20th February 2022 Infill Service - Dave Food - Love that goes the extra mile

To say thank you for day food. Who is our pastor our leader,

Lord, or whatever you have placed this morning in his heart. Lord,

just helping him to deliver with the same passion, with the same love as

normally he does. And that comes Lord, backed up by your Holy Spirit.

Right now. That word goes specifically to someone that is in need to

listen what he's going to share and transform his or her life. Thank you,

Lord for his willingness to do your will and for his readiness Lord to

share the Gospel in the name of Jesus within. Thank you. That's a

good morning, everybody, so much so. Welcome to those online, up

to those in the room. Great to be with you. It's an exciting

day to day because you're here. It's an exciting day to day because God's

here. God is with us. He's not against us, He's for us.

And we've been studying a theme over the last couple of weeks, a

greater love, a greater love. And I want to build on that theme

and look at a title that I think I think I've got given a couple

of weeks ago. Love that goes the extra mile. You saw a picture

in the in the in the church photos that Norman pulls together of Alex finishing

a race. Now, I know I'm not a great athlete at all,

so I'm having to speak from other people's experience here. But what I do

know is this that you have to train and you have to build up to

it. Maybe you run half a mile, then a mile, then two

miles, then three miles, until you get to at least your race distance.

So you have to go a little bit extra each time. And in

going a little extra, you build stamina, you build capability, you get

to a place where you are able to do above and exceedingly more than you

expected. Matthew Chapter five, which is part of a probably named The Greatest

Sermon, and Matthew five, verse forty one, it says this, and

whoever compels you to go one mile go with him too. Firstly, I

want to say, if anybody asks you, when do you walk with me?

Will you come for a job with me? Will you go out for

a walk in the fresh air with me? And you're thinking, oh,

I just got out for a quick stroll just twenty minutes, And then you

come to the end of the marle, say look, look that hill over

there. Why don't we go up that hill. Why don't we spend a

bit more time with talking. I've really enjoyed talking with you. The first

thing that springs into our mind is inconvenience. Oh and it's inconvenient. I'd

rather not. But since some of the other things that spring into our mind

are it's going to be hard. I'm not really up to it. I'm

not ready for it. I haven't made space for it. You know,

these these are some of the uncomfortable things that Jesus says. If you if

if if if they ask you to walk a mile, and then they ask

you to go a second And why Why did Jesus say this? Because the

Roman thinking, the Roman mindset that he was speaking into at this time,

was very much about doing just enough, just getting there, just good enough.

And I think it's a great thing to challenge. I think it's a

Kingdom mindset to go a little bit more, to do a little bit extra.

Think about your children, think about someone you love, Think about someone

who's prescious to you. Maybe their birthday's coming up, maybe is a special

event coming up, and you want to celebrate it with them. You're not

just going to kind of go to McDonald's and buy burgers and chips unless that's

really what they wanted. You're you're going to cook a special cake. You're

going to go extra mile. You're going to do some extra things. You

might have to look around the shops to find the gift that they really want

so that you can buy it from You go that extra mile? Why why

do you do that? Because of love? Because of love Our theme for

this month a love that takes us further, a love that leads us on,

A love that takes us to a place where we've never been before.

For anybody who's ever had stitch, when you run and then you kind of

go beyond yourself and suddenly there's ah, and sometimes you have to take a

bit of a break, but then you go there's a place where you've gone

beyond yourself and you are truly finding something more of where you can go and

what you can achieve. It wasn't compelling, it's a suggestion. It's an

invitation to go that extra mile. So I say you must do it.

But you know what Kingdom principles confound people when you and that part of the

purpose of this going and extra mile or as we'll read on in a moment,

giving your shirt as well, is that it goes against the grain.

It goes against the grain, and it kind of denies our rights to well.

I wanted a bit of space for some of you who joined us in

fasting over these last two days. It's the first time we've done a two

day fast for quite a while, and some of us are familiar with one

day fasting. We as a leadership team fast every month, and if anybody

wants to join us in that fast, please do. Let us know it's

typically the last Saturday of the month, but if you would like to kind

of corporately do it. Because one of the things we wanted to start doing

was building together and building together as important. I know we're all isolated because

of COVID. There are people who are remote and at home and you're not

with us, but you can still be with us. You can still walk

in step with us as we decide to do things together. So our encouragement

was to pray into fast as a corporate call to pray and fast together,

not just one day, but two. And I know as I talked to

one or two people, they said, you know, that second day was

hard, Dave, that second day was hard because I haven't done that for

a while. Do you know what? You can now come to the end

of it having done it and think, yes, I did it, I

could do it again. In Ephesians chapter three, verses seventeen to nineteen,

it says this that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith, that you,

being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all

the saints. What is the width and length and depth and height to know

the love of Christ which surpasses, which passes knowledge, that you may be

filled with all the fullness of God, to be filled, to be filled.

