Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] So are we ready to start the Gospel of Luke? Yeah, yeah. So we're gonna, if you don't know, as a church, we're gonna follow the Book of Luke from January right through to December. We might have a break with like visiting preachers in between, but we're gonna follow it. And we've got a great team this year who are going to be delivering this and I get the privilege of kicking off the first one today. And so if you want to turn to the Book of Luke, we've got to cover 30 years of Jesus life in two chapters.
[00:00:36] Did you know 30 years of Jesus's life are in chapters one and two?
[00:00:41] I bet you didn't know that. So I have the hard task to cover 30 years of Jesus life in chapters one and chapters two this morning. Alright, so if you got the email about, can you please read chapters one and two in advance of today? And you read and you did your homework. Put your hands up if you did your homework.
[00:01:03] Well done class.
[00:01:05] There's about three of you who read it. All right, so.
[00:01:09] Oh, she like, sorry, there's a pupil over there who's saying I'm sorry. Yes, okay, see me after class. All right, see me. But yeah, so we're not going to be able to read huge chunks on a Sunday morning. So if you can like in advance, that will really help you gain some understanding. We're going to read a real, really small chunk a bit later on and then we're also going to anoint some people with oil today.
[00:01:33] This is just a little bit of oil. We really want to pray for people in the workplace this morning. If you are at college, you're in business, you're in offices, you're in schools, you're in hospitals, care homes, wherever you work, we want to anoint you this morning before we really get into the year, to anoint you to be carriers of God's glory this year in the workplace. All right. In the mission field, every single day. So whoever you are, we're going to do that later on.
[00:02:06] So the Book of Luke, we're going to hear a lot about Luke, although it's not really about him over the course of the year, but a little bit about Luke. Luke was a physician, he was a doctor.
[00:02:18] Luke traveled with the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys. And Luke had a huge heart for people. As you read over the Book of Luke, he loved people to bits like he just records some incredible stories about people and it shows us that Luke was a brilliant storyteller. I love storytelling. Alright, Phil, is a brilliant storyteller. I'm not. I'm useless. I'm just so straight and a bit boring. Right. Phil takes something that's so ordinary. I'm not saying that he fabricates, I'm not saying he twists a little bit, but let's just say by the fifth person he tells the story to, it's kind of changed a little bit. No, I'm just joking. But Phil is a brilliant storyteller and I've watched him around tables with people, tell people about Jesus in such a story like manner that he has people eaten out of his hands. And Luke is a storyteller, he tells stories. And I love that God and some of you are going to listen up here. I love that God chose an intellect, a scientific intellect, a doctor to tell people about Jesus. Because as we go through the book of Luke, there's a lot of miracles, there's a lot of supernatural happenings that you can't explain from a natural point of view. And Luke, and God chooses Luke, who's very intellectual, very scientific, to give this message, to write this book. So I find that really amazing. And also as well, if you turn quickly to Luke, chapter one, just go quickly to the beginning part of Luke.
[00:04:08] Okay? This is how Luke starts the Gospel. He says, many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled amongst us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things that have been taught to give an orderly account. So for Luke, it was really important that he got the facts right. And I want to say just before we start this journey in the book of Acts, what we read every single week here as we study the book and what we will see is true.
[00:05:05] It is not made up, it is not far fetched, it is not fabricated in any way. It is accurate and it is true. Whether you choose to believe that or not is up to you. No one's forcing you to believe anything but what I am saying and what we are reading out of scripture. Scripture. It is accurate and it is true. And this morning we've called the sermon the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And my prayer is that as we go on this journey that when we read these astonishing accounts, that you will again realize that God is a great God, that he is a supernatural God. He's the God of impossibility.
[00:05:53] And we just pray that you will see Jesus as you have never seen him before. Anybody want to see Jesus like they've never seen him before? Anybody want to be a great worshiper like you've never been before because you've bumped into Jesus more this year. So this isn't about us just going on a journey finding out information. This is about us understanding the fullness of who this lovely chance Jesus is. And he's lovely.
[00:06:22] We want to encounter him.
