Building Life // 7 June 2026

Nick Resce

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

That invitation is still given to us today. Come to the Father. And I don't know what sort of week you've had, I don't know what you're carrying in your heart today, but that invitation of love and grace is here. And I just want to pray today that as that invitation is given out even today, that our hearts would be hoping to receive from him. Father, we thank you. We thank you for the love of Jesus. We thank you for his grace. We thank you that he is the lifter of our soul. And today, as we hear your word, we thank you, God, that it will bring life into us. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. God bless you. May be seated. It's great to be here. I've never had an introduction like that before in my life. And I'd like to give you my version of that story, if that's okay, to bring a little bit of sanity to it. I thought, man, a life. You know, look, I do have a little bit of a habit when it comes to food. I come from South Australia, Adelaide, and uh Adelaide is known to have some great uh food places. How many of you have heard of MasterChef? Not too many people, okay. Well, we have Master Chef winners, and we have uh one of the top food markets in the world. Could you believe that? It's in the top three, it's called the Adelaide Markets, and so I feel like I'm a little bit of a specialist when it comes to food. And whenever we have people that we invite out, I almost always interested in what they order. And he orders, I think, some spaghetti or stuff. And I thought, I hope that's good. And I just wanted to make sure that it was good, it was proper Italian quality. Do you know what I mean? Because you've got to take care of family, that's how I put it, that's my version, and I'm sticking to it. Hey, it's great to be here with you. Uh, one of the great challenges about coming to the UK is actually packing to work out what to bring. And uh, my wife was going, how do we pack? I said, we pack like we're going to summer, but also like we're going to experience winter. And uh we are confused when you look up, when an Australian looks up English weather next into the dictionary, it has confusing Australians. That's what I think happens. But we are glad to be here and so grateful to see what God is doing here amongst you. It's lovely to see Scott and Rachel again and their two children that are growing up so fast, which is amazing. And also Marcus, who we met in 2022. Uh, I feel that uh he's my twin brother. If you look at us standing together, we have incredible physiques, me and you, Marcus, and great hairlines to go with it. And I'm trying to encourage him to come to Australia. Thank you for your hospitality, your love, and we just feel connected and uh just love you guys. Love you and love Sue, and you know what an incredible journey. But God is good and he's very gracious to us. Today I just want to share some thoughts with you. What I'm gonna do is I'm going to um just uh cut some of my slides out. So the young man who's on the slide media department there, I believe you're getting baptized next week. Is that right? Fantastic. I think we should give him a big hand. Thank you for what you do. Now I'm on I'm on a timer here, so we've got the timer, so I'm gonna cut out some of those slides. Hopefully, I'm gonna get through this. This is the other thing I do don't do well. I I think last time I've got the longest preaching time here. Is that right?

unknown 4:06

That's what I've been told.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Right, yeah. I'd like I'd like to break that today and go even further. Let's see how we go. So, can we go to slide three? Let's see if that's the right one. Let's go to the next one. Next one. Oh no, leave it there, go back, go back. That's the one. Let's leave it there. Let's start there. I don't want to mention this because some of you are gonna go, oh no, please don't go there. But how many of you remember around 2020 uh there was a global pandemic called uh what was it called? The coronavirus. How many of you remember this? Yeah, I've forgotten, I'm trying to forget it. Well, what a time. What an incredible shake. And sometimes, you know, you you try to work out what is happening in the world on a global basis. And um I've always taught uh about decade shifts. What was interesting about this pandemic, that it was the beginning of a decade. And um in this in this decade, I I've been observing the decade shifts for over 40 years, four decades, and it always seems that God has different themes uh in different decades. And I was trying to, as a I guess a prophetic ministry, trying to work out what was God doing. How many of you know sometimes that's hard to work out because his ways are not our ways and they're much, much higher, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Uh, but the scripture came to me uh while I was pondering on that out of uh Hebrew, which was out of Haggai, it says, Once again, I'll shake the heavens and the earth. Now, here's the thing that happens with us is that when God begins to shake something, it's not because he's trying to harm us, it's because he's trying to shift something. And the problem with us when we try and interpret shakings, we get caught in the shake. We concentrate a lot on what is being shaken instead of what is God trying to shift. And as I now as if we're in 2026, we're starting to see some things in globally in the Christian church that God wanted us to focus on. And I want to talk about that today. The theme of my message today is building life. How many of you know that God has not just given us life, but he's given us abundant life? And I want to talk about a God who loves us that wants to build his life in us, and one of the shifts that um I have seen