Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So I'm going to pick up a little bit of Yanku's message last week and he's actually going to. They're in Cape Town at the moment. So he'll be back next week and he's going to pick up pressing more into this. And it was just incredible what happened. Just before the meeting last week during our prayer time, God did a big download. Okay. And I'll be picking up on that just now. But it's kind of leading us to say, okay, we need to press into this. So Ilke has no idea what I was preaching this morning. She has no idea the scriptures, the words that I'm going to be echoing, because you've actually all already sung them. So when I came up here saying it looks like I don't even need to share this morning, I was almost genuinely serious because God is speaking to us not just in the message.
[00:00:51] Do you know that God can speak to us outside of the message? In fact, more often our prayers, your leaders, is that God speaks to you more here than only from here. Okay. Because if it's only from here, it means we are beginning to stoop into the religious aspects of ticking a box on a Sunday, listening to three fast songs and two slow songs and feeling a little bit encouraged, hearing a good message and leaving. But nothing changes. Okay? That is not our heart as your leaders.
[00:01:31] So we're going to go and press into godly courage.
[00:01:35] To godly confidence.
[00:01:37] Note that I said godly courage, not just courage into confidence.
[00:01:44] Because there is a big difference and we're going to learn more about that. So today we're going to explore this concept and we're going to demonstrate it. Because I just, I don't want to have a motivational because this could easily turn into motivational. Could easily turn into a prosperity angled kind of message. Right?
[00:02:02] So this morning I want us to demonstrate it through God's word because this is what, what we build on. We do not build on the 5 minute Tik Tok or whatever it is that you are beholden to.
[00:02:20] Okay, Just putting it out there. Okay. But actually we are going to build on the rock. Amen. Okay, so sorry, this.
[00:02:35] So in a world full of fear and uncertainty, we are called to stand firm in our faith, are we not?
[00:02:46] Sorry, I forgot to mention, most of you know, I'm a participating person who teaches. I'm not a one way traffic guy.
[00:02:57] So if you don't say yes and amen, it kind of drains me a bit. Okay. But if you. Come on, sister. No, we don't do that here. We don't. Hey, stop.
[00:03:09] Okay? But when I ask a question, I would love to hear you guys, because it means that you're awake. It means you, like, you're in it. And what happens is that it stirs my faith. It stirs me up a bit, you know, and we saw that during the time of prayer this morning where we encouraged that there is power in agreement. Okay? You don't have to try and understand it. It's a mystery of the gospel, all right?
[00:03:35] We don't need to get into the deep theology of it. But the reality is that there is encouragement, or let me say power.
[00:03:43] Is encouragement a powerful thing?
[00:03:45] Okay? So there is power in encouraging me this morning.
[00:03:49] Can you do that for me? All right, so we're going to start again.
[00:03:53] So in a world filled with fear and uncertainty, we are called to stand firm in our faith, are we not?
[00:04:01] All right. Okay, so Ephesians 6. Let's see what it says here. It says, put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's schemes.
[00:04:15] Would you say the devil's schemes is to put fear into you?
[00:04:21] I like this. Yes. I like this. 2025. You said it, Gabriel. You said it. Okay, let's have a look at 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13 and 14. And if you do have your Bibles, you can please turn to that or. Or write them down. I'm going to be sticking to the NIV all the way through. So it's not chop and change. It says here, be on your God. Interesting. You know, the first verse was all about putting on the armor of God. Okay? So be on your guard and read with me.
[00:04:51] Stand firm in the faith.
[00:04:55] Be strong.
[00:05:00] All right, so we are called to stand firm in our faith, drawing strength from God's promises and examples found in scripture.
[00:05:16] This is very different, okay. To what I would say, secular courage.
[00:05:23] Okay, we're going to double click on that in a moment. So Yanku helped kick the year off with the how to walk into your inheritance.
[00:05:34] So you like.
[00:05:36] How does that match up? Well, it clearly matches up because he started off by looking at Joshua's journey.
[00:05:42] So you know the story Moses, he's passed the baton on, okay? And he's. And Moses has said to him, I can't go with you.
