- Well, a huge welcome to church. The team is here and we
are ready to worship. And we hope that you are wherever you find yourself maybe you're with your
family in your living room gathered in your home. It is time to worship. So come on together
we're gonna look to Jesus and we are gonna give Him praise. - Come on wherever you are
we're sing full of faith. Singing. Come on every voice. Come on now, singing. From the famous now. Come on every promise, signing. Come on a little louder now. Singing. Come on church we're gonna prophesy Come on ♪ All the world coming alive ♪ Come on We're singing Every voice we're singing Hallelujah - We lift your Name Jesus Come on you sing it out You say it How wonderful Oh it's all in Your Name Jesus All encompassing All powerful Oh magnificent Oh Jesus we call on the Name of You Lord Come on we can sing this out confidently In the Name of Jesus all
things bow, so you say. Come one with faith we say. Oh you are seated on high Come on it His Name you say Come on come on - Lord, I just wanna thank You again for the beauty in Your worship. Lord as soon as we start looking to You and honouring Your Name
brings the presence of God into wherever we're part of the service, whichever part of the world,
whichever part of Australia. Lord I just thank You again for all that You're doing in our lives in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well firstly, great to see you guys and I always love being
in church Sunday morning, what a great time of the week and I'm sure it won't be very long now, not long at all and one of these days we all gonna be together
in one place, in one room, and I'm excited for that day. But right now we're making
the best of this season and up to be honest, I'm enjoying, I'm enjoying, not seeing people
in pain, not that side of it, but I'm enjoying just this time and I've decided we're gonna just make the best we can in our church. Bobbie and I we are right now in the USA. We had the opportunity to come and we've got lots of work
that we've been doing here and we can do a lot for
the Hillsong channel a lot of other things as well. So we' re here, you guys are there and look I can join, right now we can join right now with both,
Nathanael Wood, the Reverend - Yeah. - And Cass Langton, her
birthday was just this week, she's 43, all right, but
we not telling anyone that. It's an interesting time right now in the USA, around the world. And we'll talk about that a little more. And tonight we're gonna have, what I believe is gonna be
an incredible conversation around the issues of race, I'm gonna take a moment
to talk about that. But right now I'm just gonna
with pray with you Bobbie, we're gonna pray with you. And so many prayer requests as always, we're gonna believe God will
continue to answer prayer. So come on Bobbie. Let's pray.
- Yeah. - For these prayer requests. - There's always so many needs across the life of our church. And so why don't you put
your hands towards this, they represent different lives, homes, households, situations. So Father God in the Name of Jesus, we just commit every prayer request that has been submitted
this weekend, Father God, we ask that You have Your divine will in their lives, in their
homes and their households. Father God, in the Name of Jesus, where there is diagnosis,
where there are situations, we proclaim the beautiful
Name of Jesus Christ over it. And Father God, we entrust these families these lives, these individuals
- Thank You Lord. - To your goodness and your grace and your providence in Jesus Name. Amen. Amen, church. - Amen. Amen, well, as always, we got
plenty of praise reports here. Well, we' re those? - Here they are. - Here they are, yeah. So listen to me, you got
the praise reports there? - Yeah, we've got praise
reports too really good ones. David is praising God
after undergoing six months of intensive chemo treatment, their daughter has been
declared cancer free, which is amazing church. And Chris is praising God
for overwhelming grace and financial blessing. They moved into a new house
with all the needed furniture and household items that they required. Should I keep going? "Cause we've got so many. Lizelle is praising God that after being stuck
overseas for three months she her mother and daughter are now safely home in Australia. And I love this one, Rebecca has sent in a praise report and
she is praising God, for the restoration of
a friend's marriage, for the healing of her daughter's eyesight and for God's incredible provisions. - So good.
