HTB Live Stream | Sunday Service 27th February 2022

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hello and welcome to htb my name is jess and this is tom hello great service in store we do we're mindful of course of the situation going on in ukraine and just to say that nikki gumbel or vika here uh we'll be talking a little bit more about that later and praying as well for the situation so um stay with us and we'll talk more about that later on and you'll notice that we have got a new set a little campsite look here it is i realize in the pre-stream i didn't talk about this look at the it's only apparent that i bring it out now it's a it's right thank you it's can you wear it so that you don't lose things during the week well tom i wear it so i don't lose things but also if i'm like camping in a way i'm probably not feeling my best so i think i do it to distract do you know what i mean oh good point good point you gave him a sorrowful look we'll talk more about focus shortly but uh focus is coming up on the 28th to the 31st of july we'd love for you to join us there's a little bucking code hdb focus 2022 all one word hb focus 2022 here's the website's on the screen and you get 30 pounds off if you book in the next couple weeks with that code but this week it's great service going on yes it's worth saying now if you would like to access this live stream in bsl british sign language then the wonderful naomi is there why don't you head to hgb.org forward slash live stream and we've got archie and sam with us we've got our team sam archie coats our vicar designer he's going to be well he's coming on today with yes nick and people are going to be interviewing him so stay tuned for that and if as well you'd like to know who's in the chat it's ollie mitchell moore and he'll be looking after uh the chat for us today but he's going on a little he's he's training for ordination so give him a round of applause in the chat he's going to be a vicar very soon and as part of that i need to do a little a small placement alternative placement so for uh i think for the next month in march he's going to be away from the chat so please send him lots of love with you in the chat and ollie thank you for getting us live on there like face and name in the chat he's a great online host and he's has he's he's a real human as well he's the real he he comes in person sometimes in the evening he is a real he's a real real human and what else to say if it's your first time church head to hdb.org welcome and tell us you're here we'd love to connect with you and of course if you'd like prayer at any time during the service head to the website htb.org forward slash live stream prayer and there's a little team there that will pray for you as the service is going you can head that link whenever you want i feel like i'm on holiday yes i love photos i feel like we should give this a little shout out yes my daughter lily dropped my phone oh yeah i told her what we're doing i said what do we need to take with us for camping she said a fire fire well done lilly what's your favorite focus our church week away by the way in the summer what's your favorite bit there's a noodle bar that is the first thing that came to mind we have like a food a food court every year there's this fantastic noodle bar and um me and my yeah it's definitely a highlight but more about that later should we pray let's pray heavenly father i thank you so much that you are here with us right now lord i pray that you come by your spirit and fill each and every one of us um wherever we are lord i pray that you clear our just clear our minds clear our ears lord where we have anxieties where we have worries lord may we just lay that down at your feet now jesus i pray that we can come to you and hear from what you have to say to us this morning in jesus name we pray amen [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] without hope without life [Music] to fulfill the law and prophets to the name is [Music] [Applause] [Music] sing praise forever [Music] [Music] to redeem the whole creation is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise us [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] conquered death [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] reason [Music] a reason to worship the king of kings worthy king jesus [Music] so praise the father praise the son and praise [Music] praise forever to the king of kings oh praise the far we [Music] [Applause] praise the spirit [Music] sing praise [Music] we pray [Music] i [Music] [Music] my [Music] let every branch so we will shout to the lord [Music] [Music] [Music] as i sing for joy is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign is [Music] forever [Music] [Music] as i sing for joy at the works of your hands so i sing for joy as i sing for joy at the world [Music] [Applause] [Music] forever [Music] you so how great is [Music] so see how great [Music] how great how great it is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is let all the earth rejoice let all the earth rejoice he wraps himself [Music] and tramples [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you're the farthest [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] worthy of our praise you are worthy [Music] is [Music] jesus is [Music] is is [Music] oh is is [Applause] [Music] [Music] how great is how great [Music] despite every circumstance [Music] is [Music] just begin to declare the greatness of the lord in this room this morning you are great you are worthy of all praise our response is to give you glory regardless of the circumstance thank you for being a great great [Music] so [Music] lord you are great we do stand in your presence today in awe of your greatness particularly when we see our world shaking where we see fear and war and terror and injustice lord you are great we love you lord you are the all-powerful god we look to you our mighty deliverer thank you lord thank you that you're here with your people today and we know you're with your people all over the world today we love your presence we love you lord thank you lord amen amen would you like to take a seat please welcome again to everyone here at htv brompton road and welcome to all of you joining us on live stream right now we're thrilled that you're with us but we'd love you to come back we