Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Now listen you lot, you are always taking the Michael out of my Yorkshire accent, okay? And I can't say words properly in Devon and the southwest. So I thought, I always like to start with a bit of a joke and a story. I'll start with a northern one. So test your town's knowledge up north and see if you can stay with me. Who remembers payphones?
[00:00:25] Yeah, so I'm guessing you have to be about 40 or above. I know you remember a pay phone. I used to go away on business as a young salesman. There was no mobile phones in my early twenty s. And because I worked hard and I cared for the company that I worked for, my boss used to say, phil, will you ring me when you're out in Tenerife on holiday? So I would ring him from a payphone in Tenerife, do you remember? You could reverse the charges and then he would ring me back. It's great, all this technology youngsters know nothing about. We'll keep the payphone in your mind, okay?
[00:00:57] So a fella wants to get to heaven. So he goes into Manchester, picks up a payphone in Manchester, rings the operator, who remembers ringing the operator. See, you haven't clue, you youngsters what I'm talking about, have you? This is like another language. If you are 18, you're like, what the heck is he talking about ringing the operator? It's not an operation on your body. You could ring the operator, she could put you through. So he's in Manchester and he says, I'd like you to put me through to heaven, please.
[00:01:29] And the operator said, no problem. You need to deposit 200 pounds in the machine. He says, 200 pounds? Blow this. So he goes up to Preston. You got to think up north now. Yeah? So he goes up to Preston, picks up a local payphone. I'd like to speak to heaven, please. And the operator said, that'd be 205 pounds, sir. 205 pounds. Blow this. So he says, I'll tell you what, I'll go somewhere nice up here. I'll go to the Lake district, still in Lancashire, of course. So he goes up to Kendall, picks up a payphone. Hello, operator, I'd like you to put me through to heaven, please. That'd be 210 pounds, 210 quid. Forget it. Anyways, fed up anyways. Going to see his grandma who lives on Ilkleymore in Yorkshire.
[00:02:20] So he drives her to his grandma's house in the afternoon. She's in Yorkshire, he's on Clemore Bartat.
[00:02:27] You don't know that song down here, do you? It's quite a famous song up north. And he sees a payphone on, thinks, I'll tell you what, I'll just have one last chance. So he rings up, picks up the operator. I'd like you to put me through to heaven, please. No problem, sir. That's ten pence, he said, ten pence he says. I rang over in Manchester and Kendall and it was 200 pound. Said, sir, it's a local call, it's ten pence.
[00:02:54] Think, come on, think about it.
[00:02:57] Yorkshire, step closer to heaven.
[00:03:02] Well, that went down like the Titanic. I'm going to have to stop telling bad jokes. Sorry. Maybe laugh at me telling bad jokes rather than the joke itself, but it was a local call.
[00:03:13] Right.
[00:03:15] I've been doing a manage your life series, as you know, which we're going to get back to. We've still got manage your money, which is the one I hate to talk about, and we've got manage your. We've done manage your mouth, manage your heart, manage your marriage, manage your mouth. That was a good one.
[00:03:30] And manage your mind. The really good ones. There's a few good ones to come back to, but we've started off this year. Esther's in a series in prayer and I just wanted to jump on that too. I don't find the teaching side quite as naturally coming to me as Esther does. I like to get practical, as, you know, tell my stories, dig into a topic. But prayer is such a big one, I thought, come on, Phil, try and stretch yourself a bit. It's the start of 24. We're going into these hubs. We need to be a praying people church, don't we? So the two areas that I wanted to look at this morning, and if this is all you take away church today, is the two words I want you to take away, is those two words. I want us to be a people who pray in faith and in perseverance. Both of them we're going to look at and dig into. So important, though, when you pray, are you believing what you're praying for first and foremost? Sounds stupid that, doesn't it? Of course I'm praying. Praying in faith. Course I'm believing what I'm praying. But are you really, from the bottom of your stomach, praying in faith that what you're praying God is going to answer? That's the first one. And then are we going to persevere? Are we going to dig deep? Are we not going to pray? Maybe just once? Yeah, we're going to look into that. But that's the two things I want you to take home. We have got a nice Sunday roast on today. When you go back to your Sunday roast, what did Phil say? Pray in faith and in perseverance. That's the two areas I want us to really break through this year, right? So we are, as a church, not going to have some church prayer meetings for the first few months this year. We're going to get back to those and we've got Dale Gloria coming. It's great to pray together. You get 30, 40, 50 of us praying together. That day will come back. Dayo Gloria is getting fitted out. It's not just a coffee shop through the day. In the evening, we can pull the blinds down. It's a private event for us as a church. We can do alphas there, youth programs, great prayer meetings there. But that's to come for now.
