so here this would be the tone that I think most Christians would read this passage they're trying to cast out the devil it doesn't come out Jesus cast it out and they say why couldn't we cast out the demon and I think this is the tone that a lot of us would think that Jesus would speak he told them it was because of your lack of faith that's why you couldn't drive it out but if you had faith they were as small as a mustard seed you would've got the job done but when you know Jesus is full of love and compassion for people that the whole reason he came was to lay his life down for all mankind this is the way we should read it when you know him buddy what we should read is then he told them our guys it was because you were doubting that's all I can only need faith as small as a mustard seed you could have got the job done same words different tone and sometimes we disqualify ourselves with this small amount of faith that we've got because we've got the brakes on with down you don't need to be like anybody else up here you don't need to be like anybody on the screens I think you've got enough faith because I needs to be small would you be willing to decrease your doubt and watch what God does just trust him stop second-guessing don't pray one thing and then say a different thing our God we're praying for a miracle and we did you help God but you probably won't do it because you're too busy don't be double-minded decrease your doubt hold on to the tiniest little bit of mustard seed faith you have and watch God do incredible things yeah here's the second one number two powerful preaching powerful preaching how do you get good at powerful preaching and instantly we could mostly most of us could easily fill up we just qualified straight away because we don't want to get up on stage we don't want to hold a microphone one of the greatest fears in life for people is public speaking I never wanted to I was always afraid of a microphone afraid of standing up here I'm an introvert by nature and I used to be shy and now that I'm no longer sure I can stand in front of you but I'm still an introvert the powerful preaching is not so much about what I'm doing right now you don't have to think about certain people and please don't compare yourself tonight we're gonna hear from three powerful preachers we're gonna hear from Paul Callaway we're gonna hear from Carla Carrasco and from JD they're doing a tag team tonight in church so you'll see powerful preaching but can I tell you what preachers louder then what they're going to be doing tonight is their lifestyle off the platform you can try and get up here and speak all kinds of great things but if we cannot live a life that backs it up what is our message really when we we when we read the word preach what we should do is actually use the word proclaim because every believer is meant to be someone who shares good news of Jesus we're all meant to help people find answers in Christ by living a life sir francis of assisi said it well preach the gospel proclaim the message of God tell everyone about the good news of the love of Jesus and if necessary use words so we should live lives big in the love of God and sometimes we're trying to get better and better and better at doing that when all we really have to do is decrease our destructive words I have a friend a close friend who's been a business coach of mine for many many years and he read the dictionary over a decade ago because he was putting an app together to help people with value centered words so he read the dictionary so good on you mate and I started to feel challenged I thought maybe I need to read the dictionary to get a whole lot more better words but I started to realize I don't have to have a better vocabulary just need to make sure I decrease my destructive words because we were created to speak life to one another and you'd be amazed how much you would have a better platform of preaching with your life if we would just decrease destructive words and speak life yeah here's a third one number three number three is revelation knowledge we want more revelation knowledge we want to increase we want to excel in these areas of revelation knowledge proverbs chapter 19 verse 2 says the best way to live is with revelation knowledge for without it you'll grow impatient and run right into error without revelation knowledge you grow impatient and you run right into error revelation knowledge is the knowledge that God reveals it's revealed knowledge it's things that God shares with you that you didn't know a moment ago it could be a word of knowledge it could be a word of prophecy but it's something that God impresses upon your heart that you didn't know before when I was working in the transport industry many many many many many many moons ago I was out on a call one night it was 3 o'clock in the morning and I was on a Weybridge and trying to fix the computer that was jammed up something wrong with it and there was about 57 something big semi-trailer trucks waiting on that for the coal bridge to come clear and everyone's yelling and beeping their horns at and I had no idea how to fix the computer I was learning IT at University I was doing Mis at University and I just started so I'm at work haven't even got through the first week of classes at university so I'm just still learning how to turn the computer on I opened the the the Weybridge door and all of the inside the gaps of the computers are hanging on the door I got no idea I just see lights and flashing things and cords everywhere I've got no clue what to do because that's in about 12 months time in my university degree I'm trying to figure out what to do and the Spirit of Lord tells me to do a few things and push a few things and everything changed and the guys are like that's awesome how'd you fix it and I'm like no that's called revealed knowledge I had no clue what I was doing no clue what I was