25th June 2023 - Teaching Service - Dave Food - Overcome rather than be overwhelmed

Thank you, Juliet, Morning, Church morning, everybody morning to those listening online, wherever in the world you are, whatever time zone you're in, maybe I should say good afternoon to some people, and maybe even good evening to others. That's the strange world we live in. I don't know whether you've joined a meeting before. Now, where you've joined a meeting online, you say good morning, good afternoon, good evening, because that's the audience we could be speaking to. And as Juliet prayed, our reach, God's reach is far more than this room, far more than how far our hands can reach. Have you ever been in a place when you are trying to stretch to reach something and you can't quite reach it. You ever been in that place? There's something high up in the cupboard, you know? And now I don't know there are people who are vertically challenged in the room. There's probably people who are vertically challenged online as well. But you know that point when we're reaching up and stretching. And I saw a little child this week and he was reaching out to stretch something. You couldn't get to it, so he just started to climb the shelves. We as adults wouldn't do that, but he was just so determined to get to the top. And it reminded me of a moment that I remember being at a Christian conference and there was one of those rope hexagon things, one of those kind of domes with lots of ropes on it, and there were lots of children all over it and they were climbing up it. And there was this little child and I guess he was about four, and there were children of eight, nine, ten, eleven who were all climbing up it. He started to climb, and not because they were being nasty, but just they were climbing too and he get knocked down and he pulled down, and he get up again, and he tried six or seven times. Eventually there was a break in the crowd of kids on the climbing frame, and he got all the way to the top and he stood on the top, and I saw this little boy say I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. And it was just I don't know where he got it from. You obviously learnt it in church or from scripture, but he was declaring that. He was declaring that because that was his experience in that moment, and I believe and I want to encourage us that we will. We will press in and we will get to the same place where we can say I can, I can. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I've really wrestled with the title this week. We've been in a theme in June of no Place I Would Rather Be, and I had two words in my head. One of them was overcome and the other one was overwhelmed, and I couldn't work out how to put the title. I've literally played around with the title even as the service was going on. But I want to declare that we are overcomers. We are overcomers, and therefore we should not be overwhelmed. Now, I want you to think about the last time you somebody greeted you, whether it's face to face, whether it's on the phone, on zoom, on teams, whoever it was, and they said how are you? And I wonder how you answered, because I was asking one of my overseas students. I was meeting them. I haven't seen them for a month, and I was meeting them on teams and I said how are you? And they said, not too bad considering the circumstances, and I thought, you've become very British. You've become very British. This was the Chinese student and I told her, I said, you've become very British in your answer. She said, why do you say that, I said, well, because the first thing was you said, well, not too bad. So glass forty eight percent full not too bad? Because for me, not too bad is less than fifty percent. Yes, she said, oh, we agreed. When you say not too bad when you're also saying not too good, which is less than fifty percent, and I have an aspiration that things are always more than fifty percent. I know there are people in the world who talk about the glass half full and the glass half empty. Okay, but that's still fifty percent. When we suck about the glass being half full, we're talking about the liquid in the glass. When we talk about the glass being half empty, we talk about the lack of liquid in the top part of the glass. But it's still fifty percent. And so really it's just where our focus is our focus on lack, or is our focus on provision. And so I want to declare over everyone who's listening and hearing my voice today we are overcomers. We are overcomers. So think about it next time you answer that question when somebody says to you, how are you? I would like to encourage you to think about not using the phrase not too bad. I don't want you to lie. I'm not asking you to lie. I want you to be real. You know, if life is crummy, say well, it's not very good today. Actually I'm not feeling very well today. Because that gives a place for people to pray. It gives a place for people to ask next time when you had a headache, last time we talked how are you today? But also it's about perspective. It's about the perspective on the way we look on things. So let's start by looking at the Gospel of Mark chapter ten. This is a story I think we know pretty well now. They came to Jericho. As he came out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging, and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazaus, he began to cry out, saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out, all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying to him, be of good cheer. Rise he is calling you, And throwing sighed his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, what do you want me to do for you? The blind man said to him rabonai, that I might receive my sight. Then Jesus said to him, go your way. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. First thing I want us to understand is he could not see. So I don't know whether you've ever tried navigating. I know there are people in the room who would be much better experts of this than we would be. But try navigating across the room with your eyes closed. You've probably done it because you've probably woken up in the middle of the night in your isa fall with sleepy dust and you kind of think, I know my bedroom, so I'll walk across it. The number of times I've done that when I've needed to visit the other room and I've stubbed my toe on something. We've all done it, haven't we. But you know what, we don't see very well in the dark, and so he was. He could see all he could, so what could he experience? What he could hear was a lot of noise, the crowds, Oh, Jesus is in town. Jesus is around now. If everybody was shouting Jesus is here, you know, this is exciting. How do you get heard? I guess he cupped his hands and he was sitting there on the floor and he's shouting here Jesus. Now. He must have had a loud voice because other people heard him above their own voices, and they were said, be quiet, be quiet. But that didn't discourage him, because he sensed the moment with destiny. He sensed the moment with destiny. He was not going to be He was not going to be put off just because he couldn't see. I wasn't going to stop him just because he couldn't be seen because he was behind the crowds. He would have been at the back. He wasn't going to be put off. He shouted even louder. You know, sometimes when somebody says no to me, there's something in me that rises up and goes, who are you to tell me? No? Now, that might be me being a bit naughty. Sometimes that's spiritual. Sometimes in says see see davec you can't do this. The spiritual man inside me rises up and goes, who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? In the name of Jesus. You know, we've been wrestling with some different technology challenges over weeks now, and it's getting frustrating. But I keep on looking at the computer going in the name of Jesus because we need wisdom, we need discernment, we need to know, We need to know, and we will shout all the more because what happened when he shouted even louder. Jesus heard him, Jesus heard his Christ, Jesus heard his prayer. Where is this man? Who's this man who's shouting out my name? Where is he? Bring him forward? So suddenly he's come from a nobody to a somebody. Yes, sometimes we need to recognize that we move from being a somebody from being a nobody because of who we are in Christ, not because of who we are that song we sang, not because of who we are not because of what we've done, but because of what you've done. We come with boldness, We come with confidence. We come with faith into the throne room of heaven, and we ask of the Father, and through him we are able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. So he went from a nobody to somebody. Now he's in front of Jesus, and Jesus says to him, so what is it you want? Are you ready for that question? Do you know? We do pray on a regular basis, talk to God on a regular basis. People online we talk to God on a regular basis. Are you ready in the moment in your prayers when God turns to you and says, so, Dave, what is it you really want? You ever thought about that? Sometimes I'm in conversations and people say, just tell me exactly what it is you need right now. Let's not worry about all the other stuff. Just tell me. I'm sure God looks at us sometimes says, so what is it you need right now? Scripture says you do not have because you do not ask and will come to the Gospel of Matthew, and he says, ask and it will be given. Seeking you will find knock on the door will be open to you. Will come to that in a moment. But Jesus looked at him and said, what do you require from me? What is it you're asking of me? And I want to encourage you. Be ready for that question, Be ready for that question. And let's ask big. Let's ask big of a big God. If you've got a pain in your little toe, maybe you've got a pain in every toe, but you say, please take the pain out my little toe, Well why not take all the pain away? Why not take away the thing that's causing the pain. Why not move to a place where you're going to be pain free? Because, yes, some of the things that get in the way, some of the things we don't really ask for what we really want is because we feel in some way contaminated or limited. In one John one, verse nine, it says this, if we confess our sins, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How many times have you or I been in a place where behind our back is the thing that we don't want to show. I remember a number at times when I've been maybe doing things in the garden at home when I was a child, and my mum would call me in ready for dinner, and maybe I've been, i don't know, messing around with stuff and I've got paint all over my hands or but I managed to get it off one hand. So she says, come in then, and what's in your other hand? You know, because because I think I'm trying to conn my mum think I'm you know, I think she doesn't notice that the fact I'm holding one hand behind my back. But you only do that with God too. We hide stuff from him thinking that he doesn't know. And so, and what it does is it limits us because we were now operating one handedly. Because that that I believe is a constraint to our spiritual man, to our spiritual woman. If we only talk about part of who we are, we have to come before God as we are and be unashamed before God of our failings. He knows anyway. Why are we ashamed in front of a God odd who knows us already? And we kind of think we kid ourselves by going, well, if I don't show him, you won't really notice. Actually we're limiting our