[00:06:25] We can start count encountering him before we go into eternity. Did you know that you can start getting excited about him before you get to eternity. You can start being the greatest worshipper and praiser before you get into eternity. I think sometimes as a church, we forget.
[00:06:43] We kind of think, oh, it'd be okay when we get into eternity. Yes, it will be perfect. Be amazing. But we can start right now.
[00:06:53] We can start right now. So, Lord, enlarge our vision through 2025 to see you as you truly are, not as we think you are, but as you truly are. Let that reality and the fullness of Christ fill us this year before we dive in. If you notice at the start, it says that Paul addressed, sorry, Luke, addresses this letter to the most excellent Theophilus. Now, the truth is we don't know who Theophilus is. All right? If you look in the Book of Acts as well, Luke is also the author of Acts because he went on many missionary journeys with Paul, but it also is addressed to Theophilus. Now, the word Theophilus, the name means lover of God or friend of God. God. So regardless of whether Luke wrote this letter intended for the Theophilus. Put my teeth back in. Okay. Or not, the truth is that this letter is written to believers everywhere, and it's written to those who love God, and it's written to believers throughout the generations. Amen. Okay, so let's get into it this morning.
[00:08:06] Can't read it all today, but there were two miraculous births. Two miraculous births in chapters one and two. The two miraculous births were John the Baptist and Jesus. All right, John the Baptist was the forerunner, if you like. He was the one who was to go and prepare the way for Jesus. Right? Yeah. Most of us know that Jesus, on the other hand, was the Son of God, and he was also the Son of man. So two miraculous births. If you've read the accounts, you will know that, naturally speaking, these births were impossible.
[00:08:46] And they were impossible because you've got Zechariah and Elizabeth. And the Bible tells us, and I'm not sure how I would feel being a woman, but said that Elizabeth was well on in age.
[00:08:57] She was an old girl.
[00:09:00] They were old. But Zechariah and Elizabeth had been faithful to the Lord right through their lifetime. The Bible says that they did right in the sight of God. Can you imagine when you've ended your years and somebody writes about you and they said they were a faithful couple and they did what was right in the sight of God. Can you imagine somebody saying that to you at your funeral? All right. And they were so faithful, but their prayers had not been answered.
[00:09:29] They're in old age, right? They were at a dead end. There's no way now they're going to conceive a child. Like, there's just no way. And then you've got Mary, who was also at a dead end. And Mary is this young probably. You know, people think she's about 15, 16, and she was a virgin girl. And she's at a dead end because apparently she's going to have Jesus, she's going to conceive a child. But here's the problem. She hasn't got a husband and she's a virgin.
[00:09:59] Can you see how two births here, naturally impossible. You go to the doctor today, ladies, and you say, and you go to the doctor and you say, I'm going to have a baby. And you talk about all the technicalities and that you say, but I'm actually a virgin. The doctor's going to say, well, that's not quite how it works.
[00:10:19] You need a man.
[00:10:21] And so they were both at a dead end.
[00:10:26] One too old, one couple too old, the other a virgin. And yet Luke starts his account with two miraculous births.
[00:10:37] We are believing this year that anybody here who's at a dead end sees their resurrection.
[00:10:45] How many of us believe in this place? And you've got to smile at me if you believe like that God specializes in dead ends, that he loves moving into spaces and places and homes and offices to bring dead things to life.
[00:11:04] I want to be part of a church and a people that still believe that, that God is still moving in 2025 as he did 2000 years ago. And I believe that some people here have been praying for husbands, praying for wives. And you are going to see, might not be this year, but you are going to see it happen, that they're going to come to life in Jesus Christ. Phil was with somebody this weekend and he said, I've been praying for my wife for decades. She was an atheist. You know what I find really hard in the body of Christ as we pastor people. You know, when people get married and they're unsaved at the time, and then halfway through their marriage, one person finds Christ but the other doesn't, that must be really hard. Have you ever thought about that? Must be really hard. And there are a few people I know, that's your story at the moment.
[00:12:01] But this man, he'd been praying for decades. They got married, the man became a Christian, found Jesus. But this woman was an atheist. She was not going to believe in God.
