SUMMER JAMS: PSALM 103 HOW TO BE GRATEFUL EVERY DAY

[Music] [Applause] [Music] when i'm lost when i'm low my tears have run dry [Music] the air is [Music] [Music] to the right that is [Music] it makes the grass a little greener anyway nothing to fear just go with the seasons after the storm the sun will rise again there is a go to the mountain [Music] that is [Music] rock is is [Music] [Music] it makes the grass a little greener anywhere [Applause] [Music] [Music] reveal to us again who you are all things are possible god of the miracle oh let your will be [Music] done here on earth [Music] hey good morning everyone i hope that you're doing okay it is great to connect with you again on this sunday morning my name is leon and my name is joe really good to be here it's good to be here now you've just been away for a week haven't you yeah i've been um in wales on a holiday with a family and uh it was really good despite the showers it was really good what was the weather like was it terrible yeah it was kind of half rainy and half sun but you kind of just dodged the showers absolutely you just get on with it really don't you like you take uh and you take pacomaco swimming stuff yeah wetsuits wetsuits yeah absolutely pretty cold absolutely absolutely but you had some good days a bit would you oh it was lovely you know and i love holidays because you get to kind of choose what you want to do in the day and i had some of my perfect days when i was on holiday what's a perfect day for you so my perfect day i would get up really late i would then spend some time in prayer with god and then i would go to the sea i just love swimming in the sea cliff jumping into the sea cliff walks that kind of thing really that is my perfect day my wife alison's been on holiday with you before and does know that you're a bit of a swimmer in the sea like how how far are we talking that you're swimming yeah i kind of set myself a little goal so i'll go around the bay or i'll go and visit a rock and then i'll come back i kind of tell the family what i'm doing but i kind of swim in the sea quite a lot that's exciting yeah so i don't know what kind of what's your like famous your favorite day so we asked this question actually on the week in social media and uh mark said days on the beach with alison and the boys playing cricket sandcastles crabbing ice cream someone else said sand castles and putting the paper flags in the top of sand castles and i remember that's really sweet isn't it i know but you're 34 you need to stop doing that now move on so yeah so in the chat it'd be great if you wrote in what is your favorite summer day like what do you want to do on a summer day because there's a theme that we're going to talk about a little bit later what would your perfect day be leon do you know what yes it's really interesting i just i've probably approached a day at work joe i thought you'd say that meeting with you guys yeah i mean team would say that yeah yeah that's absolutely a perfect day for me now i i love i am a planner okay so even on holiday i'm planning but my perfect day on a summer holiday is literally to get up i'm not late i get off for quite a while time with god obviously breakfast and then the beach for eight hours okay i can just lie on the beach listening to music and podcast for eight hours so amazing it'd be great guys if you could connect with us running in the hills dave says running in the hills that's the rainbow song and it run to the hills anyway or iron maiden someone like that and where are you watching from as well i do know that angel chilton is watching and i believe that you're in crete angel so that's exciting so thank you for coming to us and i do know that somebody's watching us from denmark so big shout out to all you guys where else are you watching from today you know what i want to say just check it out just put it in the chat that'd be brilliant we'd love to know where you are and what you do for your perfect day maybe this is too much information currently in the pigs eating eggs bread with the hot tub heating up outside okay enjoy enjoy okay and vicky is out vicki has it vicki's out at sea no she's not out at sea she's looking out to sea sat on the beach reading a book or listening to music that's your perfect day vicky that's amazing okay laurie says she loves sitting by the ocean and drinking lots and lots of coffee so lots of themes there yeah there's a lot of ice cream themes as well okay there's a lot of people saying eating ice creams ice creams are great by the seaside definitely yeah we did that one night actually yeah yeah i love that tastes so much better by the season absolutely now the reason we're talking about your perfect day is that today's summer jam is a great song called lovely day okay and so in this uh summer jam series we've been looking at psalms we're looking at god's playlist of psalms 150 in there and we're looking at what um what that psalm because originally they were songs what that psalm can say to us right now so we're using a famous kind of summary type fun song and so we've had help we've had love story i'm gonna always forget the third one we've had happy that's the one i did and today we've got a lovely day so whether it is a lovely day for you or not we really hope you have a great day brilliant it's such a great opportunity to invite somebody you know while you're watching this think of friends or family that you could invite to also if you could comment or subscribe on any one of our three platforms that really helps us track and helps the track go through there another thing that i'd really encourage you to think about is alpha we've i'm so excited about our next online album which is starting on september the 14th you know we had one guy who was invited during lockdown he was shielding he couldn't go out he's never been here in church somebody invited him online and he started watching um the service online then he came and did the alpha online and now he's in a connect group in hagley and he's absolutely loving it and it's so good to see his journey so why don't you think about a friend or a family member that you could invite right now at this service and you know it's not just that there's loads of stories like that we heard kieran's story just a few weeks ago again someone from church invited him to the stream he watched the stream he went to alpha he had a dream about jesus and gave his life to jesus has never set foot in one of our churches physical location so guys i want to say to you right now wherever you are and some of you tom woodhouse you're on a boat in greece we're not jealous but i'm glad that you're watching it out there wherever you are why don't you just invite right now why don't you just share you don't have to tag somebody you could just share it to your stream the more you share it to the facebook stream the youtube just share that on facebook share it on twitter the more you share the more the coverage will go and by the way we're 71 people away from a thousand subscribers on youtube when we get to a thousand that will change a lot of things i'm going to use the dreaded a word the algorithms sorry for all of those you kids all right who just done your exams but it will change things in terms of our reach so really encourage you um to to to to shut to share and subscribe and um it's just great just just before we go just so spending time with family and grandchildren that's your perfect day chilling on my bed thinking of getting up or not wow wow great choice poodling that's a nice word around it yeah absolutely before poodling on a narrowboat and andy hancock we're on the car we're in the car on the car we're in the car on the way home from holiday and you're watching this i hope that you are not driving mr andy hancock okay i really hope that you aren't driving what have we got on there joe anymore um i've got mandy who's going to