Parable of the Lawn Bowls

Fantastic.

Grab a seat, everybody.

Great to have you here this afternoon.

If you're new to local, welcome.

Wonderful to have you.

And you get free-range eggs.

Like in Aaron's not wrong, eggs are expensive.

Yeah, and there's some heritage style eggs, some greens and some blues, which is really lovely.

Also, um, I want to be consistent here at church.

That's what you expect from me.

If anything is consistency, and last week we celebrated an all-blacks victory and gave our commiserations to our South African family.

Today, it's the opposite.

And uh we want to celebrate with our friends and family, our um Bokey supporters, and say, Well done, great game.

You play well as game and two halves.

And uh we'll be preaching on Lament today for our all blacks fans.

Um if you have a Bible, uh, the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse number 14.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

And I want to talk to you today.

That the title of the sermon is the parable of the lawn bowls.

And um we have a lawn bowls lawn, just by lower HQ, actually.

Um I was thinking that we we could do a church visit and play some lawn bowls.

And um if you never played lawn bowls, if you don't even know what it is, it's um so there are black balls that are weighted on one side.

And so when you when you roll them, picture um what's that, what's that, um, ice curling?

Picture curling, but without the ice, and um, it's on grass, and you're not so you're not cold, and you can play it wherever you like.

And you you roll these bowls and they are weighted on one side, and so they they they they turn as it goes.

And I want to talk about that today.

So you were gonna be we're gonna be talking about lawn bowls here this afternoon, and I've particularly picked the topic because no one's interested in it, but I'm looking to build a team for social lawn bowls on a Monday night.

Um, but before before we start, we've got some friends here today from um actually from the states, from California, from Baltimore, uh, from Chicago-ish.

And um we've talked in church a few times.

Why are you laughing?

Is it the ish?

But he got a good nod from John and Joanne.

Um I a couple of years ago, we um Nads and I came across uh um a group called Orchard Group.

We've talked about them in church a little bit before, and Orchard Group specialize in church plants.

And so what they do is they kind of they they get all of these applications for from church planters all over the world.

And in fact, in our sort of cohort of church planters, there were churches being planted in Ireland, uh in the States.

Uh just last year, three brand new churches have been launched in Australia, um in Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth.

And and Lord knows they need more churches in Australia, you know what I mean?

Like I think that's something I want to support is more Australians getting saved.

Um, that's hard work over there, they need as much support as they can get.

I was in New Zealand, not too bad.

You know, not too bad.

You know what I mean?

Um and was it that bad, was it?

Should I?

Okay.

Um but once a year, so the the Orchard Group team provide what's support through what's called a management team.

And they provide some seed funding, some mentoring, and really some support.

And I think for for Nards and I, as church planters, having people that that's all they do is help church planters plant churches all over the world.

It's wonderful to have a sounding board when things are challenging.

And um, you know, and to your surprise, you might not realize that sometimes being a church pastor or planting a church does have some challenges.

And so they've been just incredible.

And once a year, they travel to the location of where they've started churches.

And today is our lucky day to have them here in church.

And so um, you know, what I'll do is I'll I'll point where they are, and then they can kind of like stand or just a wave, really whatever you want.

A little twirl, whatever you're thinking, you know.

And this is this is Mike from Baltimore.

Mike's Mike was here last year.

Big so each so each one gets their own round of applause, if that's okay.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know if you recall, but last year Mike came with Nick, Nick Parsons, and Mike that day had jumped out of a plane.

And he was fired up at church that afternoon just zinging it, you know, just it's absolutely rocking.

Oh, by the way, um Kayla and the team wrote that second song of worship today.

So that's uh like that's a local church original song for Kayla.

What did you say?

Amazing, eh?

How good's that?

That's just incredible.

And I thought it was amazing.

I loved it.

Very singable, too.

You know, sometimes someone writes a song and you hear it and you're like, whoa, it's crazy.

You know?

And then they go, It's all God.

And you go, Really?

All God, you know?

Um, but this was I loved it, Kayla.

Thank you so much.

Um, Brett Reesa.

