2nd March 2025 - Communion Service - Dave Food - Life's Laundry, Time To Start

It's great to be here at the beginning of March.

I'm excited about today's theme. I haven't been excited about

a theme for I It's not that I'm not excited

about I'm more.

Excited about the theme today. The theme for.

March is Life's laundry and hold on to your hats

here because I just sense in my heart there's something

God wants to do in all of us. You know,

as we step into March, the sun is shining. We're

going outside. So let me just give you a couple

of examples and then we'll apply it to a spiritual

you know, some some the sun is shining. The sun

is shining through your windows, and you look at the

shelf and think, my goodness, that sun shining brightly, and

there's a lot of dust on that shelf. How on

earth did it get so dusty. Well, it's just been

building up over the winter and we've been so you know,

as the light shines, work is revealed. Or you might

go outside and you think it looks lovely outside. I'm

going to go outside and you get a breath of

fresh air, and then you look at the state of

your garden and think, oh my goodness this and work

that needs to be done here. And then you walk

back in the house and you can smell the dog

blanket and you think, okay, there's some cleaning that needs

to go on here. My theme for today is, you know,

in life's laundry, it's time to start. It's time to start.

And God gave me some prophetic pictures that I want

to share, some I think of for particular people. But

let me start in a great book in the Bible,

pie Leman.

Okay.

Now, now everybody's panicking because whereabouts in the Bible is it?

Is it Old Testament? Is it New Testament? Anybody know

New Testament? Anybody know whereabouts?

Yep?

Close to Hebrews after Titus. So and it's a really,

really really short letter. It's so short that sometimes you

can turn over the page and miss it. And I

I don't want to miss Fi Lehman. One day, I'm

going to meet him in heaven. I say, you wrote

a great little letter there, Phi Lehman, thank you for

sharing that. So Paul's setter, sorry to Philimen. So I'm

going to start at verse nine. I'm not going to

read all of it, but we could read all of it,

but maybe you could read all of it today.

It's a bit of homework. Just let me read.

Just this is Paul writing, and he's pleading for Anesiumus. Therefore,

though I might be very bold in Christ command you

what he's fitting, yet for love's sake, I rather appeal

to you, being as such a one as Paul the

aged and also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I appealed

to you from my son Anisimus, whom I have begotten

whilst in chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but

now is profitable to you and to me. I am

sending him back.

You. Therefore, receive him.

That is my own heart, whom I wish to keep

with me, that on your behalf he might minister to

me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent.

I wanted to do nothing that your good deeds might

not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntarily, For

perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that

you might receive him forever. I just want you to read.

Just focus on verse eleven. For once it was unprofitable.

How many times have we tried to do something and

it hasn't worked, and we kind of given up. There's

a similar story, a similar echo when Jesus says to

his disciples, who've been out fishing all night, cast your

nets one more time. And I'm sure they thought, what's

the point. We've been fishing all night. Jesus your nuts,

you're crazy. But because you would command us, we're going

to cast the nets one more time. And was it

just one or two fish? Now, it wasn't one or

two fish. It wasn't even a bag full of fish.

It was so many.

Fish that the boats started to sink. Church.

I want to encourage us that if life is a

bit of a mess, if there's bit dust, unexpected dust,

if there's a bit of a smell, let the fresh

air of God's presence flow through our lives. Let it

flow in us and through us, because what was not

profitable will become profitable. Angelo, I had a picture as

I was praying, and I don't know how you stack

your towels. I don't care how you stack your towels.

Maybe you don't stack your towels. But I just had

a picture of a pile of towels and they were

in color sequence, but one was wrong. One towel was

not in the right pile. Now. I don't know whether

you color coordinate your things's, but you go across to

it and you pull out this towel because it doesn't

belong where it is, so you pull it out, and

as you pull it out as a watch a watch, yeah,

a watch like a risk watch. And I don't think

it's about finding a watch. I think it's about God

saying something about He's going to give you time. He's

going to give you time. That's what I just sense

in the reordering of things. God is going to give

you some time back that has been stolen from you.

And I don't know what that means, but I just

sense that the Father in reordering things is going to

give you some time to do the things that you

need to do. You know who steals time? Who steals time?

The enemy? The enemy steals time. Is anybody good at procrastinating?

That's a long word for a Sunday morning. Anybody good

at being indecisive? Just I want you to think about

last time you decorated a room. That's the kind of

spring cleaning thing. Last time you decorated a room. You've

got a color chart and you picked it and maybe

you wandered into a paint shop and you'd already picked

your preferred color, and then you start looking at the

paints and you think, and then you've decided five or

six colors, and then it's suddenly become ten, and then

you leave the shop because you haven't decided yet. Procrastination.

Sometimes we need to be bold in our decisions. Sometimes

we need to go through with the decisions that we

walk in. In Proverbs, chapter twenty eight, verse twenty six,

it says this, he who trusts in his own heart

is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

You know, there are things that I want that are

not good for me. I can stand outside a bakery

and look at a chocolate a claire and think, oh, oh bye,

And there'll be a special office saying ten for the

price of six, and I think, oh, that's good value.

