8th October 2023 All Aged All Nation Service - Resistance is Necessary

When doing everybody, Yes, Julie is right, we had a nice holiday.

You might say that's good for you. Do you know what I just

want to I know people have been praying for me, and I didn't realize

how flat out I was running in September. I'll be honest with you.

I had to mark letter. You had to mark some dissertations too, but

I had to mark sixteen dissertations. That's a quarter of a million words.

And I don't like reading. Yeah, plus doing a job, plus church,

plus other stuff going on. And I don't think I realized just how

full on stuff was until I got on a holiday and then I put my

feet up. I thought, I'm not going to normally on holiday. For

the last two and a half years, I've opened my work email just once

in a while, just to make sure there's nothing boiling up. I tried

to open my email on Monday and it wouldn't connect to the internet, so

I thought, okay. On Tuesday, I thought, do you know what,

I'm not going to look at it. So I messaged my boss and

said, I'm not looking at email all week. Just see you know,

if you need to get hold of me, text me because otherwise I'm not

going to know. And I have one message in the whole week, and

that was a simple thing to solve. But we press into a series now

in October called resistance, and I want to say this morning, resistance is

necessary. When resistance occurs, there is friction, and when there's friction,

there's heat. And we've all experienced being in a hot place at different times,

at a circumstance where heat has suddenly built up. Suddenly we feel resistance.

Suddenly we feel there's something stopping us moving forward. You ever got into

a car and not taken the handbreak off. A modern day car will start

bleeping at you, but slightly older cars they wouldn't. And you'd be driving

along thinking this doesn't feel quite right. Until you look down and there's a

red light on your You think, oh, I haven't take my handbreak off,

and you take your hand break off and off you go. Now I

can tell you there would probably have been a little bit of a burning smell

or a warm smell because you're driving with the brakes on. Now you might

think that I was going to go down the route of resist the devil.

That's not where I'm going. I'm going to save that for somebody else later

on in the month. I want to press into resist peer pressure. I

want to press into resist peer pressure, resist false expectation. And I really

as I had prepared something, but I want to step way beyond where I

was planning to go. I want to start with a prophetic illustration and the

Cherryans, please forgive me. I just feel I want to do this.

So I'm going to start with Cherry and would you come and stand at the

front here and just face the church. Cherry and joined us on Easter Sunday.

And the day he joined us, he came by bike and his bike

got stolen and he said, do you know what I know, I'm in

the right place. That was resistance and Cherryan was here on his own and

he probably didn't kind of feed himself as healthy as he should have done.

Is that correct? Yeah? Okay, confession time, confession time, But

do you know what I'm looking for? Debbie. I'm sorry, Debbie in

a moment. In a moment, because the next person I want to bring

up is Joel. Joel, I want you to stand in front of Dad.

Okay, you're going to stand in front of that, because you know,

without these rescue We're going to bring them all up in a moment.

But you know, actually, Joel stepped into a new place this week.

He stepped into a new place because he's gone to school. He's God opened

an opportunity for him to go to school. He's got a place in school

House School Joel good. Yes, yeah, but do you know what,

he's probably feeling a bit of resistance, not because people don't like him,

because it's all new. And whenever we have new stuff going on, we

feel there's resistance because we have to push through. We have to push through,

and if we don't push through, we won't get anywhere. If we

stand still on wait for the door to open. Sometimes we need to go

and knock on the door. Sometimes we need to open the door. And

that's what I know these guys are doing. And that God just gave me

this as I was worshiping this morning. Because Joel's pressing through now, he's

every day's new. I would imagine tomorrow you'll be doing something you haven't done

before. That'll be something new, do you know what? And now let's

bring up some support. So Debbie, would you come next to and stand

with your husband? You know, because I know you're pressing into some job

interviews at the moment, and we're believing for that, you know, and

there's resistance. There's stuff going on. But do you know what, I

wanted to bring them all up, so I hope you come as well now

because we're believing for school, place for hope. We're not going to leave

hope out and you know, but what I want to illustrate is, you

know, there's there's stuff going on, and we can all relate to this.