have 11 services every sunday on six different sites and i don't know you actually can't see it on live stream but we are jam-packed today would you give a welcome to all the people on live stream [Applause] [Music] today uh our world is in a moment of deep crisis and uh as we come to the prayers now uh we want to focus on ukraine uh i i put out on on twitter and social media today the fact that this is not a moment for the church to keep out of politics this is a moment for the church to unite to pray and to act on behalf of ukraine the people of ukraine and the people of russia [Applause] and uh uh pippa and i this afternoon each afternoon i've actually been up outside the russian embassy just to stand briefly with the protesters there from [Music] russia russian people protesting against what e evil actions of politicians this is not the russian people millions of russian people are totally against this this illegal invasion of a democratic uh people and uh it's a what's happening now is absolutely atrocious the number of refugees the number of people who have been killed uh murdered really uh it's absolutely horrific and uh we need to stand with the people if there's anyone from ukraine here or knows i have family in ukraine or friends we will be praying for you uh give you an opportunity to come to the front or for all people of russia too we love the people of russia we love the people of ukraine uh at our staff meeting on tuesday we will have our national advisor from ukraine who has managed to get out and we've managed to get his daughter out and thousands of people have done alpha in ukraine thousands and thousands tens of thousands have done alpha in russia and they they're distraught at what is happening right now and we need to pray so uh yeah this afternoon um i'm gonna put it out on social media to say inviting people if they if anyone's able to to come it's only 20 minutes walk from here outside the russian embassy where more and more people are gathering to to stand with we are able in this country to go out on the streets uh in russia they get arrested if they go out on the streets and i think the more people that go out on the streets around the world to demonstrate to the people of ukraine that were with them and the more people see how opposed that we are that the whole world is to this terrible terrible atrocity that's happening almost on our doorstep it's not far far from here uh the better i i'd love to introduce you to those who don't know andrew morley is one of our curators here he's one of the clergy team here he's he's an ssm that means he's a he's not paid for being a curious because he has a full-time job he is the president and c ceo of world vision which is one of the largest charities in the world and he just said how many people say every every sunday he's up in the galleries uh 9 30 11 30 pastoring the people here but during the week you are the president and ceo of world v so how many staff do you have at world vision we have um 37 000 staff this guy has 37 000 people working for him that's quite a lot um and uh how many donors do you have for world vision uh we have um about nine million donors and so you're you and also you're involved with the un just say what your your role is with with this gathering yeah i'm a principal on the inter-agency steering committee which is the highest decision-making body of the un which is world health organization uh unicef world food programme and we met this week you met this week to discuss the crisis now tell us what what should we be praying for um [Music] world vision was formed 70 years ago with a prayer break my heart lord for the things that break the heart of god so let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of god and this week has been heartbreaking we've already seen two hundred thousand people flee the ukraine two hundred thousand hundred and fifty thousand have gone to poland fifty thousand have gone to romania and world vision are receiving the refugees in romania and these are mainly women and children because the men are staying behind to defend their country and it's absolutely heartbreaking and innocent people are dying just imagine tanks rolling into birmingham yeah and carpet the second largest city in ukraine has got tanks in it russian tanks in it today it's absolutely heartbreaking yeah and what can we do um i deeply believe that this is something that we need to pray about and i see that this is a battle in this spiritual realm but i also see that we have a god who is the prince of peace isaiah 9 6 our god is a prince of peace and we have a god that can make a difference so these aren't just prayers that that we are speaking to ourselves this is praying to a god that can make a difference in this situation yeah so prayer is the first thing the second thing is give to to organizations that have started appeals world vision have an appeal but many do we need resources we need resources to take in the refugees in places like romania and um it's critical that we stand up and support them now and and how do we act so pray give and how can we act well i think just let your voice be heard that we are a people of peace that that we call for peace in ukraine in afghanistan across the world we call for peace and i think the more that the church is known for being a people of peace and a piece of people of love then we'll draw people back to church by having that authentic heart of christ that he calls us to have brilliant andrew morley thank you so much for what you're doing we're going to pray for you and pray for um and uh i firmly believe that the church needs to be at the forefront of this you know you just have to go but we haven't had a crisis in europe like this since the 1930s and i'm ashamed to say that the church didn't in some parts of the world did not act fast enough to see what was happening and to take a stance and that the church would not be following the world the church ought to be taking a lead uh in in resist because we're called to resist evil and promote good and this is this is an occasion where where there is a clear evil action taking place hugely damaging to the whole world system and we are called to pray and to act so would you like to stand this time to pray let's stand with the people of ukraine let's start let's show our support by standing