Family Values

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. You see, the

Brisbane Lions are actually an interesting story.

They're an amalgamation of two different teams

that are lions, an ancient, old VFL site. How

to be one. When Ash and I got married, we had

to work out how to be one family when we come

from two very, very different families. We had

different family makeups, different conflict

styles, different traditions, different ways

of being family. My dad was a plumber and then

he was a pastor and Ash's dad was a pilot and

has always been a pilot. My parents came to faith

as 16 year olds in a youth group. One of her

parents is like a new agey agnostic and the other

one is a practicing Buddhist. Together we had

to work out how to be one, to be a new family

in the difference we brought to the relationship.

When you have differences, when you come from

different places and yet you come together as

one, like in a football merger or like in a marriage

or like in an Encounter family camp, we have

to work out how to be one. And here at our family

camp we have represented the Enfield Uniting

Morning Congregation, we have our Henley Church

Plan and Encounter Prospect, or soon -to -be

Encounter Enfield I suppose. God has brought

these three communities together as one family.

And the question we have to ask is how do we

be one family, united in our differences? And

this is what the crisis of planting a church

like Henley has created and the crisis of amalgamating

Enfield and Prospect has created, because there

are differences. Things have changed. people

have changed, people have moved away or moved

on. We have grown as a church both bigger and

wider. And there are differences in the church

communities who make up this family. We have

different demographics, different personalities.

Tex is taking applications for another extrovert

at Hanley. So if you want to put in your application,

he would really like some backup and support

and a bit of enthusiasm. We have different communities

that we're trying to reach. And guys, we actually

want this. We want this. This is the mission

of God that God has given in Counter Church Adelaide.

We want to be a growing family of Bible -fed

and Spirit -led churches multiplying resilient

disciples across Adelaide. And this is just the

beginning. More difference is coming. More people,

more communities, more demographics. But how

do we be one family in all our difference? Not

just now. But as Encounter Adelaide grows as

well, how do we be a good family of churches

at that? Well, we have a shared name, Encounter.

Is that enough to help us be a great family?

I don't think sharing a name is a guarantee of

a good family. Well, we have the same DNA. We

all have the same core values. Jesus, generous

people, real. Is that enough? I don't think having

one family in your difference requires you to

merge. They had to create a new shared identity

together. Fitzroy got to keep the name, the Lions,

the Guernsey, their song, most of their football

operations, the father -sons, their history,

and the Bears got to stay in Brisbane. Good for

them. And in the years following their merger,

Brisbane became very successful. They won three

flags in a row, blending the best of both and

living into their shared identity. But they wouldn't

have been they wouldn't have reached the success

that they reach in the early 2000s if they're

walking around at training saying well I'm a

Fitzroy player and you're a Bears player They

found success when they could all say I'm a Brisbane

Lions player And that's the thing isn't it you

like you can call yourself a family and you can

share a name and you can share DNA and you can

bring together two different families in marriage,

but you aren't one family. You can't be one family

until you live into that shared identity that

you have. You have to live into it. We have to

live like one family. And until we know what

it means to be a part of this family, this Encounter

Adelaide one family, we will struggle to be one

in all of our growing difference. So I want to

put to you that as the family of churches of

Encounter grows over the next decade, that a

shared name and a shared DNA will not help us

be an excellent family. Good families they reinforce

their shared identity through difference and

in their difference with family values And what

we need I think is family values to help us know

what it means to be an encounter person You see

our friends They have a great way of reinforcing

with their kids what it means to be a part of

their family What it means to be a part of insert

last name. Let's just let's just pick a name

like feel for just just just out of No context

whatsoever. So what does it mean? They ask their

kids, hey, what does it mean to be a Thillthorpe?

Thillthorpe kicked three goals against Portia,

so just put it out there. And they reply, and

the kids, because they've coached their kids,

they reply, this is what it means to be a part

of my family. We are brave, we are strong, and

we are kind, just like Jesus. That's what their

shared family identity is like. They've coached

this over their years to reinforce their family

values. What it means to be a person, a part

of their family. And I think we need that. I

think we need to know what it means to be an

encounter person. Whether you're from Enfield,

Henley, Church Plant 3, Church Plant 4, Church

Plant 5, Church Plant 6. So what I've done is

I've taken every ism that we have in encounter.