[00:05:27] Esther and I just really felt on our heart to split into groups of twos to four of us all around the Newton area and surrounding areas in prayer hubs. In fact, Esther was at a leaders meeting yesterday and a lady came out and said, I really feel to put our. This is somewhere 200 miles from here. Said, I really going to take our church through some prayer hubs. We were like, you've pinched our idea. We're doing that. It's great when God moves into it. Different parts of the country, the Holy Spirit's moving. And there's something about digging deep with somebody that you know well, a couple of people that you get together two, once a month, twice a month, two times a month. And dig deep and pray together and pray more than once. That committing together. It doesn't need to be awkward. It can be on Zoom if you want. I'm not a big zoom fan, but it can be on Zoom. You can get up. I'm going to be praying with a couple of guys and we're going to go for some prayer walks. I like getting out in the fresh air and maybe somewhere a bit more private. You're not going to bump into a load of people or you can meet at house and pray whatever you want, but meet together and pray. We're calling them prayer hubs. Let's say there's generally 60 to 80 adults as a body that if we're all together, would be here. Be great to have a good 20 prayer hubs right across this region. I mean it, church. If we want to see God do great things in Newton Abbot, it starts on our knees. You know that, don't it? Right, so that's to come. Actually, Esther and I, we were often looking at things about church planting, because we're a church plant. We're a year in, but we're still a plant. And we read a great article and a pastor over in the states who's grown a big church and he said, concentrate on these things. Concentrate on a great Sunday experience. He said, your people work in a secular environment. Let them come to church and be encouraged and uplifted and blessed. He also said prayer. He said, prayer is the engine room of the church. Get your people together.
[00:07:22] And do you know what the last thing he said? The best evangelist in the church isn't me and Esther, it's you.
[00:07:29] And I know it's cheesy. We used to call it friendship evangelism. Do you remember? But we've already seen a couple of people that have been coming to the church that were in the prayer net twelve months ago. Do you remember? We prayed those that started the church in the early years. We prayed and we were putting some names in the hat. Listen, prayer is powerful. That's what I want to say all around the world. How have people grown church and seen lives change? It's through prayer. And that isn't just the leadership team, it's all of us. So as we pray. Thank you.
[00:07:59] I've got two drinks now.
[00:08:01] You know what? I dare didn't say I've had man flu because you all laugh at me now. And I probably bigged up man flu too much. But I was so poorly over Christmas. S was out in the snow that she prayed for an avimore and I was in bed feeling sorry for myself. So I'm just getting over it. And it seems there's no oz then. Sympathy for man flu is depleted in this house. I think I've killed it dead.
[00:08:24] Excuse me, but this friendship, evangelism, church, it takes all of us. We've all got a friend, we've all got a brother, we've all got a sister, we've all got a mum, a dad, an unbelieving spouse. Are we still on? Have I done something?
[00:08:41] I'll use this one. It's okay.
[00:08:47] Yeah. We've all got somebody close to us, aren't we? And to dig deep and pray for. And as you meet in your hubs across this church. Yeah. There is so many people we can be praying for. But you've got to keep praying. Yeah. That's what I say to us this morning. Persevere. Persevere. Persevere. God is faithful.
[00:09:07] Yes.