[00:05:51] This generation, we kind of call it the over 20s. All right, are going to stay here, and we will not get to see the promised land because of our lack of obedience, because we did not follow the Lord the way he asked us to because of our complaining and our grumbling, okay?
[00:06:10] Then we got the under 20s, Joshua, Caleb, etc. Etc.
[00:06:15] Where we saw the verses that spoke about how God, the angel of the Lord, said to Joshua, the Lord will be with you.
[00:06:26] Do you remember that?
[00:06:28] Okay, so on the back of that, I'm going to explore this understanding of courage, because there was actually those terms used that you must have courage to go into the promised land and take your inheritance.
[00:06:49] So before the preacher, like Edson this morning, before he came, he prayed, he said, lord, what is it that you are stirring us to this morning? And comes with just a small deposit, like a nugget. And then we get in and we pray into that. And sometimes the Lord takes us completely off a different route. But last week, God led me to Acts 5 and I prayed about this. And I saw the story of Peter and John, right? And they were, by this stage, 5,000 had been added to the new church.
[00:07:26] What an exciting time.
[00:07:28] Imagine having 5,000, you know, gathering in homes all over Jerusalem, right?
[00:07:36] And there was healing in the name of Jesus, right?
[00:07:42] Now, the Sanhedrin, which was the council that were still upholding the law, okay?
[00:07:50] The Pharisees and the elders of that time, they. They went and arrested them. They put them into jail.
[00:07:57] And they were like, what are we going to do with these guys? Okay? Then they brought them into the courts for judgment, right?
[00:08:05] And they stood there and they said, why are you doing this? This is blasphemer. This should not. You cannot be doing this.
[00:08:14] Now, I want you to picture John and Peter.
[00:08:18] They've seen this movie before.
[00:08:21] I don't know if you realize, not so long before them, Jesus was in exactly the same position.
[00:08:28] He was standing before the Sanhedrin.
[00:08:31] Do you remember what happened in the end?
[00:08:34] Jesus was put to death by his own people.
[00:08:39] So you've got John and you've got Peter standing there saying, do you remember what happened?
[00:08:48] Do you remember what happened?
[00:08:50] Okay.
[00:08:51] I mean, like, Jesus healed in his name.
[00:08:55] And we saw miracles, and we saw 5,000 at the sermon on the Mount. Have you seen the numbers there? Okay, for those that are into numbers and do you want to end up like Jesus on the cross?
[00:09:14] I wonder what kind of fear would have started breeding up in their hearts at that time, okay?
[00:09:24] So they said. They said to them, because now the.
[00:09:31] The crowd was getting restless, and the Sanhedrin looked at each other and said, well, we can't put these guys to death because there will be a riot.
[00:09:40] And a riot in that time was going to be seriously chaotic.
[00:09:46] So Peter and John must have had godly courage and the confidence that comes with that. So I'm going to say godly confidence, okay?
[00:10:00] To exclaim after they were told, okay, we're going to flog you in front of everybody. We're going to humiliate you. We're going to embarrass you, John, Peter.
[00:10:11] And they got six of the best. And if you went to a southern African school, you know exactly what that means. Okay, that was a cane right there.
[00:10:21] So they got flogged in the courts.
[00:10:25] They stood up.
[00:10:26] And you know what they said to the Sanhedrin? They said, how can we stop what God has told us to do?
[00:10:36] Exclamation mark.
[00:10:39] If you do this, imagine that's the fear talking. If you do this, you'll end up like Jesus.
[00:10:48] You'll die.
[00:10:50] I can imagine John and Peter saying, well, then let's die.
[00:10:55] Would you say that today?
[00:10:58] Are you ready to die to self of your reputation?
[00:11:06] Who's ready to do that?
[00:11:09] You see?
[00:11:12] So I hope by the end of the. Of this, we will be ready. Our hands will shoot up and we'll say, you know what?
[00:11:21] As long as God has said this, I'm ready for it.
[00:11:26] Because then fear will not grip you, prevent you or stop you doing anything that God has said. I am with you. Let's see what that looks like.
[00:11:40] So anyone been bungee jumping? Can I see anyone? 2, 3, 4.
