#Now is the Time

Wow, what a video, eh? And just want to say thank you

to the the team at Trent Vineyard who made that and

shared it with us. I first saw that video six years

ago at the Vineyard Leaders gathering in 2019.

Guys, can I tell you what's happened since 2019?

OK February 2023, a tiny university campus in Asbury in

Kentucky. There's a worship service led by

Gen. Z students.

And within two weeks, a small town with a population of about

6000 people has hosted a revival in which 70,000 visitors have

come to be part of it. It's reach on social media hits

63 million views. Before the two weeks were out

and, and, and, and we saw that shift and that move of God

across the world. And there were whispers and

stories. And then earlier this year we

saw the publication of The Quiet Revival, a study looking at

church growth in the last six years.

And what it showed was that the tide is turning and a declining

church is now starting to grow once again in our time and in

our day and, and, and particularly amongst young men

where there's been a 5 fold increase in church attendance.

Another study revealed openness like never before in our

lifetime. Do you know the study showed

that three out of four uni age students would come to church if

only they were invited. Can I tell you what we're

seeing? We are seeing a cloud.

Amen. We are seeing a cloud.

God is moving and now is the time.

You know, I played that video at Versa Hemel in our last service

before summer. And little did I know that in in

pre service prayer, as our as our team meet before the service

to pray, the wonderful Steve Borland legend had a he had a

picture that he didn't quite understand.

So this is before the service. He sees a picture of a blue sky

and then all of a sudden it's filled with clouds.

He had no idea what it meant. And then he saw this video.

Let let me tell you this right? We're in a season of change and

God is being very clear. I believe it's time to get ready

for rain. Yeah.

And yeah. Amen.

Amen. And and Speaking of Speaking of

change, can I just honour Mark and Steph and family?

What a wonderful couple they are.

That's just wonderful in so many ways.

And Mark, I must say, I, I often joke just because we're going to

miss you so much, you know, and, and I, and I want to say, you

know, we shouldn't take for granted the quality of preaching

that, that, that we've been privileged to receive.

I've actually learned a lot from Mark.

You may hear some Mark phrases in my talk today.

I hope you all brought your bingo cards.

So what I really want to do for the next hour and a half?

Lock the doors. What I what I want to do is get

us ready for rain. So I hope you've all brought

your umbrellas or or at least your Bibles.

And if you have your Bible, can I invite you to turn to John

John 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21. We're going to be in verse 19.

Sorry, 15 to 19, but but while you're turning there, let me

just give you the, the, the previously, previously on the

Bible. So it's the Last Supper and

Jesus has told his disciples, I'm going to be betrayed.

I'm going to be crucified and you're all going to fall away.

You're going to be scattered like sheep.

And good old Peter, we love Peter.

He pipes up and says, though they all fall away because of

you, I, I will never fall away. And Jesus is like, yeah, no, you

will. You're actually going to deny me

three times before morning. Peter's like never.

I'll die for you. Anyway, next scene, Peter denies

Jesus three times and then the rooster crows.

And so he flees in tears. Jesus is crucified.

And I hope you all know, by the way, Jesus didn't stay dead, but

he rose from the dead. He's alive today, Hallelujah.

And he appeared to the disciples.

He appears to them again. And then here we see this

beautiful conversation that he has with Peter.

So John chapter 21 from verse 15, it says when they'd finished

John 21 · chapter mention

breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you

love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you

know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs.

He said to him a second time, Simon son of John, do you love

me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you

know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep.

He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love

me? Peter was grieved because he

said to him a third time, Do you love me?

And he said to him, Lord, you know everything, and you know

that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my

sheep. Truly, truly.

I say to you, when you were young you used to dress yourself

and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old you will

stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry

you where you do not want to go. This he said to show by what

kind of death he was to glorify God.

And after saying this he said to him, follow me.

This is a beautiful moment. You know, Peter denied Jesus

three times. And here Jesus gives Peter the

opportunity to, to, to affirm and declare his love for Jesus

three times. And within this passage, I

believe there are three invitations that Jesus offers to

Peter, and I believe he's offering to us today in

readiness for the coming Rain Church.

