MORE THAN THIS CONFERENCE // 9am // Ps. Mark Lassey

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning [Music] out again [Music] [Music] can you feel it start to rise [Music] don't you [Music] with your [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] with [Music] praise the lord [Music] wow [Music] this morning [Music] he is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] beautiful [Music] wow [Music] [Music] [Music] don't [Music] lift your hands to the head [Music] [Music] so good well welcome church to be in the house of god to it to praise him together we've had a fantastic weekend conference oh my goodness [Music] together as a church so this morning we just want to thank our father we want to give you thanksgiving [Music] all anxiety let it rise [Music] [Music] let it rise [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] on our side is [Music] [Music] we pray [Music] this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we praise you this is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we pray [Music] we prayed [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh it's all about you god [Music] you're the reason we come you're the reason we sing it out today oh jesus [Music] i'm calling on the god of jacob who's loving jews through generations know that you will keep [Music] the one who opened up the ocean i need you now to do the same thing oh god my god i need you oh god my god i need to know [Music] i know if you all face the policy [Music] created [Music] oh god my god [Music] oh my god i need to oh god my god i need [Music] i'm standing on your face [Music] [Music] [Music] now you are the same god you are the same god you and suppressed back then you you will answer now you are the same god [Music] you [Music] you you are [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh my god i need you oh god my god [Music] i'm standing on your face [Music] you failed to know [Music] [Music] i'm calling on the holy spirit [Music] oh mighty river come and fill me again come and fill me up again come and fill me cheers [Music] [Music] at the right time [Music] so why would i be surprised when you deliver every time on mountain tops you stay the same [Music] the goodness [Music] your faithfulness [Music] [Music] you make the way [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] you [Music] you hold it all together [Music] you hold it all together [Music] you hold it all together [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] breathe [Music] um [Music] [Music] give you foreign the glory all the glory you were [Music] is [Music] glory [Music] you were [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] one and sing more again this morning [Music] [Music] [Music] okay [Music] i just love to read something from acts chapter 17. verse 24 to 27 it says he is the god who made the world and everything in it since he's the lord of heaven and earth he doesn't live in man-made temples and human hands can't serve his needs for he has no needs thank god that god isn't needy he doesn't need us he doesn't need your worship even he says he gives himself he himself gives life and breath to everything and he satisfies he satisfies every need that you have he doesn't need you but you know what we need him and and god longs to satisfy every need that you have it says from one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth he decided beforehand when they should rise and full and he determined their boundaries you know god decides at a macro level what nations are going to rise and fall and god is sovereign in every way but then when you reduce it down you know god desire has decided when you will be born he's decided the boundaries of your life where you be born and where you're living god is god and he's determined this and it says his purpose for this was his purpose of when when the nations should rise and fall and who lives where and and the time and the age of which you've been born and some of you your decisions when you've moved from some people from south africa and we've got a couple of that have just moved here a week ago two weeks ago and and they're here this morning i think now why don't we even just welcome them just briefly we want to welcome you guys we're so glad that god's brought you here to be a part of our family here but it says his purpose for this for the nations and us as individuals was to seek after god and perhaps feel their way towards him and find him though he is not far from any one of us and god's ultimate purpose for the boundaries and allotments and the times of the nations and your life is because he longs for you to come near to him and the truth is it says he's not the truth is he's not far from every single one of us and so this morning regardless of where you feel of how far away from god you might feel in this moment god is so close to you he's just a moment away from you the beautiful ingredient of faith god i don't feel it but thank god faith isn't determined on our feelings the word of god says as we draw near to god he draws me to us he's so ready he's he's he's he's so ready he's leaning into you right now so why don't we just lift our hands this morning we're going to go back and sing that song you're worthy of it all god why don't you lift your hands to him and draw near to him in your heart maybe you haven't been to church before maybe feel distant from god at the moment but this morning he's saying i'm close i'm so close to you holy spirit we thank you that you're here this morning we thank you lord for all the things in our lives that have led unto this point to this moment and this moment we've drawn into you lord we love you lord god and i thank you as we've drawn it to you as we as we stumble our way towards you god that you rush towards us you rush like the father running towards the prodigal son we thank you that you move towards us look god and although you don't need us the god we need you lord so this morning we declare that you are worthy you're always worthy of our praise lord let's begin to sing that together you're worthy of you're worthy of our highest praise lord [Music] just continue to lift him up [Music] you were [Music] is is [Music] [Music] hey you were [Music] a singer this morning together lift our voices you are worthy of it you're worthy jesus of our worship for affection from you are all things and to you [Music] he's going to read out just this verse he revealed his character to moses his deeds to the people of israel the lord is compassionate he's merciful he's slow to get angry he's filled with unfailing love he won't constantly accuse us or remain angry forever he doesn't punish us for all of our sins as we deserve he doesn't deal with us harshly for his unfailing love towards those who fear him is as great as the hearts of the heavens above the earth he's removed