Impact after death | Crossway Baptist Church

[Music] hey crossway good to see you hey crosstalk welcome it's winter it is winter it's i was gonna say brilliant i would bet it's because it's brilliant but it's freezing really zero degrees this morning when i woke up it's only four degrees now in melbourne four degrees didn't warm up much did it but to all our friends in algeria watching today it's currently 47 degrees yikes they have a license to chill am i right we're into our winter puns already this morning but we're talking winter today as uh as we dive into our service this morning nithia what do you love about winter you know i think winter is one of those um fascinating um seasons unlike all the others in the sense that it's very easy to warm up like it's it's easier to warm up in winter than it is to cool down in summer i feel like you could sit in the aircon for a while and not feel much has changed but in winter you just need to get a good puffer jacket a few more things more to see later on that we'll we'll give you some good winter warming tips but yeah it's a good season to warm up in how are you feeling right now are you feeling alone yeah i'm feeling very warm here uh in the crossway building uh we uh we're dressed for winter i love going for a walk when the air's really cold outside it's chilly and crisp and it actually gets me out of our house because uh i think my wife a little like yourself likes a warm toasty house bless you megan yeah let's think about winter let's have a walk through winter this morning what have we got let's uh have a think about the coldest day in melbourne what do you reckon that's crazy i wouldn't even know let's let's uh look to the slides yep what is the coldest day in melbourne the coldest day ever recorded in melbourne was minus 2.8 that's crazy maximum temperature minus 2.8 21st is like 1869. whoa i do not remember that was it was there snow that day uh i don't remember that day either 1869. actually i'm told the last day that it snowed in melbourne you could you could message us on facebook if you remember this 1989 apparently it snowed into cbd true again [Laughter] okay the what about uh the coldest place in australia um yeah and we're talking temperature-wise right we're not talking harsh the coldest place in australia is kuma wow hello to all our viewers in cooma yeah they're very warm people in kumar yeah um they have to be minus 2.8 minus 2.8 is the average winter temperature so the coldest day ever in melbourne minus 2.8 but it's the kuma average winter temperature that's crazy yeah kumar kumar over there if you're watching incumbent today crosstalk at home we'd love to hear how you stay warm yeah we would give us some tips we feel like we're doing a good job but it feels like you might need a few more layers than this over there what's coming next on the slides let's have a look what's the next winter fact coldest day across the world scott let us know do you know do you know the answer thank you to arlington pilgrim for in-depth research yesterday ali was on google wikipedia all the winter sources minus 89.2 now is that possible it is crazy that is i don't even know how anyone else stocks stationed in antarctica where the russian scientists hang out today it's a barmy miner 70. i feel like there's a movie about that white out i don't know what it's rated so maybe don't go watch it okay what do we got next in our winter walk through i like this one um what's going on over here scott well you know how in some relationships i this would be the perfect place for a couple to live where one one likes the heat and one likes the cold this is i know this is not my best russian but this is yakutsu wow yakuza in siberia and in summer it gets to 25 26 degrees just a nice kind of summer temperature but in six months it can swing to -41 has the biggest swing in temperature in the world that is nuts are all the things frozen in the yeah in the market yeah look at that that's a frozen food market yeah this one big freezer looks like some nice fresh fish there well that's yakutsu maybe russia that is crazy how do we stay warm in winter how do we stay warm in winter what works for you well i i'm more of a let's turn up the heater as high as it goes um in fact that has been the general discussion um in marriage counselling they told us there are going to be things that you need to talk about with each other you know someone's going to push the toothpaste um from the middle or but we never really had those problems until it came to the heating um so fully and now it's happening that's it a month in and and we're we're chatting about the heating um like a like a um actually you're not you're a cold married couple that's pun number two or three or four um all i can say to anithia is i'd like to give you some advice but i don't think it gets any better okay um great news we walk around our house i've trained my children to walk around the house saying we can't breathe it's so hot in here but uh but um other thing i love about winter is also soup yes uh we've got some beautiful warm chicken soup here today delicious i i tasted some before it's it's a little spicy too was that made by your beautiful wife megan made my my beautiful wife megan is a little spicy as i tasted some before and i beautiful actually uh she swears by chicken soup good for the sauce delicious yeah thai chicken soup on all the uh tv reality cooking shows don't have to say that's fantastic yeah but i hope it's as good as it's really good do you like hot chocolates i do i try to stay away from them unless they're sugar-free but i do love hot chocolates i'm dairy-free so i don't really go with hot chocolates but as you warm up in melbourne the coffee kind of capital i've been doing some research best hot chocolate in melbourne yes tripadvisor says or no no not tripadvisor three different websites uh writing hot chocolate it's well backed up i think it's on our next slide it's mork the mork chocolate house in north melbourne there is that's how they serve their hot chocolates so if you're uh cold today you want to get out and about support local business with appropriate social distancing of course might need to call and book uh that's the place to go apparently yeah uh for a uh i think if you drop in and say scott nithya sent you you'd probably be a disciple i might have a table for you already yeah okay what's our next slide how do we stay warm now look at this the ultimate onesie that is that looks like more than a onesie to me yeah what concerns me about that is the safety of having a drink but do you notice that she's a she could be a he sorry yes all wrapped up warm there but no socks i know my mother would be questioning that that tactic she always says keep your extremities warm your socks your heads i want to see someone getting around burwood blackburn south in one of those today i don't think they'd be able to see sky yeah well what's next oh i i just look at this if you're really cold men there's a new jacket on the market you plug it in with a usb true story you can get this on wish i shouldn't be advertising some product placements yeah but you can you can buy one of these and it stays warm but here's my take we don't need one of these because look at this have a look at the next slide if you're tough like we breed him at crossway yeah can you imagine pastor bill malcolm wanting a usb jacket i don't think he'd need one he looks like he's pretty rugged up in this in this picture is he camping right now yeah he's in vostok in antarctica it's minus 70. yikes bless you uh bill we love you he's about to