Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Karma Church podcast.
[00:00:10] Hey, thank you so much.
[00:00:12] Do grab a seat. It's such a joy, such a privilege to be here.
[00:00:17] We've been loving what God has been doing, this church and it's just I've been wanting to come for a while to learn. So it's just amazing to be here with you and what a time to be alive in the church in the uk.
[00:00:33] All the encouraging things we're seeing. Again, just hearing stories of the numbers of salvation here. But I know what's so wonderful is it's right across the church. We were gathering to pray last night, Gastri and just hearing a couple of stories. We're beginning to see a large number of particularly Iranian men and women convert from being Muslims to Christianity. It's so encouraging. But just this one story yesterday evening, this lady, she's been a Christian for a while and her parents flew in from Iran to spend some time with her and actually they were very respectful of her decision to become a follower of Jesus. But consider Jesus to be a prophet, he's not the son of God. But while the parents were with them last week, the mother suddenly got very, very sick and was rushed to hospital and they gave him morphine, but she reacted very badly to the morphine and basically her heart stopped beating, she stopped breathing. And this lady was sent out the kind of hospital ward while the mother was basically dying and the kind of doctors rushed in CPR desperately trying to bring it back to life.
[00:01:44] And this young lady who's part of our church was on her knees outside praying, Jesus, please save my mom, save my mum.
[00:01:53] After a while the doctors came, said, look, your mum's okay, she's come through and you can go and speak to her. And she goes in and like, mom, how are you? And this mother says, I had the most remarkable thing.
[00:02:06] Basically I met Jesus and Jesus led me beside this beautiful river which was just crystal clear, these green pastures.
[00:02:17] And I believe, I believe Jesus is the son of God. And so they've become Christians. And so all over the place we're just seeing Jesus reach into people's lives. You had another encouraging story where a little While ago this 13 year old kid turned up at church and he didn't know anyone. And this older lady sort of saw, he looked a bit awkward and uncomfortable, chatted to him, said, you know, what brings you here? And he said, well, the weirdest thing, I woke up this morning and I just thought, I have to go to church. He said, my parents aren't Christians, I've never been to church before. And so he did what any kid would do, he googled church near me. And it just so happened that our church was the top of the kind of engine search. And so he walked half an hour to get get there on his own. Now That's a miracle. 13 year old boy walking 30 minutes to get somewhere and he walks in. So this older lady meets him and sits with him. And at the end of the gathering my wife Rachel gets up and says, I think there's someone here with anger issues and God wants to really meet with you. And this kid turns to this older lady, said that's me, I've got anger issues. How does she know, you know, what do I do? He said, well, let's pray for you. She prays with this young guy, is filled with the spirit, becomes a Christian, is part of the youth group now.
[00:03:43] So and again what I love, we're seeing more and more stories of salvation where no one can get the credit other than Jesus.
[00:03:55] And so it's beautiful time.
[00:03:58] Steve asked me just to share a little bit of my story. And what I wanted to unpack is something of why I believe worship is so central to what it is to be a follower of Christ and to be the church. But When I was 11 years old I went to this conference called New Wine. It's a Bible Week, 1989, it's the first one ever.
[00:04:21] And my dad was a pastor. So I've grown up in the church. But I'll never forget stepping into this auditorium. There's probably about a thousand people and a Canadian worship leader called Andy Park, I don't know if people remember him, was leading worship and it was just amazing. And I remember walking in and just being overwhelmed by the sense of God's presence. And this is as an 11 year old just suddenly understanding something profound is happening here.
[00:04:52] And this isn't people singing theology or singing about God. I suddenly clocked people, people are singing to God. This is about a relationship and there's a sense of incredible love and gratitude and excitement and wonder in that place as we worshiped. And in that week I was profoundly filled with the spirit and my life was changed. And actually just this weekend I've been in Dubai leading worship with friend Matt Redmond. He was in that same room at that same conference. He would have been about 15 and again it was a key moment for him.
[00:05:28] And another great friend of mine, Martin Smith, he also was in that room mixing sound that conference and he was filled with the spirit for the first time off the back of that conference, he wrote a song, lord, you have My Heart, one of the first worship songs he wrote.
[00:05:45] And so that profoundly marked me that actually we get to enjoy relationship with Jesus, with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And when we give our hearts to pursue him, to seek him, to spend time in his presence, wonderful things happen. And so I remember I went home after this conference and said to my mum and dad, I need to learn the guitar. Andy park played a guitar. I need to learn the guitar. And so slightly, strangely, they signed me up for viola lessons.
[00:06:20] And, you know, I tried. I stuck at it for a few months, and we all agreed it wasn't my gift or call. And, you know, I've never seen anyone really lead worship on the viola.
[00:06:31] But eventually I learned to play the guitar.
