House For Revival: Vision Offering Sunday — Ps Adem & Grace Guneyi (TGA)

Sunday 21th of September, Morning Gathering, Tauranga Location
Ps Adem & Grace Guneyi on Freedom Centre 2025's — "House For Revival: Vision Offering Sunday“

“When was the last time you had a Luke 7 moment? Don’t just know Him like a Pharisee. Know Him like the woman who poured everything at His feet.”

In this Vision Offering message, Ps Adem Guneyi unpacks the story of the alabaster box in Luke 7 — contrasting a Pharisee’s empty religion with a prostitute’s reckless intimacy. We are called to pour out what costs us, bring our alabaster box, and live with faith that believes for the impossible. This isn’t just about money — it’s about surrender, costly worship, and building for the Kingdom. Together, Freedom Centre is believing for $10 million over 5 years and 10,000 souls in Tauranga.

With Freedom Centre NZ Online, you can join us from our Tauranga Location every Sunday live at 11:00am NZT, and our gatherings are available on-demand. Join us at
https://www.freedomcentre.nz/
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Freedom Centre is a Five-Fold church that exists to Encounter, Equip and Release.
Led by Senior Pastors Adem and Grace Guneyi.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Yeah, amen, amen, amen. Well, we are uh at Vision Offering Week, and it's a really, really special week. We actually made a boo-boo in the calendar, uh, in that we held Vision Offering Week during school holidays when everyone's away on holiday, which was a dumb thing to do. But here we are, and uh for those of you who are this morning, we are gonna have a special time giving into the house of God, giving into our vision offering. And so when you you came in this morning, um, you would have seen one of these on your on your chair. And uh by the end of the service, we're gonna come up out of our seats and we're gonna give um into these, into these uh what do you call them buckets, oblongs, rectangles? They they I'm sure they have a name, but it's absolutely just gone, it's gone past me. But we're gonna give into the into this offering uh that we're giving towards this year, and it's gonna be a really, really special moment. And uh last year we had an absolutely incredible, incredible miracle that happened where we raised$1.1 million, and we're believing God, we're believing God that we're gonna we're gonna raise$10 million in the next five years, and uh believing for another million this year towards that ten million dollars. And so we're really, really excited with what the Lord is gonna do across all three services, and uh, and so if you uh need to fill this out during the sermon or whenever, please do. Uh, we won't take that as you being rude, it's actually just you getting ready and coming up with your family. We do encourage you to go and get your kids if that's what you want to do. Come up here, hold hands, pray together, give into the vision offering. And I'm believing that God is gonna bless your life and the kingdom of God is gonna be established in Todanga, New Zealand. Amen. To anybody that believes with me. Come on, amen, amen.