is there's a new focus, there's a refreshing focus on discipleship. And you know, God doesn't want us just to be believers, he wants us to be disciples. How many of you can give me an amen to that? There's a massive global shift that God is taking the church through a process of maturity, and uh this really has impacted just the way that I see what God is doing. Now, not only does God bring global shaking and shakes every nation, but you know, we have personal shakings. We call them trials. How many of you like going through a trial? I mean, one of the most scriptures that I have incredible tension with is James chapter 1, verse 2, which says, consider it, listen to how it's written, consider it pure joy when you go through various trials. I mean, who wrote this stuff? The tension of that scripture is amazing because it is a shaking in your life, it's a personal shaking. When you go through a trial, it's a personal shaking. But if you get caught in the shake, you've missed the shift. Because when you go through a trial, God is trying to shift something in you to bring you to a greater place of maturity in Him. Sometimes He's trying to shift an attitude, sometimes He's trying to shift a mindset, sometimes He's trying to shift you into a new chapter, sometimes He's trying to break a habit in your life, and sometimes He's even shifting relationships in your life. And so, my encouragement to you today is with the shakings that sometimes happen in our life, whether they're global or whether they are personal, don't get caught in the shaking, but see what God wants to do through the shift. Can you give me an amen to that? And it's really important to understand that because as we are now, you know, in this in this new decade, we're starting to see as church leaders some of the shifts that are happening in the church. One of them is evangelism. We're seeing new people come to Christ like never before. Aren't you glad about that? And I mean, and and I mean, it is amazing. It's the Spirit of God. I mean, we're all supposed to reach out, but aren't you glad? The greatest evangelist is the Holy Spirit. And he goes searching for people. Yesterday I was, I had the privilege to meet Joe over here and I heard his story and I couldn't believe it. He's getting married in a couple of weeks. Not only is God blessed him spiritually, he's being blessed with a wife. I think that's amazing. I think you should give them a hand. I think that's very exciting. But one of the great shifts has been in discipleship. And I want to talk about the day. Please don't turn off because sometimes what we think when we think about discipleship, we think it's all about disciplines. And actually, discipleship is an invitation through a relationship that is entered into by the surrendering of your life. It's just like marriage. There's an invitation that the groom gives, and it's entered into by surrendering to one another. And God is bringing the church in a new place of surrender and a new place of maturity. Now I've got three children, I've got six grandchildren, and uh we absolutely love our grandkids and love our kids. My youngest, our youngest boy, Michael, he was I was always a little bit concerned about him because he used to live on the edge. He's one of these kids that you know he he he was a bit of a party boy, and I thought to myself, I wonder what he's gonna be like as a father. And uh Michael now has shocked me in two ways. First way is he's had four children. I cannot believe it. I thought, man, if this this son of mine has one, it'll be a miracle. He's got four children. And the other thing that has shocked me, he's a great father. And we were babysitting three of his children because our youngest grandson has just been born, he's about I think four months old now. And he pulls me aside and he says, Dad, we've noticed something when you babysit our three children. When they come home, it takes ages to settle them. What are you doing? Well, we as grandparents, we do what grandparents do. We sugar them up, we put cordial into them, pancakes, and then we give them back as payback timed, you know, to go, this is what you were like to us. And he was saying, Dad, whatever you're doing, stop it. He goes, I know you want to bless them, but we're trying to build their life. I was in shock. I thought, who is this kid? Maybe some of the stuff we put in him is starting to actually affect his life. Do you know God's like that? You know, God loves to bless us, but he has got a higher priority, and that is to build your life. And I want to talk about building life today. You know, my oldest grandson, he's 10 years old. When he was um, you know, he would have been what 18 months, two years old. Uh, he used to, we used to go for walks and he'd see cars and he'd go, non no. I am Italian, that's not you know, grandfather for in Italian, non no. He said, Non no, brum broom. And I used to put him in my car and I used to, you know, get him in there. He used to love playing with the steering wheel and he'd go brom. Now I love the kid, I absolutely love him. But there's no way I was gonna give him my keys, it's not gonna happen. Sometimes I wonder, you know, the Bible says that he gives us the keys to the kingdom. I just wonder sometimes if we can't access that authority that we have in Christ because of the lack of maturity that we have. And I'm not here to condemn anybody today. I just want to talk about the shift that has happened in Christendom as God is calling the church to a new level of maturity because God wants the church to have authority and take a hold of everything that he has for the church. Can you give me an amen to that today? So, you know, God is a builder by nature. I don't know if you know that, but God by nature is a builder. Can we go to the next slide? There we are there. Matthew 16, 