our sins as far away as the east is from the west this morning that's what jesus has done for you they're not close to you they are far away from you as far as the east is from the west the lord is like a father to his children tender and compassionate he knows how weak we are he remembers what only dust thank you lord we thank you that you're here this morning with great compassion and love in this crazy season and this crazy time that we have god we thank god that we can pause we can come into your lounge room we can come into your presence sons and daughters god that you don't turn us away from you but you you invite us to come to you as as we are in this place god so we worship you we honor you this morning in jesus name can we just really for 10 seconds give jesus to some praise and some thanks this morning worship you lord be worthy lord god we praise you lord we left out your name lord you're always the answer always the answer you're always good to us god thank you lord awesome before you take your seats why don't you find someone at least two other people and tell them a highlight from conference or a highlight from your weekend we're great you got one minute to do that [Music] [Music] the weather has been so beautiful so still yesterday absolutely beautiful see the sun going down stunning sun last night and i'll tell you what how phenomenal has conference been absolutely profound amazing um you know we literally got us part of the red sea for us he's like covered in perth all our guest speakers families are getting covered and and but they managed to somehow avoid it from their family and their and their churches and schools and um and so we made it we actually had conference absolutely phenomenal let's just thank god you're so great and you know what if you're if you if you missed a few sessions or you missed conference you're going to benefit from it because god has done something significant in the life of our church through conference god has done something powerful in individuals lives being phenomenal had a guest speaker on thursday night in perth pastor mark humberstone who pivoted really quickly when i guest speaker sam long because of code covered reasons couldn't make it here on thursday morning of the night i've got a text i woke up to see a text from him and it's just crazy and so god provided my cumberstone from kingdom city and he spoke so powerfully thursday night in perth and then friday night here in albany and you can watch those if you want if you've got uh tickets to have a look at those will be awesome and then we have pastor pastor mark with us speaking yesterday as well from kingdom city it's been such a gift and a powerful night last night and so we've got pastor mark who's going to be speaking first service this morning and then pastor donna spoke yesterday as well and let me tell you she is phenomenal we had a panel here yesterday afternoon we had just just such such gold and so um so you can stick around for second service um if you like and if if numbers look like they're getting over 180 or so then maybe just you know thank you see you next sunday uh or something like that but but we do want to provide you opportunity if you want to stick around um to stick around for donna because you know second service is quite low um and so we think that there will be room for those that want to stick around which would be great um i just want to quickly get lisa up on stage because lisa is wearing some conference merch this is not not organized at all so give it up for lisa so um so we're actually sporting some conference merch if you like it's on sale out there in the foyer and the graphic designers have done a phenomenal job namely one girl julia she's done most of the work but we're sporting this so it's it's what such good quality it's really thick and warm good for albany that's it they're thinking it thank give it up for lisa thanks so you can get that out there which would be great um by the way if you have again missed all the sessions then again for 12.99 we try to make it as cheap as we can to open up conference to people if you want to rewatch the sessions or you miss all the sessions then can i encourage you to make the most of that as a resource for your life it's something that god has spoken to the heart of our church and just to even refer to it all throughout the year um such a significant time together so i'm going to do something unplanned i'm not going to give us a moment i would love it if some people could be bold and courageous and come up and share some highlights from conference splash what god has done in their life of a conference and this is in novo plan so why don't you come forward right now out of your chair at the front and we'll give you the mark and you can share with us some give it up for beth that she comes forward and give it up four four you know you want to you know go yes come on give it up for bianca and i can at least two more two more you're all squirming yeah thank you brett and drum roll everyone get your drum roll out who is it gonna be hey steve doherty excellent thanks all right we're gonna start with beth okay um well i've got two highlights i spent some time with the kids on saturday morning and we went out to monkey bunker on an excursion and it was a surprise for them and they just had an absolute ball to the point where i wasn't in there in a saturday afternoon and i was a little disappointed that i wasn't on for the afternoon so the kids have had an absolute ball as well it's been such a great conference for them yeah and i think the input into their lives like it's been a conference for them we haven't been babysitting we've been inputting into their lives and they've had a really great time another highlight for me was last night mark that your catchphrase of it should bother you that it doesn't bother you that was huge for me i had a lot of personal breakthrough last night and i'm just totally believing that it's gonna continue from here on and i look i saw the front i think a lot of people had breakthrough so thank you for that message it was super powerful and timely i uh i definitely find um mark pastor mark's preaching um really impacts me quite a lot when he was sharing about the football team um and just the level of persecution that he was experiencing at every game probably on the field maybe from his own teammates um as well it just really spoke to me because um so i work at alter one and a lot of my students you know may come from that sort of area and sometimes when they see me presenting myself and my faith um i can cop some of that and that just really lifted me up because i i've realized that um it's something to be excited about because of the breakthrough that's going to happen through that through the persecution so that's just really fed me up i loved it i think mark's uh our favorite