Central Church Cambridge

by Jim Hetherington

18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

(Transcribed by TurboScribe)

Just while we're getting ready to worship this morning, again, we're going to be joined by Jim Hetherington, a kale and quinoa salad loving speaker, who is also a Guinness World Record holder. So, we are truly blessed this morning. Jim.

Oh my goodness, the things that people say and talk about. So, I do have to highlight the Guinness World Records attempt. That was so much fun.

I haven't had a chance to share with many of you, so I had this great idea about a year and a half ago to attempt a Guinness World Records attempt. So, what it was, was the most authors in the same book gathered in the same room and signed that book at the same time. So, the current record, or the previous record, was 126, and it was set in Toronto about six years ago, and for some reason, I couldn't be there.

I wasn't able to be a part of it. I always thought it would be a great thing to do, so I started to reach out to Guinness, and there's a lot you got to go through. There's a lot of gatekeepers that you got to go in before you finally get an interview and get to talk with someone, and I think in the email threads, I think in the one email thread, I think I have about almost 80, about 78 emails back and forth.

That's how much dialogue went back and forth, and that's not to mention the adjudicator and the follow-up people and everything, so it was just a lot of work. So, we had 183 people became part of this book. Now, I don't know if you've ever tried to round up 183 people before.

It was a challenge in itself, just to get the content from everybody to put into the book, and so on the day of the event, 142 of them actually showed up and were part of it, and so we had the adjudicator come in, we sat around tables, and we put a copy of the book that everybody was in on the table, and then he went around, verified who they were to make sure they were in the book, so we couldn't just have, you know, Betty come in off the street. She had to be in the book. She had to be part of the book.

We had to make the book available to the public, so 30 days before the event, we had to have it on Amazon, available to the public, so that we could sell copies of it. We had to sell a minimum of 100 copies of the book before the event. I mean, there was just a lot of fun stuff that we had to do, so when he went through and verified everybody, he said, okay, sign, and so everybody signed the book and passed it to the next person around the table, so we ended up with all these books, and so he came out a little bit later after he calculated everything, went with the witnesses that verified it all, and came out and said yes, that we had indeed set a new Guinness World Record of 142 authors signing the same book simultaneously, which was a lot of fun.

It was just a lot of fun, so that's something else I get to add to my resume, which is just so much fun, so anyways, that's not why I'm here. I was looking for the stool of repentance. I know it's hiding here someplace.

I'm going to steal it from, I don't know who was sitting on it, but they're not sitting on it any longer, so I thought I'd start with, this isn't the normal stool, but this will work. This one's padded. This is even better, so I thought I'd start with the stool of repentance because I got a confession to make.

There's three things that I dislike. Wasting energy, wasting time, and wasting money. Anybody in any of those categories with me? I see some hands.

Yes, I see hands going. I bet you it's the money thing, right? Most people are like, oh, I wish I didn't spend it on that. I could have got it five cents cheaper if I wouldn't gone down the street, right? How many here drive, you know, 10 miles to go save two cents on a litre of gas? Anybody want to? Oh, we got a couple.

We got a couple to do this. I think that's hilarious, but you know, just one of those things that I've just noticed over time as I've matured, that's code for old, getting older, as I've matured that, you know, those three things are really valuable and important to me, and I don't know if it's because, you know, we all know we have an expiration date, right? We don't know what that expiration date is, but we know we got one, and I think as we get more mature and a little wiser with our years, we start to look at those things and we say, wow, I gotta stop wasting time. I gotta stop wasting so much money.

I gotta stop wasting so much energy. I mean, how many people here have walked into the kitchen and forgotten what you went in there for, right? Then you have to walk back out again, go back into the room, come back in again, and try it all over again. That's just a waste of energy, isn't it? And say, you know, and with time, you know, with time, I audit my time every once in a while.

Anybody else audit their time occasionally? Oh, I got no, I got no hands. Good, then you're going to enjoy this lesson today. So, I audit my time every once in a while.

I look down, and I started to teach this with my community because I calculated, you know, we got seven days a week, right? Everybody's got seven days. We agree on that. We got 24 hours in a day, right? That equals 168.

So, we got 168 hours every week. So, every once in a while, I'll sit down with my timer. Okay, Jimmy, you got 160 hours.

What did you do with it? And then I'll start to backtrack what I've done, you know, with sleeping and spending time, and, you know, devotions, and reading, and studying, spending time with Mary, doing all those different things, and I begin to calculate it. Well, the first time I did it a number of years ago, I was missing seven hours. Anybody ever lose seven hours of time? I mean, I hunted all over the place trying to figure out where that seven hours went, and I could not figure out where it went.

And I calculated, or recalculated, and went back. I started at the beginning, and came backwards. I started the backwards, and started going forwards, and I could not find it.

Finally, I realised that I was watching a little bit of Netflix, right? How many here love Netflix, or, you know, any of those? I mean, there's some great series on there. There's some great movies. There's some great entertainment, and I love getting into, you know, another story.

I just love stories. I love getting into other stories, and when they come to life in movies, or in dramas, in sitcoms, whatever it is, I just love getting into those things. Well, I discovered I was watching a few extra than I thought I was, right? I was writing down one.

Well, apparently, I was two or three that I was watching, so then I thought, okay, I need to adjust that, so I took that, and I found what that seven hours was, and I adjusted it, and I got going. Earlier this year, I did the same thing. I did another audit, and this isn't, you know, commissioned by CRA or anything.

It was just an audit that I just do on my own, and so I started going through it, and I discovered again. Good old Netflix had snuck back in there, and now, instead of one or two, I was watching two or three, and they go, oh, well, what would happen if I took one of those hours and invested it someplace else? So, I began to do that. I took one hour away from Netflix.

Bad Netflix. I took it away from Netflix, and I started to invest it in doing something different with it, and I began to do this daily. I would just invest this hour into something different, and so in two weeks, I'm going to launch another book.

I was able to write a book going through just stealing an hour back from Netflix and investing it into researching and reading and rewriting and doing all that fun stuff. I've now got my book in. It's getting formatted and ready to come out in a couple weeks, so then I thought, well, I should share this with others, and so in my community, I'm starting a 100 hour sprint, and it's taking one hour and focussing it on something that we want to change, a goal or something we want to achieve, something we want to change, and doing it for 100 days, and so I'm saying that because if you ever thought about something that you want to do or something you want to accomplish, a goal that you're not really achieving, you're welcome to The only cost is the commitment to the time, committing to that one hour and doing that, so if you want to, come up and see me afterwards.

I'll get you the Zoom link. We're just going to meet on Zoom and take people through because I divide my years in quarters. Every three months is a quarter of the year, so September is coming up.

We're going to start this thing, and then October, November, December, that's the last quarter, and that's when businesses want to turn everything around and finish strong, and people look at their goals that they set on January 1st. How many set goals and intentions in January? No confessors on that one. I'm sure there are some that I see a couple hands waving around there.

Yes, okay, and how are those goals working out for you? Oh, you're on track. Good for you. That's amazing.

Good for you because many people, you know, by February or, you know, by the beginning of February, they've lost and they've forgotten about them, but we want to encourage people to finish strong in that last quarter because there's so much that can be accomplished, and I was thinking of some of the mentors that I've had, one in particular. His name is Brian Tracy, and he said that to do a presentation, you need to spend 40 hours, four zero hours, in doing a presentation. That's a lot of commitment, right? I mean, we could all commit right now to becoming vegetarians, and that might last until lunchtime, right, when that juicy hamburger is calling us, right? We can all start things.

We can have good intentions to start things, but the follow-through, to finish it off strong, is a tough thing to do, and I don't think we're meant to do these things on our own. We're meant to have community, have people around us to support and encourage us with that because it's easy to have good intentions, right? You can think back of your own life and your own journey. I'm sure you can think of many times that you've started things and, you know, said, I'm going on that diet.

Yep, supper time's coming. That's the end of the diet, right? You know, I'm going to go healthy. I'm going to start exercising weekly.

It got as far as putting on your running shoes, and that was it. Like, that's as far as you got with it, but to finish strong, I think, is an important thing to do. So, if you want to join us, you can join us because it's one of those things that I really believe is that having the accountability, having people in our lives to encourage and support us, is an important thing to do.

So, that's my confession. You know, those are the three things that I don't like wasting, is time, energy, and finances. This morning, we're going to shift a little bit.

We're going to tie it all together. It'll tie all together as we go, but I wanted to shift and talk about faith because, again, it's something that is free, right? None of us paid for the faith that we have. None of us paid for the relationship we have with God.

None of us have paid for the hours we get every day. None of us have paid any of those things. All that stuff is free, but what we do with it is valuable and important, and I think we need to look at that with our faith journey, with our walk in our relationship, and just say, how are we spending that time? How are we spending the energy in that? In Ephesians 2, it says this, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is a gift from God.

We recognise that it's a gift that God gives us, right? Each day is a new day, and it's a gift that God gives us, right? None of us at 11.58 at the evening before are running around going, oh, I gotta pay for the next 24 hours, right? I better get my, what's the word I'm looking for? Credit for the day, right? I better get it in now so that I got my 24 hours. None of us have to do that, right? We go to bed at nighttime. We just believe that when our eyes open up, we've got another 24 hours.