with the people of ukraine and the people of russia and the baltic states and everyone who's affected by this terrible terrible uh invasion lord we pray for you the ukrainians right now we pray for those brave men who have taken up arms many of them who've never taken up an armed arms before who are trying to resist the onslaught of this russian invasion lord would you be with them would you be with their wives and children as they flee the land lord have mercy we pray on ukraine and have mercy on these women and children trying to get over their borders into a place of safety will you provide people of care and hope along the way lord we pray for romania and and poland and others that they would have the resources to care for these people who are traumatized and have left everything and lord we pray that you would stop this invasion we pray that there would be an end to this and that peace would be restored in that country in jesus name amen amen and we pray for governments for prime ministers for presidents we pray particularly today for the president of ukraine this brave man that you have raised up for such a time as this protect him thank you that he's not fleeing the country although he's the number one target thank you that he's standing bravely with the people and speaking wisdom and lord we pray for him we pray for our prime minister for the president of the united states we pray for all world leaders we pray that countries will open their doors to refugees provide visas for the families of those who need to get out we pray that this will not be like the 1930s where jews were not able to escape we pray that they will the people will be given uh refuge in countries all around the world that there won't be any country around the world that does not welcome ukrainians with open arms and look after them and give them hospitality we pray lord for people to rise up all across this world we pray that the church will rise up in the name of jesus and speak out and pray and we pray lord that you will intervene by your spirit the hand of god will intervene and stop this evil and promote good in jesus name amen amen thank you for praying thank you so much for your prayers please take a seat and please keep praying keep acting um if any of you like are able to and would like to come and join us we're just going to be just between services we'll be at the the outside the pepperoni and archie and sam will be outside the the um russian embassy joining increasing crowds uh each i was there on friday with a small number yesterday much bigger number and i suspect hope that there will be thousands out there just across the other side of hyde park so thank you for your prayers prayer really makes a difference your giving makes a difference thank you i've signed so many letters this week from wonderful wonderful people who've started giving regularly monthly by uh making it possible for all the things that we do as a church love your neighbor the homeless shelter the the the work in the prisons the everything that we're doing to take place thank you for your amazing thank you for those of you who watch online who give and support your you're not just consumers on online you're praying and you're giving and you're serving to uh to see the name of jesus honored in our society uh so thank you for what you are doing thank you for the way that you're acting and um we're so grateful uh we're coming up now you do you know focus is a wonderful occasion it's when we all gather you'll see a card about it in your um looking like this this is our this is our summer holiday we haven't been for two years because of the pandemic but this year we're back at focus hallelujah yeah there's only about six people here who know what focus is because it's so long ago anyway uh i hope but by the by the end of july you will all of you know what focus is because you're all invited and it's going to be absolutely amazing isn't it pips it is indeed can't wait can't wait have you packed your bags packing the bags already packing the sun cream it's going to be hot it's going to be wonderful and we need to gather as people of god there's so much at stake and when we gather things happen and i know that it's going to be an amazing week this is the whole church family this is not just us but all the churches are over 100 churches that have been planted from here or planted from plants from here and we're all gathering together the end of july and here's a little clip of what to expect [Music] well that hopefully that's very exciting i think it will be we're excited aren't we pips we are exciting we love focus we love gathering together we love seeing people we love time away just to think about jesus and to uh yeah grow our relationships with him and one another and for for several years now focus has been headed up by our vicar designate uh and archie and sam coats cannon archie coats and sam coats are now coming end of august there is is the handle actually the official handover will probably happen at focus um but uh we are so thrilled archie and sam uh have been friends of ours for over 20 years we absolutely love them and their family they mean so much to us and we could not be more thrilled that uh to be handing over to archie and sam and we want you to meet them we want you to get to know them a bit some of you know them because uh actually they have a long history of association with this church and with focus but not all of you will have met them this is an opportunity for you to meet them and to hear from them so would you give a very warm http welcome to archie and time coats [Music] so we want you to know everything about them so starting from birth how long have you got i just want to say sam i love your coat that's cheered me up that's the most color i've seen for a very long time and um i think that that actually sums sam up she brings color wherever she goes spring is in the air so sam um tell us you know did you grow up in a christian home where did you grow up um so i'm a brighton girl so um i'm leaving my hometown um but it's been a nice like little diversion down to brighton but uh no my family weren't christians when i uh first came into the world um but actually um their conversion was fairly dramatic probably like some of you perhaps my parents um had a sort of a crisis moment in their lives and