Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] But if you've got a bible with you, why don't you open up to the book of one Thessalonians, chapter five? And I'm going to read a few verses and we're going to walk through this passage this morning.
[00:00:16] One Thessalonians, chapter five, verses twelve to 18. It says, now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard and love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong. But always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice, always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. It is a lamp to our feet. It is a light to our path. We can build our lives on the firm foundation of your word. Father, we thank you, Lord. There is a theme that is coming out already today about extolling the Lord at all times, giving praise, letting your praise be on our lips continuously. So, Father, I pray that my words would hit each of our hearts, that we would respond, that we would find a conviction within our spirit to move upon the truth that we see within your word here today. Lord, what a blessing to be here with this incredible church. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I just want to say what a wonderful church this is. The passion within the worship. Your love for Jesus is so evident and it's just such a thrill to be here. And as Phil said, we have such a desire to work closely with all the expressions of rediscover church, church plants and got little pockets within the area of Devon that we are seeing expressions of faith continue to grow. And so we're looking forward to doing more and more things together, connect through shared series and outreach into our community. But just. You are so blessed to have Esther and Phil, such an amazing couple. We love you guys already. I feel like already we've got a great friendship and looking forward to many, many years of just building that friendship and relationship together.
[00:02:27] But so good to be here this morning.
[00:02:30] I am a footballer of the foot kind, not the rugby kind. I know I'm from New Zealand and yes, I watch the All Blacks, but I am a footballer through and through. And I have played right throughout my life. New Zealand football is not at the same level as english football. We are discovering that I hit the refere game yesterday for an under 13 team. And boy, those kids know how to tell you how to referee. So it's all right. I only had to send one guy off, so that was good. Welcome to England.
[00:03:04] But as a footballer, I've gone through the motions of, of juggling a football thousands, hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of times. Just juggling the ball, probably not millions, but hundreds of thousands of times.
[00:03:18] I started off, I could do one and then maybe I could do two. And then I got better and better till I could juggle hundreds of times. And instinctively I knew when the ball was out there, I knew how I could react and my body would just move to the ball and I would juggle. Now, I'm not going to do it now, okay? I'm not going to show you that because it'd be embarrassing. Now I'm 46 years old and the body doesn't work like it did before as well.
[00:03:43] But when I first started, I couldn't do more than one.
[00:03:46] So it was a skill that was acquired through repetition.
[00:03:52] And one of the things my father would also do, which would kind of bring me to tears at times, is he would force me to use my other foot so I'd be a left footer, so I was right footed. But my father would force me to use my left foot and practice with my left foot so I could be a two footed player. Now I'm thankful he pushed me because now left foot, right foot, it doesn't really matter. I can kick with both. But that again was instinctive, based on repetition. My son Josiah, he's here today, God bless him. He chose to play football. You know, the Bible says train a child up in the way they should go when they're old. They will not depart from it and right from the start. So he's a natural left footer. There's a lot more money in left footers than.
[00:04:36] But he is now trained with his right foot as well. So left foot, right foot again, he's instinctively, whichever side it comes to, he can respond accordingly.
[00:04:49] You can apply this theory to every sport. You can also apply it to every area of life.
[00:04:55] You think about the different professions. We would have a huge array of talents and abilities within this group. You think if you're a surgeon, the repetition of a surgery, you would know instinctively what to do in a situation.
[00:05:11] Cooking, driving, analysis of numbers. There's an instinctive response when you do something time and time again and these reactions become instinctive. And so my question is, what if our christian character could also be something that becomes instinctive, just like kicking the ball? Because here's the reality. If we could do that in the positive, how many people know there's also a negative reaction.
[00:05:40] You just have somebody cut you off on the road and there's an instinctive response to which comes out of you.
[00:05:51] One thing I didn't tell you is there was something else that was very instinctive. When I was young, I was a really bad sport.
[00:05:58] A really bad sport. I hated losing to the point where I would just lose it completely if I lost the game.
