Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Chroma Charge podcast.
I wanted to talk this afternoon just a little bit about courage and boldness and what it means for us to be perfected in his love, a love that is fully manifest in us, to the world around us, wherever we are.
And I wanted to say to you, and we know this, we know that it has become in our culture increasingly challenging to speak the name of Jesus. We are doing it.
But we know wherever we are, wherever we're leading, whatever our spheres are, that it has become increasingly challenged to speak the name of Jesus, to talk about the ways of Jesus, to say we believe in doing the things of Jesus. It is become increasingly challenged. And as leaders here today, whether you are church leaders, marketplace leaders, wherever you are leading, you may be experiencing also a level of persecution because you speak the name of Jesus, because you believe the things of Jesus, because you do the things of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the works of Jesus, the. The ways of Jesus, His Word has become an offense and affront even when we barely say anything. That's what we're experiencing right now.
And the temptation is that we could become toned down. I mean, listening to you all this morning, I don't think that could ever happen. But still, I'm going to bring this Word. The temptation could be that we become toned down, that when we leave these walls with all our friends, with all our Christian loved ones, that when we're in our spheres of influence and leadership, that we become diminished in some sense, that we become less than we're called to be, that we become quieter, that we become tolerant, tolerant of all things.
And sometimes not even meaning to be tolerant.
Just by our silence, we begin to become tolerant of all things. You know, tolerance is a word sort of thrown around in the world that's about how we respect one another. If we tolerate everything, we're respectful and loving.
But worse than that, in the body of Christ, there is a heresy that has crept in that says tolerance is the right way to love your neighbor.
And that is a lie of the enemy. The right way to love is to demonstrate the Word and the ways of God, to be fully his, for his love to be fully manifest in us, and that sometimes that requires even that we speak the truth. In love. We know this, don't we?
But the world that we're living in sometimes is diminishing, Christians, and we know that that can't happen because we are salt light leaven the city on a hill that cannot be hidden. We know that it says in Philippians 2, it says that we are children of God without fault, in a crooked and perverse generation.
In the midst of this, we shine as lights. That's what the word of God says. And we know that is our true inheritance. We know this. And this is what I want to press in today. I want to exhort you in today so that when you go out, you are brighter than ever, not diminished in any way, shape or form, that we would be fully our true inheritance in Christ. And to do that, I want to look at a passage that you will know really well. It is 1 John 4.
I think it's verse 17. I'm going to read it in a minute, but you can turn there now and just hold your finger in that word.
But I just wanted, in summary, just to touch on a couple of other passages, just to summarize what I want to share with you today, what I want to exhort you into today.
You know the Apostle Paul, he said to Timothy, the young leader Timothy at Ephesus. And we read this in 2 Timothy 1. He said, Fan the flame of the gift of God within you that you received through the laying on of my hands. He said, you did not receive a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Why did he say that to him? Because he was amongst the Gentiles, amongst a crooked and perverse generation. He was in danger of being diminished amongst a defiled people.
And the Apostle Paul said to him, if you fan the flame of the gift of God within you that you've received through the laying of hands, you will not be ashamed. You will not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, you will not be ashamed of the cross, and you will not be ashamed of my chains. Because of course he was experiencing persecution. This is real.
It's real in the word of God. It's not just happening to us today. It's real in the history of God's people all the way through. Sometimes we can read these passages and we can miss it. We can just hear the part about fanning the flame, but not saying that actually this was a real temptation. This was a real struggle, perhaps for Timothy in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in the midst of the potential of persecution.
And I want to suggest to you that that's one end of a spectrum of teaching. We could then look at another end of that spectrum and go to Revelation 2, the church at Ephesus, John's prophecy, where he says, your works are great, you do great work, but you have left your first love.
Do the work that you did at the beginning.
It's the same thing.
Fan the flame. You see, the fire had got diminished. The flame, the gospel, the fire of God's love burning within them had been diminished. And they had resorted to just doing good work. Good work is good to do, right?
But we still need the flame, the fire, the first love burning within us so that we are bold, unashamed children of light in a crooked and perverse generation.
But friends, it's real. That's what I want to touch on today, what we are experiencing in our spheres of leadership. You know this. If you are a social worker, teacher, doctor, wherever you are, you know that the temptation is that your flame, your fire could be diminished, that it gets harder and harder to burn brightly for Jesus because there's a pressure on you to tone it down, to be quiet, to be silent, to be less than you are. And we end up being less than we are. Sometimes we end up moving to places where there are no people.