- Perfect. - I love it, that's good, they're plenty of them here. More than we got the
chance to be able to share but I thank God for the prayer request and the praise reports right now, because any encouragement,
is great encouragement. There's plenty of miracles happening right across our church. So we're very, very pleased for that. Well church last weekend,
Bobbie and I were travelling, we are now in the LA area in California. But to get here, the
only way was from Sydney to San Francisco and then
drive all the way down to LA. So we had pre-recorded our
services for last weekend, right before we had left. But I wanna take a moment today to address you all in regard to the ongoing issue of
racism in our society that's been highlighted by the tragic and senseless deaths in the United States of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna
Taylor and George Floyd, and much many others. It's never easy to put language to an issue of this magnitude, but silence is never the solution. And we're committed to being a church that refuses to neglect its responsibility to the mandate of the Gospel. Racism is an injustice
that impacts all nations, and our hearts are with our
church family around the world who have been deeply
affected by recent events. Whilst I will never truly know the pain and suffering of the black, indigenous and people of colour in our communities. We are committed as a
church to playing our part and seeing racism eradicated. Without question, all lives do matter. But until that becomes a reality, we will continue to say Black Lives Matter and work to that end. Because if black lives don't matter, all lives don't matter. I wanna let you know
that I'm on a journey, with this also, I am willing to learn and willing to admit we
don't have all the answers. I recognise that some
people have been hurt by the delay in our response as a church, but I want you to know
that is not indicative of our stance on this issue. I wanna commit to leading
you well and with wisdom. We wanna take steps forward to ensure we are proactive on this issue. But we want to ensure
the steps that we take are the right ones. And for me, that will take some time. Our pastors and our team
in all our locations are wholeheartedly leaning
into the conversations being had and we are
committed to being a church that is outwardly active in
our fight against racism, and facilitating any change necessary. We do care, we do see you and hear you. Hillsong Church is and has
always as been a church that celebrates diversity abhors injustice and welcomes all. We wholeheartedly condemn
the sin of racism. And that's what it sin,
both implicit and explicit. The very nature of racism
is an affront to the Gospel, and there is zero tolerance for
it in our church or culture. As a senior pastor of a global church, I realise that our policies, actions and commitments moving forward will look different in each local context. As a church founded in
Australia, it is imperative that we also hear the plight of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and seek further reconciliation
and understanding. And all of this, I want
you to know that Bobbie and I are praying that this moment in history will be a significant moment of lasting transformation and change. It's time to take positive
action and stand against this. We love our church and are praying for everyone affected. Can I encourage you to
take time this weekend to look after your own soul? Join with us and praise and worship as we lift our eyes and
you lift your spirit to the God of all hope, peace and comfort. A God who is committed to
justice and righteousness. And please reach out
to your local pastors, wherever you worship, with
prayer requests and need. Prayer and worship is a powerful weapon. And the church buildings may be closed, but we're here for you always. All my love. I pray you enjoy
this weekend's services. I have a conversation now
with a beautiful indigenous pastor. I believe it's
going to be great for us. And my message today doesn't
really point directly to these issues have spoken about. But this statement and the
conversation we're having today and tonight we're having a conversation with various people, part
of our own congregation from very diverse backgrounds,
including African American, African, from Ghana and
of course, Aboriginal, beautiful Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people. I pray you enjoy this weekend services. I am going to. Be blessed. It's one of those times being in the USA that is both happy and
very confronting and sad. As a matter of fact,
where I was this morning there was a demonstration
going right by it was peaceful. But people are hurting
and I think as a church, we really can't put our head in the sand. I'm a global pastor, Bobbie and
I and I am reminded of that, because, yes, I'm mostly
domiciled in Australia but the reality is that our church
has a huge presence in the USA and the death of, in
particular George Floyd, but right before him Breonna Taylor shot in
her bed by the police and right before that Ahmaud Arbery. And it's clear that there are issues here and I'm glad we're here I really am. But I'm also convicted and challenged that as a church and me as a leader we really need to understand the climate a little bit better and I really feel that we need to feel people's pain a little more. I'm praying that we'll educate ourselves that we'll all educate ourselves. If you're anything like
me, you're Australian, you're white, you love people. You love all people but maybe
we don't even understand all the degrees of people's pain. And that's what's become
clear not here only even in Australia and
I'm sure where you are, we are a very diverse church, and I'm grateful for that. And Australia is a very diverse nation and becoming more diverse. And we have to realise that and I think there's things
that have to change. I think, I wanna change, I wanna keep growing in these things. We need to understand that
the world according to my eyes is not the same as the world
according to everyone's eyes. And so we're tonight in
our evening services, we're gonna really have a conversation. We're bringing people into the
conversation from our church, including First Nation people Pastor Lungz from our City Campus, who is a beautiful, beautiful
youth pastor in the city, black South African and
other people as well. And we're gonna have a conversation. I mean, our youth pastors