we love donna too and uh and mike and um yeah so i was most impacted by uh mark's um personal well he was so frank and honest with us um particularly last night and so thank you for making yourself vulnerable for us mark and showing us how god will take us just as we are and um he'll meet us in our place of need but that isn't why i got up here i wanted to get up and i was really touched and you really spoke to me god spoke to me in the area of just be normal you know just be normal and just get out there and be normal and so you really encouraged me uh in some areas that i'm stepping out into to try and be normal out there and so yeah that was that was a great encouragement to me a great affirmation of what i felt the lord the how i felt the lord was already pushing me uh and so that was that was a great thing so thanks so much um two things uh and one of them just changed but the first one on thursday night pastor mike spoke about being in cambodia and being on a prayer line and this lady came out to him and spoke to him about what her need was which he didn't understand and so he just prayed for her she probably didn't understand him and a week later he she came back and he got someone to explain what had happened and she'd been healed uh a major healing had taken place and what he was saying uh was that it had nothing to do with him it was just being a conduit of the holy spirit that is important for me because i'm interested i'm wanting to do go on to the prayer team and i'm a bit afraid very afraid and but when you understand when i get to understand and i'm not very good at that is understanding that it's not going to be about me so that was one and this this is the one that changed just right now on saturday morning one of the things i realized i was grieving for and and probably a lot of us have grieved for people that have struggled with the change over to schaeffen and it's something that i'm just you know there's a sadness for me and but i looked around and there were people that came down from perth there was lots of them you know lots of the church the oceans church from perth and there were just people everywhere and i was just in tears because that is the church so sometimes we look at where we are right now we look around and we think why but then these young people came down you know and like i look at i look at these little kids taking cameras and things and i think hang on they're not little kids they're probably about 20 or so 30 and but that was a major thing to see that this is what god is doing uh and sometimes we yeah we've got to be a little bit sad that things change um but also that there is a blessing that's coming that is to come well first of all i think the whole conference has been great we've had a great weekend and it's been you guys have done a great job and the worship team and everyone but one of the things that stood out for me was pastor mark again yesterday morning spoke about stepping outside the church and changing people's perception of the church and one of the things that jen and i do is um street chaplains street chaplains and we constantly get told and read oh you guys are great you guys do a great job thank you very much and it never occurred to me before but that's exactly what we're doing and uh so yeah that's one thing that we can all you know we can all do we can all get outside the church and change people's perception gee what gold i'll just get your bank account details later and transfer you your tips thanks your commission how good is that so great god has been moving so so powerfully and he's going to move powerfully this morning again uh through pastor mark what he's going to bring he's got a great word to bring us this morning for this service and uh so can we just all be outstanding please i'm just so you know who pastor mark is just in case um you've missed it pastor mark has been a longtime friend of ocean's church he's kind of really kind of like on staff at oceans uh without being paid by us and so um so he's inputted a lot into our church over the years he's a personal friend and encouragement and support to us he's he led youth alive for a number of years in western australia before um going on team at kingdom city and he's done uh numerous roles with kingdom city and i'll tell you what we are blessed to have him here with us this morning and so why don't we just welcome pastor mark up to the stage thank you so much guys well you can grab your seats uh it is been such an honor to come down and share at the conference and i i've just so enjoyed it and as pastor schaefen said god has parted the the seas and i'm astounded i i i rang shaven probably about a week ago and said are we still on and he's like yeah i just i thought to myself shafen wouldn't say anything else and i love that i love the optimism and just the exuberance that you have chef and i think it's a gift not just to your church but to the church in general and i think the more that your voice is heard in our church community around the state it's we're going to be better for it and never assume that your voice doesn't shouldn't be heard it should be heard everywhere it's it's it is a real gift and the fact that you deal with such faith and there's almost a i don't say it in any negative like a naivety it's like why can't god do it and i love that the purity of it is beautiful and i also just want to say i'm northern bed i love you guys and i actually i really wanted to encourage you and i don't know if this is me or a word from god but you you take it how it is um shadrach meshach and abednego get thrown in to the fire we know the story um and the king notices something when they came out there's a few things number one as they come out he's astounded that he forced them into the fire and they didn't get burned number two the only thing that did get burned was the restrictions the ropes that held them bondage number three he notices that god's with them and i feel like you've you're coming out of a season and the other thing that's beautiful is they come out of the fire and they don't smell like smoke and i feel like you're coming out you're not smelling like smoke there's no bondages that can restrict you and people are going to notice man god is with them and i feel like the next season of your ministry is going to be the greatest season because people are there's going to be an undeniable factor that god is with them people are going to be astounded and and i think just one of the things that i often say to people when they go through seasons that are really trying is find somebody that's gone through your season and has a sweet spirit so find somebody that's gone through the trial and come out not smelling like smoke and i think you dark guys have done it and just love your spirit love what you do and love your heart for this house so i just wanted to