I just want to run away. We end up doing jobs that are less than we're called to do because we can't stay in that sphere, in that place. It's too hard to be a Christian. It's real. We feel it and we see it in the word of God too. And the antidote.
Fan the flame of the gift of God within you that you receive through the laying on of hands. Fan the flame, the flame, the fire, the love of God within us.
But it is real.
You know, it says in 2 Peter 2, I'm going to read it. Find it. Did not want to fumble around in my Bible. I'm going to find it. 2 Peter 2.
Says this. Says this about Lot.
You've probably read it before, but I was like, so surprised when I noticed. You know, sometimes things just jump out and you're like, wow, I've never seen that before. Says this about Lot. It says that God delivered Lot who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. It's real. God delivered Lot who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. That is real.
But you know, the love that drove Lot out of the city so that he could not look back, so that even his wife was turned to dust when she did. The redemptive love of God that drove him out of the city is the same love that took Jesus to the cross so that you and I could receive that love, could receive that fire so that we don't have to turn and run. We can turn and face this present evil age. That is the victory of the cross. We know it.
And yet I want to touch on the truth that it is sometimes oppressive in this present evil age. That's real, you know, and I understand it. You know, we've been in this city since 2007 and we came here bright eyed and bushy tailed, you know, ready to preach the gospel. We had our two kids with us, our daughter was 6 and our son was 10. And we were going to preach the gospel to a city that we knew was 52% Indian, Asian, predominantly Hindu and Sikh. It is a lot more now because there is a growing Islamic population in our city. We knew that when we came here. We were so excited. We were full of the fire, ready to preach the gospel. But I want to tell you that when you live in a city where on every street corner there is a mosque and a temple, the spiritual sound sometimes is spiritual, especially for the prophetic or the intercessory types is sometimes so overwhelming, it's so loud sometimes it feels oppressive. It literally feels like that. Sometimes in this city we don't stop preaching the gospel of Christ, but it feels sometimes oppressive. On Diwali. The fireworks at Diwali go off all night long. They are relentless. The sound of people worshiping their demons all night long into the early hours of the morning until it's light, until about 6am, 9am even. And it really upsets my dog and I get no sleep. And it's days of it, it's oppressive.
You know, in my house, which I love, beautiful house outside my door, women walk past in their hundreds because the school at the end of my street is becoming a, an increasingly Islamic school. And women walk past my door and they are covered and they are wearing burqas. And at first it didn't bother me, but over time I started to feel like this righteous anger kind of grows up in me as I see them. It's not that I hate these women, you understand, but I hate what's happening to them. I hate the oppression that they're living in. And I have to see it every single day. And sometimes it feels oppressive, you know, you know what I'm saying? Because you all experience this in some degree or measure in your sphere of leadership. But listen, we must take hold of the victory of the cross. Yes.
And fan the flame of the gift of God within us that we receive through the laying on of hands.
And that's what I want to meditate upon today. That's what I want to exhort you in today. I do believe that you already, even from what happened this morning, you're going to leave here bolder, more fired up, more full of the spirit and able to face the day. And this is the passage that I want to just spend a little bit of time with you on this morning. And it says this in my new King James. It says, the consummation of his love. Don't you love that? The consummation of his love. This is 1 John 4, 17.
Listen.
Close your eyes. Listen. The word of the Lord, Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. Love. The flame, the fire, the first love. Love has been perfected in us in this. That we have boldness in the day of judgment. What day of judgment? Third day of judgment. We know the day of judgment where we stand before Jesus. And we are judged not guilty because of Christ. Because we're in Christ, we have nothing to fear of that day. But it isn't only that day, you understand? This is a now word in this day of judgment. As he is, so are we now in this world today.
It's the judgment day that started at the cross of Christ, when from that moment all people are judged by one thing, whether they are in Christ or not. This is we are in a day of judgment. And as he is, so are we in this world. And we are bold, perfected in his love. As he is, so are we in this world now.
And his love, his perfect love, casts out all of our fear.
And what is this love? You know, we know it. I know lots of leaders, pastors, teachers here. You know the love is the agape love. We know it's not the storge, it's not the filio, the familiar or the brotherly. It's not Eros, the romantic. We know that although the picture of the agape love is the bride and Christ, it is covenantal love. It is the love that can only be described by the love that Christ has for the church. It's the love that can only be described by the mystery of the cross and marriage, the bride and Christ. He is mine, I am His. The covenant love. This is the fire. This is the flame that has to burn brightly within us. This is the fire, the Flame through which there is no fear. That fear is cast out. In fact, everything's cast out through the agape love of Christ in us burning brightly.
