Thirty Seconds of Courage

That's really cool. Jacob's only just started learning the drums, so that's really great. I love it when we see our young people trying something new and getting on with that. Do you know, Michael, it doesn't seem that long ago that you were like standing, hiding over in the corner. Who can remember when Michael was like, "I don't know, were you like 13, Michael? Come here a minute." Like you were my height. I know it's hard to believe that anyone was ever my height. You were like my height and you were like 13. And now you're going to be how old next week? 18. 18. Oh my goodness. And you are an amazing, you are going to be an amazing worship leader. I know Jono loves him when you're standing next to him, amazing worship. So, you know, we just, we're just really proud of you guys. So, fantastic. Well, let's take your seats then, guys. I'm going to be preaching in a second, but before I preach, I've just got something that I'd like to share with you. Jon and Sara have asked me to share this with you. And we are a close family. We love each other and this is why news like this is a difficult thing thing to share. But Sara has been diagnosed with breast cancer. And this is obviously a very difficult and emotional time for them. And it will mean for Sara over the next few weeks, there will be some operations and some treatment for her. And as a family, this is really difficult, but they wanted us to share this news with you because they love you guys and we love them. And for them to carry this news on their own is too much of a burden. Now, it's gonna be really difficult if they have to handle all of our emotion too over this. And it's gonna be really hard for them if you come and ask them lots of questions. And the reason that we've asked the children to go out is as you are aware, they have a very young daughter and it will be really difficult if you show lots of questions and emotions. And even if when we go out later for coffee, you ask and talk to each other about it, if she picks up on any of those conversations, that's gonna be difficult for her. So at the same time as sharing this news with you, we'd love you to respect that news, we'd love you to do the one thing that we know that will make a difference, that's to pray. Really stand together. You know, we're gonna be introducing to you in a minute through our preach, our new vision statement that we'd love you to hear and it talks about a united us. And I wanna say that is a brilliant way to start our vision statement because we are a united us, standing with you today, standing with you in faith that God has everything in control. And although the news that you are delivered says one thing, God's truth and his love for you says another thing. And we are gonna pray for these guys this morning, but I want you to make sure that you extend your love to them in your prayers. And you know, if you've got Sara's number, then send her a text. I'm gonna get some very organized people that's not necessarily me to chat with Sara about what it is that we can do to support them both. And we will make sure that we can be there to support you in whatever we need to do. But remember this, let no questions. And that's not because Sara and Jon don't want you to know. That's why they've asked us to tell you today. It's because it's their story. Let's let them tell it as they want to, yeah? And because it's too much to handle all of our emotion as well as theirs. We understand that, don't we? So Father, we pray right now that you will surround Sara, Jon and Ella with the biggest love and comfort and safety that they will ever feel. Father, I thank you that being part of your family doesn't make us immune from things that are difficult but what it does do is it carries us through things that are difficult. It surrounds us with a peace that passes all understanding. It encompasses us with love and care and nurture and a bold strength that knows that you are in control. And Father, I pray for Sara, Father God, right now. Father, I pray for any insecure thoughts, any feelings and any emotions, Lord God, for her to know deep down inside her, Father God, that you are in control. Father, we speak, Father God, to every cell in her body right now. And we declare healing over her right now in Jesus' name. Father, we thank you that you are the God that heals. And Father, right now we declare healing to her body. Father, healing to any fear, healing to any emotion. Father God, healing to any insecurity. And Father, we speak both Father to the fear for both of these couple, Father God, that we pray that you will be in control. Father, we pray that you will be with them every step of the way. Father, we pray right now for supernatural strength and boldness. Father God, where they will feel tired and exhausted. Father, we speak strength and boldness over them, Father God. We pray a supernatural ability to manage at the moment, Lord. And we pray that as they go through ups and downs in the way they feel that you will encompass them with your love. Father, as us, a united us, Father God, Father connected, Lord God, to you and awesome God, we pray, Lord God, that we will surround them with our love too, in Jesus' name. Amen, amen , Amen, Amen. John and Sara, can I just say from all of us, we love you and thank you so much for letting us share in that news because that's a big thing, but actually for us too, that's a really important thing and we just want to say thank you from us too that you let us share in that news. Brilliant, thank you. Well how to preach after hearing something like that. It's interesting though Sara because this title of this preach is, "Nobody Calls Me Chicken." Chicken and no one's going to be calling you chicken because I know how brave you are my chicken. And you have this and nobody, this woman is fearless, nobody calls us chicken. It's interesting that what gets our fight on often in life is battles. You know often we start feeling quite weak and we become warriors but we don't just naturally get born warriors. It's battles that create warriors. You know you can have training camps that teach you how to fight