say i admire you so much [Applause] a couple other things just want to say thank you to all the incredible volunteers that have blessed blessed me blessed this house the worship team has been absolutely incredible um and flown and and sensitive to the spirit it's a it's an absolute astounding thing that that a church is is just growing and shaping and shifting so can you just give yourself a big round of applause i really feel like i've got a great word for us this morning um and if you uh taking notes the title is he restores my soul we know in psalms chapter 23 it says the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me lie down in still waters he leads me beside still waters and he says restores he restores my soul and he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake and what i love about this psalm it's not just the poetic nature about it it's the ownership of the psalmist it says the lord is my shepherd there's such a definite claim to that and because he knows that the lord is my shepherd the outcome is i shall not want he's my shepherd he's my protector he's my provider he's he's my guidance he's he's my he's my director and therefore i have no needs that the shepherd does not know about and there's such a confidence and if there's ever been a time where we need a shepherd it's now when there is so many things that are affecting us that are out of our control we need to claim the shepherd as our own and he says i will restore your soul and the the process of this is really interesting because he says he's going to lead me beside still waters he's going to lead me to a place of refreshing so that my soul can be restored and then it says he can lead me on the paths of righteousness and i don't think that progression is a coincidence i'm going to find a place of refreshing for my soul to be restored so i can be healthily led in the paths of righteousness some of us want to be led but we don't want our souls restored our souls are our mind our will and our emotions our mind what we think our will our choices that we uh commit to and our emotional well-being and i think the more that we get healthy souls the more that we can be spirit-led the more that our mind our will and emotions become strong and whole the more the spirit can lead us in fact i would say that if you've got a broken soul it's very hard to be spirit-led and so for us we've got to find a place where we know that the lord is our shepherd so he can lead us to a place of soul refreshing in the midst of covert you could have the greatest amount of peace in the midst of uncertainty you could you could have such a foundation if you can have that assurance that the lord is your shepherd but the tension that we manage as human beings is do we know that the lord is our shepherd can we trust him implicitly i i have a three sons for those that haven't been around tyler he's 23 joel he's 18 and luke he's 13. now joel my middle son is awesome um he's going through the processes of getting his license in fact he's gone for his peace test he's gone for it four times and it's really hard to get it even a test in perth in fact the next test that he can get is in june the 14th or something like that so he's desperate to get his testing he he has a job that he needs his license for so we decide that we're going to look all around the state to see where we could get him i i i searched in albany can we steal one of the local guys uh test spots but in the end we we drove him to lake grace it was it was such a long drive and so we get there and um i'm waiting for him and about 20 minutes later he calls me and says dad can you come um i'm ready to get picked up and so i go to him and i could tell straight away that something wasn't right and i said how'd you go mate it goes it didn't pass and my heart sank and he said i'm so sorry dad we drove all this way and like my heart broke for him and i said what happened and he said to me dad i knew from the start i wasn't gonna it wasn't gonna pass i said why is that he said he didn't like me the instructor didn't like me i could tell he didn't like me and i said to him what is it the the dodgy mullet that he didn't like like because sometimes is it the weird mustache like what's going on and he goes no he just i could tell as soon as i got in the car he he had something against me and he was just looking for me to do something wrong to fail and i thought to myself wow i i reckon there's a few people that feel that god's like that that god's setting tests allowing them to go through seasons and just waiting for them i knew that we're gonna make it i knew that they were gonna fail i knew and what it is is there's this tension in our souls that believes that maybe god he's up there and he's for us but he's he's undecided about how much he loves us or likes us yet we find in jeremiah 29 there's this beautiful scripture that most of us will know and it's something that ministers to my soul that says this jeremiah 29 11 says for i know the thoughts i have towards you says the lord thoughts to give you peace and not evil of a hope and a future and once again that you can't help but notice that god is not confused about the thoughts he says i know the thoughts i have towards you it's not i'm thinking about the thoughts i'm waiting to see what your response is to work out how i think about no he says no i know the thoughts i have towards you says the lord now my life is pretty complex at the moment along with a whole lot of people and i'll get to the point where i don't know the thoughts i have towards myself i'm like am i doing a good job as a dad am i doing a good job as a pastor am i good doing a good job as a christian i don't know am i doing the right thing am i making the right decisions and the only thing that i can go back to is even though i don't know he knows even though i am confused he's not he's saying i know the thoughts i have towards you says the lord. and it's to give you a hope and a future it's not to give you stress and anxiety and every time that i i get that sense of anxiousness in my soul i've got to come back to what he thinks about me and say god what what do you think about me because i don't know what i think about myself and even sometimes i'll i'll ponder and i'll start to stress god am i doing the right thing have i ever measured up to what you hoped for me i got to come back to he he predetermined he thought towards me before i ever did any action before i made any mistakes before i did a really good job he said no no i know what i'm thinking about you and you can't change my mind do you know you cannot change god's mind in how he thinks about you i know the thoughts i know the thoughts i have about how good you are as a mother or about your ability to be a father or she i know my thoughts and yet so many times we go to every other source to find out what do