We can all relate to these guys and their journey, but I want

to relate to your journey too, because we're all dealing with stuff. I

think I'm right in saying there was only one space in your school, jol

Is that right? There was only one place and it was in year three?

Which year are you in Verreeer? Three? So okay, God opens

the door, and God's going to open the door for you, Hope.

God are going to open the place for you in school in this area,

not somewhere distant, in this area. And Debbie, God has a job

for you too. God has a job for you. But do you know

what I wanted to share with you as you are pressing through this, you're

probably feeling the heat. You're probably here feeling the heat as a family.

You're feeling resistance. You're saying, why is it not happening quicker? And

I felt God say to me, it's my sequence, it's my order.

This is not the enemy's standing against you. I have a sequence. And

the youngest he's going face. You came first, ad, you set the

platform. Then Joel's being released into his destiny. Then Hope will be released

into her destiny, and then Debbie, and then a home that you can

call home as opposed to a place that you're just staying. And I sense

you're feeling the heat. I sense you feel it. Sometimes you wake up

in the middle of the night and you're stressed because you're thinking Cherry in particularly,

you're thinking, did I do the right thing? And I sense that

God says you did the right thing. You're in the right place, you're

doing the right thing, and so don't stand back, but do it together.

Do you know what this is a unit? This is a resistance unit.

Now, if you want to send if you want to send a group

of soldiers into enemy territory, you do it as a team. They don't

do it on their own, and they're well trained. And these guys are

well trained, they pray together. I went into their in the room whilst

we were still setting up in here. I said, oh, sorry,

you're praying, because they were already praying this morning, you know, and

they have been equipped and prepared. But I just sense that there's prophetic destiny

in this room today, and I want to just release them into that next

season, Debbie, Lord to work, and Lord, we pray for a

home that they can call home and settle and build your plans and your purposes

for Oh God, and so Father, when there is resistance, Father,

we want to take hold of it, Lord God, and push through.

We don't want to come to a standstill, Lord God, we want to

push through. And Father, we want to push through with them. We

want to push through with them and see your kingdom come. Your will be

done. Egan will be changed because of some of the things that will go

on from this place, from these families, from this household, from you

Church. Egan will be changed. God is not stationary. God is on

the move. And as God is on the move, is going to move

through us, in us and to others. And so Father, I pray

your blessing upon this amazing family. Lord, let them be who you call

them to be in Jesus' name, Thanks you y. Resistance is necessary,

do you know when we sense it, sometimes we need to I was driving

back up the motorway yesterday, and you know, got one of those hybrid

cars and if you put it in cruise control, you know, it keeps

you at a certain speed so you don't break the law. So I put

on cruise control and then we come to a hill and then you start to

feel the engine going faster. He says, Oh, why's the car going

faster. The car is not going faster. The car is having to work

harder because it senses resistance as it pushes up the hill. And when we

push up hill, we're going somewhere because we're going to a higher place.

And the same with God. If God takes us to a place, then

he will want us take us to a higher place. That means sometimes we

will have to work harder. But I want to encourage you. Don't do

what I've been doing for at least a number of months. Now do it

in your own strengths. Don't do that. Don't do that. You pay

a price. You pay a price with health, You pay a price with

stress. You pray a price with lost sleep, You pray a price with

lost finances. Making bad decisions, we all do it. We've all done

it at some point, haven't we. We've made bad decisions when we were

tired. Let me just give you a simple one. When was the last

time you drove tired. It's not a good decision. It's not a good

decision. So let's have a look at some scriptures. Two Corinthians, Chapter

one, verse seven says this, and our hope for you is firm because

we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so you also share

in our comfort. Do you know what? There is suffering? There is

testing, there is challenge, there is purpose. But if we press in

and press through, we get somewhere. And when we get somewhere, sometimes

if you ever climbed a mountain, I climbed Snowden many many years ago.