asking. Just just think about this. Even as I'm talking to you with one hand behind my back, I only I can only gesture in one way. I can't make big, magnanimous gestures. So all the time when we're talking, because we talk with our hands, we talk with our heads, we talk with our bodies. In Matthew seven, verse seven, it says this, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find knock, and it will be open to you. Notice he doesn't say may, it says will. Why Why why is this true? It's not because of who we are. It's because of who he is. It's off who is hearing the question. Ask of who, Ask of God, and it will be given to you. This is not about how good we are, or how blessed we are, or how kind we are, how nice we are. If it was limited to that, then it would be may, it would be May, not will. But because it's not about you and me, it's about Him, then ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you. I want to encourage you stand up, men and women of God. I mean spiritually, I don't mean right in the room, right now, I mean, stand up and be counted. Stand up and recognize who you are. Stand up and recognize who we are in God. And as we stand up and recognize who we are in God, we then with confidence enter the most holy place by a new and living way, that is Jesus. By entering that new and living way, we come into the presence of the Father through Christ. I used to watch a program many, many years ago called Crackerjack. Does anybody remember that program? Yeah, a few people there, cracker Jack, Leslie Crowther if you really want to go back a long way. And for those people listening online, you're probably thinking, what is they talking about? There was a moment in one of the games. It was a children's show called Crackerjack, and there was a moment called Cabbages and Kings. And Cabbages and Kings was basically there was a quiz and you were asked a question. If you've got If you've got the question right, you've got given a prize, a game or except a football or a rugby baller, something you really wanted. But if you got it wrong, you've got given a cabbage. So I want you to imagine you've got a game you really want maybe a game boy you really want. You're starting to stack these things up. You have two or three things in your arm, and now you get a question wrong. Now you get a cabbage. And if you everything you hold, you keep. Everything you drop you lose. But if you drop theages, you lose everything. And so you've got to hold onto everything. So you're holding onto these things, and then you get given the carriage. Now cabbage is awkward, it's round, it's heavy, it's up awkward, And then you get another question right, and now you're balancing on top of the cabbage. You could just imagine the picture of carrying all these things. But in Matthew chapter eleven, verse twenty eight to thirty, it says, come to me, you who are labored and heavy laden, and I will give you rest that picture of carrying the things that you want to carry and the things you don't want to carry as well. Really the logic would be put the cabbages down, but you don't win the game. But life is not like that. It says, come to me, all who are labored under heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You know, we don't function well when we're tired. We don't function well. And we don't even ask of God very well. I don't pray very well when I'm tired, And so when God wants to hear from us, he wants some quality time with me and you, and he wants it regularly. I don't know whether you have a weekly appointment with God, a daily appointment with God, a morning and an afternoon appointment with God, maybe even an hourly appointment with God, or maybe it's just as and when. But I don't want to encourage us. Firstly, let's recognize who we are and who we are our children of God, and therefore we come into His presence with a confidence and with a faith. No, I don't know how you talk to your father God. I don't know whether you stand there with your hands behind your back and politely ask a nod and smile, or whether you go and sit on his lap or sit at his feet. I don't know how you envisage having a conversation with God. But come with confidence, come with faith, know who you are, and then ask of a God who wants to give to you and to me. So let's just explore this in the context to where I started. Overcomers rather than overwhelmed. When God now asks us, So, Dave, what is it you really want? Am I asking from a place of being overwhelmed? Or am I asking from a place of I am an overcomer. Sometimes people answer that question by saying how are you and say not too bad considering the circumstances, or under the circumstances. There's another phrase, are you under the circumstances? Am I under our circumstances? I think it's very easy to be like that. It's very easy to suddenly allow circumstances to overwhelm us. Here, one of the things we need to do is lift up our eyes and look beyond the circumstances. Look beyond the mountain. I will lift mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. David wrote that in Psalms, and so I want to ask you when God says, what is it you really need? How are we praying? Are we praying in faith believing the mountain will be moved? Are we praying in believing that the journey can continue after the mountain is moved? Or are we actually so weary we can't even think about doing anything with the mountain. Take my yoke upon you learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. And he goes on in Matthew to say this, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. When I was younger, I used to love going backpacking. Don't do it nearly, I haven't done it for a long time now. And you'd have a rucksack on your back with a tent in it and a stove and food and clothes and