We got another day to use, and we recognise that it is a gift that comes from God. I want to read our main text from Luke chapter 9, verses 18 to 26. Prior to this, just leading up to this, Jesus has been doing a lot of miracles and healing the sick and setting people free from demons and from unhealthy, unclean spirits.

He's been sending out his disciples and doing it, and he met with them, and he was having this conversation with them. Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, who do the crowds say I am? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago have come back to life. But what about you, he asked.

Who do you say I am? And just Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Then he said to them, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the father and of the holy angels. It's interesting, you know, that oftentimes we read in Scripture how Jesus went alone on his own to pray, but this time he was praying, but he had the disciples with him.

He was hanging out with them in private, and it's in those private meetings that things really gathered. As Stacey asked me earlier in the morning, if you got locked in an elevator, who would you want to get locked up with, right? Because it's in those quiet moments, in those moments where we're locked in a room or having a lunch with somebody or having a private meeting or an encounter, that we really get to know that person, and we get some real wisdom, we get some real understanding, we get a real depth of things when we get alone with them. And this is what it was like with the disciples.

They're hanging out with Jesus, and in those quiet moments he was leaning in and pouring out even more to them. And so he was challenging them and saying, you know what, who do you say I am? Or who did the crowd say I am? You know, and so he was getting the consensus of what was being spoken, you know, what are the reports coming in on CNN? What are the reports coming in on CTV news? What are the reports that, what are other people saying? But then he made it more personal, right? Don't just look at their opinions, don't just look at what other people are saying. What do you say? Because that's where the rubber hits the road, as they say, right? That's where true faith comes in, is what do you say? We can come to church and we can believe what the church doctrine is, we can believe what the church teaches and preaches, what the mandates are, and all that stuff, but what does it really mean to you? And that's what Jesus was pushing in and pressing in on them, was what do you, who do you say that I am? And then he warned them strictly not to share it with anybody.

It was almost like they leaned in and he pulled back the veil and said, guys, it really is true. It is me. I'm the one that was, you know, that your forefathers talked about.

I'm the one that the prophets talked about. It really is me, but don't tell anybody, right? You can go out in authority in my name, which he did. He commissioned them and he gave them authority to heal the sick and to set people free.

It's interesting that anywhere he went, whenever he went, sent the disciples up or any healing that he did, it was always mentioned that it was the healing of the sick and unclean spirits. Interesting how there was that combination, no matter where he went, no matter what was happening, there were these two things. It was the influence of unclean spirits in people's lives and setting people free of sickness and illness.

And it was fascinating how he did this and how he set them on the track to give him authority to speak in his name. Then he goes on to talk about whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up the cross. It's so easy today, isn't it, with all the doom scrolling.

Anybody, you understand the doom scrolling, right? It's taking that phone or getting on the computer and just endlessly searching and looking things up and scrolling through things to get our time, right? To take our time, to keep us activated. You realise that people are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to figure out ways to keep you engaged online, right? That's their sole job, is just to create stuff and algorithms and stuff in a way just to keep you engaged, right? Have you ever talked about something, you know, in the presence of a computer or a television or a smartphone, and then all of a sudden that thing comes up on the smartphone, another thing. You know, there was a joke one time, a couple were talking and they were discussing how people saying that, you know, AI is always listening.

Computers are listening to all our conversations. We can't say anything in private because there's ears everywhere. And they looked at each other and they started to laugh and they said, that's impossible.

And then Siri started to laugh, right? And then every, you know, all these other algorithms started laughing at them with them. But it's true that, you know, those things are always listening, but they're designed to keep us engaged. Why? To suck up our time, to keep us engaged in stuff that isn't actively moving the kingdom of God forward.

And that's what we need to look at as Christians, is how are we using our time? Is there a better way to use our time? Are there more, you know, are there different relationships or better relationships that we can invest in that would actually encourage and support another person? Are there things that we can do actively with our time and our energy? Thinking about the hour, now an hour is a long time to commit to praying, isn't it? But what about 10 minutes? Imagine what 10 minutes a day praying for 100 days would do. Imagine the effectiveness of committing to something like that on a regular basis. Imagine what God's Spirit would begin to release to us or reveal to us as we begin to engage in that kind of activity.

And that's something that each one of us could do. Who here could not find 10 minutes to do something different with, right? We could all take 10 minutes from something and engage it in a different way. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their own their selves? It's interesting how Jesus challenges them at a deeper level. They thought they were just signing up because he was a great teacher, right? Because he was the current one, right? But he chose them for a reason, just the same as he speaks and challenges and calls each one of us to go deeper in a relationship with him. Our faith is free, but it isn't cheap.

And cheap has a terrible, you know, tone to it, right? But what I mean by that is that it did cost, didn't cost us anything, but it will cost us if we really want to commit and walk in it. And I really believe that there's a time where the church is going to begin to have to stand up for what they really believe. That it's similar to what Jesus said to the disciples leaning forward.

He said, that's great. You're hearing what everybody else is saying. You're hearing the reports of what other people are saying, but what do you say? So let me ask you in your personal life, you hear what other people say in conversations, you hear different reports, you may read little blogs or emails, you may hear different things on YouTube and on Netflix, but what do you really say? Who do you say that God is? And what does God really mean to you? What does your relationship with him really mean? Is it something worth investing in, or is it something that we just pretend to do? You know, it's one thing to show up on a Sunday morning, it's another thing to live it out Monday to Saturday.

That's where it really becomes a challenge, doesn't it? When we get into the grind of work or get into conflicting arguments or conversations with people, when we have struggles in families or with friends and neighbours, that's when it can really become challenging. Faith will cost us. It will cost us time.

If we're really serious about our faith, we need to commit regular time to studying, to reading, to praying, to encouraging others. It may mean standing up for something or standing up and being accounted for. You know, it was interesting when you read that last part of that text that we read here, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of those holy angels.

How he's calling us and challenging us. Are we willing to confess? Are we really willing to say and stand up for what we believe in? As we move forward, we can look at it, and there's five things that I want to encourage us that we need to look at. One, we talked about earlier, is the time, right? Our faith grows as we spend more time with God.

It's going to take an investment of time. You invest a Sunday morning to come and gather corporately, to worship, to sing, to encourage each other, to listen to someone teach. What about the rest of the week? What are we doing with that time? Is there more time that we could allocate into spending time with God and praying and so on? The energy.

Serving God takes energy and commitment. I mean, many of you come here, the worship leaders and those leading in the band, they come early to get set up. Our sound guys and our audio guys, everybody comes in early.

Our greeters are here to prepare. Our Sunday school department is ready to go, right? There's a commitment of energy to come in and get things prepared. So, it takes energy for us to really commit.

And then, the commitment. Deciding to commit to something, deciding that we're going to step out and do something, right? Rather than saying, okay, I'm going to go on that diet. It's committing to doing what needs to happen.

It's committing to creating an environment that's going to set you up for success, right? We know that we can't have a good healthy diet if our kitchen pantries are full of chocolate chip cookies and potato chips and all those other wonderful food groups. So, we know that we need to set up our environment to really be committed to something. Faith calls us to be obedient.

There's some things that we may need to turn away from. There may be relationships or friendships that we need to step away from because some of those may be influencing us in a negative way. So, to be obedient to what God is calling us to is part of that faith journey.

And just listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying, listening to those promptings. Oh, maybe Jim, you shouldn't watch that third episode of Netflix today, right? It's listening to those small things and say, okay, what can I do with that? But that takes energy to step away from it and to step into something different, isn't it? It's easy for us to get into the routine of just scrolling on our phones, just sitting back, flipping out another Netflix series, going to the kitchen, eating whatever we want. It doesn't take any energy or commitment to do those things.

But to live lives that Jesus is calling his disciples to, for example, took energy and commitment and obedience to listen to what God is calling them to, to step out in the truth. Because imagine that, you know, in those times when Jesus is ministering to his disciples, they didn't have books that they go to the library. I mean, we've got amazing books out back there that, you know, we could read and learn about, right? They were living the stuff.

They had to decide whether they were going to follow Jesus. They had to decide whether they're going to be obedient to him. They had to decide whether it's really worth picking up the cross, right? The cross had a whole different meaning for them.

Cross meant pain, suffering, and death to them. Cross wasn't something nice that we put in a church. Cross wasn't something nice that you just hang around your neck and wear on a chain.

The cross to them made something completely different. So when Jesus was saying, pick up your cross, he was just like, pick up that which may cause suffering and pain and death and separation, but pick it up and follow me. And it's interesting how he challenged them and encouraged them to pick it up before he went to the cross.

He said, this is where this journey is going to land, is where it's going to cost us to pick up the cross. We have great freedom in this country, don't we? Freedom to come to church. There's no obstacles.

There's no militia, you know, trying to force us from not going or attending. There's no government agencies or anything trying to force us underground. We have complete freedom.

