13th March 2022 All Age Service - Dave Food - Our Purpose - To Glorify God

God gives us what we need. So our theme for February is our Purpose.

I get an opportunity to speak to a lot of students as I teach

them, and one of the things I say to them is you need a

purpose. We all need a purpose in life. There's nothing better than having

a bit of purpose to get us about out of bed, to motivate us

into the day when we're struggling, to move us into destiny. On Tuesday,

I shared that with the Sorry. On Wednesday, when I was teaching,

I shared that with two different groups of students, and I had a

couple of students come up to me afterwards and say, Dave, how do

I find out my purpose? Thought, okay, there's a good opportunity.

I said, well do you know do you believe in God? And they

one of them went yes, and one of them went no. And I

said, well do you know I believe God? God designed us for a

purpose. That's why the way we are and none of us are the same.

All of us are unique, and as we're unique, God has different

things for us to do. And so I want to build upon our theme

for this month on ourur and really focus on our purposes to glorify God.

So let me start before I get into any scriptures by starting with the other

side. When we don't glorify God. And it might be an out moment

for a few people. But maybe we've overreacted this week. We've overreacted in

a car, We've overacted on a teen's call, we've overreacted to an email.

Maybe we've overacted to a reaction. You know somebody, somebody maybe's just

folded their arms and gone, that's all they've done. And because of because

of where you were, act suddenly, why what's the match hurt? You

know, well, that's not very glorifying to God. Maybe as you were

driving to church, or as you're driving somewhere in the week, you're you're

you're in a good place, and then somebody pulls out in front of you

without any notice at all. I used to have a friend many, many

years ago who used to think that a wave replaced signaling, and he would

often pull out and he's beaten up old car, and he pull out the

side road and he just waved to people as he pulled out, and you

could see them going, oh, I wonder if we've got a fish on

the back of our car, and whether we're driving in a way that glorifies

God. Because you know, we testify all the time. We testify in

the way we react. We testify in what we do. We testify and

whether we're sacrificial, we testify in how we respond. And please remember,

and I've said this a number of times before silence speaks. So somebody says,

does everybody agree? And nobody says no, then the default understanding is,

well, everybody agrees. So just be aware that we testify even in

silence, and there also is a place to be silent and not to say

anything. Let's come to our first scripture, then, as we think about

our purpose, from Psalms, and I'll read them from the screens. Oop,

I help if I had them on the screen, And we go Psalm

one hundred and fifteen, Verse one, Not for our sake, God,

No, not for our sake, but for your sake, show your glory.

Do it on account of your merciful love, Do it on account of

your faithful ways. Now God wants to reveal himself to us. He wants

to reveal himself to his creation. Has anybody been out in the garden recently

and just looked at how everything's coming into blossom. I live in a road

called Spring Avenue, and I don't think it's named because it's good in spring.

It's named because of the ripley springs along the side of the hill,

but also because it's on the side of the hill. There are lots of

blossoms that come out of this time of year. And each time when I

drive to take the dog out for a walk and see another tree in blossom,

and it's glorious, and I just look and I think wow, And

then I'm thankful that the dog's taking me for a walk, or I'm taking

the dog for walk, whichever way you will, because then I get to

see these things. And I've started taking pictures as I go through the woods

of things that my Teddy shows me because I'm going on a walk with him

and so encouraged. I want to encourage every one of you. Let's celebrate

God's creation. Let's see what God has done, do you know, because

it's sometimes when we look into the small things, we can see there are

even smaller things that God has been involved in. I walked past a tree

that was just starting to come out into blossom as I was walking the dog.

This week. And then I drew in, and I looked at the

blossom itself and the chunks of blossom, and then I drew into the individual

flower. And then I looked in the inside the individual flower. And each

time as I was drawn in, I saw even more of God's glory.