go shearing i think very very warm shearer and then we've got a few things i think we've got a few animals staying warm yikes you see puffer jackets everywhere in melbourne it's not right i came down to melbourne i realized i had to get a pupper jacket yes yeah i think that's a rabbit is it uh i the rabbit's on on that side yeah yeah rabbits i think it's a dog this next one don't try this at home okay don't try this at home i definitely do i probably probably wouldn't put my animals in front of it because i don't have an animal just another plea to you nicholas can we get a dog but um i think they were scenting uh hashtag crossway at home that's someone watching the surface nice and warm and toasty close by yeah that's how you do it what do we got next why all these uh winter images uh we do want to make a kind of serious transition because it's cold outside today it is very cold but the reality is for most of us we live in warm houses we uh we can have the advantage of going to uh to a coffee shop near us enjoying some good good good food we take lots of that stuff for granted in winter yeah we do and it's it's awesome that we as crossway and life care can make a really really small difference but a difference nonetheless you know we've been handing out food hampers and and blankets and counseling so that's been awesome that we can we can invest a little bit and i believe that has um also been tied to our june appeal this year it has you know up to we're up to more than 750 food hampers awesome uh we've got team members here today who are regularly out i think you do some deliveries i have done some deliveries in the past a couple of months and they've been awesome and a great opportunity to serve in that way yeah so thank you crossbow for your incredible blessing that way but i mean uh it's um it's a reality uh that in winter people doing it tough life just gets that little bit tougher in australia today still more than a hundred and five thousand people uh homeless people living without a safe secure place to call home uh in the midst of covert 19 we've seen a rise sadly in family violence because of just the extra pressures in life um 15 i find my hard to get my head around the statistic but it's very true 15 of australians that's a lot of people 15 of australians will go without at least one meal this week to save money to pay the bills um and that's not just in kind of poor communities but where people are doing it tough particularly with the loss of work and um the struggles in terms of the economy in the covert season it's it's a challenging time and winter raises that picture and um you might have seen the the picture there of uh a woman in a car sleeping in a car yeah i i had a um i had a chat uh last winter with someone in the crossway car park who was a mum with uh three kids and it just really struck me there was a car here i was here for a meeting it was later in the evening i wondered what was happening i had a chat to a mum and she didn't have a place to call home she couldn't afford rent she separated didn't have a job she was actually driving into our car park because she thought it was a safe place um sad story but flipped the story over we could connect her with life care and they made such a difference in her life oh that is awesome i'm so glad to hear that so the june appeal it's coming up it's been live it's the coming up it's coming up for sure we're here for you we're going to hear more about our service today but can we encourage you we can uh we can talk about it's cold outside uh or we can enjoy some of the uh the things we take for granted in winter and you know rug up and have some fun but there are people genuinely doing it tough in our own backyard and the june appeal tax deductible all the support goes to life care our target's 500 000 we would love you to uh jump on board today and be a part of that that would be awesome so so good what uh what are you looking forward to in the week ahead look there is so much to be looking forward to i get to work with your lovely self it's it's great working um at crossway and at global interaction actually and just got a few things to tick off the list but in a really good way not a monotonous task but some i really look forward to just getting my work done if there was something in your life today that you're kind of celebrating if we thought if we kind of talked about light something in your life obviously recently mary but what's something you're celebrating or what is something happening god's doing in your life at the moment well i've been you're very right i'm still on a wedding high it's been awesome being married to nicholas and i think it's really enhanced the love of family around especially when i think a lot of you um would have been experiencing the idea that we've been a little bit separated and isolated from our family so now that restrictions are allowing for us to meet in small gatherings we've really been lapping that up and meeting a lot lots of family times lots of movie nights with my cousins and that's just been awesome we've started to put a really regular rhythm in catching up as a family um which is so nice is there something that you have been loving lately too uh yeah i guess yeah two things for me that come to mind really quickly one is just the um just the reality of the the kind of simple times we can slide with family you know you've mentioned that but just the the simple times with kids doing some of the the simple things that once we probably would have really taken for granted now we celebrate and the other is just hanging around with good people yeah the opportunity just to get a little you know a little more closer to people in terms of connections i had someone come over yesterday afternoon at four o'clock a good mate who i don't get to spend a lot of time with and he came over at four o'clock for a walk yesterday uh he's younger than me he left my place at 1am this morning that's crazy and uh i'm gonna have a bit more coffee maybe a bit more of my wife's soup just to stay awake this morning but yeah the the the privilege of friendships so uh it's great that's so true great to share again this morning got another another winter panda scene it's nice to see you oh sorry i didn't even know you were going to ask for it oh there you go no much more where that came from stick around crossway yep and we're going to stick around because we're moving into worst ship it's winter but we're going to get warmed up together the invitation to worship our great god we're going to hear more about the june appeal we're here for you get on board support it help people doing it's tough this winter god bless you enjoy the service crossway bless you [Music] [Music] welcome to church crossway it's so great to be here with you online would you worship with us together [Music] go on church you can clap your hands at home if you want see remember this [Music] he took my sin and he bear read it no longer [Music] to see the light won't boast [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] is for oh glory [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] now jesus lives in me for i was dead in sin but i woke up to see the light [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] crazy [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] heaven [Music] on top of grace [Music] foreign [Music] my face with your grace on top of grace with your grace on top of grace [Music] oh the sound was closed now found heaven came down [Music] came down [Music] [Music] [Music] you turn my face [Music] hallelujah on top of [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] oh grace the name of the lord our god [Music] [Music] we will see your grace [Music] god you are so worthy of our praise you know church i have this real sense in my spirit today that god wants to bring breakthrough that god wants to bring breakthrough today in marriages that god wants to bring breakthrough in finance that god wants to bring breakthrough in health today so i want to read from acts 16 where we find paul and silas in prison it says about midnight paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the other prisoners were listening to them suddenly there was a violent earthquake and the foundations of the prison were shaken at once all the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose and crossway today i believe that as we sing and we worship god that god wants to bring breakthrough because he is a god who is powerful he's a god who can do the impossible and he wants to break chains today so let's press into his next song god and let's press in and believe that god is going to bring breakthrough so let's sing you are the word at the beginning one with god the lord knows hidden glory in creation now revealed in you are what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus christ my what a beautiful name it is nothing compares to this what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus [Music] didn't want heaven without us so jesus brought heaven down my sin was great your love was greater oh i could save us now what a wonderful name it is what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus christ my king what a wonderful name nothing compares to this what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus what a wonderful name of [Music] one jesus just begin to sing out in your own words just begin to pour out your heart to him you sing or speak or call out or say the name of jesus that powerful name that wonderful name just call upon him now church [Music] oh [Music] could not [Music] the hearings are roaring [Music] praise to life again [Music] yours is the king of [Music] name yours is gone what a powerful name it is it is nothing can stand again what a powerful name it is the day of jesus what a powerful name it is [Music] jesus we want to thank you for who you are today for your good god you're powerful and god we declare that you are a god of breakthrough through so god we want to thank you for the breakthrough that you've brought today and lord the breakthrough that you're going to continue to do god the way that you're going to continue to work in hearts and working lives god we're believing for breakthrough today amen amen well crossway we want to welcome you here today wherever you're joining us from where whether it's from our buildings campus or our southeast campus whether it's further in melbourne or overseas you are so welcome today and crossway i have some really good news for you we so far have given out 757 hampers grocery packs to those in our local community who have need those that are doing it tough how good is that crossway we want to thank you so much for your generosity because that's over 2 000 lives that have been impacted by your giving so crossway i want to encourage you let's keep being generous let's keep giving let's keep giving to our life craig grocery hampers let's keep giving to our dune appeal and let's keep giving our tithes and offerings because crossway they make such a difference you know the stories that i've heard of people impacted our local community as we've been a neighbor in our street as we've given out those hampers has just been huge it's made a massive impact so crossway let's continue to give let's continue to be generous in this season because really it's making a difference and i want to remind you too crossway that we are here for you you know i've heard of multiple people this week in our congregation who have lost loved ones and you know my heart really goes out to you and we want to tell you that we are here for you so if you've got a need at the moment whether that's a prayer need or a care aid or a grocery need i want to encourage you to jump on our crossway website because you can put those needs in there and someone will get in contact with you because yeah we do care for you in this season well crossway youth i wanted to remind you that crossway winter camp is coming up next weekend you know it's an online experience from friday night right through to sunday and see why you are not going to want to miss this experience the youth team have some awesome games challenges worship as well we are hearing from charlie burke from alpha australia as well as you see our leaders who have put in a whole lot of work to put some electives together for you so registrations close today so see why i want to encourage you to register you know i know for me as a young person camps were some of the most significant experiences for me where god spoke to me and god challenged me so youth you are not going to miss it so make sure you jump on the website and you register today well how about we pray together [Music] god we want to thank you for who you are and we want to thank you for the way that you have blessed us god and i want to thank you for the generosity of our congregation lord for the way that they continue to give and lord i pray for those receiving hampers or assistance in our community lord that you would continue to move that we would see people come to know you through the impact of our outreach so god we want to thank you for who you are and for what you're doing amen well today i am here with carly and andrew frangos from our crossway kids team so kelly and andrew welcome thank you now carly and andrew you jumped on board on the team at the start of this year do you want to tell everybody uh what are you doing as part of our crossway team yeah sure um i am the grades five six pastor um i also spent some time over at forest hill college as one of the chaplains before this i was a teacher primary school teacher mainly music and technology i also love music so i was involved in worship too and some of our other churches as well fantastic and i'm the prep to grade 4 pastor here at crossway kids i also have a background in primary school teaching mainly upper primary and classroom music i before moving to melbourne i was actually the children's director at the harvey bay baptist church for two years so i oversaw the play groups the kids church and the kids club i'm also very passionate about worship but i'm also passionate about just seeing kids excited about god that's so good well we're really excited to have you on board now i know you guys are parents of some kids and you've parented through this covered season so do you want to tell us a little bit about your family and maybe some of the challenges or learns for you guys through this season yes so we have three kids we have two boys aged 13 and 11 and we have a little girl who's age six and we've actually found this season very very difficult we moved to melbourne here in january and the kids were settling into new schools making new friends then all of a sudden we're in isolation and they were stuck with mum and dad all day every day and so it was actually quite challenging it was also very challenging for us we both had new jobs and so we were trying to juggle that with online schooling as well so i think that one of the things we learned was patience being patient with our children being patient with each other and i think through that we learnt some ways to cope i think you know we put in a structured