[00:12:14] Five years before she passed, this woman gave her life to Christ.
[00:12:20] The dead end. That seemed impossible. Jesus spoke life. And that woman, that husband knows for sure that that woman would be with Jesus when she passed from this life to the next. Some people praying for prodigal sons to come home, prodigal daughters, dead ends, resurrection life. Some of you, for breakthroughs would encourage you church to speak life into dead ends. Because with God, what? All things are possible.
[00:12:53] All things are possible. Okay, so God had a plan. Do you ever wonder why it took God so long to send Jesus?
[00:13:04] Some of us are sat here thinking, I'm wondering why it's taking God so long to send Jesus again. We're waiting, Lord. It seems a long wait. My parents keep. My mum keeps saying to me, well, I'm still believing it's going to happen in my lifetime. I believe the Lord's going to come in my lifetime. And she's getting another year older and she's going to. I'm still going to keep believing. We're believing that the Lord's going to come. But it seemed ages. You know, the Israelites had to wait like 1600 years.
[00:13:33] And then there was a period of 400 years from the Old Testament to the New Testament. 400 years of complete silence. No prophet, no king, no priest.
[00:13:45] God was completely silent on the face of the earth. That's like the equivalent of 12 or 13 generations going by and you've not heard anything. You've not seen the hand of God. You've not. There's nothing.
[00:14:00] You know, I credit those generations who kept the hope of the coming Jesus alive. Haven't we got a responsibility, parents, to keep the hope, to talk with our children, to encourage them in the law, to keep the hope alive until the day dawns and Jesus comes again. But, you know, God had a plan. The miraculous births, the angelic visitations. Do we still believe in angelic visitations? Phil and I have an amazing story. I just don't have time this morning to tell you, but we have a beautiful story. God just sent his angelic host to protect us.
[00:14:38] Both sides of the parents were afraid. Zechariah, he, he just doubted the promise. So when the angel visited Zechariah and said, you're going to have a son, Zechariah's like, no, it's not going to happen. And so what did God do? He muted him, he shut him up.
[00:14:55] He said, right until that baby's born, you're going to lose your voice. We have to be careful what we say, careful what we think. God said, I'm going to silence you.
[00:15:06] You're not going to speak until the promise comes. And then Mary, she was slightly different because Mary was afraid. Any 15, 16 year old girls here be like, what are my parents going to say? I am afraid I'm going to be a disgrace to my local community. I'm pregnant. They're never going to believe this one. So she was afraid, but she surrendered. She surrendered. She said, okay, if it be your will, I am the Lord's servant, let it be to me as you have said. So she was afraid, but she surrendered. You know, there is a lot of fear in the church around the supernatural.
[00:15:43] When God starts to move, you either jump in and you go, okay, I'm going to go for this, or we tend to back away because we don't fully understand where we've never been before.
[00:16:00] And I believe the church has too much fear of, upon it, of the unknown, of the supernatural. And sometimes we are fearful because actually we've stopped expecting God to turn up.
[00:16:16] And I have to be careful what I say here. But for some of us, we've stopped hoping.
[00:16:22] Oh, we turn up to pray and we turn up to serve and we, we turn up to our services, but we just put up with what we have to put up with because we really have stopped trusting that the supernatural acts of God are going to happen in our time.
[00:16:40] We're going to turn that around in 2025.
[00:16:44] We're going to say, God, we're going to believe that you're going to break through at any moment. We're going to live with great expectation.
[00:16:50] I have seen some wonderful things, but for a season in my life now I'm thinking, lord, I've not seen you for a while. I've not seen the miracles that I saw 20 years ago.
[00:17:01] Is it because we are getting dull in our understanding? Is it because we're lacking faith? Is it because we're not encouraging each other and building up our faith? What Is it?
[00:17:15] And so fear surrounds us when it comes to the supernatural. But if God is going to come close, I believe we've got to yield and surrender to allow God to do things his way, even if we don't understand things.