[00:06:35] And the way I learned to play the guitar was basically learning all the Vineyard songs. Graham Kendrick and then Matt Rebman, who's a bit ahead of me, and Martin. And I would spend hours upon hour in my room as a teenager, and I just pour out my heart, I'd worship.
[00:06:53] And after a while, I got bored of singing everyone else's songs. And it's like there's something in me that just wanted to try and express my love, my longings, my journey before God. And I look back on that season, particularly from the age of 15 to 19, I would spend hours, and I see that in that place, God was preparing me for everything that was to come. In many ways, so much of what I believe I'm living in began to be unlocked on Earth in that time, in the hidden place where I was never thinking about recording songs or leading a church or traveling around. It was just I had to be with God. It's like the worship and the longing to spend time in his presence was so deep.
[00:07:44] And that's the challenge, isn't it, in life and leadership, to keep that hunger and that longing, that time and space to be in God's presence, where it's not about in your presence, to pray for this or in your presence, because I need to write a talk for xyz. It's just. I just have to be with you, Jesus, to enjoy you. Because this, this is where I feel most alive. And this is where my heart suddenly reconnects. It's reset on you.
[00:08:11] And when I went to university and I studied American history, actually, and while I was at university, I wrote this song called Here I Am to worship.
[00:08:26] I'd have been about 20 years old.
[00:08:29] And again, I remember, actually, I was laughing with Matt at the weekend, because I played it to him.
[00:08:35] He was 20 years old and he's like, yeah, it's all right. Have you got anything else?
[00:08:42] Never trust Matt Roman when it comes to songs.
[00:08:46] And so I thought, well, it must be rubbish. So I kind of sat on it and didn't do anything with it. And then about probably a year later, I was leading words for this event. I thought, you know what? I'm just going to try it, try it right at the end of the meeting. So if it's a disaster, it's fine.
[00:09:02] And I started to sing this song and it just.
[00:09:06] Something exploded in the room and it completely and utterly stunned me and shocked me. And we've all been in those meetings where songs suddenly sung and something just shifts.
[00:09:17] Who knows what or why or how that happens? But it did. And that song just suddenly went all over the world. And I'm 21, I've just graduated. I'm Soul Survival Watford, working with Matt the Worship in Mike Pavace, and I'm being asked to lead worship all over the world, starting to record songs and again, like, feeling completely out of my depth, overwhelmed.
[00:09:43] But it began this season of leading worship, writing songs. I then ended up launching a ministry called Worship Central, with a vision and a passion to train and equip worship leaders to see the church ablaze in worship.
[00:09:58] But then, probably 12 years ago, I began to feel this call to actually with my wife Rachel, to lead a church.
[00:10:07] And there's a bit of me, if I'm honest, that was getting frustrated because I'd teach on worship, but it would be worship leaders that would turn up and musicians, and they were like, they were all in. Yeah, more time for worship, more investment in creativity. We need to worship. But it was the church leaders, it was the pastors, because they're the gatekeepers. They were the one that were often blocking the way.
[00:10:30] And I was getting frustrated. You know, leaders say, well, of course you're going to say that. You're a musician, you're a creative, you're a worship leader.
[00:10:38] And the other thing was, like, I was getting frustrated and just longing for my own stories of seeing God at work rather than just going to other conferences and hearing what God was doing in other parts of the world. I wanted to be on an adventure with a group of friends. We moved to a city and we saw what could God do as we just give ourselves to worship him. So 10 years ago, my wife and I, Rachel, we moved to Birmingham with a small team.
[00:11:03] And the last 10 years, it's been amazing. It's been so exciting to see all that God has done. We've seen salvation, we've seen growth, we've seen people step into their call.
[00:11:12] God move in miraculous ways. But what has heartened me most is all of these things I've been preaching about as a worship leader, to worship leaders for so many years, about centering a church on worship, that our highest calling is to be a people of worship. That when we give ourselves and create space for the spirit of God to take control and to move. Actually this isn't just theory. It works.
[00:11:36] It works. And we've seen as a church, as we have devoted time, time, energy, resource to worshiping God, to being in his presence. He has been moving in power.
[00:11:49] And so I want to talk today about worship. And I'm speaking to you as a church leader, as a worship pastor. And I know there's probably a mix of both of you in the room. And I want to look at a passage of scripture in Amos.
[00:12:05] Amos 9.
[00:12:07] And this prophetic word comes to the people of Israel. And if you've read Amos, it's pretty bleak. It's not the most feel good prophetic word given to a people ever. But in Amos 9 there's this ray of hope, this moment where suddenly what could be begins to unveil, says this Amos 9 11.
[00:12:33] In that day I will restore David's fallen shelter. I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins, and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, declares the Lord.
[00:12:51] The days are coming, declares the Lord, when the reaper will be overtaken by the ploughman and the planter, by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring my exiled people Israel. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
[00:13:11] Now, when you hear words like rebuild, broken walls, ruin, repair, you know that there's a problem here.