Peter and Laura Toggs. Peter himself being Fijian even, it's been a chance for him to talk about some of his raw experiences in Australia. Listen, we can't put our head in the sand and pretend there's not a
problem. When 432 people, beautiful indigenous
people in police custody have lost their lives
literally in police station or in police custody, in
the year since 1991, 432. We need to realise Australia
has problems as well. It does, and I just really feel that there's so much more we can learn well, as it turns out. There's on our church property today a pastor who I've known
for many, many years actually he's from the North
Coast of New South Wales His name's Pastor Willy
Dumas, incredible guy. His church is called, I hope I get
it right, Ganggalah Church. He'll tell you in a
minute, what that means, but he was there teaching in a college. I thought, man what a perfect time for Willy need to be there. So he's gonna join me right
now here in Australia, and we're just gonna
have a very quick chat. And I think it'll be a
blessing to all of us. - Welcome - Yeah, first of all, Pastor
Willy, so good to see you. - Yeah, thank you, Pastor
Brian, it's good to be here. Obviously, God has a perfect
timing for everything. - Yeah, I got your name of
your church right, didn't I? Ganggalah. - It's called Ganggalah, which means a place of
learning and wisdom. - I love it. I love it. Well, you've been there
a long time doing work, especially up there in the
north coast of Australia. - Yeah, I've been there nearly 20 years. - I've just been talking about
our need to grow all of us and need to grow and
understanding the depth of pain that many people face and
the lack of chance oftentimes for First Nation people, beautiful indigenous
Australians to have a voice. So just take a moment, just take a moment. And, just give people a
little bit of perspective. - Thanks for the opportunity. I think obvious it's been
a dialogue conversation across our land at the moment
in the nation of Australia and also all over the
world as you already said. But one thing that
really comes to my focus as 2 Corinthians 5:18,
and to 20 talks about the ministry of reconciliation. And we know that it's never
started from our government or any other set group, but it's actually started from God. And the church is in a
critical place in a time and season to really minister that grace, that mercy that can be demonstrated, but also we need to talk
about the justice issues. Because God is a God of justice. And I really believe that for
us as a church universally. I think God's really putting
this to our heart at the moment to really start talking about
these particularly issues that's happening not only in the States, but also in our nation of Australia. And one of the things is
that, as you said Pastor Brian that it's given us a voice, but also, there's this prophetic statement that God really spoke to us
about it is about the piano. And the piano doesn't
only just have white keys, it has black keys as well. And until those two keys played together, we cannot see the fullness
of the manifestation of God manifest on this
beautiful nation of ours. Now we all know that
it's a diverse nation. We have different multiple nationalities, but one of the things is indigenous people are not multi-culture, or ethnic, we are First Nation people. And somehow we've always
been placed in a bucket of the multi-culture. And I believe this is the time now that for us to begin to talk how we can bring a change. Because as you already said that the death custody
430 indigenous people. There's been issues like
this that hasn't been solved. And I think it's time now that we as the Church
has to really bring forth what we think about the
situation in this nation. And I really believe together it's an act of reconciliation, and a ministry of reconciliation that we need to come back to our Prime Minister, need to
come to our governments and really talk about how we can actually bring this in perspective
and bring a level of justice, which has to do with equality. And equality is sometime our people have never been, felt that, in any way since the colonisation, which has taken place in this country. We're not even a country that's
got a treaty at the moment, like New Zealand and
cross the Pacific Ocean, they've got a treaty. But this is the only
Commonwealth country in the world that hasn't got a treaty, and we're still not part
of the constitution. And so that really speaks to us that for us as a Church as voices, it's time for us to really step up join together and bring solutions. And this could be a way of
demonstrating reconciliation by bringing a petition with the churches and bring it to our government and saying, this is
what needs to take place from a Church point of view, because the Church was
part of the beginning. And I believe it's still our call as the Church of Jesus Christ
to really stand in the gap for the voiceless of people in society. And one thing is, that
God's been speaking about that Jesus was a politician. And the reason why I say that is because Jesus spoke for the
voiceless of people in society. And we know that people
that stand as politicians are standing for the people that hasn't got a voice in this nation. And I believe for us as
leaders of our movement, whether it's Hillsong or ACC. or any movement, it's important
for us to come together and dialogue, a conversation and look at ways how
we can strengthen this and really become a voice. And being silent about this Pastor Brian is not the answer. And I think if we be silent about this, I don't believe we're
looking for the change. And I believe it's important
for us to be a voice to be a change and look at the future for our next generation in this nation, so praise God. - Amen. Amen. And I really appreciate your imput. I already mentioned to you
earlier. In our service tonight, we're gonna have a great
conversation about race, maybe a raw conversation, and we wanna take this forward. We don't wanna just, excuse
me for putting it this way but get a kick up the bum, as people, and then not keep moving forward and changing, so, yeah, I really appreciate, you the work you do, you consistency over
a long period of time. - Yep. - And thank God for Ganggalah Church. - Yes, whoo. You got it right. - Thanks so much. Bless you man. - Thanks very much. And look, I'm always there
to be advisor in whatever way or capacity to do that to make sure that we go forward together. It's important to
include indigenous people with the conversation. You can't do it on your own, you have to play this together. So God bless you. - Beautiful.