But sometimes in that freedom, we lose sight of what it really means. And I think it's important that we go back to looking at these scriptures and what it really cost those disciples at the very beginning. What it cost them to step out in obedience.

What it cost them to leave their livelihood and to follow Jesus was a completely different thing. And they had to decide in that moment if this guy is a lunatic or is he the real deal. And as they got to know him, as they got to spend time with him, he began to reveal more and more to them.

And they began to discern that he really was the real deal. And you and I need to come to that same place of saying, who is he really to us? Is he a lunatic? Do I believe the stories in the Bible? Do I really believe the healings? Do I believe the stuff that I've read? Or is it just nice stuff that somebody put together? And it's something that each of us have to individually decide. We can't decide as a church.

We can't decide as a congregation. We have to decide individually. Because God meets us all where we're at.

And depending on the level of time and energy and commitment and obedience is the level to which God can use us in advancing his kingdom. The disciples were willing to put everything aside to follow him. The challenge is for us to look at it and say, am I willing to really follow it? I wanted to end with this question.

What's keeping us, what's keeping you, what's keeping me from following him at a deeper level? Is there something in our lives that's keeping us from believing more, going to that next level, as they say? Is there something keeping me? For many of us, we attend church.

(This file is longer than 30 minutes.

by Aubrey Botha

19 Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her. 20 So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.

14 And please remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh, so he might let me out of this place. 15 For I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I’m here in prison, but I did nothing to deserve it.”

23 Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.

41 Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River.

9 Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh. 10 “Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard. 11 One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. 12 There was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he told us what each of our dreams meant. 13 And everything happened just as he had predicted. I was restored to my position as cup-bearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole.”

14 Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before Pharaoh. 15 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.”

16 “It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.”

7 Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

(Transcribed by TurboScribe)

This is one of my favourite worship songs. I just sang it last night. Again, I often do that.

Just before I go to bed, I'll listen to a few of these, and this was the one last night I just put on, and I was just taking some time with the Lord. I trust in God. Do we do that? Sometimes we forget that, right? When life gets a little tough, we kind of grab to all kinds of straws, and they don't last that long, but the Lord is always there.

He starts the song with blessed assurance. Remember how the words went in the old song? For Jesus is mine. Lord, thank you for the series on Joseph.

Thank you for the lessons we learned. Help us, Lord, to take those and make them part of our lives, especially this morning. It's a big one.

Thank you for that. May we ask, as we always do, that we can see Jesus and only Jesus. So I'm sitting in the doctor's office in the waiting room.

Jay nearly choked on his coffee now. Let me go back. I'm sitting in the doctor's office in the waiting room.

The receptionist checked me in, and she said, take a seat and wait. The nurse will call you when the doctor is ready to see you. I'm not alone in this room.

There's other people with me, and we all know our task. It's in the name of the room. Wait.

We don't tweet each other. We don't take blood pressure. We don't write prescriptions.

Our job is to wait. Now, we don't like that because we're this kind of giddy-up generation, right? We weave through the traffic to get to the fastest lane just to stop at the traffic light at the same time as everyone else. We get really upset when someone brings 11 items into the 10-item express checkout, and we drum our fingers when we watch Netflix, and it takes a little while for that video to download.

We don't like waiting, not for the traffic, not for the doctor, not for God. Can we take a moment and just think about this for a moment? Where are we sitting? Not today in the church. Every day as we live in this world, where are we sitting? We're sitting in God's waiting room.

See the young couple sitting there? They've been waiting for a long time, trying to get pregnant. See the gentleman there with a briefcase on his lap? He's been sending out resume after resume, waiting, waiting to find a job. See the elderly lady, just widowed? She's been waiting for one day without waking up crying.

Here's the thing. We live in a land between prayer offered and prayer answered, in the land of waiting, in God's waiting room. Now, if there's someone that knows every piece of furniture, who's read every notice on that bulletin board in God's waiting room, it was Joseph.

He spent hours down in a cistern, waiting that someone might just take him out. Months walking about 750 kilometres to get to Egypt. Days, if not weeks, on that auction block.

A decade in the household of Potiphar, the captain of the guard. Time moves slowly in a foreign land, and time stops in prison. And that's where we pick up his story today.

Can I just give you a little backstory before we read, and we're going to start reading chapter 39 verse 19. So Joseph works for Potiphar, and things are wonderful. People love him, everyone loves him, and Potiphar's wife wants to love him even more.

She invites him into her bedroom, and he says, no thank you. She did not take that kindly. So she decided that she was going to get him back for that.

So she goes to her husband, and she lies, and she tells him that Joseph tried to sexually assault her. And that's where we pick up our story. Potiphar was so furious when he heard his wife's story about Joseph, how Joseph had treated her.

So he took Joseph, and he threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held, and there he remained. Do I need to say this? But the Lord, this is about God even better. But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison, and he showed him his faithful love.

But the Lord was with Joseph even there where time stood still. And then, and I'm going to use strange words which I will explain in a second. I'm using them specifically.

It just so happened that the baker and the butler, not the candlestick maker, only the baker and the butler, they messed up, and Pharaoh got really angry at them, and he dumped them in jail with Joseph. They became friends. And it just so happened that they both had a dream.

And it just so happened that God allowed Joseph to understand the dreams and tell them what the dreams meant. If I was the baker, I wish I never had that dream for him. It didn't end that well.

He lost his head. The butler or the cupbearer, as the translation calls him, the butler, he got really good news. You're not going to stay in here for long, buddy.

You go right back, and they're going to put you back in your job, and you're going to live happily ever after working for the king. But as Joseph tells him that, he asks him a favour. Chapter 40, verse 14.

He said to him, please remember me. Do me a favour when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh so he might let me out of this place, for I was kidnapped from my homeland, the land of the Hebrews, and now I'm here in prison.

But I did nothing to deserve it. And then verse 23. Pharaoh's cupbearer, butler, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.

For two years, not a single word. Enough time for Joseph to forget about God, to kind of push his beliefs to one side and say, it's all done. There's nothing more.

I'm just stuck in this prison. But he never did, because Joseph knows all about last week's sermon. About the one who weaves.

Sometimes the world weaves, but God is the amazing re-weaver. And he knew all about that. Never gave up.

And then it happened. Pharaoh had this dream. Actually, two dreams.

One about cows and one about grain. It upset him really, because he didn't understand what this was all about. So he got all of his wise people and all of his counsellors together.

And he said, explain this to me, because I'm really concerned about what this might mean. They had no clue. And then that moment, chapter 41, verse 9. Finally, the king's cupbearer spoke up, the butler.

Today, I have been reminded of my failure, he told Pharaoh. Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard. That is Potiphar.

One night, the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. And there was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a slave of the captain of the guard. And we told him our dreams.

And he told us what each of our dreams meant. And everything happened just as he had predicted. I was restored to my position as cupbearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole.

Sandy Barry, I just told you about that this week. Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. And after he shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before Pharaoh.

This would be the first time that Pharaoh and Joseph would come face to face, and they would look at each other. Wouldn't be the last. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means.

But I've heard that when you hear about a dream, you can interpret it. Now, listen carefully to Joseph's answer. It is beyond my power to do this, Joseph replied.

And do I have to say it? But God. But God can tell you what it means and said to you, I can't do it, but God can do it. Joseph comes out of jail after all this time, going through all of the stuff, and he comes out there bragging about God.

The jail time, the wait time did not diminish his faith, did not take away his faith, did quite the opposite. It strengthened his faith in this God who is weaving his life together, even if he's sitting in the waiting room. Because Joseph understood his God.

God who makes promises and keeps them. A God who is sovereign and nothing in this world can change what God is doing and is going to do and will do in your life and in my life, because that's just who he is. And I didn't write this in the sermon, but boy was that right.

I trust in God. That's what Joseph would have said, and that was maybe the last song he sang before he got out of jail. And you, you might not be in jail, but you might be sitting in that waiting room.

Well, while you're waiting, God is working. God never sits around and twiddling his thumbs. I wonder what's going on in the universe.

Doesn't take vacation. Psalm 121, he never slumbers and he never sleeps. John 5, he never stops working.

We have a song for that. Waymaker, he never stops. He never stops working.

He's the waymaker, miracle worker, light in the darkness. That is who you are. You never stop.

You never stop working, even when I'm sitting in the waiting room. Think of Joseph. In a sense, chapter 40, his life came to a standstill.

There he was, dumped, and that was the end. And now I'm coming back to those words that I used when I said, it just so happened. Nah, it didn't just so happen.

It was no coincidence. This was God working. God putting the pieces together.

Those two guys who fell out of favour with Pharaoh, God knew that there was a plan with that. And he put them right there where Joseph would meet them. And God had them have these dreams.

And God gave it to Joseph so Joseph could explain it. God was at work, even when Joseph was sitting in the waiting room. And when all the pieces were in place, Pharaoh had a dream, and no one understood.

And at the right time, at the right time, the old cupbearer who forgot for more than two years said, there's a Joseph. See, that's God at the right time. Not my time.