Brent and Reesa Storms from California.

Brent is the CEO of Orchard Group, so he's top dog, big dog.

And uh and he's here.

So best behavior, best behavior.

Yeah, Joanne and John Stass from Chicago-ish.

Yeah, thank you.

Suncrest Church.

And Brent and Jenna Bramer from Slow City Church in St.

Louis Abysbow.

Big big round of applause for these guys.

Brent, Brent's an he's an interesting guy because he has made it his goal to rate pies on his trip here to New Zealand.

We had someone in the congregation nod vigorously and say, That's my man.

You know, and so I told you you'd get credibility, and then Brent was like, Really?

I was like, Yeah, Kiwi's gonna love that you're eating pies.

So the first thing he ate was a pie.

So he sends me a photo, he's like, Is this and I was like, bro, yeah, that's it, that's it.

And so uh tomorrow they're getting pies from the whip baker uh in Mungantapu.

So I think that'd be great.

Maybe we might throw in some jesters in the mix, but whatever.

We're just gonna find a dairy and eat pies.

No to the jest to see that, man.

You see what I'm talking about?

In fact, what what Papamore?

The Rise Bakery and Power.

Rise bakery and Papamor?

That's the one.

Okay.

Uh in fact, someone came in this afternoon and in their hoodie pocket they had.

I thought it was lollies.

So I was like, oh, can I have some some you know, treats?

And he's like, No, they're not lollies, anyone else.

And it was a sta it was a steak and cheese pie.

Brilliant.

Absolutely brilliant.

So welcome, welcome.

Lovely to have you here with us.

Thank you.

Thanks for all your support.

Um, in fact, Mike and I, our very first Zoom meeting was on my birthday, 2024, and it was our first time on a Zoom or second time on a Zoom, and that was the first seed funding that um that Orchard Group had provided through Mosaic Church in Baltimore, and it was on my birthday.

We were just about to um climb Mount Tatanaki, and it was a really funny meeting because I just cried because Mike and his senior pastor and their leadership team um chose to support our church and gave us our first bit of seed funding to get going, and I was speechless and just burst into tears, and then I said thanks, and he said happy birthday, and then that was the end of the Zoom meeting, you know.

And it's been a great relationship ever since.

Uh Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14, it says this for by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

We'll leave the verse up and I'll just pray and then we'll start preaching.

Father, we thank you for your presence.

We thank you for the Bible.

Uh, we're grateful today for our friends and guests who are here, um, seeing the church that they help planted.

And we're really grateful for them.

And Father, we ask today that you would just speak to us.

There's one sermon being preached, but I'm praying many words being spoken.

That Holy Spirit, that you would have your way and meet with us where we need to be met, that we live different than the way that we came.

Holy Spirit, that you would move.

And Father, we ask that in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

The um the interesting thing about this verse is that it combines in the English language different tenses.

There's there's the present perfect tense, and then there's um future tense.

So it's like something that's done, has been done, and then there's something that at the same time will be done in the future.

They're both kind of done right now, but one's finished and one's yet to be completed.

So when we read it and we say, for by one sacrifice, he, that's Jesus.

His sacrifice has made perfect forever.

Even if that was the verse.

If the verse just said, for by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever, and then if it said us or you or the saints, so he we would know who he was talking about, who the writer of Hebrews was talking about.

One sacrifice Jesus has made us perfect.

And full stop.

That'd be great.

That'd be a great verse.

I'd be like, wow, that's amazing.

And I would preach from that verse today to you.

But the verse doesn't finish there.

It says, He has made perfect.

It feels like that's done.

It feels like you, it's not something that's that's then undone, or something that even we were a part of.

It's just something that by his sacrifice, this thing is made perfect forever.

And then it says who it's talking about, the subject of the verse.

It says, those who are being made holy.

Isn't that great?

So the spoiler alert is that Hebrews 10 verse 14 is talking about us, it's talking about those who have received Jesus and his forgiveness for our sins and are in God's family, have been adopted and engrafted into his tree.