their marriage was a point where it was a breaking point and my dad found himself sitting on the doorstep of a church down in brighton and he thought well this is sort of make or break time and he thought i'm going to bring the family back to this church on sunday and they weren't church goers at all my mum particularly had no church background at all my dad i think had attended as a choir boy when he was younger and i remember that sunday very well i remember what i wore and my sister and my mum we all had kind of slightly coordinated outfits um and um we went back to this little church in shoreham and it was a little c of e church and everything changed on that day my family came to faith and literally um the atmosphere i would say in our family home changed as we met jesus and he came into our lives and like you would know the love of jesus changes everything doesn't it and it was extraordinary and my parents are um i mean if you think i am uh sort of full-on they are potentially uh even more radical and they uh went from being completely i would say uh i'm gonna have to be careful because they're gonna be watching this it's a live stream but went from being very sort of partying wayward um uh people to really full-on christian like they sold their property and lived in community and served those um that were homeless and caught up in addictions and they've done that their whole lives so a lot of fun they're your mum's the same color as your coat isn't it it used to be she's now like gone gracefully gray but yeah she's they're they're pretty amazing um extraordinary people yeah and yeah they continue doing work with homeless and stuff amazing amazing what you come from and you have a family of your own will you tell us a little about that we have four children they're going to be afraid there we go that's actually a little bit old now they're a couple of years older than that but um yeah so we've got three boys and a girl and our daughter's actually in london um now she moved up ahead of us so she's one of them's a boxer the youngest is really into boxing so he's very excited to find a new gym up here um i know i don't i don't know where he gets that from but he's no not from you what are you saying um uh yes they're very they're all unique and they're very excited about coming to london so the three will be coming and the eldest is probably going to stay in brighton and archie you come from a christian family as well um in fact your mum every time i talk talk to her about you she calls you richard yeah and she gets very upset if i call you archie no well archie's my nickname and not a lot of people know that but i'm everyone calls me archie but richard is my real birth name and um actually if you meet my mother she's 86 you may meet her um if you do please will you remember to call me richard um she would really appreciate that we were brought up in a christian home i'm the youngest of four and uh we came i came here when i was uh 14 years old with my mum and dad used to worship here and we um but we were brought up actually wasn't just going to church you know it was jesus was at the center of our lives i remember when we were littler after each breakfast before my dad went out to work we all knelt knelt literally knelt at around the kitchen table at our chairs and he would lead family prayer so it's been right at the heart of i mean then when so we came here when i was a teenager and then um when i was about 18 i got a holiday job i went to university here in the holidays that's one of the virgin team yeah and um was i was with i was sandy sandy miller was the vicar then i always remember one of my jobs was on the sunday night after the last service on a sunday evening uh me and sandy miller the vicar um it was pews then not not the chairs that we're sitting in now and we had to look under every pew um to make sure there wasn't somebody who was still left in church and wanted to sleep the night here yeah [Laughter] and then you came to be the curator and then the associate vicar yeah four years as our net wonderful years as for us as our neighbors oh we got wonderful neighbors now as well i didn't want them to talk to anybody but but um but we had such happy years with you i i tell the story because one time um who was it one of your children i think it was charlie r uh old this one yeah he used to come watch well you didn't watch i can't think you ever watched tv but he he did come ask to watch your tv because you know we watched the testing you had you had schools about that size and he came and sat next to me and watched the cricket oh well you think he's what i do most of the time just watch the queen that's my job are you thinking about the sandy story though that that one yes yeah yeah no when charlie he wants to be oh but probably eight eight six seven years old i remember um some he was with a friend in the um htb garden so because we lived in the flat there and um uh sandy walked past and uh charlie said to his little friend um that's sandy he goes to my daddy's church and it was prophetic so that uh yeah so there was four years as a uh and then um brighton oh i'll just say a bit bit yeah well brighton and tip pips you well between us we can definitely i'm talking too much i'm going to take his backseat never nikki never um but sam you're a bit like for your parents you have a real heart for the the poor and particularly for women would you talk to us a little bit about that yeah i mean i think um i mean i've got a heart for anyone really but i think it was interesting moving to back down to brighton and from here and actually it was in when we were still here i felt like god um it was a ministry time at hdb and um i felt god breaking my heart for women and but i didn't really know the extent of what god was going to do until moving to brighton and we moved with our family and about 30 people and within the first week of moving there was a significant event that happened where a young girl a girl called mel she was 23 she was a heroin addict and she was on the streets and she was found dead of an overdose literally on the steps of our church and for me it was like that one of those moments which kind of hits you in the heart and you just feel like not on our watch will the church be closed to women and men and women who are in that much pain and darkness