Not your time. We live in the land of waiting between a prayer offered and a prayer answered. We kind of, God help me now.

Now! Stand in line. There's someone with 12 in front of you. The land between a prayer offered and a prayer answered.

It is the land of waiting. But God is working, and God is weaving. So it's okay sometimes to wait.

Giddy up, generation. And as you wait, it would behove you to just look up to the wall, because God has a beautiful plaque on the wall in his waiting room. Psalm 46 verse 10.

Someone know where that is? There's a coffee for that. No, don't look it up. Be still and know that I, that's right there in his waiting room.

Be still and know that I, I can be glad, even in my waiting, because God is good. I can be silent, because God is, I can rest, because God is busy. I know that's hard, because we want those answers right now.

We don't like to wait. I want to go straight into it. But in the waiting is where we learn more and more about this master weaver in our lives.

There's this beautiful word, Psalm 31, and Alexander knows that's one of those that's going to be read at my funeral. I trust in you. I say you are my God.

Just before that, he says, God, I'm scared. There's lots of stuff going on, and I'm not sure about all these things, but I trust in you. I say you are my God, and then those words, my times are in your hands.

Can we say that in our own lives? I trust in you. Between a prayer offered and a prayer answered, my times are in your hands. And then do what Paul says, right? Through prayer and petition and with thanksgiving, you give it to God.

And let me end. It would be good for us to remember, and Grace, you have this on there, to remember Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. Those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

Can I just stop that for a second? The word trust is sometimes translated with hope, and the King James got it right for once, translated it correctly. Again, a Hebrew word, Amirah, kavah. Kavah means to wait.

Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. Those who wait on the Lord will soar high on wings like eagles. Those who wait on the Lord will run and not grow weary.

Those who wait on the Lord will walk and they will not faint. You'll get through that waiting room period. Ask Joseph.

He'll tell you. One more thing. As you sit there, you might notice that the door opens and you'll see the doctor come out and come sit right next to you.

And he'll say, I'm just going to sit here while we wait. Not all doctors will do that, but yours will, because he's the great physician. So, welcome to the waiting room.

Amen. Take a few moments of quiet prayer. Think of me, O Lord.

Think of me in your greatness. Be the rock where I can come and hide. Be that faithful one that I can come and sit and I can just pour my heart out, for I trust in you, Lord.

I say, you are my God. And as I wait, my times are in your hand. In Jesus' name.

Amen. We're going to sing. Praise team.

Thank you. When we do the postlude, it seems that we've been a little mischievous and we've done some stuff that God doesn't like. So, the last song, if you see on your bulletin, says, Lord, reign me in.

So, God must be thinking about us to reign us in for something. It was a little mistype, but we'll sing Lord, reign me in. That's our postlude.

by Aubrey Botha

5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”

8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.

9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”

10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

25 Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime.a]">[a] 27 Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. 28 So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty piecesb]">[b] of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.

25-29 I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and they’re just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that’s not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written,

A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion;
    he’ll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
    removal of their sins.

From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.

(Transcribed by TurboScribe)

Thank you, Praise Team. What a wonderful morning of worship again. I missed you on the piano though.

6:10, not 6:07, 6:10. We really want you to do that. Alexander had a little fun with you this morning, but please go do that. 6:10 in the morning or 6:10 in the evening or afternoon, whatever you want to call it.

Take a few moments, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and pray. Pray for our search team in the work that they are doing, finding the next minister for this church. Pray for the person that God is preparing for this position.

But also pray for another team because we've been struggling for a long time. We're looking for someone for our youth, and we just do not have folks that are applying, and it's not just us. It's all over that we're struggling with that.

Pray for us too. Pray for folks that feel that call to do that. With God's grace, I think there might be two people.

That'll be good news for those on the team that we might see apply and that we might be able to sit down and talk to. So 6.10 until we find people, take time. Five minutes is all we're asking.

Be quiet, and that's all you pray for, nothing else. That's what you pray for. Lord, as we continue our journey with Joseph, not an easy journey, Lord, because it starts in a home, goes to a pit, ends in slavery, but also in the end, it ends in war, more than that.

But as we walk this path, help us, Lord, to see you as Joseph did, to see your hand in every moment, even there in the deepest pit, as we said last week. And every day as we walk, and in these moments, may we see Jesus, and only Jesus. I think you got it right, Alexander.

Now I moved it, and now it's all oblong. It started, the trouble started when Joseph's mouth started. He walked into breakfast that morning, and he was blabbing about this dream that he had.

Read with me. I'm going to do the verses little by little. It's a little bit of fun.

One night, Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. Remember I told you verse five last week? Listen to this dream, he said. We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain, and suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine.

I do not know what Joseph was thinking. Was he really thinking that his brothers were going to just slap him on the back and say, baby brother, that's amazing. We can't wait to bow down before you.

Well, they didn't. They kicked dirt in his face, and they told him to take a hike. Verse nine, verse eight.

His brothers responded, so you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you'll reign over us? And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. Now you'd think he would take a hint, but he didn't. So he just comes right back, and this time with a dream even more elaborate than the first one, verse nine.

Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. Listen, I've had another dream, he said. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me.

This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. What kind of dream is that? He asked, will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you? But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dream was. He should have kept those dreams to himself, and I think that's what he was thinking if you think back to last week's sermon when he was sitting there right at the bottom of that dark pit, heard the brothers up there laughing and having fun.

And then all of a sudden, it's not just their voices, there are other voices too. So let's go to verse 25. Then just as they were sitting down to eat, the brothers, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them.

It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, what will we gain by killing our brother? We'd have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let's sell him to those Ishmaelite traders after all.

He's our brother, our own flesh and blood. And his brothers agreed. So when the Ishmaelites who were Midianite traders came by, Joseph's brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for 20 pieces of silver.

And the traders took him to Egypt. Just like that. Brothers pulled him out, took the money, grabbed the garment, left, and Joseph had no choice.

He was on his way to Egypt to be a slave. Can I just stop the story there for a second? Because I want to set the scene for you for what this sermon is all about. Not too long ago, Joseph had everything going his way.

He was hanging out at home. Brothers had to work. He was the loved son and everything was going to him.

He had his own tailor who made his own special garment for him. He had these wonderful lofty dreams. But like the old saying goes, what goes up must come down.

And Joseph's life came down with a crash. Down, down, down. Put down by the brothers, thrown down into a cistern, sold down the river of slavery, led down the road to Egypt.

Stripped of everything. His name, his status, his position, everything he had, everything he hoped to have, it all went down the drain. Down to Egypt.

And this is what the sermon is all about. Because here's the thing. Life sometimes can do that.

It can get us down. We even have sayings for that. I'm down to my last dollar.

Just yesterday, this was not written in the sermon, but it gave me in a moment. As I was driving to Zehrs to pick up something, I saw this young lady come to the place where she always stands at the traffic light. And she had this cardboard and she was writing her cardboard again.

And as I came back from Zehrs, she was ready and she stood there and she had a down on there. Down on my luck. Because that's where she is.

She's down. Down to my last penny. Down on my back.

Down and out. All of a sudden life takes us down. Boy, that's a downer this morning.

That's not where I'm going. It takes us down. Now let's go back to Joseph.

Hold on to that. Joseph. When he arrives in Egypt, he has nothing.

It's all taken away. His family, his home, his country. Everything.

He has lost everything. But the one thing he didn't lose was his belief in God's plan for his life. Joseph never stopped believing that.

Never mind how down he went. Down into the pit. Down with the Ishmaelites.

Down to Egypt. Down into the dungeon of the jail there. He never stopped believing in the fact that this was God's plan for his life and nothing would change that.

And he was going to hold on to that plan because he knew. Remember last week, Genesis 50 verse 20. You weaved evil.

But God is the amazing weaver and God re-weaved, re-wove those plans. And they became plans not just good for me but good for everyone else. Joseph never stopped believing God's plan and that God had a destiny for him.

And I think sometimes, forgive me when I say this, that we forget that. When we hit those Egypt moments, I think sometimes we forget God has a plan. In my, where are we now, 44 years as a minister, I've heard many Joseph stories.

I told you one last week. I've seen many folks going down to Egypt and I've always asked them this one question. So with all of this, what is the one thing that you still have that you cannot lose? What is the one thing you still have that you can't lose? It can't be taken away.

Difficulties can strip us from so many things. Struggles can overwhelm us. But the one thing that no one and nothing can take away from me is God's destiny for me.

But let me explain that word destiny because we sometimes think of fate. Oh, it's my fate. It's my destiny.

It's just gonna, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. God's destiny for you is a little different. Can I use the Hebrew word because the Hebrew word is way more beautiful.

Amira, I don't know if it's the same in Arabic. Ye'ut in Hebrew. Ye'ut.

It's a yot and a ayin and a vav and a dalet in Hebrew. Amira would understand that. Ye'ut means purpose.

It also means life's plan. It also means that which God made me to be and that which God wants me to do. One thing nothing can take away from me is God's destiny for me.

Think of Joseph. And here's the thing that makes it true for each one of us. The reason we can say that to one another is because of this fact of who you are.

