Vision Sunday 2021 with Brian & Bobbie Houston | Hillsong Church Online

in the morning that you rose all of heaven held its breath till that stone was moved for good fatherland had conquered death and the dead roots from their tubes and the angels stood in heart for the souls of all who'd come to the father i [Music] and restored these are the foundations of our faith that we're singing about and even if you can't open your mouth you can lift up your hands and you can glorify the king of kings and the lord of lords and you say today like psalm 103 says i will bless and i will not forget his benefits this morning but he heals my diseases and my sicknesses and he is all of heaven held his breath till that stone was moved for good forth the land had conquered [Music] [Applause] was born [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] praise the spirit [Music] please [Music] is [Music] the first and last [Music] is [Music] [Music] on the earth [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] set me free [Music] [Applause] come on give jesus praise in this place [Music] breathe on us we pray as we repent turn from sin revival ever smoldering breath of god [Music] out your spirit out [Music] refine is high strength [Music] the frequency [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] we can hear the wind blowing blowing [Music] we can hear the wind [Music] we can hear them [Music] we can hear them throw your spirit down [Music] i [Music] [Music] come on chuck would you lift up your hands meditate on the words [Music] is [Music] we have a god who meets us and he inhabits our praises whether we can sing or not say come on [Music] i wanna be [Music] now [Music] in your presence [Music] i wanna be [Music] then you came to my rescue and died [Music] [Music] [Music] be lifted [Music] in my life [Music] dead [Music] an hour [Music] amen amen [Music] in our lives in our world and our church be lifted high amen welcome division sunday how good how good it is for us all to be together and uh right now i think we've linked across australia so big hi to everyone everywhere some of you of course are online and watching online in victoria five-day lockdown right now so back online last week they were in church and were allowed to sing in victoria we're in church not allowed to sing but at least we're here in new south wales and so and even even two square meters apart you look absolutely fantastic so great to see everyone great to be envisioned sunday and uh thanks so much for being here i think this service takes about 20-25 minutes uh to be full in terms of how many were allowed in the room so that's how quick you have to be and so if you happen to be uh earlier in the week you registered for an eight and ten o'clock service and then we changed it you wonder why it's because we just needed to get an even splint everyone wanted to come at 10 not at eight and so he just needed to get an even split but because you were all so used to being pliant and flexible it was never a problem to anyone never a problem amen well father we just thank you that you answer prayer lord i'm glad you brought us to your house today lord there's nothing like being in the house i was glad when you said today let us be in your house they'll be singing they'll be shouting they'll be victory in the house of your lord let us all be free father i just thank you every one of these prayer requests lord you know them all and they are all important lord in jesus name i pray you'll answer prayer right across our church all across the land father in bali i pray you will answer our prayer lord we just thank you in your precious name amen amen amen yes and so praise reports we've always got a few serena serena's praising god for receiving a master's degree i thought it might have been serena williams asking us to pray that she'll win the tennis jacqueline praising god for her great marriage nisha uh god's healed her from depression so praise god for that someone's thanking the lord uh because he's looking after them in terms of tenants and properties and and so on someone else thanking god for permanent residency always great when you're allowed to live in australia falsely praising god that her dream is becoming a reality and she has offered a job at the united nations so some of you would know farsi she's um very involved in all her efforts when it comes to racial equity and she's got a job with united nations in geneva so thank god we've got a campus in geneva so that's good news and uh someone else is thanking god because uh they're being healed of rheumatic heart disease so lots of good things amen give someone a shoulder bump or a hug has anyone out there missed this place out there missed this place [Applause] we sure missed seeing all your faces most tears come to my eyes when i went over firstly towards the epicentre over there and all the kids were going into hillsong kids and such a great sight so good to see so thank god for everything that's happening now tonight part of our vision sunday program right across our church we're having a mega prayer meeting and this mega prayer meeting will be mega uh why are we doing it only online well the reason is you're not allowed to sing if everyone started praying together that'd be considered chanting and i just figured we'll be much better to have a power packed one hour online so that's what we're going to be doing tonight uh and i really pray that you'll join and we're going to you all know we've got plenty to pray about and we also know that god answers prayer and so we're going to believe tonight the holy spirit will be so evident and that something powerful will happen in our mega prayer meeting uh at well it's i don't know what the times are but i'm sure you do which is fantastic uh heart and soul is tuesday night now look heart and soul is when we get the chance to unpack so much of our vision we will be having uh a live service as well as online for heart and soul it starts at 7 30 and it's always plenty to tell always plenty to speak about always plenty of life to bring into every situation so let's be ready for those things tonight mega prayer tuesday night heart and soul which would be great and gina color conference is literally four weeks away four weeks to the all online color conference and bobby's going to come up in a moment and talk to us around our giving um don't forget when you are giving that we can't receive offerings in here right now uh but there's there's places in the foyer where you can drop an offering or obviously all the normal ways that people have learned to give over the past 12 months come on bobby come on up here wish people a happy vision sunday anyone happy to see mommy amen so good to see you church and happy valentine's day as well anyone give you flowers yet yes you did as i left the house i left a little bit earlier and as i left he yelled at me or he called to me and he said there are flowers at the gate so i i was toddling in my shoes not by my pajamas anyone traumatic to anyone slightly traumatized that you um in the room here that you are dressed for church and not in your pajamas amen but anyway beautiful bunch of flowers so um that's wonderful it's so lovely to see you and um you know god is good isn't he it's a topsy-turvy world but our god is in control he knows exactly what is happening in jesus name amen you know it's my honor this morning to lead us um in our giving and to encourage us in our giving and so i'm talking to those who are in the room today talking to everyone who is online obviously am i looking at this one or that one the far one there you go hallelujah and uh yeah so why don't you begin to prepare as always and this is actually a very powerful part of our service and of course i woke up this morning and i thought of the signature verse in our lives people it's malachi chapter 3 where as you well know amen it talks about the power of the tithe and the offering it talks about