Prescott July Conference 2025 | 04 - Pastor Nigel Brown| Tuesday Morning

Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House

Seminar Podcast. This is a special series from

our Prescott Conference that just recently occurred.

The theme of the conference was Into the Unknown

and the scripture for the theme was Romans 15,

20 -21. I have made it my aim to preach the gospel

to whom he was not announced. So this is a powerful

series of... sermons from leaders in our fellowship

to include Greg Mitchell, Joe Campbell, Richard

Ruby, Sergei Golubev, and others along with that.

So please enjoy and listen along to these powerful

sermons from leaders in our fellowship. What

an honor, privilege to be here this morning.

The grace of God, we serve an incredible God.

I was thinking it's a shame that there wasn't

altar calls after each of those morning sessions.

In all seriousness, you don't want to lose what

was preached. That first session, second session,

whether that sense of entitlement, you say, God,

when we have an altar call after this message,

make sure that you include. your prayers, because

if you let God help you, it'll change your whole

life. Pastor Heimberg, the inspiration to be

a missionary, the weight of that, the potential

of that, you don't want to let that just hear

it and get lost. So this altar call, I would

include that in your prayers. Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 3:14

3, verse 14. To 19 is what I want to preach from.

I have a niece whose body has betrayed her. She

had a stroke at a very young age. She's a real

trooper. She's now a young lady, a budding artist,

but has to deal often with pain. She has many

physical challenges, has gone from operation

to operation, some good, some botched. She was

talking to Carol just the other day. I was in

the car. There's a little bit of an echo here,

brother. I was in the car and Carol was talking

to her and I asked to pray for her and I prayed

the words that I had read that morning that she

would be strengthened in her inner man. That

while her body was working against her, frustrating,

impeding, that her inner being would become massive,

victorious, strong, resolute, free, unstoppable,

filled with life and revelation that she would

be full of God. The Apostle Paul has prayed the

same prayer for you, for me. For every minister,

every pastor, every child of God, he is so passionate

about this prayer, we find him bowing, the once

proud Jew, kneeling, understanding that if we,

that you, me, if we're to carry out what God

has for us, your ministry, your marriage, your

life, your home, your future, you must, be strengthened

in your inner man. Now this passage, when I was

drawn to it, began to, it's deeper than I first

thought. It has blessed me, this message, putting

it together has done a work in me and I hope

that as I, well not I hope, I know that as I

minister it, God would minister to you because

our text says, that you will be strengthened

in your inner man, that Christ may dwell, that

you may be filled with the fullness of God. That's

absolutely transforming of anything that we would

do or touch or be. Ephesians chapter three, let's

read the apostles' prayer together. Verse 14,

for this reason I bow my knees to the Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ. from whom the whole

family in heaven and earth is named, that he

would grant you, according to the riches of his

glory, to be strengthened with might through

his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may

dwell in your hearts through faith, that you,

being rooted and grounded in love, may be able

to comprehend with all the saints what is the

width, the length, the depth, the height, to

know the love of Christ, which passes all knowledge.

which passes knowledge that you may be filled

with all the fullness of God. Let's consider

the inner man firstly this morning. Now we understand

our makeup. We know this from 1 Thessalonians

5 .23. May the God of peace himself sanctify

you completely and may your whole spirit, soul,

and body be preserved blameless. in our text

is focusing in on your soul, you, your inner

being. I delight in the law of God according

to the inward man, Romans 7 .22, 2 Corinthians

4 .16. We do not lose heart even though our outward

man is perishing, yet the inward man is being

renewed day by day. We're focusing this morning

on the hidden person of your heart. Our inner

self. And Paul is suggesting that it needs to

be strengthened in order that Christ could dwell

and ultimately we would be filled with the fullness

of God. That you may be filled with the fullness

of God. What a thought. What an incredible thought,

if only. How different life is. would be to be

filled with his strength, to see how he sees,

to know the power of your words, to bring change

like his words, his wisdom, direction to know

what to do in situations, situations, people,

to have a right heart. A good attitude. We're

talking about reacting to the world around you,

to people around you, life around you, like Christ

would. What a thought. That it is possible to

be filled with the fullness of God and you respond

to life. To say our inner man needs strengthening

is therefore to imply in its natural state, it's

weak. Now the root word there of strengthening

is the word kratos. It literally means braced.

So when it's talking about being strengthened,

it's not talking about being made stronger like

physical training perhaps, but to be reinforced,

to be fortified. Now my, Carol and myself, we're

having our house. We're doing renovations in

our house. It's quite a big job. We're putting

on a bit of an extension on the back of our house.