And I think I like chocolate declares, but you know

it's not good. One's okay, nothing wrong with one, but

ten hmm. And we used to have some young people

who used to live with us who could eat a

whole packet of chocolate hobnobs in one go. Once they'd

opened the packet of chocolate hobbobs it was gone. You know,

our heart can make some tough decisions, make some unwise decisions.

We can be foolish with things. But do you know

what Hannah say? So, how do we find wisdom? How

do we find wisdom? Well, we can ask God, and

we can also consult one another. We can also consult

his word. It's words full of wisdom. Proverbs is a

fantastic place to go if you're ever feeling a little

lost and a little confused. Proverbs twenty nine, verse nine

says this, if a wise man contends with the foolish man,

whether the full rages or laughs, there is no peace.

It's really easy to argue. It's really easy to get

into senseless arguments. Guys, I just want to encourage us.

Sometimes it's good to walk away from the conversation. Sometimes

it's not about winning. It's about moving things forward together

in unity. And if there's something we can agree on,

let's move on that. Let's allow life's laundry to day

to let's look for unity in things rather than just

looking to win the argument. Walking wisely is about deciding

which hills you're going to stand on and which battles

you're going to fight, and which ones really don't matter

at all? Whether you're going to have roast potatoes, baked potatoes,

or mashed potatoes with dinner, does it really matter? Does

it really matter? You might say it does because you

shouldn't be having baked potatoes with I don't know, stroggenof

baked potatoes and strogging I'm making up one of my

crazy meals again. But but does it really matter? As

long as we're eating well and we're feeding ourselves, and

I want to encourage us. Look for peace in a

time of laundry. Look for peace, look for balance, look

for purpose. Colossians, chapter three, verse thirteen. Therefore, as the

elect of God, Holy and beloved, put on tender merci's kindness,

hu mility, meekness, and long suffering, bearing with one another

and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another,

Even as Christ forgave you, so also must we do forgive, forgive.

If we hold something against somebody, it's not only not

good for them, it's not good for us. What's the

song that they sing? Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

You've probably had children around you when they've done something

they shouldn't have done. Maybe they've punched somebody, or taken somebody,

something off somebody harshly, or bitten somebody, and you'll say

to them, say you're sorry, and.

What do they do? Sorry?

They don't really mean it. They're just doing what you're

asking them to do. Do you know there's a moment

when we get real with God, when we get real

with one another, that when we say it and mean it,

it changes us. It changes us, It changes you and me.

Sorry really matters. Sorry is important forgiveness, freeze us up

from the stuff we're carrying.

I'm going to show my age a bit. Now.

It's five to five, and it's there for the younger

people in the room. You're looking at me, going, what's Crackerjack?

It was a children's program on at five to five

and it was you know, everybody used to say, it's

five to five and it's Crackerjack. And there was a

game in Crackerjack called Cabbages and Kings. I don't know

whether anybody remembers it, but you would get asked a question,

and if you got asked the question and got it right,

you've got a game, a board game or something like that.

If you got asked the question, and you got it wrong.

You got a cabbage. Now, cabbages are quite difficult once

you get more than my imagine a box, a cabbage,

another box. So you got one right, one rong, one

right again, and now you get another cabbage. Now you've

got Now it's really awkward. Now, if you manage to

hold on to everything till the end of the game,

you keep everything, cabbages and games. If you drop it,

you're out.

Guys, we need.

To stop carrying cabbages. We need to stop carrying the

bad stuff, the wrong stuff. We need to put that

down in that game. That illustration doesn't work because you

lose the game. But guys, let's stop carrying stuff that

we don't need to carry. Sometimes we need to bring

things to a closure. We just need to say.

That's it.

I'm drawing a line and I'm moving on. Matthew six

Verses fourteen and fifteen. This is where we find the

Lord's prayer, and it very clearly says I'm going to

read it from the New NIV. Here, for if you

forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly

father will also forgive you. And then in verse fifteen,

but if you do not forgive others their sins. Your

father will not forgive you your sins. Forgiveness matters, and

God knows just as well whether we're real. Just like

the little child who goes i'm sorry, God's look at

us as say yeah, sorry, Dave.

Sorry and mean it. Now, here's the thing.

What changes when we move from saying i'm sorry to

meaning i'm sorry. We submit our wills. We submit our

wills and say, Okay, I'm gonna let it go. I'm

not gonna hold onto it. I'm gonna let it go,

forgive others, And I'm going to pause it for a

moment because i just sense that this is something God

wants to push in on. And for those listening online,

those listening later, if you just sense the fuck, just

take some notes. If there's some of these just sprung

into your mind, there's a loose end there. Maybe it's

no big deal, maybe it's just something.

But do you know what.

Releasing forgiveness changes the atmosphere. Releasing forgiveness changes our countenance,

Releasing forgiveness changes our relationships. Release, releasing forgiveness changes the church. Yeah,

there are many people, and I'm sure there will be

some people listening today online who are not in church

because of unforgiveness. There's something that was done that hurt you,

and you'll never be able to leave it and put

it down. Just want to encourage you lean into God,

forgive those who hurt you, and move on with freedom.