SPEAKER_00: 1:52

Awesome. Um, I just want to share briefly um a little bit of a um a thought around the word that we were given. That was we were going from the tent to the temple. And so we know Marsh Street is the tent, right? Um, and it's been, I guess figuratively speaking, a difficult tent to put up. If you ever put up a tent, you know, tents can be challenging. This tent has been challenging. Um, but you know, we're really excited to see that we're coming to the end of that that challenge. But uh this week um I felt the Lord strongly say to me, read first and second Kings. And I I know first and second Kings kind of well, but I didn't realize that the beginning of 1 Kings is actually the building of the temple through Solomon. And so I thought, okay, Lord, there must be something in this for us. So I want to read to you um 1 Kings chapter 5. It says in verse, I'm reading like halfway through verse 1, it says, when Hiram learned that David's son Solomon, oh just to update you, so David has just died, and Solomon has just taken over. And the first five chapters, like the first four, are basically Solomon kind of dealing with the kingdom. David passes away, he gets rid of all the people who kind of aren't with him, and he establishes all of his leaders. And then it says at the end of um verse, at the end of chapter four, like everything now is kind of it's all settled, it's all in Solomon's hands. And then it goes on to this preparation for the temple. So it says, when Hiram learned that David's son Solomon was the new king of Israel, he sent ambassadors to congratulate him. Then Solomon sent this message back to Hiram. You know that my father David was not able to build a temple to honor the name of the Lord his God because of the many wars waged against him by surrounding nations. He could not build until the Lord gave him victory over all his enemies. But now the Lord my God has given me peace on every side. I have no enemies, and all is well. So I am planning to build a temple to honor the name of the Lord my God, just as he had instructed my father David. You know, and there's there's a significance for Solomon in building the temple to be a resting place for God, to be a house for God. Um, but also there's this there's this understanding that David couldn't build a temple in the time of war. And you know, if you understand this, you understand that we are not in a time of war in the sense that Jesus has already got victory, right? And so whenever we're taking ground for the kingdom, whenever we're trying to advance the kingdom, spiritual warfare arises. And we've seen that all throughout this year. There's there's warfare going on in the spirit, but actually we have victory over every spiritual war in Jesus' name, right? And we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, we understand that, but you know, the enemy absolutely hates when the kingdom of God advances, and that's what we've seen through this process of getting consent. You know, we have seen like battle after battle after battle, war after war after war, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. And it doesn't mean that the enemy has any right because he's still losing and we're still getting consent in our hand, right? But it just shows that the kingdom of darkness hates the advancement of the kingdom of God, hates it. So there is always a war, there is always an opposition when it comes to Christians building the kingdom of God. And you know, even really like it's not even easy in this nation to advance the kingdom of God. It's not easy for the government or for the council to even like allow the kingdom of God to grow, to allow the church to take land and take territory. It's a fight, it's a war. But I I felt that the Lord was giving us this scripture as a church to say that we are in a time of peace, in the sense that we already have victory, and we won't accept that we can't build a temple like David couldn't because we're in a time of war. We don't accept that. We accept that like Solomon, we've overcome every victor, we've overcome every enemy, we've overcome already, and therefore now's the time to build the temple of God. That's what God is saying, and you know, I I love that we're you know, we're the pioneers, and if you're part of freedom, like we're we're a first generation church, right? We don't have legacy behind us, we've got years of wealth, like you know, some of these amazing churches around the city. We don't have that, we've just got us right here and right now, and we're forging something to do in this city and in this nation. But forging something new means, and you know, after this part of the story, Solomon goes to this guy, Hiram, and says, like, I need you to give me like cedar, I need you to give me wood. People had to sow, people had to give, people had to work in order to build the kingdom. And so the word we got from the tent to the temple, there's there's a workload that needs to go into building the temple. But I believe that God is saying we're in a time of peace, we're in a time where now we can advance the kingdom of God, where now we can build the house of God and a temple for God. And I believe it's time for Toranga to have a significant chunk of our city honored to God, set aside to God. The church in our city needs to rise again. The strength of the church in our city needs to rise again, and it's a stake in the ground in Todanga, and it's a stake in the ground in the nation. And I believe God wants to do that, not just through Freedom Center, but in many churches. It's time for the church to advance again. Because the enemy wants to convince us that we're in a time of war. Don't build, don't advance, don't do more, don't take territory. That's what the enemy's been saying to the church since COVID. It's not the time now, it's just the time to, like, you know, lay low, don't rock the boat. But actually, if we understand scripture, we understand this is the time to build, this is the time to go after it. And so I really believe that's the word of the Lord to us. And can I just encourage you this morning, wherever you find yourself on the journey of sowing and giving, that this is the one way, the one single way we can give eternal purpose to our wealth. Because the Bible says repeatedly, you will not take with you when you die anything on this earth. This is the one way we can make what is earthly eternal. So I just want to encourage you this morning, and as we come together and we all give, that we are we we we need to see what God is, where He's taking us. We need to see the vision for what's coming next. We're not in the legacy moment, we're not, you know, but the legacy will be for our children. The 40 years from now, Freedom Center will have a legacy. It'll be the legacy our kids get to have because of what we get to do. We sown today into this offering. I thank you, Lord, that we are not at a time of war, God, but we are in a time of peace. And we believe, Lord, that you are opening a door to advance your kingdom. We thank you, God, that it is our great privilege that we could build your temple, that we could build your house. And so, Father, I just honor every person in this room, every family represented in this house. And Father, we silence any voice of the enemy, any voice of fear. We silence the voice of mammon, the voice that would have us try to withhold, and the voice that would try to convince us that everything on this earth is more real than what's coming in eternity. But Father, we know, God, that we can give eternal purpose to our wealth today. We can give eternal purpose to what we're living for on the earth. And so, Lord, I thank you for every person who will give. And Father, we believe in your word where it says give and it will come back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. That God, we would be able to continually build your house. That we would be a house, God, where your hand is on us, where we are favored and blessed in many ways. And Lord, I just feel to pray specifically now for every business person in the room today. And I thank you, God, for the many testimonies of businesses sowing into the kingdom of God and seeing 10x, 20x in their businesses, that the hand of God and the favor of God can come upon them. Lord, we receive that for us today, for every business person here, for every person here who is soul trading, who is building something that, Lord, you would make a way, Father, for those businesses to be blessed and to be favored. That God, our true purpose on the earth would be to build the kingdom. Lord, we love you and we honor you in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02: 9:18