everything else. And one of the things that I found was that often you'd wear this rucksack for hours on end. You know, when I walked the Pennine Way two hundred and seventy miles up the middle of the UK, you know, you'd wear it for eight hours a day, and after three or four hours you'd stop for a coffee break or something, and you'd take this rucksack off. And genuinely, for me, it felt like I was on the moon because having taken off this twenty thirty pound rucksack put it down, you're no longer carrying that burden, and so suddenly everything's so much easier. And genuinely, I felt like I was walking on the room because I could I could jump up and I could jump higher than I was carrying the rucksack. That's an illustration for me of this scripture, For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now, the only way that logically works with that picture is basically, God's carrying my rucksap for me. It may still be on my back, but He's taking the weight and the burden. That's the only way I can make that picture work. But I do want to steal moon walk. I do still want to take steps of faith, big steps of faith, and so I want this to be true. And sometimes we will look at jobs that God asks us to do and we'll go, I can't do that. I haven't got the energy, I haven't got the time, haven't got the resources. And then this scripture comes to me and it says, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Proverbs talks about what we should boast about in Proverbs twenty seven, verse one. I don't know whether you're someone who boasts, and I'm not meaning both inappropriate boasting. But when you've won a race, why don't you tell people? Don't you any won a prize? You tell people? Don't you? You know? It was my birthday a couple of days ago, and I shared some of the things that people are shared with me, just because I want people to be part of my celebration. And in Proverbs twenty seven, verse one, it says this, do not boast about tomorrow before you do not know what a day may bring forth. We don't know what tomorrow contains, so let's not boast about it. Let's spost about today. It's posed about what God's done. We are so bad at remembering good things. We're so if somebody said, if I said, right now, write down, let me even consider it, write down three good things that have happened to you this week, You'll probably start thinking and there might be one or two. But I'll tell you what, if I now said, write down three things that you didn't like that happened to you this week, three bad things that happens to you this week, they'd be there like that. They would be there like that. Let's focus on the good things that God has done in our lives. Let's remember the good things. Let's remember the victories that have won. Because do you know what, if we've been in a fight and God's help us overcome, and let's not remember the fight. Let's remember the overcoming. If we ran out of something and God had to provide, let's not remember the lack. Let's remember God's provision. They're exactly the same event, but we're remembering a different thing. Instead of remembering the fight, we're remembering the victory, instead of remembering the lack. We're remembering God's provision. Instead of remembering the pain, we're remembering the healing. It's exactly the same moment, We're just looking at it through a different lens, from a different perspective. Because I believe we can have a different perspective on tomorrow because of the way we remember today. If we look through the lens of God is good, if we look through the lens of God's provision, if we look through the lens of a miracle working God, then how does tomorrow now look? Tomorrow now looks very, very, very different. And so how do you look at yourself? Well? Roman says this about you Romans, chapter eight, verse thirty seven. Yes, in all these things, we are more than conquerors, more than conquerors. A conquering means we've overcome, We've won the battle. That's what conquering means. Isn't it. You've won the battle. You've won the fight. Now, if we're more than conquerors, what does that actually look like? What is the more than bit full of? I think it might be full of things like grace and mercy for the people we just conquered. For example, I can think of many stories that I've read in many books. I couldn't think of one of myself as an example here, but where an oppressor has jumped on someone and then the Christian has overcome and they've shown grace and mercy to the prison guard. Think about the story in the Gospel Peter and John in prison singing hymns, and then the doors are thrown open and the chains are off, and the prison guard comes running in, going, oh, my goodness, what's happened, and gets led to Christ grace and mercy more than conquerorus. And so I want to encourage us as in Isaiah, where it encourages us to think about being light in dark places. In John one, verse five, it says this, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it, just because the darkness does not comprehend who we are as children of God. Doesn't mean we should stop shining. Just because people do not understand what we are saying does not mean we should stop testifying. Just because the world doesn't understand how prayer works does not mean we should stop praying. We are more than conquerors, and so so let your light shine before men and women and people all around the world. Let your light shine. Another way I could have played the story out at the beginning is rather than sitting at the back and shouting out. Maybe it could have been nighttime and he had a great big torch and he was flashing the torch at Jesus saying I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. Notice me. So let your light shine before men. Let your light shine in the