The Church: God's Plan - Peter Hughes - 25th July 2026

Now, clearly God has provided us a wind to keep

you awake, so if things move around, we'll just

have to deal with it as we go along. Also, thank

you so much for having me here. I have to say,

Far North Queensland is one of my favourite places

on the planet and so it was a great privilege

to come here. I've been praying for you as a

church for some time. I know Brendan and I had

lunch actually when you were having the conversation

about whether you'd come up here. Yeah, it's

been great to hear how things are going and I'd

love to hear a bit more about how you see things

are going and how church is going and I'm glad

that I get a chance to speak here. I know it's

the first time you've had a Bible talk on a Saturday

morning here so this will be the best Bible talk

you've ever heard on a Saturday morning here

so I'm glad that I can set the standard. Let

me pray. Father, thank you for your Word. We

thank you for the clarity that you have spoken

to us in, but we pray now that you will open

our eyes to lift our hearts to see the work that

you are doing. Father, I pray that you'll help

me to speak your words faithfully and truthfully,

so that we might know you better and love you

more, that we might know and understand what

you are doing and give you great glory. And we

pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. I want to start

by a couple of questions, three questions really.

The first question is, let me give you three

people, and I want you to ask the question, why

are they coming to church? First person is a

lady called Karen. Karen's got two young kids,

both under the age of three. They're a handful,

they do a lot. It's just an effort to get them

in the car on a Sunday morning. They get there,

it's just... crazy she tries to come to church

but at least one of them has a problem so she's

got to go out to kids church and look after them

and then she has morning tea and while she's

having morning tea the whole conversations are

usually just half conversations with people with

half sentences while one of them is dragging

her off because they need her attention they

want to play with her and and then she she puts

them back in the car goes home and goes well

what was the point why why did I even come to

church Kai is a guy who he's a Vietnamese background.

He's got a he's very smart got a Degree in software

engineering comes to church English is not great

for him, but he's learned he's worked out something

on his phone So he actually gets a translation

of what's going on from the songs and the prayers

and the Bible reading in the sermon So he understands

that But morning tea is hard for him Morning

tea he he's there. He just doesn't get the jokes

uh he doesn't quite uh people talk too fast he

can't quite keep up and honestly he kind of thinks

this would be easier if i just stayed at home

and watched the sermon on youtube with subtitles

that would make things easier why does kai come

to church let me give you one more kyle kyle's

a tradie uh tradie uh kyle is good at doing things

he's not good with words He struggles to sit

through church. In fact, sitting down in church

is the longest he sits still ever in his week.

And so he really struggles with that, struggles

to keep his attention. He's happy to serve and

all three of these people love Jesus. But the

question is why should they keep coming to church?

Each of them find it hard and what they get out

of it is limited. So why do Karen, Kai and Kyle

keep coming to church? That's the first question.

And that may be the question that you have. Maybe

you identify with one of them or maybe you have

that kind of question of, I'm finding it hard

to get to church. I feel like I don't get a lot

out of it. Why am I coming? That's one question.

Let me get my clicker. Here's my question. Towards

the end of Ephesians chapters one to three, and

I'll explain why we're doing one to three in

a moment, there's a thing that goes, to him be

glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout

all generations forever and ever. Why is it in?

That doesn't feel right, does it? Shouldn't it

be glory from the church, glory through the church?

I mean, why aren't we supposed to be glorifying

God? To say glory in the church, it feels like

Paul made a mistake there. He didn't quite get

his words right. Or maybe there was a mistranslation.

But it's not. Paul is very intentional. So why

does he say glory in the church? That's my question.

So why Karen, Kyle and Kai turning up to church?

Why is it glory in the church? And the third

question is, how do those two questions answer

each other? So they're my three questions. Now

as I said we're going to be working through Ephesians.

If you've got the Bible you will find it helpful.