[00:09:12] Can you imagine the church, how it could grow with a whole body of people praying in small groups for family and neighbours. You know, we saw the carpenters from the coffee shop. Came at Christmas. Beautiful to see. Want to see more, don't we? I want to see this church full of people out in that town that do not know Jesus now. Yeah. But it does start on our knees church. It starts by when we all pray together. I want to tell you God loves it when we pray. We're starting this year talking about prayer and talking about us. I want to tell you Jesus loves it when you pray to him. It's a relationship with him into it. This is what it says in psalm 34.
[00:09:47] I love this.
[00:09:49] It says, I pray to the Lord. And he answered me.
[00:09:53] He freed me from all my fears. Get this famous passage, but taste and see that the Lord is good. Or the joys of those who take refuge in him. That tells me it's a two way street prayer, doesn't it? Taste and see that the Lord is good. I prayed to him and he answered me. Yeah. How can we taste and see if the Lord is good if we don't pray?
[00:10:19] How can we feel that touch of heaven if we don't connect with him?
[00:10:22] Taste and see that the Lord is good.
[00:10:25] Right. I've got two main points today, as I said, and it's praying in faith and perseverance. I want you to take that home with you. Praying in faith and perseverance. The first one praying in faith. I believe God loves it when we pray in faith. Not just pray, but pray in faith. What did Jesus say?
[00:10:47] Matthew 21, verse 21 to 22. It said, jesus replied, truly, I tell you, if you have faith, listen to this and do not doubt. Wow.
[00:11:00] Not only can you do what is done to the frig tree, but you can also say to this mountain, go and throw yourself into the sea and it will be done.
[00:11:10] If you believe, you receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Now we know that's what's in line with God's will. That's not just diving out saying Lord, give me a ferrari. But if we're praying in line with God's will, which is in his word. You don't need to be confused with what God wants. It's all there in the Bible. The Bible tells us all about Jesus and his heart for us, his heart for mankind, his heart for this world. It's there in the Bible. If you pray in line with scripture earnestly, he says you can ask whatever you ask for in prayer and it will be done. Wow. Didn't say what time frame. It says, ask whatever you wish for in my name. If you know your Bible, all around John 15 it's mentioned four times. This whole ask in my name in the name of Jesus, there's power. They said it will be done in John. I think it's John 14 once, John 14 twice and John 16 once. All around that middle part of John four times said, ask in my name and you get whatever you wish for in line with scripture. So what am I saying here? Jesus is saying, pray and do not doubt. Pray and do not doubt. Pray in faith. Pray that what you're praying for. You just start to believe in the bottom of your stomach.
[00:12:18] I know I've shared this with you before, but it was so powerful to me. I was in a prayer meeting at our first plant church and there was these five non believing husbands. We'd seen two or three ladies get saved and there was already a couple of ladies there that had husbands that were not saved.
[00:12:34] And North Korea was kicking off at the time pretty bad. So the plan for the night was to pray for North Korea.
[00:12:41] And I just felt the Holy Spirit, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. I thought, we've got to pray for these husbands. And I stopped the prayer meeting and I called these ladies out. It was just one of those moments and we're going to have moments like this here in Newton Abbot. And I said, lord, I want to pray for these women. And they came out and the whole church is about 20 of us there. We prayed earnestly for these ladies. And I'm telling you, over one year every one of those men got saved. I baptized all five of them. In fact, the week after one man went down and he was a lads lad, let's put it that way. And I think he thought something like in his Wigan accent, I don't know what this silly woman's going to church for. That's how they speak in Wigan. And he went down in the middle of night, he couldn't sleep. And I believe God got him out of bed and her Bible was there in the front room and he picked up, thought, what's this stupid woman reading here? He opened the Bible and the scriptures just came alive to him. That Sunday, one week after the prayer meeting, he came, he was on his knees, tears falling on the carpet, and gave his life to Jesus. I was blown away church. I know to some of you, I told you that six months ago, but it was so powerful that you get it in your gut when you start praying in faith. You think I was like, lord. Of course this is in line with your will, you know what I mean? It says, pray for a non believing partner. And that's what the Bible tells us. So we broke into the prayer meeting thinking, jesus, this is in line with your will, this is in line with your word. And we prayed. And you know when you just pray, just saying, I've done the best I can, over to you, Jesus, that's praying in faith. And God by his mighty power and his kindness took over and I believe he ushered all those hearts into the kingdom of God. Isn't that amazing? Well, what's our story going to be, Newton Abbot? What are we going to be praying for here? What are we going to see God do here? We don't want to live up yesterday's manner, do we? But we want to pray faith fueled prayers. We want to pray faith fueled prayers.
