HTB Live Stream | 11.30am Sunday 19 September

[Music] [Music] hello and welcome to hdb church whether you've been watching this live for weeks now or whether it's your first week you are so so welcome my name is jess and my name's lewis i'm uh here on the live stream for the first time one of the carrots here and uh it's great to be with you this morning you were having a nice little dance there lewis we've got some great vibes in our ears this is great um as always we've got a wonderful chat host james ray in the chat you can tell it's him because he has a little spanner next to his name so if it's your first time here and you don't know who to say hi to in the chat then just say hi to james and he'll he'll say a little high back we love james ray do uh make sure you say hello in the chat and let us know where you're tuning in from um it's great to be with you this morning just to say um if you'd like to participate with the british sign language and bsl then naomi is ready for you um all you have to do is head to htb.org forward slash live stream and you can enjoy that service yeah we've got a great service lined up i'm really excited we've got fernando carrillo speaking um he's going to be talking on the prodigal son and i believe the title is how to have a fresh start i did i actually heard it at the 9 30. it's a great talk fernando is amazing he is such a good speaker hopefully you will enjoy that we've also got baptisms this morning we've got baptisms before yes if this is your first time uh here at hcb or maybe even with a church um and you're like what on earth is a baptism and baptism is very simply a symbol and a declaration of someone's faith and this declaration of being part of the family of god and so we're really excited to celebrate with those that are being baptized this morning and if you are new here or you've been joining us for a couple of weeks but you still don't feel totally plugged in then we would love to get you connected um and you can do so by scanning the qr code that has appeared on the screen right now just like that and that will take you to a little form that you can fill in and you can join a group you can join a team it's great to get connected also if you'd like prayer at any point during the service then all you have to do is head to hcb.org forward live stream prayer and there'll be one of our amazing team uh there to welcome you to uh introduce themselves to you and uh and to support you through the power of prayer yeah and i just want to encourage you if you're thinking i'm not sure if i do want to click that link i'm not sure if you do i do want to get prayer we've heard some amazing testimonies throughout the week of people that have experienced healing and experienced fresh hope just by asking someone to pray for them on this livestream and so um definitely do click it but also why don't you feedback to us you can email us and let us know how you've got along because it's so encouraging for us to hear as well yeah we'd love to hear your stories and over the last couple of weeks we've also been hearing the amazing stories of the alpha course um which is really exciting so um we'd love to invite you to try alpha um every week um online and in person next wednesday it starts i think we're gonna pray yeah should we pray guys as we go let's pray heavenly father we thank you that you are here with us that you are for us that you're by our side and on our side and lord we pray that you would speak to us through this service today through the worship and through the words in jesus name mem [Music] [Applause] [Music] we keep going alpha this wednesday alpha this wednesday next wednesday do come do invite you can also yeah you've rather tell us quickly about you falfer youth alpha if you're aged um in year six to year 13 you can join us online at youth alpha 2 but let's head to the room [Music] and let your breath come from [Music] we are here [Music] is [Music] fall down [Music] [Music] we are [Music] [Applause] [Music] we you are [Music] is [Music] down [Music] is [Music] in this place every so oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is falls down [Music] and in christ alone my hope is is [Music] oh oh fullness of god gift of love and righteousness foreign oh his body [Music] is and he is [Music] is is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's nothing that will pluck us from his hand thank you that we can stand in the presence of god because of what jesus has done we thank you again for that love for us today amen would you like to take a seat please as we continue in prayer [Music] shall we pray for our world lord we want to pray for our world today for so many troubled places around the world for evil regimes for poverty for war for the frightened and the suffering we want to go on praying particularly for afghanistan and the many women and children who are in fear of the future we ask lord you would have mercy on that country and bring about a moderate regime and lord as we look to wednesday here in england we pray for alpha starting here in our church and around the world as well we asked lord that you would pour out your spirit on all those people coming we pray there'll be just hundreds of people coming to find out how they can have this wonderful relationship with you and that it would be so much fun amen amen very warm welcome to everyone here at hdb brompton road and a very warm welcome to all of you joining us right now on live stream we're absolutely thrilled that you're joining us and we'd love to invite you to come and be here we have 11 services now every sunday on six different sites and we'd love to see you in person it's great worshipping online but it's even better being in the room so please do come and join us right now we are going to take up our offering as we do every sunday and i want to say a huge thank you to all of you here and all of you watching this online because what a difference you are making the the money that they've given over the last couple of couple of weeks has gone to world vision um and amazing stories coming back from afghanistan about how this money is being used to feed the hungry those that are really struggling now in afghanistan and the refugees that are in this area and uh it's just such a privilege to be able to watch as these clothes and medical help and all that is is is given so thank you for for giving uh the the code for for giving is coming up is up on the screen and as you know the best way and we would love you to think about this if you're if you're part of this church or par part of this church