"Truth That Impacts Pt.2" | POWER HOUR | Ep.44

I can't see any of the comments right now so David if you couldn't fix it that'd be great but you will see that my dad yeah but you have problems in your house so you jumped into the car and you're not in my daughter's bedroom granddaughters ready to regale us so you know it's bad when sarah-jane count on a trouble and my father's had to move in a socially distanced way I actually had to kick Jessica algebra bed as well she'll be delighted that you all know that so what we're here are we're so and it's great to have my dad who will regale us with his wisdom of course Sam and Sarah Jane here to go deep in truth the impacts and really we're talking about our favorite truths that have been like massive seatbelts in our lives that have completely transformed us so that you and you can share with us in these seatbelts of truth and he was coming to fix it but you've been running up and down stairs between me and my dad it's working night yes he's getting with exercise is David today nice back to his mancave so um anything to report guys over the last few days oh yes well my husband was super excited as you know he's a mad fan of Monty Don he had a the gardening Lord and he had a bit of a moment last night after dinner because he was so excited that he'd call his biggest brownie trout ever that was like this big not this big it was rolling this big like a salmon this huge and the funny thing was and he said this has never happened to me before I'm sure is this in a size profit I can think of something that's organic in this that his fishing buddy had caught it previously and his line it snapped because the fly was still in the mouth of the fish so the only was Alice's fly in its mouth the other fly was from his friend was in its mouth so his friend had caught and lost it in then Alistair quarter and it was his biggest fish ever he used a bigger strength line which is his key so then he was feeling and by the way for all of you animal lovers out there they just get kissed and put back unless we do take them sometimes we eat them so they either get eaten or they get put back anyway and he thought it was Friday and he was thinking right after did it's time for gardeners world I said oh it's not Friday it's Tuesday he was like no it feels like Friday you go had the best day ever so not he had the highlight of the fish but then the low-light of no Monty dawn yeah it's just funny what makes them unhappy in lockdown boy infects everybody I don't know Sarah Jane have gone nicely and well fortunately with your husband but you and I ended up just rowing a boat around a pond ignoring the fish altogether which was an awful lot more fun than fishing but doesn't not hurt them um I don't well I don't believe so but I'm sure there'll be people who cuz you know could say they they might be but yes yeah you know do lobsters hurt when they get boiled in a pot my friend of mine was asking me that cuz on tyree where we go on holiday we eat a lot of lobster because they're available and she said how do you kill the lobster before you eat them because she's a real animal friendly person I said I actually I actually don't remember I think you know and she was most upset with me that I didn't remember how we killed them before we ate them but for those of you that don't eat fish you know maybe maybe you like to think that and for me I don't like to think about it too much yeah but yes it was a lot of fun that day and the kids so remember we're jumping in and out of the water and we were rowing rowing loosely in inverted commas it was more like just floating I think and being carried along by the current wasn't it John you were there to like just floating I think and be accountable by that how current wasn't it I was yes remember that great day oh okay and actually my my children here aren't measuring all their high knees and of course with the boys there's mass competition and so that they would like this noted for whom it may concern' feature has grown to centimeters in in the in the what or how long we've been in lockdown ten weeks eight eight now it to Samuel two and a half centimeters and Jessica who has not grown since 2016 has because of course she's seventeen and her growth has stopped she's grown a centimeter and a half in lot when she was Kagura she was dancing around the room and I think it is that um you know actually rest and sleeping and you know just nurture and no stress and all of my children like weeds are spriting up massively even the ones that we thought had stopped growing and Jessica said to me I told all my friends and nobody was excited so I have said we will all be collectively excited Jessica that you have grown though we thought that had stopped so I could do is going taller to like something anyway I've definitely grown but not that way yes yes that's a problem yeah Amanda Harper Amanda Harper is our very diminutive yet highly gifted worship leader she's saying unfortunately I haven't grown yes okay so we are in yes somebody's like Jessica well done somebody celebrating your hi Jessica centimeter and a half oh she's hilarious okay so we're doing Trista impacts and so dad we're gonna go straight over to you I think there's a bit of an echo in your line but we'll keep the rest of our microphones muted so we just get your voice and dad why don't your geillis work ian's of what you feel are the key truths that we got to know that impact that impact okay thanks Emma are you hearing me you are okay just a sort of word of introduction I have walked with Jesus for the last 55 years and during that time I've had the wonderful privilege and blessing of being able to preach teach lecture from every book in the Bible to various groups of people and often I'm asked well John what's your favorite book in the Bible and my sort of usual stop reply is well it's the latest one I'm teaching from and that's the one I'm really excited about that slug that's got Reese or a motivated when I come to sort of think about what are those verses that have undergirded my life and my ministry I