Hebrews 10:14

It says, For by one sacrifice, Jesus on the cross has made perfect forever those that's us who are being made holy.

So we are both perfect in his sight, and we are also being made something better than what we are right now.

And so I wanted to talk to you today on the parable of the lawn bowls.

When I was in high school, I had um, I loved high school.

I was one of those guys, loved it, got saved at the age of 12, and so 11 or 12 years older, intermediate, and so by the time I went to high school, I was just like keen to be there and keen to get my mates into church and just had a good time and I really enjoyed it.

And but one thing I didn't do, because in my family it wasn't a strong culture, was play a lot of sport.

And sort of by the end of my, you know, I was in year sort of year 11, year 12, I was like, man, I should probably get involved in the school spirit outside of you know what's happening in the classroom.

I was involved in Kapahaka and debating and things like that, but I thought I should probably play some sport.

And so I played a bit of cricket.

My first, the first ball I ever faced, actually, four, through the covers, and thought I was called to play the game of cricket.

Next delivery, middle stump, gone.

And then my friend Elliot Bartley, who was the captain of the first 15, he said, Levi, have you heard, because my school, Rong Tai College, which is in Lyal Bay, Kulberney, Wellington, it backed onto a lawn bowls, you know, like retirement village.

Like backed onto a lawn bowls, you know, field, Astro Turf.

And so you had all of these, you know, older people more mature in years, playing lawn bowls while we were in high school every day.

And he said, Hey, we're trying to do a partnership, the school's doing a partnership with the lawn bowls to kind of get older people mixing with, you know, younger people and younger people mixing with older people.

We should put in a team.

And I was like, heck yeah, brother, let's go.

I said, Well, how do you play?

He says, Don't worry about it.

I'm a gun, just like just play with me and I'll I'll I'll teach you as we go.

And so we roped in a couple of others, but Aline and I ended up playing doubles, and that was our kind of that was our thing.

And so he and I would go and play with people who were in their 70s, playing lawn bowls weekly.

And it was the best, man.

These guys like survived wars.

Like, oh, here we were, just like teenage boys had no experience at life at all, and we were just kicking it, and they had these little white, um, like a little mat that you would stand on, sick white sneakers.

So that's the one of the coolest parts.

It's great outfit, great pants, and then you would get these these bowls, and there was there's this little white, I forget what the name of it is, a little white ball, and you would throw the white ball down, and then the goal was to get your bowl close to the white ball closer than the other team.

And so you would have like turns.

So picture 10-pin bowling, but outside, slower, cooler, chill, you know, no disco music.

You know, it's like sun is shining, beautiful.

And and man, and it's about a soft touch, eh?

Gentle touch, gentle touch, just a gentle touch, and just just a relationship with the bowl, you know, and you're just gentle.

And so you you and and the bowl, if you if you bowl it slowly and out, it would, it was like a like a parabola?

I'm not sure.

It would it would be like a beautiful arc, a soft touch.

And we're playing this thing, and I couldn't get and like so I wouldn't like I got coordination.

I got it.

You see us on the beach playing touch, you know your pastor can can play, but but I'm not that guy.

I'm not that guy, not like Dan Michael, representing New Zealand in volleyball, eh?

Still to this day or at what at some point?

How long ago?

Seven years ago.

But I've seen him.

I've seen him play get out of his way, you know?

Not like him, not like Dan, who's just gifted and would be.

I'm that guy that's just like really, I've got to focus.

So then we're playing, and so I what he said, he said, bro, here's another thing you could do if you can't get the weight, because it's about weight, the weight behind the bowl.

He said, if you can't get the weight, what you can do is you can be the guy that just fires it straight down the line.

Because if their bowls are surrounded by, you know, they're surrounded by the little white ball, then what we need to do is get their bowls out of the way.

And you can do that by just basically just ramming that bad boy home.

And so that was my job.

So he's the soft touch guy, and he was the rug, the first of them Captain Locke.

So he's like six foot four, built, you know, and then there's me, you know.

Um, similar physique, you know, and uh and he would gentle, and then I ran the ball home, and we we kind of started um playing pretty well, so we were beating all these older people, and then we got selected to play in um regional tournaments.