I know I don't really have a lot of outline in

the outline but you'll just have to go with me

on that. But Ephesians is a great book. It's

got a lot of different layers to it and if you

can imagine there's a sort of a thread running

through it. It is about church and it runs all

the way through. We'll look at chapters one to

three. I'm only looking at the first three because

apparently I'm not allowed to speak for five

hours. So we go to chapters four and five. There's

a lot about how do you live as church. But Paul

just keeps coming back to it. He goes, how do

I explain to you what marriage is like? Chapter

five? It's like Christ in the church. That's

what it is. Even chapter six. Now some of you

who will know your Bibles well, you remember

chapter six. Chapter six is famous for the spiritual

armour, isn't it? Right, I remember talking to

a guy, he and I were speaking on a thing and

we had some time where it was just him and I

talking and he was a professor of ancient history

and I was there to talk about theology at church,

he was there to talk about the history of church

and we were talking about Ephesians, how much

we love Ephesians. He goes, yeah, yeah, it's

great and church is all the way through it. I

said, yeah, yeah, he goes, yeah and he goes,

the one thing I find frustrating about Ephesians

is when people write books about it, When they

come to the spiritual armour of God, there's

a picture. And the picture is always this picture

of a soldier and he's standing there with a breastplate

and a belt and a sword. And I'm kind of going,

yeah, that's all the stuff that's in the passage.

And he goes, oh, I find that really frustrating.

And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it

must be frustrating, yeah. Yeah, why is that

again? And he said, because in the ancient world,

a soldier never stands by himself. They always

work as a unit. In fact, their shield never protects

them, it protects the person on their left. And

that person on your right protects you. He goes,

the spiritual armour of God is all about church.

It's not about you versus the devil, it's all

of us versus the devil. But I'm jumping ahead

and I've got to restrict myself to chapters one

to three. Let me give you a quick tour of Chapter

one. Chapter one begins and it's the picture

of the church planned. This is the big, Paul

is standing back and he goes, let me just give

you a picture of all of history and the cosmos

and where God, what God is doing. And it starts

off. with this phrase, praise be to God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in

the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing

in Christ. And then he rambles for 11 verses

without a break. In the Greek text, that is all

one sentence, no punctuation. Fortunately, our

English translators went, that is nuts. So we're

gonna add in some full stops and some sentences

to make it a bit more make sense. But here's

where it all ends up. He goes through and he

talks about history, he talks about adoption,

he talks about redemption and grace, but all

of this to be put into effect when the times

have reached their fulfillment, to bring unity

to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Now let me ask you a question, what do you think

God is doing in the world? it is important that

you understand how to answer that question because

if you don't answer that question correctly you

will always be frustrated with God because he

doesn't fit with your plan and I think what happens

is that we sometimes think that God's plan for

the world is that he's like a government department

whose job it is to keep the universe running

so that I can be comfortable and if you think

that's his plan you will always be frustrated

because all of a sudden you have to suffer and

you things get uncomfortable and you're going

God what are you doing you're not doing your

job but this explains what God is doing is actually

bringing everything under the lordship of Jesus

that he might be our King great King wise good

loving runs our lives better than we can how

good is that that is what he is doing And sometimes

that will involve suffering and hardship to make

us more like Jesus. Sometimes it is because we

follow Jesus and we are called to hardship. So

I want you to just keep in mind, can you clearly

understand what God is doing in the world? But

Paul goes on. He then goes on, he prays for them.

and he prays that God placed all things under

his feet, that is Jesus, and appointed him to

be the head over everything for the church, which

is his body, the fullness of him who works, fullness

of him who feels everything in every way. The

message of Christianity is that Jesus is the

King, and we need to acknowledge him as the King.

It's a great, and this is a message, it goes

out. throughout Cairns and throughout all of

Far North Queensland and throughout all of Australia.

But it's a message and our job is to take the

message. We are like God's ambassadors, Paul

kind of says that. And if we are God's ambassadors

what does that make the church? His embassy.

The embassy of the Kingdom of God here on earth.

Now the church does a lot of things and we're

going to come back to this tomorrow but church

does a lot of things. We care for each other.

We do a lot of things that other organisations

will do. Like just watch today. I mean, the kids

will have fun. There are other places where kids

have fun. These aren't bad things. I mean, we're

gonna have some food. I'm having some food together.

