Missionaries from City to Beach

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 will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Thank you for

bringing your gifts and your Braille Bible. That

was awesome. Let's pray. Holy Spirit, we want

to be a Bible -fed and Spirit -led church here.

And we need you to do that, Lord. So we pray

that you would just come and feed us by your

word and lead us by your Spirit. And we just

pray, Lord, that you would do your work here

today. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. If you

don't know me, I'm Tim. I'm one of the pastors

here. Approximately 40 years ago, I was not alive

then. A 16 year old was invited to fish and chips

at Henley Beach by a friend at school and he

accepted and because the girls were pretty when

they said we are going back to church to have

a prayer meeting before the service would you

like to come he said yes. So a young man who'd

never been inside a church before never even

considered Christianity at all, had no family

history of faith, no context for any that went

wrong to what he would describe as the weirdest

experience of his life, which is a circle of

women and men just absolutely going for it in

prayer. But he came back. Maybe he came back

because the girls were pretty, but he decided

within himself that if anyone pushed him to become

a Christian, he was out of there. But no one

did. And three months later, he had a moment

of clarity and a conversation with God and he

came to a realization. that the reality with

the Christian God at its center was more logical

than any other reality he'd come across. And

a few days later, someone asked him, what are

you going to do about this Jesus? And there and

then he committed his life to become a Christian

and a follower of Jesus. And it all started with

fish and chips at Henley Beach. Now that 16 -year

-old was my dad and Steph's dad as well. His

conversion, he's coming to faith. in Jesus radically

changed the trajectory of the Littleford family.

Both my both our parents came to faith as teenagers

and without both of them having an encounter

with Jesus in the western suburbs of Adelaide

neither Steph or I would probably be here. You

might wonder why in hosting every week we say

encounter Henley exists to see every person from

city to beach have an encounter with Jesus that

changes their lives. It's not just a good saying

that we like it is the story of our family. Our

parents lived from city to beach and our parents

had an encounter with Jesus and that encounter

changed their lives and our lives And since Jesus

ascended to heaven and the church was born God

through spirit has done this this exact thing

is Doing this and will continue to do this which

is reconciling people back to himself through

Jesus Bringing people who are not even considering

faith Have no context for faith into relationship

with himself. God is as we say on a mission and

this is clear from the scriptures and from church

history in every place and every time and every

culture. God has done this. God has brought people

to faith in him and in those times and places

where the powers that be have most strongly tried

to crush and oppose faith are the times when

God seems to bring an abundant harvest of souls

into saving faith with him. This is something

that happens. But to see people have an encounter

with Jesus that changes everything for them is

probably the thing that most of us want more

than anything, would give anything for, for certain

people in our lives, those that we love, so that

they would know the love, peace and resilience

that comes with faith. And yet it's the thing

we're least in control of. In encounter we talk

about having plus ones, those people that we

are in our lives that we're earnestly praying

for them to come into God's family. But our control

over whether they come to faith or not is is

pretty much next to nothing We can share faith

with them we can pray for them, but we can't

make anyone find faith in Jesus We can't force

anyone and as tempting as surprise baptisms are

I'm not sure they're that helpful So, how do

we make sense of this God is on a mission to

reconcile all people back to himself And we don't

really have control over it. But do we still

have some part to play? This month is mission

month for us. And over the next two weeks, we're

going to have compassion come and open doors.

And both of them are great international justice

ministries. They're trying to, in some ways and

in some places, put the world right. But I wanted

to start mission month this week, not with the

global, but with the local. with us. What is

our mission as followers of Jesus and as a church?

Now we use mission. If you're around church for

a while, we use the word mission a lot in the

church, but it's also used a lot in the business

world. This is my favorite outdoorsy brand, Zirali,

which my Zirali drink bottle is down there. This

is their mission. We're on a mission to renew

the human spirit through time spent in nature.

How good. There's a sense that mission is like

a kind of higher purpose that drives action Mission

is a kind of higher level purpose that drives

action and having a mission is great for your

business Because if you like me and I think that

the human spirit is renewed through spending

time in nature and we spend way too much time

on our screens and in concrete jungles Then you

align with their mission which I do and then

you get sucked into buying all their stuff, which

I have But what does mission mean theologically?