So I was like a representative, lawn bowls, lawn bowls guy.

So I had the shoes, man.

Now I'm talking, so you know your white shoes you got on today, similar to that, but like just cooler, you know, just like like almost like a loafer, and the sole just just beautiful, soft.

Like, you know, when you go to 10 pin bowling and you wear those goofy shoes, and they're like, these are cool, but it's like kind of not cool, but then you try and make them cool, yeah.

But the lawn bowls is not like that, they're proper sick.

We started we started making all these teams, we started playing people from other schools, so then we're playing younger people like us, that was scary, and we beat them.

And one of the rules um in this in this realm of bowls that we played, I think it was like a handicapped version of bowls.

By handicap, I mean like golf handicap.

And um and we in this version of bowls, you we would the high score, the winning score, and this is very much a golf rule, the the high score would be taken from the best player on the team.

So he and I could be playing, and I would be playing poorly, and then he would deliver this excellent bowl, and we would win.

And I wouldn't know how we won.

And we'd be walking back to the pavilion, you know what I mean?

To have an old great tea, and I'd be like, and I'll and I'll be like, Allie, how do we win?

He goes, bro.

So remember that last one I got right close to the to the ball, to the white ball, and but all of yours were all over the place, like on the next, you know, like four, you know what I mean, like over here, just slicing it, you know, into the bunker.

He's like, we won, and he's a nice guy, he wasn't trying to rub it in, but he was trying to be clear with me about how we actually advanced to the next level.

He would say, You we won because of my skills.

I thought that was quite clear, you know what I mean?

I was like, yeah, great.

Another way of saying it would be like, my victory was by association.

I was I was good at bowls, not because of my own skills, but because of the person that I was with.

Uh I I never used to like Justin Tim Blake, uh, and that's changed.

Because we saw him live.

Not only did we see him live, well, we were in in Ottawa, and we got tickets to to see Justin Tim Blake, but we were on the the 300 level in this hockey stadium.

And we were, you know, binoculars, you know, and the nosebleeds.

And when we got there, our friends turned up and they had these lanyards, like six lanyards around their neck.

And they were looking at us like, hey, are you guys excited about tonight?

And what had happened was these friends of ours had made good mates with Justin Timberlake's security guard, like his number one guy, like the guy that stands on the side of the stage and is ready to, you know, whatever.

You know what I mean?

Let's not get into the details.

And um, it's America, anything could happen, you know what I mean?

And so and and they were friends, and so they had given him access to the VIP VIP space at Justin Timberlake.

So we had paid like a hundred bucks for these bad tickets, and they took us down from the three to the two to the one hundred level, to the ground floor, through tensor barriers and fences, to the point where we were touching the stage.

So this moment came by.

Justin Timberlake walked by me and his foot was right in front of me.

I didn't touch it, but I thought about it.

And and I could have.

So I guess this is me saying, my mate, I could have touched his shoe, you know what I mean?

But I didn't.

Victory by association.

Not because of the money that I'd paid or the fact that I knew, I now know Justin, um, but not because I knew him or his security guard, but because of, I don't know if you know that old adage, that old adage.

It's not what you know, but it's who you know that counts.

One day I do pray that me and my wife and our four kids, my only goal in life is to raise these kids in the Lord, and one day that we'll be at those pearly gates.

But if we get there and there's some, you know, you know how you often have bureaucratic challenges.

Like one time we went to the bank, I went to the bank, and uh went to the bank, you know, that's a flight of the concords, and I went to the bank, and the and remember the ATM stole my money, and then the lady had to come and and it was 600 bucks.

And there's like this there's admin challenges, you know, and she came out, she's like, I'm really sorry, this never happens, but what's your bank account?

We'll sort out.

Then she called, hey, the money's been thing, whatever, and the machine's broken.

There's clerical issues.

Let's say I get to um the pearly gates and I and I'm eager to get in, and then someone's like, Hey, sorry, sir, your name's not in the book.

I'd be like, book schmuck, mate.