- Thanks very much. - Thank you, God bless you. Appreciate it, well, there you go it. So I mentioned her already twice, but I really hope all our
church even if you think that doesn't really connect with me, it doesn't relate with me. I think all our church
should do everything you can to listen to this conversation tonight. I think it's gonna be eye opening for a whole lot of people. Praise God, well, with that. We're gonna keep honouring
God like we always do with their giving, with
their tithes and offering. And so we're gonna take
that moment right now, I'm gonna ask the Reverend
Dr. Nathanael Wood, the Bishop of, is it
Dee Why, where you live? Northern Beaches somewhere, I never go over that way. But anyway, come on share with
people around their giving. - Well, thanks, Pastor Brian. It's always a honour and a privilege to talk to people about their giving. And I just thought in
the moment that I have, let's turn to 1 Timothy 6:17, it says, And obviously in the times
that we're living in, we understand that so much. And it says, Which obviously is the spirit
of the people of our church. I love it in The Message translation. It says What an awesome picture that is And I think at times, our
pursuit of God, going after Him, from time to time can be
challenged, it could be tested. Our focus tends to shift. And my prayer for you is
that we would stay focused on pursuing God and going after Him. And I guess it's in those times, in my experience anyway,
that I forget that in Him, there is everything I need. Or another way of putting it is, I forget that everything I need is found in Him. Psalm 37, says, Your delight in Him, and the desires of your
heart will come to pass. So let's intentionally pursue
God, let's go after Him. Not only in our finest hours, but also our darkest hours. And that might be your
experience right now. But just as Paul was telling Timothy, let's put our hope in God, because He is our provider. He is our protector, so let's continue to put Him first in all areas of our life, including our finances, our
tithes, our first fruit, the very first of our increase. And let's be confident,
as Paul was confident that He shall supply all our
needs according to His riches, and He will provide us
everything for our enjoyment. So let me pray for you this morning. Father, I thank You for
Your blessing in our life Lord we bring our first
fruit, we bring our tithes and our offering this morning and we thank You for what it represents. And we know that in You is
everything that we need, in Jesus Name, Amen. - Amen. - Amen. - Amen, thank you. Thank you. Well, how are you? - I'm well darling. - Have I being kind to you this week? - Yeah, you've been so kind to me. - Oh, that's good. - You're always kind. - So big season, big season
in so many ways right now. Challenges like COVID, clearly, and race, very, very
relevant at this very moment. But for us, we have a huge
chance to make a difference. And our Heart For The House offering now is literally two weekends away. It's getting so close and I know many of you have
been praying about this thinking about this, planning
for it for 12 months. And I'm just really believing,
I'm trusting in God, in a challenging season, He's gonna give us a miracle in this Heart For The House offering. It's always been built on
everyone doing what they can, adding faith, putting
some stretch in there and doing what they can. And for some people, that is a big amount for other people, maybe not as big but for you, it's sacrificial. And you know whenever we've done that, the whole church post together,
we end up with a miracle. I'm believing for a miracle again. And so, right now we're got a video to show you reminding you
of some of the things. Some of the beautiful
works we're involved in specifically now Vision Rescue in India. And I pray this video really inspires you. India, it's an emotional rollercoaster. Because you see need like
you've never seen it. But in the middle of all of that you meet beautiful people. You watch firsthand the work
that we can be a part of. I warmed to Biju the first time I met him because his passion and
his heart for people was so compelling, and I feel
that with Vision Rescue, yep, we have a heart and a
passion for the work they do. But it all comes out of Biju and his wife Secunda and the family and the symmetry between
who we are and who they are. And so that's what works. (phone rings) Wow, there he is Biju Thampy how are you? - Great, thank you Pastor Brian. - 1.4 billion Indians,
and you're my favourite. Very, very important question, Who is the best cricket team in the world? (laughs) - I think, I might not be
your favourite Indian anymore. (laughs) - I have always been moved by the moment the Lord dropped it in your
heart in the first place to start something. Just give people a short
version of that story. - So I was in Mumbai for some other work. I saw a whole bunch of children running to my rickshaw asking
for some food or money. And out of that one little girl, I can see still see her
in front of my eyes, extremely malnourished. So all the money I had in my front pocket, I too can give it to the child
thinking I was helping her. So when that rickshaw moved forward, out of curiosity I just looked back and I saw an older girl coming in and just snatching the whole cash from her and just pushing this child back. - So I went back to my
room and I asked God, if you are good, why do
you allow this to happen? Basically, I felt God asking me, why do you allow this to happen? So that was the beginning
of Vision Rescue. - [Brian] What really
still break your heart when it comes to the need you see? - [Biju] What really moves
me is the possibility not the poverty. When I look at each of these children, because of the environment
that we live in, just because they are exploited, just because they are hungry, just because they are
not able to go to school. The whole greatness with
which God created them is completely just being wasted. But if we intervene in
their life right now their story can be completely changed. - I know India, like a lot of places, people have been locked down, how's that affecting the people of India? - The problem, the big worry here is not Coronavirus, it's starvation. I'm talking about hundreds
of millions of people. And I'm hearing stories of
people committing suicide because as a whole family
including their children, because they don't want
to see the kids die of starvation in front of them. It's just better to die. - You guys been engaged
and involved in trying to feed hungry starving people? - At the moment, that's all we are doing. We have put a pause on
all the other programmes. So what we are doing right now is just preventing people
from dying of starvation. So far we have been able to give away just over half a million meals. - Yeah fantastic. As the people of Hillsong Church give to Heart For The House and specifically to Vision Rescue, what need do you see it transforming and changing? - The reason why these
people are suffering the poor people are suffering is because they are not educated. So right after that lockdown, we want to mobilise a lot more volunteers and scale up the whole
education initiative. - So good, we genuinely love
you guys and you're a blessing. Keep up the great work. We gonna get back there one of these days. - Can't wait. - Okay.