[00:17:30] You know, I saw somebody fall down once, and God's presence was all over them. And this person just fell down. And they were out for about an hour. And you could hear them just singing, just singing to the Lord. And this is a very quiet person. You know, we had a person leave the church over that because they didn't understand that God was ministering to that person.
[00:17:56] But I'm like, lord, whatever you want to do, I mean, I don't want to be pregnant at 80.
[00:18:05] I'm not saying that kind of thing.
[00:18:09] But let's not be fearful this year. Let's say, lord, we commit our lives to you. What we're reading about miracles, signs and wonders. You know, Jesus even said greater things we will do.
[00:18:21] And sometimes I look at my life and go, well, how. How ridiculous I am. I'm a minister, I'm a pastor, I'm a leader.
[00:18:28] Lord, have I got faith to believe that you're the same yesterday, today, and forever, that in 2025 you are going to do greater things in our time and day.
[00:18:40] Sometimes we've got to look at each other, wake each other up, and go, he's going to do greater things. I am believing for greater things this year. I believe the Lord would say to rediscover church. Newton Abbott, don't be afraid. Trust me. Trust me, trust me. Okay, so both births, both babies had specific callings over their lives. Let's just go through them really quick. And then I really want to get to the crunch, crunch of what I'm doing.
[00:19:06] Luke 1. I'm going to kind of paraphrase some of this. It says about John the Baptist, he will be great in the sight of the Lord. This is his calling. He'll be filled with the Holy Spirit before he's born. If you're pregnant this morning, pray that your baby is filled with the Spirit of God. There is that one scene where I think Elizabeth, she's roughly about six, seven months pregnant. And Mary comes and Mary's carrying Jesus. At this point in time, Mary's probably about three months pregnant. And Scripture tells us in Luke, the first couple of chapters of Luke, that when Mary and Elizabeth draw near the baby in Elizabeth's womb starts people who've carried babies, women who've carried babies, you know, that beating that the little boy does the girl does.
[00:19:54] But it said, Elizabeth, John the Baptist started to leap and move, right? And he was in the womb because he recognized the presence Jesus coming near. And Jesus was in the womb at the time. Okay, so it says he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit before he's born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to God, turn hearts of parents to their children, the disobedient to the wisdom and prepare. And this is what we said before. Ready, people, for the coming of Jesus. That was John the Baptist calling. What does it say about Jesus? It says his kingdom will never end. Come on. His kingdom will. This is all in Luke 1. I'm covering a lot of ground this morning. His kingdom will never end. His reign. He will reign forever.
[00:20:43] The Lord will give him the throne of David. He is seated on the throne.
[00:20:50] And it says he will be called the Son of the Most High. And then he says this. He will be called great.
[00:21:01] He. Can we just pause for a moment? Close your eyes or just, you know, I want. Just focus for a moment. He will be great.
[00:21:11] He is great.
[00:21:14] Can we just say that this morning? He is great.
[00:21:19] He's great.
[00:21:22] Lord, as we go on this journey, we just say that you are great.
[00:21:27] All your deeds are wonderful. They are perfect. You have a perfect plan for mankind. You have a perfect plan for us in 2025, Lord, and we say it together as a church. You are great.
[00:21:44] So God has a plan. And not only that, but he speaks plans over your life this morning. He speaks calling. He speaks destiny over you. And God is looking for a people who will tap into what he is doing this year and labor with him to see his kingdom come and his will being done. Are you a people this year, as we follow the life of Jesus, saying, Jesus, I'm joining the mission. I'm tagging along. I'm going to be all in. I'm going to yield myself.
[00:22:20] Because he says, and I love this in Peter, he says, you are a chosen people. If you are in Christ this morning, you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood. You have royalty upon you. This morning, you are a special possession. You are called to declare the praises of God.
[00:22:40] So the main part. I've got 10 minutes on this before we wrap up. The main part, where you go to the end of chapter two, right? I'm not going to mention the shepherds this morning and the wise men because they got enough attention last month. I'm sorry, they did. I mean, how many times did we read through and the shepherds are in the field by night and the glory of the Lord. I mean, it's fantastic. But they had the attention last month, right? We could go on and mention Simeon and Anna in the temple. Faithful, true worshippers of God.