Kerry, who are you? You're not just Kerry. You are Kerry, the child of God. That's what makes you, you.

The fact that we are children of God. Because why is that important? When God says I'm his child, all God does is give the best that God has to me in my life. Also when I'm down in the pit.

Also when I'm with Ishmaelite traitors. Also when I land in Egypt and I don't know where I'm going to be. Also when I'm trying to do good and I land in jail.

God still says you're my child. I have a purpose. I have a plan and I will make that plan work for your life because you're my child.

And we're going to sing that. I specifically asked Kerry. I sent her a text this week and said can we add another song which we didn't.

We're going to sing that in a little while where we say I'm no longer a slave to fear or a slave to sin. I am a child of God. The words go from my mother's womb you have chosen me.

Love has called my name. Think of that for a second. That's who you are.

Jeremiah wrote that. Even before I was born you knew me. The Psalm 139 says in my mother's womb when I was being knit together you already knew who I am.

From my mother's womb you've called and you've woven me. You've called me. Your love has called my name.

And then it goes one step further. The song says that I've been born again into your family. It's God's family we're there to take care of each other in those down moments.

We're there to lift each other up. We're there to laugh with each other Paul the young when we can sit on the stool of repentance and just love one another and just smile. I've been born again into your family.

And then those beautiful words your love your blood flows through my veins. That's who you are. A child of God.

God has a purpose and a plan and a destiny for you even sometimes if it feels it's going down. Don't believe the tombstone that says you're just a dash between two dates. You're far more than that.

Don't fall into into small thinking. This world can take everything away from you. The one thing they cannot take away is the love of the one who has your destiny in his hand.

And sometimes on the way to Egypt we forget that. And then we redefine ourselves according to our catastrophes the things that happen in our lives. And I look at myself well I'm the bankrupt businessman.

I'm the recovering addict. I'm the divorcee. I'm the one with the scars.

No. No that's not who you are. That's not what God does in your life.

Despite those little setbacks God is the God of the big comeback. Think of Joseph. He was a nothing in a bit.

And look what he was. Because God had a plan not just for Joseph and I'm getting ahead of myself but we'll get there. Not just for Joseph but for his brothers and for his father and for his family.

They would all come back to Egypt and they would settle and God would take care of him. Joseph would understand the dreams of Pharaoh and they could help the world who would come and would come by from them when there was no food. That was God's plan.

Although it looked like it was going down, down, down. God knew about that. Don't put yourself down.

Don't allow the world to play the down game with you. You are God's child and God is true to his promises. Listen to this beautiful promise from Romans chapter 11.

God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty. They never cancelled and they are never rescinded. Believe that.

That's for your life. You're God's child. God never goes back on his promises.

You're more than anything that this world could ever throw at you. Remember the question and you'll put that slide on there. I like that big orange slide.

The question I always ask, so what do you still have that you cannot? God's plan for your life never changes because God never changes. Survival in Egypt begins with a yes to God and to God's plan. And yes, you have something that you cannot lose.

Amen. Take a few moments of silent prayer. Thank you.

Father, you are good. Even when we're in the pit and when we're in the hands of the Ishmaelites and we have no idea, because you know those amazing plans that you have made. It's tough sometimes.

We go through real difficult times and we kind of wonder. But then we see you and we know. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you that you have us, our plans, our destiny in your hands. Not fate. We don't care about that.

We care about you. Thank you, Lord. We love you.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

by Aubrey Botha

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

by Aubrey Botha

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

by Aubrey Botha

8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.)

Condolences to my brother David Pennington. He lost his brother this week. May God comfort you and your family in these days.

I know the funeral is coming up as well. May the Lord be with you and hold you in this time. My good friend Gregory, who makes sure most of the time we need him out of, but Gregory is on this morning, that the live stream work, except if stuff happens and we don't have it, like last week, Gregory had his 60th birthday yesterday.

I thought you were only about 22, Greg. You got me good there. Happy birthday to you.

We always celebrate these good things together as well. The scripture reading in your bulletin, I don't know where that came from. I am not preaching from Colossians.

It's going to be difficult to find one of the churches of Revelation in the book of Colossians. If that's where you were, you got it all wrong. We're going to be in Revelation chapter 2, verse 8 to 11.

That's where we're going to read. I checked that and I thought, holy Hannah, how did I miss that? I don't know. Lord, thank you that we again will see Jesus and only Jesus.

What a word you have, Lord, for that church and what a word you have for this world and this church. May we have ears to hear, hearts that will cry, and lives that will give. Thank you that we may see you in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Before we read, one of the things that we know that we live with in this world is that dividing line between the haves and the have nots. Those who have peace, those who have power, those who have abilities, those who have means, the haves can go on.

But then those below the line, the have nots, that have no peace, that have no power, that have no abilities, that have no means to take care of themselves. Church of Smyrna that we're going to read about this morning, they were on that bottom line of the dividing line. They were poor, they were powerless, they were oppressed, and they were persecuted.

The difference between their circumstances and our circumstances is this. Usually what creates the dividing line for us between the haves and the have nots is the socioeconomic, political things that go on in our lives. For them, the thing that caused this line and created them to be below this line was a thing called their faith, their solid belief in Jesus Christ, their solid giving of themselves for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That caused them to struggle, really struggle. Let me give you a little background on the church in Smyrna. Ted, just that one slide of where Smyrna is, just so I can give folks an idea of where we are.

So it's in the modern-day Izmir. If you go to Izmir today, Smyrna is about as big as this church built all around the little place that was called Smyrna, despite the fact or what was left. Smyrna was one of the largest cities in that area.

Again, it was a coastal city, harbour city, like Ephesus, the one that we did first. So again, cosmopolitan, lots of people coming in, lots of influences coming in from all over. It was also the, you can call it the beginning or the end of the so-called royal road.

King Darius I of Persia decided that they needed a way to get to the east and get all of their things that they wanted to sell to the east. So we built a road from Susa. You won't be able to see Susa.

If you want to see Susa on this map, you'll have to go way past the white strip and get Susa about here. 1,500 miles of road that they built was one of the wonders of the world. It took you about four months to go from Susa to Smyrna, if you were lucky, and didn't get whacked on the head on the way there.

So this royal road was created, and so again, all of the influences coming from Persia, from Babylon, coming with that into Smyrna. The Smyrna was destroyed, and it's important to remember this when we get to the text in a second, three times. So they knew what it meant to completely be destroyed, and be dead, and then rebuilt, and be alive again, and dead, and be alive again, and dead, and be alive again.

It was amazing to see how resilient the city was. One of the biggest problems in Smyrna was the god that they served. Their patron god was the god called, and Sibyl, this is not your Sibyl.

They called her Sibyl, but you spelt it C-E-B-E-L-E. So Sibyle, or Sibyl, whatever, most people just say Sibyl. It was a vile, despicable, pagan, hateful—I don't have enough of these words to describe the pagan worship of Sibyl.

It was so vile that it was banned for many years by the Romans. That's how horrible this pagan worship was. And one of the things about the worship of Sibyl was that they did not take kindly to anyone who did not want to join them, who was against them.

So if you're a Christian, you're the enemy, and the enemy needs to be get rid of. It was rampant in Smyrna. It was the seat of worship of Sibyl.

So just putting a little bit in that in your head, creating the situation of where this little church in Smyrna, what they were dealing with. I don't know how much to tell you about this. You must go read this up because it is so vile.

I can't really talk about it. They only had priestesses. How do you say that in English? Priestesses.

Did I say that right? Sometimes I get that thing wrong. They would come, and when they brought the sacrifices, they would mutilate themselves. There was a so-called day of the blood, March 21st every year.

They would come, and they would cut themselves with knives and mutilate themselves as they cut, and then spread that blood on the altars and against the walls. People that wanted to join the cult had to do the same thing, mutilate themselves. They did not have any men being priests.

If they wanted to become a priest, they had to mutilate themselves. They had to become eunuchs. They were called gali.

The gali were there to serve the other priestesses. They were so-called oracles because of how they were prepared to give up themselves and become something else. They were the oracles, those who were the mediums, and so they would use all kinds of drugs and alcohol, and then they'd play this music and then go into this trance, and then part of this was the sexual orgies that were going on all the time.

So can I stop there? It's vile enough. They were the pagan sect that started the persecution of the Christians. It wasn't Rome.

They made Rome start the persecution because they were so into everything. So you see where I'm going with all of this. They were so persecuted that one of the first martyrs of the church in around 156 BC was the bishop called Polycarp.

Polycarp was martyred in Smyrna. The story is told that they nailed him to this pole, and then they got the wood, put the wood around him, and lit the fire, but the fire didn't touch him. Then they took him down, and they slaughtered him in the arena.

So they knew all about being persecuted. The bishop was persecuted. They did not have a chance.

The Christians had no chance to start businesses, do well in anything, because if you wanted to be part of a business, you had to join one of the guilds. To join one of the guilds, you had to go through the pagan rituals that were part of that. Only when you've gone through these pagan rituals would you get a certificate that allowed you to start a business, to buy, and to sell, and to do business.