you think about me we shop around our security to people that do not know their own thoughts and we run to them i had am i one of the worst things that you could ever do as a parent is ask your kids am i a good parent maybe when they get to 25 or 26 and they've got their own kids you can say was i a good parent all of a sudden but we we do it without saying it we open ourselves up and make ourselves vulnerable to people that are not invested in us in the same way that we're invested in them rather than going back to the one that knows their thoughts and getting our soul restored see god created us three specific parts he created us we find this in the garden of eden when god created man he created a spirit soul and body he formed our body out of the dust of the earth and then it says he breathed into us and that the word breath there is wurwak the breath of god then it says and we became a living soul the word soul there literally means one with god's breath so we became a a triune body a body a soul and a spirit and when god breathed into us we received his breath now the beautiful thing about the hebrew road ruach it's actually created to represent how we breathe so i want you to do a bit of a bit of an exercise this is how you're meant to say ruach so you breathe in and breathe out because every breath that you take doesn't belong to you it started from him so every breath that you take is a reflection of god's creative power and his generosity towards you but the beautiful thing about it is when you breathe in his breath you become a living soul which is why when you get detached from his breath you feel breathless you ever feel it felt in that space i know pastor schaefen shared that he's got a bit of asthma you've seen somebody my wife has asthma and you've been around them when they when they're starting to breathe a little bit shallow and they're like that's what our soul is like when it's detached from the spirit of god when it's detached from the voice of god when it's detached from the i know my thoughts towards you says the lord many of us feel that god is like joel's driving instructor he's undecided let's see how he goes in this let's see how he parents this week let's see how he he leads his family let's see how she she keeps her emotions in check let's see how she makes the decisions let's see how well he studies let's see how how efficient he is at work let's see how he worships today and we're we're thinking that god is waiting on our response rather than us just aligning what he already thinks this beautiful passage in the gospel of john where philip begins to ask jesus he says jesus can you show us the father can you show us and he's like what i we want to see the father because we want to know what he thinks we want to know what he's like and jesus responds in in quite a a sense of determination he says no no you don't understand if you've seen me you've seen the father if you've seen what i say you've heard what the father said if you've seen how i act you've heard how the father act if you've seen how i conduct myself that's exactly how the father conducts himself and i think this is so important for you and i to understand because how the how jesus treated people is how jesus treats you how jesus speaks to people is how jesus speaks to you and i want us this morning to have our souls refreshed by the only one that can and that's jesus what does jesus say to you this morning if jesus walked into this room what would he say to you and there's four things that i believe jesus would say to you and i want to tell them really quick and then i want to say four quick stories about how jesus interacted with people first of all jesus really likes you and this might seem a little bit superficial because most of us know that jesus loves us but there's a big difference between jesus loves us and jesus likes us probably the best way to explain this is most of us really love our families but do we like them don't look to your left or your eye shape and just look straight ahead like we we hang out with the people we like on the weekends and we hang out with the people that we love at christmas it's like once a year glad that's over but jesus really likes you have you ever had one of those best friends when they walk in the room it could be the midst of the people or you're like you know it's gonna be a good night tonight you've got a secret handshake you've got to look you've got in jokes that's how jesus thinks about you when you walk in the room he's like yes mark's here we're going to hang out today jesus really likes you he's excited when you take time to talk to him he's like angels angels angels my best mate's about to talk to me he's about to include me in his journey he's about to he's about to have some in jokes he'll watch it he's a funny dude wait a minute my best mate's going through some stuff he you've got to understand how much he likes you and probably the best way that i can explain it is number one to establish who jesus was in the culture of the day jesus was a rabbi now what a rabbi meant to the hebrews was he was the best of the best jesus wasn't a social outcast no he was the center of society for a jewish man to become a rabbi it meant that he was the smartest the most respected and the one that people wanted to be around the most in fact it would have been like jesus would have been like like he was oprah elon musk michael jordan and pastor norm combined he was a big deal like if if jesus wanted to invite you to follow him you would have dropped everything that's why peter james john matthew all the guys they were like i'm willing to leave everything because the it's like elon musk saying hey i want to give you a job at tesla and i want to give you a a million dollar package and i want to show you everything and i want to make you like me you'll be like alright see you later family i'm out of here so when jesus walks into a room no wonder the crowds begin to follow him because this is the first rabbi that took the torah that took the truth that took the teaching out of the synagogue and to the people so crowds began to gather around jesus but there's this one moment where jesus begins to walk through a town and there's a man called zacchaeus now if zacchaeus was the best of the best of all the jews of all the hebrews zacchaeus was the worst of the worst zacchaeus was a tax collector which means he took from his own people and gave it to the people that enslaved them like no one liked zacchaeus not only did no one like zacchaeus because of what he did no one liked zacchaeus because he was short he was he would have had an inferiority complex trying to prove himself all the time he would have had a deep soul wound that meant that he invested all of his identity into his money you might not like me but at least i can pay for you to work for me i can control