[00:06:06] And it didn't matter what sport I played tennis, I played cricket, I played football. And if I lost, I was a really, really bad sport. And it all kind of came to a head. I was probably eleven years old. I was playing, playing in the national academy, which is the highest level that you could probably reach in New Zealand football as a junior. And so I was doing well and I was playing tennis and I lost a set or something like that. And I threw my racket up against the fence. Just lost it, totally lost it.
[00:06:36] And my mother, God bless her five foot one, comes up and whispers, Michael James, come on. How many people know when you get your middle name thrown in, you're in trouble? Michael James de Vetta. You will not behave like that. If you do that again, you are not playing football next season. At which point my father, and he stands about six foot, he comes, it's like timeout.
[00:07:06] Really? Really.
[00:07:08] He's doing well in his football. You got to stop him from playing football. And my mum said, I will not let my son be a bad sport.
[00:07:16] That was like a turning point for me. Now I'm still competitive. Hate to lose. I want to win. If I'm playing, I want to win, but I don't lose it when I do lose. Does that make sense?
[00:07:29] But it's something that had to be trained instinctively within me.
[00:07:37] Let me ask you, what are you in the habit of doing?
[00:07:41] What happens when you get squeezed?
[00:07:44] What happens when you get angry?
[00:07:47] What comes out? What's your natural response? Without even thinking up and out of you comes this response.
[00:07:57] Do you get angry when something doesn't go your way?
[00:08:01] What words come out of you? Bang your thumb with a hammer?
[00:08:06] What about being fearful when difficult times come? Is that your natural response? Reality is, when I'm squeezed, what's in me comes out of me and like a tube of toothpaste, very hard to get that back in. Once it's been squeezed. What of my response when trouble comes, when fear, when pain, when anxiety rolls towards me or bounces towards me? What will my instinct distinctive response be to that?
[00:08:37] Will I respond in a way that will give glory to God or not?
[00:08:43] In this passage of scripture, we see Paul speaking to the church in Thessalonica. And this was a dynamic church that was growing despite the persecution that was taking place amongst them.
[00:08:56] It was hard to be church.
[00:09:00] We don't really know what that feels like in the western world.
[00:09:04] But to be doing church with the thought that at any time we could be closed down, shut down, taken off, leaders taken off, thrown into prison. At any point they were under persecution, and yet Paul wanted to encourage them.
[00:09:20] They knew what it meant to live through the challenges of pain and persecution, and yet their faith was strong and enduring. In fact, in the first chapter, let me read verses four to six. For we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you. For your sake, you became imitators of us and of the Lord. For you welcome the message in the midst of severe suffering. Listen with the joyous given by the Holy Spirit.
[00:09:56] Love, joy, peace, fruits of the work of the spirit within our lives. And the church in Thessalonica were living their faith in the midst of hard times, and they were choosing joy through the Holy Spirit. Now, what we can learn from their example is that being a Christian doesn't exempt us from problems.
[00:10:16] But being a Christian means that we can be an example through our problems when we respond in a different way, like Phil did, because everything within him, rising up, would have says, let's go.
[00:10:34] I'm pretty sure you're glad you didn't go there.
[00:10:38] But what came out, what came out was a response that has become instinctive, a response that says, this is coming out. Faith, hope, love, forgiveness, mercy, gratitude.
[00:10:56] We can't stop bad things happening to us.
[00:10:59] You become a Christian, your problems don't disappear. They become even more apparent.
[00:11:06] But God can do a work in our hearts where we can instinctively respond in a different way.
[00:11:13] So Paul addresses in chapter five, and I just want to walk through these verses with us this morning, verse twelve, he says, now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you. Paul is saying, acknowledge those that work among you.
[00:11:32] I know what it's like. I've led church for 20 plus years in various capacities, from kids ministry, to youth, to worship, to leading the big kids, the adults.
[00:11:44] You can solve some kids problems with a lollipop. Doesn't work so well with adults, but I have seen, and I've been a part of it. And right from a young age, I got busy, I got working in church. At eleven years old, I was playing in the worship team, 14 years old. My mum and I, we led the crash, we lead the kids ministry. Right from a young age we got involved. And to see this happen week in, week out life groups, the different activities, the things that happen within church life, I can tell you that it takes hard work and it takes a lot of people to do that. And I want us to take a moment right now to thank those who are a part of the team that see church take place every single Sunday. Come on, can we acknowledge and honor those? You can give yourself a clap if you want to do that too.