I believe now is the time to draw near to the Lord, to go

deeper with him and be a devoted people.

Now is the time to draw near to each other, to press in and

press on together as family. And now is the time to step out

in faith to really chase after the Lord with everything we

have. So that's our map for today.

So let's start draw near to the Lords.

That's the first invitation. You know, Jesus asks Peter, do

you love me? Jesus isn't needy or insecure,

by the way. That's not what he's asking.

It's an invitation. OK, All right.

I remember when, way back when T and I were teenagers and we were

texting. We were on the chirps, all

right? That's what we were.

That's what we were doing. And then and then on the chip,

we were, we were, we were in that stage.

You guys know what I'm talking about.

You guys know. You guys know.

And then we had and then the time came for us to have that

conversation. You know, the one that's like,

oh, I like you. Do you?

Do you like me? And by the way, there's some of

you today. You're here with a friend.

This is your cue. All right, after the service,

after that, you're welcome. But there's this excitement,

isn't there? Like maybe she does like me, You

know, like I, I really want her to like me because.

Because then we can have a relationship.

Oh, you know, it's, it's like, you know, when you're in the

playground, you can't really do this as an adult or it's not as

effective. You know, when you're in the

playground, you go, you go up to somebody, you say, hey, will you

be my friend? You can't be my best friend

because Richard's my best friend.

But you know, but you want them to say yes, right.

You want a friendship, You want a relationship.

And Jesus wants a relationship with Peter.

Do you know Jesus wants a relationship with you?

You know, he's inviting you to go deeper with him.

And look, look, in this moment, peace is carrying shame.

You know, he let Jesus down. Shame can so often be a barrier

to relationship. And do you notice Jesus says, do

you love me more than these? You know, Remember, Remember,

you know, peace and shame isn't just that he denied Jesus, but

it's that he broke a promise. He said those though, they all

fall away. I will never like, you know, the

disciples, the other disciples, they don't love you as much as I

do. I love you more than they do.

And hey, look, that's that in itself is not a bad thing to

say, right? That's a, you know, I love you.

Great. Here's the thing.

You know, you can say all the right things.

You can turn up to church week in, week out wearing this mask

so that everyone thinks you're brilliant.

Jesus sees through it. You know, he's not after your

words, He's after your heart. I love how Alexander McLaren,

who's the Scottish Baptist minister, puts this.

He says Jesus Christ asks each one of us, not for obedience,

primarily not for repentance, not for vows, not for conduct,

but for a heart and that being given, the rest will follow.

You know, Jesus doesn't say, hey, will you feed my lambs,

Peter? Oh, great.

Well then love me, you know, the prerequisite or it starts with

the prerequisite is do you love me?

You know it starts with the hearts, the rest follow.

Hey, who remembers this? You know, before we're called to

something, we're called to some and the call to do comes after

the call to yes. There you go.

Take that off you bingo card as well.

Look, our first and primary call is to be close to Jesus.

But we see just before Peter denies Jesus, we can find it in

Luke 22 and in verse 54 it says Peter was following at a

distance. Can I ask, are you following at

a distance this morning? You know, I get it looks

sometimes life is really tough. We can experience

disappointment, but our proximity to Jesus matters.

And Mark challenged us last week.

One of the things that hit me hard was he said, you know, when

did I stop praying? You know, like, like, like the

the being in his presence prayers, they're just sitting

with him. Maybe that's the question you

need to hear again. It woke me up when I heard it.

You know, we can get so busy and we can turn God into a cosmic

vending machine. Love it.

Thank you pastor. I think everyone who's preaching

our summer series has touched on something specific that can that

can so easily cause distance between US and Jesus.

So re watch all of them. But the one I want to talk about

that we see in Peter here is fear of man.

You know what happens if people find out I follow Jesus?

You know, here's the thing, when you truly, truly love someone,

it trounces fear of man. OK, I'm going to give you a

light hearted example, OK? My wife is beautiful.

She's very sparkly. One of the things she loves to

do is put glitter on her face. I'm a very manly man.

I like steak, football and Jason Statham movies.