an outcome with the money and so when zacchaeus hears that jesus the rabbi is walking through the village he does something that is really awkward a grown man with hebrew robes climbs a tree now a grown man climbing a tree at any particular time is awkward at best but if you've got robes on you don't want that robe caught on a branch somewhere it's it's it's going to be awkward but he hears that the rabbi jesus is walking past so he's so desperate i can't see over the people so i'm going to climb a tree and jesus walks past and sees zacchaeus up a tree zacchaeus has struggled with a restless soul all his life trying to fill it with material wealth trying to fill it with pleasing the romans at the expense of his own people he would have been so aware that he was rejected alienated criticized everywhere he went he would have been sneered at and yet the rabbi the one that everybody wanted to be around jesus walks past and sees zacchaeus and he says to him hey zacchaeus i like you i want to hang out with you i want to go to your place jesus crossed every social boundary every customary constriction and he says zacchaeus i want to hang out with you now i've got to get you to understand what jesus did to zacchaeus in that moment was restore his soul in a way that he would never have thought was possible no wonder when jesus goes to his house he says salvation has come to his house zacchaeus took the very thing that he sold his soul to get his money and went you know what i found everything that i need in jesus and begin to give away all of his wealth begin to give away all of the things that he tied his identity to why because in a moment of vulnerability jesus stepped into that gap and said i like you zacchaeus you know in the worst situation you might feel alienated by everybody else even sometimes the church there might be part of your soul that's attached itself to things that are extremely unhealthy i'm here to tell you jesus really likes you he wants to hang out with you he wants to spend time with you he wants to push aside every other voice and just let you hear that i know the thoughts i have towards you says to the lord the second thing you've got to understand is not only did jesus like you jesus believes in you we find this in peter the story of peter i love peter he's such a dysfunctional guy one moment peter has this unbelievable revelation of who jesus is jesus says who do they say that i am the disciples say oh some say you're a prophet some say you're a rabbi some say you're a great guy he said no no i don't want to hear what everybody else thinks about me i want to hear what you say about me peter steps forward and says you are jesus the son of god jesus looks at him i reckon he's a bit taken back he goes flesh and blood does not reveal this to you but my father in heaven now you gotta understand peter like he's a foot and mouth guy like he's he's he's the type of guy that's that's all brawn and no brain and so the moment that he's amongst all the all he's all his best mates all of the disciples and jesus points him out as the guy that gets it his ego would have just gone that boys that's me jesus says i'm the man was that you no no no no this is me it's me i'm sorry flesh and blood has not revealed this to you it got to his soul it got to his mind he got to he's like okay i'm the man now now i know what's going on just a few verses later jesus is saying i must go to the cross i must fulfill the destiny that i was created for and pete goes no no no no i've got a different plan i've got a different plan jesus you know the guy that uh he is from the lord uh we've talked and uh i've got something worked out and jesus says get behind me satan in front of the same dudes that he just got a big you know a big shoulder rubber big you know kudos he it's like oh my goodness this is all good now now i'm i've gone from the one that he's from god to now i'm satan a few verses later peter and jesus are in the garden of gethsemane soldiers come to take jesus and peter is so filled with courage and boldness that he grabs the soldier's ear off and starts to attack them now to for context for peter this is death he's just signed his own death wine but he doesn't care because this is jesus if you want to get to jesus you've got to get through me so he's willing to take him all on at his own expense and i'm like what a man but yet a few verses later there's a 12 year old girl that comes to him and says oh weren't you with jesus and he drops some expletives and goes nah nah nah eff and beep and jude i don't know who you're talking about but just before that jesus says you're going to deny me three times pete's like not a chance i'm the dude that's willing to take a soldier on you imagine the crushing of the soul as the rooster crows after his d he's like i you told me i was gonna do it i said i wasn't and i did it anyway and it's at that point peter does what we often do is he goes back fishing he goes back to where his soul remains unchallenged he goes back to what's comfortable what he knows what's routine what doesn't challenge his emotions doesn't challenge his choices i'm going back to where you found me jesus and jesus comes to him at that point and he he does what i think he we need sometimes sometimes we we think that the answer to our issues are so ethereal but he just comes back and cooks him some breakfast and he says you're tired how about you have some rest you fished all night i bet you're hungry and he feeds him then he asks peter the same question three times peter do you love me peter says yes lord i love you he says feed my sheep peter do you love me yes lord i love you feed my sheep the third time petey do you love me pete's like jesus i've told you three times can we move on i realized something in the in the phraseology of what jesus was asking is saying peter do you love me yes lord i've loved you i've always loved you the issue isn't my love for you i believe he finds himself in the same place that we do sometimes it's like jesus i love you i believe in you i just don't believe in myself anymore i tried my best but being around you just reminds me of how much a failure i am that one moment i'm i'm having this encounter with god and the next moment i'm the most carnal person there is one moment i've got the bravery to take on the nation and the next moment i can't even stand up to a a little girl and i can't be around you and not remind myself that i don't have what it takes to follow you jesus i know that at the start of the year i don't know about you but i've stopped giving myself new year's resolutions because i know by january 3rd my commitment to myself that i'm not going to have any sugar as i've eaten my sixth team tam is just out the door i'm like i'm not doing it anymore because i don't want to feel like a failure anybody like that you've stopped believing in