and so we we were determined i was determined to open up the church particularly for those on the margins of society um those were that that were that vulnerable and so safe haven started and we started with a saturday night meal um which men and women of any walks of life were open to come to and then from that place we started at women's drop in which is the thing that i've kind of pioneered i suppose and we've seen amazing growth with that we've seen women come to faith lives completely transformed just as the love of jesus comes into people's lives and you know it's just i suppose seeing people as god's children whether they realize that or not you just see people coming back to life as hope is kind of spoken over them and and that's what kind of brings me alive is just seeing um just people bridge to jesus um through his love being extended in different ways and and actually in this pandemic we've seen extraordinary growth in that area we turned the church into a warehouse really and delivered hampers across the city extending the work that we've been doing just through the drop-ins we extended that out across the hostels and across refuges and we're delivering like a thousand hampers and hot meals each week and that's led to amazing amazing partnerships in the cities because we've got brilliant services in brighton because there is so much need there is so much kind of deprivation there but there's also um you know we feel the kind of cool to be kind of the light in the darkness down there to support those workers and so we've now got a hope and wellness center and a cafe that's open to support those that are battling but also to support the workers as well that are working in that area and that's been an amazing thing that's come out of this last season so it's exciting i mean the whole story of brighton is an amazing one because uh so this church built that it's the unofficial cathedral of brighton it was built by sis charles barry between well designed by him between 1824 and 1828 same same person who designed the house of parliament and this this cathedral of brighton was going to close that was the plan it was going to be closed it couldn't be sold because it was illicit building it was going to be empty and closed what does that say as people walk past it says the church is dead and archie and sam went together with 30 people here in 2009 and as there was there were seven people left in the congregation and they went with those 30 people and since 2009 it has just grown and flourished we'll hear more about the story in the moment but look at this here's here's an article this is what the what we want what they wanted was that instead of people walking past and saying the church is dead people to walk past and say jesus is alive and look at here's the local newspaper how dedicated team helped pull our city's cathedral back from the brink of closure isn't that amazing [Applause] and so many people started coming the church was packed out it even caught the attention of the economist magazine this is what they go forth and multiply and there's a picture of archie slicker vicar slicker so you've got the slicker vicar coming here great haircut so slicker vicar yeah how did that happen and what's happened so not only has the church grown flourish all the things sam was talking about but also you've planted churches say a bit about that well i mean we were planted from here from htb and uh then we've been able to plant uh within our city within brighton hove to four different locations there but also a bit further afield to hastings uh crawley bogner regis uh portsmouth actually the portsmouth one i think is particularly amazing in terms of actually what you've birthed from htb because um portsmouth itself has planted several times within portsmouth city but also most recently to cardiff so you have a we have a grandchild you have a great grandchild who is they're all great grandparents or cities you look too young but your great grandparents um so it's it's amazing the multiplication effect from from here yeah i mean just just to get you know you you've just talked about you just sort of thrown throwaway lines but that's you've planted eight churches and one of those portsmouth now has i think twelve hundred people um it's got five uh how many churches are there it's got several sites in the city several sites planted into cardiff which itself has got five churches and it's just amazing what's happened under your ministry and every and and you also been running the whole network of the hundred churches that have been planted all your children grandchildren great-grandchildren that some of you didn't know you had great grandchildren but today you know you've got great grandchildren um and you've been heading up that network and we gather together at focus say a bit about focus sam well i think focus i mean it is amazing isn't it all these church plants that have been happening over especially over a pandemic as well and we've not been able to meet focus gather together as a as a sort of great group of churches and i think that's the exciting thing is gathering um calling on the name of jesus um seeing his spirit come and i'm really excited for focus because it's one of those times when you do see an outpouring of the spirit you see um we'll be gathering having amazing um seminars and just getting specialists coming in and talking to us about this new season that we're moving into and so to be able to do that across the whole network of churches i think is going to be phenomenal yeah i i think it's a pivotal time because we haven't been able to gather together and we've got to figure out how the church is going to be in this next season you know nationally you know what what does a post-pandemic 21st century christian look like how do we meet the challenges that in our culture so we need to we need to think about that also we we desperately need an encounter corporately not just personally we've been disconnected we need an encounter with the spirit that is going to kind of transform us but also kind of gear us up for what the church i think needs to be i i think it's going to be one of those sort of i was there moments i really do and the planning that's going in um it's got all the fun and all that but it's it's it's what i think the spirit is going to do um the