14th January 2024 All Age All Nation Service - Dave Food - My Church is making room

Morning church, I can see some stars sitting in the sunshine. You're radiating

back of me. That's fantastic. I'm actually going to start off not with

a sermon, but I don't know what you have by the side of your

bed. I have a bed light, and I have a pile of books,

and I was just sorting through my books over the weekend and I thought,

you know what, some of these books have really made a difference to

me in twenty twenty three. So if anybody wants to borrow the three books

that have made a big difference to me in twenty twenty three, One is

How to Hear God Pete Gregg, So anybody who knows twenty four to seven

prayer. We've done a couple of Bible studies using his material. If you

want to borrow that book, it's there, just come and take it.

Number two if you're into evangelism, soy and pastor church I've think had anybody

body wants. And then finally one that I've read and again and again more

in Neills by my bed. This is this is a book to me,

redeeming. I'm py to lend it to someone about spiritual warfare. There's some

real wisdom here, but he wants any of those. I'm happy to particularly

this, and though I do it back again because I don't know whether I

get anyone so reads good way to read good. I think some people say

they're going to read it, will borrow it for are it? Freeman's what

are we looking at? We're looking at and my church is and a number

of times of the last six weeks, it's time in this phrase the moment

making room and so and I think making room has so many different dimensions.

And this is an all age service, So we're going to involve a whole

bunch of people in our service this morning. It's not it was great to

see Hope joining in the with the worship team this morning. This is an

all age or nation service. And so Timoth to Timothy, chapter four,

verse two, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season,

Convinced, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching. Just take

the first three words, preach the world. I don't think we have to

stand up with a lectern and with a Bible. We can preach the word

without saying anything, because our lives ought to speak, but we still need

to speak. The word. We still need to speak. Silence speaks.

If you don't believe me, then husbands or wives, just think about this

scenario. Your other half comes down the stairs. You're going out to a

special evening, and I'm speaking from a I'm speaking from history. This is

something that happened to me and Julia. You're going out to a special event,

You're all dressed up. The other half comes down the stairs and says,

how do I look? And you just take just too long to answer,

just a little side of thinking, how do I say? Your hair

is a little out of my life? And in that moment they go,

okay, go upstairs, and our change. Now. In that moment,

silence has spoken, you know. And there's many times I am sure people

will say, oh, you agreed with me on this, he said,

When did I agree with you? Well, I said this and you didn't

disagree with me. I don't think we have to have an argument. Sometimes

you can say, do you know what? I don't know what I think,

But I don't think that that's okay. I'm still thinking about it.

It's work in progress. So let's be ready to share the word. Do

you know what God is stirring in our midst a desire to share the Word

on the streets of Egan. I make that as a statement because I know

it to be true, and it's getting stirred up in lots of different people,

and so as to gets stirred up, do not be surprised if we

find ourselves on the streets and encouraging people to do things. And part of

what I want to share today is really about that. And who should we

love? Where is our love? Where is our love? Focus the songs

we sang this morning about loving God. In Mark chapter twelve, versus thirty

and thirty one, it says, and you shall love the Lord your God

with some of your heart. Sorry, did I get a mistake there?

Thank you, cherry, and thank you. You shall love the Lord your

God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all

your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.

Now go on to the next slide, Jonathan, what does the next verse

say? We know this scripture really well? What's the next verse say?

Love your name? Thank you? Yes, absolutely, And you shall love?

And the second is this that you should love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no commandment greater than these, How do we love our neighbor?

Let me just ask you a couple of questions as provocations. Do you know

the first name and the surname of your neighbors on your left and the neighbors

on your right? Okay, well, find a chance to you know,

if they're outside washing their car, just stop and say something to them,

have a conversation. But here's a bigger challenge. Do you know your neighbors

on the other side of the road. Okay, just a challenge, just

the provocation that I said I was going to involve a lot of people.

Just bear with me for a couple of seconds. You'll need to adjust the

camera. Jonathan. Now I want to start by you imagining this is somebody

going into London. This is three seats on a train, and someone's going

to come and sit in these seats. So these are three seats, the

train's going along, and someone's just going to come and sit in these seats

and occupy themselves. Oh it's Hope, Hope sitting down enjoying herself. Someone

else comes a lot. I'm looking for a seat as well, but there's

no room. Oh and look at the look at the look on her face.