yourself just a little bit you stopped you've stopped going to the gym you stopped committing yourself to morning's prayer you stop running or you stop doing anything because you know that you're going to fail so you just don't choose to start and peter's there and jesus says do you love me he says yes lord i love you and he says feed my sheep but jesus is implying is the very thing that i value the most the very thing that i died for the very thing that i would give my everything for i still want you to take care of in other words i've never stopped believing you peter i knew who you were when i called you and i'm not doubting you even though you doubt yourself if you don't have any belief in yourself borrow my belief in you because jesus always believes in you you cannot do anything to stop him saying let's go again let's believe again let's run again let's diet again let's worship again let's speak again let's witness again let's invite again let's mum again let's start again let's start another business let's start another venture just do something because his belief in you never changes he speaks to peter in the most vulnerable moment of his soul when he says i i give up jesus says i can restore that i wonder how many people have stopped believing jesus is here to say i can restore that i can restore that the third one is jesus knows you there's a moment where jesus walks into a town in samaria and once again you've got to understand jesus is the best of the best he's the rabbi everybody wanted to be around the rabbi scripture tells us that jesus had to go through samaria it wasn't something that he chose he said i had to there's there's there's the father's will that i go through samaria and he finds a woman at the well now samaritans if jesus is the best of the best samaritans were the worst of the worst hebrews would call them dogs and for this woman to be at the well in the middle of the day tells us something really critical about this woman she was ostracized from her community people didn't go to the well at the middle of the day because it was the hottest part of the day they would go in the morning or at night but she's there in the middle of the day and jesus comes to her in the middle of the day the rabbi the one that shouldn't be speaking to us married and let alone a samaritan that's rejected by samaritans and he says can i have a drink of water she says you don't have any buckets the reason why she says that is because she feels so unworthy to even supply a rabbi with the drink i'm not worthy to speak to you let alone serve you this this is why i am way beneath you and jesus says go get your husband she says i don't have one and what i've always found peculiar is why would then jesus expose who she is he says i know that you don't have a husband you've had five you've got around a bit you've got a bad reputation and the one that you're with now isn't even your husband i would have thought that how embarrassed would she have felt oh my goodness you know all the deepest darkest secrets but that's not her response her response is she's drawn closer to the rabbi she's drawn closer to jesus and the reason why is she would have been thinking this rabbi doesn't know who i am that's the reason why he's talking to me the rabbi doesn't know my past thank goodness or else he would have he would have rejected me like everybody else rejected me if he knew that i'd been around the block a few times or maybe more he would be disdain he would have he would have thought i was nothing but but wait a minute he knows that he knows my past and he's still present he he knows my issues and he's he's still got the time of dayton for me no wonder this woman that's all her life has felt ashamed and broken runs back to the village that has always rejected her always criticized and said hey hey hey hey do you know how you don't like me well the rabbi does you know how you rejected me well the best of the best loved me and she runs back and says you've got to hear what he has to say and they would have thought a rabbi talking to you if a rabbi would talk to you surely he would talk to me and the village comes out and they begin to listen to the one that can restore the soul like nobody else because when this woman was broken her soul had no help he came and said i'm going to restore what nobody else can because jesus knows you you think you've got secrets from jesus he knows you and he still likes you and he still believes in you and the fourth one as we close as i get the spirit fingers to come and play something really spiritual so i sound nice as jesus gives you there's a woman caught in adultery and she's bought before jesus's feet and this group of men throw her down knowing that the law states that she must be stoned and they're trying to they're trying to trust jesus at this poor woman's expense she's thrown at the feet of jesus see jesus what shall we do the law says she must be stoned and jesus simply starts to bend down and ride in the sand some scholars say maybe he was writing the names of the girlfriends i think maybe he was writing their web history we don't know but what we do know is by the time he finishes there's no accusers left jesus looks at her and says where are your accusers where are the people that bought you here and i think this lady would have had tears down her face mascara and a mess and covered her face in shame and she's beginning to look up and realize that there's no one else around but the one that can restore your soul there's no one there's no one rabbi there's no one jesus jesus says i don't condemn you either in other words i don't blame you for being here i know there's probably a story of why you're doing maybe you were rejected maybe your husband died maybe you were abused as a child whatever it is there's choices that were made for you that you had no control over i don't blame you for being here he says i don't blame you i don't condemn you either he says these beautiful words go and sin no more in other words i don't blame you for your past but don't let it define your future i don't blame you for what you've done but i'm empowering you to change who you are because i'm here to restore your soul when everybody else rejected you when nobody else gave you a brand new start i'm here to tell you i want to give you a hope and a future can i get you to stand to your feet this morning jesus likes you jesus believes in you jesus knows you jesus gives you a brand new start maybe you don't know that type of jesus maybe you've got a theory or an ideology you've hurt other people but you've never experienced that jesus man he's waiting for you and he's offering his love he's offering his forgiveness he's offering a brand new start so as every head is about every eyes closed i just want to ask if you don't know jesus maybe you've just started coming to church or this