tenerife on wednesday again we're not jealous at all um no haven't got anything else on here i think holidays are a major thing but yeah absolutely final thing guys before we go um tuesday night we have the big quiz life center of big quiz i know a lot of you are away on holiday right now but this is on zoo but six of you could gather in someone's uh garden and you could go as a team so you can sign up on the website sign up as a team or sign up individually or as a couple and we will put you in teams the deadline is midnight tomorrow go on the website let's see who are the cleverest people in life central whether you're hagley hales owning rowley or even doris albania we'd love to see you guys i'm really looking forward to the big quiz uh all of our connect group have signed up i'm so competitive so i'm sorry very competitive i'm so competitive so really really not really clever but competitive very competitive all right guys hey three minutes and we will be beginning our service jane sergeant will be looking at summer jams and looking at the song lovely day so see you in three minutes [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so so [Music] hello and welcome to life central church online whenever and wherever you're watching this you are really really welcome my name is leon i'm the lead pastor at life central and it is my pleasure and privilege just to welcome you guys to our live stream today now usually we are one church in four locations in halzowen in hagley and rowley or in doris albania but these days we are one church anywhere and everywhere basically so you are really welcome let me just say that whatever platform you're watching this on whether it's youtube church online or facebook you can interact and engage with us we'd love to hear your comments also if you want prayer at any time then you can ask for that there are people that can put little links in there and you can have prayer you can have someone actually pray with you in a private chat room or you can post a prayer onto our website and again if you go on our website there's lots of information there about how you can take your next step and find out all there is to know about the church and i don't know where you're watching this from whenever or wherever you're watching this or what kind of a day it is but you know at the moment in the summer we are doing this series called summer jams where we're looking at a summer song and we're twinning it with one of the psalms and you might think what's that about because you see the psalms is god's playlist he's got 150 of these psalms that actually were written as songs and they kind of talk about life they talk about the range of emotions from anger to happiness from frustration to joy and i know about you but sometimes music that's what it does for you it evokes emotions within you and over the last few weeks we've been looking at some great songs and some great songs we've looked at the song happy and love story and help and we have an absolute belter of a song for you today and i'm going to introduce that in a moment and then after that jane sergeant who's part of our teaching team she's going to be talking about this song but really she's going to be talking lots more about psalm 103 jane is also the ceo of phase trust which is a youth charity that we partner with as a church guys we hope you're having a great summer wherever you are whatever kind of day it is even if it's pouring down a rain and you're trying to make the most of it because you're british we hope that you have an amazing day but this song hopefully even if the sun isn't shining will put a smile on your face this is bill with this classic tune lovely day [Music] when i wake up in the morning [Music] the sunlight hurts my eyes [Music] it's gonna be [Music] lovely [Music] seems impossible a face [Music] someone else instead of me always seems to know the way today i look at you [Music] [Music] it's gonna be [Applause] [Music] ahead of me seems impossible to face and when someone else instead of me yes always seems to know the way [Music] with me [Music] everybody see it again is [Music] is [Music] [Music] yeah yeah yeah yeah [Music] [Music] what a great start to our morning together welcome to live central church and a great thank you there to our big friend carl mcgregor for singing what a great song lovely day if you want to hear more from carl i want to encourage you he's hanging out in our post service chat after the service so if you can stay online and stay connected you'll hear some great stuff and some insight from carl there but but a big shout out to you carl thanks so much i don't know what memories that brings back for you i think i've heard that song probably every wedding i've ever been to i've sung it myself i've heard it played so many times and i'm sorry that during the day that is going to come back to you i guarantee that during the afternoon you'll be at the seat and going you will it will be in there it's one of those songs isn't it but there's a real problem that affects every one of us um today and it's this thing it's called forgetfulness forgetfulness and we can remember all kinds of things especially when it comes to people and if i'm really honest with you this morning often what i remember are the things that i really shouldn't be remembering are thumbs and you've betrayed me maybe times when you maybe you've lied to me times and people have talked about me we can have a long memory when it comes to hurt can't we a long long memory but a short memory when it comes to the things you did that surprised me maybe or you blessed me or you made me smile and i can have an even shorter memory when it comes to recalling how good god's been to me now i've recently gone back to running over lockdown i don't know how many of you have seen this app or have used this app and couched a 5k i've tried this two or three times and i've never completed it but somehow during lockdown i've kept it up so i'm running every other day now 5k and i have to be honest though i hate it i absolutely hate it there's not a step i take that i'm thinking i'm loving this i'm enjoying it because i'm not you know the best part for me when that voice comes on in your ear and she goes you have 60 seconds left pet i love that line i love it when she comes on but as i've been running over the past few weeks it's amazing the things that you start to remember that you thought you'd forgot do you know what i mean um i used to run a lot when i was younger not like huge distances i was more like of a middle distance runner really and i've started to remember the things that the trainers used to say to me and there were things like this he'd say run as fast as you can jane pretty obvious isn't it but then he'd say but whatever you do don't keep looking back don't keep looking back but as someone who struggles to believe what i was told so i just kept doing it i just kept looking back over my shoulder i couldn't understand why i wouldn't want to see where my rivals were why wouldn't you want to see where everybody else was until it was explained to me like this and i found this really really helpful and i literally only remembered this the other week when i was running looking back breaks your concentration and breaks your focus do you know what looking back doesn't affect anybody else but you doesn't affect anybody else but you he then said it disrupts your physical flow what did he mean he meant your motion isn't as smooth or as streamlined as it could be so you're not running as fast as you could and the third thing he said was it always slows you down do you know people have lost olympic finals because they've looked over their shoulder at the wrong time it's true it's true and this is really important as we try and live out our christian lives you know because when we forget what god has told us it has an impact on what is done for us when