And so we've actually moved out. We've been living

with my daughter and my son -in -law. They've

been very gracious and will shout out to you.

Thank you very much for your Christianity and

your mercy. But we moved out. We've been living

with them for a little while because it's a reasonably

big job. Now, what they did is they... Houses

in England, our house at least, is built probably

the early 1900s, 1920. And so when the builder

came in and he took down the wall to then obviously

clear out the inside and then build the extension...

I can't remember if I got a call or what it was,

a picture, but he was absolutely, he freaked

out because they obviously removed the bricks

and holding up the upper part of my house, whereas

if we were there, we would have been living,

was on a wooden beam that was on this tiny little,

I don't know what the building term is, little

bits of concrete, and this wooden beam is perched

on it, holding up the top of the house, and it's

bending. And so they've removed the bricks. Obviously,

we would never have known because it's all underneath.

So we removed the bricks and all of a sudden,

it's like, it's my house. And he was absolutely

freaked out and they got, I don't know what the

technical term in building is, and I should have

brought a picture, but they jacked it up. They

put underneath. and put up these things that

held up the wooden beam, these metal posts to

put it up there until they could eventually put

a steel beam in it and we could move on. That's

strengthening. That's bracing. That's reinforcing.

The context of our text is for Christ to move

in. that he may dwell. Now, I know he's already

in you because you have first believed, but there

are, the Apostle Paul is alluding, there are

rooms in your heart that are unsafe to enter

into. They're unlivable. They're not the place

for a king. Now, it's not about cleansing. It's

not about our souls need to be clean enough for

him to move in and that's perhaps another message.

But Paul is talking about there are parts of

your inner man that need bracing up, that need

strengthening. There are beams, if you like,

in your soul that are bending because of the

weights that you're carrying. You are carrying

things you should not be carrying in your inner

man. And your heart, there are places in your

heart that are unlivable. The apostle Paul is

saying the stronger your inner man. The more

rooms, if you like, of your soul that are braced

and strengthened with might, the more access

Jesus has, the more he fills the house with his

presence. What potential, what hope? Alistair

McLaren in his commentator said this, and he

will come into that feeble, vacillating, wayward

will of yours. that is only obstinate in its

adherence to evil. And he will make it strong

to do good. He will come into that troubled,

anxious, agitated heart of yours and will bring

his own peace, which will hush it into a calm

and establish it upon the foundation. of his

own steadfastness. He will come into the innermost

spirit of your spirit and there in the depth

of your being will wield his mighty influence

so this divine spirit will go searching every

corner of the inner man, illuminating and invigorating

it all. I want to tell you it is so easy. to

be caught up in the outward. It is so easy to

be concerned with life on the outward. There's

an old book that most of us have read, Ordering

Your Private World. Gordon MacDonald, a young

pastor, read that the other day, called me. He

said, Pastor, I have no idea, just getting caught

up in life, how much I've stopped focusing on

my inner man. Paul wants to... wants to give

you words to transform your life. You want to

transform your life? I mean, seriously, you want

to transform your walk, your marriage, your ministry?

Then Paul says you need to ask God to strengthen

the inward. We're talking about God's influence.

Our text says, secondly, it is through his spirit.

This building project of our soul. is gonna be

done through his spirit. Now to understand what

we're looking at, we've gotta go to the beginning

when God created man. The Bible says, and the

Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of

life, Genesis 2, 7, and man became a living being.

God created us in his image, mankind in his image,

a spiritual being. We're not a body with a spirit.

We are a spirit with a body. He breathed the

spirit of life. Thus our spirit, Adam's spirit,

came from God. And as the spirit quickened the

body, filled the body, the Bible says man was

now made a living soul. Now he became conscious

of himself. Now he has the power of self -determination,

choosing or refusing. He now has the ability

to relate to what it is around him, to interact

with the world that he lives, his thought processes,

his emotions, his will, the soul. Man became

a living soul is the central power and yet with

the intent of creation, His soul was to be governed,

you can use the word led, by the Spirit of God.