timetable for our children so they knew what was coming up um we had open conversations about you know what was going on and things like that and we also just got out and exercised as a family just to you know clear the mind and things like that just to help us cope with being together so much yeah absolutely that that does make a difference doesn't it well um here at crossway we really value partnering partnering with parents i mean we we know that parents are the the um primary disciples of their kids so do you want to tell us a little bit about what's happening in crossway kids and the way that we're wanting to partner with families in this season sure well as parents we do spend the most time with our children and so we do play the most important role in our child's discipleship journey so here at crossway kids we are passionate about encouraging supporting and equipping parents for this particular journey yeah and some of the ways that we do that we love to connect with our children so we have our sunday crossway kids online we also for the lillies we have the midweek story time peter 4 have zoom parties monthly five sixes we do zoom online um small groups and kilns coming back online next term too exciting um that's how we love to connect with our kids but i think also for parents we have some resources on the website now table talk cards to encourage our families to have conversations in and around the bible and god's word and see what he's saying through that that's great we've also got heaps of things in the pipeline at the moment so we're really excited that soon we should have a parents blog out and parent online conversations so keep an eye out for them yeah very exciting so um just just as we wrap up this conversation what's one word of encouragement that you would want to give to our parents i think we'd love to encourage our parents just to keep having those spiritual conversations with their children yeah it's important you know find time throughout the day to just be able to chat about god to be able to open the bible talk around what that and pray with and for our kids you know daily if we can yeah that's great well parents we want to remind you as these guys have said that we are really committed to partnering with you in this season and we are cheering you on well thanks andrew and carly for joining us today thanks for having us you know uh families this would be a great time to jump on crossway kids online now or sometime during the day and engage in that together well we over this month have had our june appeal so why don't we check that out now i was notified that a gentleman in our local community had pressed the new care button on our website just to keep his privacy we've decided today to refer to him as robert so i rang robert i was totally overwhelmed by the number of issues that this family had faced even prior to covert 19. i just had to think of how on earth we could help this gentleman not only were there financial issues because of the significant health issues no one in the household was actually able to go out to the supermarket to actually purchase food so that's where a grocery button came in and they were able to receive the groceries that they needed without them having to leave their home in 2019 crossway life care was able to help 1311 people just like robert to flourish and over the last two months while we have had the covid19 pandemic we've handed out 442 hampers of food to over a thousand people crossway life care loves to collaborate with other people and we've been so blessed to have some amazing partnerships that have started throughout the covert 19 pandemic our pantry has been so blessed by odds harvest filling it with fresh food and our local mp gladys you have been putting us in touch with lots of people who need help as have salvo care down in box hill and the department of education who put us in touch with croydon primary school and several families there who are in need of our help we've been able to partner alongside one voice to provide a shower van for homeless people and we've even had one of our volunteers knit some scarves that we could hand out to those people who are having the showers to keep them warm and snug over these harsh winter months crossway life care has really been blessed by a crossway member who's been refurbishing computers for us we've been able to hand them out to life care clients to be able to continue their therapy or their groups and also to students who have not been able to attend school optus have very generously given us 100 sim cards so that we can give them to people who've run out of data to make sure that they can stay online and connected to the outside world the care team has been able to make sure that people who are feeling isolated or anxious have been able to have somebody to call them to speak with them and to regularly keep in contact to make sure that they're okay robert had expressed to me he hadn't really been to church much he hadn't really been practicing any sort of faith and he also felt that god had totally abandoned him and he was feeling so helpless and life was hopeless i asked him if i could pray with him and since that time i've been able to have several phone calls and several times of prayer with him and he's felt that well maybe god hasn't actually abandoned him he's feeling stronger and stronger as he goes along and maybe god is using this experience to show him that he will bring him through this time life for robert still isn't easy nor for his family there are still significant health issues financial issues and other issues concerning them in their life but life has changed god has made a difference in his life and so have the practical things that we have been able to do for him and so he's not feeling the same hopelessness now there are many roberts out there many families like robert's family who need our practical care many people who are struggling financially many people who can't get out and get the groceries in this time so many vulnerable people they all need our help once again thank you so much for your continued support and generosity to crossway and crossway life care and this appeal you today and for those of you who haven't yet participated in what's happening with the june appeal i want you to know that the gifts this year are going directly to helping people who are in need historically we would have used the june appeal as an opportunity to generate funds for broader facility developments facilities that ultimately would facilitate ministries for people this year in this covert 19 season we said no look we think we just need to strengthen our capacity to immediately respond to people and as you've just seen there with that promotional set uh we're we're equipping people we're actually if you've got an old computer you're not using any more uh like a laptop we've got capacity to refit the brains of that in fact doesn't it only have to be a laptop we can refit the inside of that we're giving those away to help people's including uh data we're doing food we heard in advance that in this covert 19 season that there was going to be an increase in domestic violence that's really sad to hear that it's unfortunate but it's real and through our counselling services fiona hall who heads up all things life care fiona told me because we do subsidized counseling we make it available to people whether they can afford it or not it's a professional service and she said where is it maybe previously would have drawn on 36 or 38 of our resources for subsidy it's jumped just in these three months to 