Get your manager.

There he is, Jesus.

Get over here, saw this angel out.

This guy thinks he knows my business.

And then Jesus might come and he might say, Oh, yeah, no, he's good.

But then the guy might say, Oh no, he doesn't know.

And then I'm I'm praying and hoping that Jesus will say, No, no, no.

It's not about what he knows, it's about who he knows.

Over his life, he's built a relationship with me, and he's welcome to come in.

That my victory is not by what I know, but by association.

We've got this great scripture that says that he has made us perfect forever, but at the same time, the next part of that scripture says he's making us holy.

Now, back to bowls for a moment.

You never guess what happened.

In fact, I wonder if you can guess what happened.

I'm glad you asked.

I got better the more I played with Elliot.

I was perfect by association.

Like we were crushing, man.

We were we were we were the talk of the town, man.

I tell you what, and the ladies loved it, didn't they, Nuts?

You know?

They didn't, you know.

But I was I was improving.

And I'll never forget, I delivered this bowl while weighted, man, soft hands.

And it just beautifully arced towards that little white ball, and it and it when it stops, sometimes the bowl it rocks.

Like it just goes dunk, dunk, like this, and it rocked, and it tapped the white ball, and then stopped right next to it.

And we won that point because of my bowl.

And Elliot was like, yeah, and we did it because we're boys, we went to boy school, he hit my my head.

But it wasn't straight, it was you know, it was totally normal in the like in the thrill of the moment, you know.

I was like, Yeah, hair care, you know, like but you know, but like we're lingering on the moment, but I'm saying it not, it wasn't a weird thing, it was it was totally, you know, totally legit.

Bang, and I was like, you know, hair care, you know, like you see, have you done this or have I done it?

That's my question for us for another day.

If you're taking notes, if you're taking notes, I'll land this plane.

I'll land this bowl.

If you Darcy's losing it.

If you take your notes, write this down.

Uh I wanna I want to encourage us today, but it won't feel like it.

Point number one is this.

This is important to know.

You are not the best in the team.

In the team of humanity, or in the team of the Christian faith, in the team of the saints, that's what the Bible calls us.

In the team of made perfect and being made holy, I think it's important for us all to know that we are not the best on the team.

Not the best.

I wonder sometimes what I bring to the team.

I wonder sometimes what I can really add.

And I wonder if you wonder the same thing.

We were talking before about um, I don't know what you what I don't know what your neighbor said when you had the um, when Aaron was asking us, you know, what are you good at?

So my the three of us, we had a painting and burgers.

We're not sure what we bring to the team, you know what I mean?

Like, but if in your group it was like saving the world or the love for humanity or like I have the gift of mercy, we want to be in your group because we'll feed you and paint your house, you know what I mean?

But I was given a prize in bowls, not because of what I did, but because of who I knew.

And I'm given that same prize in the Christian faith, not because of what I know or the amount of things.

I've been to seminary, uh, have got a master's in theology, and that's helpful, I think, for what I do in this role with you.

It's been enormously impacting for my life.

And it does help and does impact my relationship with the Lord, for sure.

But at the end of the day, you and I don't need an education to get into heaven.

He has paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to be in the Lord's eyes, as hard as it might sound, made perfect forever.

Number two, if you're taking notes, you are perfect by association.

The theologian Carl Bath says this our position is such that we can be rescued from eternal death and translated into life only by total and unceasing substitution.

A substitution which God Himself undertakes on our behalf.

But without him, I was not making any regional bowls teams, and my life would be so average.

But because of his skills, because of Jesus' perfection, I am made perfect.

There's this great story about a pastor in South Korea.

He um wants to buy a church building for his growing church, and that might be us one day.

And he walks into the bank and feels like the Lord has prompted him to say, I come from the highest authority.

And so he's got this sense of like, yeah, like I'm here on behalf of God.

And you know how we get that sometimes?

We get like fired up on the inside about like I'm a child of God, man.

Heck yeah, let's go.

And then we're praying for people and speaking to our neighbors and and all kinds of things.