[00:13:22] But for the original recipients, the people of Israel, they'd have been shocked because they thought we are God's chosen people. We are crushing it, we are acing it in life. What do you mean? We need to rebuild and repair.
[00:13:37] But they failed to understand. God was speaking not about the exterior, he was speaking into their hearts and the spiritual state of their hearts and the nation who'd moved far away from God.
[00:13:52] Again, God wasn't fussed about the outward measurements of success. He's always looking at the heart.
[00:13:58] And Amos effectively is saying this, you need to remember this, that without God, you on a road to nowhere. You're a fallen down shelter. But the hope for your nation is in returning to true worship, returning to your maker, returning to surrender and utter devotion to him.
[00:14:23] And to better understand this prophetic word, we need to skip back 250 years approximately to the time of King David. Amos talks about this restoration of David's shelter.
[00:14:37] And many of us, we know the story of David 17 approximately. He's set apart and he's prophesied over and he's told by prophet Samuel that he will be the next king of Israel.
[00:14:54] Saul had turned away from God, pursued his own path, become disobedient, and David is now being told he will be the next king.
[00:15:06] That must be an incredible prophetic word to receive at such a young age.
[00:15:11] And this is the interesting thing with the prophetic, you probably imagine it's going to happen straight away, but David waits years. It's not until he's 30 that he eventually becomes king. It's another seven years until he's king of both Israel and Judah. That's a long time to begin to imagine what will my leadership look like? How will it be when I'm king? How am I going to lead the people, God? What are you going to call me into? What do I do?
[00:15:39] And we know those first days as a leader are so important. They talk about the first hundred days where you really begin to set apart, you know, and set aside your vision, you declare, you begin to communicate. This is what we're going to be about. This is the sign on the bus, jump on. This is what we are going to be about.
[00:16:02] And so when David is eventually crowned king, he begins to communicate and demonstrate what his rule and reign is going to be about. And we read that he goes and he takes the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant which represents the presence of God.
[00:16:22] Again, this extraordinary thing where God says to Israel, you're my people, I'm your God, I'm going to be present with you, making this incredible covenant with you.
[00:16:37] But under King Saul, the Ark of the Covenant had been marginalized.
[00:16:42] It was on the margins and forgotten any sense of God really bringing leadership and direction and guidance to the people of Israel had gone. And David wants to restore this. So we see in 2 Samuel 6, verse 12 we read that David went to bring up the Ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
[00:17:05] When those who are carrying the Ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he Sacrificed to burn a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might while he and all Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord. With shouts and the sound of trumpets, they brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he'd finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Now I imagine this David, he begins to gather his royal advisors. His team said, here's the plan.
[00:17:47] We're gonna take the Ark of the Covenant, we are gonna bring it to Jerusalem, we're gonna set up a tent and we're gonna worship 24 7.
[00:17:57] And they must be thinking, David, are you mad?
[00:18:01] Because surely they're thinking, David, it's about the economy. This is about making Israel successful and wealthy.
[00:18:11] They must have been thinking, David, you're this great warrior hero, Surely it's about the army making Israel great again. Let's get red hats and go for it. Let's make this nation prosperous.
[00:18:29] But David says, no, it's none of that.
[00:18:32] We're going to be about worship.
[00:18:35] And we're told that in this tent day and night, they employed 4,000 musicians.
[00:18:43] Just imagine that. The HR department must have had an absolute nightmare.
[00:18:49] 4,000 musicians trying to get keep them in order. They had 288 singers, 4,000 gatekeepers to run everything.
[00:18:57] It's estimated by today's standard of money. David and Israel were spending $30 million per month to steward prayer and worship.
[00:19:10] This wasn't like a little additional thing on the side. It'd be good to have a bit of prayer, be good to have a place to worship. No, this was everything.
[00:19:21] This was everything because David understood to turn the hearts of the nation of Israel back to God, to see Israel flourish and be all that it's called to be. It wasn't enough just to have money and resources, a five year strategic plan, great branding. They needed the power and the presence of God to mark a nation.
[00:19:45] The author, David Fritch, he says this.
[00:19:48] The presence of God was David's political strategy. It was his governmental platform and foundation. He knew the presence of God was the solution to a nation in crisis.
[00:20:02] The presence of God, the solution for a nation in crisis.
[00:20:09] And so for Israel, they began this journey. 33 years of worship and prayer, 24 7. And the impact was extraordinary. As they centered themselves on being a people of worship, God began to Move in wonderful ways in the nation. They a period of incredible military favor and success, unprecedented peace. The economy exploded. People came from all over the world to understand why were they being so blessed and prospered. And in just one generation, Israel rose from a nation of misfits to a global superpower.