Amen. Thank you, honey. Can we give it up for Pastor Grace? So, just to recap where we're at, it's a little bit of a hard one to lead as a pastor, if I'm honest with you, because we are on the tip of moving into our new building, but we're also raising money for two buildings in front of us. So it's a it's a little bit, uh just want to clarify what we're doing here this morning for those of you that have been praying and seeking God as to what you're gonna give. Um, we are so so close to announcing that we have consent. So, so close. And uh one of the things that I do want to say, just on a little bit of a side note, um, is that as of tomorrow, uh, it is going to be on as far as uh building uh and renovating is concerned. And what we particularly need this week is like four to six people that um know how to particularly just read some plans and build some steel structures, um, tie them together, just really some handymen um and and can build. Just any kind of building background. We would love this week from Monday um to be able to have a hand over probably the next four or five days. The site will be open from roughly 9 a.m. every morning till probably 9 p.m., uh, if not later, if we have to. So there's all kinds of working bees and different things. Uh, if anybody has the spiritual gift of cooking, there's a lot of hungry people there uh that uh you know ducking off to different places to buy lunch and dinner and all that kinds of thing. And so if if you would love to bless the team with that, um, but yeah, it's very, very close to kind of all hands on deck. Uh Pastor Pierre has been doing a great job uh being there night and day, um, just making sure that things are happening. And so if you do have any kind of building skill, um, we would love to have you. Once the consent gets granted, which we're believing, and I can't really say it has or it hasn't, but just understand we are at the photo finish. Uh once that we get that green light, uh, then it's all hands on deck because we are here in this building until October 31st. So it's a quick renovation, which I believe that we can get it done. It's more about lining up all of the council inspections. Um, I think, you know, I just love our church so much. We're just like, if we were like, hey, we're gonna be there for the next 72 hours around the clock and everybody's gonna be hanging jib, and we're like, yeah, we're just kind of all there, you know, which I love about our church. So I think we're we're gonna get that done, but it's about lining up all the inspections and sign-offs and all of that stuff. So we're here till October 31st. Uh I'm hoping that uh at that point we might have like a week off to kind of figure things out. I'm believing that best case scenario, the week after that we'll be in the building. Worst case, it'll be kind of like late November-ish. But I can feel Ben, the project manager, who's saying, I love your faith, Adam, but where's your reality? But he's a man of faith too, so we're believing for it. Uh, but yeah, so worst case, we've actually got a backup um uh venue for four to six weeks uh over at Aquinas College, which will mean it's it seats about 800 people, so we'll be able to go to one service, um, which would be which would be great. But anyway, I don't want to go to Aquinas, I want to go from here to there. So that'll be great. Um, so that's what we're believing for. So please keep an eye out it literally, we are going to cancel a lot of what is going on in the church calendar, apart from Sundays and small groups, um, because we want people to be at the building getting the work done. So what I'm asking is that if you have any kind of skill or even ability, please just keep uh your your time free and tell us, let us know when you can and can't come. We can add you to a WhatsApp group where everybody is is on there, and then we can just uh renovate that and you don't need to let us know when you're bringing food, that's kind of always welcome. Amen. Amen. And most of the men are addicted to those Masashi energy drinks, so you're welcome to bring them as well, especially Aaron. Amen. Amen. Anyway, so we are in our vision offering. Uh it's it's the day, it's a house for revival. We're building the temple. I am really, really excited with where this is gonna land us at the end of the five years. Uh, it is a really significant thing for a church to become financially stable and own property. It is very, very important all the way through uh the old testament, especially. We see that God gave men and women of God land. And uh I am so thankful that we get the opportunity to put a stake in the ground over the next five years and actually call something ours as Freedom Center, which