online uh to get consider giving by standing order that's how everything operates in this church the average standing order is about 200 pounds a month and that makes a massive difference to what we're able to do with refugees the homeless all these areas of the church's life including alpha which is starting this wednesday and i'd love to encourage anyone here who's never done alpha or if you're watching this online and you've never done alpha to come and join us so this wednesday for the first time in nearly two years it's going to be live and in person in the room and also online so you can do it either by coming here at coming here at seven o'clock in the evening or you can and for food and alpha as normal or you can watch online at 7 30 or there's a morning one online as well and we would love you to do that so right now we are going to hear some stories of people who have done alpha online so first of all johnny come and join us [Music] so johnny uh you look like a rugby player and i think you are you i was one yeah you were ugly second row uh but right just tell us a little bit i think you would you said you were like an agnostic you weren't a church goer yeah i believe there was something but i was i would say from 18 i was living life as a student and you know doing what students do all of that good stuff okay tell us what happened um it's funny i would say i was always looking for something that like a void um and i spent a long time in my life throwing and work and other pursuits in life let's just say that and um obviously lockdown happened covered happened and i couldn't find anything to fill that void and now i know it's the holy spirit something touched me and told me to pick up my bible that was like hiding in the drawer behind the drawer behind the other drawer uh and um read that and then i saw alpha on the bus in hammersmith and i was like okay let me give this a try this was the online one because it was and um yeah i decided to jump on and what happened to you well at first in the first session everyone was smiling and i was like was everyone so happy this is a bit weird um and then after that um i would say by [Applause] week six to eight i don't know i just felt like at peace there was just this sense of peace and the sense of not feeling alone and then on week i think someone prayed for me um if you guys don't see i'm a pretty big fella but i cried like a little baby on that which was quite funny um and what were you experiencing like a you know like a like a peace a sense of peace and a sense of not feeling alone that was something that was seeking for a very long time and what difference has jesus made for you he's changed who i am anyone that knows me prior to finding faith again i was a completely different person i was like go get her focused on one thing and everyone says i'm nice now [Music] which is quite funny um yeah [Applause] so who's noticed first is my little sister uh okay um so she's 21 what age is she she's 21. okay what happened to her so she would always see me um like going to my mom my mums are talking about alpha and how much it you know changed me and all that good stuff and she thought was a bit of a weirdo um and um but she saw the change and then four months later when i went to go see my mother on a wednesday who do i see on alpha online my little sister sitting there with a little red booklet thing talking to a bunch of people okay let's see what you did there um and um finally enough now she's she's joined your hackney um i don't know whatever the chess plan there that's it and um she's part of the youth group she's leading there helping out completely different person as well so that's that's amazing that's really good and your your help did i say what you've got involved in here uh yeah so my first service when i was here a year ago now um i was at this service i was right at the back there hiding and then will saw me kind of like dragged me to the side apparently he finds all the rugby boys and um and then from there i started helping out five um i helped i love your neighbor last christmas i was packing stuff i don't think i was good at it but you know i tried and um i'm getting baptized at five o'clock and i think your your flatmate has noticed and is starting to explore yes but also at work just say that say what happened to you at work okay the work oh yeah the work one's a bit more profound but anyway i'll get some flatmate story so um one of my colleagues um we were trying to because i work in property and we were trying to get this really big client and apparently she what she said to me was he's the most difficult guy he doesn't like doing business with anyone and i said okay let me give it a shot let's go and see him and um i walked in went to the meeting room and he saw me and the first thing he asked me was was i was christian and i was like yeah and i said why and he said i just felt a level of peace and then we just sat down and we spoke about and he was he a christian he wasn't a christian but something told him i don't know i don't know and um for half an hour we didn't speak about work about anything that we came there for just about life and our experiences and um by the way my colleague was sitting there just looking at me what's this and we walked out obviously we got the contract and um when we came out she said to me she said how did you do that i said why are you asking me i don't know um so that was one experience and just say how would you summarize the difference jesus has made for you peace peace um what do you mean by that like i said i was running on 100 miles per hour trying to find different ways to fill a gap in myself and nothing could fill that like nothing and it's easy to find you know when you're down and out it's easy to turn to god but when life looks kind of good to the outside world and you don't have a sense of peace it uh it destroys you a little bit so jesus has brought peace to me peace to people around me as well and to jump on the friend's story my flatmate so anyone knows my flatmate he use a typical guy's guy and he was going through a pretty difficult patch in the last couple of months and i said i'll pray for you and he said no you're not going to do that and i said i'm going to do that so i did and a few weeks ago he came out he came to me and he said you know what my life's changed a bit things are starting to pick up now um can i learn a little bit more about this jesus fella and i just looked at him i was like okay right and every time i've been coming home from work i just see him now and again on youtube