[00:20:49] And it happened as they gave themselves to worship.
[00:20:55] When you would visit Jerusalem and walk into that city, you'd begin to hear the sound of people worshiping, the sound of music. So many of these psalms are written in this temple of worship. You'd begin to smell the aroma of sacrifice. It meant that anyone who visited Jerusalem knew that, hey, this nation is all about Yahweh, the Lord Almighty.
[00:21:21] It became the defining thing again about the people of Israel.
[00:21:27] We know, we read the headlines, we listen to the stories in our churches. People are broken, God confused, overwhelmed, hurting.
[00:21:37] And the dangers. As leaders, we feel like, ah, it's all on us to somehow fix them.
[00:21:44] But what if we began to lead in a way that recognized the presence of God is the solution to a nation in crisis, to a family in crisis, to an individual in crisis.
[00:22:01] When we planted gastric 10 years ago, a friend of mine, he had this prophetic word that as a church we'd be woven in worship.
[00:22:12] That as we spent time worshiping and praying that it would never ever be a waste. In fact, what would happen is God would begin to weave his plan in and through our community.
[00:22:24] That as we worship, as we invested in that, we'd begin to see God outwork strategic plans that we'd almost accidentally step into. God would begin to add people to us that would enable us to step up into new sense of vision and call that as we worship, God would begin to lead us and guide us and shine a light on the things that we needed to pay attention to.
[00:22:48] As we worship, we would begin to see people come to Christ.
[00:22:54] And we've seen like here, hundreds of people come to Christ over the last few years and time and time again, the testimony, the story is I stepped into church, a friend brought me, and as you guys began to sing, I began to weep. I began to cry.
[00:23:12] I was overwhelmed with this deep sense of love.
[00:23:16] I remember once leading worship a while ago. And at the end, this is. It was in London and we finished the service and this guy starts walking up to me and he's got tears in his eyes and I suddenly do a double take because the guy before me is a massive Hollywood A lister. You know, everyone here would know who it is. It's not like the celebrities who do Strictly Come Dancing. And my kids have to explain what they're famous for.
[00:23:43] Country file. What's that?
[00:23:47] This is like proper, proper celeb. And he's crying and he says, what was that?
[00:23:56] What was that?
[00:23:58] He said when we were singing, what was that? I was feeling.
[00:24:03] I've never experienced anything like that. And I could say, well, that's the presence of God.
[00:24:08] It's good.
[00:24:10] And he's showing you the extent of his love. And it struck me, he's a guy who had everything the world had to offer. Great riches and money, great influence, sense of success, accomplishment.
[00:24:23] And yet when he experienced the presence of God, he was undone.
[00:24:28] Now, I don't know where he is spiritually now, but he experienced the love of God, the presence of God.
[00:24:37] This girl recently became a Christian at our church, and we were baptizing her, and she shared her testimony. She said, when I first stepped into this building and everyone began to sing and worship, I didn't understand it, but I felt it.
[00:24:55] I felt it.
[00:24:57] And for some of us, perhaps we're so cautious around emotions, we're so focused on the intellect, that we forget humanity is driven most by our desires and our cravings and our emotions. And God is cutting through the mess, the noise, the distractions, and he's revealing his love. He's beginning to meet a deep longing in people's hearts.
[00:25:28] And so we need at times to get out of the way and allow people to meet Jesus Christ by his spirit.
[00:25:38] And I believe that's what happens when we worship.
[00:25:45] We need to understand the primary call on our church today is not evangelism.
[00:25:56] It's not mission.
[00:25:59] It's worship that is our highest priority, our highest core. Now, I spent 10 years working at HDB with Nicky Gumball, who is my hero, Alpha course, extraordinary move of evangelism.
[00:26:15] But I'd say first and foremost, our call as the church, as the people of God, is worship.
[00:26:24] And David, he embodies this.
[00:26:27] He shows this when he's leading the Ark of the Covenant. And, you know, there's a bit of a journey to it being done right? But when they eventually lead the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, we're told that he's wearing a linen ephod. And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might.
[00:26:45] Now, this is David's coronation. He's expected to wear royal robes. This is a moment for him to show off. I am your king. This is a moment for Israel to say, look how powerful, how, how great, how impressive we are. Look at our king. Look how amazing he looks. All the royal pomp, all the sense of ceremony and prestige.
[00:27:08] This was a moment where the king was almost to be recognized as like the gods.
[00:27:14] And David is wearing a linen ephod, a simple robe that would have been worn by the Levites, the priests.
[00:27:23] Why is he doing this?
[00:27:27] And even more than that, the psalm he writes, which is to be sung as he's crowned king, is Psalm 24, verses 7, 8. Lift up your heads, you gates be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. What is going on here? David is saying, I'm not a king who's coming to rule and reign, to sit on a throne over you. I am a priest. I'm coming to be a mediator. And I'm coming to point you to the true king who is strong and mighty, the Lord God Almighty. He is the rightful ruler. He is the king who reigns. And I'm joining with you to worship him. But I'm wanting to be someone who. Who leads you into his presence.