us honoring god in a manner with the first fruit of our lives it talks about how the promise is a promise within that obedience that god will open the windows of heaven that he will rebuke the devourer on our behalf and you know what he will continue to do that which in this economic time is something that we can stand on with great confidence and then there is a conversation that follows as many of you would know and it talks about how god watched on and he listened to the conversations of those in this context and how a book of remembrance was written before him about those who were god-fearing and those who are god honoring and then the promise continues and that's what i want to read to us today as we gather around this part of our worship and in malachi chapter 3 verse 18 in the message it says listen to the promise guys are you ready for this online are you ready amen it says god of the angel army said they're mine all mine they'll get special treatment when i go into action i'll treat them with the same consideration and kindness that parents give the child who honors them once more you'll see the difference it makes between being a person who does the right thing and the one who doesn't between the one who serves god and the one who doesn't and you know what in life and truthfulness god does not have favorites we are all his favorites but you know what we can live in the favor of god and it's when we understand the dynamics of godly eternal kingdom finance and principles that we live in a different space we draw forth the favor of god and i know on behalf of brian our leadership our governance our church all that we do as a house that's our desire for you that you will live in the favor of god in jesus name amen so if you're giving i know many do online and it's an automatic thing for you um again if you've got your gift or just consider your gift i'm going to pray for you and there's a we're going to look to the screen for those who are still online and joining us from around the world i'm just going to look at the various ways to give and then we're going to pray is that ok ok amen let's do that your faithful giving helps impact others with the love and hope of christ to make a secure gift online go to hillsong.com forward slash give or click the give donate button if you're joining on healsome church online enter your gift amount and your phone number or email address if it's your first time we will send you a verification code enter your card details and you're done setting your gift to recurring is a huge blessing to the church as it allows us to be more intentional in moving our vision forward for an understanding of our activities and how we are governed you can view our annual report online thank you for your generosity and commitment to the ongoing ministry of hillsong church amen allow me to pray with you father we thank you for your kindness and your faithfulness and lord jesus as we honor you with our gift our tithe as we bring it to you father god i pray that you'll continue to open the windows of heaven bless every home and household father god have your way have your heart and our lives as individuals and your heart upon this earth as the church can rise to your um heart in jesus name and everyone said amen amen that was a clumsy amen did your husband do anything for you yet for valentine's yes he did as i i left the house a little bit early yes and as i left he yelled at me or he called to me and he said there are flowers at the gate don't run over them and so yeah beautiful flowers thank you sweetheart that's fine yes very good good job am i leaving huh am i leaving the stage i guess okay good job have fun got a great morning church amen are you expectant well actually no stay for a moment because we right now we're linked already with australia after the worship now we're linking with the entire globe hillsong church 34 countries around the world linked today some of you are in homes online locked down etc others of you are in buildings and in church some of you like here are socially distanced but in church and we're together which is the most fantastic feeling and so big big welcome 2021 vision sunday big day it's a big day so welcome and we're going to start right now by watching together a presentation which hopefully will spark life in you and get you inspired about the church that we all get the joy of being a part of let's enjoy this together [Music] do you remember like landing in this city with mum when you were moving here you know i still remember landed at the airport my older sister picked bobby and i up we were one year married so she was 21. i was 24. i still remember actually driving over the kale expressway and over the harbour bridge and just taking it all in eyes wide open 10th of february 1978 so it's now what 43 years ago yeah [Music] what was it like being a young person and coming to a new city with like do you remember what it was like to have dreams in your heart and vision for the future when we moved to sydney we didn't have it all worked out we had no clue what was ahead of us i you know i think our hearts were very open about the future but we weren't certain that sydney was going to be our home we were just kids wide-eyed kids just over there in double bay is where sydney christian life center was and i remember turning up then it was brand new church it was disjointed oh my goodness what is this and then the night was just so full of faith and so much full of the presence of god that i think from that moment literally i knew and we knew that this might be a much longer term thing [Music] so here we are in 2021 brian and bobby we made it who are brian and bobby in 2021 i'm brian this is bobby yeah well i think an answer to that that we're a lot more seasoned than we were 20 years ago or 38 years ago when our church started more seasoned we still love jesus still love the church still love seeing the church go forward love people love seeing people's lives effective for the better so i feel like what we started to be about we kind of have never lost weight on absolutely and we're a little bit older hopefully wiser around the edges experienced and um i think we're weathered in the right way you know life weathers you in in the good way and so hopefully at uh 2021 that's where we are what is our church all about what is the vision what is the lifeblood in your hearts for our church i've always felt the church is about god and people you know loving god loving people loving life and i don't feel like that's changed at all at the end of the day we are a local church that loves the lord jesus christ and we exist to um to bring his salvation story his gospel story to humanity and i don't think that has ever changed and by the grace of god we pray that it actually will never change the vision statement the church i now see let's unpack what it means for 2021. the church i see is a global church i see a global family one house many rooms outworking a united vision the church that i see is a church that refuses to be content with the triumphs of the past but is constantly looking towards the future filled with a vision that inspires and influences many from your perspective what really matters to you when it comes to success and have we been able to stay true to these things as we've grown i think people look on especially from the outside and make all sorts of assumptions regarding what the church is all about but if you just strip it away it's about god and people and to me if people's lives are growing if the message that we're preaching on sundays people can put into their lives that would be my feeling of success because that's what we're here for we're here to see people fulfill potential become everything god called them to be the greatest success is that we are continuing to preach a gospel message that brings people to christ and by the grace of god if we can shepherd people to stand strong in these days