just looking at like you know little things to do with god and it's just like i said anyone that knows knew me before and knows me now i'm a completely different person and i'm not just saying that it's yeah thank you johnny very much indeed john and chloe john and chloe can we just move the mic should just can we just move the mic can we just move the mic a little bit come on come on come on john clay thank you so much john and chloe now what about you uh john were you like a church girl were you uh not at all no so um before i yeah i never brought up christian or anything my parents literally said you go out there find what it is you want um well she did i tried every other religion under the sun nothing worked didn't really like it um and yeah and so it was our friend gav wasn't it yeah so chloe tell me about your friend gav yeah so garf is is great i've known god for quite a long time um he um is he got ordained in july yeah he's one of the curious here now yeah cutler so yeah it really has made a huge impact on our life but before that he used to work in the same places yeah he used to work together for quite some time um and yeah like seeing his journey um you know progress over the years it's been really amazing so you know he's been always nagging me you need to try alpha and i'm like yeah maybe like next time i don't know and then in lockdown we decided to just go for it um why did you thank someone well we just had nothing else to do aboard really if i'm completely honest yeah we'll give it a go it's something to do so you came here in late johnny you were in our small group different one but the one that's just gone yeah yep and uh just tell us what happened to you first of all john what happened to you um so as the sort of weeks went on i kind of learned a lot more and was kind of like okay this could be could be real but it wasn't really sold and then the alpha saturday happened and it was absolutely intense i had like a real sense of peace and kind of what johnny was saying like that i have finally found that thing that i was being missing and i can't i can't i can't describe it in words it was just absolutely incredible and ever since then i've kind of just yeah i've just been mind blown basically but and what about you clay yeah so i yeah it was again sense of peace just a little bit blessed yep sorry a sense of peace um really kind of you know the whole experience of alpha has been amazing but as john said the alpha saturday was really quite a key moment for both of us i'd had a pain in my shoulder for quite a long time for you how long had you had it years like really like number a number of years was it ever since you know each other was it oh yeah yeah even before then i think your shoulder was certain yeah and then on the um at the end of alpha saturday we did prayers we did prayers for one another within our group um and i asked if i could have prayer for my shoulder not thinking anything would happen and yeah this it literally felt like something was being released in my shoulder and i've not had the pen sentence like it was quite a strange feeling [Applause] and um what happened to you in the end of the course what did you do so at the end of the course i uh got baptized so which i did not expect at all at the beginning of alpha well we've got a few baptisms coming up just say what why you did that and what what did you experience um so what the actual baptism yeah that was like a great day because everyone like that i was in my alpha group like came along um and it just kind of just where was it just explain to everyone oh it was out in the in the garden like in a hot tub kind of looking thing focused it was like it was like three months july wasn't it yeah yeah it was great and um yes everyone came and um got baptised and i wanted to do it because i wanted to make a statement that like i actually i am a believer and i am a christian and i never thought at the beginning of how far i would ever come up on stage on my birthday and say i'm a christian and i'm here like on my birthday like i'll be down the pub like what fantastic uh and uh after this we're we're having a reunion aren't we we've got a small group yep yeah so that'll be fun so we're gonna go over to mark's and have a barbecue so yeah and how would you summarize the difference jesus made for you two chloe again like johnny said it's just like that piece like i think taking the time and sitting back and thinking about life and having that you know time to think about it it really has made a difference in our life so it's like kind of more i don't know it just feels a little bit more whole in our lives has anyone noticed on yeah yeah lots of people have noticed that i've uh i'm a bit of a different person i've got um so much so that one of my friends is actually going to be doing alpha which is great and my mum also she's thinking about doing it she's been reading the bible again so oh amazing thank you guys very much indeed so i'd love to encourage you if you've never done alpha if you're watching online or if you're here today uh and here's a little video and while we're doing that we're going to prepare because in a moment we have got five more baptisms so i heard about alpha through my work they told me that there was this horse type of thing that was really relaxed i thought alpha was gonna be a bit more preachy and not quite kind of as open and honest as it was you could literally ask whatever you want and not made to feel silly yourself you're put into your little groups you have dinner together at first which is really nice and then you watch a video about a specific topic and then you go into your small groups to answer some questions and talk about it each week they you know we have a time which everyone would joining on a zoom call and so it was a bit more relaxed i think i definitely had a preconceived notion of church goers i felt that they're probably older and a lot more conservative at one point we were just strangers in a room because so many of them have become like my best friends we see each other weekly and i never thought that would happen based on the first first encounter it's not a big commitment at all it's if anything i look forward to it by the end of it it was like i don't want this to end like i really don't want this to end because it's so nice like just having these conversations with people it's almost like a form of therapy every single week i feel like wow i kind of like had a therapy session here it was so nice i did feel like there was some kind of like a deeper thing missing from my life a lot