[00:28:26] That's the kind of leaders we need today.
[00:28:29] Priests, we're mediators. We minister to God in our worship, in our study of Scripture, in our prayer, in our radical generosity with our money and our words and our time and our sacrificial love of the broken around us.
[00:28:47] We minister to God first, but then out of that, we minister to his people.
[00:28:53] And sometimes we get it the wrong way around. We're spending so much energy and time ministering to people, and we're wondering why we're getting burnt out, why we're losing focus while we're not seeing all the things we long to see happen. And it's gotta be this way around. Worship first, service second.
[00:29:12] Richard Foster, his book, Celebration of Discipline, he puts it that way. Worship first, service second.
[00:29:19] But again, the danger, if we're really honest, for some of us, as leaders, unintentionally, accidentally, we get it mixed up, and we're serving first, and we're giving God the dregs in our worship.
[00:29:34] And then even in our churches, the endless activity maybe gives us a sense of momentum.
[00:29:43] We're going places, stuff's happening. I've got to change the city.
[00:29:48] And again, we're not cultivating, we're not discipling and teaching a people what it is to be worshippers.
[00:30:00] Mother Teresa, again, probably held up as one of the great social activists, an incredible woman of compassion who served in the streets of Calcutta.
[00:30:12] But she would get Frustrated when people pigeonholed her as, like, just a social activist, she said, no, no, you've got to understand this about me. I'm a contemplative.
[00:30:25] She's saying, I'm a worshiper first.
[00:30:28] And she said, the reason I'm here on the streets giving my life to those who have nothing is because it was in worship and prayer I encountered the love of Jesus Christ. And it's in worship and prayer that he has led me to serve the needs around me. Worship first, service second.
[00:30:47] And this is my conviction, this is what we're beginning to see, is that if you become a church and a people obsessed with worship, with the presence of God, you begin to become a people that is bursting full of compassion and radical love. It's a community that suddenly the loss of being drawn to and finding hope, answers to their problems, healing, salvation again. As David Fritsch puts it, if you prioritize presence in the church, you get kingdom in the city, presence in the church, kingdom in the city.
[00:31:26] You set a people on fire for Jesus, then they burn all over the place.
[00:31:35] I believe it's the call of God on us. I believe it's what we're beginning to see happen.
[00:31:41] Just a few quick practical things.
[00:31:44] How do we do this in our churches, in our teams? How do we build cultures of worship? How do we create space and time for this? Well, first, it starts with you.
[00:31:56] It starts with you, David dancing before the ark with all his might, being ridiculed.
[00:32:04] He's like, I've become even more undignified than this.
[00:32:10] Bob Sorge, the author, says, this worship leading is taking your private cry and making it public.
[00:32:16] Too many of us were leading in the public sphere, in space, but there's no private cry ringing within too many of us.
[00:32:27] Even when it comes to our Sundays, we don't model worship. You know, the church leader working on their talk at the front while everyone else is worshiping. The church leaders, so obsessed with timekeeping that you're curtailing worship, people are looking at you.
[00:32:48] You set the culture of your church in terms of worship.
[00:32:54] And some of the most amazing churches I've been to where there is incredible worship, you walk in and you realize actually it's not about the amazing musicians or the songs. You look and you see, it's the leaders worshiping their guts out, overcome with the joy of goodness, of God, weeping in worship on their knees, undone rather than so focused on how to deliver a great talk. Now, I know when you're leading, of course, there's practical things to Be thinking through. And yes, of course, we've got to be thinking about structures and times, but don't think, oh, if I only got that worship leader in, that musician in, that production gear in, then my church would know what it is to worship. No, no, you, you, you set the tone. It starts with you. Secondly, release worshipers, not performers.
[00:33:52] So obvious. But often we get caught up in trying to give excellence. And of course we believe we want both worshippers and excellence.
[00:34:02] But first and foremost, look for those who know what it's like and know what it is to worship in God's presence, who have a tender heart towards the spirit, who are hearts are full of love and thanks.
[00:34:22] Because the danger is, when we work on all the exterior, things might be impressive, we might feel great about it, but people don't need to experience amazing things from the stage. They need to experience the love of Jesus.
[00:34:41] I love what Kerry Newhoff says. He says it's a shame when people come to church looking for God and only find us.
[00:34:53] We've done, haven't we? We've preached a talk, we've done a song and thought, oh, this is gonna be amazing. This is gonna kick off. And like, nothing happens. And we're so.
[00:35:05] And then sometimes someone gets up and prays or sings a song and it's not even particularly good. And you're looking around and everyone's crying and something's shifting and you're like, hang on a sec.