What does it mean in terms of God? Well, we want

to be like a meat and three veg kind of church,

right? So let's briefly unpack a theology of

mission. David Bosch just defines it as this.

Mission is alerting people to the universal reign

of God through Christ. This is our higher level

purpose that drives our action. This is the mission

that every single person who has had faith in

Jesus since the church was born has had. And

this is our mission if we have faith in Jesus.

Jesus is Lord of all. He reigns across space

and time and people need to know about it. They

need to be alerted. Now how do you alert someone

to something? There's two key ways through proclamation

and demonstration. I wondered, where were you

when the Oz Alert went off? I was in my office.

Do you know what the Oz Alert was? No? I was

in my office. I'd forgotten about it. I forgot

it was going to happen and it scared the poop

out of me. Oz Alert was a proclamation, a very

loud and off -putting one, that, hey, guys, we

have a new national emergency warning system,

as you can see and hear. The government alerted

us to this fact. They proclaimed it. But there's

another way to alert someone to something, and

that's to demonstrate it. We can alert someone

to a reality by living in such a way that shows

that it's true. And that would have been clear

to those who didn't get an Oz alert, but the

reality of it was demonstrated by everyone else

in your office or their office pooping their

pants because they were so shocked. by this Oz

alert. And the sheer sense of FOMO they would

have felt to have missed out on it. Mission is

alerting people to the fact that Jesus is Lord

of all. And we do that by proclaiming it, by

talking about it, by writing about it, by sharing

about it, by speaking out your own story of faith,

by telling your own biography of your faith.

By doing as the scriptures say always being ready

to give an account of the hope that we have But

we also do that by demonstrating it By living

and acting in such a way that it shows that it

is true By allowing the fruit of the Spirit to

come out of your life love joy peace patience

kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and

self -control By working to put the world right

through compassion meeting the other needs the

needs of others giving of yourself and working

for justice. Those are ways that we can alert

people to the reality that Jesus is Lord of all.

Proclaiming it and demonstrating it. Speaking

it out and living it out. Now there's a popular

quote which is attributed to Saint Francis of

Assisi. You may have heard of it, you may love

it, I'm sorry if you do. It says preach the gospel

at all times and if necessary use words. I'm

sorry but Saint Francis never said that. And

I think it's wrong, right? Because not only do

I think it's wrong, I think it's been used as

an excuse. It's become an excuse not to proclaim

the gospel with words. Because I'm living it

out. Here's the thing, true mission is neither

one or the other. It's not either proclamation

or demonstration. It's both and. It's both proclamation

and demonstration. Here's what happens if you're

only doing one over the other. If you speak out

that Jesus is Lord, but you don't live in such

a way that shows that it's true, then you're

just everyone's favourite stereotypical hypocritical

Christian, whose words do not align with their

actions. But if we live out in such a way that

shows that Jesus is Lord of all, you know, we're

loving and we're kind and we seek to put things

right in the world and we work for justice, but

we never proclaim with words. that we live this

way because Jesus is Lord of all. Then we become

everyone's favorite volunteer social worker and

basically good person. Everyone will think that

you're incredible because you're incredible and

not because Jesus has done something incredible

in your life. And those around you, they'll get

a glimpse of the kingdom of God because it's

pouring out of your life and that might make

us feel good but those people will never get

to hear about the king. And it's only through

the king does anyone have access to the kingdom

in its full. Romans 10 says, for everyone who

calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But how can they call on him to save them unless

they believe in him? And how can they believe

in him if they've never even heard about him?

And how can they hear about him unless someone

tells them? True mission is speaking it out and

living it out intricately held together. As mission

with integrity, it's the way that mission should

be. But hang on. That kind of definition of mission

seems to make it seem like we're in control of

this. But we know that we're really not. Well,

human beings, we love cause and effect, right?