Well, he's decided that I need a mortgage, I need, I need a loan to buy, my church is growing, and and he walked in and he walked up to the bank manager's like secretary, said, I come on behalf of the highest authority.

And you know, when you say something like that and then you wait, there's that moment of like, what do you think about that?

You know?

And she says, Oh, I'll get you straight in.

Because in South Korea, the highest authority is a moniker used for the prime minister.

And so she thought that he was like a dignitary that had come from the minister's office and needed to see the bank manager, so she rushed him straight in.

Well, he didn't correct the bank manager once he got in.

In fact, he didn't know why the doors were opening, but they were, and they never asked him about the prime minister.

I think they just assumed as much, and he got the loan and got the building, and then would go on to be the largest church that the world had ever seen.

50,000 small group leaders, because he believed that he's perfect, not because of what he's done, but by association.

Romans 5, verse 8 says this, but God demonstrates his love for us in this.

Romans 5:8

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I imagine if it was for a moment, just think with me, if it was the other way around.

That if we had to stop sinning, for then his ushering into his family.

Imagine that.

Imagine having a church, community like ours, and having guests come to say, Hey, welcome to our church, great to have you.

At our church, it's it's different though, uh Brent, because people get clean before they come in.

So we have outdoor showers.

New Zealanders, we love a good outdoor shower.

I actually want one of those, please, uh Lord.

Um, an outdoor shower at my house.

And you and we greet people at the door.

You get a free-range egg and a shower.

And people are like, What are we showering?

Well, we want you to be clean before you come in.

And but but as funny as it sounds, we do think like that when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, because we we we we fear him or we dodge him or we hide from him when our life's not right, but when we've got our ducks in a row, we present ourselves to the Lord.

But that's not what the Bible says, that that's not the way that he operates.

Read that scripture one more time.

It says, While we were still sinners, while we were still sinning, while we were still outside of the will of God, while we were still making poor choices, he died for us.

And the last thing I'll say is this if you're taking notes.

Maybe Rose, would you mind joining me?

Thank you.

Sorry, I'll let you write that down if you like.

Rose takes notes.

That's why she's a powerful keyboard player.

If you're taking notes, write this down.

We need you more than you think.

You're not the best on the team, you're perfect by association, but I just want you to know that we need you more than you think.

God, He will always speak to your potential.

The devil, he's always going to be speaking to your past and speaking to your mistakes.

But the Lord wants to encourage us today that despite the fact that we're not the strongest on the team, he's making you holy every day.

He's made you perfect, but you're being made holy by his presence.

I started playing lawn bowls, had no idea what I was doing.

But being around someone who knew, man, I just got better and better and better.

And you're around Jesus and you're around the people of God, and we're trying to impact people who are new to faith or people in our community and we don't know what to do.

Well, just get around Jesus and we will just there's these there's a story of these lepers in the Bible, there's these ten lepers, and they come before the high priest, and they're like, make us well, make us better, you know, make us whole again.

And they and they come before Jesus.

And Jesus says, Um, go to the high priest, and the Bible says, on the way, they were healed.

And I love that.

Because it's like I'll come to church every Sunday, man, and I'm like got challenges in my life, and I'm here sort of before the Lord and in community, and and and praying like you're praying for like a clear moment of revelation, a clear moment where God will speak, a clear moment of a miracle.

And then I read about these lepers, ten of them, and and just on the way.

Have you ever had that?

You know, you're just on the way, and then you realize something's different, you changed.

I often find that with like running injuries.

And you got like a bad calf or an Achilles thing or a little hamstring, and then one day you wake up.

I don't know about you, but I'm 42, I like groan when I sit down, and that started only recently, you know.

And even when I stand up, that I like I've got to stand up and go, oh, you know, and it's like it's just it just comes out of me, you know.

But then one day I'll be walking, like coming to, oh, you know what I mean, and then walk down the step, and it'll be like feel quite spry.

Kind of just at kind of just as I went, that ailment just is not there anymore.

And relationship with Jesus in a faith community is just about, man, just as you go and believing that God will heal us and touch us as we walk in relationship with others.