[00:35:17] Last week I gave a really good talk. Much better than this.
[00:35:27] We gotta release worshipers.
[00:35:31] Preaching. I've realized. It took me a little while to realize it, but what am I doing when I'm preaching? I'm leading people in worship because I'm leading people to Jesus.
[00:35:42] And when you see Jesus, the response is always worship again.
[00:35:50] Aw tozer. If you want some sort of sobering, challenging teaching on worship.
[00:35:56] But he says this. The church that cannot worship must be entertained. And men and women who can't lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.
[00:36:07] We do not need to entertain.
[00:36:12] So release worshipers.
[00:36:16] Performers, not performers. Sorry.
[00:36:19] There you go. Undone. 40 minutes of teaching.
[00:36:24] The other quick thing is embrace the radical fringe.
[00:36:29] Now, what do I mean by that?
[00:36:31] We're just talking, Steve and I.
[00:36:34] The whole flag thing is hilarious, isn't it? Like, everyone's waving flags now and dancing and we were saying how we spent years banning flags in church and now if you're a cool church, you have flags. It's like, oh, my God, I wonder if some of us of a certain age and I'm 48.
[00:36:59] We were so worried about people coming to church and thinking this is weird.
[00:37:07] And we somehow, without realizing it, put a bit of a lid on the Spirit of God.
[00:37:12] And I believe God is blowing that lid open, blowing out the box and we've got to surrender. God might look a bit strange, I might not feel comfortable, it might mess with some of our plans, but we want to give space. We want to be a people that are surrendered to the leading of the Spirit.
[00:37:34] We want to bless what you're doing, Lord, rather than killing ourselves praying God bless what we're doing and wondering why we're not seeing the results we want to see. And there've got to be spaces in your church where you can grow in this. And I understand for some maybe Sunday morning there's a lot going on to fit in. So what about other spaces?
[00:37:57] Maybe a midweek prayer meeting where there's no responsibilities time wise, where you can say, we're just going to learn what it is to worship.
[00:38:07] We run this thing called Kingdom Come. We had one last night where we absolutely go for it. There's no plan and we just see what God does. But what it's doing is it's teaching us as a church in a safe place to learn to follow the presence of God, to take risks. At times you end up doing things, you think, oh, that was a bit weird, wasn't it? We won't do that again. But you're learning, you're growing. And if we're never, ever taking risks, if we're never learning what it is to lead one another in worship, to follow the move of the Spirit in our worship, no wonder we get stuck with formulaic Sunday gatherings.
[00:38:44] There's this whole process called rewilding, where you let land just grow, you don't put any borders and boundaries. And in West Sussex There was a three and a half thousand acre estate in 2001, after years of extensive farming, the land was just not producing what it needed to and the farmers were running out of money and they were not making ends meet and they were at the end of themselves and they were going to sell it. But they heard about this rewilding process and they thought, well, let's just give it a go. And this idea that rather than a historic, and this is the phrase, historic, obsessing over goals and outcomes, they let nature take their course again. Let's be honest, how many of us are obsessing over goals and outcomes?
[00:39:36] And I speak honestly, how many of us, if we get a good Sunday attendance, suddenly Feel great. Oh, yes.
[00:39:44] And then a bad Sunday attendance. No.
[00:39:48] And we're obsessing over stats that I'm not sure God is as bothered about as we are.
[00:39:57] And what they did in this estate in Nep is they just let things flourish. They got rid of all the fences, all the borders. Everything just grew, went wild. But what happened, much to their surprise, is extremely rare species began to return. Nightingales, peregrine falcons, purple emperor butterflies.
[00:40:16] The land, the vegetation exploded into life.
[00:40:20] And what happened is people were so stunned by the new lease of life. People came to traveling from all over to learn, to see.
[00:40:29] And actually they started making huge amounts of money.
[00:40:32] And many other estates have followed something similar. Now, I believe this is a time in the church where we need to go on a rewilding adventure.
[00:40:43] And for some of you, maybe the hard work out of a few days like this is like God. Where have we put borders and boundaries that are actually curtailing the growth?
[00:40:56] Where do we need to rip up the rule book? Where do we need to take more risks? Where do we need to back a leader, back a ministry, lay down something to enable the spirit of God to move. Because what I long to see is church gatherings. And I praise God. We're beginning to see it where it looks more like the New Testament.
[00:41:16] You know, you read about Paul now. A lot of their church gatherings are in houses. They gather together. Paul's preaching, he's preaching for way too long. Someone falls asleep, falls out the windows, dead on the pavement. Paul goes, oh, one sec, give me a moment, you know, wanders downstairs, prays over the guy he's raised from the dead. Back up in the building now. Point three of my sermon.