then i think we have success in this immediate season because we don't know what the future looks like but god does but there is a future out there for all of us i met my wife back in india when we got to australia we decided to plant ourselves at the hills campus from the time that we walked in it felt like home i was the country sales director of a fortune 500 company by the grace of god we were growing very rapidly and they told me that they wanted me to take over as managing director at 32 someone who's a migrant it was you know everything i had dreamed about hoped for in my work sphere and prayed about so absolute the mountain [Music] and then one day in september i got a call by the managing director then he said i need to see you and he said at the time they have decided to shut the company down in australia it was the gfc and the newspapers were the world's coming to an end everything got put on hold jobs disappeared [Music] that was completely out of the frame of reference anything that i had been through we had a mortgage we had a house we had two kids under five and it couldn't have happened at a worse time i spent time just in prayer and seeking god about what i need to do and i really felt led to go and start a recruitment business we started basically teaching people how to go and find jobs after about 10 years of giving people career advice i decided to write a book in 2019 and it hit a number one amazon bestseller and we had also recorded and created a course which was being taught to executives professionals in the workplace in and through our company business was booming everything was really good however at the start of 2020 kovitz struck the day the world health organization labeled it as a pandemic everything again came to a dead halt literally from 100 to zero again we were back into a place of uncertainty not knowing what's going to happen but somewhere along the way i feel like this is deja vu and so all i did was i just said god what do you want us to do [Music] sam demurrow connected me at hillsong night college and we decided to offer this course to the church free of cost five six seven hundred people from boston through indonesia spain and australia come through this course the response has been above and beyond what we could expect [Music] god brought me into this space 10 years back to help lots and lots of people i have learned that when you start listening to the holy spirit we will find that green pasture not just in terms of provision but really the true prosperity of your soul your relationships your health and that brings a lot of freedom [Music] how do people make vision personal how is it something that we don't just get behind but something that becomes personal it'll never happen if people just go to church or just come to church but if they realize we are the church this is not just hillsong's vision i'm part of this vision we've never believed ministry is just what you do from a pulpit on sunday but that it's your calling it's whatever god's called you to do so somebody who is called to business uh and wants their business uh to have an impact for the glory of god or praise god and so when i see people finding out who they are and what they're about to me i feel that that's literally what we are here for one of the great keys to our church and the history of our church is is literally that people have become vision carriers and so i think it's actually critical that um we come with clear vision that is christ's vision not just our vision but christ's vision and that people like brian just said get a sense of ownership where they can become vision carriers so the vision statement says the church i see is committed to bringing the love and hope of christ to impossible situations through the preaching of the gospel and a mandate that drives us all to do what we can to bring help and solution to a needy world in what way do you think our world is a needy world right now let's go i think that in what way is the world not a needy place right now where there is the direction of society in so many different areas or a pandemic or whether it's people you know economies throughout being thrown into crisis it's a needy world and the gospel has never presented a better solution for people than it does right now yeah we as the body of christ we can't withdraw we need to be standing strong in the light and the love of jesus christ for a world that actually needs to see light in the darkness one of the values of the kingdom of god is that it is a storehouse in society and as a church you know we honor that we bring our tithe we bring our offering we are a generous heart of church because we want to see the church equipped so that actually she can be there for society when people have no answers that we have answers when they need practical assistance that we can you know be a storehouse of resource for them and i know when the pandemic hit many of the secular food banks ran out really quickly and they drawn our food banks and they drew on the generosity of our people to bring supply while they were scrambling to bring reprieve to people and so i think it's so important that we remain the church and that we remain um sensitive to the needs of people around and about [Music] us [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] no [Music] during the lockdown here we as a church were helping people in need by distributing face masks and other items chiro is is an amazing guy he called me and he said hey even i want to do something practically for these people what i can do is give pizza so he decided to gift us 500 pizza three times a week for the different poor area of naples [Music] pizza [Music] pizza as a church now every week we go there and we do something for that people that's the most amazing thing to do for people to be generous because you go to give but actually you receive alto cheers restaurants was closed he used what was in his hands to do something for these people together we were able to be an example of the love of christ in these neighborhoods [Music] it i remember when i was a little kid going to revival meetings or you know evangelistic crusades i think they called them back there and seen on the back wall of a church jesus is the answer and now i'm talking now over 60 years ago and you know what jesus is the answer he was then he is now and he will be in what's to come another statement in our in the church that i see vision statement is i see buildings that struggle to contain the increase of all that god is doing why do you believe that the gathering's so important i'm glad you asked that question because there is nothing like being in the room when it comes to an atmosphere of faith a sense of community and family technology is incredible and we'll keep on with a significant focus on reaching people online it's helping us to reach a whole lot more people but there's something about being together as a church family the bible talks about it don't forsake the gathering of yourselves together and that's where we can't let social distancing just become distancing and to remember that we've at the end of the day we're a family you know there's signature language across the house of welcome home and you know it will never grow old the church is a combination of being gathered to the house of god and seeing it being a lighthouse an oasis of life in the community and then it breaking down and that same sense of welcome and embrace and inclusion is felt in our homes and our small groups and our youth groups and everything like that as the people who call hillsong church home go about their everyday lives [Music] my name is fernanda i'm a doctor and a pulmonologist i'm married to eduardo we live here in monterrey because of work [Music] when we got here hilton was opening a church in here there were a lot of people making us feel welcome we immediately felt god's presence and we knew that was the place it was