we forget what god has told us it has an impact on what he's done for us it's really important what we are choosing to look back on i want you to think about the most beautiful place you've ever visited and we've heard if you're with the pre-service chat we've heard people are in denmark and people are in greece on a boat and oh bless you i really mean that bless you but think of the most beautiful place you visited maybe put it in the chat this morning you know inspire people for when we can travel again put in the most beautiful place you've ever visited here's one of mine here's one of mine this is called the lone cypress the lone cypress it's on a drive that russ and i went on on our holiday last year called the 17 mile drive and i've seen this picture in books and i've always wanted to see it and we were blessed enough to see it last year we were on holiday it literally is a rock a solitary rock and on this rock grows this one tree the lone cypress and the view is breathtaking it literally takes your breath away and i just i used to think wow fancy waking up to that view every morning what would it be like to wake up to that view every morning what if you were a person who actually lived there and had that on your doorstep but you know what sometimes the people who actually live in these places just go well yeah you get used to it you get used to seeing that what kind of answer is that are you crazy i would give anything to look at my bedroom window and see the atlantic ocean the pacific ocean wafting onto my back garden wouldn't you i'd never take it for granted really see one person i spoke to actually said this it's really great here isn't it but you know what life happens here as well you just forget about it you just forget about it and that's exactly what happens when i forget who god is and what he's done for me you see my problems the responsibilities i feel the bills i have to pay the pressures i may be under maybe for my job or expectations from my family start to cause me to complain and then i start getting a little bit more pessimistic and i point out what's wrong instead of celebrating what's right and that's carl sang so well this morning that song you can wake up in the morning and suddenly without warning something starts to bear heavy on your mind ever had any days like that i bet you have over the last few months and before you know it if you like me it's consuming your vision and monopolizing all your time and your thoughts and psalm 103 you know the psalm and the song we're going to look at this morning is a really strong reminder to us of what we have to be grateful for and what we need to be remembering about all the incredible things that god has blessed us with not will bless us with but already has you see this psalm was written by king david and he starts and ends it by having a conversation with himself and what david does and what i'm going to invite you to is he invites us into that conversation with him so let's see how he kicks it off psalm 103 says this praise the lord oh my soul all my inmost being praise his holy name praise the lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles you know what those verses tell me those verses tell me god is good god is good and david uses the word praise here a lot and in other translations it uses the word bless and the word bless me to speak well of doesn't it you know i might speak one of my friends we speak well of people we speak well of our parents when they've been good to us but we need to get our perspectives right this morning our blessing god is nothing like him blessing us there is no advantage or benefit that we can give to god you know we can't do anything to add to his character or add to god's happiness i can't make god more happy than he is i can't go make god more faithful than he is i can't make god more gracious than he is i can't add anything to god this morning so when god blesses us as david is reminding us this morning he shows me favor he meets my needs so david's talking to himself and what's he saying he's saying come on speak well of god what's the matter with you man speak well of god remember everything he's done for you we shouldn't really need to be told to do this david shouldn't need some reminding but for some reason he does so what does he do he starts to self-examine himself what's wrong with me what is wrong with me you know god you've brought me through so many battles you brought me through so many trials near misses you read his story when you've got some time in the next few days you go back and read david's story why am i so slow to be thankful why am i so slow to be grateful and before we start sitting in our living room this morning and i start to start standing here and start saying yes david how could you be so ungrateful hey could you be so quick to forget let's maybe do some self-examination of our own why am i so slow to be thankful is this how i am with god is this how i am with him this morning you know at one point in your life god was such an important part of it but then life's happened maybe just got busy with everything maybe you've had to juggle stuff over the recent months and you just felt weared down and you're tired or maybe something more tragic has happened and suddenly you find yourself no longer overwhelmed by who god is and what he's done so when was the last time you had a conversation with yourself you see right at the beginning of islam of his dialogue of his conversation david says this doesn't he says forget not all his benefits well what are benefits what are benefits they're normally things out there that you and i haven't earned or don't deserve we haven't worked at them maybe you've got a job and as part of that job you've got a really good sickness package or a good annual leave deal or maybe you know somebody who knows somebody who can get you that ticket to that football game or to that gig that you wouldn't get to go to unless you knew them that's a benefit isn't it it's the same with god there are benefits to knowing god and david lists them for us just in case you may not be like me but just in case we forget them but these are benefits that no one else could do but him and if you'd call yourself a christian this morning these are things we need to remember and we need to be grateful for and if you wouldn't call yourself a jesus follower this morning these are things that might make you want to re-look at that choice and revisit that decision because let me tell you no matter how much your family no matter how much your wife or your husband love you or your friends do for you they can never do for you any of these things so what can god do what are god's benefits the things i've done wrong that only he can forgive he forgives and david says all of them and god knew all about david and if you read his story you'll see every little detail that he probably wanted to hide but god still chose to forgive he committed a murder an adultery you know read his story and yet god forgives all the diseases that only god can heal he heals and that we're not just talking about physical things here we're talking about emotional and mental healing that we can get through knowing god what about the situations and the circumstances that only he can rescue us from god rescues but david uses the word redeemed here and these are things that we couldn't crawl out of ourselves god stuck his arm down into the pit of my life and lifted me out grabbed me out of it i wonder if any of you remember these things any of you remember green shield stamps now i'm showing my age here green shield stamps i remember my mom collecting these and you stick them the little stickers that you put in books and then when you had enough you'd go and redeem something from for them for something else and somebody used to have a job of checking all of these tickets all of these stickers to make sure