[00:41:41] Imagine everyone's like, ah, gatherings where week after week after week we're seeing numbers being added to us. Salvation healings, signs and wonders. People are so far away from God coming home, people caught up in addiction, set free. That's what we long to see. But when I read the New Testament, the early church, it looks messy.
[00:42:09] Huge amount of risk.
[00:42:13] Honest, passionate response to God, emotion.
[00:42:16] And I believe if we're going to see all that we long to see God do, if we're going to really give space for this amazing movement to fan into flame to a whole next level, we have to let go of the reins.
[00:42:31] We have to let go of control.
[00:42:34] The day of the control freak pastor has to come to an end.
[00:42:43] And again, what are we seeing? We're seeing young people gathering together to pray, to pray through the night.
[00:42:54] Asbury this amazing, beautiful, fresh move it was led by students. No one had heard of them.
[00:43:00] No great leader, no great preacher, no great songwriter.
[00:43:06] As Paul was saying, we're seeing a generation leading the charge, and they're desperate to be in God's presence.
[00:43:15] And they're not bothered by great names, great preachers. They want what's real and authentic. And this is the good news.
[00:43:24] Probably none of us will be able to preach like Steven Furtick or sing like Jen Johnson.
[00:43:29] But you can all be real and authentic.
[00:43:32] You can love.
[00:43:34] Love God with all your heart, and you can love people.
[00:43:37] And I believe God can do remarkable things through people who are willing to live like that.
[00:43:44] So we close by coming back to this prophetic word in Amos 9, this reminder that if we're going to be a nation that experiences the blessing and favor of God, it happens when we return to right worship, restore David's fallen shelter. And then what does Amos say? Then get ready, because the time will come, says the Lord, when the grain and the grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested.
[00:44:13] Ultimately, Amos is prophesying, this moment is going to come where suddenly salvation and God's kingdom is going to explode in such a way that you won't be able to keep up with it.
[00:44:25] And he uses a agricultural metaphor, a miraculous agricultural metaphor to explain spiritually what we're going to begin to see. That actually, as soon as the guy harvesting the seed, as soon as the seed hits the ground, usually what do you do? You wait months for it to grow slowly, and then you come and you reap what's been sown. But Amos is saying, no. Soon as the seed is planted, it's ready to be harvested, and actually you can't keep up with all that is happening.
[00:44:57] We read about these great revivals where suddenly God begins to move in such way that the churches aren't big enough. People are turning up, wanting to get right with God. There's not enough discipleship courses to hold all that's happening. Leaders are just overwhelmed, inundated with the numbers of people who are wanting to understand who Jesus is. We've read about these stories again. We see it in Amos. Not Amos, sorry, Acts, where this incredible revival is happening in the early church. And one of the apostles, James, said, no, we've been told that this would happen.
[00:45:32] Amos said, time will come when the grain and the grapes will grow faster than they could be harvested. No, this is what God promised us. And I don't know about you, but I'm choosing to. I'm daring to believe that we could see a season like this again, where our buildings aren't big enough, that's happening here. They need a bigger building.
[00:45:50] Where our ministries can't contain all the young people, or the children's ministries, where we're baptizing so many Muslims, we need to get bigger pools to baptize them. Where our gatherings, we're having to have multiple gatherings. We have to do multiple Alpha courses because God is moving in such ways that we cannot keep up with him.
[00:46:11] But it will happen when we get our worship. Right now, being a good Church of England boy, I've brought with you one of the bells from our church. Now, I hope you appreciate this. I personally carried this into my car this morning to lug it all the way to Leicester. My kids, because I've done this a little bit, they're like, dad, will you stop carrying that blinking bell everywhere? But anyway, this bell is from one of our church buildings, church called St. Luke's and basically this bell was designed 1843.
[00:46:51] And a bell is rung out in order to do numerous things, proclaim good news. You hear the bells ringing and you often think, oh, someone's getting married. It's a day of celebration.
[00:47:02] In the war, the bells would be rung to maybe a warning sign.
[00:47:06] But predominantly a bell is rung to communicate and to remind people, hey, there's a gathering taking place now. People are coming from all over the village and town to worship Jesus, to pray, to be formed and shaped by scripture and God's word. And so you'd hear the bells ringing and you'd begin to gather. Now, this bell, designed to be a call to worship, is rusty, redundant. And I found it in a store cupboard in our church, completely useless.
[00:47:44] But I believe this is a sign of when we don't prioritize being a church of worship, our church has become like this bell, laid aside, ineffective.
[00:48:01] But the church, like this bell is called to ring out that Jesus is Lord.
[00:48:10] Hey, come here. Because you will meet the Savior of the world. Your life can be changed because Jesus is Lord. Colleague of mine, she was getting an Uber in Birmingham recently, and they were talking. She was telling the Uber driver that she was pastor of a church. And the Uber driver said, oh, such a shame. There's no churches in my area of the city anymore. They've all closed down. And she thought, that's strange because I know that area and I know there are lots of churches.