They could not do that. So a really difficult, hard place to be a Christian, and yet the church in Smyrna blossomed despite all of that. So read with me as we walk through this, and this is difficult preaching for me.

You know me. I'm a storyteller. Now I'm doing expository preaching for you, where we're breaking it down a little bit.

So for seven weeks, I'll do that, and then I'll go back to telling stories, which I really like. This is one of the two churches that does not have a rebuke. It only has a commendation.

So it starts, to the angel, and I told you last time it's the word angelos, which means messenger, or it can also be translated as the pastor, to the pastor of the church in Smyrna, right? These are the words of him who is the first and the last, who died and came to life again. I told you they died three times, and they came to life three times. They would understand these words immediately.

Interestingly enough, Smyrna was also called the first of Asia, and now the one who is the first and the last writes to them. But notice the V. He's not just one of the first and one of the last. The one who writes to this church says, I'm the one who was there right at the beginning, and I'm the one who's going to be there right at the end.

Hold on to that, because in the in-between, I will be there. He's not, I'll be there in the beginning, and when the end comes, I'm going to hang around. I'm the first and the last, but everything that comes in between is him, and can we say that to ourselves in the world that we live in too? He wasn't just there, and then he left and went to his father, and now we're on our own and do our own thing, and then maybe one day we'll see him again.

He's there from today until right to the end of this world, with you every day, whatever that might be, in those amazing days of joy and happiness, and in those days of struggle and hurt and pain and need, the first and the last will be there. I was dead, he says, but as you saw the city being rebuilt, that day that I walked out that grave, I'm alive, and I will be with you and alive with you. Then comes this amazing piece, and this is so hard.

I know your afflictions and your poverty, yet you are rich. Holy moly, does that make sense? I know your afflictions and your poverty, and yet you are rich. Let me break this down for you with the two words that are used for affliction, the one and the one for poverty.

The word for affliction is the word slipsis in Greek, and there's a slide for this text that'll help a little bit. So, flipsis, its original meaning comes from when they were torturing people. So, what they would do, flipsis means they would turn or take a rope and put a rope around a person so that they could not move.

Then they would lie them down on the ground, and then they would take a rock, and they would put the rock on them, as heavy as they could get, and leave them there until the rock crushed them to death. That's what the word flipsis means. So, when He says, I know your afflictions, that's the word that the Lord uses for this church.

I know what they're doing to you. I know that they're putting these external pressures on you that is like this rock that is lying on your body. I know your anguish.

I know the persecution. I know what they're doing to you. I don't know if we even have an idea of what that means.

I mean, we come to church, and we're happy. We moan about it's too cold in the church. It's too hot in the church.

The pews are a little too hot. That's our afflictions. I don't like Johnny.

I don't know why Susie sits next to me. Those are our afflictions. Their affliction was this persecution against them was so vicious.

That's how it felt. Lying there, and this rock is just pressing, pressing, pressing, until there is no life left in you. I know that, says the Lord.

I also know that you are poor. There's a slide for this one, too. The word for poor is potrheia.

So it's one of those interesting words again. There is another word in Greek for being poor, which means you don't have a lot of money. You kind of just make ends meet at the end of the month.

This is not that word. This is maybe a word, and forgive me if I'm offending someone, and I don't mean it in that way. This is the word that you would use for someone who is homeless and has nothing to live off and is sleeping under a tree, and they have nothing.

They hope that maybe you give them two dollars to buy a cup of tea or coffee at Timmy's, because they have nothing. They don't live in Canada, where maybe the government will help a little bit. They live in a world where there is nothing for them.

That's the word that the Lord uses for them, because can I take you back to what I said about the guilds and how they would not get the certificates? They had nothing, folks. There was nothing for them to live off, and yet they stood and said, I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, my Lord, and my Saviour, and I won't turn my back on that, and it was fine. It will happen, and it didn't happen, and I look at myself and I think, would I be able to do that? Is my faith in the Lord Jesus so strong? Is my commitment to Jesus Christ of such that when it comes to that point where I have nothing, I do not have a home, I do not have food, I do not have anything to give to my kids, we live off the streets, hopefully there's something, all because I am not prepared to say that I will turn my back on Jesus, I will go run around with these other gods, I will do these vile things, I will be part of this world, and as long as I do that, I'm fine and dandy.

Will I be able to do that? And they did that to the point of death. Polycarp showed that. They martyred him, and the church just continued to grow.

You have such faith. You have such faith. That was more, David, don't you think, than a mustard seed of faith.

You have all these things done, and you see that. I'm going to get to that in a second, and then the word says, I know your afflictions. I know how poor you are, but you are rich.

Really rich. The word that he uses for rich, and I won't use all these Greek words for you. You have to read this text in Greek, all of them.

It's a word that says to have more than abundance. Just look at the opposites, right? It's all the opposites that you get in this text. First, last, alive, dead, rich, poor.

You are poor. You have zip, and they had zip, and yet, says the Lord, you are abundantly rich. What does that mean? Can I tell you what that means? They knew what it meant to be the church of Jesus Christ.

They knew that if brother John needed something, that we would all come together, and we would take care of brother John, because John needed that. They knew that if they saw that little fish where it was pointing, they're going to go into those catacombs, and they're going to be down there, and they are going to be in the presence of Jesus Christ, their Lord, and they will see the work of the Holy Spirit in that church, in those caves down there, where they would be slaughtered if they find them, and they were slaughtered in there. Slipses happened in those, but there, their things happened.

They cared for one another. They loved one another. They prayed for one another.

They saw the miracles of the Holy Spirit of people's lives being changed one by one by one, and that's what made them rich. They never stopped bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ, despite the fact that they would die for that, and they did, and they were okay to do that, because they had more than enough, because they had Jesus, their Lord. We are so rich, more than we could ever think, when we know how to love with the love of Jesus.

Even those who irritate me work on my nerves, and I can love with God's love. When we share and we give, we relieve ourselves. Remember in Acts, when it started, what did they do? They ate their bread.

They prayed together. They loved one another, and the church kept growing. That's exactly where Smyrna's riches was.

I think that I gave you slides for this. Thomas Aquinas. Boy, did he ever get this thing right.

He was invited to the Vatican, and then the Pope took him through the Vatican, and let me read this with you. Thomas Aquinas was invited by the Pope, Pope Innocent IV, to view the breathtaking treasures that had been amassed by the church. With great pride, the Pope said to him, no longer can the church say, silver and gold, we have none.

Do you remember that was when Peter, and they stood there with this person, and they said, help me, and they said, gold and silver, we don't have, but what we have, you give in the name of Jesus. So this is it. No longer can the church say, silver and gold, we have none.

To this, Aquinas replied, holy Father, that's very true indeed, but neither can we say to the poor and afflicted, rise, take up your bed, and walk. Ouch, ouch. We can have all the riches in the world, and all the treasures in the world, but if we do not have the love of Jesus Christ, if the church does not take care of the needy, and the poor, and the brokenhearted, and the struggling, we've got nothing, nothing.

That is our mission in the world. Our mission is not to be this little group that makes each other feel warm and good. Yes, we do that.

We care for each other, but it can't stop here. It needs to go out. I've always said that a church that only works this way will die.

If a church does not work this way, going nowhere. And we need to do that. We need to live that.

We can't say to our brother and sister in need, go, remember, James, go, and be warm, and be fed. See, we need to make them warm. We need to feed them.

We need to care for them, and we need to bring them into the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they can become rich and richer, not with worldly richness, but with the fullness of the riches of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are. How blessed we are that we, who are but broken earthen vessels, have this amazing treasure in us to give freely because freely we have received.

I know your afflictions. I know how poor to the bone you are, but boy, are you. It's not a pie in the sky when we die theology.

It's a live it in this world theology. Forgive me. I transgress.

I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Oh, my word, this is so hard. So there was a huge Jewish community in Smyrna.

They were tolerated by the pagans because of their business prowess. They liked the way that they did their business, and because the Jews were persecuting with them the Christians, because the Jews said the Christians are antichrists because they're teaching a different teaching from what they were taught in the Torah. So they went along and persecuted them.

They also slandered, that's the word they used there, said bad words against the Christians, always, always trying to get them in trouble. And now, when you know a little bit about the Jewish tradition, in this day, still to this day, Torah, especially in Leviticus, speaks specifically and says you should not do lashon hara. Hara means horrible, and lashon means say horrible things about other people.

They were not. This was part of their teaching. And yet, what are they doing? They're doing the opposite.

They went a little further, and this is why he calls them the synagogue of Satan. When Polycarp was caught to be martyred, the Jews were the one who gave away where he was hiding. On the day that he was martyred was a Sabbath.

The Jews went, and they got the wood for the fire, and they were there on the Sabbath, despite what does the Sabbath say. You shall not gather wood. You shall not do these things.

You shall not be there. You shall not, says the Torah, slander other people. They did exactly that.

They spoke badly of others. So, can you understand when Jesus says to them, I know the slander of those who say they are Jews, but they're actually the synagogue of Satan. Satan, interesting, and I need to tell you these different words.