We love knowing that we can put something in

the microwave, push a button, and it will come

out hot. And I think this is why we struggle

with the idea of mission sometimes. The cause,

the action that we take, does not reliably and

always produce... produce the effect, the result

we think should happen. And this is the way I

think we need to think about it. The idea of

mission is speaking out and living out the reality

of Jesus is Lord of all, is the cause that we

can and must take. This is the action that we

are in control of. We are control of how we live

our lives and what we say. But the effect that

is in God's hands, the result, whether someone

comes to faith or Jesus or not, and we have to

be okay with that. The action is in our hands,

but the result of the action isn't and that's

okay because the mission of God does not actually

belong to us We are not it's not activated by

us. It is God's mission and we are just participants

in it We get to play our part we get to take

the action of speaking it out and living it out

and leave the results to God Christopher right

is an Old Testament theologians explains it so

by saying this don't think about it being like

God's Church having a mission. Like Zirali has

a mission to renew the human spirit through time

and spend in nature. God's church doesn't have

a mission. God's mission has a church. The locus,

the responsibility for the mission is in God,

not in us. It's not our mission for God like

some kind of crusade. It's God's mission with

us. We're not the protagonist of this story,

God is. And the church is God's strategy to fulfill

his mission. The church, just a ragtag group

of ordinary people, living ordinary lives with

families and jobs and flaws and wounds and vulnerabilities.

Ordinary everyday people, but with an extraordinary

opportunity to participate in what God is doing

in the world. This is the way it's always been.

Now in terms of a strategic plan on God's end

you you probably couldn't rely on less reliable

people than Christians like Christians through

history and Today have been just disappointing

to say the least in so many ways Christians have

been so deeply unhelpful to the mission of God

and I'm like first in that category and Yet somehow

God continues to bring people to faith and always

has Somehow people are alerted to the fact that

Jesus reigns over all. And God does this through

the imperfect, anxious, half -baked demonstration

and proclamation of ordinary Christians. Isn't

this great? Through invitations to Hanley Beach

for fish and chips. Our best friend, Leslie Newbegan,

he's our best friend because I quote him all

the time, says that actually this makes perfect

sense. How is it possible, he says, that the

gospel should be credible? That people should

come to believe that the power which has the

last word in human affairs is represented by

a man hanging on a cross? The only answer is

a congregation of men and women who believe it

and live by it. How is it possible for people

to come to understand that a crucified Jesus

is Lord of all? It's a community of crucified

people. A community of flawed, suffering, vulnerable

people who actually believe the gospel and live

by it to the best of their ability. It's not

our strength as a church or our polish or our

social media or our budget or our public image

that makes the gospel credible to people. It's

actually our weakness. It's our authenticity.

It's our faith and determination to live by and

believe the gospel. despite the things that happen

in our lives, in our problems, in our sufferings,

in our vulnerabilities, and in our flaws. It

is the crucified Christ Lordship demonstrated

in the lives of ordinary, weak, broken, flawed

people like you and me that makes the gospel

credible to the world. It's a community of women

and men who would pick up their cross and go

and be crucified with Jesus. This is what makes

to gospel credible. Is there any wonder that

Jesus says to the Apostle Paul, my power is made

perfect in weakness. God's mission has a church

but has a fragile church and it's always been

this way. Our reading which Amy did a great job

of is from the missionary journeys of the Apostle

Paul and Paul's journey dominates the book of

Acts from his conversion in Acts chapter 9. And

Acts 9 · chapter mention

they're described as missionary journeys because

Paul is a missionary. He is on mission. It's

in the word. And his mission is to alert the

Jews and Gentiles, which is a casual word for

all non -Jews, to the universal reign of God

through Christ. And if you read through Acts

9 to 18, you see a pattern. Paul goes to a town.

He starts sharing with the Jewish community.

In the synagogue, he'll alert them to the fact

that Jesus is along the way to Messiah, the King

and Lord. Some will believe and some won't. And

then he moves on to the Gentiles. And he will

alert them to the Lordship of Jesus. And some

believe and some don't. He plants a church with

those people. And then there is some kind of

uprising against him. He gets beaten up or arrested

or driven out. And then he moves on to the next

town. That is Paul's pattern. Paul is on mission.