[00:48:39] And so she asked him, what do you mean? He said, well, when I moved to Birmingham in the 70s and the 80s, the church bells would ring you'd hear them all the time. And I knew, okay, people are gathering, the church are gathering, but you never ever hear the bells ring anymore. And so his assumption was the church was dying.
[00:49:01] I was in Dubai a few months ago, and you're aware that this is such an Islamic nation. Every morning at 5:30, I'd be woken up by the call to worship from the mosque. It was so loud.
[00:49:16] And I'd wake up and I'd mutter under my breath, jesus is Lord and a couple of other things. And then I try and get back to sleep.
[00:49:31] And I came back to Birmingham and it was around the time of Ramadan, which actually coincided with the season of Lent. And I don't know if you had this here in Leicester, but in Birmingham, all over the signposts, the streets with these massive posters saying trust in Allah.
[00:49:53] And if you drive around Birmingham now, many would think, well, this is an Islamic city. Mosques being built all over the place, education centers, branding flies, communication.
[00:50:08] And I felt so challenged and stirred that God, if we as the people of God don't begin to step up and proclaim and live out this incredible sense of we are a worshiping people, if we don't. Now I know in many churches you're not going to have bells, but metaphorically, I don't know what that looks like, but we need to begin to sound the alarm to ring the bells that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Allah will not bring true life. Money, possessions is not going to be enough. You can only find true healing in the name of Jesus Christ. And so I encourage you, I commend you, may we be a people of worship.
[00:50:50] And let us dare to imagine that as we do that what could God begin to do in our churches, in our cities, in this nation?
[00:50:58] Amen.
[00:51:08] Let it be, Lord.
[00:51:10] Okay, just before we head to lunch, keep standing. Sorry.
[00:51:24] We're going to pray for the spirit of God to come.
[00:51:26] And the way I want to do, do this is we've been really as a church, growing in the gift of tongues, singing in the spirit.
[00:51:37] And I believe there's an anointing that is going to come on some of you to really lead the way in worship. Some of you. It's going to be like a fresh awakening of worship and love, passion in your heart where you've just got a bit stuck and stale and that's okay. But God wants to renovate that heart of worship. But I think also God is beginning to release leaders who can steward and release a fresh movement of worship. In the church. And I don't mean just necessarily musicians, but people who can release worship, we need it. So what we're going to do. Is there a keyboardist, actually?
[00:52:15] Thanks, mate.
[00:52:19] Can you just play a chord?
[00:52:23] Any chord?
[00:52:26] Okay.
[00:52:29] Oh, there we go.
[00:52:32] What I want us to do, we're just going to begin to sing in the spirit, if you're comfortable, if you have that gift, if you don't, just begin to sing the name of Jesus. But I want us just to start by singing in the spirit as we begin to lean into what the spirit wants to do amongst us.
[00:52:48] Ram la.
[00:54:35] Okay, keep. Keep singing out. But if you're here and you know that you are desperate to see a fresh move of worship in your church where you feel maybe you've got stuck or your church has got stuck, or you're longing for that tenderness of heart, that freedom and that joy, the mess of the people of God, encountering the presence of God. I'd love to invite you to come. And we're just going to continue to sing in the spirit and dare to believe that God, you're going to unlock ancient wells of worship where things have gone, got stuck. You're going to release your church, your people in worship.
[00:55:15] Lord, I pray that you encourage people.
[00:55:18] Encourage people, Lord, I begin pray to that you begin to add people who can help lead into this, Lord, worshipers who can set the temperature, Lord, who can set the culture, Lord, where there have been divisions over songs and sounds and styles, Lord, I pray that you'd break through, Lord, that the name of Jesus would be honored and magnified and glorified in your church and your bride.
[00:56:08] I'm just going to begin to ring the bell, Lord, Bring it in. A new season of worship in the life of your people. God. A new sound of worshipers. Lord, may we see the lost, saved, alive. So full of gratitude for who you are.
[00:56:49] Okay, just for one more moment, again, we're going to keep singing. It's like waves.
[00:56:54] Ways of God's presence, ways of God breaking through. But final thing I want us to pray for is I believe God is beginning to awaken the sound of the British church. I know there's been these studies which show that I think 90% of all the new songs that are being sung in the church globally are written by a handful, a few people, mainly coming out. Four churches, predominantly. Well, they're all in America predominantly, and that's in many ways great.
[00:57:24] But there is a heritage in the church in the uk.
[00:57:29] John Wesley, Isaac Watts, Fanny Crosby, Charles Wesley, John Newton, and I believe God is beginning to awaken the sound of the church in the uk.
[00:57:43] Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge Podcast.
[00:57:46] If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