of questions about my worth my purpose like where it came from and i just think i there was something that i lacked i definitely felt for a long time that there was some kind of like longing in my heart for me the way i knew it was real was the the saturday because that's when i felt the holy spirit for the first time and it was such an intense and emotional but yet peaceful experience that it couldn't it couldn't be anything other than true no matter who you are whatever you know no matter what walk of life you you live you all have massive questions and i feel like alpha's a place to start so right now we come to the baptisms and let me just remind you uh what baptism is all about becoming a christian involves three things something which only god can do which god sends his holy spirit and that is what changes our lives and then there's something only we can do which is to repent and believe and that's what all of these candidates have done in their their lives and the third thing is something only the church can do and that is to baptize and that's what we're going to do today and baptism signifies it's like a sacrament and it signifies lots of things first of all it signifies cleansing so these candidates are going to go down into this pool and that signifies that the past is forgiven they are cleansed jesus died for each one of us so that the past could be washed away so that our sins could be forgiven so that we could be washed clean and this water symbolizes that washing the cleansing secondly it symbolizes dying and rising again so as they go down under the water the old life is gone and as they come up it's resurrection so the past that is a new life paul says if anyone is in christ there a new creation the oldest gone the new has come so they can their own life whatever it involves they as they go down they can picture that's gone and new life has begun which will go on forever it's like they're identifying with the death and resurrection of jesus and they'll be with him forever third water represents the holy spirit and that's what we're praying today please pray for them that they will be just they're going to be immersed in the holy spirit they're going to be filled with the holy spirit and jesus said describe the the holy spirit as the water of life they're being immersed in the water of life they're going to be filled to overflowing and just like we've heard from john life is never the same again when you encounter jesus like and from johnny and from chloe so right now if the candidates would like to come to the front and they're going to make their vows and i think i'm going to come down actually um off here so sorry i'm going to come down uh down here so i can see you you need to be facing you need to be facing the congregation uh but i'm going to come down here because they don't need to see me but they do need to see you so yeah come on come on up on the come on up on the on the front okay so yeah yeah come come come up on the come up yeah yeah yeah you're all you're all double double vaccinated and um flow tested and covered safe and all the rest so those who come to be baptized must affirm their allegiance to christ and their rejection of all that is evil therefore i ask these questions which you must answer for yourselves do you turn to christ [Applause] do you repent of your sins do you renounce evil do not be ashamed to confess the faith of christ crucified we say together fight valiantly under the banner of christ against sin the world and the devil and continue his faithful soldiers and servants to the end of your lives may almighty god deliver you from the powers of darkness and lead you in the light and obedience of christ almighty god whose son jesus christ was baptized in the river jordan we thank you that through the deep waters of death you brought your son and raised him to life in triumph set apart this water that your servants who are washed in it may be made one with christ in his death and in his resurrection to be cleansed and delivered from all sin send your holy spirit upon them to bring them to new birth in the family of the church and to raise them with christ to full and eternal life for all my majesty authority and power are yours now and forever amen you have come to baptism you must now declare before god in his church the christian faith into which you are to be baptized do you believe and trust in one god and god the father who made the world trust in him so we just do that one time one more time a little bit louder and they all want to hear do you believe and trust in god the father who made the world and trust in him do you believe and trust in his son jesus christ who redeemed humankind do you believe and trust in his holy spirit who gives life to the people of god this is the faith of the church we say together this is our faith we believe and trust in one god father son and holy spirit so uh would you all like to just line up there and then we're getting one at a time uh we are going to baptize you have the privilege of baptizing each one of you wonderful wonderful moment kofo i baptize you in the name of the father and in the name of the son and in the name of the holy spirit amen vivian vivian baptize you in the name of the father and in the name of the son and in the name of the holy spirit amen i baptize you in the name of the father in the name of the son and the name of the holy spirit amen mariam mariam i baptize you in the name of the father in the name of the son and in the name of the holy spirit amen ganesh dennis i baptize you in the name of the father in the name of the son and in the name of the holy spirit amen [Music] okay this involves all of us we're going to welcome each of them all together we're going to welcome them and the words will come up on on the screen we say to them oh don't all disappear this is every important moment you're gonna be welcomed god has received you by baptism into his church we say together we welcome you into the lord's family we are members together of the body of christ we are children of the same heavenly father we are inheritors together of the kingdom of god we welcome you welcome lord we thank you for each of these candidates and we pray lord that they will grow in their faith we pray blessing on them on their lives that they will be filled with the holy spirit and they will stay close to you all the way through their life and into eternity in jesus name amen would you like to stand take a moment just to say hello to those around you and then we are going to pip bipper is going to introduce our speaker for today