doing revelation knowledge and God wants to speak to all of us all the time he's always trying to speak to us but you know what we've got our foot on the brake and what we're going to decrease is our dribble we just dribble it could have been so easy to go eyes cuz I'm smart that's how I fixed it yeah but truth is I had no clue what I was doing but we make things up we try and figure out how to look good in front of people how many times have we said things just to fit in said things just to try and belong I was a master in my early years as a Christian to grab cliches from other people and use them in sentences that made no sense at all and the main reason I did it was actually just to fit in my kids are now nearly that they're getting closer and closer to being young adults 19 and 17 this year and when they were kids when they were infants they stood rule they dribbled all the time and it was cute but at this age dribbling not cute not good and one of the things that holds us back from God's revealed knowledge is when we dribble things we don't know we're best off just saying I don't know we've got this big connect group Drive next weekend and we want thousands of you to join connect groups for this next season and we've got lots of people that we would love to become connect group leaders and the beginning of the year my son said to me dad can you teach me how to run a connect group I said sure here's something you seriously need to learn because when you're in a group of other people and they start to ask questions you don't know the answer you're gonna be tempted to make some the app so that you feel like you can fit in don't presume on God if you don't know the answer it's okay to say I don't know and I'll go and find out and come back next week there's a good reason to come back next week I'll let you know I don't know it's okay to say I don't know the it's actually one step closer to God revealing his truth to you when you actually be honest and vulnerable and say I'm not sure I'm not sure maybe for some today it's practicing how to take your foot off that brake where we don't dribble don't say things that we don't understand and don't mean just because we're trying to fit in but wait just wait and so I don't know let God speak to us and then will become even more understanding with what God has the Bible is full of Proverbs great scriptures that say even fools look intelligent if they just shut up let's just be quiet when we don't know things and watch what God can do here is number four number four passionate devotion passionate devotion that we would excel in passionate devotion we have a church that is passionate I love the style of our services I love how we sing songs to the Lord I love how we're demonstrative in our worship style that we can lift our hands that we can sway we can clap we can get on our knees if we want and there's a great expression of this love for Christ it's a passionate devotion passionate devotion and it's easy to be in a crowd like this especially if you new to our church and think what I've got to become more like that I have to reach my hands higher maybe I'll get on my toes and I'll be able to reach heaven more without realizing that the kingdom of heaven is actually within you it's not over there or over there it's not it's not even the things that we do that gets us closer to God if you want to figure out how to become more passionately devoted to Christ here's the break we're going to take our foot off decrease your distractions it's a discipline I understand but you've got to start somewhere maybe this is the one that we need to practice decrease distractions it's so easy to be distracted in this life it's really easy in a church like house to be in God's presence and to have your arms up and just to be so I can look at you and think well you are so passionately devoted but I don't know what God knows is that when he's trying to talk to you your mind is off thinking about something else have you ever been in singing songs you're worshiping the Lord you've got your hands in the air you could even have a tear coming down your face but it's probably because the twenty dollars you can't find that Sam was talking about it's it's like we can look right on the outside but be so distracted on the inside maybe that's what we've got to practice learning how to concentrate learning how to stay focused with the Lord maybe it's as simple as that don't get distracted I love the invention of the mobile phone it wasn't around when I was a kid my kids were born with one but I'm telling you it can be a distraction and these things are not helping us to concentrate they're not helping us to engage necessarily and so if this is what the Lord speaking to you about practice practice how to concentrate practice how to put your phone away when you talk to people you love practice how to look people in the eye and talk to them like concentrate we want more passionate I want to be more passionately devoted to the Lord well then work on not being so distracted it's so easy that the lights are on but nobody's home I've got my hands up but I'm a million miles away worried and thinking about something else kangaroos loosen the top paddock not the sharpest knife in the drawer a couple of fries short of a happy meal whatever it is whatever floats your boat we're distracted and I'm telling one of the greatest ways to become more passionately devoted it's not by singing louder singing longer praying more it's not any of those things it's actually about being connected with the Lord and if we can practice not getting distracted it'll make a whole lot more sense for us number five is share the love God wants us to become really good at sharing the love that we would share his love he's shared his love abroad in our hearts and we're to share that love with the people around us and it's really hard sometimes to share that love and