but it's not until you're in the battle that you become the warrior. And today we're talking about nobody calls me chicken. We've got a few scriptures today, one from Romans, one from Timothy and one from Acts and we've got actually we've got a couple of others but those are our main ones. Our big idea this morning is someone's future can hinge on one moment of your courage. Don't let fear write their story. Now you know we're doing our series on back to future so it would be really wrong of me not to start from a little clip in a minute from this story. So we'll set the scene. There's Marty. He cannot help himself. The one thing that gets a reaction from him every single time is when somebody calls him chicken. You know he can fly through time. He can skate on a skateboard, clinging onto the back of a truck. He can manage all kinds of battles. He can even play the lead guitar. But he cannot cope or walk away when somebody calls him chicken. Let's look at this. With sound. I can do the voiceover. He gets himself into all kinds of trouble because every time he is called chicken, he rises to the challenge and he literally, across three films, gets himself into all kinds of battles. Isn't it interesting how we are so impacted by what people think about us? Anybody else? Anyone else? Yeah? So what people think about us has a real influence on the way that we react. I'm going to just turn this fan the other way because literally I feel like I'm in a film set at the moment. How do I move that? Can one of these wonderful people at the front just move that for me? Thank you. Yeah, this is too cold. So literally, he reacts every time he's called chicken and I find that my sense of failure, I don't know about anyone else's really dictates to the fact that people have an expectation of me. I am always worried about failing. Does anybody else have that kind of sense of failure? If someone was to ask me what my biggest weakness is, it would be my worrying about what people think. Does anyone else feel like that? Anyone else feels like they're going to be a failure? Anyone else feels like they can't be good enough? Anyone else feels like, oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I've seen a few hands going up there. Isn't it interesting that the one thing that God thinks about us is that we are always more than enough? Actually, the reason that is is because, to be honest with you, the thing that I've learned as time has gone on is actually I'm pretty much nothing without Him. And actually without Him, I am completely not enough, so I don't know why I worry so much about it. You know, without Jesus, we have absolutely nothing. Because it isn't in our own strength that we need to do anything. It's with Him that we are more than enough. enough. Most of us have never denied Jesus. We've just gone very quiet about Him. What I want to look at today is how so often we can not tell people about Him. We can hide in fear and we can not stand up for Him because we're scared of what people might think. One of the things that's so important to us as a church, and we've said about this again and again, is connecting with our doorstep world. But the biggest thing that stops us is the fear of what somebody might say if we kind of expose who we are. Our fear of man holds us back from everything. Our fear of our reputation stops us from doing anything. I want to introduce, I said a little while ago, I want to introduce to you today our vision statement. It's this, a united us, couldn't be better, could it, connected to an awesome God, I better get this right now, hadn't I, restoring our doorstep world. A united us connected to an awesome God restoring our doorstep world. The brilliance about that is it doesn't make it about what you do on your own. It doesn't make it just your responsibility to be the one that brings the change. It's about us united together, standing together, connected to the power source of heaven that makes a difference to just those that you face every single day. It creates an opportunity for you to bring a change to the person that you see at the supermarket. Or for you, I don't know how big your fence is in your back garden. But if it's big enough to talk to the person over the fence, it could be you that makes a difference to just them by the thing that you say, the smile, the time that you've given them. It's us, a united us, connecting to the powerful, incredible, awesome God and that will bring a restoration to our doorstep world. A live church restoring our doorstep world. That makes the mission easier, doesn't it? It's not you, Rose, on your own. Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh. Change the world. Breathe for this wonderful moment as we introduce Rose, Restorer of the world. I don't know you way you led the meeting, I mean you could do that, I think, I believe that, but you don't have to do it on your own because it's a united us, connected to the source, the power source, the awesome God that is going to restore our doorstep world, the one person that God brings us to, the one person that he literally paces in front of us that is going to change our world. Someone's future can hinge on one moment of your courage. Don't let fear write their story. So point one, the moment at the dance. I didn't write that point. But it's a good one, thank you, Jono. So we're gonna see George McFly. I hope you've seen this film by now. Who hasn't seen it yet? Oh, come on. We are gonna have to have a showing of this film. I know we're having a Bible study start this week, but can we not have a also have this? Those three people in the room, you are coming around my house for tea this week. We're gonna watch this. We're arranging a date. So George McFly, he's outside. Well, I'm gonna let you show it. He's outside waiting and this is what happens. (doorbell rings) - Hey you, get your damn hands off. Oh, I think you got the wrong car McFly. George, help me, please. - Just turn around and fly and walk away. Are you deaf, McFly? Close the door and eat it. - No, Biff, you leave her alone. All right, McFly. You're asking for it, and now you're going to get it. - Biff, stop