You know, I.
Last year, if you were here in January, you will you. If you were here, you remember that I shared a word. I had this picture for the bride of Christ. And honestly, I will say to you secretly, obviously, don't tell anybody. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done because I had this word and it was like I didn't have it all. I didn't have the whole. I just had this picture. I had a few verses and the Lord just said, just share it as it is, you know? And I'm like, I don't really even understand it all, Lord. And he said, just share it. Anyway. Anyway, I shared it. And the only way I can describe it is a prophetic lament. That's how I describe it, actually. Really what I wanted to do was get down on my knees and just weep and weep and weep with you. But I tried to get something out. And there was something of this picture that I'd had. And I explained it to you as this. That I had had this picture in a leaders meeting where there was this beautiful outpouring of Holy Spirit. He just came in power. And some of our young people were drunk in the Spirit for the first time ever. And it was just this beautiful moment. But while all of this was happening, I was kneeling on the floor and I had in my head all of these things that were happening in the body of Christ that I knew about and that I was grieved about. And I was so upset. I was just crying before the Lord. And I was kind of judging. And I was saying, your bride, your bride, your bride.
And then I had this picture and I saw this woman. And she was an ancient woman, and she was standing in an ancient street. And her hair was all disheveled and dirty, and her eyes were sunken, and she was thin. And she looked so sad and so lost and destroyed, distraught and traumatized. And her clothes were all ripped. And I knew that she had been defiled in the worst possible way. And then I saw the picture changed. And I saw who I knew in the spirit was her husband. And I saw his boots were. He was straddling a horse. And then it's like I knew he was riding towards her. Next thing, he had her and he'd rescued her. And the next thing, the whole scene changed. And it was this picture of this beautiful bathroom, the kind that every woman wants, you know, like Perfect granite, Beautiful stone. I could smell it. Definitely molten brown. I love molten brown. But I could smell the bubbles, you know, and there were petals everywhere. And she was just light, like the bubbles up to her neck. She was just lying in this bath, just resting. And the Lord said to me, I'm washing my bride.
And I shared this picture. And together we had this moment together where we just remembered together anything that we could ever think of that would have offended or hurt the Lord. And there was this time of confession and repentance among us. And many people came forward, intercessors and prophets. And we had a time of intercession for the bride of Christ in the uk. And we just prayed about anything that we saw, anything we could think of, anything that was on our heart, we just prayed out. And it was just a powerful time of intercession.
And I just want to say to you that I think this year we have seen the Lord washing his bride.
Not just because of our prayers, you understand, but I think we had something as we partnered with his will earth to Heaven in our prayers and many other Christians praying too, for the things that they see in the body of Christ in our country. But you see, the thing was, even as I was sharing it, I was like, I don't fully understand, Lord, because you've already washed your bride. You've already done it on the cross. I know you've done it. It's already done.
But you see, that's the point, isn't it, of the Agape love.
It's relentless, it's unfailing. Even when the bride has gone astray, he's running after her. That's the point of the agape love. It's a love that perfects. It's a love that casts out not just fear, but everything.
This is the love, the flame, the fire, the first love that's to burn brightly within us.
It's the love that will heal our world.
And the Lord, as I was preparing for this, he told me to share something with you that's quite personal. I don't do it very often, you know, Some of you are like, oh, I hate personal things. Others of you are like, oh, I wasn't listening, but now I'm listening. I love personal things.
It's quite personal, but I think it's going to be okay. It is a bit risky, but hey, the Lord told me to share it. You know, when Steve and I got married 30 years ago, he was a virgin and I was not.
And Steve had preached the gospel to me. He knew my Story. He knew I had a past. He knew me because I had wept at the feet of Jesus week in, week out. I was a very sexually broken woman.
And the Lord did everything in a very short space of time. Everything that was ever done to me and everything I had ever done, he healed. What with his love, his agape love that casts out not just fear, everything. This love that's perfecting.
And you know, there is another lie, there is another heresy in the church right now that says, you know, not everything can be sorted out.
There are some things that you might have to live with until you stand before Jesus on that day. And I. I don't have time to share my testimony with you, but by way of testimony, I want to say to you that is not true.
That is not what Jesus went for the cross for. And he gave me a new life, Brand new life. I was made brand new. I knew I was new from the inside out. All the shame gone, all the fear gone. And even the memories washed.
But do you understand that the real test of that healing is the covenant.
It's the wedding night.
It's the time where the two become one flesh. And would.