the main reason we find it difficult to excel in this area it's because we've got our foot on the brake and the brake is differences we need to learn to decrease our differences it's a discipline of decrease I think the love of God Wells up in our heart but we look at people who are different to us and we get so annoyed and irritated by the differences that the love just goes back down and it doesn't matter how much you try and push that accelerator down if you've got your foot on the brake of differences you're always going to struggle to share the love Julie and I have been married for just over twenty five years and what's what we've learned what we've journeyed these last number of years especially there are several years and it's embarrassing to say it we're only working this out more and more recently that as we appreciate our differences it's so much easier to share the love don't be worried that we're so different we think differently we act differently we look different we have different tastes about things have a look down your Road come on barley you to look down your Road look down the road look at the people down your row how different are the people in your row they look different they've got different skin colour different eyes different hair that they're wearing different clothes different styles and that's just the outside that we can see you're not even had a conversation with everyone in your row yet to find out how differently we think we have difference in opinions in all kinds of things in politics in religion there are churches that think differently to other churches and if we want to share the love if Hillsong wants to share the love with other churches we must decrease our differences [Applause] one of the things that's kept churches fighting all throughout the years is they're so hung up on their differences it's the same for people for families for marriages decrease our differences James chapter 4 1 & 2 what is the cause of your conflicts and quarrels with each other doesn't the battle begin inside of you as you fight to have your own way and fulfill your own desires you jealously want what others have so you can begin to see yourself as better than others ouch you scheme and envy you scheme with envy and harm others to selfishly obtain what you crave that's why you quarrel and fight and all the time you don't obtain what you want because you won't ask God for it if you want to share the love take your foot off the brake of differences and watch what changes here's the last one number 6 it's grace filled generosity God wants us to excel with grace filled generosity it's not selective generosity selective generosity is where I give so that you can see what I give so that I look like I'm someone who's generous grace filled generosity is different graceful generosity is I am graced by God so that I can meet needs at any opportunity God's grace is not just his unmerited favor that's not only the definition of grace do you know the other definition of grace grace is God's resources to do his will that's why His grace is sufficient please God take this away fix this up no no my grace is all you need because when I'm weak then I am strong it's what I don't it's in my lack that you can fill me up and pour me out so grace filled generosity we want to become richer in every way we want to be able to help in every way but the only way we can do that is if we deal with debt you've got to decrease your debt it's a discipline but you've got to practice decreasing your debt so many of us have our foot on the accelerator of resource and moving forwarding becoming more and more successful at the same time we've got our foot on the brake of debt so if I'm in debt emotionally speaking this is not just a financial issue if I'm in debt finally speaking and I've just spent and I just I I don't have proper boundaries and I don't have proper rest and everyone's different and we all get rest differently but if I don't rest properly and if I don't restore properly and don't replenish properly and if I don't allow God to deal with me and work with me and for me to worship Him and be filled up with his love again if I have a deficit emotionally if I'm in debt emotionally then the first the next person that needs some help from me I'm gonna snap I can't be it's not grace filled generosity I can't give emotionally if I'm empty what about energy if I'm in debt regarding energy then as soon as I leave this service I'm gonna be cranky I'm gonna be irritable because I'm running low on energy I can't get up I can't get going it's more efforts required and we think if I could just do this do that do that then I'll be I'll be fine no we're just gonna take our foot off the brake of debt so how do you do that what we see it most simply when it comes to finances but it does apply to every area of our life we're just got to stop overspending in any er of our life really just two simple things earn as much as you can without cheating without stealing earn as much as you can and secondly spend less than your own I know what it's like you look at someone who's driving a nice car and you're looking at the cruddy old car you've been around in for a little while and so they're you things you to be great if I could drive a car like they do then I'd feel like them I'd look like them I'd be happy like them we compare ourselves then you finally do get a color that you feel good for a little while until you see someone else with another car and you're like oh maybe if I had a car like that and where does it end where does it actually ever end and then we're tempted to max our credit cards they'll get another credit card to help pay off the other credit card and then we spend money we really can't afford to spend look I agree you probably don't have everything you want you probably don't have everything you want what can I tell you you probably got everything you