Yeah, yeah. And so we're gonna have a potluck.

Yeah and other organizations will do that and

we're going to have pizza and other organizations

do that. What is unique about the church though

is that it is the only place where you'll hear

the good news of Jesus. And so if we lose that

then we're just like everybody else. And to put

it, if I can put it bluntly, everybody else could

probably do that better than us. But the one

place The one thing that we must never lose sight

of is that our role as the embassy of the kingdom

to proclaim his message. And so that's what Paul

is praying for. That the church might be the

place that happens. That's why the church is

such an important part of God's plan. Now that

leads us to chapter 2, which was read for us.

Here we see the church actually, that's God's

plan, but what does it actually look like? Well,

we start with chapter 2 and chapter 2, Paul goes

completely undiplomatic at this point of time,

doesn't he? He goes, let me just, hey Ephesians,

let me remind you who you were. You were dead

in your sins and transgressions. You are objects

of God's wrath. Not exactly the most diplomatic,

not exactly a hallmark card moment, is it? And

yet he comes along and says, this is what you're

like. And he goes, and you are dead to Christ's

rule. You're not sick. You're not weak. You're

not ignorant. You're not confused. And you can't

just work harder. You just can't get better.

It's like a dead body. You can't walk into a

dead body and go, come on, let's go. Let's go

for a run. You know what your problem is? You're

just a bit too lazy. Let's go. Yeah, exactly.

Good luck with that. That's what Paul's saying,

yeah good luck with that, it is not going to

work. And then throughout the New Testament you

see one of the most amazing beautiful words ever,

the word but. Because so often the New Testament

explains this is what you are like, but, but

now, but God, but something in this case, but

because of His great love for us. Before us through

His great love rose, God who was rich in mercy

made us alive. We were dead. But even when we

were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you

have been saved. Jesus came to save sinners.

I was a sinner. I am a sinner. And Jesus came

to save me. And He came to save you. Now I, sorry,

I don't know you. So let me just be clear. If

you are someone who's still exploring Christianity,

you haven't worked this out. Today is a good

day to go, God... Save me, I am a sinner. But

I also want to say, if you are here today, and

you may have been coming to church for decades,

and you think that you are a Christian because

you deserve God's mercy, because you've turned

up for decades, because you've served, because

you've been on rosters, because you've been...

No. You're still dead in your transgressions.

It is only through God and through Christ that

you have been saved. You don't deserve it. But

what a great day. Why not go from being lost

to being found, from being dead to being alive?

I haven't read the book about that one, about

John Newton, but John Newton's story is just

an incredible story of someone who was lost and

is found. So when he writes Amazing Grace, he's

not just going, well, here's an idea that I've

been looking at in the Bible. He goes, no, that

was me. That's my story. I was lost. Now I am

found. But that's something you need to respond

to. You need to hold on to this. Someone can't

do it for you. Your spouse can't do it for you.

Your parents can't do it for you. Your kids can't

do it for you. Brendan can't do it for you. You

need to do this. It's between you and God at

this point of time. Have you done that? But what

has this then got to do with church? Doesn't

that make Christianity an individual sport, so

to speak? No, because chapter two goes on. If

you've got your Bibles open there, you'll see

that what I've summarized is chapters two, one

to ten, but it goes on. Because the cross doesn't

merely reconcile sinners to God, it reconciles

sinners to each other. And I think sometimes,

particularly those of us who come from a Western

background, we miss this bit. That's why I'm

going to spend a little bit more time on it.

We're not just saved, we're given a new people,

a new family. Now keeping in mind, up to this

point in the Bible, things have been divided.

God has made a division. It is between those

who are Jewish and those who are not Jewish.

I don't know why they use the word Gentile, I

still can't work that out, but that's just a

little... Hobby horse of mine. I'm just gonna

let it go. Let it go Pete. Yeah, but you see

the word Gentile there But it's just someone

anyone who's not Jewish and Jewish That's the

division and God created that division and he

worked through the Jewish people to bring about

Jesus But now that Jesus has come he goes right.