[00:12:35] This is what Paul's saying. Come on, acknowledge these people. Encourage them. Because there's some days you don't want to come and serve. There's some days you look out the window and go, you know what, it would be quite nice to stay home today, but the fact that you get up and go, well done. Be encouraged, be encouraged, you're doing a great thing.
[00:12:57] Paul then goes on, and he says in verse 13, hold them in the highest regard and love because of their work. Then he says, live in peace with each other. We could probably pause on that one for a little while.
[00:13:09] I don't know if we always do so good on this one. The live in peace with one another.
[00:13:15] One of the most important tensions I think we have to wrestle with as followers of Christ is that we can have a different opinion to someone. And that's okay.
[00:13:26] I don't know.
[00:13:28] I don't know what it was like for you guys, but Covid was a horrific teacher of this to us in New Zealand.
[00:13:38] We lost dear friends who stood on one side of an argument. And I won't even tell you which side I stood because that wouldn't be helpful, even in this room.
[00:13:51] But we did all we could within the government regulations and everything that was asked of us to put on church week in, week out, running multiple services, sometimes four or five services a day, just to try and reach everybody. Online services. We did everything we could and yet we couldn't please everybody. And we weren't trying to please everybody. We were just trying to get church open and make it work and get as many people as we could, but it was never enough for some.
[00:14:17] And I had people on one side of an argument, vaccine, non vaccine, and they were so strongly convinced by God that one or the other was the right one, which ended up having to be a choice of conscience for each person.
[00:14:36] But, oh, we couldn't live in peace. We couldn't find peace.
[00:14:42] But then I had one friend who was a part of my local leadership team. We stood completely opposed in ideas and understanding, and we came to this point even in tears. We were in conversation and I said, but I love you. And he says, and I love you. And we got on with it. And we stood even with opposing ideas and views. And yet five years later, or however many years on, we're best friends, we're mates, we work together.
[00:15:09] It wasn't a principal thing, was it? It was a preference, it was a choice. And we can find ourselves sometimes getting so caught up on, this is what I would like, and this is what I would like, and then that divides us. Let's not be divided on those things. Paul says, live in peace with each other.
[00:15:27] If it's not a matter of life or death, it shouldn't be a deal. Break in a relationship and it's okay. I have no problem with people thinking differently. To me, it's good. In fact, I like that, because I get a greater knowledge and understanding when I rub up against someone who thinks differently to me. Because I've got an inherited theology that I've gained over the years from what I've seen and what I've experienced. And when someone comes and challenges that, let's not be afraid of that. Let's lean in and in love. Listen. Cause we might grow. Imagine that. Imagine if I didn't know everything and someone else could teach me something I know that's hard for some of us to believe. It's possible.
[00:16:11] I think there's truth in that song. Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends?
[00:16:19] We could find a hundred things to disagree on, but I think we could find a whole lot of things we could agree on.
[00:16:27] Paul goes on in verse 14, and he says, and we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone.
[00:16:40] There's a little bit of a stir up from Paul. Paul was a little bit like that, wasn't he? He wasn't afraid of ruffling a few feathers. He wasn't afraid of calling out bad behaviour. And I think in the church, it's okay. We should do that. We should encourage one another. We should challenge one another. We should be able to go to somebody and say, come on, there's more in you than you're giving.
[00:17:03] There's more in you that, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. We all need coaches in our lives to try and draw that little bit more out of us. I know I've got people. There's one guy in my life, he'll start his conversation with me and he'll say, mighty man of God.
[00:17:23] I'm not feeling that today. But he calls it out of me. He'll address me, mighty man of God. I'm like, I'm going to believe that. I'm going to believe that. Step into that.
[00:17:37] Be patient with everyone. I reckon we could fill an altar call right now with that.