He's there speaking out about Jesus and living

out Jesus' Lordship. And some believe, but some

just don't believe. In fact, they actively oppose

him and persecute him. And notice that Paul seems

to be far more interested in the actions that

he can perform to preach the gospel than the

results he sees from his preaching. He controls

what he can control. And when they don't believe,

he shakes the dust from his clothes and moves

on. And that's exactly what he does here in Acts

18. He arrives in Corinth, which is a major Greek

city from Athens, goes to the synagogue. He does

his pattern. He tries to alert the Jews to the

reality that Jesus is Lord and they insult him

and they oppose him. And so he dusts his feet

and moves on. And as has always happened, Jews

and Gentiles come to faith in Jesus. But something

curious happens then, which is recorded in Acts

18. A vision that Paul has from the Lord. The

Lord says to him, do not be afraid. Speak it

out Don't be silent for I'm with you. No one

attack you and harm you for many people in the

city belong to me The only reason why the Lord

would say do not be afraid to Paul It's because

Paul's afraid Paul's afraid You know, sometimes

I think we have this caricature of Paul that

he's like this type a plus plus apex predator

extrovert like who's just totally driven and

unflappable and doesn't matter what you do he's

like a raging bull in a china shop he's just

get out of his way but paul's afraid paul's afraid

here and something like seven times before this

in the book of acts and this is just what's recorded

in acts alone we have a record of paul being

opposed and insulted in his preaching has resulted

in something like jail beatings or plots against

his life and all other kinds of misery, seven

times. And Paul is afraid that this will happen

again. Paul is afraid of the consequences of

speaking out. But Jesus comes to Paul in a vision

and says, don't be afraid, speak out. I'm with

you, no one will harm you. So many in this city

belong to me. Basically, Paul, you're safe. Get

to work. And I find this little interaction deeply

comforting because Paul is like me. Paul is like

us. Paul is afraid of the consequences of speaking

out about Jesus. And this is the barrier that

I think most of us have in our culture towards

the idea of mission. We're mostly happy to live

it out, but we are afraid of the consequences

of what will happen when we speak out about the

Lordship of Jesus. Paul is afraid of being beaten

up and thrown in jail. Why are we afraid? We

are not liable to be beaten and jailed and driven

out of town for speaking about Christ. Why are

we afraid to speak out? I think we're afraid

because just like Paul's declaration that a crucified

man was the Messiah, which is offensive to the

Jewish worldview, claiming that a man crucified

2 ,000 years ago is alive and is Lord of all

and will reign and rule over everything. That's

offensive to a secular worldview. Australian

theologian John Goldsworthy, he gives us four

marks of secularism. They should be up on the

screen. They're big words, so write them down

and Google them later. Autonomous individualism.

Narcissistic hedonism. reductive naturalism absolute

moral relativism these are big technical words

write them down Google them later but these four

paint a kind of story the secular worldview is

a kind of story about how life works it says

you do you boo you don't need anyone else don't

let anything get in the way of your dreams and

your pleasure your happiness. It's all just atoms

and chemicals. That's just your truth. But the

Lordship of Jesus Christ tells a different, completely

different story. You are a highly dependent relational

creature, unique community. You are most alive

when you don't live for yourself but you give

yourself away in love to others. The universe

isn't just atoms but it's laced with beauty and

meaning and praise to God. And that Jesus is

the way, the truth, and the life, the only way.

The Lordship of Jesus is in so many ways opposed

to the secular worldview. In a culture that says

that every truth is valid, articulating a worldview

that says that the story about Jesus is actually

the true story of the universe. And therefore,

if this story is true, then everyone else's is

wrong. It feels like we're being offensive, or

we risk being offensive. And we love people.

and we don't want to offend them. So what do

we do? Well our best friend Leslie Newbegin,

he's our bestie, he says that even though we

may hold this story about Jesus to be true personally,

which is what we're encouraging our culture,

this is your personal, that's your personal,

that's what you believe, we hold it with universe,

we hold this story to be true with universal

intent, which means we hold Jesus to be as Lord

to be true for everyone universally regardless

of whether they agree or believe. It's true for

everyone or it's not at all. And this is the

test of our faith Leslie says in this story about

Jesus and our willingness to publish our belief

about it. He says we believe that the truth of

the human story has been disclosed in the events

which form the substance of the gospel. We believe

therefore that these events are the real clue

to the story of every human person. For every

human life is a part of the whole human story

and cannot be understood apart from that story.