That's it. You don't need that Because now you

are if you are saved by grace It doesn't matter

who you are where you've come from what your

race is what you've done in your background How

old you are none of that matters only one thing

matters. Do you trust Jesus? And so he says this,

he goes, if you do, oh sorry, I've gone back,

let me go back a bit, if you do, then keep this

in mind. Therefore, remember that you, formerly

who were Gentiles by birth, called uncircumcision,

by those who call themselves the circumcision,

which is done by, in the body by human hands,

remember at one time you were separate from Christ,

you were excluded from citizenship in Israel

and foreigners to the covenants of the Pyramids.

You're without hope. You're without God in the

world. And then we have the word again. But now,

in Christ, you who were once have been brought

near in the blood of Christ. Because He created

the division. And you know how there's, divisions

always are tricky aren't they? There's, everyone

feels, there's always a, you always feel like

there's a division. There's always those who

are in and those who are out. And you know how

we always feel like we're on the out? No matter

what the division is. I've got a friend, he lives

across the road. I've been trying to get him

to come to church. He is 78 years old, right?

He's an older guy. Loves my daughters. He's been

there. He's the guy in the street who's just

watching everything, makes sure everyone's okay.

But he is fit, right? I went and saw him the

other day. I said, how you going? He goes, ah,

yeah, I'm all right. I only did 50 Ks on the

bike today. I'm going, dude, I did not drive

that far. Just 78 and you're riding and he goes

that was a that was a short ride Yeah, and then

he you know he'll go out for a you know 15k walk

You are so fit right you are just he makes me

feel like he's the in and I'm the out cuz I'm

the old I'm like I'm the young but unfit kind

of slightly overweight guy like I'm there going

man you're the in and I'm the out and I mentioned

this to him he goes oh no no no mate so because

he knows I like reading he's come over in there

and he sees I do I love books I love reading

he goes mate you've got it all up here yes I

don't I don't have all these ideas you make me

feel like I'm the out and you're the in but won't

we all feel like that at some point there everyone

else is in except for us whereas and and like

I said there is that division that was there

and then God has broken it down and he talks

about it in terms of a temple but let me explain

how clear that division is. The left -hand side

is a brick that was from the temple. And what

happens is there was a gate where if you were

Jewish you're allowed to walk through the gate

and if you were not Jewish you weren't allowed

to walk through the gate. It's in Greek, I know

how well you guys all know Greek, right? Let

me read the translation to you. Let no foreigner,

that is no non -Jewish person, enter within the

parapet or the partition which surrounds the

temple precincts. Anyone caught violating this

will be held accountable for his ensuing death.

That is... trespasses will be executed not persecuted

we will kill you you cross that line because

that's the line that God made and we're going

to take that seriously but now God because of

his grace has broken that wall down so when he

says about the wall of hostility every Jewish

person knows exactly what wall he is talking

about he goes no no no That's not it and and

no longer is it due over here and non -dual over

here. I'm gonna create one new person It's not

like you guys all come and join him or you guys

all come and join them. He goes I've got a new

people His purpose was to create in himself one

new humanity out of the two Thus making peace

and in one body to reconcile both of them to

God through the cross by which He put to death

their hostility. He goes, that division, it doesn't

belong there anymore. There's a new community.

I'm creating a new people. It's not going to

be Jewish and non -Jewish. All that stuff about

that particular idea from the Old Testament,

that's not on play anymore because grace has

come and it doesn't matter whether you're circumcised

or you obey the law or you do the food things.

He goes, no, no. now it matters what you make

of Jesus, because that was all leading up to

that point. And in fact, he goes on, I'm not

going to look at it, but verses 19 to 22 he talks

about, actually you are the new temple. The temple

doesn't divide you anymore, you're the temple.

But he says to put aside the hostilities that

we might have. I want to take a moment, who's

writing this? Remember who's writing this? Paul.

What was Paul's previous career before he started

following Jesus? Pharisee. What did a Pharisee

do? The Pharisee's career was to make sure that

wall of hostility was there. I still find it

intriguing that Jesus sends a Pharisee whose

job it is to put Gentiles down, put non -Jews

down, call them dogs. He says that guy is going

to be the Apostle too. the non -Jews to the nations.