[00:17:43] Anyone else? Struggle with patience a little bit. How many people would like to change God's timing on that miracle you're waiting for?
[00:17:50] How many people are very patient with everybody on the road?
[00:17:57] Then it goes on. Verse 15. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Paul's saying, let's forgive the debt of others.
[00:18:12] I think forgiveness, personally, as I've watched over the years, is quite possibly the biggest miracle that I ever see.
[00:18:21] When somebody has the ability to forgive somebody when you've been wronged and when you've been hurt so bad and that that person does deserve justice or, you know, there's been an injustice and they deserve to pay retribution for what they've done.
[00:18:40] And then out of your spirit, God says, I want you to forgive them.
[00:18:44] When that miracle of forgiveness takes place, the freedom that comes, that weight off our shoulders, that burden that we have carried now, it's not saying what they did was right. Forgiving them isn't excusing what they did because judgment is the Lord's. Let him have that. Let the court of law do what the court of law needs to do. Absolutely. We do all of that. But we can forgive and we can release our judgment on them and we can be free. We can be free. Paul says, nobody pay back wrong for wrong. Let's live a life of doing good for others.
[00:19:23] And here's where I want to land.
[00:19:25] So we've walked through this journey with Paul over these few verses, and I believe Paul has landed on three keys, which are some of the three shortest verses in the Bible, actually verse 1617 and 18. Paul gives us keys to christian character amidst persecution in fact, Paul declares these three responses are actually Jesus will for our life. Let's read together. Rejoice, always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. Listen, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. You want to know God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Rejoice, always, pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. That rolls off the tongue really nicely, but it doesn't blow out of the heart as easily.
[00:20:19] Was Paul saying, don't have feelings? No, no.
[00:20:24] Was Paul saying, you can't get angry? Don't think he was Paul saying, you can't cry when something bad happens to.
[00:20:34] The Bible is full of examples of emotions that come to us as human beings. To be honest, our emotions allow us to connect in a deeper way with God than if we were robots. We can't love God without choice, without feeling.
[00:20:51] But unfortunately, many of us are led by our feelings and our emotions, and we make our decisions based on what we feel, rather than something instinctively that has risen up within us that says, I will rejoice always, I will pray continually, I will give thanks in all circumstances.
[00:21:11] Solomon in ecclesiastes says, this is the time to mourn, this is the time to laugh and cry, and all of that is right, and it's good, and we should process and we should experience all of that emotion. But there is a response that we can have that flows up and out of our spirit that says, I will rejoice always, I will pray continually. I will give thanks in all circumstances.
[00:21:34] What Paul's saying is, when the feelings and the emotions rise up in a moment, what will our response be?
[00:21:40] Have we trained ourselves? Have we chosen to make this decision time and time and time and time again, instinctively, dozens, hundreds, thousands of times? How have we trained ourselves to respond? Because naturally, I can tell you how we've trained ourselves to respond.
[00:22:01] When I'm hurt, I'll lash out. I had to send a child out because for three weeks I'd watched him train. Anger, everything's just aggression, aggression. All came out on Saturday. It was really sad to watch, but I had to make a decision as a referee.
[00:22:19] He got pushed, he got bumped, he got nudged, came out, all firing, pushed. Another kid pushes him again. I'm sorry, there's consequences for your actions, but that's something that's been stirring in him for a long time now. That's going to be a hard lesson for him. But I'm really praying, and I have been praying since yesterday that this would be a turning point for him, that something that was instinctively angry well, turn. I had a conversation with him at the end. I said, I'm sorry, I had to do it, but here's my reasons why.
[00:22:51] Hard, hard lesson to learn. But instinctively there's stuff in us that we're going to respond.
[00:22:58] We're going to see whether we can ask God to change that response within us. That person who takes the gap on the motorway.
[00:23:06] What's our first response? I don't know. Back in New Zealand that they had a whole marketing campaign merge like a ziptainous, you know, one car, then another, another. And I'm like, you just broke the zip.
[00:23:20] That was my space. I'm driving sensibly and I'm driving right and you took my space. And all of a sudden I'm thinking, am I even a christian anymore?