- Thank you. - Thanks, good to talk to you. Well, the story he tells of
current situation where people are literally starving to death. They're dealing right now with life and death stuff, which they always do to be honest with you,
but now even more vividly. I don't think a lot of
people would understand just what a radical difference
educating children to read and write makes to their future. And I think the message to us is why do we let this happen? And we can't do everything, but we can definitely do something. And that's, I guess, the
vision and the perspective and the challenge of this
Heart For The House offering. - Well church how inspiring
that we get to be part of that. And right now, it is Sunday
morning, and what that means? It means you get to come
around the Word of God. And there is no one better in this season to lead us than our global senior pastor, all of our favourites. So why don't you get your
Bible, open your notebooks, get your pen, and let's lean in as we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us through the words of Pastor Brian. - So good to be with everyone right now. My favourite time of the week. Pressured, but not stressed. Think about that a moment,
pressured but not stressed. Pressure is not something
that's new to our generation. Right now we're living in a world that is clearly undoubtedly heaving under the weight of very real pressures, including extreme economic
pressure, obviously. And, well, we're seeing
it before our own eyes, in the USA, and then
really around the globe. Things are so raw right now, when it comes to racial
things, and so many people, including people in our
own church, right now, some of their own experiences
have been brought to the fore. So there's many, many
different types of pressure. And there are many people
right now, who are part of this broadcast or this church service who are under the weight of
that pressure, right now. I know in church life,
the seasons of life, there's always one person rejoicing over an incredible victory, another is weeping over
some very real pain. And I know that's true, right now. We've seen people miraculously get work, when it seems the trend
is people losing jobs and businesses prospering, when many others are feeling the pain, and it affects our church,
and it affects believers, and it affects people all over the world. Of course the Apostle Paul served God, lived in a constant
atmosphere of pressure. Perhaps pressure, more intense than any of us will ever experience. Listen to what he says
in 2nd Corinthians 1:8-9 He said Listen to that above strength. And chapter one verse eight, in the NIV, same verse, he said Paul talks about pressure in terms of, well, something that was
great, in other words intense and something he and they
were under relentlessly and he used those words far
beyond our ability to endure. In other words, he was at breaking point. Maybe you're at breaking point. Maybe right now you think this
is more than I can endure. My heart goes out to you. But listen to what Paul says in verse 10. He said Listen to that, He has
delivered us, He will deliver us and He will continue to deliver us. I love his confession. He has, he will, and he
will continue to deliver us. In 2nd Corinthians 4:7, he said I saw one translation I really
liked instead of perplexed, but not in despair, it said
puzzled, but not bamboozled. I just like that word, bamboozled. What a cool word? Well, if I was bamboozled right now, maybe I wouldn't like that word so much. Another translation said struck down, but not struck out. Here's one more as we
think about pressure, listen to the pressures
that Paul speaks of again, for himself and
his fellow apostles. He said in 2nd Corinthians 11:23-28, In other words one will
lash from certain death. And I like this part. On top of all that Yeah, even being involved in church leadership has
plenty of pressure sometimes. Here is three things, and I
want you to really take note that I believe pressure
will put to the test. And the first of those
three things, is this. The perspective test. Pressure will always
test your perspective, that's way I love the Macedonian church in 2nd Corinthians eight,
they were an amazing example when it came to financial pressure. You see in those days,
Macedonian times in Bible times, it was a time of extreme economic crisis. It was a time in which
the people were described as living in overwhelming poverty. Let's look at it, 2nd Corinthians 8:1, I don't think you usually
put those things together, overwhelming joy and extreme poverty. What was their secret? Those Macedonians obviously
had a sense of perspective that doesn't come naturally to people. To think that they could
put those two things and they welled up
together overwhelming joy, extreme poverty. It's almost like an oxymoron. In other words, they jelled
together, were in sync, and welled up together in rich generosity. They saw no reason to stop being generous, which I find an amazing challenge. I asked myself is my generosity
subject to my situation. You see I believe that
generosity is a way of seeing a way of thinking and a way of living. It's not seasonal, and it's
not based on our situation. And I believe the one thing that will be tested when
you are facing pressure is your perspective. Sadly at times when the pressure is on, there are people who completely
lose all perspective. But there's others who allow pressure to give them perspective
on what really matters, what really counts,
what's really important. I remember, as most of
you do, or many of you do, the global financial crisis very well. I was reading some real
life stories from the USA, of people who had completely
lost all perspective under the pressure of that crisis
and the way it impacted them. They lost perspective in
a way where hopelessness had completely overwhelmed them. It was in 2008, these are
stories I was just reading now in Tennessee, a woman fatally shot herself as sheriff's deputies came to evict her from foreclosed home. Pamela Ross, she was 57 and her husband were fighting
foreclosure on their home when sheriff's deputies came to serve her with an eviction notice. They were across the street
when they heard a gunshot and found Ross dead with
a wound to the chest. What was even more
tragic, was the couple had just been granted an
extra 10 days to appeal, but hopelessness overwhelmed her. Well, these are obviously
very tragic examples. But it's easy to lose
perspective under pressure. When our perspective is not
based on a proper foundation. Paul described Jesus as