really valuable for us to feel welcomed so we ended up in the welcome team we wanted to make people feel that way too [Music] things got a little bit difficult these days at work and because yesterday my husband had to fly home to take care of a family member with copy everyone here is praying for the family i miss you i never thought the kobe pandemic will do all the damage she's done they started to ask doctors around the country to volunteer i was scared but i started feeling a sense of responsibility we felt the call of god and had to face her fears and say yes [Music] with kobe the patients aren't able to have their families there so they're all alone not only patients are hopeless but doctors are hopeless they are tired they are sad i remember this man he got critical he needed to be intubated and you need an authorization for that he needed to decide it fast i couldn't imagine what it will be to go through all that all by yourself he was so scared i took his hand and i told him that i'll be there he got less scared so he was able to make the decision to become intubated when we see patients getting sad or getting scared i tried to make them feel like there was someone who cared that they weren't alone in the fight [Music] i felt like god was telling me i prepared you for a time like this if you're going through something and you lose your sight from their real purpose the problems is all you're gonna see but if you have a vision you can be hopeful we all need to feel like we have a family that we have a circle [Music] i guess that's the way we can reflect what jesus does in our lives i trust god through difficult times he gives you peace and he gives you strength so you can be that peace and that strength for others [Music] it's a responsibility to share that love to be that strength to be that peace in the middle of of the troubles i am believing that this will be a year of rescue of restoration and rebuilding so rebuilding when it comes to the church itself and not just our church churches all over the globe but rebuilding in terms of whatever the devil's tried to plunder in people's lives and god is a rescuer and for whatever reason that just has struck a chord with my spirit that god is a rescuer he brings deliverance he rescues he rescued daniel from the jaws of a lion and i believe this year that we're going to see god rescuing people from possible situations i pray that we as christ followers as lovers of the lord jesus christ of the holy spirit that we will be sensitive to his leading you know the bible just says that he is helper comforter strengthener advocate all of these wonderful things and i pray that we can continue by the grace of god to carry his heart to humanity over our buildings we have you know jesus hope of humanity and he remains that he always has been the hope of humanity and he always will be the hope of humanity and i pray that we get to be a part of that in the days that are ahead [Music] you know i always had i always had dreams for a bigger world like you know i always was fascinated by far away places where we are now with the global church i just feel like it's just all been god taking us beyond what we could ever have imagined and of course the thing that we love most is our church the people of our church and i think god's got a future a god ordained future for absolutely everybody i don't know what the future holds i just know you know who holds the future i don't know who what the future holds that's how it goes in it but i know i know who holds the future thank you yeah yeah [Music] amen well wherever you are around the world part of hillsong church i pray you're inspired to get a few glimpses just glimpses of our church in action in central america in italy and of course here in australia and god's doing so many great things wherever you guys are as well and so many of our churches have done such uh a great job of using an initiative to help people in times of need so congratulations to all of you everywhere we are if you're in your home well you can stand up in your home if you're in a building and stand with us we're going to sing this beautiful song that i'm going to share for a few minutes and then we're giving you some vision amen okay here we go all around the world you sing along [Music] amen [Music] you [Music] here you came [Music] you are [Music] we live [Music] my [Music] [Music] my [Music] amen father in our lives in our world and our church and our homes be lifted high father i pray we'll all be inspired with vision today in your name amen please be seated thank you so much we're about five singers here in new south wales on the stage five singers and uh most important ministry in the church pulpit placement critical well it's been a different year we all know that and on new year's eve here in sydney it was cold actually it's mid-summer but it was cold and it was windy and many of the festivities that normally we would see in our city like a million people around the harbour watching the fireworks display none of that was able to happen bobby and i were at bonding i walked over to bondo beach by myself uh in the night dark time no one much could see me at all and i sat there on a park bench reflecting on the year past and thinking about the year to come and praying and meditating and thinking about our church and to think about what god might have for our church this year and i got three words three specific words in my heart and the three words were very simple rescue restoration and healing that god was going to do a work of rescuing people restoring and healing and so for this year rather than some profound uh uh you know statement for the year i just want to keep it up there rescue restore rebuild because that's what i believe god is wanting to do i was thinking about rescue because in uganda bobby and i have numbers of times been to uganda to the ministry of watoto and they work with kids and they have their a an orphanage i guess it's not really it's a home it's a shelter for babies that were found in the street some of those babies were found in rubbish bins or on doorsteps or under newspapers or under trash and they literally literally were in such disrespect disrepair and then we would see these incubators they have there and just helping these children back to life and it's a ministry where they rescue and then you watch them slowly restore health and healing to those babies and desperate situations that ultimately they can go on and help them to build to build a life with a future with the potential that god intended so when i think of rescue i think about that and i think about the fact that god is a rescuer and no matter what's going on in your world today no matter what's going on and the nation around and about you no matter what unknowns there are and no matter whether you're on the precipice on the brink where there seems to be no way forward are going to believe for incredible testimonies this year of god supernaturally rescuing people rescuing them from impossible situations rescuing rescuing them from the things that would try to rule and rob i'm going to believe god where people are under crushing death and there seems to be no way forward that god is going to rescue them in jesus name where there's sickness we believe that god heals and you even under the sound of a terrible diagnosis why don't we believe that god can rescue you in that situation it's a year of god's supernatural rescue a year of miraculous rescue whatever it is going on in your life i can pray and i can believe with you that god can do something supernatural and rescue will be more than just a word it'll be something that you are actually experiencing in your life if you're in unhealthy or unhappy situations god can rescue you in that situation he can give you a brand new day and a brand new hope he can give you a brand new beginning in jesus name where there's opposition and where there's persecution and with the