[00:23:29] But you know what I've done? You know how I've changed it? How I've created this instinct of praise. Somebody takes my gap, you know what I do after you come on.
[00:23:41] Because you know what they've done? They have just entered into my prayer room because they're now in front of me and what can I do for the next two minutes while they're driving in front of me? They'll get there a second quicker than me.
[00:23:54] But what do I get to do? I can pray for them.
[00:23:58] God bless you. I pray that the rush and the panic that you're feeling right now that you needed to push in and get ahead of me, I pray that that would cease. I pray that you'd find peace today because I've got the other option. I can flash my lights, I can shake my fist, I could get up alongside them and shout at them through the window, right? Because that's another response. And some of us are smiling because maybe that's the response.
[00:24:26] But I'm training myself so that instinctively, when that happens, my response is not, I want to chase you down and get you. My response is, God bless you. Of course you can have my space, no problem.
[00:24:42] That's probably one of the deeper ones. That cuts real deep that one, doesn't it?
[00:24:47] But you think about that person that treats you badly at work, that person that just continually rides you. Just bless them, bless them, smile, make them guess and wonder why you're so happy.
[00:25:05] It's like, why are you always so happy? My daughter got accused of that at school the other day.
[00:25:10] Why are you always so happy?
[00:25:13] But you know what?
[00:25:15] In the space of ten days, a girl who's been far from God says, I was looking for a sign when I came back to school.
[00:25:23] That God, you're real and I think he might have sent you.
[00:25:29] So if we travel the other side of the world for that, then I'll be saying, thank you, God.
[00:25:38] Rejoice, always pray continually. Give thanks at all times.
[00:25:43] Can you see a pattern? Paul's saying always, continuously, at all times, on and on and on and on.
[00:25:51] Anyone exhausted just thinking about that.
[00:25:55] But we're spending our emotion and our energy anyway, right? If my response is naturally negative, I think I spend more energy in anger and frustration than I do in just blessing somebody.
[00:26:10] Seriously, I am a real person. I do have feelings and emotions and they do get the better of me. Remember I told you I was a horrific sport?
[00:26:19] I got angry, I got frustrated. If somebody did something wrong, I would respond badly.
[00:26:25] But I'm proof that you can change. You can become a different person by the work of God in your life.
[00:26:33] And when that person cuts us off, when that person upsets us and frustrates us in our response, instead of the anger and frustration, everything that rises up within us of my responses, I'm just going to bless you. I'm just going to bless you.
[00:26:50] Peace fills my heart. It's like, you know, I come down a little bit. It's like blood pressure probably comes down a fraction too.
[00:27:02] You know what happens when we respond that way? People notice it. They really do. They notice when you respond out of the world's character and you respond with christian and kingdom character.
[00:27:17] What if we could turn these choices into good reactions? What if instead of choosing anger or frustration, we choose love, joy, peace, patience, kindness? What if we choose to forgive rather than holding that offence?
[00:27:34] Being robbed is. Is not the worst thing that could happen to us as a family. But when it did, probably about six years ago, our home was robbed. We were down at a conference two and a half hours from home. Got a phone call. Hey, this is the police. We're at your address. Somebody's broken into your home and, yeah, we just need to connect with you and tell you what's happened to, you know, my response immediately. I'm like, this is my home. This is my safe place. This is the place where we can lock our door at night and we know this is. I felt violated.
[00:28:13] It felt horrible to think that people had come through our house with the desire to take our stuff and trash our place, and we couldn't help but share it with our kids. It wasn't easy, but I remember Rosie was eight at the time, and I think Rosie was probably impacted the most by it, like, really affected her. And I remember she just began to weep, as you would expect.
[00:28:43] And as she's weeping, she says, dad, can I borrow your phone? I'm like, okay. But actually I knew what she was asking for. She was asking for a worship playlist.
[00:28:53] And so she took her phone, took my phone, put her headphones in, and she worshipped. I just watched her on the bed in the hotel room, worshipping, praising, crying. Half an hour later, she hands the phone back to me and says, dad, I'm okay.