Was I fully healed?
And you understand that the thing that really.
That really completed the healing was not Eros love.
It was the agape love.
The unfailing, the relentless. Never gives up. What is it? And the message doesn't strut. Always hopes, always perseveres. I always mix up all the passages of 1 Corinthians 13, all the different translations.
Never ending, eternal, faithful, covenant. Love is the only thing that will heal our broken world.
Do you know? And I was reminded of this at our. At our wedding, you know, you have the bridal march. It's like, da da, da, da, da, da da da. Nobody does that anymore. But when I got married, everybody had the da da, da, da, da da da. You know, that big thing, that big song, whatever it is, I don't know. The bridal march, I always call it. And I didn't have that. And I think now, I think back to what I did. I had my best friend who had a very similar story to me. She sang on that beautiful album, Come Now Is the Time. Do you remember that old Vineyard album? Some of you are old enough to remember that. And she was my closest friend, and we had the same story. And she sang at my wedding, and she sang as I walked in. Yes, Jesus loves me yes, Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me so it's so bold.
All my friends there who weren't Christians I kind of almost blush now when I think of doing that. I just walked in. Yes, Jesus loves me. The first love, the flame, the fire. It must never be diminished in us.
And marriage is the picture. And it is a love that heals. It is a love that perfects us in his love, so that as he is, so we are in this world. World in this day of judgment. Now, I've got all the words wrong, but you've got it right in front of you.
It's a love that casts out. It casts out everything. It casts out fear. It casts out everything. The first love, the flame, the fire.
His perfect love. His love perfected in us.
Song of Solomon says this. Let me find it.
Song of Solomon. I remind you of this. We know the twofold story of Song of Solomon. The bride and her husband, and the bride and her Jesus.
Set me as a seal upon your heart. This is eight. Song of Solomon, eight. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For your love is a strike strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave.
His flames are as flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench your love, nor can the floods drown it out. Nothing can diminish the flame and the fire of God's love within us. And it is the love that will heal our world. And it must burn brightly within us. It is healing. It is perfecting. And I want to say to you that what he's going to do over this weekend is a fresh wave of his holy, fiery, vehement flame love coming upon his church in such a way that there will be a measure of boldness that comes out of us that is surprising, that we did not expect. There are things that the Lord is going to show us that we didn't even know we needed to be shown. It's a fresh revelation of this fiery love that makes us bold. The vehement flame. His eyes are like flames of fire. That song. I've been singing it all week. His eyes are like flames of fire and he is gazing on his bride. And the flame, the fire, the fire, the flame that came upon the church at Pentecost that has been coming and coming upon us ever since. It is the flame, the first love, the fire with which we are both, that perfects us in his love so that we can be like him in this day of judgment, so that we are bold and fearless. It is the flame, the fire, the first love, and we are receiving it afresh over these few days. It's something he's going to do in us and through us. And it's more than we even realize at this moment. You're going to go out and things are going to look different, things are going to sound different, things are going to feel different. And you're going to have words that you didn't have before, and you're going to have fresh revelation of what it means to be bold in this crooked and perverse generation. You're going to understand what it means, but you're also going to have the power and the authority to back it up. You already have it. But, friends, there is more. And he is coming. He is moving upon his bride. He is washing his bride. He is perfecting her in his holy fiery love.
And it's relentless. And it is the only thing that can heal our broken world.
And, you know, some of you've heard a little bit of our story, and this is the thing that the Lord has been doing in us.
And I know Steve's going to share a little bit more about that later on.
The flame, the fire, the fresh revelation of his love.
Pentecost.
What was the measure of Pentecost?
What happened after Pentecost? The fire, the flame.
Boldness. We know it, right? I know you know it. Boldness.
And who was the superstar of boldness?
Simon Peter.
And what was his story?
It was a story of a journey of love, wasn't it?
Do you remember, you remember Simon Peter, this journey of becoming more like Jesus, of becoming the one who was bold? It was a journey for him, wasn't it?
Do you remember how he denied Jesus? Do you remember how he did that?
We all remember the story. And you know what? All of these passages, all of these scriptures, sometimes we just read over them. The timidity and fear, the leaving our first love, the denial of Jesus, we just kind of read over them and we think, that would never be me.
I would never experience that.
But friends, there is a fresh revelation of his love. And just as Simon Peter had that journey, I believe that the body of Christ today is in that journey of his fiery love, perfecting us and highlighting and showing and revealing any place where we may also have denied Jesus.