[00:23:13] Stunning passages. But I'm going to take us right to the end of Luke 2 this morning, so grab your Bibles.
[00:23:21] And this is an incredible passage. And we have to understand this before Dave comes next week and we go into the ministry of Jesus. So Luke chapter two. Are you still with me? Are you still awake? If you've gone to sleep, bless you. If you need sleep, please go to sleep. This is the best place for it. I know some of you don't get much sleep. Well, do you know there's some rose here.
[00:23:43] Come. Why not?
[00:23:45] Okay, so let's go to Luke chapter two right at the end.
[00:23:51] And it says this verse 41.
[00:23:56] Every year Jesus parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. When he was 12 years old. Everyone say 12.
[00:24:05] They went up to the festival according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Wow. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days, parents, you start to get anxious.
[00:24:41] Three days. After three days they found him and they went. Sorry. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Let me just repeat that. In the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Why were you searching for me? He asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house? But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature, in favor with God and in favor with man.
[00:25:49] Okay, this is the bit I want to focus on in this passage, right? 30 years of Jesus's life. And then we're going to spend the whole year looking at the last three years of his life.
[00:26:00] Thirty years of Jesus life. This passage starts when Jesus is 12.
[00:26:06] So we know Jesus is born. This Miraculous birth comes through a virgin, right? And then we next pick up on the life of Jesus when he is 12 years old and until he's 30. So this passage focuses on 18 years of Jesus's life. 18 years, okay? And how many of us know, right, in this passage, we don't see any miracle, we don't see any good deed that Jesus does, right? We just have an insight into who he was becoming.
[00:26:41] How many of us know that who we are becoming is more important than what we do?
[00:26:47] What we do is important, don't get me wrong, it's important. But who we are becoming, how we are growing, how we are developing is more important than initially of what we do because it's who we are becoming that affects what we do or what we don't do. It's always about growing, growing, growing. And so Jesus was at a crucial age in this passage. He was 12. If you know anything about Judaism, 12 was a significant age for a Jewish boy, alright? They basically became an adult at 12. They were now responsible at 12. A 12 year old boy was responsible for many of his decisions.
[00:27:34] So no wonder they kind of lost him, all right, because he was responsible for his own actions. A Jewish boy would often take on like a bit of responsibility in the Father's business, all right? That's what happened at 12. He was now responsible for how he grew and how he developed, all right, To a certain extent, right? So he was 12. And Jesus goes, and on this occasion, because he's now 12, he is allowed with the rest of the adults to observe the Passover. So the annual Passover, and they go to Jerusalem and it's about 80 miles from where they live to travel to Jerusalem. And this is amazing because Jesus observes the Passover in Jerusalem. Just let that sink in for a moment. He observes the Passover as a boy of 12.
[00:28:26] Now the Passover for the Jews. At that point they were celebrating how God rescued them from Egypt, all right? That's what the Passover was. They passed over from slavery to freedom. Today as Christians, we celebrate, it's called the Lord's Supper. We celebrate this greater liberty, this greater freedom, not just from slavery, right? But from sin and darkness and death. That's why we take the Lord's Supper.
[00:28:55] We're rescued from the dominion of darkness.
[00:29:00] But there's Jesus and he's 12 and he goes into the temple to observe the Passover.
[00:29:08] He's 12. He's standing there.
[00:29:11] No one knows that he is the sacrificial lamb.
[00:29:19] The 20 years later would go to the cross for the sins of the world. He's there as a 12 year old boy. I believe at 12 he knew what his calling was. I don't believe he always knew. I don't believe he knew. At 5 and 6, I think he was a boy, he was fully human and fully man.
[00:29:39] But I think there was an awareness at 12, maybe a bit before, who knows? It's not important really.
[00:29:47] But he was the sacrificial lamb and no one knew about it.
[00:29:53] And then the time came for them to return home.
[00:29:58] Let's go back from the Passover festival. And they walk for about a day. I mean, can you imagine parents? And they suddenly realize, where's Jesus? Where is he?