God, through man's spirit, was going to fill

his spirit. Man is a spiritual being, contact

with God, spiritual, a spiritual being. Through

his spirit, God was going to influence, fellowship

with, inspire. direct control. He was going to

move on him and influence how he related to the

world through his body. His decisions, his attitude,

his actions, his thinking. We're talking about

man walking in perfect interaction with the world

around him, his soul. mind, emotions, will, his

inner being, God filling his spirit, influencing

now through his body, interacting with the world

and making decisions. When man sinned by eating

the fruit, they came upon him the knowledge of

good and evil. He was now going to decide for

himself right and wrong. And he died. God was

no longer in his spirit. His spirit is dead,

fallen. He's now become a mortal being. His soul,

his inner man is now influenced by a base nature,

a fallen nature, his natural senses. This is

now going to be his way of relating to the world.

His urges often based dark against God, decisions

influenced by what he's seeing and feeling, conclusions

embraced, emotions inflamed. And Paul is writing

and he's saying to the Christian, God wants to

have influence again. Think about who Adam was

before the fall. What incredible, what an incredible

soul he had. What incredible man, what incredible

power. He was given a task to have dominion,

to subdue the whole earth, to name all of creation.

What capacity. He's naming animals and insects,

he's naming birds and remembering them. Some

of us can hardly remember our own children. What

a mind. What ability. God, Adam. Walking in dominion.

His spirit filled with God's spirit. Adam, this

way. His soul empowered by God. And now I'm thinking

of our tasks. I'm thinking about our ministry.

I'm thinking about how easily we face life and

we're so easily overwhelmed. Financial problems,

people problems, crises. We question ourselves

on the ability to disciple men decisions. But

yet Paul is saying it is possible that your spirit

again can be filled with God and with that nothing

will be impossible. What God has called you to

do. My brother, my sister, God. And I understand

when Adam was to rule the world, his soul was

not having to deal with the fall of flesh. And

I understand whilst we will always have this

battle. Oh, wretched man that I am, Paul said

in Romans 7, who will deliver me from this body

of death. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our

Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the

law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin.

He said, I understand there's always gonna be

a battle, but listen, I'm talking about Paul's

optimism here. I'm talking about Paul bowing,

so moved because he prays that you would be so

strengthened, Christ would move in. I don't know,

I thought that was quite good. That's all right.

Amen, that's all right. That Christ would move

in. Amen. That's powerful. That's life changing.

You know, there was a kid that fell into a big

barrel of chocolate. Huge barrel. He began to

pray. He said, oh Lord. make my capacity equal

to this opportunity? That's what we're praying.

Oh God, oh God, strengthen my inner man. Enter

into the rooms of my heart that are unsafe, that

have been weakened over time or circumstance.

or life. Strengthen my soul, Lord. There's a

book I just read, a very small book, Why God

Used D .L. Moody by R .A. Torrey, and I was drawn

to a quote that describes Moody, one of the greatest

preachers of all time, walking down Wall Street

in New York City when he was suddenly overwhelmed

by the presence of God. He was so overwhelmed,

he had to hurry to a friend's house. and ask

for a private room where he describes it as,

the Holy Spirit came upon me, filling my soul

with such joy that at last I had to ask God to

withhold his hand lest I die on the spot from

very joy. Paul said, oh, that Christ may dwell.

In your hearts through faith. The subject of

the prayer is not, is he in you? Because he's

in you if you're born again. But is he at home?

A worst paraphrase says that Christ may finally

settle down and feel completely at home in your

hearts. Now, I don't know about you. How do you

feel about that? Christ, would you feel at home

in my heart? I don't know about you, but perhaps

that makes us, me, you, you, because I'm preaching

to you, just a little uneasy. I suspect that

if this is done properly, it's a little harder.

I'm aware of certain things. I'm probably unaware

of much that he might walk into. So why am I

uneasy? Why are you uneasy if you really grasp

the thought of Christ filling your heart? Because

perhaps 1 John 4, 18, we're not yet made perfect

in love. You know, we've all been to various

homes. You walk into a home and you can feel

in some homes it's warm. There's a joy. It's

easy to be there. There's others you walk in

and there's an undercurrent of tension. And now

we're coming to the crutch, whatever the word

is. I knew I was going to muck that up. Now we're

coming to the real issue of the matter. This

is what Paul's talking about. He's talking about

love. We were created to love and be loved. So

these rooms in your soul, we're talking the damaged

ones that we're looking at. We're asking you

the question, how are you in your inner being

with love? How do you relate to love? How do

you give it? How do you receive? Are you uneasy

with it? Is there a tension when it comes to

relationships? Conflict? Sister, are you always

in conflict? Arms length? You just keep people

at arm's length. You're not a bad man. You're

not a wicked. You're just uncomfortable. You've

got some smashed up rooms in there. You've got

some punch holes in the wall. where you've been

hurt and you've been frustrated. There's a lot

of anger in some places, bitterness, pride, smoldering

fear. You have a fear of people, fear of getting

hurt again. How is your inner man with love?