All of them. Prospect as it is in paradise. I

don't know if you guys use that. Let your Sundays

invade your Mondays. The power of God is in the

people of God. I've taken them all, future focus,

and I've boiled them down. I've condensed them

into three family values that I want to put to

you today as a way of reinforcing our shared

identity as encounter church. And look, it may

lack the wardrobe marketing touch, but just bear

with me here. Here are three family values of

what it means to be a part. of the family. What

an encounter person looks like. So I think, I

think Paul, he's called Saul in this, but Paul,

Paul and Barnabas are encounter people. Our family

values are in this passage. And here's the first

one. A gigantic God. See an encounter, we believe

in a gigantic God. When God is small, you feel

alone in the world. You feel the crushing weight

of reality. You feel the sense of anxiety for

all there is to do. But when God is big, we can

rest. We can trust. God is above us and before

us. God surrounds us. He's with us in the darkest

valleys and the highest mountains. When God is

small, some things are possible. But when God

is big, anything is possible. When God is small,

you are floating aimlessly on a rock through

space, meaningless and purposeless. When God

is big, You are floating on the river of expectation

that God could do anything in you, around you

and through you. When God is small, death is

terrifying and life is insecure. But when God

is big, wherever you are, whatever you face,

even if it's death itself, you are secure in

Christ Jesus. You expect a big God to move. You

expect a big God to lead you. You expect a big

God to move without you. See, we believe in a

gigantic God at Encounter. And if we didn't,

we wouldn't have planted a church and we would

not be seeking to plant any more churches. And

in this passage in Acts 13, you see the evidence

of the early church of Paul and Barnabas. They

believe in a gigantic God. they're worshipping

and fasting one day and the spirit says off you

go send out Barnabas and Paul and so they do

that they go from Antioch to Cyprus where they

find a Judean sorcerer who's running interference

trying to keep them away from a governor of that

region because the governor wants to hear what

Paul and Barnabas have to say and so Paul full

of the spirit looks this man in the eye he looks

him in the eye this very influential and powerful

man a dangerous man to look in the eye declares

or calls down whatever is going on here the power

of God to blind this sorcerer and he falls blind

and the governor doesn't have to hear what these

men have to say to believe he believes what he

sees which is the power of God and this is this

is such boldness from Paul how secure does a

woman or a man need to be to stare down powerful

people and oppose them and declare the power

of God over them they have to be very secure

And Paul is very secure, and Paul is very secure

because he believes in a gigantic God. And we

don't try to make God small, but we allow him

to be what he is, bigger than we even have the

words to express. We actually find that we are

in the safest place in the universe, because

we are held in his hands. We are secure, even

though it might be insanity out there. we are

hidden with Christ. We can stand up, we can speak

out, we can take risks, and that security gives

us a boldness to live for Jesus, to give, to

serve, to sacrifice, and to get drastic in our

pursuit of God and His Kingdom. You see an encounter

person has a gigantic God, and because we have

a gigantic God that makes us secure, we can actually

become drastic disciples, and that's our second

family value. Drastic disciples. Drastic disciples

leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of Jesus,

the Kingdom of God and others. Drastic disciples

leave the boat to get out of the water with Jesus.

Drastic disciples kill the soul -sucking voice

of reasonableness. The voice that tells you you

should sit down, be quiet, keep that to yourself.

Drastic disciples see the need of the moment.

There are a million people in Adelaide who are

not alive to God who have not declared Jesus

as Lord. They see the need, the need of the moment

and they rise to it. They serve, they invite,

they preach the gospel with their words and their

lives. They give, they see everything as a gift

from the Lord to be given back to him. They cut

out the stuff in their lives that has absolutely

no redemptive value. They simplify, they forgive,

they hold people to account. They spend their

lives for the good of the lonely, the lost, and

the least. Drastic disciples get drastic about

the mission of God, the lost, and their own holiness

and lives. Drastic disciples, they reorient their

whole lives around the leading of the Spirit,

where they live, what they drive, what they study,

where they work, how they use their money or

their bodies on how they recreate. Everything

is different. for a drastic disciple because

they're a new creation being made into the image

of Christ in reality not just in theology. Drastic

disciples they get out of their comfort zone

because they will know they will not grow in

the comfort zone nothing grows in the comfort

zone. Drastic disciples get over themselves so

that others can find themselves in the family

of God. You see drastic disciples they see the

need of the moment that it is drastic and they

rise to meet it. And despite the difficulty,

they actually can rise to meet it because they're

secure. They're in the hands of their gigantic

God. And Paul and Barnabas are drastic disciples.

