Soul Survivor Watford | 7/3 | The person & work of the Holy Spirit

[Music] hello and welcome to church online it's great to have you with us my name is andy and this is my assistant hello and i'm the senior senior pastor and mike actually given that you say you're senior it is it is mike's birthday today are we gonna mention how old you are is that something you'd like to i'm 29 29 years old today um and so happy birthday to mike and welcome if you're joining us for the first time our uh our time together we're here really together online to worship jesus and to remind ourselves afresh and remind one another as much as we can of his goodness and his kindness and his compassion and his love and so as part of that we're gonna have a time of worship we're gonna have some time where we pray uh mike is gonna be sharing from god's word and uh yeah and we'll have a bit of family news as well that's the plan why don't we start uh just with a moment of prayer and lord we we just welcome you into this time and at the beginning of our time together we praise you for who you are we thank you that you love us and that your love never changes we thank you that you're with us and you're with us right now and we pray that as we lift our eyes to you lord jesus that you would be glorified now meet with us we pray amen amen so we're going to go over to jess and the band and they're going to lead us in worship worthy of every song we can ever see worthy of all the praise we could ever bring worthy of every breath we could ever name above every other name [Music] jesus [Music] there is [Music] show me who you are and fill [Music] me worthy of every song we can ever see worthy of all the praise worthy of every breath we can ever [Music] breathe jesus [Music] jesus we could ever breathe [Music] show me who you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] show me who you [Music] heart are lead me [Music] me [Music] it is [Music] it is [Music] and i will not be shaking [Applause] [Music] there is me who you are [Applause] [Music] who [Music] [Music] i will build my life [Music] is and i will not be shaken [Music] you love you bring light to the darkness [Music] every heart that is [Music] is so we pour out our praise are you you bring light to the darkness you restore every heart [Music] is [Music] is [Music] our hearts will cry these bones [Music] our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] grace [Music] these bones will save grace [Music] our hearts will cry these bones [Music] us [Music] oh [Music] in ours [Music] our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] grace [Music] our hearts will cry these bones will sing grace [Music] from the throne of him praise the father [Applause] praise [Music] praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] you saw to the other side knowing this was our salvation [Music] jesus praise the father praise the son praise [Music] god [Music] and the angels [Music] and the church of christ was [Music] [Applause] [Music] is christ who has resurrected me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] three [Applause] [Music] god [Applause] [Music] three [Music] our keys [Music] oh so good to worship jesus the king of kings we're gonna pray now and dave and shona are gonna lead us in our prayers over to them hi we're david schoner let's pray well we pray as schools will be reopening next week that you'd be with those parents who have been homeschooling for the last number of months and we thank you for as they've been able to juggle um home life and work and everything else that goes around it we just pray that you'd be with the children as they start to transition back and that you just help them to adjust to what will be a new normal for them we thank you for the teachers that have been able to support through the online teaching everything that they've been able to do for these children and we also just thank you for our church um leadership team and for this all the staff that have been helping to encourage and to support um each and every one of us in just the little things that they um get up and are doing so we just uh yeah thank you for all of that and lord we just um we prayed that you would just help us walk through this next season knowing an increased feeling of your closeness and your hope and your strength father god we pray that you would help us to really find and the gems in this time the gems in this in our darkest times father god that we can pick up and carry forward with us help us to walk forward and shake off the things that need to be left behind and carry the things that um are of you and that bring hope and strength and new life and we pray for those who might have things that they they think they're going to struggle with over the next few months we prayed that you would just help them face that with courage and boldness goal that you would walk with every single one of us and help us to adjust and give space for ourselves lord would you give us wisdom to be kind to ourselves when we need it and to rest when we need it and to step out when it's right and father god would you give us courage and would you just continue with being so faithful and kind and gentle over this season for god would you um watch over our brothers and sisters in this and lord we just prayed that we would do this next season well and that you would really show us what it means to be closer to you and to walk into a new life not the one we had before but a new one that we couldn't have envisioned in jesus name amen let's say