darkness you. Every time a light shines in the darkness, the darkness gets pushed back. It doesn't matter whether it's a candle or torch or one of those X files super super super super duper doesn't It doesn't matter if it's a spotlight or a searchlight. Doesn't matter how bright the light is. Every time a light gets turned on. Every time a light gets turned on, darkness gets pushed back. Every time you say a good word, every time you proclaim something good. Every time we testify, every time we pray, the darkness gets pushed back, maybe a millimeter, maybe maybe ten milimeters, maybe a yard, maybe a mile, but the darkness gets pushed back. I want to encourage every one of us. We are overcomers, not overwhelmed, and so we come to a God who is not underwhelming, but overwhelmed. His presence, I mean, when we fall in the when we come into the presence of God, his presence is so precious, so valuable, so tangible. Sometimes we can't even stand. Some of us sometimes end up on the floor on our knees because the presence of God is so strong. And so let me encourage you. Let your light shine, Let your light shine in the darkness. And so I'm going to ask us to pray. We're going to pray some tactical prayers this morning. I'm not going to start with it being personal. I'm going to start with it being your worlds and the world that you live in. I want us all to close their eyes, those at home, those listening online, those in the room, would you close your eyes, and I'd like you to think about a place where if I said, I mean, you could think about this very naturally. If I said, walk to a part of town, walk to a part of your garden, walk to a part of your house where at night it's really dark, you probably go to the stairs or the loft, or you go into the woods, or you go to a place where there was no light penetrating. I don't want to ask about the physical place, or I don't want to ask it from a light point of view. I want to ask, where is it that you're going to hang out this week? Where you sense darkness at Darkness might be a work, It might be in somebody's life and situation. It might be particular street you walk down, a regular basic It might be somebody, you mean, who seems to be living under the shadow of something. You know how we sometimes talk about having dark clouds looming over us. I just want to take you to that place, and then I want you to encourage you to turn your light on. What is turning your light on meaning those moments just declaring truth, showing love, being graceful, being merciful, asking for the presence of God to come into that place, into that certain situation, into that circumstances. Forgiveness is a powerful tool forgiveness not only changes us today, but it changes our future. Our perspective changes. And so I want to encourage us. Let's bring light into dark places. Let's bring the light of Christ into difficult conversations. Let's bring the light of His presence into those that we love and care for, colleagues, friends, family, And if all you do, even if you don't know what to say, even if you just quietly pray under your breath, Lord Jesus, come and be part of our conversation. Right now, I believe that the light will come into the conversation, not necessarily physical light, but the atmosphere will change, The conversation will change, something will move into a different direction. And so, Father, God, I pray for those dark places that we come across, those people who are under a shadow of something. And Father, I pray that the light of your presence would shine, the power of your love would be imparted, grace and mercy would be released, and above all, a savior would be revealed. Oh Father, we pray that. So as we pray for others, Lord, I too want to pray for ourselves. Lord, where we can be under a dark cloud, Father, I pray that you'd help us to look beyond the storm, look beyond the wind, look beyond the rain to the Sunlight is coming, the light of your sun shining in our lives, the light of your presence shining in our days, the light of the power of your spirit at work in us. We pray, Father, I want to draw a line right now. I want to draw a line right now for those who since they've been walking along under a cloud that maybe they're even holding the string too. Imagine just have a picture walking along the road and you say, yeah, I'm a bit down today, and just imagine there's a string to a balloon, and instead of a balloon, there's a big dark cloud hanging over your hanging over your head. Sense And that's the picture I had as I was praying. And I just want to encourage for those who are listening, those who are in the room, maybe it's time to let that go. Maybe it's time to let that dark cloud go. Okay, there was a promise of rain, but do you know what, there's plenty more rain to come. And so Father, help us to let go of the things that are hindering us. Help us to take hold of the things you want us to hold help us to put down the cabbages and be more like kings. We pray, O God, and help us to walk by faith and not by sight, as in Matthew, as I prayed, Ask and it will be given. Knock on the door, be open, seek a new will find. Lord. We want to seek for more of you. Father. We want to ask big and ask ask us boldly. And Lord, we want to knock on the throne room of heaven and see Heaven touch Earth, see Heaven touch our friends, see Heaven touch those who need a miracle, those who need a touch from the Father. Let your Holy spirit be imparted even right now in Jesus name, Father, would you touch us where we need a touch from heaven. Lord, would you fill us where we need filling. Lord, would you empower us and give us words of wisdom, words of knowledge, words of prophecy. Lord to speak into our dark world that there would be light released In Jesus name, Ah Man Jerran