[00:11:50] Really?
[00:11:51] That is a surprise. Okay.
[00:11:54] Wow. Awesome. Okay, so here's the picture. Bungee jumping. We all know the story. We've seen it on YouTube. For those of us that maybe haven't. Or a bit old.
[00:12:05] So what happens is that you stand on this bridge and Victoria Falls. Okay. Which is one of the longest. It was the longest for a while, but now, you know, America always has to do something, okay? And it was. It's 110 meters, actually. Think it's 111, but whatever. 100 meters drop, right?
[00:12:26] And you've seen that. They stand there.
[00:12:28] Let me just.
[00:12:30] And they've got this big elastic band. It's actually thousands, millions of little elastic strands that are all bound together. And they put this hectic harness, like, strapped all the way here, and they say, okay, you're safe. And you're like, no, I'm not.
[00:12:49] Look. No, man, you've seen hundreds of people, thousands of people for decades doing this.
[00:12:56] I don't care.
[00:12:58] Just go for it. Jump.
[00:13:02] No, confirm.
[00:13:06] Okay. 99% of the people, except for Jacques is in that boat, okay?
[00:13:13] And what happens is that the guys around you, the crowd watching, they start saying, jump, jump, jump. You can do it, it's okay, you're safe, jump.
[00:13:27] And then they have to do the good old countdown.
[00:13:30] Alright, we're gonna count down.
[00:13:32] 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[00:13:37] And in most cases, not in all the person jumps.
[00:13:42] How much encouraging, how much rooting had to go on to give that person enough courage to say, okay, I'm safe.
[00:13:54] But you know what happens this far off the bridge? You just hear it.
[00:14:05] All the way down.
[00:14:06] Okay?
[00:14:08] So even when you do jump, there's still courage needed to not die.
[00:14:15] Okay, you've got the story of Braveheart. Who watched the movie Braveheart?
[00:14:22] Anyone remember that good old fashioned movie? It's really a close one to me. It's where one of the first times I held my wife's hands, we were watching this movie at a friend's house and it didn't go any further than that. Okay?
[00:14:38] I didn't get that brave after it, but it was encouraging.
[00:14:44] So William Wallace, okay, he had to take the Scottish, you know, warriors in their kilts and they painted their faces and they put their war, you know, courage on.
[00:14:59] And there was lots of chanting and lots of getting ready because the armies of England, okay, wanted to take territory and these mad Scots said, there's no way I've got Scots blood in me. So I know how to do it, okay? And there was lots of.
[00:15:20] And they got the courage and they won their battle. There was lots of death, lots of mayhem. Okay, but here's the question.
[00:15:34] How much more should we rather find consistent courage from God's word than from mere mortals saying 5, 4, 3, 2, 1?
[00:15:53] Because I don't think there's actually a term, but I'm going to just make it secular. Courage lasts but a moment when the enemy plants a seed of fear.
[00:16:10] There can almost be no secular psychology that will help you. Like God's Word.
[00:16:18] Amen.
[00:16:20] All right?
[00:16:22] And after all, are we not surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses?
[00:16:30] Is that not what scripture tells us?
[00:16:32] Are they not chanting us from the heavenlies, from the spiritual realm?
[00:16:38] Are they not saying, it's okay, gourds, pay the tax man?
[00:16:45] Well, for some of you it's like hahaha, Right, Joshua 1:9. We're going to get into the scripture. I've been saying scripture, scripture, scripture, God's word, God's word, God's word. So let's get right into it.
[00:17:00] Joshua 1:9, it says, have I not commanded you? This is the angel of the Lord, right, right, The Lord, the Angel of the Lord, be strong and courageous. Can you all say that?
[00:17:14] Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.
[00:17:19] And do not be discouraged when. Why.
[00:17:28] Should we try that again? Okay, in synchron, let's synchronize this. Okay.
[00:17:33] Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
[00:17:44] Is that only for Joshua?
[00:17:47] Is that for you today?
[00:17:49] Okay, so wherever you go.
[00:17:52] Not sometimes, but wherever you go, God will be with you. Does that mean you will win the victory?