the lord's prayer our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and oh forever thanks dave and shona um now i'm here mike has joined me on my sofa this week which is a real treat for him um because ali is has joined us ali is one of the team if you don't know and we're going to be chatting to ali in just a minute just before we do that just got some um some family news some notices just a few things to let you know about one is to say we mentioned it last week but we're going to be starting in-person services again on easter day which is the 4th of april so we're really really excited about that we're looking forward to seeing some of you that haven't seen for a long time and the service times are going to be 11 30 and 4 30. um you will need to book obviously we still have to follow all the covered regulations so it's going to be socially distance we're going to have masks we're not going to be allowed to sing but but even so it's going to be great for anyone who wants to to gather in the same physical space and worship jesus so if you want to come to that you will need to book on uh we'll open the bookings a couple of weeks before easter day but that's a little heads up we're going to continue just so you know the live stream at 9 15 and this is going to continue uh for quite some time to come so we're very aware that not everyone will be ready to come back on on easter day but we look forward to seeing those who do also just to mention about children's work we're not able to do children's work um just because it's not legal yet until the 18th of april but even then we just need to work out what we're going to do and whether we can do something because the the building work is still happening in warehouse seven which is where the children's work would normally happen so um we need to see if we can provide anything but it might be a little while before we can provide children's work physically here but obviously the children are welcome to come you'll just have to keep them with you um during the service and the building work is looking great so it's continuing it's scheduled at the moment to finish um at the end of may so we're we're excited to and it's on track for that so excited about that can i just say yeah i've just noticed you've got tomato ketchup on your jumper oh on your shoulder thank you for pointing that out that's that's um what happens when you try and eat with four kids in the house i'm amazed i haven't got tomorrow ketchup all over my entire jumper i probably have actually um okay where were we yes we've got a couple of uh zooms coming up one is for um uh single adult households and so we're we're really aware and we've been having zooms with different different groups of people who are who basically are facing different challenges and we found it's been really helpful just to just to me even if it's just for a short period of time with others who are in a similar situation just to touch base uh we want to hear um what's being particularly difficult we want to pray for you and so uh if that's you that's me it is you i'm a single adult household yeah so so join us on the zoom uh 7 30 this thursday you can sign up on church suite and also just to mention that this afternoon there is a zoom for uh years three to six with b who is our children's and families pastor so if you if your um uh child is in years three to six and wants to come to that then it's not too late to sign up on church suite and also to mention we haven't said it for quite some time you and i still do a podcast every week we do we do so just to say that's just a ten minute thought um although if you do it sometimes they go on a bit longer don't they yeah and when you do it it just feels they go on a bit longer i walked into that you did oh man and also there's they're all on we've been doing them for nearly a year yeah and you can go back to you know there's there's there's a few hundred yes there's a lot now so they come out every wednesday every wednesday and they come out on we put them on our social media but they're also on on the church website they're on spotify they're on apple podcast so um yeah do check that out and they're on the youtube channel the source survivor youtube channel um and then the food bank just a reminder we want to continue to support the food bank as we do every week particularly this week the watford food bank has asked if we could donate sweet treats to include in food parcels so items like jelly sponge puddings small chocolate bars or small biscuits are ideal and if you want to see the full list i mean you can bring what you would normally bring anyway but they've just asked to highlight that so you can see the full list of what they what they would like in the weekly update there's a little link every single week so you can drop it at the warehouse if that's helpful between 10 10 am and 12 noon on saturday and then the final thing just to mention before we chat with ali is just to say again about giving um the church you've been so amazingly generous throughout this last year it's it's been incredible um but if you want to continue to give obviously the vision of the church is the same we want to continue to serve and support uh one another and share the good news of jesus with our community so if you want to continue to give to that then the best way to do it is online if you go to source five watford dot co dot uk forward slash give and uh you can set up a standing order there or you can give a one-off gift great that's it for the notices did i do that