Do you remember how Simon Peter stood before Jesus and said, I would never do this. I would never deny you Jesus. Do you remember, though, that Jesus knew he would?
And you think how? Why did Jesus not just stop it? Why did Jesus allow that? You remember he said, you know, Satan has asked to sift you, but I have prayed for you that you would. You will have faith. And when you come Back to me.
You'll minister to my people. He promised that. But why? Why did he allow it? Well, that fear had to be cast out. He had to be perfected in love. Because God was about to move, the greatest move that ever there was. When he is about to move, his perfect love will come on us, that flame, that fire, in such a way that he will cast out all of our fear and he will reveal it too. All the places where we too may have denied Jesus. And that's what he did with Simon Peter. And Jesus, do you remember when he sat with him and he said, peter, do you love me? After he had denied him three times, Peter, do you love me?
And Peter said, of course I love you.
And then he said, feed my sheep. And he did it three times, didn't he feed my sheep. And then he gets to the end of it and he tells them about the way he will die for Jesus. He tells him about the persecution he will experience.
And you remember the discourse, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? But those of you who know, and I know many of you know this, that Jesus used the word agape and Peter used the word filio.
Jesus said, I love you with an everlasting, endless self giving love, the love that would die for you.
And Peter said, I love you as a brother, Jesus, you see that love is not enough.
That love is not enough. That is not the flame, that is not the fire. And it's the very reason that he denied Jesus, because he was not yet perfected in love, but he would be, because the flame, the fire would come upon him and he would be.
You know, Simon Peter had a journey. And I believe that some of us, in fact, I think all of us have a journey too. I believe there's more.
And I believe that some of us, maybe even without realizing it, have denied Jesus. And you might think, I would never deny Jesus. I never would. I never would. We never would want to. We would never want to do that. But friends, I know that I have, and I know that I do sometimes.
And even just in. Just as I was preparing this, the Lord spoke to me and he reminded me of something. He reminded me of being in the hairdressers before Christmas, as you do. Every woman goes to the hairdressers before Christmas and to get rid of the relentless grey hair. I'm sorry, maybe too much information. I'm from Essex. I'm sorry. We share everything, you know.
And she said to me, she knows a bit of our story, but not lots. I Don't really know her, but she knows what we do for work. And she said, why did you move here in 2007? And I said, well, I moved because God told me to. And I thought I'd done really well, you know, I thought that was a good thing to say. Started up a bit of a conversation, but the Lord reminded me of that and he said, you didn't say my name.
You didn't say Jesus. And I'm like, but God, you know, when I say God, I mean God, because there is only one God. There's only one Lord, you know, I know that. He said, but she doesn't.
Jesus, I'm sorry that sometimes I don't say your name. I use that generic word that everybody uses because. Well, it's not offensive, is it?
Doesn't offend anyone because they can receive it as their God, Allah. They can receive it as their God, Ganish, the elephant God. I mean, my goodness, they can receive it however they like. But when we say the name of Jesus, there is power. And I remember that when we came into this city, my daughter, who was six years old, went into her classroom and a teacher asked her, why did your parents move into this town? And she said, because Jesus told them to.
And that teacher, she did not know was a Christian. A Christian. I wouldn't. And careful how I describe this, because it's not that the flame had diminished, but there was a level of. There were certain things that had been prophesied over her life and that she believed for in Leicester, and particularly where we'd moved, prophecies that she'd not seen come to pass, that she'd almost given up on. And when she said that, when my daughter said that to her, something went off inside of her.
And a year later, they were in our church and they're still in our church. I think they're here today. And I don't know what we'd do without them. The name of Jesus. Do we say Jesus? Do we say it? Or are we worried that it will offend? So we just say God. We know what we mean, but we need to speak the name of Jesus.
And friends, this is our story.
I know Steve's going to share some of it this afternoon, but our story, a story very similar to Simon Peters.
We had denied Jesus. We had let the flame die out. We had forgotten our first love. We didn't mean to, you understand, this is seven, eight years ago. We loved him. We'd come here to plant a church. We've come here to preach the gospel. We adored Jesus, but somehow, because we had become oppressed by this presentation, evil age, by this darkness. I don't want to be too intense, but I need to really say it, because it is true that sometimes we just get worn down. You know this. In your spheres, your spaces of leadership, you know that sometimes it's like you just begin to feel.
And I love you, Jesus, I love you.
But it's more like brotherly love than the flame, the fire, the burning fire. And our flesh had been diminished.