[00:18:03] Not always, but it's like, hold on. That's not fair. If God's with me, then surely. Okay. Did Joshua win every victory?
[00:18:11] Did people die?
[00:18:13] Did they win? Some.
[00:18:15] But were they brought nearer to the Lord as the journey went on?
[00:18:22] This verse speaks to assure us of God's presence.
[00:18:27] Elka, the song that you sang this morning, Hosanna.
[00:18:32] The verse. Amy, I don't know how quick you can try and flick to the verse that spoke of his presence and fear.
[00:18:41] This is totally off the cuff because I didn't even know you were going to do that song this morning. Okay.
[00:18:47] In your presence, all our fears are washed away.
[00:18:54] Didn't God prepare all of you before you heard the seed? And my prayer this morning is that your heart, it's like fertile ground ready to receive the fact that he said it to Joshua and he's saying it to you this morning. That the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
[00:19:24] We too, are reminded that.
[00:19:27] And, Amy, you can put up that next.
[00:19:32] That we're reminded that God's presence.
[00:19:36] Do you get it? God's presence dispels. Meaning, pushes out. Okay. God's presence dispels our fear, our worries, our anxieties.
[00:19:53] Who this week and this year so far, has had worries.
[00:19:58] Anyone?
[00:20:01] Okay. Has had fear.
[00:20:04] Anxiety. Anyone? Anxiety. Going once, going twice.
[00:20:09] Do you know what I'm saying?
[00:20:10] It's there, right?
[00:20:12] In that moment.
[00:20:14] In that moment, I want you.
[00:20:17] I'm going to bring a bit of application now, but I'll bring it again at the end because it's like the Bible. When it says it twice, it means, listen up.
[00:20:24] In that moment of anxiety and worry, remind yourself.
[00:20:30] Joshua was told a promise.
[00:20:35] That he is with me.
[00:20:37] That he is with me.
[00:20:39] Isaiah 41:10 says so. Do not fear, for I am with you.
[00:20:48] Do not be dismayed, for I am your.
[00:20:53] I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
[00:21:02] What a promise from the Lord.
[00:21:04] Now, hold on. Careful, because I don't want you to start going, Amen. Hallelujah. He is with me. Therefore, I will get my Mercedes Benz and I will overcome in this area and that area. Because actually the Lord needed the Israelites to journey for 40 years because of their disobedience, right?
[00:21:29] So declaring Scripture, yes, there's power in our words. I agree.
[00:21:37] But please be careful.
[00:21:40] Don't allow the declaration of Scripture to become a mantra in the absence of the presence of the Lord.
[00:21:47] Did you hear me?
[00:21:48] Do not say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But Christ is so far behind me, I'm nowhere near him.
[00:21:57] Do you get my point?
[00:21:59] Rather, allow that Scripture to be reminded and birthed from a place of O Lord, I beseech you, oh, that you may go before me.
[00:22:11] May you give me wisdom in this situation.
[00:22:18] So that was my.
[00:22:20] We're not talking about prosperity or motivational clips.
[00:22:25] Denzel Washington. I love watching him sometimes, man. He even brings a little bit of God Word in there, too.
[00:22:31] But you know what? By 12 o', clock, it's gone.
[00:22:36] You know?
[00:22:38] But God is not.
[00:22:42] So let's have a look at the relationship between courage and confidence.
[00:22:47] Because there is a relationship there, you see, with godly courage.
[00:22:52] What comes with that confidence? Now, I'm not talking about the same confidence that we enter into his presence. That's different, okay? Because the scripture that teaches us say because of the fact that the veil has been torn, we can now confidently enter into the presence of the Lord. All right? We don't have to perform rituals. We don't have to, you know, perform all sorts of sacrifices.
[00:23:22] So confidently know that God is with us and confidently know that you can enter into his presence. Okay?
[00:23:33] But what I'm talking about this morning is that godly courage.
[00:23:39] So remember, courage is the thing that is the fuel. It's the engine room that says, right foot, take a step into that difficult situation. Left foot, you better keep up.
[00:23:53] Okay?
[00:23:54] That's courage.