Not only does God's creations speak, but God's people speak, and we can

be drawn into situations and we can see that not only has God got the

big picture, but He's also got the small things as well. And so

we'll move on to our next scripture. Then, as we explore as God

speaks to us, and it's from Philippians, chapter three, verse four,

and he says this, though I also might have confidence in the flesh,

if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I the more

so. You know, how much do we rely on our abilities, our

abilities to do things. I believe that God gives us opportunity because he wants

to be glorified. And so for anybody who's thinking, maybe you're week this

week you thought, oh why me, why have I got this today?

I want to say to you God can be glorified in these moments if we

just give him room I am absolutely sure there are things that God puts our

way because he wants to be glorified. And as God, as Heaven touches

Earth, God reaches down and touches us. Let's more move on to look

at Philippians now as we explore more of God's word. Sorry the next one

Philippians three, verses seven to eleven, which builds from where I just read.

Yet all of the accomplishments that I once took credit for, I've now

forsaken them, and I regarded all as nothing compared to the delight of experience

in Christ, Jesus Christ as my Lord. To truly know him meant letting

go of everything from my past and throwing all my boastings on the garbage deep.

It's all like a pile of manure to me now, So that I

may be enriched in the reality of knowing Jesus Christ and embrace Him as Lord

in all of his greatness. My passion is to be consumed with Him and

not clinging to my own righteousness based in keeping the written law. My righteousness

will be his, based upon the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the very righteousness

that comes from God. And I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus

more fully and to experience the overflowing power of his resurrection working in me.

I will be one with him in his sufferings, and I will be one

with him in his death. Only then will I be able to experience complete

oneness with Him in his resurrection from the realm of death. This is the

Passion translation. I particularly wanted to read this because it just makes it so

tangible, so real. Now the things that we've done, Look at what

I've done. Now look at what he's done. Look at what I've done,

And now look at what he's done. Christ went to the cross for

you and for me. Why because his father sent him, and he did

the father's will. He paid the price for you and for me, and

he wants to continually work out that in our lives. Scripture talks about how

we work out our salvation. Day by day. We press into who we

are, We live who we are as we press into God. I continually

long to know the wonders of Jesus. When you find yourself at the deep

end, and I'm using this illustration of the cerempol I don't know whether you

like swimming or not. But for some people who are not sure about deep

water. You see them enter the pool and they slip in gently, and

then they feel the bottom. And once they felt the bottom, then they

start to walk deeper and deeper until they come to the point when they can

no longer. They have to step off the edge, or they have to

step further step into the deep. And for me, that's just a great

illustration about being men and women of faith, that we step off into the

deep. We step off into where God is at work. We step off

into where we leave ourselves behind, our security behind, and we start to

focus our security on Jesus and on God. Jesus is our buoyancy aid.

He holds us up, He lifts us up. Jesus keeps us safe from

drowning. We will not be overwhelmed. And as Jesus lifts us up,

God sent his Holy Spirit to encourage us, to empower us, and to

enable us. So when we run out of ourselves, that's a great place

because we run into Him. There's a play this way we need to That

illustration of coming to the edge could be true in a swimming pool. It

could be true if you've ever been hand gliding, you've got this thing called

a hang glider. You're pointing it into the wind. You can see that

it's just catching the wind. But you need to get to a moment of

faith where you step off the edge and the hang glider takes you and then

the winds lift you. And I think there's a place in our walk with

God where sometimes we need to step over the edge of our limitation and step

into the fullness of who we are in Him and allow the wind of the

Spirit to lift us. Are we going to get buffeted? Well, probably

that's what happens in windy places, But we can also be uplifted because it's

in the wind that the uplift comes. It's in the journey that we find

more and more of Christ in us. And I think last week I talked

about how in moments of life I've had what I might call moments of touching

eternity. I had the privilege of singing a cathedral choir many many years ago

when I was a student, and I remember on one particular winter's evening when

it was a candlelit service, so there were no other lights in the cathedral.