55 the need is there primarily for women and children so if you choose to give to this june appeal not only will you be helping to feed people not only will you be helping to resource a hot shower for people living rough the distribution of computers we have a women's center for women who are survivors of domestic violence so all sorts of different layers that we help people at you can be part of it there is a full tax break on that so make sure you're part of the june appeal edie my wife and i certainly have been part of that ourselves well today is the very final message from the series that we've been doing called anointed we've been looking back into the old testament we're kind of back into the ninth century bc at a prophet by the name of elisha in as much as today's the final message on his life i thought i'd have a look at what happened at the time of his death he did one final interaction with the king the king of israel called jehoiash and we're so we're going to read about that one today so i've called today's message tap your arrows that's going to make sense in a bit anointing release and unmet potential now you know the the first century jewish historian by the name of josephus wrote about this exact event so this is now a snapshot from a couple of thousand years ago he said because of him that's elisha they had never had to use arms against the foe but through his prophecies they'd overcome the enemy without battle but now he was departing this life and leaving him that's the king unarmed before the syrians or they're also called the arameans and the anim and the enemies under them so you the scene we're going to go into today is where elisha is with king johash and it's a really vulnerable time jihadish dad whose name was jehoiah has great name say he had he had led to a really tough period and he'd led through a period of decline and a period of defeat and in fact we read here in 2 kings 13 7 that as a national defense they were down to 50 charioteers but only 10 chariots and a thousand foot shots foot soldiers so that is that is their national defense right now as far as their army goes like 50 charities and 10 chariot centaurus there's like five drivers for like one chariot so i'm not sure how they go out to battle like that maybe have four guys like crouching inside kind of the bit and if the driver got taken down another one could jump up like how do they even practice it's like you get to practice on monday you get to practice on tuesday like that's just the way it goes i i think i'd be saying to some of the 10 000 foot soldiers look 1000 of you gonna start making chariots okay we're going to have 9 000 foot soldiers we need some more chariots it's just not going to intimidate a foreign power is it that is the scenario that they were in which takes us into this scene the scene that speaks about the end of elisha's life we read this from 2 kings chapter 13 verse 14 it said when elisha was in his last illness king jehoiash of israel visited him and wept over him my father and my father i see the chariots and charioteers of israel he cried that's an interesting statement to make it shows the profound respect the king had for the prophet he's calling him my father my father now there's different ways people understand what's actually taking place there's some people would say that king jahanish is actually speaking about the military he says i i see the chariots and charities of israel as in i see there's not very many of them i see that we've got a big problem i actually don't think that's what's taking place because this is exactly the same statement that elisha made to elijah who was the prophet before him he made this an identical statement in 2 kings chapter 2 verse 12 as what we see here my father my father i see the chariots and the charioteers of israel so what's more likely happening here is it's either a statement of respect so in other words when i look at you you know i i get a sense of heaven's resource my father my father i see as in i see in you the chariots and charities of israel either a statement of respect i'd like to suggest you more likely a statement of faith my father my father i see now he's speaking with eyes of faith so we have this king king jehoiash now the broader bible story about this guy is that he's not particularly a man of faith but right now he's realizing this prophet who's been a bit of a covering for them and who's helped them out enormously he looks like he's going to die and what out of his desperation it's bringing out some type of statement of faith from him here's how the story goes on so elisha having heard the king's birth statement of respect and the king's statement of faith elisha told him get a bow and some arrows if it's in yellow come on speak it out with me wherever you are in your lounge room speak it out with me so elisha told him get a bow on some arrows and the king did he was told and elisha told him put your hand on the boat and elisha laid his hand his own hands on the king's hands we're going to come back to that in a sec just picture that scene elisha the prophet lays his hand on the king's hands which are on on the bow and arrow then he commanded open that eastern window and he opened it then he said shoot and he shot an arrow and then the prophet says this elisha proclaimed this is the lord's arrow an hour of victory over arum and you'll completely conquer the arameans at aphec now something is taking place there that's it's prophetic it's spiritual and it's powerful what we see here is that there is an anointing that is being imparted through the laying on of hands and then there is a release it's no longer just like an arrow now it's the lord's arrow do you see what's taking place there shoot and as he shot an arrow elisha proclaimed this is the lord's arrow it kind of makes me think of um remember that story if you know your old testament a little bit where moses before he was the national leader while he was struggling about the call of god on his life he has a staff in his hand god tells him to throw it on the ground and he does it turns into a serpent in front of him he freaks right out god says grab it by the tail he doesn't think it's a good idea but he grabs it and as he grabs it by the tail it turns back into a staff again but from that moment on it's called the staff of god or the rod of god and so when you've got moses leading the children of israel when he came to the red sea he lifted that one up and it says he lifted up the rod of god and the seas parted when he hit a rock when when people didn't have any water on the sinai peninsula and he hit the rock and water gushed forth he hit it he hit it with the rod of god now this arrow that's being shot was just an arrow but at the point that elisha the prophet placed his hands on the hands of the king on the arrow on the bow and arrow something spiritual takes place at that point there's an anointing there's an impartation and then there's a release i don't know about you maybe it's because i'm involved in western society and like i see an ark health and safety problem here like that arrow's just getting shot out of the east window i'm imagining like four four blocks away some children playing in the backyard that arrow goes into the dirt the mother's on the phone like this is all wrong like who who would shoot an arrow just randomly out of the sky like that that's you know kind of my mindset don't about you but this arrow now is called the arrow of the lord so something is taking place but i want you to see this the impartation preceded the release so something took place