All right, The thoughts of glitter on my face is

horrifying, let alone any of the lads seeing glitter on my face.

And yeah, at our wedding with all the everyone, even work

colleagues gathered around knowing how much it would light

up her little face. Guys, I did it.

I did it. And I know what you're all

thinking. Oh, let's see a photo.

There are none. I've deleted all the photos.

There are none that great. Thank you, honey. 1 John 418

says perfect love casts out fear.

Look, when we truly love someone, it trounces fear.

Are there any areas in your life where you live in fear of man,

where you're terrified of talking to that person about

Jesus? I encourage you.

It's not about working hard to overcome fear, but it's about

deepening your relationship with Jesus.

You know Jesus knew Peter would deny him and he still chose

relationship with Him. You know, I think sometimes we

disqualify ourselves from being near Him because of our greatest

failures. But you know your your place in

his presence was never something you earned, never something you

qualified for. It was Jesus purchasing you on

the cross, paying the price for your sin, and giving you a

position of righteousness. He has done it all for you and

he wants a relationship with you.

He's inviting you to go deeper. Now is the time to draw near to

Jesus. Do you love me?

He says, Then tend my sheep. You know, we are his sheep.

And Jesus is telling Peter and I believe, telling us that, you

know, we need to tend to one another.

So now is the time to draw near to Jesus, but now is also the

time to draw near to each other. Hebrews 10/24 to 25 says and let

us consider how to stir one another up for to love and good

works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of

sun, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the days

you're in there. OK, this is a bit wrong, a

little bit controversial. So that you see about some, you

know, in recent years, there have been some wonderful,

wonderful books that have come out all about like our rhythms

of life and, and essentially how to like declutter, avoid

burnout, all that kind of great stuff.

And they're wonderful, wonderful books.

But here's what I think we've done with them at times.

All right, I think we've gone, oh man, my life is so cluttered

and busy. I need to make more room for me.

And so we we say, no, it's the stuff that maybe we perhaps said

yesterday before and hey, look, that's healthy most of the time.

But I think we've missed the point.

I think the point is, well, I think, and I think what those

books are saying is, hey, my life is so busy and cluttered.

I need to make more room for Jesus in my life.

Yeah. Is that OK?

You know, because I look at I look at this verse and I see,

look, I see the day drawing near and that the rights of Hebrews

doesn't say, you know, meet together if your diary's free as

long as it's not inconvenient as you see the day drawing near.

No, he says all the more as you see the day drawing near.

OK, I'm going, I'm going in now you ready?

Can I be honest? Sometimes I think it's a

question of priority. You know, we T and I have used

this phrase in Hemel. We say keep Sunday sacred.

And by the way, what I mean by that is, you know, set aside

this time like Sunday mornings to meet with other believers, to

meet with with family. You know, if you're scheduling

in life stuff, do it around Sunday mornings.

Like, like don't treat this as a calendar entry that can be

skipped or moved, you know, and, and by the way, let me just be

clear. I'm not saying we can't go on

holidays. We love holidays.

I'm not saying that. I'm not saying we can't on

occasion miss out, right? Let's not get in the cage of

religion with this. But what I am saying, you know,

is, is let's place a high priority on being together.

You know why? Because even in a place as big

as this, it matters if you're here or not.

Why? Why does it matter?

Well, as the writer of Hebrews puts it, you know, to stir each

other up and encourage one another, you know, you need to

be stirred up and encouraged and I need you to do the same to me.

You know, we are so privileged across all our sites, right?

We have a space at the end of the service where you can have,

you have the opportunity for a loving brother or sister to

stand with you, lay hand and pray.

Pete Hughes, lead pastor at KFC, he says this.

He says at least at least once a month.

You should be receiving prayer on a Sunday morning at least

once a month. You know, and another Mark

praise. He often says, you know, at the

end of the service, we'll share our words and knowledge and

he'll say it's not a lottery. If your number's not been

called, you can still receive prayer.

He's not just saying that to be funny, although he is a very

funny man. But he's saying that because we

need prayer, right? Like we need prayer.