is gonna be incredible to get us financially stable so that we can do all that God has called us to do. I also want to recap just quickly, um, last week and the response to last week uh regarding Charlie Kirk. And um, can I just tell you, like listening to other pastors that did say something, and I'm not here to tell pastors how they should or shouldn't respond, um, because I've got great friends that went after it and great friends that didn't say anything. Um I I know where my stance is and where we led you guys last week as Freedom Center, but I I do want to say this is that in talking to other people that did say something, they were very um apprehensive at in the sense of like what's the church gonna say? What is the church going to respond? Am I gonna get hate emails on the Monday? And I just thought, Flip, I didn't even think that once. Our church is incredible. Like, so I just want to say, like, the I I love how spirit-filled, word-led, like, we we stand for the word of God. I I just want to say it is the utmost joy and privilege to lead you as Freedom Center because we have a church that goes after it, we have a church that stands up for the name of Jesus, and I had nothing but positive responses last week. In fact, I had people not only in our church, but people that watched the video that went out of me speaking about it that kind of went viral, um, and a lot of people were commenting on it and sharing it. I think it reached like 70,000 people, so it's crazy. I had a lot of people reach out to us and just thanking me for actually saying something and saying it straight and plainly. So I want to thank you for being an incredible church. Um, I think there would be nothing worse than leading a church that you're you're afraid of. What will, you know, is there a bit of wokeness in here? You know, are people a little bit woke in my church? What are they gonna say? For we to all of that. I lead a bunch of Holy Spirit-filled, crazy Christians that are end-time revivalists, and I and I just want to thank you for that, for being real Christians. It is really, really a privilege and an honor. Um, I want to share some testimonies quickly of last year's offering. You know, when we gave into last year's offering in 2024, it was the biggest offering we ever had,$1.1 million, and uh it enabled us to do the renovation that we are doing on our tent over in over in Marsh Street. Uh, but I just want to, uh without giving names, I want to show uh share with you some testimonies about last year's offering. So there are some people that had business breakthroughs of all kinds, extra locations in their businesses directly after they gave a significant amount uh in their in their vision offering. Uh, yeah, and extra locations, more contracts, and people, I two couples in particular, people that have had marriage issues, but when they came together through the vision offering, the Lord was able to heal their hearts and their marriage. Um, some particular people sold assets that were on the market for a very long time and then were able to upgrade and buy new ones. They felt like there was a stick, they could not get those assets sold. And the moment they gave into the vision offering, something unlocked over those things that they were trying to move on. Um, some people gave and saw their kids actually come back to Christ. They were believing we're gonna sow into the house of God so that my kids can come back to Christ. And literally, that's what God did. So I want to tell you, I don't fully understand how that works, but I just know that when we sacrifice to the Lord, we can't buy God, we can't uh manipulate God into doing something, but I just know that as we give, something is unlocked over our lives. Jesus said, Blessed, you are more blessed to give than to receive. You know, most of us give glory to God when we get a blessing and we receive, but Jesus says it's more blessed, you are more fruitful, your life is better when you're able to be the blessing, not to be the receiver. It's more blessed to give than to receive. And so, just so many of us, I know today, as we give into this offering, we are going to be blessed because it. We don't do it to be blessed, but I know that the natural reaction of God, the natural reaction of heaven, is that doors will open up for your life, is that things that you've been believing for for a very long time will open up in Jesus' name. And I'm just praying, Grace and I and the leadership team are praying that incredible things would happen in your life because of what you're gonna give today. Amen. Amen. Amen. Are you okay this morning? Okay, great. So I'm just saying that so I can have a drink. All right, what time we got? 10.07.