find it very difficult to separate my life from my ministry I don't know whether you actually can do that like the two are so into woven but I I think I've found two promises which I think have been a sort of rock for me and the first one is from Isaiah 41 and verse 10 and I just read it to you do not fear for I am with you do not be dismayed for I am your God I was strengthen you and help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand now can I say something about promises right away that there are some promises in the Bible or what I say our all-purpose promises now I hope perhaps you have either memorized or down on the cover of your Bible all purpose promises so that whatever situation you're in in life and you need to hear a word from God at that moment which is reassuring then Isaiah 41:10 for me is an all-purpose promise Philippians 4:19 you know I can do my God will supply all your need that's an all-purpose promise you know 2 corinthians 9:8 where Paul says you know God has made all grace abound to you and you is sufficient for all the demands being made upon you at that time so all purpose promises and then I think there are in the Bible tailor-made promises now I have my tailor made promises listed inside the front cover of my Bible so my tailor made promises are those promises which I've really sort of felt I really needed to hear from God in the situation that I was in or the situation and challenge I was facing and these are things that God has said to me from his word and I just got them here don't even have the verses where they are there where where they're to be found I will hold you I will strengthen you I will uphold you I will protect you from the evil one I have called you I have helped you many times before have I not and those are tailor-made promises but what I want to talk to you now is one that is there for all occasions for us an all-purpose promise and I continue this morning that that's one of my favorite ones and it's the promise that I have returned to again and again and again so that I can experience the continual sense of joy in walking with God and in serving God this promise has their impact upon me and inspiration whenever anything has felt in my life to be uncertain fragile unknown or perhaps threatening in the circumstances I resort to this promise now why has it meant so much to me well I think the reason is that it's so effective is because unlike many other promises God is speaking with and I in this promise he is saying I am your God I will strengthen you I will uphold you by my righteous hand it doesn't say though it could say and this would be equally true God will strengthen you God will help you God will uphold you now that's very wonderful and we know that that's true but it says God says I will do these things for you and when I recite this promise in my brain and I do that in my brain by an act of faith I can actually hear the Living God saying to me I will strengthen you John I will help you I will uphold you John and by an act of faith my brain says this is God speaking directly to me see a Spurgeon the Victorian way well-known Victorian preacher used to say I love the I wills and the eyes shells of the Bible and I know exactly what he meant when he said that and it's a wonderful thing to know that God says I will help you now I linked this verse with another verse which is in Romans 8:28 where Paul says God will work everything together for good for those who love God now to me Romans 8:28 is a verse that's really off the charts as far as what God says he will do for us it is a glorious glorious verse but it's better to have God say to you I think I will strengthen you I will uphold you I will help you and that presupposes that God knows my circumstances God knows my situation God knows how I would normally react in given that set of circumstances and therefore he knows exactly the hell that I need and notice those three verbs in the you know I am a Bible teacher so I have to give you three verbs I will strengthen you I will help you I will hold you and the strengthening and the helping and the upholding correspond in our experience to all that we experience and face in life you know do you feel inadequate do you feel they don't have what the situation requires and demands of you or what people are demanding of you at that moment and you don't feel adequate well God says there well I will strengthen you I will pour life-giving grace giving grace enabling strength into you at that particular time and what about help what kind of help do you need who knows you best who knows you best God does God knows the things that we fumble with and the things that we put off and the things that we procrastinate about God knows that God knows whether we might not like confrontation sometimes and we're put off that when we need to have a conversation with somebody and God says I will help you I know you I know your need I match my grace giving help to you in that situation and then up holding oh wow have you ever felt threatened by circumstances by individuals but where you are at a time and you think those circumstances are just going to crowd in over the top of your head and you're just gonna be washed up like a dried fish on the beach and the wave is just gonna take you up a beach and just leave you stranded there well God says I will uphold you when you've fallen flat on your face and you feel the circumstances of life you can't get out of there's nothing there that you can find strength to lift you up then God says I will uphold you I will come underneath and I will hold you and enable you to and okay one other thing about up this burst because in many ways it has been one that I said go back to again and again and again those of you who know your Bible well of course will know that this was a promise that was addressed to Israel in the Old Testament now can I claim it as a New Testament new covenant follower of the Lord Jesus Christ yes I can and second Corinthians 1:10 speaks there about a new covenant and the blood of Christ that through those things