[00:23:56] Fear says, I ain't going nowhere.
[00:23:59] Okay?
[00:24:00] So remember, I'm going to keep saying the same thing. God's going to be like, you've said this 10 times. I know, but in his presence, meaning he is with us.
[00:24:09] He will dispel fear from us in those situations.
[00:24:15] What is the difference between human confidence or secular confidence?
[00:24:22] The difference is that it often comes from a place of pride.
[00:24:27] I can do this. I don't need your help.
[00:24:31] I've got this. That's the three. I got this. Yeah, the three. Three most dangerous words you can hear from most people.
[00:24:38] It's like, hey, I got this. It's like, so you're gonna lean on your own strength. Good luck to you, brother, because I ain't gonna do that.
[00:24:48] I am gonna lean on the fact that I'm in his presence and it's for his glory and not for mine.
[00:24:57] So pride is a sin.
[00:24:59] So human confidence, if you naturally gifted in that area, I think I've got a fairly good gift of I don't mind fear. Bring it on. Okay. But what I have learned in that is it gets me into trouble.
[00:25:13] I can actually go places where the Lord is not there.
[00:25:16] He is with me, but he's not there. Okay?
[00:25:24] So let's not become Mr. Know It Alls or Mrs. Know It Alls, all right?
[00:25:29] Because it often leads to disrespect into the situation.
[00:25:34] Hebrews 13:6. Let's have a look at what that says.
[00:25:41] So we say with confidence altogether, the Lord is my helper. I. I will not be afraid.
[00:25:49] What can mere mortals do to me?
[00:25:53] The end.
[00:25:55] We can go home now.
[00:25:58] How many of you guys have actually held on to this?
[00:26:02] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And a half.
[00:26:11] So what can mere mortals do to me? Well, it's a funny thing that when your boss says, you're useless, you have no idea what you're doing. Unfortunately, I've been one of those bosses, so I know what I'm talking about.
[00:26:24] Very ugly, not helpful at all. And I will answer for that.
[00:26:29] So just a warning. If you have a place of influence and position, you're not only accountable in the church, you're accountable every day and every second of your life.
[00:26:41] So our confidence stems from our relationship with Christ, who is our constant helper.
[00:26:53] So when we find ourselves looking at the half empty glass, I hope you all understand what that means.
[00:26:59] It means actually you have something right?
[00:27:04] But we tend to focus on what we don't have.
[00:27:08] Then the fear and then the worry and the anxiety and the trouble begins to come flooding in to your life.
[00:27:18] But let us have this confidence, because the Lord said, I am your helper. And again, you can tell I'm trying to make sure we don't fall into the trap of prosperity.
[00:27:30] It does not mean that suddenly this problem is going to.
[00:27:35] Have you heard lots of guys do that?
[00:27:38] It's gone. No, it goes in God's time because he knows what he's doing with you.
[00:27:46] This morning's prayer meeting, Philip shared and taste, huh?
[00:27:53] Sorry, Tyrese. He just said one word, and that just gave me so much confidence. He said, may we move with you, Lord? That's all he said.
[00:28:02] And I was just like, yes, that's it. Philip shed from Psalm 20:something, 90 something, I can't remember, but from the Psalms.
[00:28:13] And the picture that was given was, if we are building with clay and straw and wood, what happens when the time of testing comes?
[00:28:26] It burns up, right?
[00:28:29] So let us be aware of what we're building with because it's Jesus who is our Constant helper. Philippians 4:13.
[00:28:45] Can we all read that one? We all know it.
[00:28:48] Let's go. I.
[00:28:54] Okay.
[00:28:57] As Uncle Marnie shared a few weeks ago, this is one of the most inappropriately used scriptures in this modern day and age.
[00:29:09] Yes, he can do all things through us for his glory, for his way.
[00:29:18] So even when we are in a time of suffering, you can actually walk the journey because he is with us.
[00:29:34] Because if we are not going to live a life of being content, that's the half full glass, okay? That's saying, man, I know that this would be helpful if I had a bigger house.
[00:29:50] This would be helpful if I had the 4x4, because I got to go on the worst roads in Africa, which is just around the corner here.