Kick off the shackles. Find freedom in that forgiveness. Ephesians four,

verse thirty two says this, and be kind to one

another and tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in

Christ forgave you. And let's receive forgiveness too. Let's just

just give it, but let's receive forgiveness. Some folk today

might need to send a WhatsApp message or pick up

the phone and just say, do you know what. I

was just thinking of you, and I thought of this moment.

It just came into my mind and it didn't end

as it should have done. And so I just want

to say, for my part, I want to say I'm sorry.

And so, Father God, I pray that Lord you'd help

us to let go and to receive forgiveness.

Let it.

Even as I'm even as I'm preaching, even as I'm

talking right now, I just sense waves of forgiveness being released,

waves of forgiveness being washed over people and wash through people.

Just imagine standing under a power shower with God and

thinking about you've just had a tough day and you're weary.

It not only washes off the rubbish, but it revitalizes

your skin. It revitalizes how you feel. You know, it's

our skin is an organ. It's the largest organ we

have in our bodies, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong.

I think it's the largest doorg and we have none.

And consequently it's our connection with the world. Just want

to allow the wave of God's presence to flow over us.

Maybe there's something right now. Even as I'm pausing in

this sermon, you're thinking, I just wish this situation where

I just wish so and so had said they're sorry.

Let's pause there for a moment and then allow God's

forgiveness to flow through this. Drawn near to God and

he will draw near to you. I want to kind

of draw everything to a bit of a close by

just talking about now. I don't know whether there is

the equivalent of this, but people would talk about having

a man draw. There's a man draw in your house

for anybody's wives who've got a husband you know, where

does he put the batteries, the radiator key, the alum key,

those kind of things. There'll be a draw somewhere where

those things are put, and that draw will probably have

rubber bands in it and maybe an old mobile phone

and a few other things. And we put things in

that draw as men because we think I could use

that later, that could be useful later. And there may

be truth in that. But you know what, when you

go to the drawer and you're looking through it, there's.

Loads of it. Why did I keep this?

Why have I got a Nokia thirty three ten in

this drawer? It's got worm on it And that's about it.

And for those who don't understand what Anoka thirty three

ten is, you don't even know what Nokia is because

Nokia doesn't exist as a brand anymore.

It's gone.

But do you know what, Sometimes you'll find there's a

whole load of stuff stuck together. And I had a

picture as I was unpacking this man draw of somebody

pulling something out of the drawer and it was magnetic.

For some reason, it had been magnetized, and as it

was pulled out of the draw it pulled out a

load of other stuff, and you looked at this other stuff,

and so I don't.

Need to keep any of this stuff.

A broken drawing pin, a key for something that you

don't own anymore. And I just sense there's a time

where God's putting magnets in our world and just saying,

just see what comes up and deal with it. There'll

be one or two things you find. I think I've

been looking for that for years now.

I can lock my.

Bicycle up again, but there'll be a whole pile of

other things. God's just causing us to do a bit

of life laundry, saying put that down, give that away,

find a home for it, use it. There are some

things that are in our draw and I'm not saying

there isn't a woman drawer. I just don't have that illustration.

You might have a similar kind of draw ladies. But

the concept is there a place where you just put

stuff for a rainy later day, you know, And a

lot of that stuff gets in our way. A lot

some of that will be useful, but let's use it

for God's glory. So let me pray as I close then,

and we're going to come around communion, And as we

come around communion. I just want to prepare our hearts,

let the light of God's presence shine upon us. And

if there's something that needs a bit of a dusting off,

dust it off. Maybe there's a prayer that needs to

be prayed made, there's a sorry that needs to be

said for one or two people, maybe somebody listening online.

I think as a sorry that needs to be said

to yourself, because you need to forgive yourself for some

of the things that you said and done. And So,

Father God, as we look in the light of the

presence of your son, Father, let the brightness of your

presence shine upon us. Let the warmth of your love

fill us. Let us know and feel your presence. And

as we know and feel your presence, let us let

go of the things that are no longer useful and

necessary for us. Father, if they can be used by

someone else, Father, help us to find that place. Father,

if they're just not useful anymore, help us to let

them go. Father, Help us to forgive, and help us

to receive forgiveness. Father, draw close to us as we

draw close to you, ah Man, just.

As I close.

So I had a picture of a cable in this

draw and it's a cable. You when you look at it,

you go, I don't know what this is for. I

don't know what is connected, but there's something God is

doing about a reconnection of something for you.

And I just think it's a.

Picture that just says okay, And actually, when you pray

about this, you will understand what it is that needs reconnecting.

But there's a reconnecting going on. And this is not

just about plugging something in because it's the right place

for the wire to be. It's for something to flow

through that. And I just sense there's a change coming

for you and for your family that will come through

the revelation of whatever comes through the connection. So, Father God,

we thank you for your presence, We thank you for

your love, We thank you for your purpose, and we pray,

Lord God, that you'd help us and fill us.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.