18. Most of you know the scripture. God never said, He's he didn't say, hey, I will bless my church. How many of you know we are blessed? All you have to do is read Ephesians and you'll see the seven eternal blessings that we have through Jesus Christ. So I'm not saying we're not blessed. I'm not saying that God doesn't want to bless you. Yes, he does, but there's a higher priority to build his church. And you know, one of the outcomes of being built is you will be blessed. And we see through scripture the very nature of God that he is a build. He says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail. Let's look at another scripture, Ephesians 4.11. These five-fold ministry gifts, these gifts that have been given to the church, to equip the church, it's not to bless them, it's to actually build people. Now you might not know what these five gifts are. The Bible says there's apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and they help build the church and the body of Christ. If you were building a house, it's like using a carpenter, an electrician, or a plumber. These are specialized builders that build the house. These five gifts have been given to the church, not to bless the church, but to build the church into maturity. Have a look at this other scripture, Matthew 28, 19. It says, therefore, go and make disciples. That make, that word make, means to build people. I love building people. Uh, in my my latter years of ministry now, um, most probably what I do most of is try to help pastors and leaders or anybody that is willing to go on the journey of discipleship and walk along with them and build their life. And like never before, there is a hunger, particularly in the generations that are coming through, the Gen Ys and the Gen Zs. Let me tell you, that generation, they are looking for mentors, they're looking for people that will walk alongside them, they are looking for people that will invest in their life and say, Will you help me to walk through the steps of life that God has for me? That's what being a discipleship maker is. It's to help build people. And then there's a personal scripture in Matthew chapter 7, verse 24, which says this build your house. Now, whenever you see house, house is symbolic for life. Build your house on Christ Jesus the rock. You know, we live in a changing world. Man, you know, and it's got faster. Technology has caused life to go even faster. So much faster than ever before. Things are changing, things are unstable, there's unstable economic markets, everything seems to be up and stable. Can I say this? We serve a God that is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And you can build your life. And if you build your life on that rock, Jesus Christ and that eternal truth, let me tell you the winds of life might blow, you might go through storms, but your house will stay standing. Come on, would you give God a hand of praise for that today? So you can see that right through Scripture, it identifies the very nature of God, that God is actually a builder and He wants to build your life. Now I hope I'm not misreading this, but does that say I have four, is we got four minutes to go? Is that correct? Or is that what I'd look at? Oh, right, okay. Well, okay, you nod. I'm gonna look at you, okay? Great. Right, you we know, right. If you start jumping up and down and doing yeah, right, okay. Now I I just want to mention a book that I read when I was very young, and I think you might know about it, and you might have read this book. It's a very insightful and principled book. It's an amazing book. It's very simple in its in its imagery and also in its principles, but it is profound. How many of you know that truth is actually simple? You know, we live in such a complex world and yet we've lost common sense somewhere along the way. And yet God's truth sets us free because of the simplicity and the love that he brings. And this book is very insightful, yet it is very a simple book. It was, I think it was written in Germany. We don't know the author, but it was made popular by two English people, two Englishmen, Joseph Jacobs and James Holliwell, back in 1886. If you don't have this book, I would recommend that you go and buy it. I think it's going to cost you about seven or eight pounds. How many of you are interested to know what the name of this book is? Are you ready? This is an incredible, insightful book. It's called The Three Little Pigs. How's that? How profound the three little pigs. What an incredible, insightful fairy tale. It's a proverb in a sense, it's a modern day proverb. And I wish we could take the simplicity of that truth and apply it to our lives today. Now you know the story of the three little pigs. How many of you know the story of the little three little pigs? Who's with me this morning? Wow, you're going, wow, what a strange message today. He's talking about the three little pigs. But have you actually stopped and thought about the principles in that story? How profound. Story is about three little pigs who were brothers. And it tells us that the first little, and there was a wolf, there was an enemy in the area. And uh it says that the first little pig decided that, you know what, he needed to build a house, but he was just, you know, he was more interested in having fun. So he decided I'm gonna use straw to build my house. And so he puts his house together very, very quickly, and then he ran to the second little brick, his brother, who thought, you know what, I just need to spend a little bit more time and strength in building this house. So he chose to build his house of sticks. They had a third brother who not only wanted to build a strong home, but he knew there was an enemy out there that wanted to take him down. And so he decided, I'm going to build my house of bricks. And