okay you did that fine thank you you did that fine just for anyone who doesn't know he does give me a lot of feedback every single week and i i'm training him i try and take it on board um ali hello it is great to have you with us it's so nice to be here just um just for anyone who doesn't know you tell us a bit about yourself okay i'm ali married to joel who's an aussie we've got two kids uh esther who is eight but nearly nine and william who's eleven and as of a couple of weeks ago two guinea pigs which is obviously really important to say uh yeah and i've lived in watford like 23 24 years um originally only from half an hour at the road but was born in blackpool you might not know that about me but i was born in black i did not know that there you go there we go yeah and that's why you illuminate there we go very the blackpool illuminati yes i got that that was very nicely done classy unusually for you um tell us what you know how did you become part of the church you've been here for a long time yeah um yes i've been part of the church for 24 years i've worked so originally worked for the ministry so when we were doing national stuff um i came on board for that and i've been working for the church for about 15 years now yeah and what for those who don't know what is your role in the church yeah well i'm one of the assistant pastors and i mean lots of things particularly since lockdown obviously like a year ago things really really changed and at that point connect groups became pretty much the only thing that i do and yeah and that's what takes my time so i look after all of our small groups in the church and the small group leaders and just in terms of yeah looking after them encouraging people to join one checking up on how they're doing yeah which i love i was really surprised that's definitely been one uh thing about lockdown that yeah my job really did change overnight but um because that was only a very small part of what i was doing before but i really love it i love yeah love those love those guys we've got about 90 leaders that are leading small groups and they're brilliant brilliant and and tell us this year yeah what has been for you the the best thing about it perhaps yeah unexpected good thing about it okay and what has been the hardest thing for you okay oh okay so i mean it depends on which lockdown you're talking about say the hardest first the hardest thing i mean this time has definitely been home learning definitely like i said i've got two kids at home being a mum and trying to support them in their learning has been pretty horrendous i'm not gonna lie i am really looking forward to with along with many others looking forward to tomorrow it's much better for them to be in school so i'm really really pleased about that but that has been hard and not seeing friends and family it's yeah yeah that's been pretty horrible um just that feeling of being contained and not being able to make plans i'm not good with that and i think with the first lockdown at least when it was sunny i mean joel and i spent so much time in our garden in fact the first lockdown i think we sort of treated it a bit like holiday and like ate really nice food every day for our lunch in the garden and you know whereas this time has just felt yeah much more sort of hemmed in and yeah short days but you know they're getting longer yeah yeah so yeah that's probably been the hardest bit and what's been oh yeah a good thing or a best thing it's come out of it i think a lack of hurry i i think i've enjoyed yeah like not having to do the school run not having to make plans all the time weirdly even though that's the bit i've missed i've quite liked the freedom and the space um around yeah not always feeling like yeah plans plans plans not doing the school run do you know one weird benefit is not making packed lunches i didn't realize how much i hate making packed lunches and cleaning them out at the end of the day you know those little bits of yogurt in the corner of a smelly lunch box honestly a couple of like probably in february joel and i just did a quick let's just list the things that we're going to be um sad about no yeah that we're going to be sad about once locked down lifts and pat lunches was definitely on our list for both of us because we don't really want to go back to doing lunches i mean it might sound trivial but yeah it is all right i have some rapid fire questions for you okay so you can't think i can't you just gotta answer oh no all right yeah um okay here we go dog or a cat or dog instagram or twitter instagram i came off twitter a while ago i hate it are you gonna would you rather watch netflix or youtube oh netflix although i'm watching a lot of youtube at the minute about how to look after guinea pigs but netflix generally would you rather receive a phone call or a text oh it depends who's wrong okay uh if you're exercising would you rather do cardio or weights weights if you're walking along would you rather listen to music or a podcast music if unless it's you guys obviously yes i'll take heart we'll all you listen to it on wednesday um uh outside of lockdown okay not happening yeah if you had a gathering at your house yeah would you rather have a big party with loads of people yeah or would you rather have a meal with just a few people a meal with just a few people we debated i i probably would have done about five or ten years i'm just missing i'm missing my people under one roof and i love there being maybe can i have six six or eight people around the table am i