Satan, the Greek word that's used here is satanas, which comes from just a direct translation of the Hebrew satan, which means accuser. So look, they slander like their father, the accuser, who's always slandering. Isn't that what he did? He was always standing, accusing us.

And what happened to the Satan? God kicked him out of heaven. He can't slander us anymore. But what is he doing down here? He's going at the Christians, and he's slandering them.

So God says, your synagogue is not a synagogue of teaching, where you come together as one synagogue, as one people together. You're a synagogue of Satan, because you do the works of Satan. Holy, you know.

What a word. Christians, you're poor, afflicted. Why are you rich? But you who do these things, I call you the synagogue of Satan.

May God never say that. Do not be afraid of what you're about to suffer. I tell you the devil, and he uses a different word in Greek.

It's not the word satanos. He uses the word diabolos. The diabolic one will put some of you in prison to test you.

The word diabolos is so, so the right word here. It was diabolic what they did to them.

by Aubrey Botha

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.)

I thought you were getting ready to preach with that one, Scott. I was just getting happy around here. I was thinking it's my lucky day.

Thank you to our worship team. And there's more of them, but this morning, Matt on the piano, and Lou on the guitar, and Gary and Scott singing, leading us here. I said the guitar? Sorry.

Your guitar sounded good, Lou, I mean on the drums. And then Jay on the guitar. And Annette, for the first time, I heard you playing with Lou.

Thank you. And Mackie. We just expect them to be here.

You know, we don't pay them. They're just giving of their gifts every Sunday at being here. And there's more of them that play and are part of this team.

This was just the team this morning. We don't even have a bass man today. Thank you.

These are gifts that God gives. And this is how a church works, right? Remember what God said? We have a body. And the body has fingers and noses and ears and toes and all kinds of stuff.

And for it to work, they all need to kind of give a little. And this is part of those that just give. So thank you.

I have some sad news this morning. Remember last Sunday I told you Sandra Goodman is really, really sick. And she's in hospital.

And she still is. But they have taken the machines off. And she's in comfort gear.

Which is really, really, really sad news for all of us. Pray for Jodie and Jennifer and John and the grandkids. They're there.

John is coming from B.C. Hopefully he'll be in time. He's landing this evening. So I'll go visit with him after church.

But if you just keep them in your prayers, please. They need us in this time. It's a tough time for them.

Sandra was working at BBS just a week or two, three ago. Father, we often pray this. We say that we want to see Jesus.

And only allow us this morning again to do that. And as we walk through your word, thank you for this gift that you have given. Thank you for the word that speaks into our lives.

Help us then, Lord, to allow the word to touch our lives in so many ways. Help your servant, Lord. Let him disappear.

And you can be seen and you alone. In Jesus name, amen. I have a confession to make.

So I write my sermons way ahead of time. Tell you the truth. I am done with this year.

I'm starting my next sermon will be the one for January. So I'm a little ahead. They're all written, done.

So the sermon for today was written 10, 12, 14, whatever weeks ago. So when I sat down to study the sermon for this week, it was just like, whoa, it's 10 pages. Why did I do that? Because I never do 10 pages.

And as I read and as I read, it was like, it's not working. I spoke to Lynn and she just nailed it. She said, sometimes when we write it so long, it's because we don't know what we're trying to say.

And she was right on the money. My son Stephen said that to me one Sunday. He said, Dad, your sermon was like you were flying a plane and you were circling and you were circling and you never put that plane down.

And this sermon felt like I'm circling and I'm not putting the plane down. So I wrote a new one. The problem is I sent all this stuff.

They have it, all of this stuff. Grace put it in the bulletin. It was all good.

And I write it and said, Grace, we're going to change the scripture reading. That's fine and dandy, but the bulletin is a mess. It's all my fault.

No one else. We also changed the song. I called Carrie and I said, Carrie, there's a song that will work so well with this sermon.

Can we change? And she said, we're fine. We'll do it. So sorry.

The bulletin mess is my fault. But the sermon, I just knew that that was not the sermon. So forgive me.

So I wrote something new for you. If you've ever been to the desert, and some of us have. Of course, you guys were with us when we went to Dubai and we went in the desert.

And you look at the desert. Sometimes it can be this place of contradiction. For a moment, when you look around, it's just kind of sand and more sand and more sand.

And it's hot and it's inhospitable. The next moment, you walk over the dune and there's this beautiful, beautiful oasis. Lush, green.

Now, I don't know if you've noticed that the theme of the desert is a very important theme in the Bible. It plays this huge role in the lives of people and usually as a place of preparation. Let me give you an example of what to Moses.

Before Moses could lead God's people through that desert for 40 years, God took him to the desert first. And there he was being prepared for what he was going to do. Before God's people ended in the promised land, they wandered in the desert for 40 years.

But here's the thing. We often look at that as a difficult time. You go read the book of Hosea.

Go read Hosea chapter 2. Start verse 14. They mess up and they're turning away from God. And then God says there in chapter 2, verse 14, he says, I will take them back to the desert and there I will love them again as I would love a young woman.

And they will turn back to me and they will remember the time of courtship in the desert. So in the Hosea's eyes, this was a time of courtship where they were learning about who God is and building this new relationship with God and learning who they were. Paul, before Paul starts his ministry, after his conversion, did you ever read that in Galatians? He goes to the desert of Arabia for three years and then he starts his ministry.

And of course, the one that we all know. When Jesus went to John the baptizer and he was, remember, he wasn't John the Baptist, right? He wasn't a Baptist. He was a presbyterian.

Sorry. When Jesus went to John the baptizer and John baptised him, you remember what that is, right? Before his baptism, Jesus never did a miracle. Never called a disciple.

Never preached a sermon except on his bar mitzvah. But then there at his baptism, the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven and anoints him. And in that moment, he starts his ministry.

But where does he go first? Into the desert for 40 days. The desert in the Bible is a place of preparation. But it is also this place that says something new is going to happen.

It's this place of opportunity. Now, the reason I start like this is because I think I've got it right that all of us have had our desert moments. And some of us might right now be in one of our desert moments.

So I want to take you to this beautiful promise in the word of the Lord. Father, this word is a word of life. A word of preparation.

A word of calling us to new things. Open our hearts for this. Isaiah 43, I'm going to start reading in verse 16.

Now, you know, Isaiah 43 is the one that Alexander has written down for my moment today. Then I say goodbye to this world. This is verse 16.

This is what the Lord says. That's an important line. In the Hebrew, it's a huge, huge, huge moment.

In Hebrew it says, This is what the Lord says. And when the prophets use those words, they're making sure that people know this is not just me and these are the words I got. This is God saying this.

This is what the Lord says. You know what the Lord's talking about, right? The exodus. When they went through the wheat seed.

And then when the Egyptians followed them and the chariots that got stuck in God. This is what the Lord says. Forget the former things.

Do not dwell on the past. For see, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up.

Don't you perceive it? Don't you see it? Don't you know it? I'm making a way in the wilderness or the desert. And streams in the wasteland. Don't you see it? I am doing a new thing.

What a beautiful promise. To each one of us. When you look at your life, see, I'm doing a new thing in your life.

There will be streams of water. There will be a path even in the desert. Three invitations I want you to notice from this beautiful, beautiful passage.

The first one, verse 19, see. Just the word see. Sometimes the translations will say behold, which I think is a really cool word.

Because the word see in Hebrew is the word hinei. Hinei carries within it more than just see. It's this, be alert.

Pay attention. Look up. There's something that's going to happen.

Be aware of what's going to happen. Don't just sit there. Behold, see.

One of the best examples of that, this word behold, this word see, comes from, and I'm going to the New Testament for a moment, because the New Testament word is idu, which is the exact same word as hinei. That carries that same call to us. One of the best examples, Luke chapter 2, verse 10.

And you want to put that slide on there, Joel? Joel is being taught this morning by grace. So thank you, Joel. He's learning to do this.

Thank you for doing that. There's another one of the fingers and hands. There's the Greek for you.

There's the word idu. It's in the little box. And let me tell you about that.

It's the same word as that hinei, that behold of Isaiah. Now, our translations, you can go check them. And you know how often I talk about the translations.

Leave this word out. All of them. Or when we read the passage, we read.

And the angel said to them, don't be afraid because I bring you good news. That's where we go. Of great joy that will be for all the people.

But we never put that word behold in there. It's not in the translations. But it's missing out because look what I'm saying to you.

When we see the word behold or see, it says, pay attention. Be alert. Something amazing is going to happen.

Now read that sentence. And the angel said to them, don't be afraid. Because look, be alert.

I'm bringing you good news. Something amazing is going to happen. Jesus is going to be born.

And our little Hebrew text starts right there at the top. And remember, the Hebrew starts on the right hand side. Hinei, says the Lord.

Be aware. Be aware. Thanks, Joe.

So all of that to say. When we walk in our desert lives sometimes. We kind of get stuck by seeing with these things.

And we look at our desert and all we see is sand. It's like the old sailor, right? He said, I joined the Navy to see the world. What did I see? I saw the sea.