[00:14:34] Two Corinthians five, verse seven. Famous scripture. But think about it, so simple. For we live by faith, not by sight. That's obvious, Phil. Do we really pray it? Do we really believe it? It's so easy as a human intake to look at what we can see, look at what we can touch, look at what we understand, looking at what the human brain can sort of get its head around and then pray, hey God, great plan. So if we do this, this and this, Lord and you anoint, that job done. Come on, that's not a prayer of faith. That's telling God what to do in your way. He's God. He's above all our ways. If we're going to pray in faith, it's not by sight. We're giving a situation to him in line with scripture and leaving God to do the rest. Because sometimes it surprises us. Sometimes God uses situations that we've not planned, only we couldn't have planned. And God takes over and it's amazing. But we pray faithful fueled prayers. So we're going to pray in faith, not by sight. Yeah, I understand. As a human, it is hard to pray for things we cannot see. It is things you've not yet seen. It gets discouraging. It gets easy to be thinking, I haven't got faith for it. But we can't. We've got to pray in faith. Do you know what as well, the twinning of faith is powerful if you're praying especially for another believer. Andrew. Bless him. Andrew, the other week when his knees were bad, I said to him, I said, andrew, do you believe God can heal your knees today? And he looked me straight in the eye, said, I do. I want him to heal me. I thought, wow. So I prayed. He prayed and healed his knees and he was dancing around, you know, that twinning of faith and that declaration to heaven that Jesus, your ways are higher than ours, you can do this. But I actually believe you can do it with a non believer as well. I believe you could walk down Newton Abbott high Street and declare in the name of Jesus, if you said to somebody, we're a Christian, it's, well, I've got this situation going, can I pray for you? Okay. I believe God can do this. Do you? And say that person, declare Jesus's name. Yeah. Make my child well. How many stories are in the Bible? You say the word, my child will be well. Yeah. A non believer can declare Jesus name in faith. That twinning of faith, God comes into the situation, takes over. So let's really rev it up in 24 church. Let's be a praying church in faith in our hubs.
[00:16:56] If you want to see somebody healed, if you want to see a breakthrough situation, a job, bring it to the feet of Jesus. Bring it to the feet of Jesus. Find it lovely hearing Matt saying his little daughter, seven years old, daddy, I'll pray for you. That childlike faith. 30 seconds later, no more chest infection for Matt. How amazing is that? You know, when a child prays, they just pray, completely believing, completely believing in such faith fueled prayers. We could probably do a learning lesson from them, really, couldn't we? Because they pray beautiful. I believe you, Lord. That's how we need to pray.
[00:17:30] When we think about faith, though, you always think about Hebrews eleven, don't you? If you know your bibles, that's the history of faith. Of all the men and women of old that have done great things. It's like this long line of great faith stories over the years. Guess who's in the middle of them all, though? I love it. Always makes me laugh. Samson. Samson was a bit of a rotter, wasn't he? Samson had this natural gift, God's supernatural gift, given to him. But it was on his deathbed, wasn't it? When he finally cried out in faith, Lord, his eyes are gouged out, he's in a mess. He's wasted his life. But he said, lord, just one more time. Give me the strength that I know that you gave me. And he prayed on his deathbed in faith, didn't he?