allowed to say that was that a party no i think you can probably get away with that all right if you're going a long journey are you in the passenger seat or the driver's seat passenger definitely i hate driving if i yeah you need comfort food sweet or savoury oh um savory oh don't make me choose yeah most of the time savoury okay you gotta relax would you watch a drama or would you watch comedy oh probably drama particularly um sorry you're doing quick fire questions but disaster movies they're still my favorite even in lockdown yeah i just i love a disaster movie final question no thinking out andy or mike it's my birthday [Laughter] neither neither no i can't choose between anything i know but out of the heart the mouse speaks [Laughter] neither all right well on that though thanks ali we're obviously not invited to your small gathering of obsidian um all right hey great great great great to have you lovely to indeed and if people wanted to join a connection how would they do that so you can either email me my details on the website you or um and if you okay let's start you can go to the website there's a whole list of all the connect groups with a little bit of a description so you can choose one and sign up there if you're part of our church family if you look at them and you just you're a bit overwhelmed by choice then email me and i can do a bit of a matchmaker service where you know and sometimes it's as practical as days of the week but sometimes because i know the groups quite well now if i know a little bit about you i could help find one that would would really suit you you should join my mike i'm in running running the running group so that's really fun because it means in a few weeks time we can start running together again in groups of six socially distanced but we're looking forward to them yeah no i'm starting my own yes which is going to be uh having meals oh i think you'll say running to the takeaway picking it up again i use deliveroo for that makes more sense it's just running to the front door um all right we're waddling slowly we're gonna we're gonna continue to worship jesus now so back to jess and the band [Music] around us [Music] my heart came alive your love is greater your love is stronger [Music] feel the darkness shaking all the dead are coming back to life [Music] name and then my heart came alive your love is greater your love is stronger your love awakens awakens me [Music] that can [Music] [Music] we're alive we shouted [Music] is [Music] is [Music] me wonderful i'm back in my place and um i changed my mind about what i was going to speak on just this morning so i'm a little uh nervous i'm just i shouldn't be admitting that but we were going to talk i was going to talk about something else when i went to bed last night and anyway um this has been burning in me so i'm going to give it a go so i want to talk about another of our values and uh it's our value that the value that we place on the personal work of the holy spirit now that's a bit of a funny thing to say as a value because it's also a doctrine uh he is he is god uh but also we want to say that one of our priorities maybe that's a better way is of putting it is we want to be open to the ministry of the spirit and i'm just going to be really honest with you um andy and i both of us over the last few months really we've been rediscovering uh truths about jesus and about how amazing and wonderful he is we've been rediscovering uh lots of things and discovering some things for the first time and a lot of that has come through a little series of books that we've been reading both of us that we have loved and the first is uh we've mentioned them our books of the month and books of the week by a guy called mike reeves the latest was a book called rejoice and tremble which is on the the fear of god um the good god by mike reeves uh christ our life with the first book is about the trinity the second is about jesus and then we are just mesmerized by this book we're going to talk about it more in the weeks to come gentle and lowly by dane ortland now both of these guys are conservative evangelicals and we are regarded as swinging on the chandeliers charismatics and i need to say that the teaching of these conservative evangelicals is the best teaching i have ever heard on the basis of what charismatic christianity is supposed to be and i don't think they realize that this is is the best because it's supposed to be all about jesus it's supposed to be about loving jesus more about experiencing him about knowing him not just understanding things about him but knowing him in the context of friendship and as we've as we've rediscovered these truths and as we've learned new truths we've we've i've certainly tried to to to tell about them and sometimes i've been gutted as i've told my friends and others um that i've just been met with blank looks and it's like let me tell you about this that i just discovered about jesus let me tell you this quote and then it's like i'm thinking why aren't you taking your clothes off and running around naked shouting at the top of your voice this is amazing sorry about the image but that's how i think of it or why aren't you why aren't you just reacting and i've been puzzled by that um i just want to read you a few quotes from some of these books that have are just brilliant i think and then you can look blank but because i can't see you i won't know there's that they're they're nearly all actually from dane ortland in gentle and lowly he says this it is the most counterintuitive