you had enough to make sure you had enough and all analogies break down and all you used to get really was a set of six tumblers from the local garage that you'd give your book over you get six glasses back but it was exciting it was exciting for a child to do this but this is what it is the principle is still the same you buy something back you exchange something you get something in return you're redeemed what about the strength that only god can give us he strengthens the strength to carry on when you come to the end of yourself but my problem is i can suffer from looking back itis i can be exactly the same as i was when i was a young runner i keep looking back over my shoulder and i keep looking back at things that maybe god has already forgiven me for here's a truth i think somebody needs to hear this morning and this is right for you right where you are god forgives us god forgives us when we intended to do wrong and and when we did wrong because we failed to do something right and i really think somebody needs to hear that this morning and that's a truth over your life that god forgives you even when you did wrong because you failed to do something right he frees you to start over be free to start over this morning so what else is david saying well back to psalm 103 and he says this the lord is compassionate and gracious he's slow to anger he's abounding in love he will not always accuse nor will he harbor his anger forever he doesn't treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities for as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is his love for those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us as a father has compassion on his children so the lord has compassion on those who fear him for he knows how we are formed he remembers he remembers that we are dust and i wonder if you believe this for others but you struggle to believe it for yourself this morning listen if it's true for someone else it's true for you if it's true for someone else it's true for you and david says in that psalm he says doesn't he as far as the east is from the west that's infinity by the way disney didn't have the monopoly on to infinity and beyond god got in there first it means that god doesn't look back on he doesn't remember things once he's forgiven them so if he doesn't look back what right do i have to do that and i may still have to suffer the consequences of things that i've done and some decisions that i've made but don't let yourself look back to what was unless unless you're remembering what god has done and you're being grateful for it you're being grateful for it in the 19th century there's this guy called george muller and he built a lot of orphanages in england and he didn't have a salary he relied solely on god for his support all the money and the food he needed to support hundreds and hundreds of homeless children but he kept a motto on his desk and his motto said this it matters to him about you and every day george muller would have looked at this and it would have been seared into his spirit into his soul he'd have seen it every day it matters to him about you and i want to say that to you this morning it matters to him about you no matter what your week has been like no matter what your lockdown experience has been it matters to him about you and he rested his life on that truth this was one of george muller's just one look at you moments as it says in that song but we tend to lose sight of this stuff because something comes in and eclipses our vision and since we don't see it we think it isn't true sometimes we think and we feel like we're in situations on our own but that is so not the truth so what does that mean for us this morning jane what are you actually saying to us well i'm saying to you this number one i'm saying this we can know heaven high love heaven high love just think about that it's about 249 miles from the earth to what scientists call the exosphere and then where the planets and the stars and the galaxies are that's 13.3 billion light years away i can't even imagine what that number looks like and then above that sits god now that's high that's high but you've ever wondered this the more important question for me looking at this again is but how low does his love go how low does his love go and i'm going to tell you this morning how low god's love goes it goes as low as your weakest moment it goes as low as your deepest and darkest depression it goes as low as the heaviest burden is crushing you it goes as low as the world you're living in can beat you down that's how low the love of god goes so you see no matter how high or how low you are his love is higher and lower it's just the way of things it's just one of those things that is it's above you and it's beneath you and that's worth taking just one look over isn't it so we can know heaven high love and the second thing is we can know constant compassion david says he remembers that we dust that's not a disparaging statement of the human race what god is saying here and what david is reminding us of he's saying actually god knows how we were formed he knows everything about me and compassion is more of an emotional response to things it's a it's a driving too it's a wanting to alleviate something it's a wanting a desire to help to change to make things better and that's our god that's our god he understands my weaknesses and how strongly tempted i am to do stuff that's bad for me sometimes and he doesn't punish me in the way i might deserve to be punished the fact is guys feel it or not this morning he loves you he loves you this might be a bit of an insight for you bit of revelation your feelings don't have brains your feelings don't have brains we have brains so sometimes we need to tell our feelings how to feel and i really believe this what i'm going to say next you we don't always feel our way into our beliefs but sometimes need to believe our way into our feelings we don't always feel our way into our beliefs we need to believe our way into our feelings and god is good and he loves you even when you don't feel like it i am too weak but he is strong his compassion is constant it's unwavering it's changeless and i don't know about you but in a world that's none of those three things at the moment that should be such a comfort for us and something for us to be grateful for so what do we need to remember and be grateful for let's look at the last couple of verses but from everlasting to everlasting the lord's love is with those who fear him and his righteousness with their children's children with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts what a promise there can be no better promise than an everlasting one than an everlasting one so today is a lovely day it is a lovely day why because just one look at you god and i know it's all right with me just one glance at god just one glimpse at god just one moment of remembering and being grateful for what he's already done for me makes it all right with me what would be my what would my life look like what would your life look like if i spent more time choosing to be grateful over the goodness of god in my life so where might you have forgotten him this morning maybe you feel like you're in the darkest place maybe you feel abandoned and let down you're afraid of tomorrow because today just feels bad enough i want to be honest with you this morning your circumstances may not change today may be hard but just taking a moment to look at god and remembering who he is and what he's done being grateful for those benefits that david talks about maybe having a conversation with yourself is just the place to start this morning and as we come to finish this morning and before we sing together i want to declare to you if god has done it he will do it again if god has done it he will do it again and all those benefits that david mentions what god has done in