all all the promises of God are yes to me in Christ Jesus so let's remember that all the promises of God are yes to me in Christ Jesus and this Old Testament promise is yes to you this morning in Christ Jesus so don't worry that this is a promise addressed to Israel ah you are remember part of the new Israel in Christ Jesus and the promises of all the more true for you because you are in Christ Jesus great to share that with that thanks that and I mean people I think dad you have your own fan club you know here's there's no doubt about it because as soon as you hear my dad talk you hear the weight of experience and I don't ask you a question dad in that because you know click one first is mind-blowing one verse if we can have one back up on cream David Isaiah 51 verse and not even his voice and the amazed in the bottom banner of I'm gonna be strength and I'm gonna be upheld I'm gonna be helped and you say you write it in the front of my Bible your Bible not mine but you can write it in front of my Bible do you write it in the front of your Bible what else do you do with it do you do you pray it do you say oh what's the process that goes on and you between reading that and owning it give us a behind-the-scenes things that we can really understand that you see you right in the front of my Bible and you're right on behind you might be right in the front of your home what else you do think just to pray to you say what's the process that goes on and you between reading that and only give us a much kinda seems things that we can really understand that okay well and I spend a lot of time thinking about God's Word and there is no and there's nothing else you can put in the in the place of just thinking you've got to think God has given us a mind it's not yet totally renewed why would it be wonderful for that was the respite to do like to read and think and process things through that through that way to have a mind that is set free from sin not contaminated in any way by sin to be able to live with purity of motive and openness of heart to think God thoughts after him well I'm looking for that in the new creation and and the recreation but what I would do I will repeat the promise in my mind and I would do it as an act of faith and I say Lord I'm coming to you this is what I'm saying that I know this is what you're saying to me I hear your voice through this and if you've got to break down some barrier but I'm putting up that I don't know about then break that barrier down but I might hear with great clarity you're speaking into my situation you see I believe if I'm in a situation where I need to go to this this promise I know that God knows the whole situation God knows that I'm going to struggle with this situation so God knows that I'm going to turn to him in this situation so he's waiting Johnny says a heat maybe he thinks maybe you've been a bit late coming to me this time because I want to strengthen you there's no real thus in our Heavenly Father to strengthen us to uphold us to do all the things that he's promised to do he wants us to know him as the strengthening upholding God he wants me to know that and so I live in those truths of those and I walk down the street I think God I believe this is you I'm going to meet this person I don't want to meet this person this is going to be a difficult conversation I don't want to have this difficult conversation but God you're going to lift me up you're going to uphold me and I am going to praise you at the end of this day before I go to bed at night that you have been that God to me a loving caring father excellent thank you well I'm gonna slightly change tack and jump into a truth that I think has held me and really sharpened how I think about leadership how I think about raising children and how I even think about the crisis that are going on today and I think and dad you first I remember you talking about this verse and a child because of course you were about dis minister in the north coast of Ireland and there's some amazing wonderful years in ministry but there are always moments in church life where it hurts and it nips and it's things and you know I remember you know mum and I when mum was still alive back in those moments saying dad dad why don't you wipe the floor with difficult people you know all their stuff you go to that church meeting you know this teenage angst in me like dad dad you know you just tell them like it is you know and you would soak you in so calmly you know not want to meet talk justice and righteousness but actually you would say things like like a sheep before his Shearer's is silent but you actually coded this verse which has then underpinned my life and in his first first peter 4 verse 8 first peter 4 verse 8 above all love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins let love cover a multitude of sins and do you know what in this kind of world and I'm teaching my children this verse to where there is a sense of wrong has been done to me and I want justice and and I want retribution and I say to my children you always want justice when something's happened against you but you always want mercy when you're the perpetrator and trying to explain to them as children that they're double minded in when they want just a muster and justice and when they want mercy and yet this verse in it is saying look my love must cover your sin my love mas be so strong that reaches out to your inadequacies that it reaches out to your blind spots that it reaches out to your weaknesses that I do not need to and blame all the time and this is the verse that will heal the blame game culture this is the verse that will heal that I I need justice I need justice you know and actually you will choose some things that you need to learn to let go and you need your love to go uncover love will cover the sins are you hearing that love will cover the sins and so when I look at my staff and I look at my lip you know leadership style it's not perfect by any manner of means but there is a an instinct was in me because I've sat in this verse what do I really