[00:30:10] Can you imagine Mary and Joseph? I thought he was with you. No, no, no. I thought he was with you. No, I thought you were supposed. No, you were supposed. Can you imagine the scene? He's gone. And so what they have to do, they've walked for a day. They've got to go back another day to Jerusalem to find Jesus. And then they still don't find him. And they look for another whole day until they find him. That's three days without your son. I don't know parents, if you've ever lost a child. We've lost all three of us, right? We lost Reuben for 15 minutes on a beach and he was five.
[00:30:52] I don't think Phil actually told me, alright. I think he just went off and, you know, I need to get this boy before he comes back. And then we lost James, our middle one, eight years old, at a football match at Leeds United.
[00:31:06] Scary, scary. Again, Phil did not tell me. I'm so thankful I was told afterwards. And then just recently.
[00:31:15] Bear in mind, ours are all like 18, 16 and nearly 15 now. All right? But recently, Friday morning, we lost Heidi.
[00:31:24] It was early hours, Friday morning, I'm getting up and Heidi's bedroom door is wide open, all right? And I go in. I thought, strange, she must be up early.
[00:31:35] Her quilt just back, she's not in there. And I went all the way around the house and I couldn't find her. And Honestly, for like 30 seconds, my heart is beating. I'm like, she's been taken, you know, Like I'm at all sorts. Don't laugh at me. Like, this was like real. I'm like, she's taken. So I run upstairs, like, phil, she's gone, she's gone, she's gone. I'm like, she's gone, she's gone. And suddenly I hear this mum and she's in the box room, sleeping, all right. And I never even thought to look in there because Heidi loves her bed. Like she's got the best bed in the house, you know, like somebody just has the best bed. Heidi has the best bed. And I thought, she'll never be in the box room. And I kind of swear, phew, the relief, honestly, I thought, I've lost, I've lost my nearly 15 year old daughter in our house and our house isn't that big, all right? So if you've ever lost a child, you can almost sympathise with Joseph and Mary and they'd lost Jesus for three whole days.
[00:32:35] And so Mary is besides herself. I mean, what would you ask as a mother? You'd be like, who have you been with?
[00:32:41] Were they weird?
[00:32:44] Like, I need to know who's been looking after you. How did you get your food? Have you eaten? Let's go and get you some bread, get you some fish, like we need. Have you drank anything? You know? And, and this is how he replies. He says, did you not know I had to be in my father's house?
[00:33:03] I. He was 12. 12. And he says, I had to be in my father's house.
[00:33:12] Do you know what then happens? It says, Jesus obeyed his parents and he went back home with them. Do you know how many years went by before we see any miracle for we see any. 18 whole years.
[00:33:27] What was Jesus doing for 18 years of his life? Can I tell you what he was doing? So from 12 to 30, he was growing.
[00:33:39] He was working as a carpenter, probably in his father's shop.
[00:33:45] He was growing, he was developing his life.
[00:33:50] He was. The Bible says that he grew in wisdom. Let me tell you, this is the human side of Jesus. We need to know the human side of Jesus. I think we accept Jesus as the son of God, but he's also the son of man. He was human. And that is a relief to you and I because when we look at Jesus, yes, you might think, well, but he was the Son of God, but he was fully man.
[00:34:15] He felt pain.
[00:34:17] Young people, he went to the loo. My kids often say that. Mum did. Can I say it? No, I'm not going to. Did he?
[00:34:26] Yes, he did. He went to the loo, he ate and he drank and he did all these human things. But for 18 years he grew in wisdom. So that tells me that Jesus had to learn how to be wise.
[00:34:40] He grew in stature. So he physically grew up.
[00:34:45] And it said he grew in favour with God and with people. He had to get some social skills.
[00:34:53] Yeah, There are seasons in our lives. I'm going to end with this. There are seasons in our lives when we need to grow, we need to grow up emotionally, we need to grow up physically, we need to grow up spiritually, we need to grow up mentally, we need to focus on who we are becoming more than what we do.