it. Matthew, break his arm. - Give me a hand, original. Damn it, man, it's slicing my hand. - Who's in these? - I'm on. - Thanks, thanks a lot. - You're gonna break his arm. Biff, Biff, leave him alone. Let him go, let him go. (coughing) (laughing) , are you okay? (dramatic music) (dramatic music) Yes, I'm not sure I should be cheering at punching going on in church, but his whole life changed in that moment. That moment of bravery, he'd been absolutely petrified to stand up to that bully, but his whole future and the whole future of his family changed in that moment of bravery. You know, so often futures change in a moment, just a moment of bravery, just in a moment, in a second of inspiration, in a second of us stepping forward, in a second of bravery, in a second, that's all it takes. You know, so often we are framing our world, we are framing our future by fear and God is saying to step forward, take one step forward and just have a go. Nobody is expecting you to be an expert at preaching the gospel. Nobody is expecting you to stand up here and convert thousands of people. Sometimes God is just wanting you to step up and say to somebody in their life, "Are you having a difficult day?" Because I understand I've been there too. You don't have to say, "This is what the Bible says and this is what you need to do and you need to get converted." You know what? Sometimes you just need to be who you are. You just need to be a smile, a kind word, a gentle voice, an opportunity to say, "I'm with you." You just need to be a genuine person. If we are actually meant to be the hands and feet of Jesus, sometimes we need to let Him be the difference and we just need to be there to be the genuine, physical person that makes a difference in that person's life. We need to step up and not be defined by fear. We don't need to be fearless. We just need 30 seconds of bravery and obedience, even if we have got a shaky voice. It's okay to be worried. It's okay to be a bit scared about things. But you know, our doorstep world is waiting for you. The person that you see at the school gate every day who's going through a really difficult situation at home, they need you. They actually need Jesus. They don't necessarily need you to stand at the school gate and give them the gospel. What they may need is a cup of tea. The person at work who cannot cope with the level of stress that they feel under anymore may not need you to give them the full scriptures and a gospel to put in their pocket. They may just need you to offer an opportunity to go and get a coaster at lunchtime so that they've got somebody else that they could sit next to that takes the pressure off. We don't need to be superheroes, we need to be real life heroes, real life people with flesh on that make a difference in somebody else's world. We don't have to have all of the answers, that's up to the awesome God that we're connecting to. That's his job. Our job is to take the first step just to be bold enough to say, "Oh yeah, how's your day going?" "Oh actually, I understand because you know what, I might not relate to that, I may not have been through that personally but I can hear that must be really difficult. If you want to talk about it at some point I'm here." Or it could be, "Oh actually, you want to hear more about that? Actually we've got a Bible study starting. It could be that you're actually at that level of conversation with somebody." Or it could be, "Actually, I understand, we want to go to church, you can come along with me if you want. Your job is not to convert somebody. Your job is to be a real person for somebody. And our job is to make a difference in somebody's life. You don't need to be fearless like I said a second ago. You need 30 seconds of obedience with a shaky voice. Secondly, not ashamed." So Romans 1.16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first Jew and then Gentile." And Timothy 2, or 2 Timothy 1.7-8 says, "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." Do not be ashamed of the testimony about the Lord. Let me read that again. "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power that God gives me." We shouldn't be ashamed. You're all really quiet, but we shouldn't be ashamed. The reason that you've asked me to get up here today and talk about things is because you know the difference that God makes. Sara texts me in the week and she said to me, "I don't know how people get through it without knowing that God's there. I don't know how people get through life without the comfort that I feel. I genuinely do not. I have been through some difficult things in my life and I do not know how people do it without the comfort of God next to them, within them. I spend so, you know what, even getting up today, even standing up here today, those that know me and love me will tell you how scared I get about standing up here. I sit there and I'm like, God, I empty out all of me and I take you because everything I go to and everything I go into in life, I have to go into it taking on God because I cannot do it in my own strength, I just cannot do it. And so I am not ashamed to say that it is the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit in me that makes a difference. Do you know that the same Peter that denied Jesus to a little servant girl in that courtyard three times is the same Peter that did the most incredible things spreading the gospel, standing up being thrown in prison, being literally stood in front of elders and big communities and important people because of the fact that the power in him had made all the difference. You see it's the power of the Holy Spirit in us that makes the difference and I am not ashamed to say without the power of the Holy Spirit I am just, I'm probably still that seven-year-old girl I was before I got filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm probably just as quiet, timid and insecure as I was then because the reality is it's the power of the Holy Spirit that brings the boldness to my life and it's the confidence that I have that Jesus is in control that means that I want other people to have that too. It's the knowledge that Jesus is