the past is evidence of what he can and will do in the future how can i be sure how can you know that jane i can know it because if you read that psalm 103 there are only two verses out of 22 that describe who i am that describe who i am the rest are about the incredible attributes of god who loves me and will never leave me i also want to read a quote to you from a lady called nancy gur3 and she puts it in a much better way than i could ever have done this morning she said this i'm not strong however i am tethered to someone who is strong i'm not holding on to hope in terms of a positive perspective about the future or an innate sense of optimism but rather i'm holding on to the living person of jesus christ i am grabbing hold of the promises of god his purpose his provision and i'm refusing to just let go our weakness isn't a barrier to god but a doorway to him so do you need to remember this morning or maybe even for the first time start the journey of discovering who god is and the relationship he's longing to have with you you can do that this morning in fact i want to invite you to have the courage and just press a button on the online pastors link on the website that you are you can press a button and give to pray with people who just want to speak to you about your next step in of discovering a relationship with god they would love to talk to you right now you can go into your day today knowing that you got so much to be grateful for and be thankful for just take a moment just think about what you've got to be grateful for before we start to sing together a great amazing song about the goodness of god the song we're gonna sing talks about this goodness actually chasing us down running after us what a beautiful picture that is to go into your day of god's goodness chasing through your day wanting to catch up to you wanting to impact you wanting to be part of your world just think about that as a picture but first just in case we've forgotten already what we should be grateful about take a look at this video today i choose to remember he forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases he redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies he fills my life with good things my youth is renewed like the eagles the lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly the lord is compassionate and merciful slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love he will not constantly accuse us nor remain angry forever he does not punish us for our sins he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve for his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth he has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west the lord is like a father to his children tender and compassionate to those who fear him the love of the lord remains forever and his salvation extends to his children's children my breakthrough is coming god's got me [Music] so [Music] i love you lord for your mercy never fails me all my days have been held in your hands from the moment that i wake up until i lay [Music] of the goodness of god [Music] [Music] [Music] i love your voice [Music] like no other [Music] is [Music] [Music] of the goodness is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] you is [Music] [Music] through my life you have been [Music] of the goodness of god [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Laughter] i don't know about you but i just thought that was so rich and um right now wherever you're watching this from or whenever you're watching it i wonder if you could just pause just for a moment and be grateful and you know there's so much that we've lost in this season and there's so much that's been a struggle uh for us in this season um but you know i want to just uh take a moment just to pray for you right now and maybe as you do this i wonder if you could just bring those things to god that you're grateful for because gratitude is such a powerful um powerful tool and a powerful weapon in our lives and so i want to just pray for you and maybe you are going through a tough day maybe it doesn't feel like a lovely day maybe you've forgotten or maybe you're looking back and maybe you've forgotten some of these benefits that jane has so brilliantly communicated to us but i want to just pray that you will just know the reality and the power of god at work in your life right now so wherever you are and whenever you're watching this why don't you just pause for a moment and just bring your gratitude to god right now let me just pray for you father i want to pray for every single person that's watching this wherever they're watching it from and whenever they're watching it and god i pray that they would know not only your heaven high love but just how low that love comes and that constant compassion that is ours god there's nothing that we can do that causes you to stop loving us there's no way that we can go maybe if we've never if we haven't even thought about you for a long time god you're still madly deeply in love with us and god as we bring our gratitude to you right now god i pray that we would receive again the goodness of god in jesus name amen guys we're gonna celebrate in a moment singing another song uh together we'd love you to join in with us but can i just say that we'd love you to take your next step as well and maybe if you're not yet a follower of jesus and you're not sure about this christianity thing then we run something here called alpha and it's literally all around the world and it's an opportunity over five or six or seven weeks to connect with a group of other people we've already got people signed up for the next alpha course that begins on september the 14th this one will be a virtual alpha so it will be on zoom and so you'll meet with other people and and your it'll be social it'll be interactive and and you'll hear a presentation and then you'll and then you get a chance to discuss and to ask questions about the christian faith and to and to dig a little bit deeper into some of these benefits that we're talking about today so we'd love you to go to the website and you can click on a link there and you can sign up for the next alpha which starts on the 14th of september we love you why don't you do that right now that would be your next step today or maybe you are someone and you are a follower of jesus but you know you're not sure about community maybe you want to what's the next step in community you know what i've discovered during this season is that being the connect group being with a group of people is so important uh to remind ourselves about gratitude and what god has done and again you can you can sign up to be part of a connect group and we will contact you as soon as you do that can i just also say a massive thank you to those of you who have been giving financially to us that's enabled us to continue to do what we do enable us to reach out to the community enable us to knock on your doors those of you that have got kids you know that many of our amazing next-gen team have been knocking on your doors and having fun with the kids this weekend and for those of you in our youth ministry um we've been praying for you guys so much those of you that have had a level results and gcsc results and i know that again our amazing next-gen team have been standing alongside your young people all of that is enabled because of your financial giving and your generosity and you know when you're grateful it always leads to generosity you know the generous people aren't the people with lots and lots of money necessarily the generous people are the people who are grateful know that what they've received comes from god and they want to live open-handedly and give it to god and to the work of his kingdom so if you would love to give then the link has come up on the screen right now or you can track it on the website as well and we really appreciate