When she has to move her bag to make space for someone to sit

next to her. Now, I'm going to ask them to just sit here

for a moment. I want you to think about this. We do this

all the time. I've seen it happen in church. We put our bag

down, we put our coat down. What are we doing? Are we

just being untidy? Or are we saying stay away? You know? Part

of what Hope did here was she put down her bag, she put down

her coat. She probably wasn't even thinking about it, but she was saying,

I don't want anybody to sit next to me. I particularly don't want

my brother to come and sit next to me. But what we do that,

don't we? We put stuff down, We build a fence surround ourselves,

and sometimes we don't even we don't even think about it. Now that's

on the train, and then I see this happen regularly whenever I travel into

the people put their bags down. And sometimes somebody will come along and they

look, and the person so busy looking at their phone, they don't even

notice that they're robbing people a seats. There's people standing on the train and

there are seats with bags on them. Now I'll be honest with you.

People are more important than bags and coats. Ill just be honest with you.

People are more important than bags and coats. And one day every seat

in this room will be full, not far away, every seat in this

room will be full. Now when that happens. Have you got a coat

on a chair next to you? So now let's move this instead of this

being on the train, to stay there now, instead of it's being on

the train. This is church. This is church, and Hope comes to

sit down. She puts a bag down, she puts a coat down,

and then a new person arrives. They've never been to church before, and

then they kind of look and see where can I sit? So thank you

for helping me. Guys, thank you, that's great, good job.

Because I see this not only happen on trains, and I see are not

only happening in churches. I see it happen in coffee shops. Coffee shops,

people will put stuff around them to say stay away. Now, I

want to give you a bit of a different example. Now, can I

borrow that bag back again that you were using? Any bag will do.

It's the camera still on me, Jonathan, Thank you. That would be

great. I just want you to imagine that you might sit down here,

you might put your bag down because you need something out of your bag.

Okay, here's just a little tactic and a little idea. Let's say you

see someone coming and you like the look of them, maybe your sense there's

a connection in the spirit. You can deliberately look at them, pick up

your bag and go like this. Now you're inviting them to come and join

you. Now you're inviting them to join you in a conversation because you know,

you can say, well, I'm sorry, I was just getting something

out of my bag. But we start a conversation. So instead of just

sitting there and sitting there on our mobile phones and not really connecting at all,

we can start the conversation. You know, one of the biggest problems

about outreach is we don't know how to start. You know, people say,

well, what do I do well? And this is just my example.

Juliet and I have been on the high street. Others have you been

on the high street before? Now you know, Juliette loves jumping out in

front of people. Shell She'll say hello, my name's Juliet and she'll start

talking and you know, that's that's that's great for Judiac doesn't worked for me.

Nothing wrong with that. And one of the things I've noticed, it's

just my idea is Brits like queueing. So one of the things I do

from time to time is if I'm going out evangel, I will join the

longest queue, not the shortest que I'm not trying to be efficient here.

I'm trying to join a queue because I want to have a conversation. You

know, I'll go Sometimes I've done this. I've gone into Egham, I've

gone into Waitros I bought, I've got picked up one thing, put it

into a basket, and then I go and join the longest queue. Now,

how do you start a conversation with someone in a queue? Oh,

they're holding their bar. You can just look in their basket and be just

a bit inquiring. Oh I've never eaten that before. What's it like?

Would you mind telling me you're off on a conversation now. The thing is

most people would say to me, Dave, I don't know where to start.

I don't know where to start that conversation. You know, we just

need an excuse to start. That's why every single thing that's on this table

at the front is their stuff that we give away to you that we want

you to use. Bags, pens, leaflets, And it's not that you

have to give them to everything, to everybody. It's just a set of

tools, just a set of things. If you see someone struggling with a

shopping and now they have to pay for a bag, you might say,

well, here's a bag, would you like this one? Give it away

and see what happens. Just a suggestion. Now, what I'm not suggencting

here is that when you've got your bag on the seat, whether it's on

the train, maybe even if it's in or it's in the coffee shop,

please don't do this, pick up your bag and go. That's a bit

weird. That's a bit weird. Yeah, so please do bear in mind

the way you look, but do invite people to come and join them.

And let me give you a different example. Judy and I were a long,

long, long time ago, but I can't remember why we were.