So it follows that the test of our real belief

is our readiness to share with all peoples. Publishing

is a great word. When you publish something,

I imagine, because I've never published anything,

but you're putting yourself out there, right?

You're writing down your thoughts about something,

your opinion. You put your work into concrete

and shareable terms. And the very act of publishing

something invites others to engage with it, wrestle

with it, accept it or reject it, critique it.

In publishing what you believe, you're putting

what you believe out there in concrete and shareable

terms. I am a Christian because I believe Jesus

is Lord because. inviting everyone, others, to

accept or reject. But publishing is a hugely

vulnerable thing to do, precisely because it

opens you up to both acceptance and rejection,

to praise and to criticism. And I think that

is what we are most afraid of. What if I say

the wrong thing? What if I tell my best friend

the truth about what I believe about Jesus and

they reject me? What if I write an Instagram

post about what Jesus done in my life and someone

calls me an idiot? What if and we end up like

Marty McFly's dad from back to the future He

never publishes his work because he doesn't think

he could take that kind of rejection Publishing

is a great word because it runs down the highway

of the secular mainframe of ideas. We live in

a culture of a multitude of truths, many mutually

exclusive, all held together in this melting

pot we call pluralism. You can write that down

and Google it later. It's a melting pot of ideas

about the true story of the world. Every religion

in our culture has its own ultimate story. Atheism

has its own story. Agnosticism has its own story.

Just being a good person is an ultimate story

about the universe. You can even make up your

own. And in the midst of all these stories, you

as a Christian, if you are, you can publish yours.

You can publish the story of your faith. I had

an encounter with Jesus that changed my life.

I believe he is Lord of all. What do you think?

What's your story? No secular person I think

will find this conversation offensive. In fact,

I think they'll just find you very fascinating.

But here's why the conversation is so important.

Here's why we must be courageous enough to speak

out. The secular story is failing. It is failing.

It's failing them. It's failing those who hold

into it because it appears to be solid, but it's

actually hollow at the core. It promises things

it can never deliver on. You know, there's four

marks of secularism, autonomous individualism.

We're in a loneliness epidemic. narcissistic

hedonism, we're probably the most dedicated and

depressed culture ever. Reductive naturalism,

I don't think anyone really believes that anymore.

An absolute moral relativism, we're finding out

in so many different ways that that actually

doesn't work in reality. The secular story is

leaving a trail of devastation of the people

who believe it in our society and in our children.

But the Lordship of Jesus tells a better story.

It's a better story because it is the truth story

on publishing my belief. And you are a part of

that better story if you have faith in Jesus.

What would happen if you published what you believe

to those around you? But maybe for you, you wouldn't

say that I believe in Jesus or I've had an encounter

with him. But I want to say to you, if that's

you, if you're... If you're here, it's because

God is drawing you towards Himself. Through the

things that you hear and the people that come

into your life, through the tugging of your heart

for a better story. God is always doing this.

He is always inviting people into a better story,

into the true story. My question for you, if

that's you, is what are you going to do about

it? What will you do with it? Josh, can you get

on the piano? God has a mission and He has invited

you to participate in it. To be an ordinary person

caught up in an extraordinary purpose. But there

is an entry price to participate in the mission

of God. Do you want to know what it is? The entry

price is courage. Courage. Paul had courage.

He had the courage to keep speaking out even

though he knew he'd probably get bashed for it.

Thrown in jail, thrown out of town. Every person

who has ever played a part in the mission of

God did so with courage. The courage to speak

out, the courage to demonstrate the reality of

Jesus' Lordship. I want to play a video for you

and I really hope it works. It's from Diary of

a CEO, which is one of the most popular podcasts

on the planet right now. That's an interview

with Professor John Lennox, who is a mathematician.