They don't just mean half filled, I mean full, I mean full.

Most of us know what it is to feel empty, whether that's empty

of energy, where it's empty of food we're really hungry, whether it's really

thirsty. Do you know what, it's a great It's a great thing when

we are really truly hungry to then feel satisfied Satan's to have eaten enough.

There's a real sense of Oh, that feels good. And we can know

that with God's love. God wants to fill us up with his love.

Why because then we can overflow with His love. And sometimes when we are

asked to go the extra mile. We look at our own reserves and say

I don't have enough. I don't have enough. That's the place we need

to engage with God. And when we engage with God, then what we're

doing is starting to reach on his resources, not our resources. We're starting

to reach out to Him and say, Lord, I don't have enough myself.

I'm going to need something more of you. And part of the worldview

that comes from going that gets challenged by going the extra mile is that we

carry something, we carry something of God into those moments we learn to endure.

It's not out of obligation, but it's out of a place of saying,

do you know what? I just want to show you how much I

love you. In Matthew five, verses one and two, it says this,

and seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain, and when

he was seated with his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth

and taught them, saying what did he go on to say? This is

the great sermon that we know so well. Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit

the earth. Blessed are those who are hunger and thirst for righteousness, for

they shall be filled. Bless the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are

the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those

who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when you revile, When they revile and persecute you, and

say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be

exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For say they persecuted

the prophets who were before you. Blessed. There's so much blessing in there.

And why is Jesus talking about this Because he wants to show that there

is more than enough. And you know, I honestly believe sometimes there isn't

enough in the kingdom because God has spoken, but we haven't responded. And

I'm not taking it as a guilt trip. I'm taking it more as God

has challenged us to do something, and we haven't yet got there. We

can't do that extra mile. We need to build that stamina. We need

to build up that capacity to be able to give of a time and of

our peace and our love. We read in there Blessed are the peacemakers who

wants to be a peacemaker. Well, a peacemaker suggests there's war, and

yeah, we're going to be a peace maker. Then we've got to go

into difficult situations. We've got to find ourselves in difficult circumstances where sometimes difficult

things need to be said. And it's not always that we're enemies. I

mean, peacemakers quite often are arbitrators who come and they talk to the warring

factions and they bring a different perspective. And part of our role as peacemakers

is to bring that with love. In John fifteen, verses thirteen to seventeen,

a greater love is so well described. Greater love has no one than

this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my

friends. If you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call

you servants, For a servant does not know what his master is doing.

But I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard from

my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me,

but I chose you and appointed you. That you should go and bear

fruit, and that fruit should remain. That whatever you ask the Father in

my name, he may give to you these things. I command you that

you love one another. And I really want to focus on verse sixteen that

says this, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed

you. When we find ourselves in circumstances and situations, it's not a mistake

put us there for a plan and a purpose. If we know we're right

in the groove with God, then that's the time we need to kind Lord,

I need you right now. I need your wisdom right now. I

need your love right now. I don't know what to say, I don't

know what to do, but I am here, and I am willing love

that goes the extra mile, love that goes above and beyond what is natural.

Because here's the thing. When we go beyond the expected, it asks

a question. And when it asks a question, then there's a place to

answer it because there's been sacrifice. When we go that extra mile, when

we give more than we're asked to give people ask why are you doing this?

I remember Clem who's a good friend of us ours as a church,

saying his church they decided to do the young people in his church decided to

do a car washing event. But they wanted to confront people about the love

of God, and so they put a sign outside saying car wash please come

in five dollars and people queued up because five dollars was pretty good for a

car washing. And there was a whole group of young people there cleaning the

cars and smiling, and there was music playing and people sat in the cars

whilst their car was washed. And then they came to the end and as

they were about to live, they were given a chocolate bar. And here's

the reason why this church was giving out chocolate bar. They'd been given there

was a hole. There was a chocolate manufacturing company, I can't remember the

name, and they were giving them away because they were coming to the end

of their shelf life and they wanted to get rid of them relatively quickly.

So they gave a whole palette of chocolate to the church, not just a

box, a whole palette, hundreds of chocolate bars. I know, yes,

means immediately thinking yes please. But you know they had all these chocolate

bars. I said, what are we going to do? And they prayed

and they the church leadership said we think we should give them to the young

people. And the young people in claims church some of them went, oh,

great, we've got lots of chocolate to eat. And the young people

said, no, God gave us this for a reason. Let's pray and

see what we should do with it. And that's where this desire to give

chocolate bars came away. So as they left, they were given a chocolate

bar. They wound down the window and they've given a chocolate bar. Now

here's the thing that they did. On the back of the chocolate bar was

stuck a five dollar note, so they'd all paid five dollars as they came

in, and then as they left they were given a chocolate bar with a

five dollar note on the back. Do you know there were people who drove

down the road and then came back and said, I think there's a mistake.