Isn't that incredible? In chapter 3, he kind

of, he starts by explaining that. He goes, I'm

an apostle to the Gentiles. Isn't that great?

He, a Pharisee who does, but it is hard. It's

not easy to be this one person. We're messy people

and we're in a room with messy people and it

does get messy, which is why we have the Spirit

of God to help us. and why we have the instructions

of chapters four to six to help us. For example,

it doesn't say, bear with one another in love

because it's easy. Let me give you another one.

Later on in Ephesians chapter four it says, be

kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving

each other just as Christ forgave you. Forgive

as Christ forgave you. Here's the mistake we

make. We think because Christ has forgiven us

so freely and that grace has come to us so readily

that it should be easy to forgive people. Actually

it's not. As Christ, what was it, how easy was

it for God to forgive us? It cost him the life

of his one and only son whom he loved. That was

a high price. It is not easy to forgive. And

if you think, oh, everyone should just forgive

each other and move on, I'm sorry, you haven't

understood the cross. You haven't understood

the cost that was paid for you. I know we get

it freely. It's great. I love that. I'm happy

about that. But what it costs, God is enormous.

And yet that's what we are called to do. Forgive

as God has forgiven us. It's in the Lord's prayer,

isn't it? It's not easy because we are messy,

but it is hard and it is possible and it is necessary.

And if you are looking for miracles, that's the

miracle. You know how we sometimes look at miracles

and we go, oh, it's for that person who was sick

and they were... Actually, this is the miracle

that you are choosing to sit here. that you are

choosing to be in community with people, that

you, would you choose to be here if it wasn't

for Jesus? One of the privileges I have is I

do what's called planting assessments. So what

happens is we sit down with a potential planter

and we go through whether they know what they're

doing, basically, is what we're trying to do.

Don't tell them that, but yeah. Ah, this is being

recorded. Anyway, they'll find out. We had this

guy who came to us, a guy called Prosper. Prosper

was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He had to flee the DRC because of persecution.

He was a pastor actually in the DRC and he had

to leave because of persecution. He ended up

in Norway actually of all places. In Norway he

heard about the Gospel of Grace which he had

not heard even though he was a pastor. pay for

our sins, we're free. That's amazing. So he then

came back and he started planting churches in

Uganda, in UN refugee camps in Uganda. And I

said, how was that? And he goes, well, all the

pastors around me told everyone I was a heretic

because I kept talking about grace. He said,

don't listen to that guy. No, no, you have to

tithe, you have to come, you have to do this.

And he goes, no, no, Jesus did that for us. Anyway,

he's now come to Australia, he's found himself

in Australia and he's about to plant a church

for displaced people in Adelaide who've come

from Africa. And there are several different

tribes, they're all around the sort of the Great

Lakes where DRC and Rwanda and that sort of thing

is, and they've all come and so he is there to

plant that church. And I said, what are some

of the things, the pastoral things that you think

you're going to have to address? And he said,

well, We are going to be sitting in a room where

there are people from different tribes and everyone

Will know someone from that tribe who has been

killed by somebody else from another tribe sitting

across the way and It will be there will be generational

trauma They're used to shooting each other and

I have to teach them that their identity is not

in their tribe, but in Jesus Jesus is their new

people. He is they are his new tribe And that

is not going to be easy. It's not. But that's

what God is doing. He's creating a new people.

If you want to know what is God doing, He's creating

a new people. And it matters that we come together,

that this is the miracle. Because let me move

to chapter 3. In chapter 3 we see the church

displayed. Let me give you this. It was His intent

now. that through the church the manifold wisdom

of God should be made known to rulers and authorities

in the heavenly realms according to His eternal

purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus

our Lord. The rulers and authorities in the heavenly

realms was the way that the Ephesian city, they

understood what we would say angels and demons.