[00:18:11] I want to say, let's not be like Samson. Let's not pray on our deathbed. Let's pray now in 24, in our hubs. Prayers of faith. Prayers of trusting God to do something that we could not see or do ourself. Yeah. Are you with me, church? We're going to pray in faith.
[00:18:28] I'm actually rubbish at praying for myself. You might have situations that you're going through that you're praying for. I told you before, I got a vaccine reaction three years ago to the COVID jab. So poorly, even to this day, I can't go running. And I love running. It keeps the weight off. It keeps my mind sharp. I just love running. I used to go running three times a week. I've done about ten half marathons. I love running. It's great. But my heart, the lining of my heart, had a reaction to the vaccine and when I run, it shakes it up and down. I still can't run.
[00:18:57] But I want to pray in my hub that God will fully heal me this year. Fully heal me. Because the doctor said, phil, it'll get well. I've been to see a heart specialist. He said it'll just get well and it hasn't done. And Esther said, have you spent time on your knees really praying and fasting and seeking him to do it? I thought, no, I haven't. And in it easier to pray for others, folks, in it easier to pray for another situation. It was easier to pray for Andrew's knees than my heart and I was in faith for Andrew's knees. When it comes to ourself church, let's be honest, it can be hard, can't it, to pray for a situation we're walking through. So I'm telling myself this, I want to pray in 24 on my knees. I want to join it with fasting. You don't tell anyone. It's between you and God. But if we're going to get serious, we need to fast up. We need to say, lord, I am serious about you. I am serious about this situation. I am serious that only you can do this and not me. And I want to say to my body, you're going to miss a meal this week. You're going to miss two meals this week. Why? Because in that time of being hungry, you can proper get on your knees and say, jesus, will you help me from a real heart of saying, lord, I need you. So we're going to pray in faith, right? And we're going to see God break through and we're going to fast. Are we up for this? These hubs can be ignited all across this town. You know that God answers prayer church.
[00:20:14] So what are you going to be praying for, church? I want to ask you in faith, in your hubs. Go away. And start thinking about it. If you're not in a hub, get in a hub. Get together with somebody in the church, you know, maybe somebody you don't know as well, because you'll get a bond as you start to pray together. Esther's ahead of me as always. She's already had her first hub. Mine's next Friday. Women are always ahead of men, but she's ahead of me. She's prayed. And she came back so encouraged. And she said, I so loved praying with these ladies. And that's what I want us to do. Two, three or four of us. Get in a hub. Get in a hub. If you're not in a hub, come and see me and Esther. We'll help you connect with a hub, but get in a prayer hub, right? We're going to see God do great things. The Bible said, don't it? When two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of you. Whether it's on zoom, walking by a river, in a house, God's with you. Right? And we want to pray faith fueled prayers this year in hubs. So what you're praying for in your hubs, finally, the second main point in perseverance, right?
[00:21:13] I think it's sometimes too easy for God to answer our first prayer. Great. That when little poppy prayed, Matt got well, it was great. But often there's biggies in life that we're praying for. I believe if God answered them straight away. And the Bible is littered with stories of what I'm just about to say.
[00:21:31] We don't grow, do we?
[00:21:34] We don't dig deep. There's something about digging deep, doing history with God and praying and persevering a persevering prayer. Let's look at this. I know it's Elijah. Okay? So I'm going to talk about Elijah. You think, Phil, how can I be like Jolly Elijah? You do read some of the stories of men of old in the Bible, you think, wow, they were godly men. They were people just like you and me. Listen, Elijah five. Sorry. In James 517, he refers back to Elijah said this, elijah was a man just like us.
[00:22:09] He prayed earnestly, earnestly, that it would not rain. And it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
[00:22:20] Wow.
[00:22:23] I love how James says, though, that Elijah was a man just like us. So that gives us a chance in our prayer hubs, doesn't it? Yeah, he prayed earnestly. In other words, you can pray like Elijah because he was a man just like you and me.
[00:22:36] The dictionary definition of earnestly said to a greater extent or more intensely or sincerely.