One of my favorite TV shows.

It's called the West Wing.

Uh, not one of my favorites, the absolute number one top of the pile TV show of all time.

Got this character named Leo McGarry, and he says, um, act as if ye have faith, and faith shall be given to you.

And then he says, in other words, fake it till you make it.

Act as if ye have faith, and it shall be given to you.

John Wesley said this: preach faith until you have it, and then because you have it, you will preach faith.

I improved at lawn bowls progressively, and in our faith, we call that progressive sanctification.

Or another thing we call it, and I think there's probably a better word or two words, is Christian maturity.

Matthew 6 calls it Christ-likeness.

Um, in vogue, spiritual authors call it spiritual formation, or another word that I think we use often is discipleship.

That I'm made perfect through my relationship with the Lord, but my transformation in him is ongoing.

A good way that I could illustrate this as I as I close today is my marriage with Nadia.

So when we were um getting our permanent residency for Canada sorted, and that's a highly bureaucratic nation, by the way.

So God like even printed clearly, so much stuff, like so much.

Whereas in New Zealand, you know, you call you know when I first came back to New Zealand a few years ago, and I called the bank or the IRD, and um there had been a fire on Matakana Island, and um you know, I don't think it was a major fire, but there was a fire that made the news, and and I said, Yeah, so this is my address, you know, Ocean Beach Road, Mm Monganui.

And she says, Oh, how's everyone on the island?

I don't know.

Why are you asking me?

I'm not even there, you know, but like, but I but she knew that where I was was in close enough proximity to there that I must know someone.

And then I go, Oh, yeah, actually my my auntie, my this, my that.

I got some cousins, I got a friend actually, he runs a church there at the Catholic Church on the thing.

She goes, Oh, I see such and such, knows thing through the cousin of the auntie.

Yeah, actually, do you know them?

Yeah, great.

Hey, wait right there, I'll put you straight through.

That's New Zealand.

Someone came to my house yesterday, had a dimmer switch that needed fixing.

Electrician came over, fixed it, and right at the end I said, bro, make sure you send me your your your details, payment details so I can get you some money.

And he says, Payment details, I don't want any money, just a bottle of wine.

And then like, and I was like, Hell yeah, brother, that's it.

The bear economy, you know?

And I'm and I'm getting all these things in line and had to get my marriage certificate printed out for the residency.

So we have got at my house, at our house, a reasonably new copy of our marriage certificate because I couldn't find the old one.

But the old one would be 20 years old.

A 20-year-aged piece of paper like would look more crumpled and wrinkled than the new one that I printed out, but they both have the exact same thing, eh?

They both say the same thing.

I guess probably my point is this am I any more married today with this new certificate than I was on the 21st of January 2006 when we got married?

Well, no.

I'm the same level of married, perfect by association.

I'm the same married, I'm the it's this, I'm the same.

I'm not more, but are we in our relationship richer?

Are we deeper?

Am I better?

Have I been transformed every day through my relationship with Nadia, even though our position in the law is exactly the same as it was 20 years ago?

Exactly the same.

But wow, I've changed for the better.

Maybe my point today is that I would love for us to consider this week that with Jesus, you don't need to try.

Just play lawn bowls.

And the more you play and the more you walk, you're transformed by association.

That when we say, Lord, forgive me and I repent for my sins and my wrongdoing in my life outside of your will for me, the Bible says that our book is in that Lamb's book of life.

Done, made perfect, but every day being made holy.

Maybe you're here today and you're saying, This is good, Levi.

And I appreciate that for you thinking that.

Thank you.

But maybe you're saying, I don't know about the first part.

Like I kind of get it, but I don't know about that first part, that Jesus part.

Like that's a new concept to me.

Or maybe you're saying, Yeah, I kind of am familiar with Jesus, but I I feel distant from him and I'm not sure where we're at.

I would love to pray with you before we close.

A private prayer with the eyes closed in just a moment, not to embarrass you or to single you out, but I would love to just make sure that we could leave today, all of us, knowing, yeah, when it comes to this Hebrews 10, 14 verse, I believe that I am in that group that he has made perfect and he's making me holy.