need to war with them abou what do I really need to jump on their backs why what do I really need conflict by you know do I need to dot the i's and cross the t's and go you did this you did this you know or can I sit in this verse and say my love is going to cover that why because I need their love to cover me because there are days when I stumble in my frailty and my humanity and salmon sincerity and my dad and David have done it so many times where I'm off-kilter or you know overstep the marker you know got to verbally rah rah rah you know and actually I need them to come and I need them to hold my hands and I need them in their hearts to let their love cover me as much as my love covers them that this reciprocal place where I do not always demand vengeance where I do not always demand retribution where I do not always seek to bring the word of Correction where I know what it is to get off my high horse and Facebook is littered with comments who have not understood this concept Facebook and social media is is a toxic place very often because we do not know what it is to say my love will cover that and it's a quite humility in it's about not blaming and it's about understanding that there is mercy in the mix and so I think you know the other verse that I would put with it and I wanted to talk about the cup of the season that were in will be proverbs 27 verse 6 faithful are the wounds of a friend I think the NIV says it slightly differently and once or a friend can be trusted but I learned too as faithful are the wounds of a friend that actually if I if I pull it together faithful are the wounds of a friend along with let my love cover that actually somebody can come to me and say something that I do not like they can say something to me that sharpens me that is not comfortable for me to hear it they can say something that is them unburdening but I take that as faithful wounding there is sometimes some things that I must hear and I must not always want my friendship to be you know oh you're so amazing you're so amazing you're so amazing I want the reality of the wounds of a faithful friend I want to be sharpened I want to have and sharpen iron that I do not push away necessary correction proverbs 27 verse 6 but I go faithful are the wounds of a friend true are the wounds of a friend necessary are the wounds of a friend and I also let my love cover ok and I think those are the kind of verses that must start to wash through us so that we actually deal with injustice is properly we don't just continually deal with being offended there is a massive difference between I'm offended I'm offended I'm offended by you you know I need to put you right and actually living in a non blame culture that we are clear enough in our love to be able to tackle the things that are truly and just so those those would be the the verses that I've gone over and over and over and and and you guys can talk even is Sam entertain what that's like to work in that kind of environment or dad I know there's a bit of a line with you but you know hi that has worked out in ministry a mother over because I'm gonna ask you that question because I want to I want to profit I want to prophesy on the back of that you know I I was on the British Isles kinds of profits this morning and so if you were on this morning you'll have heard a little bit of this I was scribbling prophetic words as I was getting up and putting on makeup there on post-it notes everywhere but and I feel like with the George Floyd and the racism issue you know we're kind of going what do we say what do we know say what's right to say what's not right to say to do are we going to be offensive are we going to be helpful you know and there's almost that panic that you don't want to leave a void of your silence but neither do you want to worse in this situation and so I've been saying to God what do we do you know what what do we do and God said this you have been asking me the wrong question for years he said you have been asking how do we fix the church how do we make the church better hide restructure the church what does new mean you mean in the church you know where is the religious spirit or all of that kind of stuff he said you've had a church fixation and I don't know but you can I be honest I am bored with some of the conversations about what church is not and what church should be I appreciate there's the need the need to talk about the new wine but God said this to me he said you have stopped asking me the more important question which is how do you heal a nation how do you heal a nation not how do I fix my church how do you heal a nation and then when the nation is is our focus is very much like Matthew 6 you know you seek first the kingdom and everything else is added on how do you heal a nation and then the Lord said to me the Lord said to me make war on war now that god what an earth are you talking about because we know God is the Lord Sabbath we which is the god of Angel armies we know he's the God of War and he's saying you need to make war on the demonic stronghold of war because underpinning racism underpinning all the polarities and the opposites is a demonic spirit of war that wants to put you into a side it's saying you take a side you take a side you decide which polarized opinion you're going to be on that is absolutely denominationalism at its heart denominationalism is you pick a side you pick a side you know and glasses make war on war and he said the Satan has won in his spirit of war dividing and conquering let me tell you this is not just black and white in my nation that I grew up in this is Protestant again Catholic this is Republican against unionists this is left against right this is rich against perb you know this is House against has not it is the entire polarization of society across the board that God is saying I want to heal the nation's and you've not asked me how you heal the nation's and God said to me this church you are deficient in unity you're deficient in unity and your version of my version of unity has been come and do what I do I mean