need even in Bali and I'm mindful of so many of you that your monthly salary is so small so low and maybe there are some things that you need as as a church we should try and help but the best thing for us is to pull back debt deal with that deal with debt and watch generosity flow you will never be able to give what God puts in your heart to give if you're maxed out in any of your life let's stop living right to the boundaries of our life let's create margin create space and time don't fill everything up so drastically so critically well you can't be generous on every occasion it's grace-filled God wants to help us deal with the areas of debt in our life whether it's finances relationships energy spiritually speaking emotionally speaking mentally speaking distractions all those things amen I think God can do it I think he can help us I think there's something here for every single one of us in Jesus name [Applause] can we stand together can we stand we've got time this morning because I created margin on purpose created margin so that you can have a few moments and sometimes or a moment that's all you need to allow God to speak maybe he will whisper something one of the crazy things about distractions is that God never yells at you that's why you got to deal with distractions God's never you never yells the Bible often talks about his voice as a still small voice to whisper and if we can't learn to concentrate we'll miss it it's in these moments throughout this service where God is nudging you and saying how about you discipline and decrease in doubt take your foot off the brake somewhere is it to do a doubt worry is it to do with distractions is it to do a difference is it something to do a debt what is it that God could do as we offer our lives team can we worship him for a moment come on in Bali join us it's worship Jesus Oh [Music] to [Music] Jesus have you [Music] to [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my fears into the this before [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] what's that one thing what's the one thing you feel like the Lord is saying to you where do you need to take your foot off the brake I think about people who volunteer and serve and we just appreciated 4750 six people who served a conference this year just last week and we're so grateful but can I tell you one of the things that's a challenge for us whose serve who work for the Lord volunteering with you on staff it's distractions you can you can serve so hard and so much that it's hard to turn off and you do have to practice what I love about Sunday's is it's the opportunity to practice if you don't have to be up here if you don't have to do anything it's so beautiful seeing these guys you know Norma up on stage JP and JD and jad and these guys that are often up here and see them when they're not roster Donder we're just in the crowd like the rest of us but we've got to deal with distractions when we're not serving sometimes we're so wired even when we're not on that it's hard to receive and I fundamentally believe because you're here by choice no one made you come to church today and so I actually believe that we do want more we want a greater friendship with God we want greater intimacy with God but sometimes we don't realize how foot is on the brake and then we hear people preach and we read things and we watch movies and we just think I've just got to try harder and put my foot on the accelerator and I've got to go further and go harder and maybe in some areas we do but I think in all these areas if we did nothing more about trying to do more but just took our foot off the brake you would already experience the life of God in every area that's why I'm asking what is that one thing we got a new fridge a few months back beginning of the year and we needed it because we have Jules and I have two kids and they're growing up in the anymore and we weren't his stuff was just it was crazy at home so and in harmonies boyfriend is a professional rugby league player and so we had our food build has not gone up by one extra person it's basically doubled he eats half the amount that we all do so we don't need to get a new fridge and we'd saved up and we bought a new fridge and so now I've got the old fridge which was still in great condition and so I advertised it to try and sell it and I wasn't getting any bites and I kept dropping the price dropping the price and then I got to a stage where I thought this is crazy I'm gonna sell this fridge for so small a price that I could actually give it away and be a real great blessing to somebody and the reason I can give it away is because I've already saved up in our own two fridges I'm not I was not on a credit card I'm not in debt to either one I've actually got two I own two fridges outright so I've got the new one I could give the old one away and I can't tell you how fun this is I don't know I really enjoy when I have something that I own and God says how about you give that away and I'll spend a whole day I'll be and it was a Sunday from morning till night I'm saying Lord who is it who is it who is it I'm just listening listing and gee I'd love it if God just went it's this person but I just kept listening and listening listening got right to the end of Sunday and a need was presented but that young couple in our church who were on staff young pastors and was able to give a fridge that I own and you can't give what you don't know like I can't give you my car because I own it I lease it I lease it because it's better for me in regard to cash flow than it is for me to own a depreciating asset this is going to go down and hurt me it's cuz I got a full-circle deal on it and I hand the keys back after four years and all my services are included it's just a smarter move over four years but God can give you strategies of how to deal with debt and breakout of things so that you can actually be in