way that covet is played with people's minds there seems to be a whole lot of anger and angst around the place but even when you are under the weight of opposition persecution i'm going to believe god is going to rescue you he is a rescuer i'm telling you he will rescue you in the same way as he rescued daniel from the jaws of a lion in daniel chapter 6 verse 27 it says he rescues everybody say rescues he rescues and saves his people he performs miraculous signs and wonders that's how god rescues people in the heavens and on earth he has rescued daniel from the power of the lions so daniel prospered during the reign of darius and the reign of cyrus the persian kings and so daniel literally he was rescued from the precipice from the jaw of a lion it's the same god who can bring rescue to you thank god that god not only rescues he restores david said he restores my soul and psalm 23 verse 3 and there's a lot of people whose soul has been messed up messed up again just by isolation by the unknowns and a lot of people they're not well in their soul that i believe just like david that you can declare this year he restores my soul surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and i'll dwell in the house of the lord forever he rescues he restores maybe you've lost your joy 2021 a year for overflowing supernatural joy yes psalm 51 verse 12 it says restore to me the joy david said restore to me the joy of my salvation i feel like some people maybe the the one thing that you've struggled with is joy if the enemy starts to discourage you and even if depression sits in joy becomes a very very distant thing but listen to me like david he says restore to me the joy of my salvation and uphold me with your generous spirit and it is in the generosity of god that i believe that he can restore joy in your life he can restore whatever the devil's tried to rob from you he might have tried to plunder your your job your career whatever but god can restore he restores gears he can restore anything in 2020 that literally has been robbed or plundered in your life because he restores years in joel 2 25 it says i will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten the crawling locust the consuming locust and the chewing locust my great army which i sent among you i will restore i will restore the years who's had a year from hell you don't have to tell me god can restore the year and when god restores he does a quick work he doesn't he you know he he does a quick work and so this is a year testimony it's a year of story your story is going to be a powerful story a story of life a story of rescue a story of restoration amen and i believe god is going rebuild just like when the temple was destroyed the prayer was let the ruins come to life because under persian kings the opportunity was there for god to rebuild what in your life has been turned down that god could rebuild what in our church has been torn down where god can begin to rebuild because that's the kind of god we have in ezra chapter 9 verse 9 it says we were slaves and you know god did not forsake us in our bondage but he extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of persia listen to revive us to repair the house of our god to rebuild its ruins if there's anything in your life that would represent a ruin look at a god who knows how to rebuild and to give us a wall in judah and jerusalem nehemiah rebuilt the wall at the at the call of god and as he did so i love the fact i've said it a few times that the narrative says that one person was building the wall and then it says and next to him and told you who else was building the wall then it says and next to him and tells us who else is building the wall then next to him or do you know all those next two it represents partnership it represents people working together and i pray all around the globe will remember we're in this together whom god joins together let no man put asunder no opposition no challenge no criticism no gossip no no let's understand that we are family we're in this together and stand side by side by side nation to nation continent to continent church to church state to state and believe that we're going to see god rebuilding restoring amen i'm excited about it see that's the god that we have and he's always able to do a new thing behold he says i will do a new thing in 2021 we're going to begin to see a portion of that new thing john the baptist when he began to speak about jesus he talked about god doing a new thing and that's the god that we serve so praise god i didn't really want to preach a sermon today just really share those thoughts with you and we can expound on them in the days to come but have you got the faith the expectation that god will rescue you no matter what the challenge that god can restore and rebuild and be true to his word and give you a story a story to tell a story that will bring blessing to the multitudes [Music] i'm excited could you tell hey well listen there's a whole lot been going on in our church and in our world and bobby and i are going to pray before the service is over pray for everybody and pray god's blessing on your life but let me get to talking about some of the things that we're excited about for this year and the first of those of course is we've already announced that an incredible couple sam and tony collier in atlanta are starting hillsong atlanta i think we have a photo of them that we can show you here and so you know exactly the people that we're talking about there they go that's sam tony and uh yep they are fantastic and in fact this morning even now because obviously it's not sunday till tomorrow over there but they've gathered a whole lot of their key team and key leaders together in a room somewhere they hired a place and they're all part of our vision sunday now so hi to you all up there and uh we're excited about the first half of this year seeing hillsong atlanta become a reality it's wonderful amen yeah now obviously last year was a year of lots of turmoil lots of division in the usa but around the world and we made a commitment that we were going to become even stronger and better when it comes to racial equity and making sure a diverse nation like australia and a diverse church and of course wherever you guys are often that mix is different and diversity looks different in many many different places but we globally want to get better uh making sure that we have a church that gives opportunity to everybody and so we put together a global committee a global committee of very uh very professional people with expertise in specifically the area of racial equity and i just want to show you a video for a moment it's a video a guy called harry in hillsong uk again this is his area of expertise and from my understanding he even consults to number 10 down in street in the uk a young guy with a great future and so let's watch this together just an update hey church over the last eight months we as a global committee have been meeting regularly to look internally and externally on how we as a church can meaningfully engage in the conversation around racial equity as a group of experts pastors and campaigners on the issue with many conversations and one of the key things we've developed is a theological framework alongside our hillsong college family to really root for any work that we do in the word of god we develop a training resource which we've piloted with our global board and staff in australia which will be available to all staff and volunteers there's been already some amazing work that's happened across cape town london new york many other campuses but we recognize that we're only at the beginning of the journey in the space the next key outcome for the committee is to create a global diversity and inclusion strategy which will provide consistency accountability and support to our global asset i'm really excited about the work and the opportunities that are in front of us