[00:29:58] Okay? It would be helpful, Lord. In fact, it's not fair. Why can't I actually just have this and that and the other?
[00:30:05] But rather it's like I'm content because the Lord will provide a way to fix my car because of that road.
[00:30:15] The Lord will carry me through even if it means that I have to leave my car behind and walk because he's teaching me something. There's a lesson in that in itself.
[00:30:32] Okay, you still with me?
[00:30:35] Alright, we've got lots of time left.
[00:30:38] So that was the intro.
[00:30:40] We're going to get into the meaty part now.
[00:30:43] So everyday application of godly courage and confidence.
[00:30:50] So godly courage should manifest in our daily lives.
[00:30:56] Agree?
[00:30:57] So godly courage manifest means.
[00:31:01] Some people think it's a demonic word. It's not a demonic word. Okay. We have manifestation of the Holy Spirit too, you know.
[00:31:08] So we need to have the manifestation of godly courage. The reason why I'm going to step into this is because the Lord is with me. I can remember those promises because he's told me that even if the end result is failure in the eyes of man, it is successful in the eyes of God because I was faithful with it.
[00:31:31] Did you hear me on that one? I was faithful with this in the eyes of man. Failure in the eyes of God. Well done, my good and faithful servant.
[00:31:44] So how are we going to cultivate this? What are the practical ways that we can cultivate. For any farmers out here, cultivate means you have to do what?
[00:31:54] You have to get the weeds out. You have to break up the soil. Sometimes you have to add a bit of, you know. I'm not going to say fertilizer. Oh, I did.
[00:32:05] Okay. Add a bit of God's word. All right. Make the soil of your life, of your soul.
[00:32:14] Ready? That's what cultivation means. So how do we cultivate this in our daily routines?
[00:32:23] So if you're here for the first time, we'd love to invite you to community group, because community group is where we live out our daily walk, and we work out our salvation and we encourage one another.
[00:32:39] And we don't feel weird when the guy at the front says, hold your neighbor's hand, because actually it's your brother's hand or your sister's hand. It's your family.
[00:32:50] So, number one. Thanks, Amy.
[00:32:53] Prayer and meditation, you guys are gonna be like, this is so basic.
[00:32:59] I'm afraid it is.
[00:33:01] If you want your car to move, what are you gonna put in it?
[00:33:05] So it's kind of basic, right?
[00:33:07] Yes. There's a lot of other things that you're gonna get into.
[00:33:10] Change the oil, change the filter at the appropriate times, or your vehicle will not move.
[00:33:18] So regularly seeking God in prayer fosters a deeper relationship and reassurance and reassures us of his promises that he will be with us.
[00:33:33] So praying and meditating.
[00:33:37] Number two. Part of the meditating is the scriptural reflection that we need to start cultivating as a part of our daily routine. Can you say, I will regularly, every day reflect on God's word?
[00:34:05] You said it, not me.
[00:34:07] I didn't force you. I didn't say, I'm going to kick you out. We're going to banish you forever. I just said, follow me.
[00:34:13] So thank you for saying those words because reading and meditating on God's word strengthens our faith.
[00:34:22] Romans 10. I don't think it's up.
[00:34:25] No.
[00:34:26] Romans 10:7 says, faith comes from hearing. That is hearing the good news about Christ.
[00:34:37] So consider daily verses about courage and confidence to reinforce your belief.
[00:34:45] Can I ask you to do that?
[00:34:50] Community support.
[00:34:54] Community is a very big one.
[00:34:57] So like I said, 99 of those people probably would not have jumped if it wasn't for that moment of community around that person, cheering them on and counting down.
[00:35:13] So surround yourself with fellow believers that encourage us to grow in our faith and stand firm together.
[00:35:28] God has created us from the beginning to be interrelational.
[00:35:34] Adam and Eve, if you wanted to he could have just created Adam. Then we wouldn't have had all these problems.
[00:35:44] It took a few seconds, right? Just delete that, Kopeka. That just.
[00:35:50] Can you rewind and.
[00:35:55] I'll just seeing how many people were still awake.