[00:22:45] Another version said, with a serious and sincere intention. Elijah prayed for three and a half years earnestly. Do you know what church, I reckon that was every day, every day for three and a half years that God was answering his prayer. Think of the power of the testament to all those around him when they knew what he was praying about. Right? God answers prayer, but he loves it when we persevere. He loves it when we earnestly pray. Not just pray, earnestly pray with that sincere intention. Yeah, we're seeking heaven. We're praying to the king of kings. There is only one God, and that's Christ Jesus. And that's who we're praying. Yeah, we've got to earnestly pray maybe every day for three and a half years. I think that was powerful. Do you think he wanted to quit at any. Do you think he might have thought, because James has told us, he's a man just like you and me, I reckon I might have wanted to quit somewhere along the journey of that three and a half years, don't you? But no, he didn't quit. He persevered. He earnestly prayed for all that time.
[00:23:45] Wow.
[00:23:47] Who is desperate enough like Elijah then? Who is desperate enough to see a loved one healed or saved or this job situation or this terrible neighbor that you live with? God can do anything. You know, Esther's parents had a terrible neighbor for years, and Esther's dad prayed and prayed and gave it to God, and the situation just got resolved. He was a violent man and it just got resolved. God is amazing. He hears our prayer. He is bothered about your lives. He bothered about all you're going through. But he loves it when we pray in faith, and he loves it when we persevere in prayer. Come on, church. We've got to persevere.
[00:24:22] Right? Gets exciting. Now, I know Elijah seems a long time ago, but James tells us he's a man just like you and me. Let's go back to less than 100 years ago. Have you got some pictures? Let's go back to 1948 on the island of Lewis. Yeah. Have we got a picture going up? The first picture. So Estra and I.
[00:24:43] There you go.
[00:24:46] Sorry about my leads. Top.
[00:24:50] We went to the island of Lewis. So the Scottish Hebrides. If you look at Scotland on the map, on the west coast, all those islands above sky, this is in the Outer Hebrides. The island of Lewis that we know saw a great revival back in 1948, a scottish revival that saw over 20,000 get saved over a period of years. And the police reported that crime pretty much ended because so many gave their life to Christ. There was such a transformation in so many lives. Those Scottish Hebrides were absolutely transformed by Jesus. This isn't thousands of years ago in Elijah, this is 80 years ago. Less than that, right? Talking about perseverance, that's the first one. That's us on the ferry going over. The waves were actually coming over and splashing those screens that you see in front of you. It's a bit scary.
[00:25:36] I was like, I hope this boat is okay. But we got there. Next slide.
[00:25:43] So when we landed, it was Scotland. So of course it was raining and cold, but we went for a walk.
[00:25:49] And I wasn't sure to tell you this, church, but I want to do, and I want you to hear my heart why I'm telling you this, right? This is a place where it saw, 70 years ago, a massive revival. So as we got off, we went round. There was this lovely stream and lovely walk right there on the edge of the islands. Yes, it was lovely. I love walking out in nature. And we'd been going about 15 minutes. It was just Esther and I walking by this sort of seafront area. And then we Sort of went in land up to a waterfall. I said, come on, let's pray for Newton Abbot. God did great things here. Let's pray for Newt and Abbot. And we started praying. We'd been going literally five minutes, praying and praying for Newton Abbott. And I want to tell you, church, genuinely, honestly, my legs. I felt like I could have jumped to heaven. I looked over to Esther, said, can you feel that? And she said, what? I said, my legs, don't you feel light? I felt like I could have just strided and jumped a hundred foot in the air. It was the most surreal experience I've ever had. And it lasted for about 100 meters. As we were walking along, praying, I just felt like I could have jumped up to heaven. It was the most amazing out of body experience.