and i do truly believe we can make a tangible difference in the space of racial equity amen they've got a tremendous group of people together one of the praise reports that we have in the service today is from fancy farsi is in our church in wa hi farsi and she also an expert in this whole area of um racial equity and she has a job her dream job uh just been offered to her in geneva for the united nations and so this is the quality of the people who are helping us to pull this together so we're thrilled for that now a couple of years ago my son joel joel houston who obviously is a key part of our church of song united and our worship team he started to get a vision in his heart for well he is called i o i'm not even sure exactly what i o stands for i say inside out because to me it does explain kind of the vision which is people inside our church young people with gifts and skills and and artists and filmmakers giving them a chance not to have to go out of the church to fulfill their potential but rather in and through the church be lifted up and undergirded so that they can fulfill their potential and it is a big part of our vision moving forward it is going to become a big part so beyond our worship that we do hillsong worship hillsong united young and free uh this is a new initiative and it goes beyond music as i said uh we're excited about a studio southland studios that they've got planned and so again watch the video and it'll just give you a little glimpse into what was planned i found an old notebook that was actually from bible college and um there's just all these like thoughts and so forth and i'm you know back then this the concept was called for all the people and it was just this idea that you know could could you create opportunities for creatives like in in whatever industry you know who are passionate and dead serious about like um the kingdom of god and the story um of god's love for humanity like the gospel and also like um want to be brilliant at what they do like like want to make amazing art or tell stories in a really meaningful way or you know come up with ideas that actually like can shift people's mindsets or change the way people think or affect culture an interesting way like that always that marriage of kingdom and culture i think has always been what's appealing to me about you know being a follower of jesus our church started in in balkan hills you know um sydney australia and here we are we're in california we've got an incredible church in europe and africa south america i remember going to our church for the first time there in sao paulo and it blew me away the passion of the people the incredible gifting of people like the worship was unbelievable the word i'm just going like we have to keep making room and give opportunities to people i don't get very excited about just kind of preserving what we've done or maintaining what we've done or trying to kind of keep it going for the sake of keep going like i think what does missions like global missions look like in 2021 or 2027 you know like um i really believe that it's it's in these areas that that are so dependent on good content you know meaningful stories meaningful uh language meaningful art brian and bobby have always believed in the potential of people who with some support could really go out there and make an impact the exciting thing is i o is our opportunity to give expression outside of the church into different fields into music film tv technology art literature io is it's there to kind of facilitate you know like a healthy means of our mission statement which i believe is fully scalable you know to reach and influence the world by building a large christ-centered bible-based church changing mindsets and empowering people to lead an impact in every sphere of life yet we've changed mindsets yet we've empowered people but we have to keep changing mindsets and keep empowering people to lead an impact in every sphere of life like that's that's the heart of what io is is to facilitate that up until this point in time we have done a pretty incredible job of putting songs from our house out into the world and and i think bio is really just the next step to that story i think what's most exciting about io is that there would be people watching today who have a dream in their heart to be a musician or a songwriter an artist of some kind io on the music side really seeks to just put people of faith around those that are trying to pursue that career in music and i think there will be people that we've seen before all the way through to people that we've never heard of and we're really excited to see that come to pass we've had the opportunity to build some key relationships in the film and tv industry in hollywood and throughout the world as a result southland studios recently launched under the vision of i o we are passionate to reach far outside the walls of our church not only with the message of jesus but to serve and be an influence within the global media landscape we've already partnered with some of hollywood's top top-tier talent in order to be able to tell some of these great true stories that are redemptive stories are faith-friendly and also socially impacting we actually already have about six films and three limited series that we're currently developing which we're really excited about when i think about technology i think about finding a way to communicate and build community by utilizing the devices that everybody have a couple of years ago we created an app platform specific for physical events and we're now transforming that into online events as well we've also been really hands-on and what's now become our online church platform i see this as a community that we're developing across all of our churches right now people that love the idea of you know digital connection with people will be able to find a space where they can develop inside of our church inside i o and they can bring their gifts and their talents to reach outside to be honest the timing couldn't be more perfect and i honestly think why wouldn't we do everything we can to see our church reach and influence the world in spheres that uh we've otherwise only ever dreamed of to continue to send missionaries into the night to tell the story of god and then to come back and to celebrate what god's done that's the picture at the end of the day well there you go more vision pray for that uh because we want to create pathways and opportunities for many christian artists and faith-based films and really a whole new chapter in our journey so around the world let's be in this together thank god for the opportunities we have i think everybody knows or certainly most people would know that toward the end of last year it's been a very challenging season at hillsong in the united states and in particular in the east coast in new york uh we're also there in boston and by the way leona and josh are with us from boston today so welcome good to have you here in connecticut and in montclair and uh we're still working our way through that and i sure would love all the prayer warriors and intercessors and everybody else in our church to be praying for our church on the east coast because it has been hit hard but i know god is going to rebuild he rescues he restores and he rebuilds and so we're going to believe god will rebuild and so during the process we've not up till this point uh decided on new east coast hillsong east coast lead pastors but we actually have now and i actually talked to the the staff of hillsong east coast earlier this morning and told them uh where we're up to there but it's been quite a process i've been working behind the scenes we thought about people internally part of the church now and different people in different scenarios outside of our church and this is one of those announcements that's going to make some people here in australia sad but i believe other people it's going to make very