When we're in that desert, all we see is the sand and the heat. And there's nothing in our life. But we look with these eyes.

Sometimes you look with the eyes of our mind and they're even worse. Because they play games with you. They make you see things that you don't even see.

They call them mirages. And you see that oasis and you run. But there is nothing.

And these mind eyes can drive you crazy. Because they think of things that are not even there. But that's where this word, behold, remains.

God invites us not to see with ease, but to see with ease. But to see with the eyes of faith. Eyes that see a new beginning, new expectations.

Something wonderful that can happen even in the desert. Invites us to see with an openness, with a hope, with an expectation. Of course, God, you're with me.

Of course, I'm not going to be stuck in this. Because when God invites us to see, God is not inviting us to do a little window shopping with him. Look at this.

And then move on. Let's look at this. Oh, let's look at this.

No. God says, see your life as I see your life. Let me show you what I have in store for you.

It's way more than this little bit of desert that you are going through right now. On the other side of this desert, there is far more than that. And then he says those words.

I am going to do a new thing in your life. So can I just ask you, if maybe you're in the desert, will you please see? See in expectation, waiting, knowing. He's there.

He's with me. I'm going to get through this. He's preparing me for something far better.

He did with Moses. He did with Paul. He did with Jesus.

He did it with us. So there's the second part of the invitation. See.

And then he does the second one. I'm doing it to you. Let me give you a little background that will help you understand that.

When we read this passage, Isaiah 43 is part of the second Isaiah. I'm going to teach you a little Old Testament here. Isaiah 1 to 39 is called First Isaiah.

This Isaiah prophesied before the exile, which started in 586, 587, when the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem and took the people into exile. First Isaiah. The second Isaiah, due to Isaiah, is chapter 42, 55.

He prophesied during the Babylonian exile. Third Isaiah is chapter 50, 60, 66. He's the one who prophesied after they come back.

Time of Ezra and Nehemiah. We're in the second Isaiah. The one who speaks to those people who are in Babylonian exile.

So look at the image for them right now. They're in the desert, in a sense. They've been displaced from their land.

Their city has been ruined. Their temple is lying in ruins. The walls are broken down.

There's nothing. And they are sitting in a strange land. A land where they are laughed at.

Where they're making fun of their God. Every year they bring Marduk out from his Zichorat and bring him down. They laugh and they say, where's your God? Sing us a song.

Remember Boney M? How can we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? Psalm 137, actually. By the rivers of Babylon. There we sat down and we wept.

And that's where they are. They're sitting there in Babylon. And all they're seeing is this is it.

And God comes and says, no, no, no. Look. Behold.

Look up. I'm doing amazing. It's gonna change.

What they didn't know is at that time God had already raised a man called Cyrus. He's called the servant of the Lord in the book of Isaiah. Cyrus was the king of Persia that would come and they would overthrow the Babylonians.

They would set them free. Within 10 years of this, they would be back home. See, in the desert of expectation, I'm doing amazing.

It's going to change. Will you please hear that? In those tough times, in those difficult times, in those times when it just feels overwhelming, hear what the Lord says to you. I'm feeling amazing.

Here's the thing. To be part of that new thing, I need to walk into that mystery of the desert time. When I walk in confidence and in faith, knowing that God can do what God has said, and that for our God, there is nothing impossible.

The impossible in the middle of the desert is possible. For our Lord. Can I say the second thing about God doing a new thing? When I enter into that desert time and I look at this, I also need to remember that God is way bigger and greater than any desert in my life can ever.

I'm feeling amazing. Did you not perceive that? Actually, when you saw that Hebrew, you would have seen there's the word Yadah. Did you not know that? And remember, I've taught you that.

Boy, you're getting your Hebrew lesson this morning. Remember I taught you that word Yadah in Hebrew before? It starts way back in Genesis. To know what the Lord says, to know that God is doing this, is more than this.

Remember the old translation of the King James had it right in a sense. It says, and Adam knew his wife and she became pregnant and bore a child. To know God is not to know him like this.

It's to have an intimate relationship with God, that kind of knowledge. And when my God says, I'm going to do a new thing, he says, don't you know him? Don't we have that relationship? Haven't I walked with you like that? Haven't you been there and haven't I taken you out? And see, I'm going to do that again. Let me end, third invitation.

Not just to see, to see the new thing, but then go back to verse 18. Forget. Forget, he says, the former things.

Do not dwell on the past because that was their problem. That Psalm 137 says it exactly. When it says, by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept as we remembered Zion because they were holding on to Zion where the temple was built.

And now the temple is in ruins and Jerusalem is in ruins and everything is in ruins and we are in ruins and we're messed up. Oh, for the good old days. And God says, forget the good old days.

There is a new day dawning right now before you. I am making a new thing in your life. And that desert that you see, there will be a path right through that.

And they walk that path straight back to Jerusalem. And those bad lands, like the wilderness that was left behind by the Babylonians, springs of water will well up and it will be life and lush again. That's what will come into your life.

Maybe sometimes that's the problem with our deserts. We want to cling to the old things. Oh, the good and look at poor me now.

No, maybe that's what prevents us from seeing and experiencing the new thing in our lives because we don't look at God in the right way and realise, but he's God. He knows me by my... That's how Isaiah 43 starts. Do not be afraid for I have ransomed you.

I've called you by your name. You're mine. That's God.

He knows my name. I'm not just a thing or a number or a something. I'm Aubrey, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And nothing that this world can bring over me can ever take that away. So forget the old things and remember who you are in God. And remember who God is.

Is anything impossible? Sometimes I think we get stuck because we look at our own lives and we kind of, oh, if I only had that. Those of us who have emigrated, we often struggle with that because you remember the so-called good old days. But then you go back and you realise, no, not this one.

And sometimes that's what we do. We get stuck and we don't allow God to open those wonderful new things. Sometimes it's just me, us, ourselves that get us stuck in that business, not getting out there because I think this is best.

This is what I... No, no, no. There's a highway waiting for you. You do what God has prepared for you.

There are streams of living water waiting for you. That's what God wants. Let me read this to you again, but we're getting close with that from the message.

And I'm just going to start a little, go a little more, Joel. One more, Joel. Thank you.

Forget about what's happened. Don't keep going over old things. Be alert.

Well translated. Be present. Because I'm about to do something brand new.

It's bursting out. Don't you see it? There it is. I'm making a road through the desert and rivers in the bad land.

Whatever your desert is, you're going to get to it. I'm making a road. Whatever the desert is, I'm going to put rivers in that.

With me, the impossible. Will you trust me? If you do that new thing, imagine the possibilities. If you do that.

Amen. Take a few moments of silent prayer. Thank you, Lord, for desert times.

The times of preparation for the new things that you do in our lives. And thank you, Lord, as we walk through that and we come into the new things, we can look back and say, I can forget that because my God is with me. And with him, I know that nothing is impossible.

Not going to be stuck in my desert. Help us, Lord, to see with our eyes of faith and to see you in those moments. Thank you for what you do.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Those eyes of faith are beautiful eyes.

Hebrews 11.1 says, this faith means being sure of the things that we hope. And knowing that something is real, even if we don't see. Those are the eyes of faith.

Knowing that it is real, even if right now we don't see. Starting a new series next week. You might have seen it on the slide from Corinthians.

What I say every Sunday when I pray, we want to see Jesus and only Jesus. So a new series starting next Sunday called We Want to See Jesus. But it's all about miracles.

And so this little subtitle is We Want to See Jesus. Not the miracles, but the man. A five-week series that we're going to be doing.

by Aubrey Botha

32 Then Jesus led his disciples to an orchard called “The Oil Press.” He told them, “Sit here while I pray awhile.” 33 He took Peter, Jacob, and John with him. An intense feeling of great horror plunged his soul into deep sorrow. 34 And he said to them, “My heart is overwhelmed with anguish and crushed with grief. It feels as though I’m dying. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

35 He walked a short distance away, and being overcome with grief, he threw himself facedown on the ground. He prayed that if it were possible, he would not have to experience this hour of suffering. 36 He prayed, “Abba, my Father, all things are possible for you. Please—remove this cup of suffering! Yet what I want is not important, for I only desire to fulfill your plan for me.”

37 Then he came back to his three disciples and found them all sound asleep. He awakened Peter and said to him, “Simon, are you asleep? Do you lack the strength to stay awake with me for even just an hour? 38 Keep alert and pray that you’ll be spared from this time of testing. For your spirit is eager enough, but your humanity is feeble.” 39 Then he left them a second time and went to pray the same thing. 40 Afterward, he came back to the disciples and found them sound asleep, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open and they didn’t know what to say to him.

41 After praying for the third time, he returned to his disciples and awoke them again, saying, “Do you plan on sleeping and resting indefinitely? That’s enough sleep! The end has come and the hour has arrived for the Son of Man to be handed over to the authority of sinful men. 42 Get up and let’s go. Don’t you see? My
betrayer draws near.”

by Aubrey Botha

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,a]" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: normal; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; top: auto; display: inline;">[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

by Aubrey Botha

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”