So that's how I want you to think about it. We

are physically sitting here, it's a beautiful

day, it's a wonderful thing, we're sitting here,

we've got the wind blowing, and that's what we're

seeing physically. But I want you to step back

and look, what are we seeing in that spiritual

dimension, in that spiritual realm? They are

watching and they are sitting there and they

are currently watching us as God's eternal plan

is being displayed as He gathers people by grace.

as He takes people who are sinners, who were

dead, and now sitting under the Lordship of Jesus,

and now they are a new people. And angels, yes,

yes. And demons are watching this going, no.

And you're just sitting there. as the wind blows

trying to kick -track what this guy at the front

is saying. You see, that, this is the evidence

that the Gospel works. They're not watching,

I don't think they're really watching what to,

I think we sometimes make the mistake because

the way we put chairs out is that church happens

up here, so is what I'm doing and what the ladies

are doing with the music and there's, but that,

no, no, no, they're not watching that, they're

watching this, this is the miracle, this displays

God's glory, this is the amazing thing. This

is the main event. And just, I mean, have a look

around. There are people here, you've got people

from different ages, different backgrounds, different

personalities, different incomes, different stories.

We all have sin affecting us in different ways.

And for some of us, it's other people's sin that

has affected us. Some of it is the sin that we've

been struggling with for some time. messy. Yeah,

I get it. It is messy. But that's the whole point,

isn't it? That God, if God, if it was easy, and

we weren't messy, it'd be easy for us all to

come together, wouldn't it? But the fact that

God brings messy people together, that's incredible.

That is glorious. Some of us might not have even

liked each other. But here we are. We're singing.

We're choosing to spend today together. That's

incredible. Again, this is where the angels are

going, yes, praise God! And demons are going,

no, let me stop this from happening. And this

is how God shows off. You ever stop to think,

how does God display His greatness? I mean, I

love far North Queensland and I see God display

His greatness in all sorts of, like, in creation

up here. I remember I was on a tour up here,

I went to Cape Tribulation, I was there with

a guy, we didn't know each other before the tour,

but we got to know each other over the tour,

and we got to Cape Tribulation. Man, this is

amazing! And then we were going to go for a swim,

and then we were told... you are not coming out

of the water if you go for a swim. Sorry, just

a side thing, it was an interesting moment of

me understanding, that's what sin is like, isn't

it? It looks so enticing, but it's there to kill

you. And I went, that is what Cape Tribulation

is. But it is, it's beautiful. But how does God

display His grace? Is it creating galaxies, parting

sea, raising the dead? Yeah, yeah, He does that.

But actually what He does is this. And we look

at this and go, well, you know, I mean, how often

do you sit there and you go, well, you know coffee

wasn't that great today and I didn't really like

the chairs and I've got to set this thing up

every week and you know that person I don't like

the music the music isn't that great I mean you

can I watched a guy and he listed like the things

to complain about in church and he had like about

50 different things there you I mean you could

add to that it's easy to find things to complain

about in church but At this point in time, you

need to take off your glasses of seeing it as

we see it and see it as angels and demons see

it and go, whoa, this is incredible. This is

amazing. I'm not saying those other things don't

matter, they matter and we need to keep working

on them. But here's the thing, church is not

just merely something that, it's not just something

that we get something out of, like a service.