come and like what I like come and do what I do and our unity has been underpinned by that demonic spirit of polarization and war the unity is only unity if you like what I'm doing we have lost wholeness in diversity and so I'm saying to God what about the riots what about the pulling down of the statues what about what abite and he said this to me Emma do not worry about the riots or the toppling of the statues it is a people's way of saying there is still a problem he said it is not a solution it is an identification that a problem still exists and they are displaying he I actually heard the Lord say the riots are a decree of a problem and so once that problem has been screamed and decreed by everybody there's still a problem there's still a problem then we ask about the route and then we come into scriptures that talk about my love is gonna start to know what it is to cover you I am going to use my love to cover you I am going to choose to use my love to cover you and I'm going to start in that scripture and I'm going to build a culture that love covers everything and I'm going to war against the spirit of war that has polarized and divided and conquered well sorry I kind of got carried away there do you guys want to comment in and around that who wants to go first waves - David can we sir Jane hmm yeah I just I was in first John three this morning and just God really speaking about that Emma the deep love I think is so key a first Peter 4:8 it's the above all no matter what the loving deeply not just love in some way that just fixes the issue but actually love deeply so that we go beyond an issue and into building something of hearts and I think first John three for me is is who's where God takes me back whenever I pray about issues whenever we're praying about the nation it's that command isn't it to love one another that Jesus gave us but just to remind us what it says in in verse fourteen anyone who does not love remains in death anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him and so that that that reiteration of the of the scriptures the reiteration of John he is saying actually it's not just that we need to love but it's that we need to remember that if there's any death in us any hate in us then we cannot tolerate that and these have been some of the prayers for the nation that we've been praying we will not tolerate hate we will not tolerate racism we will not tolerate white supremacy because at the end of the day it's a division it's a dividing line to whatever saying the as one John 17 and so how do we demonstrate that we have to do it in our relationships and as you were saying Emma about how you lead how you model how we lead how we follow is if somebody offends or somebody says something that doesn't have any grace in it we're choosing to deeply love then if somebody says something and that is controversial or effect or offends or wounds our hearts we're choosing to overcome that by loving them deeply and I think we have to do that on an individual relational level like the four of us and David as leaders in the church do with our people but also out there in society in community whenever we read headlines we have to say well that's offensive to me but I'm choosing to love deeply I'm choosing to overcome that hate with love I'm choosing to overcome that division with deep love and I'm choosing love even though it wounds even though it hurts and we can't fix decades and centuries with just dealing with our history and remembering our history we have to do that we have to remember we have to acknowledge but we also have to choose love in this moment today in June 2020 so that we can overcome all things that divide yeah and I think not much to add really on to what you said there am I so powerful and so right but we have to pray I think God I don't want to be someone who reacts and responds to what I see and then responds to my prejudice things in response to my upbringing I want to be someone who acts and responds to your heart that I make actions because of what I feel your heart it feeling I hear your voice saying rather than a reaction according to what I see around and so often kind of in a moment of crisis or in a moment of of where we see something that we don't like you know are we react and we say things out of our reaction we do things of a reaction when God is saying no I'm looking for an action that you take your your instruction from me from my heart from my my emotions over this situation and that actually we have to pray God would you teach me how to act in response to you not react and response to what I'm seeing around me that actually that that there are our instructions our communication our heart and our what we say comes from the heart of God ultimately not anything else and I think that call for right unity I mean that is a that is a call that I think we've got to hear really load and clean but actually we're not looking for uniformity or we're not looking for conformity that everybody looks the same we're looking for that expression of the body where the hand is a hand and I eyes and I and I noses our nose and you are you and I love you for being fully you and vice versa and back and forward but that's called that actually I think ultimately as a deeper understanding of the outrageous love of God the outrageous love of God has to wash us and wash hi we at see and view and act in certain situations I think my maybe private musings no public is that denominationalism is that is the same spirit as racism and my concern is that the church always sets the tone for what happens in the nation's the the government of God in Matthew is you know and I will build my church I will build my ekklesia I will build my govern Matthew 16 that the government of God we talked about it before is put onto the church and so the nation is a mirrors and replicates this the strengths and weaknesses of the church because the church is the vehicle through which God comes to the earth he comes to Mary the church he comes is not ever he's now open no ever done with the church and so when