aspect of christianity that we are declared right with god not once we begin to get our act together but once we collapse into honest acknowledgement that we never will i love that it's not about when i get my act together it's when i collapse into honest acknowledgement that i never will that's when he declares me right with god here's another one your salvation is not merely a matter of a saving formula but of a saving person and sometimes we rightly we've talked about the doctrine of the cross and we need to we need to and how jesus died in our place and how he took our sins on himself and our sorrows and our suffering and rose from the dead and broke the power of death but occasionally we've we've looked at it as like a formula you know and we've looked at it at something that he did rather than the heart behind it his beating heart which is about who he is we are saved by jesus on the cross we are not saved by a cross we are saved by jesus who is the friend of sinners who is gentle and lowly who is humble of heart here's another i love this here is the promise of the gospel and the message of the whole bible in jesus christ we are given a friend who will always enjoy rather than refuse our presence now i just lie down and think about that just turn the lights off and just spend a few hours he will always enjoy rather than refuse my presence he even when i'm at my worst he enjoys my presence he created me that i might be with him and he looks he loves my presence i love his presence i forgot that he loves my presence always always stick that in your pipe and smoke it jesus this is this i love in revelation 3 uh there's a list of letters um to various churches that jesus uh writes in in revelation and one is the letter to the church in laodicea and jesus says to the church that they are wretched pitiful poor blind and naked that's what he says to them you are wretched pitiful poor blind and naked and then he says in revelation 3 20 behold i stand at the door your door and knock if anyone opens the door i will come in and eat with them and then with me he's saying to a church that is wretched pitiful poor blind and naked i'm knocking on your door if you open it i'll come in and i'll have i'll eat with you the implication get it is jesus wants to eat with the wretched the pitiful the poor the blind and the naked that means he wants to eat with me he wants to have breakfast lunch and dinner with me he wants to do that today and today as we've said is my birthday and actually on that i just got to say a little digression um i'm coming to yours from uh for my birth dt the boys are very excited and i'm very excited and andy said something yesterday that shocked me to me he said to me yesterday as they were leaving my house because we're in the bubble together he said make sure that you come hungry tomorrow and i was like i have known you for how long 17 years 17 years and it's like what a stupid thing to say what an make sure you come hungry when have i ever come not hungry you know and and it's it's left me i need to tell you i'm so excited because he's never said that now it'll probably mean that i'll get a whole grapefruit instead of half a grapefruit and i'll be gutted and pretend to be having a candle on it with a candle on it yeah but i i've got big expectations for this afternoon but here's the point i'm going around for tea it's my birthday dinner jesus wants to have breakfast lunch and dinner with me today on my birthday and he wants to do it tomorrow when it's not my birthday for all of us who are wretched pitiful poor blind and naked it's amazing in the gospels here's another one we see that jesus moves towards touches heals embraces and forgives those who least deserve it yet truly desire it i love that it's not about deserving it's about desiring for all those who came to him he moved towards them he touched them he healed them he set them free and our we have tried to share these truths all over the place and i wondered like i've ended we've been frustrated at times why can't we get this across this is amazing and so much more about who jesus is and and i suddenly occurred to me again i forgot it suddenly occurred to me we can't do it without the holy spirit it's the holy spirit who reveals these things if we try and do it it it it'll never work and i believe in preaching the gospel i believe in teaching the bible and the bible is god's revelation and the bible reveals but you know what it's it's it's it's when the word of god is revealed to our hearts by the spirit of god the spirit through whom the book was written brings the book to life you know as well as i do that many people read the book and get nothing from it many people read the book and get weird stuff from it it's it's the holy spirit who reveals the truth of this amazing amazing authoritative word we are inadequate to get these things across without the holy spirit i just want to mention a few things that he does and then i want to get to the main thing that he does first of all the holy spirit empowers us to be witnesses jesus said in acts 1 6 wait in jerusalem until the holy spirit comes on you then you will have power to be my witnesses in jerusalem judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth we need power to be witnesses the holy spirit gives us power for that uh linked with that he empowers us with his gifts and you can read that i haven't got time to read all this in 1 corinthians 12 verses 4 to 7 he is the holy spirit the charismata the the grace gifts are gifts of the holy