And there was another group of young people who were already lined up ready

for them to come back and say, because they expected this, excuse me,

I think there's a mistake. The five dollars I gave you is on

the back of the chocolate bar. I said, no, no, no,

that's that's for you. Said, well, what's this about them?

And there they were sitting in their car, and the young people were sharing

with them the love of God. We want to do this because we love

you, but we've got a chocolate bar. Out of this. What did

you get out of it? The opportunity to serve you, the opportunity to

give up our Saturday morning and wash your car. You know, there were

a number of people who came to church purely out of that very simple act

of going that extra mind. In Matthew five thirty eight to forty two,

it says this and this is the way of the world. It starts out

it says, you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye,

and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist

an evil person. But whoever stops you on your right slaps you on your

right cheek, turned the other one to him. Also, if anyone wants

to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too.

Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from

you. Do not turn away going that extra mile, going that extra mile.

What does this cause to happen? It causes people to ask questions instead

of doing just enough. Now. I don't know what goals you have in

your life. I know what goals you have at work. But I want

to do exceedingly more than my goals are set, because I want to be

a blessing to others. I want to be a blessing to others, and

so I will do that extra bit. I will go that extra mile.

Somebody says, Dave, can you do this? Yes? Now, sometimes

it's illogical for me to do that. I'm looking at what I've got to

do, and I'm thinking i haven't got enough space in the day to do

what I need to do today. So why would I say yes? Because

I just sensed the prompt of the spirit to say, go a little further,

Go a little further. Happened only this week. I was thinking of

getting up and testifying as less he said any testimonies, and I thought,

no, if I did the testimony, then I can't use it as an

illustration in the sermon. But I was online with a group of people and

somebody said, Dave, I know this is last minute, but can you

do this for me? And I went, yes, of course I can.

And then I said, and what about this? Could I do that

as well? It's preparing about half a dozen slides, not a big job,

but certainly an extra thirty minutes that I hadn't planned for. Do you

know what. I came off the call and somebody who was also on the

call said, Dave, here's a set of slides that merely might be useful.

All I needed to do was pick the slides from the ones that were

sent to me, edit them just a little bit, and it probably took

me five minutes five minutes. Do you know what if I hadn't offered,

I wouldn't have had that opportunity. That person wouldn't have sent me those slides.

I benefited too, because I got some stuff that I can now use

somewhere else, exceeding the ab above and more. And I want to say

to you guys, I don't know what that means in your world. I

don't know whether that means buying an extra cup of coffee. I don't mean

that whether it means walking the extra mile. The walking the extra mile is

just an illustration. Translate it into your world, Translate it into your day.

I don't think it's suggesting that you need to go do a lot more

walking. I think it's suggesting we need to go a little bit more,

do a little bit, go a little bit further, because it will cause

questions. And those questions are exactly the questions we want to answer. Why

are you doing this? Is costing you something? Why are you doing it?

Do you know what? That's when we need to really test our hearts.

Why are we doing it? Because that's part of the reason that God

stirs ust to go that extra mile, to do that extra thing. God

loved us so much that he went the extra mile with us. He didn't

just send his son. He sent his son to die in our place and

pay the price that we might have justice paid. So for our sin.

Christ died, But he didn't just die on the cross. He rose again

for you and for me. And as he rose again for you and for

me, he spoke into our world for eternity. So let me pray because

God's good, and so Father, I pray Lord, that you'd cause us

to know your love more and more. Father, When we come to the

end of ourselves, Father, we come to the beginning of You. When

we come to the end of our resources, to a place where we've got

to ask somebody else, We've got to ask You. And so Father,

I pray that we'd live in a world of transactions, of transactions where we're

needing to ask You. We're not doing it in our own strength. We're

doing it in your strength. So, Father, for those who are listening

to me as I share this morning, Father, I pray that Lord,

for those who have run out, run out of patience, run out of

love, run out of hope, run out of finance, run out of

peace, Father, I pray for a download right now, a fresh download.

Father, I pray for an impartation of those who need something more of

You. And as they reach out to you, Lord, you do exceedingly

abundantly more than they ask or imagine. Father, we prayed and fasted over

a couple of days, Lord God, and we asked the view, and

Lord You've spoke, and we thank you. But Father, we pray that

your love would be manifest, your love would be evident, your love would

be real, Your love would be tangible. Father, I pray for hands

upon shoulders, hands in hands. Where Lord God, we just sense your

presence, we sense your touch. We know you're with us, You're for

us and not against us. And so we walk into this week with a

clearer sense of purpose, with less doubt, because Lord, you are truly

for us, and we love you in Jesus' name. Amen,