tagline is something extraordinary happens when we get together and we've always found that it seems to kind of lead to a surge in the vision that god's given us so yeah we'd love you to we hope you'll all be there of focus at the end of july and if you're watching this online and you are part of one of the focused churches part of one of the 104 churches that have been planted from here we would love you to to come and join us at the end of july and i don't keep every letter that i um have ever received but i do keep some that are particularly precious i have one here from archie uh august 2009 when he left it was a wonderful letter he wrote and i've quoted from it in the past but i also have one from even earlier than that 2005 from sam um and uh you wrote this sam firstly i'd love you both to know how thrilled arch and i are to be part of this transition stage at htb could be prophetic couldn't it because that was a transition from sandy to me but of course we're now in they are they're part of the transition stage now in a different kind of way and then it goes on to speak about your un unfiltering loyalty which you have shown all these years since 2005 almost 17 years but then it ends with this sentence we know hgb is our home and london is where we will serve out our ministry years isn't that amazing and very exciting that these are going to be where you're going to serve out your ministry years god willing so we're really really excited about that and uh right now we are in a moment as we've been praying in a moment of crisis there's been a lot of storms physical storms uh out there but there's also now this big uh uh world uh crisis storm and archie i know you've been thinking a lot about this praying about it and particularly thinking around psalm 46 yeah well i was um i was thinking about it in relation initially only last weekend it seems a lifetime ago storm eunice i was thinking what a metaphor that was for so many of the storms that could seem to be going on in life anyway rocketing fuel prices and the cost of living and then of course the greatest of ukraine and uh what is our response you know both personally and as a church and i was pondering um with psalm 46 i i think particularly speaks may i read um psalm 46 to you because i think it has an answer for how we're to be uh when the storms of life happen god says god is our refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth give way in the mountains fall into the heart of the sea though its waters raw and foam and the mountains quake with their surging there is a river whose streams make glad the city of god the holy place where the most high dwells god is within her she will not fall god will help her at break of day nations are in uproar kingdoms fall he lifts his voice and the earth melts the lord almighty is with us the god of jacob is our fortress come and see what the lord has done the desolations he's brought on the earth he makes wars cease to the ends of the earth he breaks the bow and shatters the spear he burns the shields with fire he says be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth the lord almighty is with us the god of jacob is our fortress and i was just drawn to i suppose the question of what we do when storms happen in our lives but also what we're seeing at the moment globally with ukraine and it says god is our our help very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear one of the things i appreciate about that is that god doesn't deny that there's trouble you know that's one thing i like about being a christian actually it's it's like rooted in reality that there are wars and there is trouble and there are storms but what he's inviting us to do it seems to me is to to retune our hearts our inner sense to the unshakable nature of god you know what is your heart tuned to right now because if our hearts attuned to anything other than the god who was and is and is to come then we will continue to live dominated by fear but if we tune our hearts to the unshakable nature god is our refuge and our strength and ever-present help in trouble then we will not fear and the i think i i think god is inviting us personally each one of us today into a hurricane shelter in the storms of life to tune our ourselves to the god of history of eternity who from everlasting to everlasting the alfred the amiga to find that sense of security and that's how you that's how you arrive at verse 10 of psalm 46 be still and know that i am god and we can live what we do actually live life in only one of two ways either in fear of the future or in faith of the love of god but but the thing that interests me is what we do as well not just personally but together because it strikes me that when he says be still and know that i am god i will be exalted in the nations i will be exalted in the earth he is attaching his greater sense of purpose to that i will be and in luke 21 jesus talks about times of storms and uncertainty and events he talks about nation rising against nation fearful events he talks about he talks about anguish and perplexity and he says when these things begin to happen jesus says stand up and lift up your heads for your redemption is drawing near and for us i think there's a call for us in this season um when the storms and what we're seeing in ukraine not to shrink back not to hunker down not to let fear drive us into the shadows of the church but to stand up and lift up our heads for redemption is drawing near and what would that mean for for each one of us be for i will be exalted in the nations i will be exalted in the earth and i think god is looking for a brave church i don't think he's looking actually for superheroes or bulletproof people but people who just feel like this morning get filled with the holy spirit filled with the love that casts out fear and if i may say so just looking from the outside in to htb it strikes me that this is what you as a church have been so amazing at you know i think of the last two years in the pandemic that great storm how you have stood up and lifted up your head the things that you've initiated through love your neighbor not just in london but right through the nation uh the ways you've put things online so that people who would never have access to church have begun to it's an amazing privilege that we have to introduce people