spirit and these aren't badges we wear or trophies we put in a cupboard they're tools that we use we need to be empowered with the gifts of the spirit the holy spirit prays in us and for us when we don't know how to pray as we all paul says in romans 8 verses 26 and 27 the spirit comes and intercedes in us for us with us with size and groans too deep for words when we don't know how to pray he prays there's do you know this there's god the father god the son and god the holy spirit it's amazing when whenever i think the the son and the spirit are praying for me right now jesus is is interceding for me from the a place at the right hand of the father and the holy spirit is interceding for me from within me and when i pray it's about joining in his prayer he teaches us to pray it's the holy spirit who makes us fruitful you can see this in galatians 5 verses 22 and 23 the fruit of the spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness self-control and a couple of others they are they are the fruit of the spirit he forms christ in us then and also it's the fruit of answered prayer in uh in john 15 uh we read uh verse 16 you did not choose me but i chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that should last so that whatever you ask in my name i will do for you that's a work of the spirit that's a work of the spirit um he brings us joy instead of sorrow jesus says in john 16 verses 5 to 7 um you are filled with grief uh because uh because i said i'm going to the father but very truly i say to you it's to your good that i go away for when i go another like me another comforter will come to you and he will be in you and what jesus is saying is it's good for you because right now you're filled with grief but when he comes as the comforter he will fill you with joy he will turn your sorrow and your sorrow into joy you're mourning into dancing as the prophet isaiah said he would there's some of the things that he does but there's one in particular one more than any of the others if if if the holy spirit has a job description first item on his job description is he comes to us to reveal the father and the son and it's not just in his job description it's what he loves to do is what gets him up in the morning the the thing he loves to do the most is to show us the father and to show us jesus not that we would know simply in our understanding although that is important but that we would know in our experience we wouldn't just know about him we would know him we would know his embrace we would be able to feel him if you like we would be able to touch him with our hearts and know his heart touching us it's about revelation it's it's by the spirit we read in romans 8 that we cry abba father we can do we can do 25 talks on the fatherhood of god and the fact that we are adopted but unless the spirit comes and cries from within us the cry abba father and we'll just know about it and we'll have to keep revising it like we do for an exam there's knowledge that you have to keep relearning but there's knowledge that lives in you and the holy spirit wants to give us that knowledge that lives in us jesus says that said the spirit will take that which is mine and make it known to you everything that is about jesus the spirit makes known to us that we would know all these things that i've just been quoted quoting all these things about jesus not just what he did but his heart who he is and so we need to be filled with the spirit we who received the spirit when we became christians because you can't come to jesus unless the holy spirit draws you we need to be filled with him again and again and again paul says to the ephesians do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the holy spirit and and the the greek for being filled is continually filled again and again and again we need to be filled with him how do we get filled with him what is the condition is there a condition there's just one and i want to read you one more time that one of the quotes earlier in the gospels we see that jesus moves towards touches heals embraces and forgives those who least deserve it yet truly desire it it's about desire not deserving it's not about being good it's about wanting it's about wanting and and and sometimes if we're honest we say you know what i don't want but then it's okay to say god i want to want would you send your spirit that i might want to want more of you and he does he does saint augustine once said lord you put salt on our lips that that we might thirst for you you put salt on our lips that we might thirst for you that's what the spirit does and sometimes the lord uses circumstances to make us again long for him sometimes we get complacent and so he might use adversity you know in order to give us a fresh longing sometimes he we frankly we just get bored sometimes life becomes gray instead of in color and and and then we just know there's meant to be something more wonder if the greatest problem in the western church today if i'm honest is boredom we're bored and tragically in the western church there's too many of us that are bored with jesus christ bored with jesus how how can we be bored with jesus why because we've made christianity about us and sometimes those of us that have leaders we've we've done that in order to attract a crowd we've been saying come to jesus for you he'll he'll bless you he'll heal you he'll make things right he'll he'll do this for you you'll get this you'll get that christianity is not a self-improvement program christian christianity is a death