They uproot their lives to follow the call of

God over and over and over again. They preach

their way in this passage town by town across

the island of Cyprus. Cyprus is not big, but

it's not exactly small either. It's like the

size of Greater Sydney area, right? So imagine

preaching your way through Greater Sydney, town

by town, street by street. This is what they're

doing. They chase every lead. They leave no stone

unturned in pursuit of what God's doing in every

place. And that brings a governor, a man of power

and influence to faith in Jesus Christ. What

could God do through the drastic disciples that

are in this room and the ones who aren't in this

room who are a part of the encounter family?

anything, anything. An encounter person is a

drastic disciple. And the third family value

we have is a multiplying mindset. The mission

of the early church does not reside within one

or two people, but it's like a rock thrown into

a pond. It ripples out and out and out and out.

The early church is full of people who is God's

Word and produce a harvest of 30, 60 or even

more. I'm not good at maths, that's not my job,

but multiplication sounds better than addition.

It just sounds better and easier. And you can

see in Acts 13 that multiplying is the mindset,

not just of the church and the early disciples,

but of the Spirit as well. The Spirit appoints

Saul and Paul and Barnabas to be sent out on

mission. The Spirit is not content to leave them

in Syria, but sends them out to the people of

Cyprus. And how do they respond? The church responds

by commissioning them. publicly sending them

out by fasting prayer and the laying on of hands.

And what does Paul and Barnabas do in response?

They take John Mark with them as their assistant.

Did the Spirit tell them to anoint Saul, Barnabas

and John Mark? No, Spirit doesn't say that, but

they take John Mark anyway. Why? Well, because

they've, they're the followers of Jesus and Jesus

was a teacher who had apprentices called disciples

and apprentices who went with them, who walked

behind their rabbi to learn from them so they

could be, be with them, become like them and

do what they do. And this is what it looks like

to follow Jesus and his followers did the same

with their followers. And, and here we are with

Paul and Barnabas, not two of the 12 disciples

who followed Jesus, right? they're not they're

not a part of the 12 but here they have the same

mindset and so they take John Mark with them

as their apprentice and John Mark is a funny

one because after this journey he just he just

leaves goes back to Jerusalem and clearly Paul

is not impressed with this because he is not

John Mark's number one fan and when Barnabas

and Paul want to go back on the road to visit

all the churches that they've planted It's such

a point of contention between Paul and Barnabas

that it causes them to actually go their separate

ways. So Barnabas takes John Mark and Paul takes

Silas and they go in opposite directions. And

so you could say even through disappointment

and disagreement, the mission multiplies. The

mission multiplies. And having a multiplying

mindset means you aren't thinking about, get

this, this is the mindset shift. You're not thinking

about, how do I be the hero here? You're thinking

about, how do I make a hero of others? Who's

next up? Who can I bring along? Who can I empower?

And you can because you secure with the, you

believe in a gigantic God and the drastic need

of the hour actually requires you to not be the

one who holds the moment, the power, the glory

to yourself. but is always trying to give that

away to others so they can be empowered to step

into what God wants them to do, so that the mission

of God can multiply. So the drastic need of the

hour requires more drastic disciples, and so

we have to put to death our need to be the center

of attention, to be the one who's thanked, to

be the one who's honored, to be the hero, and

instead take joy in making a hero of others.

So ask yourself, who's next? Who's next? Who

can lead this cord, this IDG, this ministry area

next? Who's the next person I can invite to church?

Who's the next person I'm just coming after in

prayer to see them in the kingdom of God? Who's

the next person I can invite around for dinner

around my table? Who's the next person I can

invite to read the Bible with? Who's next up

at Steve -O's? Who's next up for 24 -7 prayer?

Who's next up for church plant three, for four,

for five? We've got a gigantic God, drastic disciples,

and a multiplying mindset. Those are our family

values. And living into these family values will

help us live as a family together, united in

our difference, united in our desire to grow

the kingdom, not our own church. We're united

in our belief and our desire to take unreasonable

steps to reach the world. United in our belief

in a God who is powerful and who is with us and

who is secure. This is how we be family under

Jesus as we grow. We live into our family values.