Pete Hughes. So, so once a month, receiving

prayer on a Sunday morning. Pete Hughes also says at least

once a week, at least once a week, you should have another

brother or sister in Christ lay a hand on you and pray that

prayer come Holy Spirit at least once a week.

And now that could be at the bus stop.

That could be at work or at home.

It could be in a Verso group. And hey, can I just say like, if

you're not in a Verso group, do it.

Find a group. There are so many in different

places in and they run in different ways on different

times and different days. That rhymes.

That's cool. It's so important.

Groups of stone balls. It's where we do life together.

You know, Why am I? Why am I banging on about all of

this? Look, Jesus instructs pizza to

tend to his sheep. And I believe that now is the

time to draw near to each other, to press in and press on

together as one body. Like we need to be actively

holding one another up, encouraging one another even

more as we see the day approaching.

And who sees the day approaching?

Yeah. OK, finally, now is the time to

step out in faith. Jesus asked Peter, do you love

me a third time? And Peter says, do you know I

love you? And now Jesus changes his

response slightly. And ultimately he says, follow

me. Yeah.

And to follow Jesus means to live a life in which we

regularly step out in faith. And how do we spell faith in the

vineyard? Anyone know RISK RASK is how we

spell faith in the vineyard. Look, I love the summer series

because, you know, all these speakers come up and we are free

range to speak about whatever and genuinely we do.

But have you noticed God always weaves like a single thread

through all the all the preachers and I think this year

is this. It's an invitation to lay down

comfort, you know, so he talks about getting comfortable with

being uncomfortable. And Jenna said this is

brilliant. Jenna said this in the first

week of summer when we seek after comfort as a priority,

we're going to seek that first, even above saying yes to God.

And that means we end up pursuing control over surrender.

It says, God, I'll follow you as long as it doesn't cost me too

much. Comfort can easily become an

idol. We should just watch Jenna's

preach again, shouldn't we? You know and.

In Luke 22, back to that passage where he's about to deny Jesus,

he's following at a distance. And then in verse 55, it says,

and when they kindled a fire in the middle of the court and sat

down together, Peter sat among them.

And in this moment, he chooses not only the the to be following

at a distance, but now he he moves towards comfort.

He chooses comfort over Jesus and you know, and then, you

know, in our in our John passage, we flip forward and

Jesus is is talking to him. And now he says, when you're

old, you will stretch out your hands.

Another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

In other words, you're going to be crucified for me one day.

And that's about as far from comfort as it gets, right.

But I know which version of Peter I would rather be, you

know, there's a there's a cool and invitation for us to

surrender our comfort in this new season and brace the cool of

God in our lives and offer a reinvigorated yes to the Lord

again and again as we move into this new season.

So what might that look like? I'm going to be really

predictable now because I am a Hemel site pastor, right?

I'm going to talk about Hemel. Hey, look, we're moving into a

new venue on the 21st of September.

Hallelujah. You know, and, and there's three

reasons. I'm going to tell you why I'm

particularly excited, OK? Reason #1 the space is bigger.

Come on, there's more chairs. OK.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I, and I, I, I don't think

it's an accident. I think the Lord is readying us

for a season of growth. Secondly, the building we're

we're in is right next to the football pitch.

And that football pitch on a Sunday morning is full of kids

and their parents. And I believe God is asking us

to love and engage with them, right?

So we're going to invite them in for coffee.

We're going to chat to them. We're going to pray with them.

All right? We're going to, we're going to

make them. We're, they're not going to,

they're not going to be able to run away from us.

We're going to make them know that they are welcome, wanted

and loved and that there is a, there is a heavenly Father who

wants their hearts. OK, reason #3 where I'm really

excited. Reason #3 there's two monthly

activities we're going to start investing in every month.

OK, activity number one, right? We've been captivated by our

missions framework. And, and thank you, Claire, for,

for, for leading us through that.

And, and so we're going to do on the second Sunday of the month,

we're going to do after the service what we're calling Love

Your Street Sunday in which we're going to go into town,

right? And we're going to, it might be,

we do a prayer walk. It might be that we're in town.