[00:26:55] The reason I'm telling you is God's real, okay? And I just believe. Just the Holy Spirit touched me that day. I wanted him to say him for Esther, but for me, it was a real God. You are so real. What happened here can happen in Newton Abbott. But my legs just felt like jelly. I just felt so close to Jesus. It was such an amazing experience that I don't often have things like that, but my legs, I was just like, wow, can you not feel it? S. I just felt so. I could have just jumped ten foot 100 foot in the air. It was beautiful. It was a real moment with him as we were praying. I was like, lord, come on, touch Newton Abbot again, right? God is real and he wants to touch Newton Abbott. The next slide.
[00:27:34] This is the church in a place called Barbus, right in the north of the island of Lewis. That's me there, next slide.
[00:27:43] And that's us there, right? It was freezing cold, absolutely freezing cold. But we drove up there and the story goes, listen, about 02:00 in the morning, they didn't have discos like we have now, but they had what they call dance halls, okay? And two ladies, one age 82, one age 84, had been praying for three months. Three months. Every single night. Every single night from about eight to ten A-P-M. Till often three or 04:00 in the morning. Just two of them together in a hub like we're talking about. Why, in their latter years, they felt Jesus say to them, pray for revival. And they had both had it. One of them was blind and they had it on their heart, didn't they? To pray and pray and pray and pray till they saw revival. Three months every night. Count the cost. Church, it's a sacrifice, isn't it? If we're going to see God do something in this town, it's not going to come easy. But God answers prayer. Three months, every single night, they prayed for God to awaken the young people, especially in the Hebrides.
[00:28:52] Three months later, there was 100 to 200 people in a dance hall. Right as the night got towards the end, every single one of them felt this call. I feel it now as I'm talking. They got this call to go to church. They didn't know why. None of them were believers. It was the Holy Spirit drawing the hearts of men. He was answering these prayers. He was drawing the hearts of men. And all of these young people went to that building there, to that very building there. I looked at it and I walked around it, and me being in steel and different things, I thought you could maybe squeeze 250 people in here. Apparently was six to 700 on the night. Eventually got there. So do you know what else happened? They all stood up, crammed in that room. Okay.
[00:29:36] As well as the dance hall. Young people all across the island, people were waking up in bed, young people particularly, and coming to church. They just said they woke up and felt this call to go to church in the middle of the night. You read about it. So the revival started. Amazing start. They didn't have mobile phones then, did they? This wasn't fake. This wasn't whipped up. This wasn't the hundred people from the dance hall texting the mates and the night saying, hey, a bit of a gig going down at Barbara's church. Get yourself down there. Didn't have mobile phones then. Probably didn't have the pair phones that I rang on. Yeah. Nothing. It was all God. It was all God. Drawing the hearts of men and women across these islands. Beautiful, beautiful thing, right? When God draws the hearts of men and women, it is powerful church, your prayers are not in vain. We're in our hubs praying. Trust me. Keep persevering, keep digging deep, keep fasting, keep praying. Those five husbands that got saved, God was drawing them. God opened the eyes to him in the middle of night with that Bible. He'll do it here. He's a faithful God. He loves your loved ones that you think I've given up on, right? Don't give up. Dig deep. Persevere. Pray in faith and persevere earnestly. Pray as Elijah did, as these two ladies did. Imagine that in your 80s, what a great way to end your years here on earth. What an absolute blast that must have been for them to see all these young people come in. They must have been overjoyed, they must have heard of this and were overjoyed. And Duncal Campbell came, who was an evangelist who felt the call to come and he took over the workers. These ladies went to be with the Lord and they saw an absolute season of God doing amazing things. Last slide.
[00:31:20] Do you like this shop, Josh? Lovely. And not lovely about it. So this shop sells little old craft stuff and knickknacks and stuff. Esther bought some pointless, you know, when you have baubles on the Christmas tree. She showed me, like, it's hard as a man, you know, because, like, your wife takes you in these little shops shopping. Do you like that, love? I'm like, no, not really. But you can't tell her that, can you? So I'm like, looking in this little old craft shop thinking, we're going to give that woman 20 quid for a load of junk.