to the hope of jesus that's what the role of the church is and uh you've been at the forefront of that and i think this is another bit of this to stand up lift up our heads and see how god might want the church to be in this season so those are my thoughts brilliant archie and sam coates [Applause] yes [Applause] well let's do that shall we stand and let's invite the holy spirit to come and fill us we need the spirit of god in such a time as this all of us i want to encourage you simply to put out your hand if you're watching online you can be filled with the holy spirit in your home maybe you're watching right now maybe you're watching a service that's later you weren't you weren't actually contemporaneous with this service but you're watching a few days later you can be filled with the holy spirit right now and i'd encourage you to open your heart we open our hands not because that's significant but it's a sign that we're opening our hearts and saying i'm open to be filled again i need to be filled i need the holy spirit all of us need the holy spirit jesus said without me you can do nothing now we pray come holy spirit come to every person who's opening their heart right now here at hdb and every home that's joining us every heart every person come holy spirit and know that love the arts you were speaking about be still and know that i am god the lord says in the stillness of your heart no that you are loved god is your refuge and your strength a very present help in times of trouble therefore you need not fear and right now in the name of jesus i break fear i break its power in your life and i speak peace love perfect love casts out fear may you know the love of god the peace of god and i think the lord is saying and put on the full armor of god so that you can take your stand in these days to put it on the armor of god sword of the spirit helmet of salvation respect of righteousness belt of truth shoes of the gospel that's your protection that's your equipment to fight this battle it's in the heavenlies through prayer and through standing up for what is right and the lord is equipping you he's anointing you he's pouring out his spirit he's giving you what you need right now for the season that you're in you're not alone you're and you're not without hope you are equipped with the mighty armor of god to stand in these days and i'd love us to um may not apply to anybody here but if you are um from ukraine or you have relatives there or you have uh family there or if you are um one of the millions of russians who are in despair uh what's happening um we'd love to pray for you um and uh i want to expose you in any way but if you're we have a we have a big ministry team here so it won't be you know doesn't necessarily need to be obvious but if you if you like to just make your way to the front um we we want this is a time when the church around the world needs to stand with our brothers and sisters uh if or if you're from the baltic states and yeah just come just come to the front we would love to pray with you yeah yeah where where are you from sir childhood you're from the western ukraine yeah okay okay okay just just um come and come and come and um join us if you're from yeah this you know this lady i uh is from russia but has so many friends in kiev that's so common and this is like the story um it's heartbreak heart rending others who if you're if you are yeah just make your way to the front here we'd love love to pray with you and support you at this time i think there are other people who've you come here today because you are desperate uh you're desperate to be pr to receive prayer but just like these the these the men and women of um ukraine and russia are desperate so you you've got a different situation but you can relate to their situation because of your situation and please please and and some of you have actually come here just thinking i i wish they'd have there'd be a word of knowledge for me well this is the word of knowledge for you god loves you and uh he's seen you and he knows that you came here because you needed prayer please just come come and come and just join us and if the ministry team like to come forward are we going to worship and uh if there's any anything go on go go go go is there anything i think i i i think this um just the sense i have is that god is some calling us to be family today and um so if you're feeling on your own in the storms of life now would be a great time just to come and we'd love we've got a ministry a prayer team who would love to pray for you so it might not be related to this it might be something else there's one other category i feel that there are people here in positions of influence you know you're in a position of influence and you know you have a maybe the holy spirit has been speaking to you about something that you can do in terms of this crisis maybe you're a politician a local council or maybe maybe even a member of parliament um or uh and you know that you have a you have a role to play you have a voice all all of us have a voice everyone has an influence even the most shyest person will influence 10 000 people at least during their lifetime all of us have an influence but the spirit of god has been speaking to you in this service about what you can do and again love you to come come to the front the spirit of god is and it's maybe relates to a different part of the world there are crises going on in africa and uh right across this world afghanistan it may be you're one of those areas it relates to but if you again please feel free to come to the front we've got a great ministry team and this is the second week we've been able to do ministries so we're going to worship together and please do come forward if you'd like us to pray for you [Music] god i look to you [Music] i won't be overwhelmed give me vision to see things like you do god i look to you you're where my health comes from give me wisdom you know just what to do [Music] be overwhelmed give me vision to see things like you do god i look to you as you're where [Music] you know just what to and do will love you lord my strength i will love you lord my [Music] i will love you guys oh [Music] vision to see things [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Applause] is [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] i