You should just be able to click on it, it should

work. It should be embedded, sure. All right,

basically what he says, he... John Lennox is

a mathematician and he went on and he's also

an apologist So they're talking about a lot of

different faiths and he ends the interview Stephen

who's The guy who hosts he says look The most

compelling argument for faith in Jesus Christ

isn't anything that you've said It's not anything

that you've articulated The most compelling argument

for the Christian faith is not what you've said.

It's actually you You have a piece Every Christian

I've had on this show they have something that

stands out that I haven't seen anywhere else.

The most compelling argument is actually you.

And that's the same for you, friends. The most

compelling argument for the Christian faith is

not the words you have to say, it's not how articulate

you are about the gospel, it's actually just

you. Authentically living it out and being willing

to speak out about it. So I want to give you

some Henley homework. It's back. Everyone's favorite

sermon segment. Your Hanley homework is find

one way that you can publish your faith to those

around you this week. Just one. It doesn't have

to be big. Just put it out there. See what happens.

Courage is the price of entry. And we have no

greater model of courage in the mission of God

than Jesus Christ. Facing down. the fear of what

was to come and yet stepping forward into God's

mission with courage and trust. We have no greater

moral than Jesus Christ allowing himself to be

crucified enduring its pain and its shame so

that we can be reconciled to God forever. Jesus

courageously went to the cross to save us. There

is no greater model of courage than Jesus Christ

on the cross doing for us what friends we could

not do for ourselves. You think Jesus felt no

fear about being nailed to a tree? And yet he

chose to do it anyway. You think Paul felt no

fear facing down mobs and jails and beatings

and attempts on his life? He was afraid. And

yet he chose to do it anyway. Courage is not

an absence of fear, but choosing to do something

that frightens you. I wonder friends, what are

you really afraid of today? I can almost guarantee

that a 16 year old boy named Cameron felt some

fear inviting a massive six foot six teenager

whose love language is making fun of you. Which

is my dad. To come back for a prayer meeting

at church? Imagine the content that he was handing

him on a platter. But this guy who I've never

met, he felt the fear and he did it anyway. and

it changed the whole trajectory of my family.

Friends, I wonder if you'd be willing to stand.

And I want you to close your eyes if you're willing

and put your hands out in front of you. And to

finish today, I just want to invite you to close

your eyes. And we're going to confess our fear

to the Lord if you're willing to do this. And

so for those of you in the room, if you're like

me and you have to say, God, I confess I'm afraid

and that is why I struggled to speak out. I want

you to lift up my hand. I'll put my hand up first.

God, I confess I'm afraid and that is why I struggled

to speak out. If that's you. If you want to ask

God for courage today, I just invite you to lift

your hand. I want to pray for you. Lord Jesus,

we confess that we have been afraid. We confess

Lord Jesus that we have put our fear in the way,

that we have thought more of what is the impact

is going to be on us than on those that we can

share the good news with. Let's go. We say we're

sorry. And we say Lord, please drive fear out

of our life We know perfect love drives out fear

fill our hearts with your love so that the fear

may go Lord give us courage Even when the fear

is there to speak out For we're surrounded by

women and men whose story about the world is

failing them And we have a better story So come

Lord Jesus for every person who have put their

hand up physically or they've put their hand

up in their heart Lord fill them with your Holy

Spirit fresh in in you. Fill them to overflow

Lord with their life flow from their belief in

you and from their willingness to live it out

Lord. We pray that and I ask that many people

would come to faith in you through the women

and men that are standing here today. That the

churches of Adelaide would be filled with women

and men who have heard about Jesus through the

lips of these people in this room. who have seen

with their eyes what a life abandoned, surrendered

to you looks like. And we pray for every person

that they've heard the gospel or they've heard

about the kingdom or they've seen it with their

eyes, Lord, that they would come and meet you,

the King, and that they would bow their knee

to you, and that they would find life and life

to the full in you, Jesus. We pray this in your

name. Amen. Friends, let's continue singing and

giving our praise to God. the One who has come

for us. 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 encounterhenley.

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.