And the Lord, in His love, brought us back to Him. And I know Steve will tell a bit of the story this afternoon, but one thing I remember that was stark, when he rescued us, when he restored us, when he made us new, was that one of the things. We went to several places. One of the things was that we went to Bethel and encountered the Lord there. And he did wonderful things. But when we came back, for me, it was literally like he had taken a veil off my eyes, a veil of deception. And the whole world looked different. And do you know what I saw? First of all, before anything else, I saw how little we said the name of Jesus.
I looked at our literature and our website. We hardly even said God. We were talking about so many things that people love and people need and people want that make them feel comfortable and make them feel welcome in church. But they were not the name of the Lord Jesus.
And there was a holy, sweet, beautiful conviction that came upon us and he restored us. But I remember standing out in that foyer and I remember being at some meeting, I can't even remember what it was. And I looked out the window and I saw Jesus outside. And he was so kind, and his eyes, like flames of fire, the love in his eyes. But he was standing outside the door and he looked at me and he said, juliet, let me in.
And we went on a journey of Lord, we are sorry that we have grieved you, that we have quenched you, that we have been concerned about other things, that we've been so busy that we have not loved you with that holy fire that would die for you, that doesn't care about our reputation or whether we offend people with the name of Jesus and the word of Jesus and the ways of Jesus. And there was a new measure of boldness that came upon us.
And it's coming upon you, too. I know it. And this is what he's doing. This is what he's doing in the bride of Christ, his love, his fire, the flame, the first love.
And it's going to happen to Many of you over this weekend. If this is your first time, get ready. You were already feeling it before you came.
And there is a measure of boldness that's about to come on the bride through the holy love of God that is being perfected in us.
And for many of us, it will mean different things. You know, that's our story.
But it's different things for each and every one of you. You might be sitting here thinking, I'm a businessman. I don't know what this means for me. I'm a social worker. I don't know how I could be bold in my circumstance and my situation. But I tell you, the Lord is gonna give you the ways and the means. And it may not be these big, loud things. You do understand that? I'm not saying we're gonna become arrogant, obnoxious Christians.
I'm not saying we're gonna be annoying and insensitive.
I'm saying we're gonna be bold with the holy fire, the flame, the bright light that burns out of us. And we're gonna know in any given moment what we should say or not say.
But there is more, friends. And for some of us, it will just be that instead of saying that generic term, God, we say, I love Jesus. When we're asked.
When we're asked, we say the whole story, not just a bit of the story.
For some of us, it may be that we're going to say things that we've not said before. For some of us, it may be that we're going to stand for things that we've not stood for before, that we're going to stick our head up and say, excuse me, I don't agree with that. For some of us, we may move jobs, we may move back into spheres that we've pulled out of because we were afraid. For some of us, we may move houses, we may move into cities, into places like cities, like Leicester to preach the gospel with a new measure of boldness on us. It's going to mean different things for lots of different people when you walk out of these doors. I promise.
And I've seen something new, something new even in our story, the Lord, this fresh revelation of what it means to shine as a light, to be full of this fiery love. He's just come wave after wave, year on year, showing us more and more and more. But something so sweet that happened in the last couple of years was something that happened to my husband when he went to Aviva Miento, one of the churches that we visited. We've talked about many times before, a church that's in revival, and we always come away with something. But there was something really beautiful that happened to him a couple of years ago, and it was new I'd never seen before. It was a new measure of boldness in the area of justice. You know, my husband has always been pretty unashamed about preaching the gospel. He's always been bold. And even in that season where things changed, he was still preaching the gospel. But there was a new measure of boldness to come.
But I've never known him to be the man who talks about social justice. And it's not because he doesn't want to. It's just because, well, I'm for that, not for that. And so that's what I'm doing. And the Lord did something wonderful in him. When he was in Aviva Miento, he was at this church service with all his friends who he loves, these pastors. And they were preaching that weekend because they were outraged because a new law had been passed in their city, in their country, on abortion.
And they stood up in the church and they told the story of what was happening. And they just said, not on our watch. This is not happening.
And do you know what they did next?
They showed a live abortion in church.
Yes.
Some of us are really shocked. Like, that's not the right thing to do.
But do you remember I said that the same love that drove Lot out of the city so that he could not look is the same love that took Jesus to the cross, is the same love that covers us. That means we can look. You know, Jesus had to see everything on the cross. He had to take everything. You know, sometimes we're like, I just want to think about whatever's good, true, pure and lovely, because that's what the Bible says. And that is true. But that doesn't mean that in this day of judgment, we don't turn and face the day because we are the light in the darkness. And sometimes we have to face it. And this church, you know, this church that's so in revival that so in the fire, the flame, the first love, they didn't think anything of it. It was horrific. But they knew that they were called by God to stand against this evil thing.