[00:35:32] Young people speaking to you as well, there's this gap of 18 years. I think sometimes we're so eager to want to do things, to accomplish things, to go out in the world. That's what the world tells us. It says, go and accomplish. Go and tick off the list of what you've done.
[00:35:54] Look, everybody, look what I've done. Look at the trail.
[00:35:58] The Lord says to us today, how are we growing?
[00:36:03] And not just young people, older people in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, you know, it's never over. There is still time to say, do you know what? There's an area in my life I need to grow up.
[00:36:16] I'm a 50 year old man and I come out with childish things.
[00:36:22] Or I'm a 50 year old woman and I'm still having temper tantrums. I'm not controlling my anger.
[00:36:29] We need to grow up.
[00:36:32] And if that's you this year, spend some time asking the Lord, say, God, what area of my life do I need to grow up? If Jesus needed to grow up, it took him 18 years before God used him for ministry and to do all that he had to do. Because if he hadn't have grown up into these things, he wouldn't have been any good for ministry. You say, but Esther, he was perfect. Yes, he was, but he was human as well and he had to grow up. If you look at the temple, this is what really got me. He sat listening.
[00:37:04] He sat asking questions. Some of us think that Jesus was at the temple telling everybody what's what.
[00:37:11] He wasn't. He wasn't. He wasn't telling everybody what's what. And hey, I've got the wisdom and I've got this and I've got. I'm going to tell you no.
[00:37:20] Do you know why they were amazed? They were amazed because he was curious. He was asking questions. I want to say, let's never stop asking questions. The way we develop and grow is that we keep asking questions. And that's what Jesus did. He grew up in all of these areas.
[00:37:43] At 12, Jesus knew he had a heavenly father. Can I talk to 12 year olds now? We've got a lot of our young people missing this morning. Well, you pass it on. You text them, you Say, do you know what Pastor Esther said? We've got to grow up 12 year olds this morning. Do you have an awareness that you have a heavenly Father?
[00:38:05] 12 year olds, 13 year olds, 15 year olds, 16 year olds. Do you have an awareness that you have heavenly Father?
[00:38:13] At 12, Jesus wanted to serve and be about his Father's business. I believe you can have that desire at 12 to be about the Father's business, to give your life. That's why Limitless. And all these youth camps that we send young people to because they're opportunities again just to say, lord, I give my life to you again for your purposes.
[00:38:36] And the third thing was he took responsibility at the age of 12 for his development, for his growth. Responsibility. Are we taking responsibility this year to know God?
[00:38:50] To know God?
[00:38:53] Jesus was about his Father's business even as a young child.
[00:39:00] Next week we're going to dive into all the great stuff about what Jesus did. We love hearing, don't we? The miracles.
[00:39:08] We love all that. I do, but it's so important today. Thank you for listening. I've been a bit over time but it's so important to understand what he did. We've got to understand who he was, who he is. Great church. He's great. Right, we're going to move into a time. This is across the rediscovered churches by the way we're all doing it is to really pray for people in the workplace at the start of this year. And this is how we're going to do it.
[00:39:40] This is how we're going to do it. So guys, will you put on some background music just at the back just to, just to kind of fill the. Sometimes it can be quite awkward for people, people to come out.
[00:39:51] This is how we're going to do it. We're simply going to invite you to come out and we're going to just place some oil on the top of your head.
[00:40:01] Right. We're going to, we're going to pick up on the APEST this year as a church. If you don't know what APEST stands for. APEST stands for apostolic pastor.
[00:40:12] Prophetic. Sorry, yeah, I keep getting that. Prophetic, evangelist, shepherd and teacher. All right. And yes, that five fold gifting is to be seen in the local church. All right. Absolutely. Is people who are apostolic, they see further than just the moment. People who are prophetic, people who can lead, who are visionaries, who are shepherds and all that kind of stuff. All right, but you know what? But it's not just for the leadership team.
[00:40:44] God has gifted people to Be apostolic in business. Some of you here are entrepreneurs.
[00:40:51] And why do you think God has given you that gift? Not so that you can get richer and richer and create your wealth and tell everybody how to run great businesses, but so that you can use your gift for the kingdom of God.