rather than just it being an arrow like rather elijah's simply saying to the king go get some marriage now just fire that arrow at the window now elisha lays his hands on the hands of the king now when god places his hands on things everything changes it's no longer just an arrow anymore and when you when you start to realize god can place his hand on you and everything can change i think there's this symbolism elisha didn't say to king jehoiash go and get a sword because the sword never ever leaves your hand but he wanted him to go and get an arrow and i think there's some significance in that arrows only serve their purpose when they leave your hand in other words you're going to let this thing go it's it's it's going to go further than you could ever go and it's actually at the point of release it makes me actually think i haven't put this verse up on the screen but makes me think you know where jesus said unless a grain of seed falls into the ground and dies it abides by its own but if it dies it bears much fruit in other words the seed has to leave the hand for the life to be able to come jesus said he who loves his life in this world will lose it but effectively if you're prepared to give it away you'll keep it you'll keep it to life eternal there's a lovely statement now from um from psalm 127 verse 4 where it speaks about our children using this same metaphor like arrows in the hands of a warrior a children born in one's youth now how amazing is that that that would be speaking about that which is going to go far further than we will go ourselves it's our children children are like that arrow it's amazing you know from the very as parents you've got to realize this from the very time of conception we are preparing our children for others it's the ultimate act of love and sacrifice for the mother all the incredible pain of childbirth for the parents the investment of time and energy and money and affection like there's so much resource that's put into these little people over the years year on year on year and why so ultimately they can leave you it's the ultimate act of discipleship that's where by something is imparted something spiritual and something profound is imparted from parent to child children are like an arrow they their lives will go further the greatest legacy for my wife edie and i in this world is our four children that which has been placed inside of them by way of faith by way of character by way of courage whatever raw kind of skill set that there is inside of them that like so so much of that is just a gift from god isn't it you know the the bible says the holy spirit distributes gifts as he wills you know so this is this is kind of broad distribution of spiritual gifts there's kind of raw talents for those of you who are parents i think you know what i mean that right from really early age it doesn't take long until you see the diversity of personality amongst your children so we have four children we could see the the broad diversity of personality and the diversity of gifting but we sought to impart something to them because they were like an arrow that would be shot far further uh than from ourselves but i want you to realize from this first part of this story that without anointing and release your talent is nothing more than unmet potential now hear me really clearly on this i want to i just want you to pause and think about this how much has been placed in you if you're a western christian you're amongst the wealthiest people on planet earth well whether you're a christian or not if you're from a western context now you might be from another context and you might still be one of the wealthiest people on planet earth how much resources have you been graced with or how about that sense of gifts and talents like what is it that god has placed in you that actually it needs to be anointed and it needs to be released so that it can actually meet its full potential that's that sense of unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies like it needs to be planted what is it that god's putting you that needs to be realized you know here at crossway over the last decade or so we increasingly lent into the space of how do you actually make a disciple of jesus like what does it look like and we we looked at the at western cultural models and we could see it was failing christianity in australia is in its seventh decade of decline and we said look some stuff has just got to change we went back and we looked at how jesus did it we looked at effective models around the world across the different tribes and we started to align ourselves more in that direction very simple very simple practices like jesus discipled people towards faith in him discipleship began at first point of contact and he had a he had three years or three and a half years with these disciples and he was incredibly invitational come follow me but the challenge he increasingly heightened and heightened he rapidly mobilized them in situation they learned growth became a byproduct in their lives all the way to the point where the entire mission of god was placed in their hands so that's why embedded in the culture of this place we say it's the mission of god in the hands of ordinary people how are you going with that we're the church in diaspora right now you now are the pastor of your street you now are the hands and feet of god in your street does your neighbor know that god loves them well maybe the only way your neighbor's going to discover that god loves them is through god's child which is you in their street like you yourself can become the distribution agency like we are happy to work with you and to partner with you anybody in your network who has need we will partner with you but you now are the front line worker i am preaching in an empty facility right now and you are the hands and feet of god in your street oh there needs to be an anointing and there needs to be a release otherwise it's just all unmet potential you've got numbers sitting there in your bank account you can print out your bank statement you can feel really good about a good set of numbers it needs to be released to impact lives you might feel there's something inside of you and it's creative it's a business possibility it's something that needs to be spoken over your children can i say to the parents when was the last time you spoke over your children words of faith when was the last time you spoke over your children that which imparts faith to them when was the last time you said to them you know i see something in you he you know i've done this without kids i say oh you know i get to meet a whole lot of people but i want you to know how much god has placed in you dream big dreams bold faith leads to innovation and influence and impact and dream big expand your heart and the last thing i'd ever want to see in my children is unmet potential the last thing i'd want to see in my life is unmet potential to whom much is given much is expected the bible says what is in you well that god placed his hand on it and you might even kind of um right right now you might want to identify what that is just say god what is it that's inside of me you know almost every household historically this is true and it might be true in your household right now i can remember growing up there's a special crockery set in the house my mum on very very rare occasions would bring it out because it was her grandmother's crockery set and so it's almost like a risk to use it you know because if you use it you might chip it god forbid if you ever dropped it and broke a plate or