[00:35:59] But here's the reality is that he has created us. Okay? Even Jesus said, I'm going to send you guys in twos, right? To go into the world. Right.
[00:36:12] And to begin to learn how difficult it is to share this good news.
[00:36:19] Then they came back going, oh, my goodness, there's even guys out there that are healing in your name.
[00:36:26] That's another preach for another day.
[00:36:30] So community support, community groups is the life of Gospel Central Church Sunday meeting. Well done, Amy. You're on the ball. That was not queued up.
[00:36:43] So Sunday meeting is a time of celebration. It's a time of hearing God's word. It's a time of being encouraged. Okay?
[00:36:52] But if you are only going to survive on your Sunday meeting, you will grow.
[00:37:00] I don't know how many of you have seen some of the.
[00:37:03] The maize that's growing at the moment. It's deficient. It's very light green, and it's about this high off the ground. That's how you're going to grow as a Christian.
[00:37:14] It's isolated.
[00:37:16] You grow in community where you have other leaders, other people's insights and experiences beginning to share with you how God was with them on their journey and their difficulty and their situation gives you godly courage.
[00:37:38] It gives you confidence to say, okay, I can do this.
[00:37:44] The fourth one.
[00:37:50] I don't think we realize how important this is. A part of the ingredients.
[00:37:56] Okay.
[00:37:57] To growing in our godly confidence and our courage. Sorry.
[00:38:04] Serving others.
[00:38:09] Oh, I got to be careful here because I want to say a whole lot of things, but I'm not going to say them because I don't want to cause any hurt out there.
[00:38:17] But can I encourage you this year in 2025, if you want to grow in your godly courage and confidence and in your seeing God's presence in every situation, be ready to serve in the family.
[00:38:40] Be ready to wash the dishes.
[00:38:43] Be ready to take the tapolans.
[00:38:47] You know, someone had to do that this morning.
[00:38:50] I'm not going to mention who, but there were very few here this morning.
[00:38:54] And I encourage us, please.
[00:38:58] God has given us a direction on this, that community groups share the load. We're sharing it, guys.
[00:39:07] And we're hoping that in your community groups, you identifying what gifting are you, you have a gift of hospitality. Great. Then you Serve at the tea and coffee and encourage people and give them the verse and welcome them.
[00:39:20] You have the gift of, you know, if you're a beefy guy, the gift of looking after cars.
[00:39:26] Okay, I'm being a bit silly, but you, you're getting the point. So in your community groups, please do strategize. How can we serve our family better, especially if it's a new member of the family.
[00:39:42] So when a baby is born, what do you do?
[00:39:48] Do you just leave it on the bed?
[00:39:50] You leave it crying?
[00:39:52] What do you do?
[00:39:54] You take care of it when there is a new person amongst us.
[00:40:00] Sorry, I'm not calling you a baby. Okay, I think there was one hand over there.
[00:40:05] My point is this is that we are called to show them the love of Jesus and to bring them through.
[00:40:17] Okay, we all there? Right. We're going to conclude. Don't worry, just another 25 minutes.
[00:40:25] So in our journey of faith, I think maybe I haven't actually emphasized on the importance of faith and the fact that hearing the hearing of God's word. Okay, not exactly. This is what God gave to me earlier.
[00:40:44] If we only rely.
[00:40:46] And I'm not saying it's bad, this is very, very good.
[00:40:49] I love it because I'm a worship at heart. I was in the worship team for 15 plus years.
[00:40:55] So worshiping God and sensing his presence is something that would encourage me to no end. I'd be like, wow.
[00:41:02] But I wasn't very good in the Word, so there was a deficiency. I was like that light green piece of maize. So it was great.
[00:41:13] But I'm not aiming for great.
[00:41:16] I'm aiming for the best that God has prepared for me in advance.
[00:41:22] So if we're waiting for the goosebump moments only, that's not how your faith will be consistent. Remember earlier I was talking about being consistent in our faith, but when we hear testimony of how God helped that person, not necessarily to achieve, in our eyes, the right result, but actually the grace to walk through the difficult time or whatever it was, that's hearing God that moment, that's hearing his Word in that moment.