the church knows not this is not hearing the spirit of denominationalism it's poem line it's plumb line in the earth is to bless division it's plumb line in the earth is saying we bless standing against one another and actually that is the tone the church has exported to the rest of the planet that division and schism and standing against each other is our model is our standard and we call it Presbyterianism a method Anglicanism and Baptists and all the others and I'm actually in that how would you ever expect a nation to not be divided how would you expect there not to be racism or class wars or inequalities how would you ever expect those kind of things to not exist if the very government of God on the earth has at its heart a war Ferenc tendency against one another which is why God is saying make war against war and I know somebody said that sounds a bit different we are supposed to war on behalf of the kingdom but this time we're warring the spirit of war and polarity that has come in from the enemy dad do you want to comment that I really hope there's not an echo if there isn't might yet get you to run down the stairs and say it in my camera okay a lot of thoughts cascaded to my mind from experience in Northern Ireland and the situation there I feel that with these deep deep roots that go back hundreds of years sometimes into history that something that Bishop Desmond Tutu put forward in South Africa of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee has a lot to commend because it deals with truth first of all there has to be an acknowledgement of truth and however painful that may be however bad that may make one side look over against the other side there has to be the acknowledgement of truth and then then you can move forward to that to talk about reconciliation but there will never be reconciliation and Ness there is an acknowledgement of truth and then I think the whole question of forgiveness comes how do you deal with centuries of injustice that one side feels as opposed to the other side then there is only the forgiving grace of God can reach back 400 years or more to deal and heal and I think that is that has got to be spoken about and that is where the church has this wonderful message of reconciliation and a forgiveness and I think it's somewhere there are that the church is calling at this time must come through yes and I think that's interesting isn't because clearly those processes of acknowledging truths reconciliation and forgiveness but actually in that then there must come that my love is not going to cover because you cannot move forward in relationships and let your love covers because you cannot always you know every single things in this drink impact you know actually you acknowledge but then you let love cover yes yes absolutely yes yes and I mean the lovely illustration I use when Obinna speaking from that text in the past it is that if you live in a country where you regularly have snow in the wintertime you all know what it's like you you come into the autumn period of the year and you haven't had time to do everything in the garden that you would have liked to have done and so there are still weeds there that should have been pulled up there are still things that should have been pruned there are things lying around the garden that make it look a bit sort of messy and not particularly nice and then what happens when the first fall of snow comes you look out of the window and what looked like a messy untended garden suddenly looks beautiful and you say wow doesn't it look lovely outside today with this fall of snow everywhere and what has happened the snow has covered all the mistakes that you didn't percept right before the winter set in and love that the spirit wants to excite and bring to the fore in us is something like that first fall of snow that covers our mistakes that covers the things that haven't been put right but covers the things that we have left undone love covers there and that is the calling of the church and I think you're right with regard to our divisions within denomination denominationalism how can we be and healing a group of churches or people if we are not healed ourselves in relationships with each other you know and we make majors out of miners in in terms of doctrinal issues as well and we don't see that our disunity and is such a stench in the nostrils of God and I will put it as strongly as that and we do not Bend ourselves and bend our wills to work for unity and how to express that unity with our brothers and sisters who are in some way different from what we may be I think in all of this you know because judgment starts at the house of God according to the scriptures there has got to be a sense of okay I need to start to look at hi I've you and those close to me but how I view people in other denominations because actually if we're going to be answered that answer God's question to me this morning how do you heal a nation that has got to begin with me that has got to begin with me saying well you know actually I may need to go and ring this church leader of that church leader and say you know we didn't speak well of you and we need to repent you know we were suspicious we were mistrustful you know we we didn't we spoke before we knew you you know or even looking at our own friends you know who do we say we like and we don't like even within our own churches that it cannot just be right there somewhere and I come back to this very strongly because of what the church is in the nation's and who the church is for the nation's that you cannot just leave it to your politicians as much as they have a responsibility you cannot just leave it to kind of some social action group right there who are going to make communities work together the tone the plumb line of the standard of truth in a nation always comes from the behavior of the church always and actually that the government cannot get a plumb line of truth if there isn't a shadowing it and so it is who have I spoken against and and I tame my tongue in speaking against other denominations I