the chief cornerstone. I hope that's true in our lives. Our perspective, when it comes
from the Word of God changes the way we see everything
and respond to everything. And whether or not we stay planted. So I'm talking about three
things that pressure will test. The first was the perspective test. There's no doubt that
pressure tests perspective and the second is the priority test. So let me start with a question. What would you consider are the non-negotiables in your life? And what are the negotiables in your life? When people react to pressure, what human nature tends to do is start adjusting our priorities
according to the pressure, the pressure, not our priorities become the head and not the tail,
and it's the wrong way around. There's a difference between
reacting and responding. If I respond to the challenges, not react, what I do under pressure is first and foremost, I determine my priorities, and then make adjustments according to those settled priorities. So my priorities stay the same, they are the non-negotiable, but I make adjustments
to my settled priorities. That's when I respond, but when I react I start
adjusting my priorities. Responding says I've set my priorities and whatever adjustments
I make are according to those priorities. I don't think there's
anything like pressure to highlight what's your
true non-negotiables. There's nothing like pressure to test, not what we say we believe,
but what we actually believe, It's the same for me as it is for you. In Acts 5, the followers of Jesus, Peter, and the apostles were under huge pressure, and under huge opposition. They were preaching the Gospel, and had already seen the
inside of a prison cell because of their faith So in this chapter, Acts chapter five, God delivers them from the jail, but they were soon apprehended
again, they didn't resist and they were brought
before the Sanhedrin. Now, the Sanhedrin were
definitely not known for their sense of humour. They were not happy chappies at all. So they were brought before the Sanhedrin and ultimately, before the high priest who says we forbade you from
preaching under this name, the name of Jesus, he said we forbade you. But listen to what they said, they showed their priorities. In Acts 5:29, as I mentioned, they knew their priorities were fixed and they said Notice the word must, we must
obey God, rather than men. That word must is a compelling word. It comes from a short Greek word with only three letters in it and it has a sense of compulsion. In other words, we've got no choice. The idea was that was a non-negotiable. We must. So easy to start
to adjust your priorities in the face of tough times. But if that's the season
you're in right now, can I encourage you to
set your non-negotiables. What are your priorities? What is not gonna change? Set the musts in your life and make whatever
adjustments you need to make according to those priorities. That would be my encouragement to you. For many, I'm sure there's
a time of belt tightening. I mean for our church, we just had board meetings this week, it's
a time of belt tightening. Right now I don't have a belt on, 'cause it was just too tight. Just got to put a little
bit of humour in there. But let's not draw back
on the very thing the Lord says to do first or put
first. It's a priority test. If I, Brian Houston, have to
make adjustments in my life. I ask myself, what would I adjust first? Would it be honouring God
and putting Him first, hope not, maybe my Foxtel subscription. But it means having to
do without the sports and the news and the Hillsong Channel. Maybe my Netflix, I've never
watched so much Netflix, as I have recently. Or I wonder if it'd just be
not eating now quite as much. Well, come to think of it, that's been easy enough up to now as well, because the restaurants
have not been open. Will it be downscaling my holidays. I know people in our church, and more than one couple who
had their holidays planned out, they were heading for Italy. Well, Italy is out of bounds right now, because of this virus
and we pray for Italy. But I wonder when it comes to adjustment, will it be my commitment to honouring God and putting Him first? I certainly hope that's a priority that Bobbie and I set a long time ago. How cool that when it comes
to God taking priority, taking the number one
position in our lives. He says, "Prove me now in
this, try me out test me." When it comes to honouring Him, He saying, "Here's a chance
to put it to the test." If ever there's a time for
God to be proved in your life, is in tough times. Under pressure. Prove me now in this, Malachi 3, says, Or is other translations
say, to contain it. I pray that I'll never forget that God never blesses
for containment anyway. He blesses you and He blesses me to have an impact well beyond ourselves. He blesses so that yes, the necessities in our lives can be met, but even more, so that we can
reach out beyond ourselves and be a blessing. Why does God even care
about your finances? Some people think He doesn't. Does He really care for
a moment about money? Some people would say not. Well, He cares for you. And He's commissioned
you to live a meaningful and significant life and
He cares that His Word is working in your life. If we think about it practically, if you have nothing when it comes to need, then there's not a whole lot you can do. If you have a little,
you can help a little. But if God blesses you with a lot, there's a whole lot of
difference you can make. I look at the story in the
testimony of our church and God's incredible grace. And the favour He's given
us over many, many years and the opportunities and
the influence that we have. And I see how God has
blessed us with a lot. But it also equips us to be able to do a lot including Hillsong Channel and this and that, and our
worship and so many other ways that we're reaching people. Listen to The Message translation because it's such a powerful promise. Malachi 3:10 If you're a Kingdom
Builder and believe me, there's no better time
to be about God's Kingdom than when you're under the
hammer and under the test. I pray that we as a church will pass the perspective test with an
A plus on our report card. And that we will pass the priority test with flying colours too. I pray that you will
do that in Jesus' Name. I fully recognise there's some people their reality has changed a fair a bit, and that's fully understandable,
but you know what? There are times when amounts may change, but priorities they stay the same. The third pressure test, I call the leadership or ownership test. It is the test of ownership,