SPEAKER_01: 18:58

All right, great. So I'm gonna be preaching from uh Luke chapter 7, verse 36 to 50. Luke chapter 7, verse 36 to 50.

SPEAKER_02: 19:15

Verse 36 of Luke chapter 7, it says, Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. So this is a guy named Simon, he's a Pharisee, uh, and he uh invites Jesus over to his house to have a meal. And he went to the Pharisees' house to sat and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabasta, or alabasta, I'm not sure how you'd say that, flask of fragrant oil, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping. And she began to wash his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed them with fragrant oil. Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him over saw this, he spoke to himself. Yeah, he spoke to himself, saying, This man, talking about Jesus, if he were a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. Now we know from other versions of this story that she was actually a prostitute woman. Uh, verse 40, and Jesus answered and said to him, A little bit scary when you think something inside of your head, and Jesus answers you out loud. Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, Teacher, say it. Verse 41. There was a certain creditor, so imagine Jesus is saying, I got something to say to you after he knows your thoughts, and then he moves into a story. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and the other 50. And when he had nothing which with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which one of them will love him more? And Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, You've rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, I love this. He turned to the woman, but he's speaking to Simon. Did you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she's wash washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. For but to whom little is given, little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, you think they'd learn, say to themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? Then he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Lord, unlock something in our hearts this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. There is a really big difference between knowing someone intimately and knowing about someone. We've heard every great evangelist give this uh this analogy, the difference between knowing Jesus personally and knowing about him. I'm an avid golf fan. I love golf. I think Tiger Woods, um, if anyone was gonna be the fourth part of the Trinity, it would probably be Tiger Woods. Just so you I'm joking here this morning. Please don't walk out. But I love Tiger Woods. I love what he's accomplished. I love that there is nobody that can come ever even close to his accomplishments. And I could sit here this morning and I could rifle off to you the amount of major tournaments that he's won, uh, how many, how many people uh kind of climbing the ranks to get near him but are nowhere near him. Uh, I mean, Scotty Scheffler is an amazing born-again Christian man who is probably that, you know, climbing somewhere closer Tiger Woods. But I could tell you all the facts about Tiger Woods. But how many know if I knocked on Tiger Woods's door and said, Let me in, he's gonna say, Who are you? He's he's kind of but I know I know all about you, Tiger. I know how many majors you won, I know how many green jackets you've got, I know, I know uh how many times, you know, how long you went, how many holes in consecutive without have hitting a bogey. Like I can I can rifle off all this inf I know so much about you, but I don't know you intimately. And and you know, this is the story of of most of us in New Zealand, and the story really of the Pharisees who were these people. They knew about the scriptures, they knew about God, they could rifle off, they could, they could speak to you about, you know, the exact verse in the book of Isaiah, the Dead Sea Scrolls, they could quote the Talmud, they could quote all of their religious texts, but they did not know God when He was sitting right in front of them. If there was a game of Bible trivia, they were going to win. I mean, they knew all of the facts, they knew all of the verses, they knew all of the traditions. And in Matthew 15, verse 8, it says, These people draw near to me with their mouth and they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Their heart is far from me. And again, it's one of you know, a description of a lot of churchgoers, especially in Western countries. Hopefully, the last couple of weeks has woken us up to make a decision if we're either in or we're out, if we're really following Jesus or not. But a lot of us have got lots of knowledge about God, but no intimacy and no sacrifice. We're so busy and puffed up, full of the facts, full of churchianity. We know how to speak the lingo, we know how to say the things, but the life of Jesus sometimes isn't flowing out of us. You know, uh in 2020 in COVID, you really found out people with knowledge versus people that knew God intimately. You know, the Bible says that that uh we would know our God and be strong and do great exploits. That's what the book of Daniel says. And so it's not enough to just know about God, you've got to know him personally, you've got to know him intimately, and then it causes you to go and be strong, number one, and secondly, do great exploits. I would hate to know God, but do nothing with my life. I want to be someone who knows him and does great exploits. And so we s we saw in the season of COVID, we saw in the last couple of weeks with the Charlie Kirk assassination. People that have a lot of knowledge but don't know how to stand up for their faith. People that have a lot of kind of, you know, you they can quote verses at you, but but they can't they can't uh actually do something with the life of Christ that's flowing into them. I had recently had an invitation from a pastor to do a debate on a recent sermon that I preached, um, and they they invited me to go and do a debate one-on-one with them. I said to him, uh, who comes from a kind of cessationist background, I said that I will do the debate, uh, but the way I'll debate is why don't you bring somebody that's sick and somebody that's demonized in the room and let's