something like that you know it's it was the special crockery set so growing up it was more decorative than crockery now you might say that's not actually fulfilling its purpose not never do something like that well edie and i tomorrow is our 35th wedding anniversary 35 years yeah god and that just shows i've got a very persevering and patient wife but we got given a crock reset at our wedding as well and guess what it is also rarely used it's just brought out on special occasions sometimes we bring it out we looked at one another recently we said look we're not going to replace our kind of commoner gardener kitchen set at the point that it dies we're bringing out the special crockery we're just going to start using it every day what's the point of having it for 35 years sitting in a cupboard somewhere it's time to use this thing now you might have things that are latent inside your person they'll be sitting there for decades god's graced you with it there's a capacity that's inside you there's a creative thought that's inside of you and you need to allow god to lay his hand on it you need god to anoint it for something to be imparted into you but then you have to release it you've got to be prepared to do that so what are you holding that needs to be anointed and released i want you i just want to get you to do something i'm kind of mid message right now but i want you to do something i want you to place one hand on another just imagine the hand of god going on your hand and then what's in your hand what's in your hand you you might say right now it's my children that are in my hand you might say it's a business idea that's in my hand you might say it's a future opportunity that's in my hand some of you are single you're a longing for a partner you might say it's my desire that i wouldn't be alone that's in my hand what what's in your hand for some of you it's it's your wallet that's in your hand and you need the anointing and the blessing of god so you can actually invest and make a difference right having you sitting parked in the bank what's in your hand now place your other hand on it may represent the hand of god say father in heaven i'm calling out to you for your anointing because i'm going to release this thing i'm going to release this thing into your hands fire the arrow elisha said release it and as you release that he says the arrow of the lord that brings victory well this message today is kind of at the bible readings kind of in two stanzas that is stanza number one but the text keeps going look at what happens now it says then he said now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground come on say it with me so the king picked them up and struck the ground three times feels legit doesn't it like feels feels unusual like arrows are for firing arrows aren't for striking the ground but he looks like he did what he was told to do like every time the prophet tells him to do something it just says he did it you know when the prophet said go get a bow and arrow he wouldn't got it when the prophet said open the east window he opened the east window the prophet put his hand by the arrow he fires there's the arrow of victory now he says grab the arrows he grabs him strike the ground he strikes the ground three times it all looks legit but look what happens but the man of god was angry with him this is elisha elisha is now angry with the king you should have struck the ground five or six times he exclaimed then you would have beaten aram until it was entirely destroyed now you'll be be victorious only three times and then it says then elisha died and was buried now i kind of look at that scenario i'm like why didn't you give clear instructions like why didn't you tell him like strike the ground and keep striking i even went back into the original languages to try and see if there was like is there any sense of like present continuous about this thing like was it embedded in the language that he was to strike and keep striking like like don't stop striking the ground no it's not even embedded in the language he just said to him strike the ground like kim might have just struck the ground once then maybe the king thought he was going the extra mile like he's he's tracked around three times and then he paused and it's amazing to see that elisha's response was he went straight to anger he was angry with him it wasn't that he was disappointed with him it wasn't that he was frustrated with him he went straight he was he was angry with him because he could see something inside the king that was now being represented in metaphor by the king that the king was prepared to give up that there was untapped potential inside of him he was supposed to be tapping like strike the ground like he was looking for a passionate response the victory had already been declared by the in by the law's arrow now strike the ground and he was looking for that king to express the passion he was looking for the king just to strike and keep striking and keep striking but he didn't he gave up now that scenario has caused me to stop and just reflect in my own life on things over the decades that i feel like i failed in and i had to pause and ask this question did i give up or did i fail in other words did i fail because i simply gave up or did i like push this thing as far as i could push it before i finally let it go because frequently to my shame the reality is there would be times when i would just i would give up i'd get discouraged i'd get frustrated i'd run out of juice i'd lose my spiritual momentum i'd lose my focus and i give up i don't know about you like just ask yourself the question did you fail or did you just give up effectively declaring it to be a failure because you gave up like in this scenario with the king he failed because he gave up took my mind to galatians chapter six verse nine where it says let us be let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we'll reap a harvest say with me if we do not give up there is a harvest to be raped if we do not give up like this is it's a new testament word all that perseverance it's that hang in there capacity it's the knock and keep on knocking it's the ask and keep on asking it's the seek and keep on seeking of life it's that resilience it's the willingness to get up and go again i don't know about you i tear up any especially when it comes to athletics but in other domains of life as well when someone is giving it their best shot and it crashes but they get up and they have another go like who hasn't seen like an episode of the voice where a child they lose their way they get freaked out they lose their tone they get a quiver each in and the judges say don't give up come on take a deep breath have another go at that point i feel something that wells up in me i'm cheering them on yes have another go and i want you to realize this i want you to realize how much passion there is in heaven for you not to give up don't give up don't stop striking your arrows don't leave untapped potential in there you know it says of of um of jesus as he got deep into his ministry this is luke 9 51 as the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven which is after his life was given on the cross it says look at this and say with me it's in yellow jesus resolutely set out for jerusalem he resolutely just received that word resolutely set out for for jerusalem in john 19 as he hung on the cross it says jesus knew that his mission was now finished he said it is it is finished tetelestai he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit jesus saw it all the way through