you may like to just go on the chat and uh talk about your reaction to what you've just seen and we will be pivo will be introducing our speaker in just a few seconds [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] would you all like to take a seat it's so good to be able to chat together again isn't it it's absolutely wonderful i would love to introduce our speaker today who is fernando carello yes absolutely a whoop for him he is ordained he's a curious on our staff here he runs the teams of um on the 9 30 and the 11 30. he's on the alpha teams that are running preparing for wednesday so get that in your diaries and also he's a coach for a charity called spear and that's helping 16 to 24 year olds who are totally disadvantaged and been excluded he's coaching them helping them to get jobs and get back into society so he's a remarkable man and part of our wonderful team and please will you give him a huge welcome here goes fernando good morning everybody it's so wonderful to get to be with you all here today and all of you watching online today we're going to be in the book of luke so if you wouldn't mind flicking there with me to the chap to chapter 15 verses 11 to 24 and jesus is telling us a story he said there was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father give me the share of the property that is coming to me and he divided his property between them not many days later the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country and there he squandered his property in reckless living and when he had spent everything a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need so he went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the field to feed pigs and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate but no one gave him anything but when he came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but i perish here with hunger i will arise i will go to my father and i will say to him father i've sinned against heaven and before you i'm no longer worthy to be called your son treat me as one of your higher servants and he arose and he came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and the son said to him father i've sinned against heaven and before you i'm no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us celebrate for the son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate the title of today's talk is how to have a fresh start i don't know if you've ever wanted a fresh start but i have i was born in miami in a prison my mom was a drug addict when i was born and i was quickly brought here to the uk when i was three to live with my grandmother and my extended family i was brought up by very strong women there's not a single marriage in my family that means they're they're my heroes but also scary but i love them so much but unfortunately when my name passed away i went down my own reckless living and at the age of 17 i found myself in prison i know i wanted a fresh start i had ruined so many friendships i had ruined so much in my life and i wonder might you want a fresh start in some area of your life maybe relationships you could have done differently maybe lies you wish you wouldn't have told maybe mistakes we could have avoided regrets we could undo shame we wish we could erase guilt we could let go of sometimes wouldn't it just be so good to have a button that just press refresh rewind undo well in today's passage we learn how jesus teaches us how we can have a fresh start and the first thing i find that jesus tells us through this story is to acknowledge a problem he tells us from verses 16 to 18 that when the son came to himself he said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but i perish here with hunger i'll arise and go to my father here in this parable jesus tells spiritual truths and the son is you and i and the father is god and he's teaching us how god relates to you and i and this son he had run from his father he had asked for his inheritance early i wonder how you'd feel if your son had asked for his inheritance early that means he the son was basically saying to his father that he wanted him dead he didn't want him in his life anymore he wanted to go his own way and he went to a big city a city like london to live a reckless life and i'll let you come up with whatever you think reckless life means but that didn't last long soon the money ran out his friends left him and he was all alone he was in a pigsty and he and jesus tells us that he came to himself he acknowledged that he had a problem he said father i have sinned against heaven and before you the son notices that this this problem that he has it's it's this thing called sin and and today we spoke about that as people were being baptized and sin is basically just when we do things our way instead of god's way it's not just outward actions but it's also inward motives i know so many times in my own life when my pride has hurt the people around me when my selfishness has ruined things that i've been a part of things that i've done that i'm that i regret so much so so many of my actions that now bring me so much shame habits that i've had in my life that have hurt me and hurt the people around me and these are all a result of doing things my own way rather than god's way and they break god's heart because they destroy my life and they destroy the life of the people around me but acknowledging a problem is so difficult if you're anything like me i love to learn things the hard way i don't know why but unless i've hit rock bottom i just don't learn my lesson and i'm sure so many people looking in on me could have told me that i had a problem and but i just didn't listen i remember i was living my life running from god running from my family this was a picture of me not long after this picture was taken i had an overdose i was heavily addicted to drugs and i was a mess i was running from life i had this void in my soul i had this void in my heart so many of the people who were sharing their testimonies today spoke of this void spoke of this kind of feeling of emptiness and i was trying to fill this void with so many things it was sort of like an internal wound that i was trying to heal with external things so i i imagine that they were sort of like plasters and and i would try to to heal these sort of internal wounds with plasters let's say one of those plasters was was drugs and no matter how many drugs you take sooner or later the joy runs out the fun runs out and you're left alone then then even though i tried to use those drugs i thought oh i still feel this void