taking responsibility and understanding accountability. See on my notes here, I initially
wrote the character test, but I crossed it out because
character is something that's maybe proven even
more on the mountain top. When I'm on the mountain
top and flying high, when I'm living from a place of success that's the biggest test
there is on my character. When I'm in the valley, that's when I've had to draw
the most from my leadership, and at times challenge,
my lack of ownership and quit my excuses. And that's really what I believe, this test is right here. The pressure test of
leadership and ownership. See I believe every believer is called to live the life of a leader. Which is to live a life of example to others, taking responsibility. And stewarding well what
God has entrusted you with, what God has put in your hand. Never just think of a leader
as him up there on the platform or her up there on the platform. And don't think about it as that person through the screen right now. Yes, I'm a church leader
but you're a leader. Think of a leader as you,
as a believer in living the kind of life, facing the
challenges, facing the pressure with the kind of example that
inspires people to follow. It's a leadership test when
pressure comes your way. And leadership always
takes responsibility. It all starts with
leading our own life well, stewarding our own life
well, taking ownership. Look at Deuteronomy 8:17-18, it says, And then the challenge verse 18. It's talking about the
propensity of us humans. In this case, Israel,
taking all the credit for what God has done,
and is doing in our lives. Think about honour and credit. Honour is something you give,
credit is something you take, and it's all because of me. It wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. When God does bless abundantly, and people start taking credit for the position they're in in life. The Word of the Lord was, now remember that it is He who give you
the power to get wealth, or to get blessing, or to find
a perfect partner in life. You see when we start
taking it to ourselves, we become self-reliant. And it's self-reliance that takes credit and being self-reliant means
you're not relying on God, and trusting Him and
depending on the Holy Spirit. And I'll tell you honestly,
that's a dangerous place to be. Usually the person who quickly
takes the credit in life for wins and successes
is also the quickest to give blame when
things start going wrong. If we really take ownership,
we're the stewards of our lives including our finances. And I trust God and believe
God to be the provider, your provider, as long as you're blaming, there's not that sense of responsibility and that sense of accountability that will actually empower you to make the changes and move on. And the reason is because there's a sense of
powerlessness and blame. It's not my fault, it's this or it's that, it's the stock market, It's the situation, it's the government, it's my wife or it's my husband. You see ownership says, my
life is my responsibility. We're stewards. I understand
God is the ultimate owner. I take ownership of my decisions. I can't change what I can't change, but I must change what I can. I'm talking about my own life. Those things God's called me to steward. I believe that the
accountability of ownership is the foundation and the platform
for you to move forward, right, wrong or indifferent. When I ride my motorbike, I
ride it with that in mind. I say any accident that
happens is my fault. It changes the way I ride my motorbike. I don't presume this car will give way when he's supposed to give way, I presume that maybe he might not. In other words, I take responsibility to avoid every situation
where an accident could happen by God's grace, so far, so good and I'm believing it'll stay that way. But obviously, if someone hit
me, it's clearly their fault, it'd be easy to just
point the finger and blame but that might not save my life. See if we just take responsibility, I believe, somehow empowers
you to make a way forward. But as long as you take no responsibility, or I take no responsibility,
we blame and we excuse. That's what I mean by the leadership test. That's what I mean by the ownership test. I just believe that we need
to live our lives in a way where we don't quickly blame and we don't always take the credit. You see our church, Hillsong
Church in Australia, actually, anyway, we're
almost 37 years old, and sometimes it amazes me when
I hear people taking credit for different parts of that journey. I just get amazed of what we're capable of saying to ourselves. I'm not talking about people who maybe even deserve a little bit of the credit. The people I'm talking about, well, they talked themselves
into believing. And let's be honest, it's human nature. I did that, that was me,
that was my idea, et cetera. Don't worry about who gets the credit. I wanna concern myself with giving honour. Remember honour is something you give, credit is something you take. And always give God the glory. To God be the glory,
great things He has done. Oh, I could sing it but
I'm resisting today, being a good boy. Hey, by the way I didn't get any calls when I said last weekend in church, I do weddings, I do funerals. If you ever need a singer, you having a birthday party I'm available. Hey, leadership takes ownership
and takes responsibility. Leadership is always learning. There's always a lesson to be learned. I never forget interviewing
Bishop TD Jakes at Hillsong Conference. He's so credibly articulate. Every word that came out of his mouth, left me saying, wow. I had to focus hard on thinking
about the next question, because I'm still pondering
his profound answer to the last question. But I'll never forget one of
the things that he told me. He said, "My mama told me
that life is a university every day, she would say when
you wake up in the morning make sure you go to school." She didn't actually mean go to school, she was talking about
the University of life. And every day wake up and learn the lessons, go to school. In other words there's
always something to learn, and especially when you're under pressure. Leadership, taking ownership of your life, learns the lessons and owns it. It doesn't focus on what you can't change, but quickly identifies
what you must change. You don't have to keep
learning the same lessons. We all make mistakes all of us. But the saddest thing is
when people don't learn. When the pressure of life comes your way and you decide to take ownership, if the stresses are mounting