[00:31:51] But we did, and they put it in a nice little bag, don't they, to make you feel better and, like rust Louie and spend about ten minutes faffing around putting it in this bag. There you go. There's your seven pound bauble.
[00:32:04] But she sold little bits and bats like that. But the lady behind the counter, I asked her, I said she was probably in the said, why have you called your shop Lewis revival? Because we saw Sri Lanka. Wow. Let's go in there.
[00:32:16] And she said, well, two things. She said there was a religious movement about 80 years ago that my grandparents remember. And she said it was. And so it was a grandparents shop. And he put that name on the shop, and he said, she said, I also sell old things that nobody really wants and revive them and make them like new. And I thought, wow, how sad. This religious thing you're talking about. Me and Esther were there 3 hours ago, walking around. That was a powerful move of God. And in it easy. How God can be forgotten in just three generations. In three generations. It was just a nice thing that happened over there. A little revival. Wow. No, it wasn't. It was powerful. 20,000 people came to know Christ.
[00:32:57] So what's our story going to be here in Newton Abbott church? We want to leave a legacy to this next generation of God doing amazing things. And let me tell you, it starts on our knees in these prayer hubs. So we encouraged.
[00:33:08] Are we going to pray?
[00:33:10] I didn't sound good, did it? Come on. Are we going to pray in our hubs?
[00:33:15] Right.
[00:33:18] Just to tell you this as well, when we were in that car. Can you go back a slide?
[00:33:25] So there's our Volvo. And it was wet, cold, and horrible. And Esther, it was too cold. It was about minus two. So we started praying outside. I'm like, should we just get in the car? So we got in the car, and as we were praying, the sun just, you know, that low winter sun that's powerful. It just shone through the windscreen on our face and the heat of the sun on our faces.
[00:33:46] I should tell you, church, God is so lovely and so real and so interesting in our lives. We went there, we rang the pastor on his number on the wall, and we couldn't get hold of him. I thought, it's okay, s. We don't need to go inside. Let's just sit here and pray. And we just got that real glimpse of what must have gone on all those years ago, and we want to bring it back here. We want to see God do great things again. But it was wet, miserable, and cold, and suddenly the sun came out in the middle of all that. God's so real church. He's so faithful. Matt, can you come out?
[00:34:25] We'll just sing one more song, maybe. Can we stand church?
[00:34:38] Yeah. Brilliant.
[00:34:45] So Matt's going to sing a great song that the battle belongs to the Lord. So as we pray, we're putting it into a divine realm that is above us. Church. Yeah. As we get in our hubs, we are praying to an amazing supreme king of kings, Lord of lords, that wants to hear our prayers. This is our job. We're going to pray in faith and in perseverance.
[00:35:10] We cannot be passive church. I'm just going to pray into this just before we finish in worship.
[00:35:17] Yeah.
[00:35:19] Father God, I pray that you will help us as a people, Lord, hearing you and abbott, to be a church that can pray in faith, Father God, will you encourage us by your holy spirit? Will you draw near to us as your word promises you will, that we will continue to be a church that prays in faith. Lord, help us where we are weak, Lord, but we want to say at the start of this year, we want to pray in faith that you will hear us, Lord and Father God, we're not going to pray once. We're going to persevere. We want to wrestle heaven, King Jesus, that you will move amongst us. Lord, we will see loved ones healed. We will see this town ignited like the Scottish Hebrides. Lord, we want to dare to believe for a revival in our town. King Jesus, we want to dare to believe that hundreds of people in this town will one day come to know you as their own personal savior. And we ask in Jesus, will you use us? Will you use us in our little hubs, Lord, all the people we know, in our jobs, in our streets, in our families, Lord, use us, Lord, for your glory. Give us the confidence to speak to others about you. But Father, we want to pray earnestly. We want to persevere like Elijah did, like these two ladies did in the Scottish Hebrides. We want to be a people not caught napping, but caught praying in faith and perseverance. Help us, King Jesus. Help us see this town won for you in your mighty name. Amen.