Again, these are the values behind the things

that we already say that already are in our brains

and already in our life as a church. What does

it mean to be an encounter person? Well with

the gigantic God it means an encounter person

is utterly secure to get out on the water with

him. As a drastic disciple it means an encounter

person goes to drastic lengths to see God's kingdom

come. With a multiplying mindset it means an

encounter person is someone who multiplies themselves,

who does not keep it to themselves. What is an

encounter person? Secure, drastic and multiplying.

just like Jesus. But living into this requires

that we deny ourselves, pick up our cross and

follow Him. It requires us to pay the cost of

discipleship. It requires us to trust in God,

not in money or in people in our career or in

our families. It requires us to leave our own

way, our comfort zones, and leave no stone unturned.

It requires us to pursue our success, our glory

and our... Not to not pursue our success, our

glory and affirmation, but the success of others.

Guys, it requires surrender. First and foremost.

David Benner says this in his book, Desiring

God's Will. He says, the only reason someone

would voluntarily surrender their will is for

love. And any parent in the room knows this.

When we can do this, and we can do this, We can

live into these family values, but we'll only

do it for love. And I don't mean only that we

need to love God enough to surrender, although

for you that might actually be true. What I mean

is that we need to accept that God has loved

us enough to surrender his life for us. Because

friends, this is the gospel. The gospel is a

gigantic God, the only Lord and King of all creation

becomes flesh and blood and pays a drastic cost.

Dying on the cross for you and for me so that

the kingdom of God could be multiplied and Two

thousand years later you and I could sit in this

room and call on the name of Lord and be saved

Now friends, this is the kind of love that should

drive us to radically secure drastically multiplying

lives and what happens if we live these kind

of lives together in Henley and in Enfield and

all through the Adelaide City What happens? Well,

anything. Anything could happen. God could do

anything through you, in your workplaces, in

your schools, in your families, in Annerfield,

in Prospect, in Henley, in Adelaide. There is

actually no limit. The limit, the lid is off

on what God could do through us, through Encounter

Church. And all I can say is that the world better

lock up their governors because we have a gigantic

God. We are drastic disciples with multiplying

mindsets. And I wonder this morning how you,

as our Encounter Adelaide family camp comes to

an end, need to respond to God. There's three

things that I just felt like we needed to consider.

Maybe for you, you need to get a bigger God.

Maybe you're realizing you've put God in a box

around what He can do, who He can reach, how

He can heal. And you need to break Him out of

those boxes you placed Him in and fall on your

knees before a mighty God and holy God. Maybe

for you, acknowledging the way you need will

require you to physically get on your knees in

surrender. Maybe for you, you need to get drastic.

You realize you're stuck in the boat. because

of fear or pride or shame or whatever else. And

you actually need, you actually want and need

to get out on the water with Jesus. Maybe there's

something you know that God wants you to do that

you have been putting off or avoiding because

it seems unreasonable. God couldn't possibly.

It's just too hard. Maybe for you it's time to

get drastic. Do the thing make the plan take

the step get out of the boat Get out of the boat.

We were made to be on the water with Jesus and

the last one is Get over yourself and I say this

with all love and I'm saying this to myself as

well Because being consumed with yourself How

things will reflect on you how people will perceive

you that's the number one barrier to a multiplying

mindset If I make a hero of others Will it cost

me the praise that I want? Will it cost me the

recognition, the influence that I could have

had? If I make a hero of others, will no one

see all the hard work that I put in? If I tell

my friends about Jesus, if I step out in faith,

will they think I'm weird? I'm thinking about

ourselves, making it about ourselves. And maybe

for you, you need to spend some time this morning

to repent of the ways in which you have made

the kingdom of God, you've made the church, you've

made the mission of God about you. Because it's

not about you. It's not about me. It's not about

us. It's actually about God and what God's doing.

And God is reconciling the world to himself.

How do you need to respond this morning as one

family? Thanks so much for tuning into this week's

message. If you felt challenged or need prayer,

we'd love to hear from you on Instagram at encounterhemley.

Or if you're interested in how you can support

this ministry, please go to our website encounteradelaide

.com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.