And after they watched a live abortion, they went out onto the streets of Parliament Square to peaceful protest in their thousands.
And my husband, he went on. Steve went on his first ever protest with his T shirt and his hat. He was sending us pictures. He's never done a protest before. He was like, I'm on a protest. This is new. And he said, there are thousands and thousands of Christians in Parliament Square from all denominations. They'd all come together and they stormed Parliament Square peacefully.
And the next time he went, that law had been repealed. It's so like, oh, that could only happen there. It couldn't happen here. Receive it, because if it can happen there, it can happen here.
That law had been repealed and the judges that have passed it had been fired.
And he came back with a new measure of boldness. And he stood up in front of our church and he said, church, there are things that I have not talked about, not because I. He just said, I just haven't felt this conviction, you see, this love perfecting us.
He will present his bride pure and spotless. He will do it in us. He is doing it in us. This boldness that's coming upon the church. And he said, there's things that I have not spoken about before and in the last 30 years of my ministry, things that I have not. I've been silent about, and we are sorry, but we're going to talk about them now.
And it began a season of talking about things that we've never talked about before. We talked about abortion that day and we were, you know, you think after you've been a pastor for quite a long time, you can't be shocked anymore. But we were quite shocked at some of the stories that we heard that we didn't know that many people's lives have been touched by stories of abortion and.
And we just ministered.
But it began a journey for us of talking about things that we've not talked about before. And of course, many of you will know that Tim and his Transformation School. Timothy, the flame has not diminished in this young man. I want to tell you, he is bold and he'll talk about anything and everything in culture, but starting with the word of God. And his school has been very much a part of just beginning to speak about things that we've never spoken about before. For us, this is what's happening with us. But I believe that there is this new measure of boldness coming upon the bride of Christ, and it's a part of what he's doing here. And it's going to mean different things for each and every one of us. But some of us, many of us, are going to talk about things and stand for things and speak about things that we have not had the courage to do so because we're worried that we will offend.
And friends, it's time for us to Be perfected in the fiery love of God. He already has.
But there is more.
And it's time that where there are places and spaces that you and I, without even realizing it, have denied Jesus would come back to our first love with boldness to speak the name of Jesus, to allow him into our lives and our workplaces and our spheres of influence and leadership in greater measure.
And I just want to say, by way of writing something over us, I believe that that's what we're going to leave here with. One of the things.
And it's going to surprise you, friends.
It's going to be more than you realise. Will you stand? Will you stand it?
Just begin to hold out your hands. Just begin to talk to the Lord about your heart, what you desire of him.
I just thank you, Jesus, that you've already started, Lord, you gave me this message about boldness and I know you've already done a great work this morning, that something's already happening in hearts, that there are already new stories, new measure measures, new words, new narratives, new revelation, fresh revelation, old things coming to light.
I thank you, Lord, that your love is so precious, it's so perfecting and so relentless that, God, it's not about I was wrong and now I'm right. It's about it just gets brighter and brighter and brighter.
The flame burns with greater passion.
You are, Lord, a vehement flame. Nothing can stop you or quench you or drive you out. Many waters cannot quench your love. God, we are people of your love by design now, because we're in you and we thank you.
But God, I am asking for a greater measure of the fiery love with which you went to the cross that makes us bold. God, I am asking right now if this flame has been diminished or toned down or burnt out in any way, God, would you restore us?
Glory to glory, Lord, you have promised. Glory to glory. You have promised. And we receive it afresh. We receive it afresh. And God, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would speak to each and every one of us about what this means. God, there may be things that have been hard for us to think of. Lord, I thank you that you did that. I thank you that you took us there. I thank you, God. God, that Lord, it was your love that took Simon Peter on that journey of casting out all of his fear. It was your love that nothing could stay in him that would deny you, Jesus. Because you knew. You knew the story written over that man's life. And you know the story's written over ours. Holy fire. Come Again. Come again. Come again. Come again. Holy fire. Come again. Come again. Again. Come again on your bride. Holy fire. The vehement flame. The first love. The first love. The first love. God, let us never forget. Let us never forget you make us bold. It's not our work, it's not our effort.
Thank you, God, that you're doing it again. You're doing it again, Lord. Pentecost. Pentecost. Pentecost. Yes, God. Our inheritance we receive. Receive it afresh.
Holy you are holy.