[00:29:12] And then she says, can we pray for the boys?
[00:29:16] I'm like, you're a better christian than me because I'm still holding some stuff there, right?
[00:29:23] But her instinctive response, the emotion was there, right? It's true, it's real. Don't deny it.
[00:29:32] But we then have a choice to make with that. What now will I do? She says, I'm going to praise because that's what I do to get through it.
[00:29:42] We had a tough drive into town the other day. The reality of being here, leaving everything we've left.
[00:29:50] We were a part of an incredible church back home.
[00:29:54] Amazing. Just amazing. Amazing people. I built a leadership team of ten couples that stood alongside. And we were mates, we were friends. We had the robust conversations. We had amazing ministries of kids and youth and we had a lovely home. We had everything. Everything was good challenges, but it was good. And we kind of gave it all up because God says, go, and we don't regret it. But the reality is it's hard. And we were having a really hard day for the de Vittis. The other day we were driving into town and, yeah, two kids didn't really want to go to school. And I'm not sure if I wanted to go to work, to be honest.
[00:30:39] And so what do we do? We turned our praise on and we sat and we wept for about 20 minutes on the drive. And then we got to the schools. We said, should we pray?
[00:30:53] We prayed. We asked God for his help for today.
[00:30:58] And the burden lifted.
[00:31:01] Still hard, but it lifted.
[00:31:07] Rejoice.
[00:31:10] Pray.
[00:31:11] Give thanks.
[00:31:14] It's a choice. It's a choice we have to make because the feelings will come, the emotions will come. What will I do when that comes? How will I respond?
[00:31:25] I'm going to choose to rejoice. I'm going to choose to pray. I'm going to choose to be thankful.
[00:31:32] Still wondering if it's possible.
[00:31:34] It's important that we understand the context of the scripture. See, sometimes we can read the word and we can read it and we think this is a word for me. For Mike.
[00:31:45] But so much of the word is written in the context of community.
[00:31:49] So you got to understand, Paul has been speaking to the church in Thessalonica, so he's not all of a sudden turning to one person and saying, now you.
[00:31:58] He's saying, collectively, rejoice. Collectively, pray collectively, be thankful. Because how many people know this? Some days I don't want to praise, but I might just need somebody to get alongside me and go, come on. There's something more to this day that you haven't yet seen.
[00:32:20] Anyone ever needed a prayer buddy, just to come alongside you and say, can I pray in the into that situation, when you have prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed, and you are done praying for that situation, and someone comes with faith again and says, come on, let's go one more time. Paul is saying, collectively, would you rejoice? Collectively, would you pray together as a community? Would you give thanks to God at all times?
[00:32:46] That's why life groups matter so much. Connecting with other people.
[00:32:51] It's great that we come on a Sunday and this is amazing, but you could come in and be a stranger for ten years by coming to church and going out. You could hear some great preaching and teaching and experience some great moments with God. But if you don't have somebody that's going to stand alongside you, sit in your lounge and pray with you and cry with you, you know, we've come over here and I've said to Amy, we want friends. We don't find our crew, we're going to find the people that we're going to do life with. And I've already had a chat with a couple of people and I said, I'm going to be upfront. I'm going to tell you what I need from our friendship. I'm like, might as well lay it out right from the start.
[00:33:30] I said, I love football, but I don't want us to always be talking about football.
[00:33:34] I don't want to just talk about what's good or bad at work. I said, if we're not praying together as friends, if we're not encouraging one another as friends, then our friendship, it won't last long.
[00:33:48] I want friends that are going to be in the arena with me, fighting alongside me, who've got my back when I'm facing the most difficult things.
[00:33:59] That's why Paul's saying, do it together.
[00:34:02] You know, when we encourage someone else, we get encouraged. When we water someone else, we get watered and blessed. So what if I'm not a super positive person like you Mike, I haven't always been that way, but if you're not, find someone who is, get alongside somebody, find an encourager and say, you know what, I think I need a bit of you in my life.