up for you right now, here's what I wanna encourage
you to do as I come to an end. Firstly, take stock,
what's the worst thing that could happen? Maybe that sounds like a negative, but I don't think so, because
usually the worst thing that could happen is
not as bad as you think. In the very early days of our church, I'd get all stressed
about different things. Maybe we had a bad
weekend or a tough season and I got hurt by what
someone said, I'd ask myself that question, 'cause
somehow it helped me. I'd say, what's the worst
thing that could happen? What if nobody came to church anymore? And then I'd decide well
if that's the worst, look at the bright side,
we could start again. Even now I'm young, I'm
still full of vision and I still have my health
by the grace of God, I used to get so stressed out
about what the newspaper said. But the big lesson I've learned
is just keep trusting God. Just keep going and let
God look after His Church. He's very good at it. He has looked after His Church, and He does look after His Church. The worst is not as bad as you think. Even for Job, his expectation was so low, but when he finally took stock
he saw that God was at work. He said, "I'd heard of you
by the hearing of the ear, but now, my eye sees you." He took stock, he saw that God was at work and redemption came and
God's ultimate blessing abundantly flowed, and he ended up with twice as much as
he'd ever had before. There's always someone else in the world that's worse off than I am
and worse off than you are. In days gone by, I've been
numbers of times with Bobbie, to Kampala and to Uganda, I even now can see a vision
of the one and only time I went to the baby clinic at Watoto. So we're seeing babies that
have been left on a doorstep. Left in rubbish bins, literally, sometimes found under a bush
or under a piece of paper. And the truth is that it's the
real world for some people. Let's not lose perspective,
let's take stock, maybe without wanting to
downplay your pain at all. It's not as bad as you think. God's got a way of turning anything and everything around. Number one, take stock,
number two, have a plan. We speak a lot about vision in our church. I speak a lot about vision, but a vision can be out there, ethereal. Thank God
for a spiritual vision. But vision is always at its
best when it's accompanied by a practical plan, in
tough times you need a plan. Even an unrighteous steward
in Luke lost his job. But this is what the Bible
says, he resolved what to do. He had a plan, those 3 lepers,
man, they were in trouble. They desperately needed supplies. They were out from the camp, the camp was filled with marauders and people were out to
get them and they say, if we stay here we're gonna die. If we go up to the camp, we die. They're like, we're gonna die, let's go up and God protected them and delivered them. They had a miraculous,
miraculous deliverance. Number three, have a steadfast commitment that you're a person of faith and prayer. I think that's a non-negotiable, at times when you face pressure and specifically financial pressure, can I encourage you to remind
yourself of the Word of God. Have it in your spirit that is not time to draw back from the Word of God. Have it in your heart,
have it in your mouth, for all the promises of God in Christ are? Yes, and Amen. Let it be so. Let it be so. Let it be so. God's promises are, Amen. The Word says, having done
all you shall still stand. Remember the words of
the Apostle Paul again in 2nd Corinthians 1:10, where I began, listen to him, he's speaking
about the name of the Lord God. He said, He has delivered
you, He will deliver you, and He will continue to deliver you. Do you believe that? Can I speak it into your spirit? Can I speak it into your life? He has delivered you. He will deliver you and He
will continue to deliver you. In Jesus' Name, and if you
believe it in you're home in loungeroom, on the side
of the road, in the car, wherever you are right now, let out a hearty, Amen. Come on couples, families, give me a Amen. Let's be in church for a moment. In our services we always
give people an opportunity to make a choice in your
life for Jesus Christ. It's so simple to do and
yet so eternal in its power. The Bible says A new day, a new beginning. The very best thing
you could do right now, anyone who's listening to my voice, is make a choice for Jesus. And if your life is under
pressure, effectively falling apart, just call
out to Jesus, He loves you. He's for you, He's on your side. I just wanna encourage you
right now to pray a prayer with me. It's a prayer of
faith in Jesus Christ. I'm gonna asked you, wherever you are, to speak these words,
I'll pray it quite slowly. And as you pray in your own heart, in your own spirit, I
believe today will be the most pivotal moment in your life, you'll past, from death, to life, you'll pass from the old to the new. What a beautiful, beautiful
opportunity it is. Wherever you are, anywhere in the world pray this prayer with me right now. If you've been away from
God, you just lost your way spiritually. He never
moved, He never does move, He loves you. But what a beautiful day to come back to Jesus in
the centre of your life. Pray this prayer with me. You know what our congregation
if we were together physically now, they would be
giving you the biggest cheer and the biggest applause but you know why? Simply because lives are being
transformed. And I pray that for you. In just a moment,
we'll tell you exactly what you can do now, what we would
encourage you to do to pursue that choice and that
decision, you just made but I wanna thank you and I
really pray you'll continue to tune in, you'll be
part of Hillsong Church and just allow your journey with Christ to get off to a great solid start, in the Name of the Lord. Be blessed. Amen - Pastor Brian, thank you
for an incredible message this morning.
- So good. - And for speaking into
the heart of our church. And church, if you have decided to follow Jesus this morning,
if you've made a decision, then we wanna direct you to the screen, we would love to connect with you. And there are many ways we can
encourage you on that journey - So Father, thank You for Your hand that is on our life, the
life of our families, the life of our businesses,
but every area of our life. Father, we thank You
that You are leading us, you are guiding us, you are directing us. And Father we pray this week, Lord that Your Holy
Spirit would speak to us. It would be a part of our conversations. Father, thank You for opening our eyes and opening your mind
in Jesus' Name, Amen.