Many waters cannot quench your love.
Rivers cannot overwhelm it. Lord, you are coming with your fresh flame. The city of the river.
The city of the river.
Holy love.
Holy love.
[00:51:23] Speaker B: Sa.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Sa.
Steve just reminded me of a bit of our story that I hadn't shared today.
One of the things that happened in our personal story is that Steve had prayed since he was a very young man. He was like. He was such a. I mean, when I met Steve, I just thought, oh, you're perfect and I'm not. You know, he was such a good Christian. He was saved into the holiness holiest of holy Methodists. They weren't even allowed, I think probably to have a cup of coffee. I think it was.
He was that holy. I always said the worst thing he'd ever done was smoke a cigarette and fall out of a tree. Me, I had this epic past.
I had this epic past. And one of the things that he did when we started to fall in love was he went for a walk with Jesus. And he said, jesus, I prayed since I was 13 years old, or whatever it it was, that you would give me my bride and that she would be like me, that she would be a virgin.
And the Lord said to him, steve, is my cross good enough for you?
Is it?
And it wasn't that he didn't think that.
It was just that he prayed this prayer.
The cross is enough.
And, you know, I think that some of you here today maybe need to respond to a narrative of, oh, I don't know how to say this, Steve, help me. Just help me. You. Maybe you have been affected by abortion or abortion has affected you, but maybe there's something else. I don't want. Want you to be afraid to come forward if there's something else where you need to know the washing of the Lord. You need. You need to know the washing, the redemption of Jesus. Oh, this is so hard to say this, Steve.
There may just be one person. Gosh, how hard it might seem to come out to the front.
There may be stories around you. There may be Friends, you know, you may be a man here today who in your teenage years or in your latter teens, you were with someone and they got pregnant and you stood by while they had an abortion. There may be something in that, your history that you've never talked about, that you need to just lay at the foot of the cross.
There may be parents here and your child, your children. Someone had an abortion and you couldn't actually stop it.
For some of you, you know that it's time to speak about things that you've not spoken about before.
For some of you, it may be that you were deeply offended when I said that they showed that film in church.
The Lord wants to do a work in you.
You may not have to do that, but you are going to have to do something. And if you're feeling that conviction, that sense, you want the holy fire on you again. You want the anointing of the Lord to do it, you know, we do it. Grace seasoned with salt, we do it. We speak about these things, these hard things, these hard narratives, but with the power of God behind us, if you know that you've to speak, you've to stand up, you've to say something you've never said before, something's burning in you, or you're working in a job or a sphere where you just feel like, I literally can't say anything about this thing that happens all the time. I'm not saying that you're gonna have to say something, but you need the power of God within you so that you can stand, so that. That you don't look away, so that you don't run away. But maybe you'll be called to say something. So if that's you, come forward and receive. Come forward. Come forward. Come forward. Step out. Step out. Say yes to God. Say yes to God. Some of you, there is a narrative of social justice written over your lives, burning in your lives. There are things that you just want to see stopped and you don't know how to do it, but you see them every day and you want to see them stop, but you don't know what to do. You need the power of God. You need the flame, you need the fire. Just come forward. If that's you. Come forward. Respond. Respond.
[00:57:49] Speaker B: One of the things we find ourselves ministering in here, we have a very young congregation.
The average age is in the 20s. And we're ministering amongst possibly the most sexually broken generation that's walked the planet.
And I tell you, the cross is enough.
The cross is enough.
There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Not heights or death or width or demons or angels. Nothing. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
And there's. There's a few more of you this morning. You. You have carried a load. You've carried a secret.
And it's time to.
It's time to let the light shine and be free.
Jesus is here.
And when we come to Jesus Christ, all things become new. We become a new creation. As we. As we lay our old lives down at the cross and we take up a new life and he comes upon us. He fills us with his purity and his holiness.
It's really interesting. The only thing the Lord forgives is sin. He doesn't forgive mistakes. He doesn't forgive hang ups. He came to deal with sin.
The sin that separated us from God. He came to deal with it on the cross.
And as we confess our sin, he is faithful and just and will forgive us and will remove all unrighteousness as far far as the east is from the west.
And he doesn't only remove the sentence, he removes it all.
And he makes us new. He makes us new.
It is the wonder of the gospel.
Lord, I ask that the new creation, the new creation of Christ would come upon us. We are a new people. We are free.
We are not second rate. We are not diminished in any way.
Christ is in us. And as he is, so are we in this world right now.
[01:01:20] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Cromer Charge podcast. 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.