[00:34:27] I think I need a bit of you. I need you speaking into my world. In most relationships you've probably got one who's more negative and more positive. You know, friendships, marriages, children, you know, but let's be ones that would encourage. Let's get alongside those and encourage, you know. I found something to thank God for when our place got robbed, you know, because they, they tried to take the tv off the wall and they couldn't take it away. Dropped on the ground, cracked, it was destroyed. And so we were dealing with the insurance agency afterwards and they said, look, that tv, which we paid like 250 pounds for, they said, look, we just can't replace that one.
[00:35:12] The only equivalent type brand is worth 1000 pounds.
[00:35:17] Are you okay with that? I'm like, you know what, let me think about it just for a moment to get back to you. I'm like, I'm up $750 on this pounds on this robbery already.
[00:35:29] Find something to be thankful for. But you know, the best part, and I just bring it to a close with this, the best part of the story as a victim. In New Zealand we have like a victim retribution process where if somebody has wronged you as the victim, you get to be, if you would like, a part of the restoration process, especially when it's a minor. And so they asked if I would like to be a part of the.
[00:35:56] Yeah, that victim process. And I said, yes, I'd love to. Now, in New Zealand there is a culture.
[00:36:04] The Mori people have a very strong faith culture. And so at the start of any meeting, often there is an invitation for a karakiya, which is a prayer. And so I was asked, being a minister, would you like to do the karakiya? Would you like to open a prayer? Now often the karakiya, or the prayer is not necessarily directed at God but to a deity of some sort.
[00:36:27] But obviously I know who I'm praying to. And I said, I'd love to pray. So what do you think I did for the next three minutes? I prophesied over these young boys.
[00:36:39] I forgave them with my prayer and I spoke life over them and I encouraged them and I spoke into a future that was nothing, what their present was.
[00:36:50] And then we do a Christmas hamper, things similar to what happens in Exeter. And we had the opportunity to partner with the police. And I saw this boy's name on our list of those who were going to get a Christmas hamper. And I said, would it be okay if I deliver the box? And so that Christmas, just a few months after I was robbed by this family, I was delivering a Christmas box hamper to the mum and I gave her a big hug and she knew who I was and she knew what her son had done. And I gave her a big hug and a box of goodies and said, love, you. Have a wonderful Christmas.
[00:37:31] There are two choices, right? In any situation.
[00:37:35] But we can rejoice, we can pray and give thanks at all times.
[00:37:44] Just bow your heads for a moment.
[00:37:51] I don't know if anyone's been challenged by my thoughts today, if your natural response is probably more towards the negative than and the praise and the prayer and the giving thanks.
[00:38:11] If you felt the conviction of God here today saying, God, I know I respond out of my flesh rather than out of the spirit, would you just acknowledge that just by raising your hand saying, God, I need help in that area?
[00:38:31] Awesome. Yeah. Number of people there, so good. You can pop your hand down. I just want to pray for you. I want to pray for all of us, actually, because I don't think we're all there yet. I know I'm not. I'm still working with it daily, but come on, will you just open your hands and just receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit this morning?
[00:38:56] Holy Spirit, your word says that when you are in our lives, you produce this type of fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
[00:39:20] It's not something we can manufacture on our own. It's not something we can just wish to be. It is a work of your spirit.
[00:39:27] So we surrender our hearts and our minds, our will, our emotion to you. Again, we say, we want to surrender to you, that our response would instinctively be that of praise, of prayer, of thankfulness.
[00:39:47] That when that difficult situation rises even this week, that we would respond in such a way that you would get the glory and the devil would get none.
[00:39:59] We thank you for the work of your spirit in our lives. And I pray for every single person where this is a real struggle, that, Lord, we're not going to deny our emotions, but we will bring those emotions to you say, God, I need your help. I need your help to be able to rejoice always, to pray continually, to give thanks in all circumstances, because that is your will for us in Christ Jesus.
[00:40:26] So, God, I pray for a blessing on every single person here today. May they know the power of your holy spirit that work in their lives.
[00:40:35] And may you do a work in each of us. In Jesus name.
[00:40:39] Amen.