came my tongue when speaking about other people I choose to start with me in the midst of all of this and that is where polarization racism though the the the dividing of people however we put in the division of people that the division of people stops when I have changed my language and I have determined that love will cover whoever wants to comment on that yeah and just really quickly or not I think for those of you that are watching there there is a call here for personal responsibility in regards to what God is saying about unity and dealing with our own leanings towards polarization and us and them and that attitudes and so rather than a response to this sort of work being oh yes I can see that over there actually no God can you teach me I'm shine your light and show me whereas in me so that I can then be healed and set free of that attitude with me first because actually when you start to go oh I can see that with that grip over there or I can see that with them over there you're feeding into that concept of us and them and you're feeding into that concept of polarization that actually the Spirit of God is saying I'm dealing with once and for all and if I'm I could just give a prayer and this for the church that actually you've got to pray and lay a hand on your heart and say God teach me what it means truly to be a citizen of your kingdom where there is no division there is no us or them and it is not about taking sides but actually when you are as part when you get saved and you're made alive in Christ and you have the seal of you belong to the kingdom of God there is an ax page that you take and that regard you belong to God you're in hem and you're on God's side rather than other way but that you start to pray that God teach me and what it means to be belonging and I Kangnam where there isn't the veg division but start with me and this healing process start with me and that's the lever ins process because when you start to see I can see that and them over there are then over them over there you're feeding into that polarization when you start to see I can see actually and me and it makes me uncomfortable it makes me uncomfortable but I can see it and me God shine your light and heal me then you start to be a key person a key part of that key movement of seeing this healed dad I want to ask you the bite in Northern Ireland a because I want to be very very clear in what we are saying here and remember that my father pastored and in the troubles in Northern Ireland and I grew up in the most horrific crimes and of bombing and shooting in the name of the side that somebody was on of you know place at that point being very brutal against a whole section of society in those days it happened to me against the Catholic Society in Northern Ireland so we were we were used to police brutality we were used to bombs dad particularly you buried many of the dead during those years and kind --sold and massively in the midst of riot crisis an incredible bloodshed in northern ireland that is my dad in my corporate history he will remember a lot more than I do so what I am NOT saying is you cover the sin of a bomb or you cover the sin of slavery or you cover the sin of brutality I am NOT saying that and we need to talk into it because I know some people are saying and you know is that what you're saying and I want to be really got actually a brilliant question and I'm glad you're asking us that question what we are saying is yes there has to be truth there has to be forgiveness there truth you have to have truth because princess Sarie there has to be an acknowledgement of what has there has to be reconciliation but but at its core in the church we've got to model loving one another that covers our differences as a standard and that needs to be our instinctive and as I said earlier in the in the art and dad I really want you to comment that in terms of Northern Ireland - maybe you can tell us some stories from that time of what that was like because because actually when my particularly my littlest who's wired for justice I want justice he was nasty to me he was rude to me and there is a violence in that there is a violence in his demand for justice and what I'm trying to teach him as a twelve-year-old is yes we acknowledge that something wrong was done to you but actually we've got to behave with with love okay dad help us like and help us make our position really really clear on that yes okay from from a textual position to start with and I take the the 1 Peter reference tool of covering a multitude of sins is that the love in that situation is covering if I can use the word a smaller sin not a major sin you know this is this is this is an irritation that I feel from somebody else they just caught me on the wrong on the other on hop here and I thought I could easily give a equally nasty reply to them you see in Matthew 18 Jesus there says you know if you have a a fault between you and a brother you go and you see that brother and you go and sort that out and if he will not be reconciled to you you can take somebody else and you go and see them and so I think scripture says you only uncover sin as much as you need to to deal with it so if if in fact you can deal with it but letting your love cover it and there is no bitterness in your heart there is no sense of revenge there then that's okay but if you can't find that in your heart but to forgive do I then have to go to that brother or sister and talk to them about issue and if they cannot be reconciliation you then go with somebody else and you go with the elders of the church now Micah 6 is profound here God has shown you a mortal wattles what is good and what does the Lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God now there is a wonderful balance there you have to act justly you will only act justly if you love mercy because you know we know which member of the family you were talking about who who wants justice you know now I think he has got to learn to love mercy because his i.d desire for justice must be tempered by a love of mercy and the joy of