happy as it comes to who is going to be leading our church on the east coast and their names [Applause] krishan and danielle jayaratnam are going to be moving to to new york city to take on the church there we're thrilled about it like i think i said i work with some people behind the scenes and consulted with people and we prayed and even put these guys through a heavy interviewing process uh to see if they're up for the job and they are so hillsong new york i pray with i believe we're sending you our finest absolute finest they are greatly loved here uh in many many ways i think their ability to love people to love people i i feel like there's going to be a lot of healing that comes with krishan and danielle up there in new york city and so we're thrilled about it and i know you're going to love them in fact i've got just a little video just an introductory video so you can get to know who we're talking about here well listen this is a big day and a big announcement that i just have made to our church globally about you guys going to the east coast of the usa how are you feeling excited are you excited that's lovely what about you big people how are you feeling we are also feeling excited i think it's a whole mix of emotions you know tell us about your heart for the future and for our church there we are so thrilled about what god could do and that idea of revival embers and that's what i think our faith is that god could sweep that city with a revival that god could pour out his spirit in unprecedented ways we're really looking forward to joining the team being there and creating an environment that is welcoming that's a safe place and uh and we're really excited for what's to come we've gone to new york for many years and um the church up there the planet there is like 10 years old there are some phenomenal people in um the beginnings of that and and the growth of that and um you're going to love it you're going to love them and they're going to love you guys as a family and so we're really excited for the future and what that represents in jesus name amen yeah amen well look on tuesday heart and soul both here in australia where you're going to be a giant loss and in the east coast they're hud and seoul we're going to have a chance to talk to you a little more but wanted people to see that you are part of our world and the days ahead are going to be days of huge progress so god's going to use you to bring a lot of healing it's going to use you to bring something that has not been healthy to a place of health we just really believe that god is going to do something phenomenal in the days ahead beautiful in jesus name amen amen so [Applause] you know this year is our 38th year since bobby and i started out here in the hills 38th year only a couple of years of 40 years since we've pioneered with a little crowd down the road here in bocam hills and so i've been doing a lot of um soul searching and praying and thinking about the future and the way ahead and what life looks like for for our church moving forward and for bobby and i moving forward and uh i guess globally like we've moved we've grown so rapidly uh and it's been really a time when what has become clear is we need to put a whole lot more structure into what we're doing globally and it's really at the point where it's virtually impossible unsustainable for for us to be able to lead everything that we're leading right now and so i want to be looking at ways that we can share that load and over these next couple of years heading up to our church being 40 here in the hills district uh i would like to really put in place younger leaders younger leaders here in australia and younger leaders around the globe and bobby and i aren't going anywhere we'll still be around still be preaching as long as they want us to and uh still being part of the team and uh be very much but you know we've got things in our house we're heading toward our 70s i'm 67 this week and in our 70s there's a whole lot of things yeah as a as an outworking of our church there's a whole lot of things in our hearts in terms of what we would like to be doing and what we want to be doing and and so that's kind of how i see the future looking so i'm not putting any time on this and uh or anything like that we're definitely not retiring i understand we're not retiring tell someone next year they're not retiring we'll be around um but i do think it's the right season for us to look at uh and a whole new season for us personally and for our church as well and so i'm believing that all of us will be part of that together and that god will have his way and that the future just continues to move go forward and grow the way that it always has but because uh i was talking to gary clark actually and i was talking about you know the fact that we've grown so fast around the world and now we need to put the structures in place to carry that and uh gary said we need to grow into ourselves and i thought that was a good way of putting it you know when a kid a teenager suddenly spurts and and then they've sort of got to grow into their bodies uh we're going to puppy he's like that right now he's got to grow into his body but um with that in mind i've asked gary gary and cathy most of you know gary and cathy clark hillsong uk having 21 years leading our church in the uk and you know they're incredible they've done a phenomenal job over 21 years but all of that time gary has also or both of them have also been very involved in um our church globally with our lead pastors bringing encouragement and uh being there when other people would never have known and when someone's struggling being them there for them uh even uh if you look at europe so many of our churches in europe came out from hillsong uk such as hillson france hills song berlin hillsong amsterdam hillsong barcelona hillsong milan and so many others as well and so gary does all that stuff naturally and so the 21 years that gary and kathy have been lead pastors in uk has a tremendous amount of fruit to it thousands and thousands of people up evolved up there the creativity uh from the church up there is just amazing but i've asked gary and kathy specifically to focus on more helping us with the global silhouette helping us with the development of helping us invest into um into our pastors around the world and so on and they're going to be doing that and they're excited about it uh here's a little video let's listen to gary and kathy well there you are i can see those two faces we know so well gary kathy how are you good how are you guys great well listen we're excited about a new season for you and obviously uh the role you've played over the last 21 year in so many people's lives is uh eternal historic so how are you feeling about the season you're about to enter into and i really feel good about it and i know 21 years ago we got on a plane and came over here to what was then to pioneer something that was a bit of a dream for hillsong big picture what we were thinking and now get a chance to just be a part of the next season of who we are as a church so i'm pretty excited about it whether people realize it or whether they don't around the globe we've got some incredible churches all over europe and so many of those churches uh were pioneered out from hillsong uk with your inspiration so if i started listing them and i won't get them all i'll miss them for sure but europe has been incredible and a big part of your legacy there in the uk i'm really looking forward to what what is before us as a church full stop hillsong church been tough season but i believe the best is in front of us yeah and i just want to say so many around the world love you guys they love you they honor you they respect you and they will be quietly cheering and clapping at this whole new exciting season i'm sure we'll talk further and um we'll get the chance to honor you properly up there in the uk uh if everyone's out loud out