How is your inner being? That's what Paul's talking

about. I'm closing because what God's intent

is, is that we would become comfortable with

love. I'll tell you, that's not easy. It's not

an accident that the Apostle Paul begins this

text bowing to the Father. From whom the whole

family is named. The context of everything that

we've just read starts off with God being a father

to a family. The setting of our text is a father

to a family. We know the challenge. How can you

love God and not your brethren? We understand

the challenge. We understand that actually love

is expressed in reality. Oh, Pastor, I love people.

Okay, well, that's good. But in reality, it plays

out in our churches. It plays out in the nursery.

It plays out in the ministry team. It plays out

in your relationship with your pastor. It plays

out with pastor's wife, with other pastor's wives.

It plays out with brothers and sisters, in your

marriage to your children. And Paul the Apostle

is starting off with a father's sacrificial love

is being expressed. I was talking to a pastor

in the UK and Michael Murphy, and he was speaking

to me. And he said to me, he said, Pastor, he

said, well, I came to church. I know this is

not uncommon, but he said, I had no idea what

a father's love looked like. I didn't know what

a father's love even looked like. had it. I'd

never felt it. I didn't know what it meant. When

he was smaller, his mum would send him to the

shop with a small amount of money and with a

long list and he was expected to steal what he

couldn't pay for. He was raised in dysfunction.

He said, we were having dinner together, he said,

I remember, Pastor, the first thing, you just

put your arm around me. And he said, I froze.

I didn't know what to do. He had no file in his

head for a father's affection. And it's not just

the fatherless. Many have been affected. Grown

up with a lack of touch. Not embraced as a child.

We grew up too quick. Grew up with harshness.

I was in an airport. A little while ago in Jamaica

and I'm sitting there and I'm watching a father

and he's got his young boy there and they're

getting some chicken and so forth and so on.

And just the way he spoke to his son, I said,

I've heard that before. If you ask the father,

do you love your son? I'm sure he'd say, of course

I do. But had no idea how to express it apart

from being harsh. Apart from words that just

cut. It makes someone feel stupid. There are

others that have grown up with huge expectations

upon you as a young child to be a carer for someone

that was sick, to carry a family with education.

You were sent to be educated so you would carry

the financial burden and load of your extended

family. There are huge wounds to the soul. That

many live with a feeling and a sense of failure,

often bitterness. There are rooms in your soul

that are messed up. You've got beams that are

hanging down. And it's all to do, and it's possible,

to not have an easy relationship with love. You

ever seen a young lady struggle with motherhood?

Something that should be so natural, but yet

to her it's not. Oh, she wants it, she knows

it, she just can't feel it. This bond, a deep

affection, a connection. Somewhere the room is

closed down. Somewhere there's a beam hanging.

Can't function here. Ever seen a husband? He's

a good man. He sacrifices for his family. He's

a good man. But yet when you watch him with his

wife, there is no warmth. He leads. He leads

by the head. He leads with authority, maybe even

a bit of harshness. But it's like he's detached.

It's like he can't feel empathy, kindness, gentleness.

He's struggling with love. Pastors, God has raised

us up. We're not evil. We're doing our best.

But at home, the children are never good enough.

The wife is left alone. When we disciple men

and work with men, we're kind of distant. Everything

is about business. Everything's a little awkward.

It's easier to correct and instruct than enjoy.

It's easier to teach than to laugh with. Put

an arm around a shoulder. It's a weakened area

in our soul. You know, England needs your prayers.

The UK needs your prayers. We are going to have

a revival. where God raised up men, women, centuries

ago that touched the world. God, we need you

to remember that and have mercy upon our nation.

We have a prime minister, not good, and recently

one of our bases, the RAF base, was breached

by protesters, a group called Palestine Action.

I mean, they jumped over a little wooden fence.

My goodness, Lord have mercy. Sprayed and ruined

a few of the planes there. But it brought up

the fact that Keir Starmer, our Prime Minister

years ago, used to be a lawyer and a solicitor,

and he defended a man who had sabotaged US bombers

in a protest. Now, his defence, and Keir Starmer

defended him, was that he was stopping planes

from committing war crimes. Now, the article

that I read went on to say this, because you

don't judge a surgeon. So in other words, they're

defending Keir Starmer. Listen, okay, he defended

this guy for what he did, but you don't judge

a surgeon by their patience. You don't judge

a journalist by who they interview or a lawyer

by their clients. In other words, it's not Keir

Starmer's fault that he defended such a man.