how about if i use relationships maybe that will make me feel better but but maybe as you might know no matter how many relationships you can be in sooner or later that void just becomes even more real how about how about money at that age i was trying to get all the money i could think of don't don't ask me how but no matter how much money you have it doesn't quite fill the void why don't you guys help me out with it what else do we sometimes use you think to try and fill this void work yes exactly try to get all the promotions i could possibly think of just so that people could approve of me and accept me but no matter how far i go it doesn't quite fill that void what else do you think netflix very very good yeah no matter how many shows i watch it's never quite enough right it's never it doesn't quite take away the the loneliness i feel the void i feel what what else do you guys think food exactly no no matter how much burgers i can have it doesn't quite ever fill me up well that's actually true i don't even now um yeah food exactly what else one more what do you think sports exactly no matter how many hours i can go to the gym no matter how many sports i play no matter how many times i win it's never quite enough and and and and what about dates on tinder no matter how many that oh that that was a funny laugh from people here you guys might know what i'm talking about no matter how many of these plasters i used they could never quite feel the void that was in my heart i wonder if you feel that there's a void in your heart because i know that this void just came from me running from god we all have a god-shaped hole on the inside of us that we're trying to constantly fill with all these external things but they can never quite do the job [Music] but just like this son all he had to do was acknowledge that he had a problem that's the first step you see christianity is completely different to every other worldview every other worldview tells you that you have to be perfect in order to be accepted every other worldview tells you that you have to present your best self even the latest religion of social media tells you to present the best self in order for you to be approved and liked but christianity is completely the opposite of that it's actually in our worst state that we're accepted when we're in the middle of the pigsty just like the sun that god accepts us so all the sun had to do was acknowledge that he had a problem and then he took a step verses 20 to 24 jesus continues to tell us and he arose and came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and the son said to him father i've sinned against heaven and before you i'm no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to him bring quickly the best rope and put it on him put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead but is a life he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate the son here realized that he had to go back to his father he realized that he had a void in his heart in his soul in his life that only his father could feel like we have a void and a and a hole in our hearts and i realized that only god could feel it and all it took was for this son to take one step because the father was waiting i can imagine the father waiting outside of the house looking out at the horizon and one when the sun was just a dot on the horizon still so far away that he couldn't even see the father just began to run towards him and men at that time wealthy men at that time didn't usually run but the father didn't care what people thought he just wanted his son to come back home and just as the son was preparing the speech as the son was preparing to tell him father i'm sorry and as the son was preparing to earn his way back the father just jumped on him kissed him and embraced him and said you're not going to earn your way back i'm going to bring you back and this is what what jesus does for you and for me before we can do anything to earn our way back to the father that jesus jesus already died for us two thousand years ago the apostle paul wrote to the romans he's and he says this why were we yet sinners christ died for us while i was in the middle of the overdose god looked at me and jesus said i will die for you fernando when this son was in that pigsty jesus died for the son and whatever regret you have whatever sense of guilt or condemnation or shame you may be carrying in your worst state is when jesus came to die for you so that all it would take would be a step for the father to come running to you and i remember when i first had to take a step i hadn't been to church for so long and after i showed you that picture and after that overdose i went to a drug rehabilitation center for four months and then i came back to london and and i thought i tried to go to church and i went to my mum's church it was this amazing latin american pentecostal church the services went on for five hours there was choreographed dance routines at the front i have told nikki about that but he hasn't we haven't quite got that yet but we will do soon we just mentioned some things and i remember i was just at the service and and and somebody was talk and the pastor was talking about taking a step to start a new life to start fresh with with jesus and i remember i was so afraid because i just felt like the sun in the story i was full of plasters full of regrets full of shame and if i'm honest with you i didn't know how i was gonna change all of that i didn't know how i was gonna stop all those things but what i realized that it wasn't me that had to to fix all these things it was the father himself who would run towards me and heal me from the inside out and as the pastor was speaking he said who's that whoever's going to take a step today for a new life for a fresh start with jesus at the center he and he was asking us to stand and i was just so nervous my heart was beating i was afraid i didn't know what a new life would look like i didn't know what a fresh start would even feel like and as people started to stand up across the whole room i just said lord are you sure can't this just be a private thing between you and me can't we just you know i want to start and it was like the pastor knew what i was thinking because he said no he actually said this has to be a public stand because there's something powerful about taking a public stand before people and saying you know what i step out of the pigsty i step out of my past and i step today towards you god and i just thought okay fine you've got me and then as i stood i could feel the father literally