of their houses anytime soon and uh the best is yet to come hey man we love you guys thank you thank you well so for all of the you in our church in england and in scotland you must be wondering what's going to happen now here and uh some of you well i think you'll be thrilled when i tell you what's about to happen but again there's gonna be some unhappy people in australia and uh that is because we're again sending a couple of our absolute best to uk uh to be based in london to be lead pastors of the church up there and that is tim and nicola douglas and so if you're in victoria don't shoot me all right tim lived up there for several years was part of the team at hillsong london nicola of course is english uh a very posh english woman actually with a little bit of a plum in the mouth but uh well they were supposed to be here today but they came up with their kids on a couple of nights ago to sydney got to the airport we're told they would have to isolate for five days so they got on the plane went back to victoria again but we got them here have a look they're online right now here they are give the douglasses a big hello so do you think guys that uh our church in victoria is ever going to forgive us they are a very generous group of people i'm sure there's mixed emotions right now but i don't know i think i've got a lot to look forward to for sure yeah well you kids you all look pretty excited leela you look really really excited there and you're gonna it's there's a tragedy here the tragedy is that you've got a good aussie accents and now they're going to be ruined no that's okay hey tell us nicola tell us a little bit about how you feel and what's on your heart and we're just so excited i think for us we've always been a family that's been up for the big adventure we've seen the fruit of saying yes to a new city and obviously melbourne has been an incredible privilege and honor to serve here and yet again we're up for the big adventure and i get to go home it's been 14 years of living and loving this nation that i get to go back to the nation of my birth and thank my whole family and i i couldn't be more excited honestly pastor bryan and bobby we are just so honored we we know um gary and kathy and we love them and the legacy they leave um is amazing and that we get to be part of the next chapter in season is honestly phenomenal and we're so excited yeah well tim's excited too because there's going to be so much closer to his mother-in-law so that's something he's really looking forward to all our family dad can't wait passive one have a listen to me we haven't got a whole lot more time in fact we're over time here but it's worth it we haven't been together for virtually 12 months so we might as well make the best of it but um in heart and soul both in the uk in the east coast of america and here in australia we'll talk a little more in depth and with more detail on a whole lot of these things and here in australia we'll talk about western australia we'll talk about victoria tasmania and where we're up to there and the plans we have there but all i know is our church is going forward so thank god for that always good to see you douglasses amen so i'm going to ask bobby to come and join me up here on the platform and we're going to pray for everybody we're going to pray for our church around the globe i pray you are all praying for your church around the globe uh because we sure need it because let's stand together shall we if you're in your own home you can stand as well if you're in a building somewhere you can stand as well and let's pray amen amen also brian can i just say thank you for that and um can we just give honor where onward is true because um you alongside many others it's been a lot of conversations um to get to these points today and so well done sweetheart thank you sweetheart all right shall we yeah shall we pray heavenly father our eyes go towards you and always we want to honor you for the awesome privilege of being alive at such a time as this that you would entrust father god what in many ways is a latter-day church to this company of people and others and so father with humility of heart we commit ourselves to you and we pray father god that you will continue to go before us that you'll go before us beside us and be our rear guard lord our commitment to you is that we will never take our eyes off you lord jesus we will always love you with every fiber of our being our commitment father is that we will continue by the grace of god to put our hand to the plow and keep our eyes on a harvest that has yet to come to a saving knowledge of who you are and father god is a family we commit together and lord we thank you for your faithfulness and your kindness and we believe father god that your spirit is going to continue to be poured out upon us all in abundance in the name of jesus and so again father to god be the glory amen in your name and everyone said amen amen amen amen usually online every week there are people who have joined in who've never really confessed personal faith in jesus christ and of course in our buildings always people bring friends and family who may know about god but have never really consciously invited jesus into your life and yet that's what you're created for you're created by god and for god and a person will open their life to jesus christ confess their need of him ask forgiveness for your sins and your failures which all of us have he'll come into your life and he'll change you and transform you i'm going to pray a prayer right now it's a prayer of salvation wherever you are i'm going to encourage you to pray this prayer and if online you prayed this prayer for the first time or maybe because you know you've been living far from god in the chat where you are hillsong online youtube all of them facebook etc in the chat wrote i prayed that prayer it's a statement of faith i prayed that prayer and here in the building if you pray this prayer with us and wherever you guys are around australia around the world if you're in a building we we've got a bible here at least that we want to give you as a gift and if you go out through the lobby uh the foyer i've been in america too much in the lobby uh there'll be people there holding up bibles and we'd love you to take one of those bibles as a free gift from hillsong church can we pray this prayer together everyone dear jesus this is the moment i surrender my life to you i need you jesus forgive me cleanse me thank you that because of you jesus i'm a child of god a new creation thank you for your love and grace thank you for forgiveness in your name amen amen amen come on give them a giant but i prayed that prayer in the chat tonight certainly here we're going to make a prayer night and i really across australia pray that people are linking and tuned in to our mega prayer they're 4 30 6 p.m 7 30 9. it'll be a one hour prayer meeting but it'll be full of power and full of faith and there'll be opportunities for you to submit your prayer requests father bless your people keep them may your face shine upon them may this be a year of rescue may this be a year of restoration may this be a year where we truly see ruins come to life as things are rebuilt lord we believe it now in your beautiful name amen amen we're gonna go out just singing some more of this song happy vision sunday thanks for being part of it today come on [Music] they came to my rescue [Music] you are [Music] you [Music] [Music] you live here is [Music] well thank you so much for joining us for vision sunday be blessed you

Channel: Hillsong Church

Views: 29,346

Rating: 4.8811188 out of 5

Keywords: hillsong, church, Jesus, praise, worship, online, live, sunday, brian houston, bobbie houston, vision, vision sunday, hillsong live, church online, teaching, preaching, 2021 sermon, vision 2021, announcements

Id: QVHN58W_acg

Length: 97min 42sec (5862 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 14 2021