to the end like there were times it would have been so easy to give up there were times when his disciples were failing crumbs his own disciple judas iscariot betrayed him now he was getting mocked he was getting beaten it was it was like the religious forces and the political forces are all coming against him but he set his face and he finished the mission i love the way the apostle paul reflecting on his own life he wrote this from prison in the context of saying his own life was being poured out like a drink offering and and he he says about his own life he says i have fought the good fight here it is i'll say it with me i should put in yellow i have finished the race i have kept the faith he pushed it all the way through to the end there i love it when the bible speaks about god's activity inside our own lives because god please hear this god's not finished with you yet he's not finished with you yet you might have that sense of i have unfired arrows like i have untapped potential like i only struck the ground a couple of times and i gave up well i want you to know this god's not done with you yet he's not done look at philippians chapter 1 verse 6 and i close with this and i'm certain that god who began a good work in you god who began a good work in you say with me we'll continue his work until it is finished i'll say it again we'll continue his work until it's finished on the day when christ jesus returns and whether or not you're part of the final generation on planet earth when jesus returns or whether it's when you see him face to face when you transition from what we see here feel touch and smell now into that eternal realm as jesus said he who believes in me will live even though they die at whatever point and up until that point god is not finished with you god is not finished with you allow him to place his hand upon your life and allow an anointing to be imparted to you just realize what it is and before you release it what it is the in you creatively whatever it is with regards to your children whatever it is to do with your finance or your health like whatever it is just pause right now and allow the very hand of god to be placed upon your life i ask you have you ever put your trust in jesus do you say what he did on the cross he did for me if you're uncertain about that put your trust in him right now because god has done everything that needs to be done for you jesus has already died for you god's great demonstration of his love for you while we were still sinners while there were ratbags and rebels and broken christ died for us god has reached out to you in love already through what he's done for you in jesus and he reaches out to you today he sees where you're at he sees everything that's in your life and you might be saying to yourself right now but it's all broken you might say i'm displaced you might say my health is shot to pieces you might say my relational world is all shot like you might say i'm unemployed i've got no finance so like i don't feel like i've got anything just allow god to place his hand in your life right now like just reach out your hand let the hand of god come on your hand the arrow of the lord the victorious arrow this this is god's declaration of victory over your life just open your heart to jesus right now open your life to him right now you say god in heaven i present myself to you that your hand of anointing can be placed upon me that at hand which is an anointing of salvation for some that hand which is the hand of anointing of renewal for others the hand which is an anointing of commissioning because you are going to release it you're going to give your life away you're going to release that which god put inside of you you're not going to finish your race with untapped arrows you're giving it all over right now so god in heaven make it real for every heart who by faith right now opens themselves up to you make it real for them i pray lord god you are the one who can do it be the miracle working god be the one who brings release father bring the one who brings healing bring be the one who takes the whole potential of the idea well beyond what the individual could ever even ask or hope for we love you lord we love you we are so grateful that you're not done with us don't stop tapping your arrows don't stop tapping your arrows don't tap out let's step into the full purposes of god god bless you may you know his fullness this day and every day walk with me and i can do all things in you jesus i'll rise within your wings in you jesus [Music] jesus walk with me and i can do this [Music] me [Music] nothing less than my whole [Music] brokenness to take these pieces [Music] then my whole heart to you [Music] well pastor dale thank you so much for an encouraging and a challenging word today let's not give up crossway let's use that potential that god has put inside of us now if you made a decision to follow jesus for the first time today we would love to hear from you so jump on the website and click on next steps because we would love to come alongside you and support you well crossway thank you for joining us on crossway online today let's head over to scott and nithia as we wrap up thanks to marin what a great service nithia great service we stayed warm yes we did very very warm well snug in iraq yeah what a great opportunity for us to keep coming together can i just remind you obviously we've been playing around in the pre-show with winter today because we just want to really set things up well that we all jump on board with the uh june appeal can i encourage you uh be praying about that it's not too late today to get online right now and make that tax deductible gift to uh to be a part of that winter appeal and help us raise that target as we support people doing it tough what's happening in the week ahead including winter camp we do remember to get online our last chance to register is today we're so looking forward to winter camp um next weekend i'll be rugged up in this sort of gear and we've got a special guest speaker coming down charlie burke we're so excited to have him around we're hoping to have charlie on the pre-show next week hopefully yeah that sounds great from alpha australia yeah looking forward to him being on the pre-show nithya loving this kind of winter theme nithya has thrown the challenge out to other youth leaders to uh to actually camp outside uh next weekend for winter camp i i highly endorse staying warm i will be inside my house camping we call it glamping with the heater on yes with the heater on very high so stay warm crossway we're going to have a great week ahead don't forget so many different ways we can be loving and caring for our neighborhood at this time enjoying small gatherings uh staying healthy staying safe and celebrating all that god is doing looking forward to winter camp and um maybe we might head to mork yeah grab a hot chocolate the best in melbourne backed up by three different websites and tripadvisor isn't one of them that's crazy i'm going for a family walk this afternoon looking forward to that and i think we've reached a whole eight degrees warming up in milwaukee hey what do you know it did get a bit warmer bless you tim god bless you have a great sunday crossway great to be together as a community celebrating jesus and enjoying worship together do something special for you and the family today and don't forget the tuna peel god bless you [Music] you

Channel: Crossway Church

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Length: 83min 55sec (5035 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 27 2020