just just pulling these plasters off of me i could feel almost like the desire to do all these things begin to fade i could feel like the hole that that drugs had on me begin to fade the the the need to go to relationships begin to fade the need to um even eat an exorbitant amount of burgers begin to fade all these things i felt i just as i said i felt the father just begin to heal me from the inside out and this is what the father does to the son when he runs to embrace him i can imagine the father just sees the son and he says what have you got with all this stuff you don't need all this stuff you're back home now and the story goes that he gave he gave him a new robe and i've got a new rope here and i could just feel like the father dressing me again where i came in with so much shame where i came in with so much guilt he dressed me again in his robe and made me new i thought that for so long god would judge me according to the things that i had done but that day that i acknowledged and i took a step he changed my life from the inside out and now good god wouldn't judge me according to what i had done but as to who i was that day and in that moment i became a son and my life changed forever i had a fresh start and i'll never look back and i believe god wants to give some of us a fresh start today for some of us the step you take today you might today decide father i want to come home you may never have acknowledged a problem you may never have taken a step towards god and today might be the day that you take your first step towards god you won't regret it there's nothing to be afraid of the father has his arms open and he's waiting for you to come home he's just waiting to run towards you and pull his love on you to heal you from the inside out so that we won't need these plasters anymore he gives us our completely new life for some of us who are here today we might take a first step and sign up to alpha this wednesday and begin a journey of discovering what this relationship with jesus looks like and for some of us who are here today you may have just come back to church for a very long time and you might feel like the sun in that story you might feel like at one point you had a relationship with god but you've you've ran from him and and today you might be taking a step to come back home and the father's got his arms open ready for you can we stand father thank you so much that you love us and that you're here today thank you so much father that you're waiting patiently for us and waiting for us to to turn back to you [Music] i just had a sense just as i was speaking that as those testimonies were being spoken and throughout the message that the holy spirit was just resting on some of you today and and he's been giving you peace today the holy spirit has just been resting on you and giving you peace and and today we're all going to be the the ministry team because we're all covered secure and we're just going to extend our hands towards people today and and begin to bless them i just sense the lord's going to going to be speaking to a few of us today so if that's you if you're hearing throughout the talk if you've just sent the holy spirit rest on you if you sense the holy spirit just been giving you peace would you would you be brave enough just to raise your hand just great yeah thank you so much yeah a few of us great other as a prime minister team could we could we just extend our hands towards these people who have their hands raised and just begin to continue to pray for god to bless them and feel them and pour more of your spirit upon them i think just as i was praying unless you can continue to pray i felt like as i was praying i felt like i was reminded of those plasters and maybe one of those plasters just resonated with somebody that's in this room and and you just feel like this one is too hard for me to let go of or it's too hard to take off but i just felt so strongly that today the spirit of god himself was going to dig deep in and help you pull that plaster off that might just be one person if if that's you would you would you mind just raising a hand and taking a step i really believe god's going to do a miracle in that situation brilliant thank you so much we just extend our hands to to them and if you see people close to you who who have their hands raised just at the back there's somebody there too at the top let's just begin to pray with all one family and we believe the holy spirit's gonna heal and restore and give supernatural strength today bring healing and restoration just begin to just pray and share words with them and and release what you sense the lord is saying to that person yeah thank you lord for all you're doing thank you lord for the lives your your healing and restoring and the plasters you're pulling off right now we just pray for more and also online if any of these words are for you just just just send it on the chat and we'll have a team praying for you too i i really had a strong sense that today maybe there was somebody who was in this room who who you you've had you had a relationship with god growing up well lately um it hasn't been as close as maybe you'd like it to be and you're here today and you just think i want to go back to my father i want my relationship with my father in heaven to be restored if that's you would you be really brave and raise your hand and the rest of us could pray for you great lord great guys could we continue just extend our hands towards these guys and and pray a blessing on them we're all a family let's just keep our eyes open at the top there's people people all over the place coming back to their father in heaven and the father's just wrapping his arms around you loving you loving you he's not there's no guilt there's no condemnation there's no shame he's just happy that you're home and he's starting a fresh start today since the the father just embracing you saying you're back home and as he's hugging you right now i just just see him just just healing you from the inside out giving you a peace a joy again he's so happy that you're back and i wonder as well if there might might be one or two people who are here today and who you you might have never had a relationship with god and or maybe you've been running too but but you've never actually had a relationship with god and and today you you want to make a decision and you want to say today i take a step towards you god today i choose to to let go of the life i've been living let go of the pigsty and today i choose to come to you for the very first time if that's you even if it's