is your first time man we are so glad that you're here but jesus is even more excited he wants to speak those words that your soul is desperate to hear maybe things were done to you and you're living in the byproduct of that pain jesus is here to restore what no man else man can do he's give he's here to give you what every other person has taken from you but you've got to respond to him he's inviting you the bible says it like this he knocks on the door of your heart you can feel that knock this morning you want to respond to the voice of jesus respond to what he's saying that's what i'm going to ask you to do if you've never responded to jesus or maybe you've been coming for so long his voice is so dim you just want to say jesus i want to follow you i want to give you everything my sin my shame my hurt and my pain it's all yours now now i'd love to include you in a prayer and i can't get to everybody but this is what i'm going to ask you to do when i count to three i simply want you to lift up your hand and say yes mark that's me would you pray with me i need jesus i need him to be my lord and my savior i need him to be my friend i didn't think he likes me but i know that he does if that is you when i count to three i want you to lift up your hand and it'd be my honor and privilege to lead you in a simple prayer one two three all across this room god love you so much yeah i see that hand who else is there yeah i see that hand two hands three hands who else is there don't don't leave here unsure yeah i see that hand right up the back he might be far from god but today you're coming back home he restores your soul he leads you let him lead you let him lead you for the first time let him lead you again as i look across the room one more time one two three just lift it up nice and high it would be my privilege to pray with you so what i'm going to ask you to do if you lift it up your hand could i get you to put it on the heart because god does his best work from the inside out and i'm going to say a line and all i want you to do is repeat that line after me but we're not you're not going to say by yourself we're going to say it together as a church is that cool say jesus i give to you my sin my shame my hurt and my pain it's yours now in exchange i receive your love your forgiveness your future and your hope i am yours and you are mine in the name of jesus amen can we welcome every person that responded to the family [Music] today if you responded and lifted up your hand man we're so proud of you i'm sure one of the team here is going to come and just say hello to you maybe you got some questions don't leave don't hurry this is the greatest moment of your life and we want to start that journey with you and make sure that you know that you're not doing it alone one more thing before i go i want to show you something really practical that helps me hear the voice of jesus and it's something that i do all the time because i can't get to church every day of the week but i can get to jesus so i'm going to show you something that's really practical but really powerful to help you be led by the spirit so i want you to close your eyes for a moment i'm going to explain what i do and then i want you to take a moment and do it for yourself this morning so i close my eyes and i just wait until i can feel jesus jesus is real he's so real and i just dwell sometimes it happens in a minute sometimes it happens in 15 but i just wait don't you say jesus where are you where are you right now and i wait until i i feel his presence in fact i wait till my soul acknowledges that jesus is here and what i do i i feel his presence and i sense it and it's just to my front right he's real he's standing there and i say jesus what are you saying to me right now i wait till my soul registers yes jesus you're here is he you're real what are you saying to me right now what he's saying to me right now is you're gonna be okay but the weight of it is i've got you i've got your mark i'm your provider i'm your protector i'm watching out for you you don't need to worry and i wait for that that that voice the voice of jesus that can restore my soul to start to shift my mind my will and emotions until it affects my body now open up your eyes for a sec i feel my anxiety just here just above my chest sometimes it feels like i i'm out of balance sometimes it feels like i'm out of breath sometimes it feels just like pins and needles so i wait till the till i can sense the presence of jesus i can hear his voice and then i listen to his voice until the anxiety leaves and what is happening my body is aligning with my soul which is now being led by my spirit now you can do that in a cubicle in your workplace you can do that at your kitchen table it's not just about coming down the front or getting somebody to pray for you've got to let the lord lead you you've got to be present to say jesus what he the one that can restore my soul speak to her right now and don't leave until he does he is real and he's always speaking over you he's always guiding you he is your good shepherd and he wants to give you exactly what your soul needs so i'm going to hand over in a moment i'm going to ask the band just to sing that song jesus at the center of it all and just for a few moments close your eyes leaning to his presence lean into his voice and let him restore your soul so he can lead you in the paths of righteousness [Music] [Music] it's always been you jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] nothing in this world will do [Music] jesus [Music] i sing from my heart to the heavens jesus [Music] [Music] of every part of your life of your weak over your soul jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] nothing in this world [Music] [Music] one more time [Music] jesus [Music] thank you jesus we thank you lord this morning that you love us that you like us do you believe in us more than we do ourselves lord we just thank you so much jesus for your presence here lord you're the life giver lord we thank you lord for your presence with us this morning in jesus name amen so great hey can we just thank pastor mark for such a great message so good so encouraging um well we're gonna finish the service there now but like i mentioned before um you're welcome to stick around for the second service and we'll we'll let you just discern as to the number of people we probably need no more than this amount in the building for the next service so if you see you starting to feel that then there you go but please feel free to hang out otherwise um i think we've got cafe on this morning and so enjoy that would you and please stick around say hello to each other as well encourage each other along um which would be great but thank you so much for joining us here this morning have a great week and we'll see you soon [Music] [Music] from beginning you