There were just candles, and we were walking in singing this amazing piece

of music. And as I walked under the organ with the ceiling just about

as high as it is here, and then as I stepped out into the

nave of the church, it was just like because you couldn't see the ceiling

anymore, the candle light didn't reach that far, and it was just like

there was an eternity of space above me. And I had that experience of

just feeling like I was stepping into eternity now. And when we sing the

song from Heaven, you came helpless, babe. There's a verse in there

where it talks hands that flung stars into space for all nails surrendered. That

connection of Heaven touching Earth, that connection of eternity to now. I hope

and I pray that that would be something that you experience, not just once

in a while, not even just once a year, but on a regular

basis, that for you, Heaven and Earth are touched and you're part of

the connection. I don't know whether you remember, back to your science days,

there was a thing called a Vandergraft generator. Anybody remember those. They

were things that as you turned them, they could they wrote, They moved

the band through the system, and then on top of the Vandergraft generator was

as a ball and it was creating static, and if you touched it,

you earthed it and there would be a many little bit of lightning between your

finger and the Vandergraft generator. You truly felt it. If you've ever been

out walking and accidentally touched an electric fence, maybe win a farmer's field,

you've probably felt the same thing that. Or maybe you've walked into a place

where you've got plastic shoes on and you're walking in the carpet and then you

go to touch a metal rail to walk up the stairs, and there's a

connection that goes on there. There's a connection on there's an earthing going on

there. And I believe God wants to earth himself and he wants to do

it through you and me, and so there will be moments of spark.

There will be And I'm not saying God's going to electrocute you. All I'm

saying is that hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered. God

touches Christ touches us, and we touch earth, we touch people. We

are God's hands and feet. We hurt his eyes and ears we see,

and we know he knows too, but he wants us to act and to

move. And so when opportunity comes, it brings an opportunity for God to

be glorified. And that's where I find it's so exciting, where we in

that moment we have to decide, am I going to go by faith here?

Or am I going to go with what I have? In Psalm one

hundred and fifteen, as we read on them, it says to this,

Oh Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shields.

Oh house of Eron, trust in the Lord. He is their help

and their shields. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord.

He is their help and their shield. You're getting a bit of a theme.

Now. The Lord has been mindful of us. He will bless us.

He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of

Erin. And he goes on to say he will bless those who fear the

Lord, both small and great. May the Lord give you increase more and

more, You and your children may be blessed by the Lord who has made

heaven and earth. The heaven even the heavens are the lords, but the

earth he has given to the children of men. That's you and me.

The dead. Do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into

silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the Lord. God wants to be glorified. God wants to be glorified

through his people. And if he won't, if we won't do it,

God will try somebody else. I remember going to listen many many years ago

I heard a guy called Rhine up Bonkie speak in Slough. I went to

a meeting and Rine up Bonkie was speaking, and he had this vision to

put a leaf of it through every door in the UK. And he had

this dream and he put these words down on a piece of paper, and

he just wasn't one hundred percent sure, so he thought he'd check it with

a couple of wise men and women of God. He sent these words that

he'd had to the one or two wise people, and most people came back

saying, yes, that's that's definitely from God. Let's let let's get that

through the doors. But one gentleman didn't, and Rne up On he really

kind of appreciated this man, so he was he was troubled. He said,

what should I do? And so he prayed, and God said,

why did you ask the man that I asked to do it in the first

place, Because he's not going to do it either. And that leaflet went

through it. I was part of sticking leaflet through doors all around the all

around that. It happened all around the country. I did a few streets

in here in Egham. But you know, when God wants something to happen,

he wants to be glorified. And we take that moment, we take

that opportunity. As to whether we will step into the fullness of that opportunity,

Let's look at our nex scripture there, thanks Rachel, Ephesians three twenty,

and this is building upon the opportunity. Now, Ephesian the three twenty

says, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that

we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to

him be the glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, to all generations forever

and ever. Amen. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly.