those of you who understand the principle, building a house of bricks takes a lot more time. He had to build a foundation. And while he's building this, his two brothers had actually finished their homes and they would go and taunt him. And they would go and, you know, ridicule him. Why are you spending so much time building your house? Why are you doing that? Come and join us, you know. Uh we were like that a little bit at school. I remember calling, you know, those kids who used to study all the time, you know, those guys that would spend hours and we'd be out playing football and be, you know, being out at lunchtime, and they'd be studying. We used to call them nerds. Do they have the same, is that, do you understand that, nerds? Years later, we used to call them boss. They knew something we didn't know. And boy, oh boy, I'll tell you what, did you quickly you were humbled very, very quickly. And he built his house of bricks, took time, and eventually his house was finished. And then we see that the wolf came and he went to the little pig that lived in the house of straw. And he said, Let me in, because he he had business with that pig, and he blew that house. House down very, very quickly. His brother, the the the pig quickly ran to his brother, the the one who had house of sticks. And he let him in, and the wolf shows up again, and he blew that house down, and they ran to the pig who had built the house of pig bricks. Now, if you'd been that pig, what would you have done? Would you let him in? I would have gone, I would have done the Italian thing, I would have crossed my arms and go, I remember the things that you said to me. But this little pig was a wise pig and he was a loving pig and he led his two brothers in. And when the wolf came, he couldn't blow the house down. But you know, God wants to build your life. He just doesn't want to bless your life, he wants to build your life, and that's what discipleship is about. And there's something incredibly happening in Christendom where people are coming to a new relationship with Jesus Christ and saying, God, I give you permission to build my life. Let me build my life according to your pattern and what you have for me. Now, here's some things very, very quickly that we can learn about the three little pigs. Can we go there? Number one, building takes time. You know, if you're gonna build your life on the principles of God, you need patience, you need time. God does not make junk, God's foundations are true, God's foundations are strong. They will take you right through to eternity. And it takes time, and sometimes, I don't know about you, but uh you know, patience is not one of my strengths. When I read Galatians chapter 5, verse 22 about the fruits of the Spirit, man, I I don't know. I'm 66 years old and I'm still learning how to be patient. I want quick fixes, I want things done very, very quickly. But I've learned in the wisdom of God that anything that is going to last and be of eternal time will take time to build. It's time to understand that when God does something, he does it with eternal value and eternal concept. Here's the second thing: it's important to build with the right material. It's really important. The three little pigs had different material. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 12, it says, if any person builds this foundation using gold, silver, costly stone, and wood, hay or straw, their work will be revealed, shown for what it is, because the day of judgment or crisis will reveal it, it will bring it into light, it will be tested with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. And so my question today is let's not take shortcuts. Let's build with the material and principles of the word of God. Build your marriage with the principles of the word of God, build your family, your children. Our children, let me tell you, as a grandparent, you know, I have I have a different generational lens now. I I see things differently because now not only do I want to see my children built, but I have another generation that I want to see built. There is something about your grandchildren, there's something about the next generation. I I had the privilege to meet Joyce at the back there. She's 89 years old. I I was blessed just sitting to and and talking to you. And she's got great great children. I think to myself, wow, generations. One of the greatest pains in life is seeing a generation lost. And God is doing something profound. And this is a this is a unique and a profound church, and I'll close with this in a minute. The second thing is we need to understand the crisis and trouble come to all of us. Doesn't matter whether you're a Christian or not, just like the rain falls in England, it'll fall on an Australian and it'll fall like an Englishman. Doesn't matter what nationality you are, it will fall and crisis is the same. But when your house is built on the solid rock Jesus Christ, nothing is movable and show. Here's the last thing we need to help others in time of need. We do not bring condemnation, but our arms, we've got to be like that third little priest, that wise brother, who said, Hey, your houses have been blown down, my door is wide open. You know, the story of the prodigal son is such a powerful story. It's the most preached passage in scripture is Luke chapter 15. And I'll tell you why, is because it's the heart of God. You know, people are going to come through your doors because there's a spirit, there's three characteristics of a church. One is the spirit of restoration, and this church has it. People will come through these doors, and maybe part of their house has been blown down. And if you have open arms and reaching out to them, let me tell you, God will use you to help them rebuild their home, their life in Jesus Christ. It's absolutely