all that you give financially final thing just before we sing our final song just another reminder that tuesday we want to have a little bit of fun as life central if you're not part of life central you are very welcome to join us for our big quiz uh it's across all of our um locations and for anyone else that wants to join with us it's an opportunity on zoom just have a bit of fun tuesday night uh again you could you can sign up for you can sign up as a team of six people uh and then you can meet in someone's garden and or you can sign up individually or as a couple and we'll put you into teams okay so that it's your last opportunity to do that tomorrow so we really encourage you to do it today or whenever you watch this stream guys we're going to sing a final song together and this is simply called great things and it just reminds us that jesus has done is doing and will do great things this is a great opportunity to be grateful i'd encourage you to sing i'd encourage you to engage and i'd encourage you today to be grateful because he has done great things right at the end of this song we'll be straight into our post service hangout joe and myself we'll be interviewing carl mcgregor who sang so brilliantly that song lovely day right at the start of our service together so we're going to sing great things and then we will see you if you're live with us in our post service hangout if not we'd love to see you next sunday when we finish our summer jam series and we're looking at psalm 8 and it's going to be a belter see you soon great things [Music] [Music] [Music] i can't let us worship our king [Music] see what our savior has done see how his love overcomes [Music] you have to oh through every storm you'll be faithful forever is oh [Music] oh [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] hey everyone thank you for joining us in the post service hang out wasn't that great sir such an amazing service there was so much in it it was shane was talking about i know i mean i i i was jotting down stuff you know to kind of pick up here as well but you know i didn't want to just write down things to chat to you guys about i wanted to take it into myself as well so what impacted you joe from that i think just gratitude is such um an important part of our christian walk you know and it's like a discipline almost and when i think about the lack of gratitude i always think of the story in luke 17 about the lepers you know jesus healing ten yeah you know totally transforming their lives and only one person came back to thank him and i just think we can so easily live our lives praying for things seeing what god is doing but kind of not coming back to that place of gratitude so in that story when you read that story you always think how could they do that absolutely but we do that we do that i do that absolutely i do that yeah i know that i remember being uh in south africa a few years ago in fact you you were on the trip as well on the team as well and i remember that so and i think it might have been a couple of years before that trip but one of the the girls that was on the base there she used to do this gratitude game yeah i love that every time we got in a vehicle to go somewhere each of us had to say three things that we were grateful for yeah such a good decision yeah yeah so good yeah yeah so yeah i don't know what impacted you guys as you were listening and i'd really encourage you to you know not and again it's so difficult just with regular church you know let alone you know into a camera as well but just to listen to it almost and it go and it's just disappeared but i think you know the bible says that when we hear the word of god we should do something absolutely so i i want to ask you a question guys what are you going to do with what you've heard today what are you going to do with what you've heard today yeah something i've been doing over the last few months particularly in lockdown as i go to sleep i try and recall three things that's good that i feel that god has blessed me with in that day it can be really simple things or it can be an absolute answer to prayer yeah and it just gets you into that mindset the last thing you think about is the goodness of god and it's like we were saying right started lockdown wasn't it start the day with god finish the day we got almost like a bookend today in fact i'm going to look at this next week when we look at psalm 8 i'm really buzzing about psalm 8 so i know it's bank holy weekend but it's going to be such a great end to our summer jam series but you know the other thing that i i thought was really good was that quote jane said about don't feel our way into our beliefs but beliefs but believe our way into our feelings yeah that's really good isn't it about gratitude yeah our feelings don't have brains i certainly know that my feelings don't have brains [Laughter] yeah you don't need to say that you think about words absolutely but you know the other thing that did make me so we often asked like what what impact there was so much about that that impacted me but one of the things that made me smile was the green shield stamps yeah because i remember when somebody put on the chat they were they're ancient nectar points so for those of you young people out there that haven't got a clue what green chest ancient nectar points and apparently keith tayborough's granddad used to sell green shield stamps which is really interesting leslie thank you for that comment you just put that in just changed our life thank you that's great amazing yeah good so you know if you've been impacted by anything in the sermon today as jane was talking and you want to talk more about it then there's two options really you can hit the prayer button and we've got a group of online pastors who are there i know i've been part of this many weeks they would love to chat with you and pray with you the other thing you can do is to fill in our online next steps card and that will just enable one of us from church to contact you in the week and chat through with you any way we can help you if that's about alpha if that's about joining a connect group or if that's somebody to talk and pray with you we would love you to do that so that's just through our next steps card the other thing we'd really encourage you to do is to tell us your stories you know i know that god is really working in your lives during this time because i've heard i've had the privilege of listening to some of your stories you may think it's a small story or it may be a really big one but we would love to hear that because it builds our faith and it encourages the group of christians do you know what i mean so i would really encourage you to email your stories in and it's just stories at lifecentralchurch.org uk share what god has done in your life if it's changing your heart if it's an answer to prayer we would really love to hear that absolutely and and we've shared a couple of stories on social media this this past week or so and i think the other thing that stories do is they they don't just encourage us but they but they bring gratitude to it absolutely remind us about what we're grateful for as well so so guys if you have got stories of god at work um and like joe said they don't have to be all dramatic you know but their stories have got at work and again they're they're those benefits that we've been talking about this morning you know that of what god does and reminds ourselves of that which is so important that's brilliant well um the song that i thought jane really linked the song really well this morning because she kept saying just one look at you and she wasn't looking at either of us while she was saying that was she she was definitely thinking about god uh definitely thinking about just one look at you and the world's all right with me and i think that that that's a great message and jane said and i think this