No, those are big words. Those are big words. I don't

know what they mean in your dictionary, but exceedingly abundantly doesn't fit on a

page for me, doesn't fit in a box, doesn't fit in a bank

account. Exceedingly abundantly for me immediately talks of overflow. It talks of more

than enough. So exceedingly abundantly is not a cup that's half full, or

even three quarters full, or even nearly full. It's full and overflowing,

as we read elsewhere, pressed down and ritrunning over, and so exceedingly abundantly

it is something we should find space to try and walk in. I wonder

how many times where God has wanted to give us more, but we've got

enough, so we've said, thank you, I have what I need.

And I'm sure sometimes God is sitting there, as it were, trying to

give us more because he wants us to give it away. But because we've

got sufficient, we're kind of comfortable to him. And what's this all about?

What is this exceedingly abundantly all about? To him? Be the glory?

To him, be the glory. I don't know whether you're a dreamer,

whether you have dreams in the middle of the night and what they're about.

But if you do and they're helpful, does God get the glory.

God cannot only use our days. He can use our nights too. We

can use our dreaming time. He can speak to us twenty four to seven.

He can give us visions and dreams, and we can give him the

glory. Let's look at our final scripture for today then as we pull it

all together, and it's in Matthew five point sixteen. So let your light

shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father

in heaven. You know, it's not that we don't get any recognition,

because if God uses us, well, we're the conduit, we're the connection.

But let's make sure the glory goes back to God. And so as

we press into this, I do want to ask a couple of questions.

I want to and ask these questions for the week ahead, not for the

week just gone. As you find yourself in a moment where you come to

the end of yourself patience, you run out of patience or finances or time

or something that's tangible, and you say I'd run out of myself, I

want to encourage you in that moment just to pause for just a couple of

seconds and say, God, is this the time you want to use me.

Do you want to stretch my time? Do you want to cancel my

appointments? Do you want me to give a little more so that you can

give more to me? As Nicky said, we live in a world where

social media and the digital news that's coming to us means that we're seeing in

nearly real time the dreadful things that are going on around the world. And

I don't know what your response. My response is, I want to do

something, but I don't know what to do. Yeah, and we've still

got to keep on doing our normal stuff as well, so we you know,

for some we've got to fit it in somehow. And it just feels

like I'm juggling another ten balls, and suddenly I've been given a few more,

you know. And sometimes I just sense all that God says is they

just pray now and then you can put it down again. I don't have

to carry it for the rest of the day. And I pray for that

one image, I pray for that one new story. I don't pray for

the whole and just take that one thing that's somehow touched me and I pray

or I allow those things to launch me into doing something else with passion and

purpose that I was going to do anyway because I want God to have the

glory. So as you step into your week, as you come to the

end of yourself, let me just encourage you. Is this a moment where

Heaven is going to touch earth? Is this a moment where God is going

to give you what you need to do and be part of that exceedingly abundantly

more that we read about it in scripture. And let me pray, Father,

God, thank you that you're a God who is being glorified. Father,

help us to be part of your eternal plan. Help us to do

the little things that we can do, to reach out to you and to

ask. And then when you give Lord to give you the glory and say

that that wasn't me, that was my Father. And when we see God

creating, God releasing, God empowering people in circumstances that are way and above

be and beyond what we might think of as natural, we can see that

the supernatural has touched her, angelic visitations, supernatural provision, exceeding stamina and

persistence that breaks through to bring God the glory. And so I want to

leave a picture in your mind as I pray that as you come to the

edge of yourself, whether it's stepping out into a cathedral, whether it's stepping

up the side of a hill with a hang glider, or whether it's literally

just reaching out a helping hand and saying I'll do what I can. As

Peter and John, as they came to the gate, called beautiful, and

they looked at the man who was begging for arms. They said, look

at us, and they've walked past him many times before. And he looked

at them, and what did he see? He saw men of God coming

into the cathedral, and they said, take up your bed and walk,

and he walked. He was healed. I think people need to see God

at work, and it might happen through you and me. Amen.