gonna be the one that makes the difference that spares me on. When When I'm walking down the street and I stop and I talk to somebody and I can see they're in pain, my initial thought is, I wanna say to them, I can pray for you. My second thought is, what will they say? My third thought is, I'm not saying that. My fourth thought is, I'm definitely not saying that. My fifth thought, so my sixth thought is, let's go quickly. I go through, does anyone else go through that? Because everything in me initially is I want to see the difference in their life because my heart of compassion is, I know God can make a change. I know God can set you free. I know God can heal you. I know you will be complete as only, if you could connect with the God that's changed my life, I know that you will be complete. So my compassion is there. My knowledge and faith and understanding of a God that changes the situation is there. But my fear kicks in. And I want to be like this. I am not ashamed of the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. I want to be like that with my every breath. Does anyone else? That's what I want to get to. That's the level of faith that I want to get to. And I'm not there yet, but I'm getting better. And I have moments where I lay down Joe and Joe consciousness. And I step into the faith that God has given me and I say things like, can I pray for you? Or sometimes I say things like prayer will make a real difference. Or would you like me to pray for you when I get home? What's your name? And occasionally I'm bold enough and brave enough to say, can I pray for you right now? And we have a gentleman who's not here at the moment who I prayed for and he comes here to church now. I can't see you so you're not here. But, and that makes a real difference and it changes people's lives. Not because Jo can do anything, because the power in me connecting to that awesome God will literally revolutionize, change and restore my doorstep world. And together, united together, we can do that. Do we want to do it because we want every single seat in this place filled? No, that is not the reason. Do we want to do it because we want to see people's lives changed? Absolutely 100%. I don't want people to feel like I felt sometimes when I feel desperate. I want them to know that Jesus can make a difference. We will come across people who are absolutely lost. You will come across people and you may be the last person to ever speak to them. That's a scary thought. Your words may be the last words that they hear. There may be a moment in their life that changes the family they have in the future. The children they bring up in the future, the grandchildren and the generations to come in the future. Is that your responsibility? No, it's God's responsibility. Is that your opportunity? Yes, it is because God places us in situations and gives us an opportunity to speak. He doesn't make it our responsibility and if we fail, that never happens. But you know, God opens doorways for us to walk through. We place ourselves and if you get up, I get up in the morning, I don't do it every morning but I often say to God, here I am Lord, use me. Use me today, whatever you wanna do with my life, do that today because you know that's a good place for us to be in and then it takes boldness to follow through with that. It takes bravery to position ourselves and it takes boldness to follow through. The power is not in the polish, in the shine, in the sparkle, it's not that the power is in the message. So ordinary people like me, like you, ordinary people can carry extraordinary news. We're just ordinary. Thank goodness for that. There is no expectation for me to be brilliant. However, he is extraordinary. If ever I shine, and some moments I sparkle, if ever I shine, it's because of him. It's because of my relationship with him that lets the sparkle come out. He's un-ordinary. He did a not bad job creating me. He could have made me taller. He could have given me a much better metabolism that meant I could have eaten those chocolate and crisps that I actually like, and then they wouldn't have had such an impact. So you did a pretty good job. But he loves me, and my shiny sparkly moments definitely come from him. Because my not so good moments definitely come from me. And obviously all my loveliness comes from you. (laughs) I mean, it would be wrong not to give you credit for some of it, wouldn't it? The power is not in our polish. The power is in the message, so ordinary people can carry extraordinary news. Thirdly, unschooled, ordinary and unmistakable. Acts 4.13 says, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John "and realized they were unschooled ordinary men, "they were astonished. "And they took note that these men had been with Jesus." And in 29 it says, "Lord, consider their threats "and enable your servants to speak your word "with great boldness." When I stand against difficulty, I have to say God give me boldness. But I say it as an ordinary person and that is our superpower. We are ordinary everyday people. I don't stand up here after 30 years of Bible school. How many years does it take to go through Bible school? How do I stand up here after 30 years of experience? But how many years? Six years Bible school to become really, really good at everything. I am not a scholar. I have not got a PhD in whatever. I'm an ordinary person and there may be some people in this room that are Bible scholars. That is fantastic. Well done. That is amazing. But we are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I am ordinarily extraordinary. I think you might need to say that to somebody. I am ordinarily extraordinary. That's a mouth twist. But I am ordinarily extraordinary. But that is the thing that was so incredible here in Acts about the courage of Peter and John. They were ordinary people. Ordinary men doing extraordinary, incredible things. And that's what happens when you connect with an incredible God. A united us connecting with an awesome God restoring our doorstep world. Can we say that together? A united us connecting to an awesome God restoring our doorstep world. You know, a live church restoring