[00:41:56] So yes, it's hearing scripture, it's through our community with one another. That is how our faith is stirred.
[00:42:05] The last meeting of 2024, we had dozens of people sharing testimonies whose faith was stirred after that time.
[00:42:16] Yeah, hands going up all over the place.
[00:42:19] That's what happens when we share testimony.
[00:42:21] It's like, look what the Lord has done in my life.
[00:42:26] Some of the stories were, whoo, you got the new Mercedes Benz. They weren't, but they were. Something like that. Okay, but all of them were.
[00:42:36] God was with me, all of them were. He carried me through this situation.
[00:42:44] So as we face the trials and the challenges of our lives, this is going to bring it very close to home for us as a family right now. Like filling out university applications.
[00:42:57] You have to have a university degree just to fill out a university application.
[00:43:02] I think they do it deliberately so that if you successfully fill this out, you deserve to be here.
[00:43:08] You know what I mean? It's like, let's make this as hard as possible to stress the person out as much as possible and hopefully only 50% of the people actually get there.
[00:43:19] For a lot of us here, the immigration process, what a nightmare.
[00:43:25] What a nightmare. You've done nothing wrong.
[00:43:28] You've done nothing wrong, but you have to go to the office and you're like, you know, and nine times out of 10, what happens? And I must, I'll be honest, I've done a lot of it.
[00:43:39] Eight years of walking to the immigration office and I promise you guys, nine times out of ten, if I walk in there with the presence of the Lord, with patience and kindness, there's a beautiful smile on the other side and there's a lovely stamp.
[00:43:56] Oh, this sound of that stamp.
[00:44:01] Good job, God bless you. Have a lovely day.
[00:44:07] Promise you. But I've seen, I've seen some people in there and there's rage and there's.
[00:44:14] And you can just see the immigration officers patiently just wait.
[00:44:19] No, I can't help you.
[00:44:21] You can leave.
[00:44:23] There's a message in that.
[00:44:25] And as we have to try and figure out these really complex medical aid forms and documents and stuff, we must remember not to be double minded, because a double minded man will receive nothing.
[00:44:41] Not half, but nothing. Okay?
[00:44:45] So let us not be double minded and have faith.
[00:44:49] I'm still tapping on the faith thing, that this is how we have faith. This is how we apply faith in our everyday life.
[00:44:58] So know that our strength comes from God and may we learn what his promises are.
[00:45:06] 24 7, 365. Last year was 366.
[00:45:13] Okay, let us be committed to live out our faith.
[00:45:19] Say, I want to be committed to living out this faith. Can you say that?
[00:45:28] Here's the important part.
[00:45:30] Can you repeat this after me?
[00:45:32] Influencing those that are around me.
[00:45:38] We all want to be influencers on TikTok. And you know, when it comes down to it, when you're standing in the shoprite queue and there's a mess up on the till and you start to wasting my time, that's when you're going to have to start practicing it.
[00:46:03] So as we walk with God, let's seek his kingdom first above all else. Amen.
[00:46:09] Let us strive to live out the courage and the confidence that he gives to us in our actions. Spreading his love.
[00:46:19] Yeah. And his grace. Spreading his love and his grace in all that we do.
[00:46:28] There's a lovely thing that says, face your fears.
[00:46:32] Yeah. Ever heard that before?
[00:46:34] Face your fears.
[00:46:39] I think a big part of it is we have to actually just be content.
[00:46:43] Don't face it like I've got a big chest and I can do this. Okay.
[00:46:48] Face it with the fact that God has done much in my life already that God is with me on this journey.
[00:46:56] Let's walk in humility.
[00:47:00] As we walk with godly courage, let us make sure that our testimony is more about the half full glass and a lot less about the half empty glass.
[00:47:16] Okay? Can we all do that? Half full hands.
[00:47:22] You start like this and you go half full glass, go down versus the half empty.
[00:47:30] Okay.
[00:47:32] Silly. But I hope that reminds you, let us be content.
[00:47:37] Let us be courageous in the things that God has called us to.
[00:47:42] Let us be influential.
[00:47:47] So as we just finish, I want to pray for us.