I think it was like we were sitting in a restaurant and we were sitting

at a table, and it was a busy restaurant and we were sitting at

a table. I think there were four seats on the table and we were

sitting on two of them. And it was the kind of restaurant where you

come in and sit down. We saw people come in and they didn't know

where to sit. We said, oh, come and join us, and

they came on the sat and they and eventually the conversation started to join it,

and we had a bit of a conversation. These two seats, we

don't need them, Please come and join us. See what happens? You

never know? You never know, you know, sharing your table with some

strangers in a restaurant. That's pretty okay, isn't it. It's not dangerous.

So just a few thoughts there about how we might do that. So

making room for people, making room for conversation. We just need to start,

and you might if you want it. Let's let's say, as you're

inviting somethingthing, I don't even know where to start today. Lord, just

just gently, don't even have to close your eyes, just gently say,

lord, would you help me with my conversation? Open your what do scripture

say? Open your mouth and I will fill it now phill. It doesn't

mean just one or two words. It means whatever you need to say,

whatever needs to be said. You know, so, let's make room for

people. Let's make room for conversation. In Matthew chapter twenty five, verses

thirty four to thirty six, it says this, then the King shall say

to those on his right hand, come you bless Come, you, come,

you, blessed of my father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of this world. For I was hungry, and I was hungry,

and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.

I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and

you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in

prison and you came to me. And later on it says this, as

the people cried out to the king, when did we do this? And

the kings answered and said to them suredly, I say to you, inasmuch

as you did to one of the least of these my brethren, you did

it to me. I want to encourage us to serve other people, and

that could be a simple little thing, like just helping someone across the road.

Please don't do what I did in London a couple of years ago.

Now I saw a lady and she I guess she was in her seventies.

She had a couple of bags for the shopping and she was struggling to cross

a busy road, and so I was going the other way. I was

walking across the road towards her, and I said, can I help you?

She said, oh, yes, please, And I took a couple

of bags and then headed off in the direction I thought she was going to.

Got crossed to the other side of the road and she said, this

isn't the way I want to go, and I take it was one of

those junctions. I took her this way and she wanted to go that way.

So we just had to cross back across the road and across her again,

and we laughed a little bit. But you know, I believe we're

carriers of the Word, and in being carried of the Word, that's why

I give you a memory scripture every week that we get more of the Word

in us, because when we get squeezed, when we get pressurized, something

is going to come out. Well, if the sponge of our bodies is

full of the Word, then when we get squeezed, something of God will

come out, Something of His word will come out. It'll have an impact,

it will make a difference. Now, how do we EVANGELI I thought

about this just a little bit, and I'm trying to make this metro.

So this should work for everybody. Ladies, you might have a handbag.

I know in this modern world maybe we don't have handbags anymore. But I

want to encourage you to have an evangelism pocket in your handbag. Gents,

if you've got something like a rucksack or a briefcase, I want to encourage

you to have a little pocket that's your evangelism pocket. Many of us,

many of us will have things like this and they'll be a little pocket on

the side. Now why do I say that Number one? You need to

know where it is. So let me give you an example before we get

into evangelism. Dear friend of ours, who we knew for many years,

she's now got to be with the Lord of Her name was Margaret Van Camp.

She led a church in California. She was an ardent church leader.

She oversaw churches in Cuba, and she was a regular traveler all around the

world. In fact, she didn't hear the word no very well. She

was once asked by a pharmaceutic She was asked by churchie she was reaching out

into Cuba, can they help with can she help with medical supplies? Now

she was leading a church about the same size as running me Christian Fellowship,

and she thought, okay, let me ask a few questions. She reached

out to some pharmaceutical companies across the state of California. They said, yes,

we've got some items that are coming to the end of life. You're

welcome to use them. They're still good, but they need to be used

in the next six to twelve months. So she said, yeah, okay,

deliver it to us and we'll sort out getting it to Cuba. Three

containers were delivered outside their church. Just imagine three containers being put outside the

church building. How do I get three containers full of stuff? You know?

Small church. But she didn't like the word no, So she reached

out and she prayed, and the church prayed, and they reached out to

the United USA Air Force, So can you help in anyway? And once

they shared there's this medical supply and it needs to go to Cuba, they

got it delivered for free by the American Air Force. Doesn't like the word

no. Now, one of the things I learned from Margaret was this.