is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] foreign [Music] lord lord we lord we thank you that you rule and reign in this universe and lord [Music] thank you that our god reigns thank you lord that you reign over ukraine thank you that you reign over the rulers of this world thank you that you rule over russia and the baltic states thank you that you rule over the europe and every continent in the world thank you that you rule over kings and presidents and prime ministers that you are in charge of this universe and we pray lord think of that statement that those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past and lord we do not want that to be true of this generation and we pray lord that the church around this whole world will unite orthodox catholic protestant and pentecostal to pray and act to see evil defeated and god's kingdom coming that's our prayer lord that your name will be glorified your kingdom will come your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven and we want to pray your blessing on every person here as we go out from here to do your will pray that you were blessed each person watching online you are the blessing of good health the blessing on their home blessing on their family blessing on their friends blessing on the workplace blessing on their finances blessing on everything they say and do the blessing of god almighty the lord who rules and reigns in this universe be upon you the blessing of god the father who loves you the blessing of jesus the son who died for you and is risen and is alive the blessing of the holy spirit who fills you today with his love and joy and power be upon you the blessing of god almighty father son and holy spirit be with you now and always amen god bless what what a wonderful service and we just want to reiterate like if you would like prayer for anything maybe something that you heard in the service or just something that's going on in your life then we have got a whole team of people that would love to pray with you and so why don't you head to hgb.org forward slash live stream prayer and um yeah we would love to pray with you and pray for you there's a team there right now praying for you send a message on the website that just suggested or if you want something praying for during the week you can send an email to the prayer team at prayer at htb.org and we're always looking at that mailbox that inbox is open of waiting for your prayer request so do send them into the email prayer http dot org if you've just joined us though very welcome you've joined us in start service my name is tom i'm jess and i don't normally wear a sparkly bum bag it's a special week kids focus uh launch uh here at htb we'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment if it's your very first week and you're wondering what is going on welcome to htb it's our live stream you can head to this website hdb.org welcome and or scan the qr code that's just popped up on the screen and tell us a bit about yourself we'll get in touch in the week uh connect you into the life of the church talk about all the services going on site we'd love to have you more involved here at hdb there's a lot to get involved with this week but um just before i say that someone during um someone during the service suggested that either me or tom should have started the live stream in the tent and i just thought wow we missed an opportunity just a moment but anyway ash wednesday ash wednesday is a chance to um it's a chance to mark the beginning of lent and to reflect on um on jesus sacrifice and his death on the cross so why don't you come and join us it's 7 30 a.m um at htb queensgate on wednesday the 2nd of march so this wednesday and um it's an amazing op it is wednesday the 2nd of march 7 30 a.m an hour of like beautiful reflective music and um it will be marked by signing of the cross and so if you are around htv queensgate 7 30 a.m for an ash wednesday service we would love to have you there and the following day thursday the 3rd of march at 7 30 p.m is kingdom come kingdom come is our opportunity to gather together at brompton road to worship god seek him a night of encounter and praise come and join us at brompton road 7 30 p.m thursday the 3rd of march the following day friday the 4th of march is my mom's birthday so there we go and my friend josh is is this so my wife's on the first and then he's on the 12th big month march big month for birthdays oh goodness focus sorry it was just focused you're perfect we're too excited about focus focus is our church week away yes four days it's four days 28th to the 31st of july new york show ground new york showground there's something for everyone there are like big top sessions if you're and you consider yourself an adult there's amazing kids groups there's youth groups student um student groups and like time to form community and especially if you think i don't know anyone so i don't want to go like focus is for you yeah it's funny especially if you don't know anyone focus is the chance to meet people that's where i properly got to know emily goodwin who i was seeing in derby and i was a bridesmaid at a wedding so look at that there we go if you're part of the community here become a bridesmaid if you go to focus or a bride you might meet a husband there you might meet you might be anyway um that's happened as well i started using the code hdb focus 2022 it's all one word although it's not words at the end it's numbers http focus 2022 no spaces go to the website on the screen hdb.org focus and sign up now we'd love to see you there focus is a great time together we can't wait it's gonna be awesome it's been a great week if you can why don't you come and visit us in the room next sunday we would love to see you here um and subscribe to this youtube channel and you can be notified anytime we go live or release anything and hit the bell and do a little ding and you will yes you'll be notified you'll be notified of that i'm off into the tent [Music] we will be back same time same place he's gonna go same time same place next week have a fantastic week goodbye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: HTB Church

Views: 14,606

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Id: UtNVGcLoX8Y

Length: 91min 6sec (5466 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 27 2022