And as you go up Snowden, if you go up the miner's path,

you get to a point and you get to you're climbing up and up and

up, and you get to a certain point you think I'm nearly there,

and you get to the top of the peak, and then you think,

ah, no, this isn't the top, because there's an even bigger mountain,

mount Snowden, higher than you. I've just got to the next peak,

and now i have to go down before I can go up again.

We know. In Ephesians it says this Ephesians one versus six, verses one

to seven. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is

right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the command, with

promise that they may be, that it may be well with you, and

you may live long on the earth. And you, fathers, do not

provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training admonition of

the Lord. Bond servants, and be obedient to those who are your masters

according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart,

as so is Christ, not with an eye service as men pleases, but

as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the hearts,

with good will, doing service as to the Lord, and not to men.

Why did I pick this scripture. Let's just go back a couple of

verses there and say, be obedient to those who are your masters according to

the flesh with fear and traveling in sincerity of Christ. And then it goes

on, not with eye service, not just be people pleases. Who likes

pleasing people? I do. It's not wrong, It's not wrong to please

people. Don't you like to put a smile on your somebody else's face.

Don't you like a bit of encouragement from your boss saying great job. Don't

you like people around you to say, really enjoyed that. Thank you?

As pleasing people and we like it. Do you know what when that becomes

our god, we've got a problem. If we are looking for admonition,

I'll tell you what there are. Julia mentioned Philip Hannah. I've talked to

Philippa about this many many years ago. You know, when you get used

to being on stage, when you get used to performing to an audience,

your life is like a barometer about how many applause you get, or whether

you get what you expect, whether you've got a laughter when you told a

joke, when you got round of applause, where you've got a round of

applause yesterday? And I know, Philip, I said, sometimes she was

expecting this and this happened, and she said I'd walk off the stage so

disappointed. But God had done something else. God had done something different,

and I missed it. So let's not get our eyes fixed on only pleasing

people. Let's make the most important thing pleasing God. Because if we please

God, we will please people. And in pleasing people, we will get

some benefit out of that. We might get a round of applause, we

might get a well done, we might get a bar of chocolate. There

is a there is going to be some chocolates later on as a memory verse

that I think somebody's going to remember today. Proverbs chapter four says this oops,

sorry, jentamen pressing it for you. Take firm hold instruction, do

not let go keep keep her, for she is your life. Do not

enter the path of wickedness, nor walk in the way of evil. What

am I focusing on here? Focusing on instruction, on clear instruction. If

God gives you an instruction, stick to it. There's a book by Clem

Ferris who came and spoken to our church back in February. He was with

us a few weeks. He's our covering and he's based in North Carolina,

and he said, expect disruption, holy disruption, and We've seen a bit

of that. We've seen a bit of that going on. We've seen a

bit of that happening in our midst as we press through making technology work,

seeing disruption happen. I only had a request this week to take a particular

service down because six seconds was copyrighting six seconds. And those are the things

that we're wrestling with. Do you know what we do here today? Echoes

in his eternity. You know, I am flabbergasted how we as a small

church influenced the world these days, podcasts and live streaming, and we're getting

messages coming back from people all around the world. And I know we're doing

the right thing because we're also getting some hate mail too, some nasty comments,

some nasty stuff getting posted in the chat box. You're all protected from

it because we put the technology in place to do that. But it comes.

It comes. Resistance comes when we do what God wants us to do.

And some of us will saying I'd like an easy life. Can I

just put my feet up? Do you know what the blessing will come when

we push through? When we push through and see what God will do.