important. The reason I say this, can we go back and I'm going to finish with this? I hope I'm on time. Are we doing all right with time? We're good. Two more minutes, we'll finish. Um can I go back to the first slide? Can can I can we do that? Is that possible? Go back to the the one before it. There we go. I when I came here in 2022, I really sensed something about this church. It's something that God is doing around the globe. He's God loves people. How many of you know that? God loves community. The church is God's heartbeat to the community. It's his lighthouse. And uh what is what I'm noticing is happening in different regions is God is establishing churches that have a regional core. I call them regional hubs or apostolic hubs. And when I came here a couple of years ago in 2022, I I realized and I sensed in my heart and spirit that this was not just a local church, that God had a greater purpose for this church than just reaching its local community. And I I honestly believe in my heart, and you test, you can test this as leaders and as a church, I honestly believe in my heart that this church is God is raising it up to be a regional center, to be an apostolic hub, to go way beyond these four walls. Can you give me an amen to that? Can you see what there's something that is happening in this church? And these are some of the characteristics. It is churches that have this hub anointing, they become resources, not just for other churches, but also for community. Don't be surprised that this church is going to be involved in helping other churches, but also in establishing community arms to reach out to the community. Here's the second thing This church, I believe, is going to train and equip people. It will be a church that helps people build their life. Not just blessed lives, but built lives. And I really believe that God is going to raise up and release those five ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, who are going to help people to build their life and the purpose of God in their life. Here's the third thing that this church will have influence beyond its borders. I really believe that very, very strongly. That you're going to see in years to come, some of the people that have been raised up in this house, some of the people that God is going to bring through those doors that have been broken, their houses have been blown down, they're going to come here. God is going to restore them, God's going to rebuild their lives, and they are going to be sent out in different areas of England and even beyond. Could you believe that? Even beyond. I see God doing something. The other thing is that churches that have this apostolic hub called they will plant and birth other ministries. I I can already sense it in what God is doing here. And here's the last one it will be generational and multicultural. Man, God is after everybody, and I love that about God. And you know, so today, you know, I just want to encourage you because really prophetic ministries they don't bring new vision, they actually are not responsible to bring vision. What they are responsible to do is confirm it and encourage with what's already in the DNA and the heartbeat of the leadership and in the church anointing itself. Can you give me an amen to that today? Would you stand to your feet? I hope I haven't gone over time. Uh, can the musicians come back and I'm just gonna pray for you? I just wonder, just as a sign of um just saying, God, I I want to respond, and I'm not I'm not here to force you to respond because the response is from our heart. I'm just wondering if you'd just put your hands out in front of you. And I just wonder today, just for a few minutes, let's just have some Holy Spirit time. God is a restorer. To restore means to rebuild. And I wonder if there's areas of your life that are needing some restoration, some rebuilding. Sometimes I think we misunderstand the love of a father. And now that as a grandfather, my biggest desire is to see my grandkids built, to see them fruitful, to see them connected to purpose. Today, maybe there's areas of your life, and this is not to bring condemnation, but to bring revelation and to release the purpose of God in your life. Maybe there's areas that need underpinning. Maybe your house, some of the foundation has collapsed, but it needs underpinning. I wonder if you'd give the Holy Spirit permission to say, Holy Spirit, come and help me to rebuild this area of my life. Help me, God, to take a hold of your principles, of your word, to make me a person of purpose. A person that is fruitful for your kingdom, for my family, for my for my marriage, for my community. Holy Spirit, we stand with arms wide open and hearts wide open to say, Lord, have your will in our life. And I believe that as you do this as a church, you're gonna fulfill the purpose that God has for this Christian community, and you're gonna rejoice because let me tell you, when a community allows God to be the foundation and the builder of their life, then generations, generations are saved, and you will rejoice and see not just your grandchildren but your great-grandchildren. You'll see three and four generations blessed. You'll see the restorative hand of Jesus Christ. For surely says the Lord, I'm gonna bring the broken, I'm gonna bring the lost, I'm gonna bring those that have been discarded by life, and as they come into the atmosphere of my love and my spirit, I'm gonna restore and rebuild them. And as they are rebuilt, they will become the trophies of my grace, and I will use them and I will launch them to become people that will help build this community and even the city and even beyond. Father, we thank you for that today and give you praise and glory in Jesus' name. Come on, when we give God a hand of praise. Thank you so much for listening. God bless you.