and resurrection program it's about dying and rising from the dead christianity isn't about us first it's about jesus when i became a christian i became a christian because i met jesus and i read about jesus and the spirit revealed jesus to me and i longed for him and of course of course it changes us of course it does but it's where the emphasis is and we just become bored we need a fresh move of the spirit we really do need a fresh move of the spirit today and in a few moments i want to pray that we be filled with the spirit again the spirit that reveals the father and the son and if you're bored with jesus let me tell you right now he loves you massively he wants to have breakfast lunch and dinner with you he's not bored with you he's not offended that you're bored with him he just longs that you would come alive that's his heart he longs that you would come alive when i became a christian i just i i longed two months before my 16th birthday i longed to know jesus better and i was told that you could be filled with the holy spirit and that the holy spirit would would bring us close it would bring me closer to the father and the son and i started praying father fill me with your spirit and i did everything i did everything i prayed i longed i i asked i kept asking i i repented of my sins i i i went for walks i prayed in private i did everything i could and in the end i went to this couple who ran this little home group called mark and patricia that i was in and i said could you pray for me to be filled with the spirit and we met in their front room i will never forget it we talked um i sat on a chair they sat on a set and it was i was 16 and then they said we're gonna pray for you they sat there i sat there they prayed father phil mike baptize him with your spirit and we prayed in silence they prayed quietly in tongues and i just sat there and at 20 to 11 looked up and i said you can stop praying now he's come he's come to me and i was filled with inexpressible it was suddenly i wanted to burst and it was like it was like i was overwhelmed by waves of love waves of love it is a moment i will never ever ever forget and i started laughing before i ever heard that sometimes people laugh when the holy spirit comes on them and it was a laughter of joy and i remember walking home and i thought i was floating and you know for i don't know if it was weeks or months afterwards i would just sit on my bed and on my own and i kept saying over and over again not o holy spirit you're so wonderful holy spirit i love you no i kept saying father you're my father you're my father you're my dad jesus you're my savior you love me jesus you love me father you're my father and i kept saying it again i was i was overwhelmed i was mesmerized and that's why in the end he gave me the gift of tongues because it was like let's get let's find another way for you to tell this to me i don't know if it was quite like that but you know what i mean and it was like the being filled with the spirit meant that i fell in love with the father and the son because the spirit showed me deep in my being that the father and the son loved me without conditions and i remember a few months later i remember i was walking down the road it was spring because i could smell the flowers and and um i was walking down the road and i suddenly became aware of my sin and i just as i was walking i said father i'm so sorry i've slipped i've i've i've i've fallen away from my first love i want to come back i want to come back to you and i remember i said god i'm so sorry i i want i want your presence and there in the street as i was walking in kenton harrow as i was walking the spirit came on me again i was just walking along the road and i had to hold on to a wall and it was like he overwhelmed me again with the knowledge of his love and that has happened since our hearts grow cold our hearts grow cold we forsake our first love the lord says that and the answer is he comes to us to those who desire or those of us who desire to desire we need a move of the spirit in the western church that is about jesus about jesus the best fighters are lovers because they have something to fight for let's get our eyes back on him let's ask the spirit to so fill us and i believe in the other stuff of course i do but he is he is the main here's a final little quote and i end with this from day northland the holy spirit turns the recipe into actual taste i love that because it's another food analogy the holy spirit turns the recipe into actual taste and we can hear the message of the gospel the message of the cross and we can be bored yes i've heard it oh we're not saying that can't we go anything or we can hear it and it's like by the spirit you love me you're here you change my life i'm safe in your hands i'm safe in your hands because you are good and you are strong and you are for me you nothing will i will ever shock you nothing i say or do will ever make you think oh i got him wrong what a savior along that we long that for us and we long that for you and particularly for our church this church that we love so survival watford we're going to go on adventures we believe god's told us to reproduce to have lots of babies but above all we want to be a church that loves him that is excited by him that is mesmerized by him that we do everything that we fight because we love and that's what i want to pray about now my old mentor david pitches when he was vicar of san andreas truly wood people used to ask him all the time where are we going as a church and