being able to show mercy in the face of wrong done against you can only come through the Spirit of God and can only come by the grace of God infiltrating into your heart your stony just heart that wants justice and then you act justly you love mercy and then the third thing is that you walk humbly with God there's no sense of triumphalism in this you know I'm only going to be satisfied when they have walked down into the dust and that and and the dirt I can remember and when we first received death threats from the IRA and talking it through with my father who was alive at that point there and he said to me he said John have the priests shoot you with a gun for protection and I would dad what other earth are you thinking about that's part of the problem here in in Northern Ireland you know I have priests officers in my congregation who when the trouble was were intense went to bed with us their farm under their pillow and their wife's sleeping next to them in the same bed so if any but he broke into the house they would have a farm and they would be ready to and they were sitting listening to me preach on Sunday morning and you have to go back to the basics of Scripture and and that's what being in northern I'm taught me how what does it mean to be a peace maker what does it mean in the midst of civil rights marches and disagreement and fallout Oh what does it mean for me to be a peace a biblical peacemaker I have to go back to the absolute basics yeah oh I think we've lost my dad's I mean man we are in some some deep waters and Linda's you know saying Emma be careful with a dangerous interpretation or painting at the police in the bad light look I am NOT trying to beat anybody in a bad light it's like we said the beginning yeah it's very difficult to navigate a line where you don't say something that irritates somebody in the middle of all of this you know and I think we've completely lost my Debra our art is up but I think well like what I'm saying there it is and through the are is let us ask God for a peace making mercy spirit that is a model and a template God what does peacemaking look like in my life God what does mercy look like in my life God let me start with mercy before I start with vengeance and retaliation let me start with mercy let me see a truth-teller of mercy let me acknowledge pain and apply mercy let me be a solution let me be a solution carrier of peace and actually as the church may become to that place where I'm crying God let me model mercy let me model mercy and justice hand in hand let me not get out of synch let me not get out of balance God may I be one who sets a standard for mercy and justice in balance maybe may have be one who wars against division gonna use me God here am I it's my Isaiah six moment I don't want to be about a bystander I don't want to be an observer I want to be a partaker of a solution that you are working right in in the earth realm and so I think we have to go hungry in this kind of Prayer it is not good enough to just watch the news it is not good enough just to comment on the news behind closed doors over your dinner tables it's not good enough even to applaud or to criticize riots whatever side you think whether that's right or wrong there has to be an ownership of solution that says God help me war against more help me get mercy and justice sorta die in my own life help me divorce the spirit of polarization and hatred that I have in my own heart and it may not be it may not be that you are racist it may not be that in fact you may not be raised as at all but I can absolutely guarantee that in nearly every single one of us watching there will be some spirit of polarization that thinks them over there you need to be careful and cautious over whether it's rich imper haha either lots of people speak in our country about rich and poor the housing there have nots there will be suspicions about that nation versus this nation there will be class suspicion wealth suspicion age suspicion oh that gen oh that generation I'm not so sure about that and if you've managed to male issues of divorce let me guarantee you you will have another issue let me guarantee you that nobody on the comments right now with their own soap boxes I under their feet and give me grace here we'll be nobody who wants to put you know my dad or I right who does not have an attitude that stands against another human being and that is absolutely the point that there must be a humility that makes me go inward that doesn't roll like my soapbox and says God I'm part of the problem God I'm part of the problem there are things in me that make me part of the problem and I'm gonna go to war and I'm gonna go to war in my own heart and I'm gonna get the division on my empty the Richer unto the pure empty the haves are empty nothing's around either I am going to get that stinking stuff I just myself so that are made Lea template for the mercy and the goodness of God in the earth hallelujah Jesus take us to a higher place Jesus take us to a higher standard Jesus can't just up to be like you like yourself that I may not point the finger else of it people who maybe trip over their words but I may point the finger of my own heart where I have issues again what somebody else owns or doesn't own lord of mercy our time has gone and I didn't think we were going to go there we were going to talk about our favorite bible verses that didn't happen did it maybe we'll talk quite them tomorrow who knows so we love you guys thank you for being gracious and tracking along with us and eyeing us to be the grit in the oyster of your life to make you uncomfortable to make ourselves equally as uncomfortable in the process and be those friends who are faithful in our irritation sharpening of one another we love you very much and we will see you tomorrow bye-bye [Music]

Channel: Global Prophetic Alliance-Glasgow Prophetic Centre

Views: 4,478

Rating: 4.9144387 out of 5

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Id: 4YFnywzVYRs

Length: 64min 20sec (3860 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 10 2020