And I had another picture as we were worshiping this morning, and I nearly

stepped up in the midst of worship to do this, but I want to

do it now. Yeah, if you've ever washed your car or used you

know, a big chunky sponge, and then you've left it for a while,

it goes all crusty and hard, doesn't it. Yeah, And you

can't squeeze it because it's gone all hard. So what's the first thing you

need to do is you need to soak it in water. When you put

it in the water, it doesn't soak any water in at all. It

just bounces up to the surface because it's full of air, and it's full

of dirt and it's full of stuff. And actually, what you've got to

do is you've got to squeeze it a little just to break the crustiness,

and then the water will start to flow into the sponge and then it'll soften.

And as it softens, then you'll be able to get more water in.

And then you'll squeeze it a few times and then you'll pull it out

it will be full of water. And I hope you don't mind me saying

this, Church, but some of us are crusty this morning. Some of

us have got a bit hardened to life and to circumstances, and I just

felt that the Father come along and say, do you know what, I

just want to give you a little squeeze. A lot of squeeze that's going

to hurt, but a squeeze that is going to break up the fallow grounds.

I'm just going to ask us to close our eyes as we are.

I'm just going to ask you if you're feeling a little crusty, if you

are feeling dry and you've tried to come into God's presence. Maybe you in

the prayer meeting on Friday or a small group in the week, or last

Sunday, you came into God's presence and you could see, you could sense

God's presence, but it just washed past you. I'm just going to ask

you to stand where you are. Let's keep our eyes closed. I've got

my eyes closed to online can't see you. So if those at home too,

If you're feeling a little crusty today, you're feeling like God's presence just

wash. He's past you and never touches you. Maybe now's the time to

allow him to give you a gentle squeeze, and I'll ask you to stand

where you are. If that's you, would you just stand I'm standing.

I'm standing in this moment. I'm not I know I'm standing anyway, but

I'm choosing to say I'm standing. I want you to know I'm feeling a

little crusty too. This isn't the criticism. This is just an acknowledgment of

where we've got to. And so Father, we invite you as we stand,

those at home, those listening later, those in the room who are

standing right now, we invite you. Come and hug us, Lord,

Come and hug us Lord, and in hugging us, give us a firm

squeeze. Lord, God, let us know your love, let us know

your touch, let us know your presence, and let us feel it.

Father, in the very midst of our beings. And those who are standing,

whether you're at home, whether you're listening later, whether you're in the

room, I just want to encourage you to breathe in. Breathe in right

now and sense the Father's palm upon your upon your being. Sence the Father's

palm upon your your body right now, and you'll feel a little pressure and

even trying to breathe. Some of us are trying to breathe right now,

and we're struggling because we feel the resistance of the father's hands. I just

sent a bear hug for one or two this morning. He's giving you a

big daddy hug, and you're struggling to breathe. But breathe more. Get

that air into your lungs, allow those muscles that haven't moved for a while

to move again. And as you breathe, he'll breathe with you, and

there'll be a synergy together. And as a synergy comes, alignment comes.

And as alignment comes, resistance starts to move away. And as resistance moves

away, you can breathe more easily, and suddenly you're breathing is in line

with the father's breathing. I don't know this to be a scientific fact,

but I would think. I would like to say that your heartbeat will start

to beat in time with his heartbeat. And even as I'm pausing, I'm

feeling relaxing going on. That crustiness is gone. There's a sense of breakthrough

coming. But I don't just want to say there's a sense of breakthrough coming.

I want to declare breakthrough is coming. Breakthrough is coming for your household,

Breakthrough is coming in your work situation, Breakthrough is coming in your relationship

with someone who you need a different relationship with. Breakthrough is coming. And

as breakthrough comes, he draws you closer into him. Actually, you feel

an even tighter squeeze now because you've just yielded to the Father. You just

yielded instead of being crusty. Now you're softened a bit. And His Holy

Spirit starts to feel you. And I say, his Holy Spirit starts to

feel you. You find that you soften even more, and suddenly the crustiness

of the sponge is gone, and you're just a floppy, soaky, soppy

sponge in the Father's arms. Father, would you release your blessing on all

those who are standing today? Would you release it to them? Would you

release it through them? Lord God, For what happens here today is not

just for those that are standing, but for their friends, their family,

their colleagues, some strangers they're going to meet. Lord, change us,

and you change the world because you change our worlds, because you change us.