i love his answer he used to say we're not going anywhere we're staying here to worship jesus and of course we went lots of places that church started new wine and sole survivor came out of it and lots of other things but he got the main thing right we're not going anywhere we're going to stay here and continue to worship jesus into eternity let's pray now be still and father i ask now that you would do a miracle again we're not gathered together physically we're scattered all over the place all around watford and i know there are folk watching from other nations as well and now i ask father in the name of jesus send your holy spirit holy spirit would you fill us holy spirit would you fill us afresh would you baptize us would you immerse us would you release your spirit through us in us to bring revelation of the father and the son above anything come holy spirit we humbly pray come holy spirit we wait for you now now wait now wait as we wait on him just keep waiting for some of you it it may happen as it happened to me but i just want to remind you i prayed for six months i asked for six months why did he wait for six months was it because he was reluctant no no no no he just wanted my my longing to get deeper so that i would be filled more fully he wanted more of me he wanted he wanted me to be hungry and thirsty and so for some of you he's doing it now you're aware for others it's the beginning of a journey let your longing grow deeper let your desire grow stronger seek me and live says the lord through the prophet amos seek me that you might have life more of you spirit of god more of you wherever we are father pour out your spirit equip your church to do the ministry but above all baptize us in love let's just keep waiting andy if you have anything as we wait if you have a word just say it i could have this totally wrong um but i just felt like the lord said that there's someone watching and your name is mark and you're 60 60 years old and just that you are longing for this that there is a real thirst in you for this and and just that he would remind you that just what mike said earlier that he put salt on our lips that thirst is from him and that he doesn't create it um to tease us he creates it in order to satisfy us i think it's just his encouragement to you that he's in this and that he's not going to leave you thirsty forever but he's created the thirst in you and my friend liz our friend liz potter sent her i switched my phone off so i can't find i think it was a i've got the message if you want it uh liz in our church uh said hi i woke this morning with a strong sense that there will be a breakthrough in overcoming fear today for many for one lady in particular called jean who has been almost paralyzed by a wall of fear today is going to open her eyes to see jesus in a new way his powerful love for her will break through the fear and open up a way for her to walk free and liz thinks that you might be 43 years old today gene if gene if that's you receive that receive that receive that from the lord and do let us know if that speaks to you do let us know and his word to all of us is that he is for us some of us feel burned out his love is his mercy is bigger some of us are bored his love can light the flame again some of us have messed up and we're feeling guilty his passionate love displayed on the cross washes away washes away our guilt receive him receive him we bless your name lord we bless your name andy great well uh we're going to continue to wait on the lord um but also begin to worship him now and so if you want to continue just to be still in his presence you do that but jess and the band are going to lead us as we worship now over to them [Music] creating one through your holy spirit conceiving christ the son jesus our savior i believe in god our father i believe in christ the son i believe in the holy spirit our god [Music] [Applause] [Music] in is name of jesus [Music] forgiveness is in you descended into darkness [Music] our god is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus again i believe that jesus christ i believe in you i believe i believe that jesus christ [Music] and in your holy church i believe in the resurrection when jesus comes again for i believe in the name of jesus i believe in god our father i believe in christ the son i believe in the holy spirit our god is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign and a final prayer of blessing for us all this is from church of england common worship the spirit of truth lead us into all truth give us grace to confess that jesus christ is lord and strengthen us to proclaim the word and works of god and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit remain with us all now and always amen oh man well that's that's it for today so um we're looking forward to seeing those who can make it on easter day in a couple of weeks um but we'll be praying for you otherwise and we'll be back next week 9 15 for the live stream we love you very much uh keep going we are going to be back all together soon and we're going to have a big party we are have i mentioned it i found out we have mentioned it um our new kitchen next door we'll be able to feed 500 at a time have we said that you have said that i've said that i'm so excited i'm sorry it's gonna be good it's gonna be great all right god bless see ya you

Channel: Soul Survivor Watford

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Id: hyaJwhoh0c0

Length: 84min 45sec (5085 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021