our doorstep world is our new motto. And the reason we want that is because it's not a live church. Look at us. It's not a live church, the best. It's not a live church, we have Gregs, although we do. It's not a live church, come to us and everything will be perfect. It's a live church with who we are making a difference, changing people's lives, literally restoring, bringing restoration, repairers of the breach, all of the things that we've talked about. Ordinary people connected to an awesome God changing and making a difference in people's lives. Boldness, unschooled ordinary people that aston ish everyday people as the great boldness of heaven changes our life. You know boldness isn't a personality type. It's a prayer that God loves to answer. God make me bold. God make me brave. In my weakness Lord God, breathe in your boldness. God is not expecting me to be a naturally bold personality type. He's happy to take me just as I am and as I understand the power that he has in that moment when we connect together the boldness comes. The power of heaven makes me bold. So I want to challenge us to remember something right back at the beginning of our series. We held up photographs. We had a photograph on the screen that Marty had where the faces were disappearing. And I asked us to think of faces in our world, think of somebody in our world that we might want to see a change in their life. And in this few moments, I want us to think of that person, whether you've got one person or two people or a family or whatever that picture may look like. I want you to take a few moments, you could get out your phone, I won't be distracted by that and you could write their name down if you want to do that. But take a few seconds to think of that person whose life you want to see make a difference. It may be that you don't know their name, it may be that you know where you see them, it may be you know how you connect with them. But just ask God to show you who it is that you're positioned to see a change in their life. It might be, it's a colleague, it could be, it's somebody you talk to regularly, it could be somebody that you love very dearly that's close to you in your life. We need to pray for that person, start a deliberate pattern of prayer for that person. Start to be bold in the way that you talk over their life, in your prayer life for them. Start declaring over their life freedom. Start declaring over their life healing. Start declaring an opportunity for you to make a difference. I'm not saying, suddenly pray for them and pray God heals them. I'm asking for you to be bold enough to say, "God, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to say?" And unlike the film where the faces disappear, let's pray that God shows us their story changing. Let's pray that we can see their history and their future. Everything that God has planned for them. One step, one real conversation maybe. One real prayer, one moment, one opportunity. It doesn't have to be the biggest thing that you've ever imagined. It could just be that one moment, that one second that makes a difference. Don't be scared, remember that 30 seconds of courage with a shaky voice can change a story. Let's stand together. Does the band want to come back? So let's go back to our vision. A united us connected to an awesome God restoring our doorstep world. A united us connected to an awesome God restoring our doorstep world. Why is vision important? Why do I keep repeating it and why do I want us to know what it says? Because when we understand our identity and we know who we are and we really get hold of who we are, we understand our purpose. And there's a lot of release in understanding who we are and knowing who we're called to be and understanding our purpose. For a start, this vision helps us know that we don't have to do it alone. It helps us understand that our power source comes from God, who is incredible in all of his ways. And it helps us focus on what to do next, on where to go, on where to take this power that we're connected to and this love that changes and makes a difference for us in this place. And so Father God, we pray today, Lord, that you will help us take the power that you have given us, the power from heaven, and you will help us take this from this wonderful community that we're connected to here. Father, a family of people that I really love, that I really care about, that I feel connected to and united with, Father God, I pray that you will help us take that and to make the difference into people in our world. Father God, I pray that it will not just be about Father God, about Polish, about perfection, Father God, it will just be about the genuine heart of who you are through me, this vulnerable, unskilled, unorganized, not perfect in any way, vessel, Father God, but with the perfection of heaven, Father God, the love of heaven, father, the passion of heaven, Father God, I just pray that that will come through, Father God, that you will let it be genuine, Father God, I don't want to go out recruiting people just 'cause we need numbers, Father God, I want people's lives changed, I want people's position changed, people's hearts changed, people's, Father God, I don't want people to feel pain, hunger, desperation, fear. Father God, I want people to feel the love and the warmth and the unity that we feel here, Father God, I want people to know that they're safe and they're cared for and that you understand. Father, I want to be part of that and I pray Father for all of us today. Father God, I pray as we picture in our minds the faces on that photograph, Father God, don't let those faces fade, Father God, because of our fear, don't let those situations fade away because we're too scared to be bold enough to stand up and do something about it. Father, let those faces stay strong in those pictures, Father, that we will take them on as a personal mission, Father God, to see something happen in those people's lives, Father God, give us the faith to make a difference. Father God, we declare over our lives right now your faith, Father God, into our lives. Position us for boldness right now in Jesus' name. Amen.