Can I pray with you today?

Is that okay?

Would you mind closing your eyes?

Every person, front to the back, side to side, just for a moment, if you wouldn't mind closing your eyes.

And if you're here today and you're saying, I want to pray that prayer, I want to be sure that I'm in the right relationship with Jesus.

And then I would love to just pray a very simple prayer today.

What we're gonna do is I'll I'll ask if that's you, and with no one looking around, I'll ask you to throw your hand up.

I'll see it, acknowledge it, and I'll ask you to put it down.

And then we'll pray a simple prayer today.

And I believe that by faith that that prayer is the most transformative, life-changing prayer that you could ever pray.

I prayed that prayer when I was 11 years old and have prayed it many times since to make sure that in my life, in my heart, that man, I'm still right with God.

And so if you're here today and you're saying that's me, and you want to be included in that prayer, could you throw your hand up so I can see it?

Lift it nice and high.

Yeah, cool.

Thank you.

Yeah, you can put it down.

Wonderful, thank you.

Others you're saying, that's me.

Yeah, I want to pray that prayer.

I want to make sure and be sure, certain that I'm right with God.

If that's you before we close, before we pray, lift up your hand so that I can see it, and we'll pray this prayer together.

Yeah, cool.

Yeah, choice.

That's awesome.

One more time as I look around.

If there's just even one more person saying, Yeah, that's me.

I want to pray that prayer, lift it so I can see it.

Thank you, Jesus.

Yeah, cool.

I see your hand.

Yeah, cool.

Yeah, choice.

Amazing, thank you.

We're gonna pray this prayer, and I would love for us all to pray it together as a church family.

I'll say one line and you repeat it back out loud to me.

A prayer to God.

Um, and if you didn't raise your hand, but you you really are praying this prayer from the depths of your heart with meaning and and and passion, then I'm really thrilled about that.

The prayer goes like this.

I'll say one line and you repeat it back.

It goes, Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you.

I need you in my life.

I ask you, forgive me of my sin.

And I thank you that you do.

I thank you, Jesus.

I thank you, Jesus.

Amen.

You can open your eyes.

Can we put our hands together for all of those people who raise their hand?

Amazing.

If Elliot was here, he would hate this whole story.

But I loved Elliot.

The first 15 captain at a dominant boys' school in rugby.

In fact, he captained an all-black, a current all-black on that team.

And I loved, we we had we were in class together, bowls together.

I'd go and watch them on a sad day.

And it was really nice having a friend who was looking out for me at school who was kind of bigger, stronger, smarter than me.

I did a character reference for him one time, and I'm pretty sure that he's now a spy, and so I should probably not say that, but um they couldn't tell me what it was for, you know.

I say that because to say this.

Um, the Bible says that Jesus is the firstborn amongst many brethren.

What that means is, as I interpret that, is that he's like my big brother, and he's like that guy walking around the schoolyard looking after me.

And for those that just prayed that prayer for the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time, I would love for you to view Jesus not as a aloof, foreign, angry um, you know, being, but like someone who has your back in the schoolyard of life.

Um, we normally have, I'm just looking out at the table, we normally have Bibles out there, and so I'm sure after the service someone's gonna quickly rip to the storage room and grab some Bibles, chuck them out there.

They are really nice white New Testaments with the Psalms and Proverbs, I think.

And we would love for you to grab one if you'd like to come and say hello after the service and say, Yeah, I I you know I prayed that prayer.

We'd love to get to know you and help you along your journey because today's the start of a great journey, hey, not the end.

Amen.

Next week is Father's Day.

Looking forward to it.

Um, Stacy's preaching.

Looking forward to that.

And it's first Sunday, and so please bring something to share.

Did you want to say something?

You had that look on your face.

Bring something to share.

We'll be amazing.

After the service, stay around.

Um, grab a couple.

There's some donuts out there.

Um, make sure you enjoy those and grab yourself some free range eggs.

Love you all.

We'll see you next week.