She said, when you travel, be prepared. So I don't know whether

the last thing about the last time you traveled. When you go through security,

when you go through passport, there are sometimes this may be you or

this may be somebody in front of you, but you have to pull out

your passport, and then people start looking in all their pockets in their bags

and think where did I put my passport? And then then you need your

boarding pass and where's my boarding pass? And then when you come to come

arrive somewhere, then say where are you staying? Have you got some evidence

of where you're staying? And then you think, well, okay, where's

my booking form? And he's just so annoying. She said a couple of

things to me that stuck with me thirty years later, nearly thirty years late.

Number One, she always traveled with something that had a pocket here.

And I've even learned this from a Sunday morning. Sunday morning. Now we've

got these clip on mics, I need to remember to wear a shirt that

has a pocket here so that I got somewhere to put the microphone. Otherwise

it needs to go somewhere else it doesn't work quite so well. And you

know, I get annoyed with myself when I don't put a shirt on with

a pocket. I wear a shirt with a pocket whenever I travel through customs

because that's where my boarding pass goes. I wear a pair of trousers that

has another pocket here, and that's where my passport goes. And that's what

I do. So I know, I do not go, oh, where's

my boarding pass. I go, here's my boarding past. Oh, here's

my passport. And as I leave the place, I put it back in

the same place. So I do exactly the same thing. So why am

I telling you all this? Because I want you to. I want you

to choose a place where you will put some stuff that is your evangelism pocket,

and you put in there whatever you're comfortable sharing, whether it's just a

couple of pens or a couple of leaflets or One of the things we're really

pressing into is reaching out to young adults, particularly students on campus, maybe

students at Strokes College as well. There are business cards there with a QR

code on. Now, just because you're not a young person doesn't mean you

can't talk to a young person, a young adult. So please, whatever

age you are, take an IYA card. Now you might say, well,

it doesn't say much on it. It doesn't say much on it.

It just gives our details. But there's a QR code on there that takes

the young adults to a page that we can change. So that becomes right

for years. We can keep on using that card and we can keep on

changing the page as the program changes. So please do take something, decide

where your pocket is, put some stuff in their pens, and then when

you run out, think oh, I need to get some more stuff on

Sunday. Just a little suggestion, because you know, we need to be

carrying the words, we need to be taking the word with us, and

we need to be going equipped. If anybody who knows anything about policing,

the phrase going equipped is a loaded statement. Going equipped is the kind of

thing that if you're a young person driving a car and you've got a hammer

and a screwdriver in your car, then the police look at it and go,

h, this looks a bit suspicious. You have to explain why you're

driving around with a screwdriver and a hammer in your car. I want you

to go equipped, but not suspiciously. I just want you to go ready.

I want you to go ready because you know, what we carry reflects

who we are. If I just opened up your briefcase, gentlemen and ladies,

and if I opened up your handbag, ladies and gentlemen, I guess

we can have men with handbags, can't we? I don't you know?

If I opened up your handbag, what would be in your handbag will be

the things that are important to you. For some people, that will be

makeup for some people, that will be tissues for some people, that will

be a small bible. For some people be your mobile phone and your keys.

But those will be the things that you keep in your bag, you

know. And what's the thing that you check. I've seen doormats that say,

you know, phone, wallet's keys, So as you leave, what

are those are the three things that you try and remember? And I know

there are people in these rooms who have lost mobile phones. I know there

are people in this room who have lost keys, you know. And some

people will keep it all together, they'll put it all into one bag.

What's in your handbag will reflect who you are and what's important to you.

Mums who've been used to having children with snotty noses always carry paper tissues in

their handbag, and so whether they got whether it's their own child, it's

somebody else, they'll just be able to reach into their handbag. And then

there's somebody who doesn't carry a bag at all who sees a snotty nosed child

and goes, oh, can't do that. I haven't got a tissue.

So I want to encourage you to go equipped, to go ready with things

that you're comfortable using. I mean, if you're not happy using a tissue

on a snotty nosed child, Okay, let somebody else do it. Just

give them the tissue. But please take some of these things, use them.

In Matthew chapter chapter six, it says this, do not lay up

for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break

in and steal, But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither

moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is there, your heart will be. Also there's a

programmer whose house is it or through the keyhole? I think it's called being

on the TV, And they basically take a bunch of celebrities or on a

panel, and they take them around a house and they film a house,

and they say, whose house is this? I wonder if we and they'd

look at the books, and they'd look at the things that are on the

side, and maybe some of the things that are left on tables, they

would just look at it and go, whose house is this? Now?