is true you'll be singing that song lovely day throughout the day yeah in your head it'll be in your head that groove will be in your head but actually the singer of the song this morning is a really good friend of mine we've known each other for well over 30 years mr carl mcgregor carl and his lovely wife carol are good friends of mine and alison's in fact we were we were out for caribbean food on wednesday evening together had a brilliant time um not so sure that everybody in the restaurant was aware of social distancing uh but there you go but we were anyway but we have got car mcgregor uh in the house as it were via zoom right now so i am gonna hand over to him and just welcome him to the screen hopefully he'll come up live carl are you there i'm here leon can you hear me brilliant brilliant great to see you my friend now we did a little test about two hours ago and you look a lot brighter mate than you did two hours ago i was i i was um you know the lights were on but nobody was home that is about right because you're a musician mate and so you know you don't really do early mornings do you i don't do mornings mate no yeah i don't do mornings carol has this thing where my wife she'll he'll wake up in the morning and she's ready to go this and she knows now after after 38 years of marriage she knows no i don't have a conversation with carl in the morning are you grumpy in the morning yeah that's right yeah yeah okay can i just say can i just say something before we get into the serious kind of conversation it was great having you sing that song mate lovely day i know when i asked you to do it you're like yeah yeah because you've sung it a lot of times um but what was great is that when we were recording that um you know and the band were playing obviously we were all social distancing and obeying the rules but as the music went on mate you know where i'm going with this don't you you got so into it and so excited that you started moving towards dan and you were going to put your arm around dad and then dan was backing away from you no no social distances but that was just because the music got you mate want it do you know what i mean and what could you say i mean yeah we just we just music just takes over you know and you think okay [Laughter] rock and roll rock and roll mate come on hi carl um really good to see you we have met um before but i just wanted to ask you and i'm sure leon already knows this because you're great mates with him but i personally don't know this how did you get into music right at the beginning all of those years ago what led you into your musical career oh my goodness from my earliest memory i don't know if you can hear me there's a helicopter going it's good yeah that's what i think wolverhampton mate that is isn't it helicopters the police chopper yeah now my earliest memory um was was just filled with music my dad is a was a pastor of a church um for well before i was born really and he he was always playing him and my mom were always playing records the house was always full of music and we didn't have a tv you know we didn't get a tv until i was about i was about 12 with god first tv so so the gramophone do you remember the old gramophones that was you remember [Laughter] yeah so so yeah it was and then and then of course when we went to church um you know we there was there was always music live music and there was always a live band and i think it was it was even before the days of um regular praise and worship um or there's another one of course something's kicking off yeah if you're in wolverhampton you need to start praying you know start behaving yourself it's an air it's an air ambulance so um yeah so going to church um there was always a and this i'm i'm going back to the 60s now the full band singers and and so i i just used to watch the musicians just all the time and and of course i was just drawn to to the drums um and the drummer yeah the drummer at the time um uh brother elliott was called and um because we in black churches everybody's known as brothers so and so on brother or past pastor evans absolutely mate um so brother elliott used to be the drummer and i used to i used to watch him really careful and and then i used to get my mom's cones my mom still tells that story today i used to get my mom's combs pretend they were drumsticks and get their chairs around and just be really living daylights out of this yeah rooney upholstery brilliant wow that was that was that was my um you know music uh sure how you started yeah and i know you are a drummer car but you also play other instruments as well and sing and very talented listen over the last 40 or so years you've been involved with a lot of very you know well-known christian artists and other people as well people that some of our you know people that are tuning in wouldn't know what some of your musical kind of highlights you know just looking back over the last four i know there's so many we've only got a few minutes but just pick out a two or three of you know for you that were like wow that's a moment that's a memory that i'm going to and maybe something that you're going to be grateful for you know we heard this morning about you know forget not god's benefits you know the power of gratitude as you look back over 40 years what are some musical memories that you're really grateful for wow yeah that that there's just so many so many to to to think of but i think um i want to try and tell this story quickly because it's a it is a very long story but i want to try and shorten it as much as i can um we we i started playing um playing at church um keyboards and drums in particular and um we we had a choir um um some people would remember remission gospel choir um but we started as a we were children's choir when we started and i was i was the drummer and sometimes a keyboard player as well but but i used leader one it was a hot it was a friday night during the hot summer of 1976. i'll never forget this it was because gospel music that's all we used to listen to we weren't allowed to listen to any anything secular so the idea of singing lovely day in a church would be oh oh yeah everything you know but but but gospel music had a a very specific sound church sound and that was it that was the genre and then i usually the one friday night she came and she said guys i want to do this song it's it's a song an album that has just come out by a guy an american guy called andre crouch and the disciples and she put this song on she was one of those old um small cassette players and she she put your press play put the microphone and this sound came out and it was just like i've never heard anything like it in my life it had um billy preston on the organ playing um the solo on the hammond organ um and the the sound of the choir it was just like and it was like the best way i can describe it like it was like you know when you see those scenes where it goes from black and white to color yeah that's what it was like wow all of a sudden my world that's amazing it's changed completely and everything that from that day andre and sandra crouch his twin sister and their group their disciples they they were we got to find out and they were the number one group in the world um and they started singing they started um singing at the grammy getting grammy awards and doing vocal arrangements for um for quincy jones and michael jackson wow oh so you know um you you know man in the mirror yeah michael jackson that's them wow that's them that big quiet sound right so i was just like i just wanted to meet the guy because it was for me it would have been like meeting elvis um and then in 1980 i got to meet him on the tour and it was just like and we just somehow we just hit it off we just really really hit it off and i said i want to play for you someday come on laughs he said he says okay yeah yeah because his drummer was my hero as well