And so Father, we breathe a little more easily for those standing.

Keep on breathing, take a deep breath again, and just yield to the

Father's hand. He's going to leave some fingerprints on you. Today, He's

going to leave some fingerprints on you. And then leaving those fingerprints on you,

you'll think, oh, I've been touched. Yes, you have.

You've been touched by the Father. Resistance Sometimes he's necessary, and he will

come. But do you know what, It's a good thing because we press

through, we press into his purpose, we press into his plans. So

Father, I thank you for all that you're going to do. Father,

we receive it. We say soft we will try and stay softened in your

hands. Oh God, continue to fill us. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen, let's take our seats for those who are standing. In Galatians

chapter chapter four. And I want to say this because I think this is

important. Letty from Mexico would say, Mi casa sukassa, which I think

literally translated means my castle is your castle, not even my house is your

house. My castle is your And and interestingly, we have a phrase in

English or as certainly as englishmen, and englishman's home is his castle. So

I want to encourage you to make yourself at home in the father's home.

Let me read to you a few verses. Now from Galatians chapter four,

verses one to seven. Now I say that the heir, as long as

he is a child, does not differ at all from the slave, though

he is master of all, but he is undergoing guardians and stewards until the

time appointed by the Father. Even so, we, when we were children,

were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness

of time has come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman,

born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law,

that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons,

God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out

Abba Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son,

And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now slaves

have virtually no rights at all. You know, we can watch films,

we can look back into our history where we've done dreadful things humanity to others,

and people have been owned by other men and women. I'm glad to

say that slavery is a big agenda in the world that I work in.

You know, modern day slavery in the world of supply chain. But it's

still a big problem. It's still a big problem. And do you know

what, I think there is a spirit of slavery. I think there is

a spirit of slavery that we can bring ourselves under. We can make ourselves

slaves to work. And sometimes I want to say it's okay to say no.

I think as Christians we often feel we need to be yes people,

and there's a time when we need to be generous. But there's a time

when we need to look after ourselves too, and we don't always need to

say yes. We don't always need to be the person who goes, oh,

well, all right, then I'll do it, because you know what,

we end up carrying too many for those who are as old as me

or remember a TV program called Crackerjack, And Crackerjack was one of those child

children's programs on at five o'clock on a Friday. It's five to five,

and it's and there you go. There's a couple of people who watched it.

Yes, Now, Crackerjack had a game called Cabbages and Kings and children

will asked questions, and the children will be asked brought up the front and

they be asked a question. If they got the question right, they got

a game or a prize, a box. But if they got it wrong,

they got a cabbage. Okay, and they were given a great big

raw cabbage, but they had to hold on to the cabbage and the game,

and then they'd be asking another question. They got it right, they've

got another game, and now they're holding a game and a cabbage and a

game, and now it's kind of awkward. And then they ask another one.

Now they've got another game, and they're thinking, oh, I've won

three games. And then they get another one wrong, and now they've got

two cabbages. And if they drop it, if they drop anything, they

lose everything. They lose everything general what And sometimes the reason I pick on

that illustration is the whole cabbage and other things. He's difficult, and sometimes

we see to need to say no to certain things because we don't even need

to answer the cabbage question. We don't even need to answer it. Sometimes

we just need to walk away for it and walk around it or pause.

Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son, a child,

and therefore an air of God. I know I've used this story before

now and now he's king, so but I remember reading a story about Prince

Charles when he was very, very very young, and a gentleman went in

to see Prince Philip. So many many many years ago, a gentleman was

invited to come and see Prince Philip, but he was being given twenty minute

time. He's told, okay, be there at ten o'clock I think it

was, and come and wait and Prince Philip will see you at ten thirty.

And at ten twenty five the equery came out and said, I'm sorry,

Prince Philip's running a little bit behind time. Are You're only going to

have fifteen minutes? And he came out again after a further five minutes.