I wonder if we came to your house now. Actually, I'm just about

to put a video up on screen of your home. No, I'm wondering

you up, But just some people were immediately going, oh, my goodness,

how did we leave the house this morning? Was it tidy? Have

we washed the pans and everything? But I wonder what your house would say

about you. I wonder what your handbag or your briefcase would say about you

know. Some times people leave stuff at church. Might be a bag,

and so you don't know whose it is, and so you just open it

up. Oh, it's got makeup in it. You start to try and

guess who it might be, and sometimes we get it completely wrong, you

know. But I wonder whether your handbag, whether your briefcase, whether your

house would speak of who you are? And wonder if it would say what

you want to be said for where your treasure is there, your heart will

be also. So what am I encouraging us to do this day as we

press into twenty twenty four? For number one? Be ready? And it

starts in heads and hearts. If we've got love for strangers, then we

can respond to it. But you know, actually, if we haven't got

our hearts right, we need to pray. That's where we need to start.

We need to start. Lord, help me with my inability, Lord,

help me with my help me with my mindset. And so we go

from our hearts to our head and say, oh Lord, give me what

I need, Show me what I need so that I can be prepared.

And here's the final thing. Let's be men and women of faith, so

that when we're ready, and when we're prepared and when we're prayed, we

are ready to be surprised. We're ready to be surprised. Now, God

does exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or imagine exceedingly. Now I don't know

what you you translate those words into, but me that goes wow. That's

why how I translate it. Exceedingly abundantly more wow. And so I want

to be ready to be surprised. I don't just want to go oh,

I prayed this ninety eight percent one D and two. I want to go,

Wow, God, as my did all these other God is able to

do immeasure more immeasurably, not met a little bit more measurably. That means

unmeasurable, doesn't it. That's what I understand it is, because that's ascendant

of fit in this room. Later on this, I'm sure we've got to

get ourselves leadership teams, talctors. Last week, we've got to grow our

worship thee we've already got who teams take believe and I'm believing, and I

believe leaving doing larger Johnathan help, So just really got going to get songwritering.

Now. There may already be songwriters in this stad I'm not already leading

worts. They may already bedia. They need series to be grandulist in our

customerstassinizing. Maybe even there's somebod the apples postolic who has to build and expand

God's kingdom with all. Let me pro I profray that you'd help us to

name more room, more room for you our lives, more in for libraries

or for you activities, Father, help us figures who called us to be

you would grow down routes. Would you cause us for deep circumstances by one

of the presidency to come to usons, I want to press I'm in there

immediately. The thought of the those people, the people who are listening,

You're thought setting is that's not ussible. And Father, I want to tell

to you again and say, Lord, will be possible. Would you do

dif and things that we can't do them supernow in Jesus, might one final

temist of the hand back to the worship team. You might have known if

you watched the string going out that we've really struggled with the speed of the

string. Clever things in here and it gets constrained by typology. And BT

told me, no, we can't have fiber in the building, told me

that perhaps I've got nuts going to give up ovent. Sorry, we've got

to dig dig We're not going to dig up too raj on the customer.

So he said, no, it's not possible. We changed when we had

some singsing's changed in an engineering. He said, you know, got fiber

at the top of the pole just up here, the pole just here,

there is fire there, and so I rang up being a like full fiber

for the building please, and they went okay, So I placed the order.

When they come to we can't. We can't serve because there's no fiber

near the building. You met. The test post wid for this building takes

you things nice street. It's about one hundred yards away, just by the

station road, not this building. And it's it's a quirk of things.

And so okay, how can I solve this. We've got broadband at the

top of the pole. The engineers told me. It's there. It's less

than fifty meters from old building. You can bring it in. It's all

sort of me. You've got to wait for bet open, I said,

So can I speak to me a bt opregnant? Well, you can try,

but there are a lot for the selves. That's what I was told

again and again actually met and reopened. Please facing us, mister food,

stop hasting us. We're just we will get round to it. So beginning

if any time I rang them up again to be said, okay, it's

a biber band in the building, please let me check. So put the

post CODEO over so sorry, so it's not, I said, I felt,

I will know it. I said, what would you put the name

running me Christian Fellowship in rather than the building name? Would you put running

me Christian Flush? And they went, oh, yes, it's very close.

We can do that. It can take me in twists. Amen comes Polyga