see who can get them free? Because that's actually what I'm interested in. I I don't want to I don't want to be able to quote, you might be able to quote more of, you know, 2 Kings 4 verse 17, bang, quote, but that doesn't change people's lives. It's knowing him intimately, it's the life of Christ flowing out of a person that actually produces the life of Christ in another person. And so we're here in this moment where we have Pharisees who know a lot about Jesus, who know how to quote the scripture, who know how to get to church on time, who know how to do all of the religious things, and then we have this prostitute woman, this incredible woman who, yes, has a past. And for those of us in the room that have a past, you love these stories. We love these stories because it's a story of redemption. It's a story of a woman who has who whose society has ostracized, her family has ostracized. She we don't know why she ended up on the street. We don't know, and a lot of us in in Christianity, we we might go, well, she's she's a she's a dirty woman, or she, you know, why is she why doesn't she choose another lifestyle? But we don't know the trauma that she's been through. We we don't we don't actually know the abuse in her childhood. We don't know. So I want to say this, and I love that Freedom Center, we welcome absolutely anybody through these doors, and everybody is welcome here. Let us never become the church that gets upset because I rock up here on a Sunday morning and some prostitute woman has stolen my seat that I sit in every Sunday. Praise God if your seat gets stolen. Thank the Lord if there's no room in here and you have to stand up. Praise Jesus if things get a little bit messy and my little corner of the church gets disturbed. Someone said to me um the the other week that their wallet got stolen at church, and I actually got really thankful for that. I'm serious. If church is the kind of place where you've got to hide your wallet, then we've got the right people in church. Everybody's like this. You need your wallet today, it's vision offering. But come on, we're thankful for a place and a people where anybody is welcome through these doors, no matter no matter your circumstance, no matter what you've been through, no matter what you're currently going through. And so we have this moment where uh we see that the Pharisees invite Jesus over for dinner. Probably after he'd been teaching, Simon extends this invitation for Jesus and maybe some of the disciples to follow him to his home for a meal. And for Simon, having a rabbi like Jesus over would have given him some sort of religious merit, but we soon see that this is not the case. See, Simon was spending time with Jesus out of religious duty rather than to honor him. Simon was was was wanting some sort of sacrifice of giving some sort of sacrifice of time and food and and out of religious duty rather than honoring the Lord. Let me say. The scene for you know in in Jewish customs there were some rules and etiquette, especially for when you would invite a rabbi over for dinner, and this would help the text come to life for us this morning. Number one, it was a it was a customary greeting for an honored guest to be greeted with a kiss. Now, I come from um Melbourne, my background is Turkish and Italian. Uh the part of Melbourne that I grew up in, you'd be hard pressed to find an actual Aussie in. You know, let me just set the scene for you. It's like a little Europe where we are kind of little Middle East. And and you know, I I came from a culture where where you when you met somebody, you you kissed them twice. You know, the the one on each side. And I came to New Zealand, everyone's a hugger. So I'm like, do we I'm kissing people I shouldn't? Like it's all kinds of wrong things happening, right? I've I've calmed down now, but but as a as a European, it is very, very normal to be able to kiss someone on the cheek, depending on what part of Europe you're from, either once or twice. It's always kind of a little bit awkward to figure out who you so you you know it's just something spiritual. You know, this is a two-kiss person, or this is a one-kiss person, or this is a hugger. Can I tell you the skill you have to have standing at that front door, welcoming people in? You know, I'm telling you, those door greeters are absolutely amazing. You've got to be led by the spirit. Do I hug this person? Do I high-five them? Do I give them a fist pump? There's so many options. But can I tell you, pray for our door greeters? It is not as easy as it looks. And uh, and so it was customary for a greeting of a kiss for an honored guest. This is how it would work. It was a kiss on the cheek for someone of equal stature, and it was a kiss on the hand if they were a guest of honor. To neglect the kiss was like somebody walking into your home and not saying hello to you. That would be the equivalent of today. Like if I walked into your home, especially men, you understand there's something built in us, like when it's our home, say hello to the man. Like you, you like if I come to Jesse's house, I don't, even though he's a very nice, born-again, spirit-filled man, he's probably gonna come and he's probably gonna greet me at the door. But if for some reason I walk in and he's sitting in a chair in the lound room, and I don't go and say hello to the man of the house. I don't know, for me, that's just like terrible. Terrible. So, so this is kind of what's happening. Jesus, the Son of God, walks into Simon's house, walks into the courtyard, which we believe it was an actual outdoor event, um, and and Jesus walks in, and Simon, this Pharisee, who who actually invited him over, purposefully ignores him and doesn't give him a kiss. The second customary thing to do was to wash the feet of the honored guest. It was mandatory before eating a meal. Uh, if you didn't personally do it, you would have a slave or somebody who was hired in your household that would do it for him. At the very, very least, I mean bottom of the barrel, you would provide them with water to wash their own feet. And so not only does he not give him a kiss when he comes in, but he doesn't wash his feet. Not only does he not wash his feet, but he doesn't even give him water to wash his own feet. So by now you've got to you've got to