Like it's not the place where you go and I just

get my spiritual kind of shot in the arm to get

me through the week. There are things, I'm going

to talk a little bit about that tomorrow, but

there are some things that help us. We need to

be building each other up. But before we do this,

there are some things where we need to remember

that just turning up matters. I heard this story,

I can't tell whether it's a urban myth or not,

but it's such a great story, I'm going to tell

you anyway. There was this little old country

town and they had this church and people would

turn up but there was this old, I don't know

why, he was an archdeacon and he was an Anglican

person and he would turn up but he was kind of

blind, couldn't quite see anything and he was

very deaf. And you know those people, I'm sorry

if I'm insulting you, I don't know you, but there

was these, he was the kind of guy who got there

and people would start singing and he'd kind

of work out what the song was, but he would finish

half a line after everybody else, because he

couldn't hear what was going on, but he was going,

I'm gonna sing anyway, and he couldn't quite

see the Bible, he couldn't quite hear the sermon,

and so someone tried to go, why do you keep coming

to church? Of course because he was deaf it took

him a while to get that across and they couldn't

write a thing out but they finally got the question

across to him and they go, why do you keep coming

to church? And his answer was so incredibly profound

because I want everyone to know whose side I'm

on. When you come to church on Sunday and you

get out of the car and some of you might have

been Karens and you've got your kids and you've

got the thing and I want you to just take, before

you open the door, just take a moment and set

your eyes on what angels or demons are doing

right now just because you made it to the car

park. I know you found it hard, I know you found

it difficult, but just take a moment to see this

as an amazing moment and then if you're like

me drag the kids in and try to get them. But

keep that in mind as you see others so when you

see Karen and she's struggling with the kids

and there's a Go and play with the kids so that

she can have more than just one or two half conversations

with people Help her to realize. Yes. It's important

that you are here because you are displaying

God's glory When you see Kai and you can see

these struggling to understand what's going on

Just pull him aside try to explain to him why

it's funny for Australians to put each other

down I still haven't worked that out myself,

but try and explain to him what the humor is

and why people find that funny. When you see

Kyle and he's struggling to kind of sit, go and

stand with him at the back of church and go,

mate, it's okay. As long as you're in the room,

doesn't matter whether you're sitting down or

standing up, I'll stand with you, make you feel

comfortable. Because being here matters. It matters.

And wherever you can do that to help others to

realize, hey, us being here matters and I'll

do whatever I can to help you be here. In our

church we have a number of people with different

kind of things that they're carrying. Eliza is

a girl who comes along, she comes along quite

regularly, she's got an intellectual disability,

she just really struggles to keep up and there

was a moment not my best moment, there was a

moment where we're in church, they were reading

the Bible and she was visibly upset going, she's

just struggling to keep up with the Bible reading.

And look, I was tired and grumpy and so I'm sitting

there going and I saw the staff came over and

they tried to give her an outline of the sermon

so she could follow along and that sort of thing

and I went, someone's got to go and sit with

her and I'm going, righto. Okay, Hughes, get

up, let's go. And so, but before I did, I watched,

sorry, I get emotional about this. I watched

this girl called Taylor and Taylor, she loves,

she's a beautiful, bright, bubbly girl. And one

of her highlights of her week is that she comes

from a non -Christian family and she loves sitting

with her young adult friends in church. That's

like the highlight of her week. And I know that.

And I watch Taylor get up, leave her friends,

and go and sit with Eliza, and she just patiently,

far more patiently than me, thank God, but patiently,

she goes through the service and helps Eliza

through it, because the fact that Eliza there

matters, and Taylor understood that. And there

was a moment in church where I'm watching all

of this happen. And I wanted to stand up and

go to everyone. See that? That's church. That's

God's glory. That's what happens. I didn't because

it would have been odd and embarrassing and Taylor

would have died a thousand deaths if I hadn't

done that to her. But that's it. This is the

glory of God. Don't ever lose sight of the fact

turning up matters. And if you feel, if you're

like me and you go, I don't feel like going to

church today, I want you to just take a moment

and go, that's what a demon would want me to

do. So I'm a contrarian person, I'm going anyway

just because he doesn't want me to. But give

angels something to rejoice about. Because God

is glorified in the church. Because in the church

is where His plan is fulfilled. in the church

is where his wisdom is. And so now to him who

is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or

imagine, according to his power which is at work

within us, to him be glory in the church and

in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever

and ever. Amen. Let me pray. Lord, it is such

a great privilege for us to be a part of the

Bride of Christ the Church. Father, we confess

that sometimes we've walked into church probably

not with the right attitude. I know I haven't.

Some of us, I know we've also been people who

have sat in church and found those things to

grumble about. But father I pray that your spirit

will be at work that he will open our eyes so

that we might see What a glorious thing it is

for your saints together That we stand together

and go we are the new people that God is making

That we come together so that angels and demons

will know whose side we are on I Know some will

find that harder than others For those of us

who find it a little easier, help us to have

the strength and courage to help those who need

a bit more help. Father, please help us to display

your incredible glory by being the Church. Let

me pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.