And I think that is true. We lift our churches

up. We lift our successes up to validate our

lives. But as one man said, God does not look

at the greatness of our works, but at the love

with which they were done. You cannot separate

the great commission from the great commandment.

In my Bible, I've written a quote from an author.

I was driven by my fear of failure and by cruel

ambition that left no room for compassion for

anyone. Paul the Apostle is giving us, he's giving

us an understanding, an aim, a progression that

is so powerful, so transforming that your life

and your ministry may never be the same. Your

family, your marriage, your church, our fellowship.

He says to be strengthened. We've looked at that.

with might through his spirit in the inner man,

that you would be strengthened, that Christ may

dwell in your hearts through faith, that you,

now Christ is in, the aim of Christ in is that

you being rooted and grounded in love, like a

tree with deep roots in a storm, like a house

with a proper foundation. Christ will come into

your heart to make you secure in love. Christ

wants to brace your soul. He wants to enter into

those rooms. He wants to heal them, fix them,

repair them, strengthen them so that you would

be comfortable with intimacy. You would be comfortable.

in relationships. You'd be comfortable with closeness,

empathy, patience. That the aim of your life

would be to love others, friends, family, church,

pastors, others, the lost. And as we give of

ourselves, realizing that there are wounds and

there are things that are broken within us, and

we will say, no, Lord, I'm not going to run from

love. I'm not going to cover over it with business.

I'm not going to excuse myself, my attitude.

I'm going to learn it. I'm going to improve it.

I'm going to let you, Christ, I want to make

love the great foundation of my life. Then it

says, if you do that, that Christ may dwell.

In your hearts through faith that you being rooted

and grounded in love may be able to comprehend

with all the saints what is the width and the

length and the depth and the height to know the

love of Christ which passes knowledge. Listen,

as you let Christ enter into your soul, you go

to those areas and you say, Lord Jesus, fix it,

heal it. Brace it, strengthen it. He says he

will begin to dwell and fill those traumas and

begin to fill. And then he says it is possible

once you're comfortable with love to begin to

experience and learn of and grow in a love so

powerful that when it fills your soul. You ever

had those moments when God does fill you with

his love? Isn't it unbelievable? You just love

everybody. I mean, you want to hug everybody.

People that you, normally you just see problems.

Now you just see, normally you just see issues

and this and that. I want to tell you, when you

get filled with God's love, when you have those

moments, you love everybody. The church man is

the great, you just, and it doesn't end there.

He says that you. that you would be filled to

know the love of Christ, which passes all knowledge,

that you may be filled with the fullness of God.

All that he is working within you. No wonder

greater is he who is in you than is in the world.

You feel overwhelmed by ministry, brother. You've

lost your heart for ministry, sister. Amen. You're

overwhelmed. Adam was to conquer the world. What

is your calling? Pastor, ministry, pillar. It

seems so big. And yet the nature of the power,

one man said, I'm convinced is love. It's unconquerable.

One man said this, I tried to learn how to love,

but love can't flow by the letter. Love is to

flow forth from our spirit. I'm talking about

this. Another word for that word strengthen,

I'm closing now, is the word fortify. Christians

in love are like a fort. You're strong on the

inside. You're impregnable. Pastor Mitchell used

to say, you can have as much of God as you want.

And it starts with strengthen my inner man. I'm

not going to make excuses for my bad attitude

anymore, God. Why I'm always fighting. Why I'm

always sharp with my words. Why I'm always quick

to... cut someone down, why I'm always filled

with everyone else's negativity. I'm not going

to just say this is the way I am. I don't know

how to be close to people without fear. It's

the way I've always been. I'm not going to live

like this anymore, God. I'm going to make it

my aim to have you come in, Lord. and strengthen

my inner man and dwell within me, that I would

learn to become secure in love, that I would

grow then in a revelation of the love of God

and thus be filled with the Spirit of God. It'll

change our ministry. It'll change our lives.

It'll empower you to do the will of God. The

secret of the Lord is with those who fear him,

and he will show them his covenant. God wants

you to be secure in him. Let's bow our heads

together. Heads are bowed, our eyes are closed,

waiting in the presence of God. I pray, Holy

Spirit, confirm the word. I said in the very

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