[00:41:06] Some of you are teachers.
[00:41:10] Some of you may not teach on a Sunday morning in church, but you teach every single day in your schools. You teach at conferences, all right? God has put that gift in you for a reason.
[00:41:27] Some of you are shepherds, all right?
[00:41:31] We have so many shepherds in this room.
[00:41:36] Shepherds who care for people. They care for the well being, the mental, physical, just the well being of people's lives.
[00:41:48] Some of you are going to exercise that shepherd's heart in your workplaces.
[00:41:53] When you bump into people, when they come to you, some people, you're going to be prophetic.
[00:42:03] You know what, you get where I'm going.
[00:42:05] And God wants all of these giftings to be seen. Think about our coffee shop, Deo Gloria, Prophetic gifts. You've got to say one thing, just go, wow. How did you know that? I just want to, I just want to say that about you. A prophetic gift. God wants these gifts in the marketplace, in our places of work, not just to be contained in the church.
[00:42:29] So we want to pray for you whether you, if you're in any form of the workplace, whether it's volunteer or it's paid, it doesn't matter. We want you to come forward. We've asked some of our church session just to anoint people with oil this morning. If that's you, don't let this opportunity go by. We want you to just, just start coming out. Just start coming out. And we're going to simply just anoint you this morning. So, yeah. Do you want to grab some oil? Liz Graham, will you come out?
[00:43:02] So just, just come and line up over the front. If you could just help us practically come and line up. Yeah, Come right over here so they can get down rows. Brilliant.
[00:43:20] That's it. Just come. We're doing it right across the rediscovered churches. Isn't it amazing, that workplace? There must be hundreds of work places represented across the southwest. Yeah, you can start the minute you've got your oil. Just start putting a dot on people's forehead. That's all it is. We're just anointing you. Yeah. So, Father, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We pray over those in the workplace, Lord, this year we pray, Father, you'll keep first and foremost your people Strong.
[00:43:59] Keep your people well.
[00:44:02] Keep your people healthy. God, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
[00:44:13] Thank you, Father. Yet when you. When you've had some oil on you, you're free to go back. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
[00:44:21] Thank you, Lord. Father we pray, Lord for these giftings, Lord, those shepherds who are here today, Lord, those who have a real shepherd's heart to care for the well being of people. Lord, I pray that gifting would come out this year. Lord, we thank you for the different giftings in the body of Christ. We thank you. It's not just down to ones or twos, Lord. You have called us all to be about the Father's business this year. So Father, for shepherds, Lord, for those carers amongst us, Lord, who have a deep love for people, Lord. For the teachers, Lord, today, those who have a teacher teaching gift, Father, I pray that you would give them clarity as they, Lord, share the message of Jesus Christ this year, Lord, for those with a prophetic gift, Lord, we ask, Lord, that words of wisdom and prophecy would come, Lord, in the workplace this year that Father Newton Abbott and the Southwest will know that, Jesus, you are alive.
[00:45:29] As we move into these areas that you've called us to, Lord, I thank you that we're not just business people, we're not just teachers in a classroom, we're not just carers in a hospital.
[00:45:43] We're not just kids at school. We are carriers of your glory. We are carriers of your presence.
[00:45:51] So, Lord, I pray these giftings will come would come out this year, Father, and that we would see the goodness and the glory of God in 2025 across the Southwest, Lord.
[00:46:06] Lord, I pray you give your church a holy confidence, a holy boldness that you'd make us courageous this year, Lord.
[00:46:18] Thank you, Lord, that when we step out for you, Lord, you will not leave us.
[00:46:24] Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
[00:46:30] Lord, thank you that you're going to back us up as we step out, Lord, in authority, in the calling that you have for us, Lord. Lord, we're excited this year for what you're going to do in and through our lives. We're excited, Father, for the stories that we're going to tell of your goodness this year, Lord, of your provision this year, Lord, of how you set people free, Lord, in the workplace, of how you saved that work colleague, Father, of how you used us, Lord, to shower people with the love of Jesus Christ this year.
[00:47:12] Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father.