just one or two people would you be really brave to raise your hand [Music] great there's people just at the top there could we just extend our hands towards them bless them thank you lord for your sons who have come home thank you lord for the fresh start that you're giving all of us today thank you lord that you're able to heal our wounds heal our past heal our regrets heal our shame and make us new thank you father that you have your arms wide open for each and every one of us and you just want to pour your love out on us and i pray that for every person that's in this room father that we would have a fresh encounter with your love that we would feel your embrace that we would feel your your warmth that we would feel your word that that tells us that you just want to celebrate with us because we're here and i pray father for everybody that's in this room lord that we would have today a renewed confidence in our identity as sons and daughters in jesus name amen all these pieces broken is [Music] i've how sweet the sound is and i can see the laying yourself down raising off the bridge two [Music] you set your treasures is amazing grace was i can see into amazing grace is is was and i can see [Music] then is was i'm going to close the formal part of our service now with the blessing but uh there are baptisms going on all day at the five o'clock here there'll be more baptisms at the 6 30 at once square even after the service if anyone wants to stay there will be more people being baptized so right now the i'm gonna close with with the blessing and this is not just a formality this is the power of blessing archie coats who was the associate vicky hayes used to talk about you being a blessing machine and as you go from here you can be a blessing machine because god's blessing is on you and i'm going to pronounce that god's blessing is on you receive this now believe god's blessing on your life you have the robe of righteousness jesus has clothed you some of you for the first time today with that robe of righteousness that god looks at you like he looks at jesus pure blameless in his sight because you're wearing his robe of righteousness righteous in his sight believe that you go out from here forgiven cleansed redeemed clothed in the righteousness of christ and lord i pray that blessing that every person that goes from here people will say what's the difference something different about your life something so kind and joyful and peaceful and loving about you pour out your spirit good health pray healing where everyone who needs healing for their minds their hearts bodies god's love filling you god's peace and the blessing of god almighty the father who loves you so much that he runs towards you and hugs you and kisses you over and over again the blessing of god the son who died for you so that all those plasters could be removed you could be totally forgiven washed clean the blessing of the holy spirit who fills you like that water in the pool immerses you in his love and blessing and fills your heart with his presence the blessing of god almighty the father the son the holy spirit be upon you and remain with you always amen god bless you all have a great day uh fantastic service i just love baptisms it's so amazing to welcome people into the family of the church into the body of christ but if you were affected by any of the topics that were raised in today's service and you would like to find further support then you can do that by heading to htb dot org forward slash further support alternatively if you would like someone to pray with you right now then you can also do that by heading to the link that is on the screen now brilliant guys it's been so good to have you and if you missed us earlier my name is louis this is jess and if this is your first time logging into this live stream first time online it is great to have you we hope you've enjoyed the service and um if you are new to church we'd love to connect with you and there are amazing ways that you can do that and a qr code is going to appear on the screen you can scan that with your phone and log yourself in and we'd love to connect with you or you can head to heb.org forward slash welcome um to connect with us um also as you would have heard during the service alpha is coming up very soon starting this wednesday online and in person which we're so excited about um again you can head to our website to find out loads more about that and also you falfer youth alpha yes if you are in school years six to 13 and you would like to join alpha 2 then we are running youth alpha courses online so you can head to hdb.org forward slash youth to sign up for those it's gonna be a vibe we've also got uh students starting back welcoming students back into london and if you're a student and you want to get involved again head to our website forward slash students and uh ryan rodriguez who is our student pastor at hgb would love to connect with you and uh and do get in touch and if you're in london then why don't you head down to the i believe it's a 7 p.m service um for donuts afterwards a student in london doughnuts after the 7pm service they've even got like an actual like donut they actually they do i saw it it's really cool and they've got hot chocolate as well so yeah students we really want to welcome you well um into the life and works of http church come and grab a donut be great to see um also we run so many courses here at hcb to help you grow as follows of jesus and and to explore uh life's big questions so we've obviously heard about the alpha course um we've also got things like the marriage course pre-marriage course uh we also have things like the bereavement course so if you're interested in any of those we encourage you to head to hb.org forward slash courses um and there's a course almost for everything to come and get involved and as always um if you want to keep up to date with everything that's going on in the life of hdb why don't you subscribe to our channel hit the bell d love that every week hit the bell and you will be notified whenever we go live and you can join us virtually as a family of hdb church um but we will be here same time same place um next week with another fantastic service so we hope you have a wonderful week definitely do get connected if you haven't already and we'll see you next week [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: HTB Church

Views: 4,995

Rating: 4.9238095 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: rLHVMPyx97s

Length: 86min 49sec (5209 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021