understand that Jesus has been very, very dishonored. The third thing that would happen, and in uh Turkish culture, Middle Eastern cultures, very, very similar, is that they would anoint the head of the person with oil. It was an inexpensive oil, but it was common courtesy to pass around a certain type of oil so that you could wash your hands and anoint your head with oil and in and sometimes wash your face as the person walked in. But when Jesus walks in, there's no greeting by kiss, there's no washing of his feet, there's no anointing of oil, this was no accident. Jesus was completely humiliated. Our Savior, God Himself, walks in the room, and every ritual that should have been followed, this Pharisee purposefully, not accidentally, purposefully moves it aside. Now I love Jesus, he still receives the food, he still receives the fellowship until the Holy Spirit reveals the right time to rebuke Simon. We can learn something from that. Sometimes we just want to you didn't don't miss the irony of this moment. Simon spent his life studying the scriptures. By the time he was 12, he'd memorized, they say 12 books of the Bible. By the time you're 15, the whole Old Testament. He knew the prophecies, he knew about Jesus, like me knowing about Tiger Woods, but he didn't know him. He didn't know him. But don't be too hard on Simon because I think sometimes I'm a little bit like Simon and you're a little bit like Simon. We in the West, we've filled our minds with knowledge and we've done the exact same thing. We create systems and programs, and word after word after word after word. I've been personally challenged over the last few weeks, looking at our church calendar, seeing how much word goes out at different events, thinking to myself, do we need more word or do we need more obedience? Because because in a busy church like ours, you can you can get the word into you four or five times a week. If you're an FSM student, you got classes, you come to church on a Sunday, you're gonna go to a small group. There's all kinds of ways to get the word, and I'm not against getting the word, but if we're honest, how many times do we hear a word go, Wow, that's really amazing? And we go home and we do nothing about it, our lives don't change. I don't think we need more knowledge, I think we need more obedience. And so we sit in small groups, we listen to podcasts, we pull studies apart. Don't get me wrong, knowledge is great. I love doing all that stuff, but if it doesn't lead to intimacy like this woman, then it's useless. Jesus talked about this, one of the scariest passages of scripture, because we are people of the word, don't get me wrong, but John 5 39, verse 40 says, You search the scriptures, for in them you think that in them you have eternal life. You think that these scriptures will save you, but these are they that testify of me, Jesus says. But you are not willing to come to me that you might have life. He's saying, Hey, the point of the Bible isn't to lead you to the Bible, the point of the Bible is to lead you to Jesus. And if I know the Bible, but it doesn't lead me into an encounter with him, then I miss the point of reading the Bible. I'd rather read one verse of the scripture, have an encounter with him, have a touch of his presence, let that scripture ruminate inside of my spirit and draw closer to the person of Jesus Christ to get to know him, then read the scriptures from front to back. Now, hallelujah, you should read the scriptures from front to back. My beautiful daughter Eva in the front row, she's turned 12 years old and she's reading the whole New Testament. The whole New Testament, and I'm so proud of you. But you know what I love about my daughter is she's stirring it all up inside of her, and she's had encounters with Jesus. She's read from Matthew to the book of Acts, you're up to Romans now, and she read the book of Revelation, which was some interesting conversations in our home. Just so you know. Like my daughter texts me and said to me, I should pull up the actual text, but basically said, uh, what was it about about Revelation, honey? It was about the 10, uh, was about something. Hey? Yeah, so my 12-year-old daughter texts me randomly while I'm at work. Hey, you know, the 10 days of suffering in Revelation, are we actually gonna go through that? Just a light question. Just clean your room. Love you, baby. So we search the scriptures and we think that that's gonna like this the scriptures are meant to lead us to Christ. And so here it is. If you're here and you're new to faith and you're maybe that person who put their hand up or you're thinking about this, it's not about rules or or laws or behavior modification, it's about intimately knowing him. And through that intimacy, we can get to a point where we are so so easily thankful and able to be able to sacrifice financially because it comes out of intimacy of knowing the king. There's a lot of the time we can confuse knowledge with intimacy. People get upset all the time because they don't retain scripture. Some of you, I love that there's a there's a there's a small group that has started with some of the men that helps men who find it hard to retain scripture, to start retaining scripture. But I want to encourage the men that are in that small group, retaining scripture doesn't make you closer to Jesus. It's a good thing, but you can read a scripture and have a great relationship with Jesus just as you are. Go after the scriptures, but know that the scriptures are meant to lead us to the person of Jesus. There's a lot of people that know the Bible way better than me that are going straight to hell. That's the reality because the scriptures are meant to lead us to Jesus. To know him is very different than knowing about him. And so the Pharisee Simon knew about the Messiah that was to come, but didn't know that he was sitting right at his table. Imagine that. Imagine dedicating your whole life to knowing about the king that's gonna come. And when he's sitting at your table, you don't even know he's there. It's a pretty scary place to be. So let me set the scene for you if we can get the table up. Oh, go, Chief. He's been in the gym. Chief, he's been in the gym. Look at him. I saw you doing shoulder presses last week for that very moment. If we can get it forward.