His stead he's still running behind schedule. You're only going to have ten minutes.

Eventually he's ushered into a room with Prince Philip and they're talking about the

charity that he works for, and in through the door rush's Prince Charles,

a little boy with his train and his train wasn't working, and he runs

in and says daddy, daddy, and Prince Philip just turns to his son

and deals with the problem, spends a few more minutes. Then you know

it turns back to the gentleman in question says, winds things up, and

actually he'd only had four or five minutes with Prince Philip. Why am I

telling you this story? Because as a son, he had access to his

father. Didn't have to knock, didn't have to go to the equor,

he didn't have to say, okay, you've only got five minutes. When

he ran through the door. He had access. This is what access to

the father means. We need to be more childlife in the way we approach

the father, not childish childlike that we run into his presence. Do we

run into his presence and say, father, daddy helped abba, father was

there? In those words, daddy, daddy, abby's an Abba is an

intimate word. We don't have to sit outside waiting for an appointment. We

don't need to be told we've only got this long because the father is waiting

for us. He's waiting for us to come into his presence. He's waiting

for us to talk with him. Sometimes he's sitting there waiting for us to

move. He's waiting for us to yield. He's waiting for us to give

in. Sometimes our pride gets in the way, our habits get in the

way and let me kind of draw this to a conclusion. Then as I

go now to my final scripture Philippines, and I've got two versions of it

here, I think, sorry, no, the last verse one Corinthians one

Corinthians. I'm going to read it firstly from the amplified one Corinthians, Chapter

fifteen, verse fifty eight. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm,

steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, always being

superior, excellent, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the

Lord, knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not

futile, It is never wasted or to no purpose. Stand firm, be

bold. Now that's a pretty difficult verse to remember in that particular form,

so let's look at it in then, IV, which is our memory verse

for this week. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm,

Let nothing move. You. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the

Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

When you sense resistance, if you sense that the Father's in it,

press through. He will give you the energy that you need. He will

give you the tenacity that you need. Please don't try and do it in

your own strength. That's going to be hard. It's going to be hard,

and so will let me pray that mean pray. I want to begin

with a confession, a corporate confession, and if you want to stand and

confess with me, then feel free to do so. But Father, I

confess that I've done things in my own strength. I've confess that I have

done things my way, not your way. I confess, Father, God,

that sometimes I tried to do it and I try to try to persuade

you to do it differently. And Father, that's got in your way,

and it's got in my way too, And I'm sorry, Lord and Father

doing it in my own strength. It's not happened the best way. And

maybe some people have got hurt on the way. Maybe some stuff happened that

was not part of your plans. Father, I'm sorry. But Father,

I want to yield to your word and to your way. So maybe this

is a prayer for you to Church. We want to yield to your plans

and your purposes. Well, where we've allowed our own plans to supersede your

plans, Father, help us to tear them up. Help us to put

them to one side. Help us to come back again to your grand plan,

and help us to press into that with all the fullness that it has,

all the fullness that it is, and all the fullness that is to

come. And as I prayed earlier on, I prayed for those who were

crusty. But now I just sensed that God wants to pour out his spirit

upon us. And that might happen now as I pray, but it might

happen in worship too. Let's not be afraid of soaking in his presence.

There's something about when you've squeezed a sponge and you've allowed all the water to

soak into it, it now becomes a weighty thing. And I sent some

people run from the weightiness of what God is calling you to because it feels

like too much. But you know what, you'd be holding the water anyway.

And so, Father God, we've come into your presence. We stand

in your presence. We yield to you, Father God, and we say,

let your spirit move in our lives, Let your spirit move in our

world. Fill us. So, God Lord, would you release the fruits

of your spirit into our circumstances. Would you release the gifts of your spirit

into us, your church in this place today, as we worship you again,

refresh us, restore us, renew us. We pray in Jesus' name,