We're praying for people. You know, it could be it, you

know what, whatever that looks, it could be a little pick,

right? Whatever that looks like, we're

going to do local mission at least once a month, OK.

And then on 4th Sundays, we're going to do a bring and share

lunch. All right, we're going to eat

together. We're going to have relational

time together. We're going to draw near to each

other. I'm excited.

And look, I could our, our our team could just stay at home on

a Sunday morning, put their feet up, you know, do literally

anything else. But they choose faithfulness

over comfort week in, week out. So I just want to say to Allah,

and there's some in the room. So I just want to say to Allah,

Hemel team, we so appreciate you guys.

You know, thank you so, so much. Yeah, yeah.

And, and I know it's not just guys in Hemel.

Like there are so many in this room that serve faithfully and

sacrificially. And you are so, so appreciated.

And here's the most predictable twist.

OK, you're invited too. All right, You know, T and I

have run the numbers and look, if we're going to extend our

reach, we need, we need to grow. We need, we need more help.

And listen, I'm so excited by what God is going to do in this

chapter. Whether you live in Hemel or

not, you are invited to join us. So there's some specific areas

and, and, and you'll see refreshments, right?

Like just just making coffees and chatting to people is the is

the area of need. But here's the ask, right?

Could you spare 2 hours a month, like 2 hours a month?

That equates so, so the 720 hours in a month and we're

asking for two and two hours a month equates to 24 hours or one

day in a year. All right?

It's not in that context, it doesn't sound like much, right?

But I believe God will multiply whatever it is you give him.

And, and, and let me just say, right, like I'm talking about

Hemel because I'm Hemel site pastor.

But we have so many places to serve in this church across all

of our sites, you know, and we have places to serve in, in

Verso care or, or, or, you know, or, or, or on Sunday mornings.

And the reason why we have places to serve, Jesus says to

Peter, follow me. And that means engaging with

what the Lord is doing in our time and in our land, you know.

So follow him here on Sundays through the week.

Follow him in your workplace, follow him in your town, in your

in your neighborhood. You know, I've been so inspired

by all the stories from Love Your Street.

Wasn't it amazing just to hear those stories?

Guys, let's be a Church of stories.

Can I say that? Can I say that loud enough?

Let's be a Church of stories. Let's not let those stories dry

up. Like come on, like like, like

just in the week. Don't stop, don't stop.

You know, in hell. Actually, each week before I

preach, which we're trying to get into the habit of sharing a

story from the week not and by the way, we're not celebrating

the outcome necessarily, though the outcome might be worthy of

celebration. But what we're celebrating is a

brother or sister stepping out in faith, taking a risk for

Jesus Church. Now is the time to step out in

faith to really chase after the Lord with everything we have.

All right, let's bring this plane into land.

Guys, we're in a season of change.

This is a significant moment, both for this house, but also

for what God is doing in our lands and in our time.

And don't miss the significance of this moment, guys.

Don't miss the invitation. Now is the time to draw near to

each other and to draw near to the Lord, to go deeper with Him

and be a devoted people. Now is the time to draw near to

each other, to press in and press on together as family.

Now is the time to step out in faith to really chase after the

Lord with everything we have. You know, maybe for you it's

time to take this discipleship thing seriously and make it the

highest priority in your life. You know, in the Book of

Revelation, Jesus tells the Church of Laodicea, you, you're

lukewarm. I'll spit you out of my mouth,

you're lukewarm. And let me just be clear, I'm

not saying we're lukewarm, far from it.

But you know, it's so, so easy for that fire to grow cold if

we're not intentional about stocking it.

And look, maybe you feel you're so far from this.

I don't want you to feel, you know, this isn't about shame or

guilt. You know, that's just a barrier.

Because in the same passage in Revelation 320, Jesus says,

behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will

come into him and eat with him and he with me.

Guys, Jesus wants your heart. He wants relationship with you.

He wants to do this with you. And if you feel Jesus knocking

on the door of your heart this morning, open it, make a

decision, open it. Don't wait.

Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of redemption.

Jesus wants your heart. Don't miss the moment, don't

miss the invitation. Guys, why don't we stand?