a position to do more I took her savings amount of money and stuck it in an offset account against a different loan that I did against their home mortgage because I realized God spoke to me and said I know that's where the accountants say you got to do it but if you do it here you got to save $10,000 in the next 12 months there's your next Kean and builders gift God wants to share with us if we're willing to take our foot off the brake and create margin deal with them deal with differences deal with destructive words deal with doubt watch what he does yeah the greatest debt that any person could ever been is a debt to God I don't I'm not sure if you've read it through scripture where it talks about the wages of sin is death because we sin because we break God's law because we break his heart we have death all over us even though we haven't died yet we have death all over as it's judgment and there is a way to escape it but it's not by trying to work your head off trying to make something of yourself trying to do a whole lot and to impress a whole lot of people because God's not impressed with anything like that what is impressed with is a beautiful spirit a good heart and all we need to do is open our heart to God and say Lord I'm so sorry I've been living my own life running my own race doing my own thing but today I want to give my life to you I want to love you I want to walk with you because I'm learning that you want to walk with me God loves you so much you're so precious to him and we're gonna pray a prayer our whole church here and in Bali we're gonna pray it out loud so that you can pray along with us and if you're visiting with us today we'd love you to pray this prayer if you're new to church if you've been for a while we'd love you to pray this prayer and give your life to Jesus so can we close our eyes and bow our heads in prayer and why don't you pray this prayer out loud with us say this after I see Jesus I believe that you are 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 amen it's a wonderful congratulations all those people Thanks here in Sydney and in barley listen we want to get a Bible to you it looks like this it's actually inside this sleeve and there's a card on the back that helps you with some next steps we have this next step stands out in the foyer it's like it's our version of the Genius Bar at the Apple Store okay and the idea is that you can go up and you can start any conversation and all we're asking just give us five minutes before you leave today on your way out just stop it at the next step Stan give us five minutes and let us just help you with a next step now that you've prayed that prayer we want to get every one of you a Bible you'll see on your way out you'll see some of the team waving these Bibles if you can't see anybody walk straight up to the next step stand it's in blue it looks a lot like that and just to go up and get your free Bible and give us five minutes just have a chat with someone and then you can be on your way and let us help you in any way we can we'd absolutely love to do that thanks for joining in with us barley it's great to have you here rich come up and this guys coming up to you this afternoon is coming up to hang out with you this week to help creatively happy birthday happy birthday for the guy who likes no fuss you're worth passing over he's coming your way buddy he'll be there this week to help you with creative think don't look I see summer summer Donna it's all yours can we thank Joel her fantastic message [Applause] do you know what I love about the Word of God it's just so empowering that we don't have to be victims that it's not about what's happening out there but God is always working on the inside the kingdom of God is within so I recommend to thank Joel again because he bought a great word a great relight a great launch for second half of this year Thank You Joel and I want to thank you for being in church this morning I didn't welcome our new Bible College students who've arrived from around Australia and around the world so welcome this is your new church family yeah [Music] and for those that are visiting with baby dedications by new bible college students and people who are new and visiting church today we'd love to host all of you then after this straight after this service out in our own western foyer here for a great cup of tea or coffee we'd love to host you because we want you to feel right at home and also hang on one tick before you move it's tonight everybody see tonight okay at 4:30 in the epicenter 5:30 here in the convention center we are gonna have an amazing night of church and as strollers already said we've got our tag team preaching we are baptizing people and you know do you know if you've got little kids you got teenage kids got children the best way to bring them up is in the house of God teach them when they're young and strengthen them now that church Sunday morning Sunday night house of God atmosphere of faith seeing people come to Christ it's going to be an awesome night tonight and we really hope you can join us alright I'm gonna pray for you I'm gonna pray blessing over you father we thank you for your word we thank you for the truth of your word and may Lord we not just hear it but may we go home today and put it into practice Lord and decrease in the stuff that is arson increase in our Christ's likeness father bless you people may we sense your heavy hand of goodness on our lives Lord hemming us in going before clearing away hemming is in behind father and blessing us your people in Jesus name [Music] for being in church this morning have a great afternoon [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Hillsong Church

Views: 24,366

Rating: 4.9262671 out of 5

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

Id: Fyv-4Sz7anc

Length: 84min 32sec (5072 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 21 2018