bill maxwell yeah and then um and then a few years later 13 years later in 1993 we're doing a a festival in um in barbados as you do yeah yeah yeah yeah as you did gospel festival and it was like you know it was we spent a week out there it was brilliant but um topping the bill was andre crash and and uh we we supported them so we're sound checking we're just having a bit of a jam session andre in the group walks in and he's he's he's by the stage and he's watching me play and he came up comes over to me says carl he said that's a that's the first time i've ever heard you play i said yes he says you can play man you can play you can play so he said so sandra his sister says carl do you would you like to play for us tonight no way wow she said to me do you know andre's songs because they they had a a a drummer um that that that had come with another group and they were gonna use him but apparently the rehearsal the day before didn't go too well wow so um so she said uh we'd like you to play from what we heard in the jam session so no rehearsal no reason stop it and and we just because obviously i knew the songs the bass player was the md and he's a guy called andrew goucher one of the best bass players in the world incredible bass player and he was it was just wow wow wow go on then hey i'll probably tell you who played guitar do you remember ian price yeah yeah i know yeah skip christ yeah he was with us and and they didn't have a guitar so they asked him to play as well he would have blended in really well wouldn't they he's a ginger white kid from uh from birmingham interestingly enough most of a lot of andre's bands uh back in the day were white i was um to have white musicians that would have been radical oh it's very very very radical mate that that's probably my highlight yeah those are great memories and as you're saying that i'm just thinking you know you did a festival in barbados and i also had a band and we did a festival in quarry bank so it's um it's a very very different musical journey that you and i have been on there really just a final question carl in what you know these days we've been living in obviously coronavirus lock down and i know we've spoken a lot about this when we had a in the middle conversation which by the way is on my new website called the things of leon dot co dot uk so i've just set up a website with blogs and podcasts and our conversations on there and you talk a lot about the impact of black lives matter and about what's happening you know with racial injustice and i know that's very you're very passionate about that your family your girls your community and and we're passionate about that with you guys as well but you've also seen music used powerfully haven't you just a final question in what ways have you seen you know the power of music the transcends just oh that's a great song and that's a great vibe but actually does something tangible you know to touch human lives and hearts and attitudes and and bring change i think i think the most powerful thing is is is seeing somebody come to faith through music that's the most powerful thing personally um secondly in terms of um the black lives matter uh and movement and and the the the message um not so much the organization but the message of with all the tragedies that's been going on the injustice yeah um we we did a few years ago we did we i was involved in a a big project called one voice and um it was we recorded a song back in 2010 in at abbey road studios and and everybody from the gospel community was there uh black and white and um and asian and it was it was it was such an amazing so people like graham kendrick martin smith was there um people from the um the london community gospel choir um and and the great and the good it was is amazing but we recorded a song called somebody help me please for to raise money for the um victims of the haiti earthquake yes this year about two or three months ago during lockdown after the murder of george george floyd and the producers um re-released the song and put a video to it and it was all about black lives matter and they got people from every race young old um singing to camera and it was so so powerful right in the middle there's a line that says um um hear my voice um be my justice and then the the screen and then the an image of george floyd comes up it's so really really powerful wow i don't know if you've got a clip on that yeah we were chatting about this morning weren't we and so our guys have just worked their wizardry and hopefully we're going to show you guys just a little bit of a clip from this song here we go [Music] is wow you can just tell can't you just from those for those few seconds you know just how how powerful that could be carl that that looks amazing what's it called again if people want to find it carl one it's it's it's called um somebody yeah yeah somebody please help me uh by the one voice collected yeah if somebody please hear our voice one voice so guys if you want it you can find it on youtube somebody please hear our voice one voice collective car it's been amazing to chat with you my friend love having you involved thank you so much for uh bringing that song to us today uh you know just to set the feel and just and i think god's used that you know just one look at you and the world's all right with me and hey you know when we can connect that to our faith as well that's powerful in it mate we love you thank you so much i'm not wearing a wall's top today i know i know carl's usually wearing a wolf's tops really so i had a little pop-up in this morning so it's gone and changed you just turned it around the other way haven't you it's it's got the walls badge on the back if anything offends my brother that's it yes take it away take it away absolutely god bless you mate great to see you love to carol take care cheers thanks cheers guys cheers thank you matey fantastic bye-bye great what a great morning [Music] what to finish with so guys yeah just um as we as we sign off don't forget the big quiz on tuesday night please is your last opportunity to sign up for that don't forget alpha we'd love you to sign up for that as well and actually on youtube we are starting to release we are starting to release uh some of the songs um uh like redeemed and some of the songs that chris and abby have done as well so guys god bless you thank you for being with us don't forget next sunday is the final week of summer jams we're looking at psalm 8 have a great week see you soon [Music] what an awesome savior [Music] our god has [Applause] [Music] forever he [Music] is [Music] is to the king [Music] he is he's hope he is truth what an awesome savior he is love he is he is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] he is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] savior i raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies [Music] i raise a hallelujah [Music] louder than the unbelief [Music] i raise a hallelujah my weapon is a melody [Music] i've raised a hallelujah heaven comes to fight for me [Music] is is [Applause] [Music] i'll watch the darkness in the middle of the mystery [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my enemies [Music] [Music] is my enemies [Music] [Applause] for me louder and louder [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i've been up and down and all over the [Music] place [Music] [Applause] my [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] know [Music] nothing will change [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] nothing will change [Music] so good [Music] i'll never have i ever

Channel: LifecentralChurchUK

Views: 1,395

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: church, meaning, purpose, life, calling, motivation, happiness, lifestyle, Jesus, God

Id: MlHwOPYAoGI

Length: 97min 38sec (5858 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 23 2020