SPEAKER_01: 40:11

Thank you, team.

SPEAKER_02: 40:15

Let's set this, let me set the scene for you. They're most likely, according to history, in a courtyard, actually, not in a dining room like you and I would think it's a dining room, where people on the outside would probably be able to overhear and and listen to their conversations. Because when I read this first this scripture for the first time, I was like, how did she get into his house? How did she know that like was she peeping Tom through the curtain? What's what's going on here? But actually, they were most likely outside because it was the cool of the night, and they're they're having a conversation. Now they didn't have a table like this, also. Just so you know, most likely uh they believe that, um, and just for the sake of awkwardness, I'm gonna do this once and once only, is that Jesus was most likely leaning on one elbow and they would be there like he was he was chilling out. I just thought, I'll do it at the 9 a.m., but not get that phone away, Aaron. Taking photos, you know. So Jesus is absolutely chilling. Okay, they are reclining, the olives have come out, the cheese has come out. I mean, I could imagine the food was incredible. The unleavened bread, the figs. Oh, I feel the presence of the Lord right now. And the tension starts to build when the woman starts to walk up to the table uninvited. You gotta understand, she's not just a sinner, but she's a prostitute, she's an uninvited guest at the table, and she's a woman in a table filled with men. So she comes, she's not meant to be there, she's a woman, she's a dirty woman. Everybody knows her, they know her past, they know what she got up to the night before, and you could imagine the religious folk, just like in a lot of churches, when the homeless come in, just like a lot of churches when your seat gets stolen. I'm telling you, this happens in more places than you know. And so the religious spirit starts to get upset because this woman, this prostitute, this uninvited guest comes, and apparently she'd maybe heard Jesus teaching earlier that day. The Bible says, I wonder what she had heard in his teaching in the public square that caused her, her heart to jump to want to come and meet the Savior, to want to come and be at his feet. I'm not sure what she heard. Maybe it was the fact that he could forgive all of her sins. Maybe Jesus spoke about the fact that you can be born again and you need to be born of the water and the spirit. I'm not sure was she there that she couldn't have been there because that was a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. So I go back on that comment. And maybe, maybe she heard Matthew 11, 28, that her, you know, that her uh his yoke is easy and his burden is life. Maybe she heard about redemption. Maybe she heard that she could have a second chance, maybe she heard, I'm not sure, but she heard something that Jesus said, that everything that she has ever done wrong could be forgiven, and tears start to well up in her eyes. Maybe it was that God could take the fragmented parts of her soul and put them back together. Maybe it was acceptance. Maybe at that point there was goosebumps running down her arm, and she began to get hope again for her life. Maybe she was planning her own suicide, but she heard Jesus, and one word from Jesus gave her hope, and she began to start to think if I can just get near this man, maybe I can get some hope. And so she goes through all of the religious rigmarole, doesn't care about the Pharisees, doesn't care about what people might think. Some of us are scared to raise our hands beyond here because we're scared of what people might think. Like she just goes through it all. She doesn't care. And I love that about her. Maybe she's saying to herself, Maybe it's not too late for me, maybe I haven't gone too far, maybe I could actually follow him and become one of his disciples. She was desperate to see Jesus again. So she overhears that Simon has invited Jesus over for dinner, and so she comes. She busts through the religious rigmarole. And what she does next really should have brought her shame and embarrassment, but she she walks through and starts to make her way to Jesus. Think about the scene for a second. But what she does next is reckless, it's impulsive, and it's exactly what Jesus is looking for in his followers today. Picture with me. I know the seat was lower, but you got your photo already. Jesus is sitting at the table. It's probably not like this, but you get the point. He's lying on one elbow, and because he's lying on one elbow, his feet are hanging out. And after making the decision to go, she argues with herself about whether or not she should, and she's back and forthing because she's human. And she comes and she stands, the Bible says, behind Jesus, looking at his filthy feet. Because remember, his feet never got washed, his head never got anointed with oil, and he was given no kiss. So here's the Simon, the guy that's bringing out the olives and the cheese. He's got all of his servants running around who dishonors Jesus, and here's this woman standing behind him, and all the religious folk are waiting. The moment is tense, but she looks at his feet. How come his feet are so dirty? Why has no one washed his feet? The table is silent, nobody knows whether they should say anything. Everybody is watching, everyone knows who she is, the local prostitute. What is she doing? Who does she think she is? But when she looks at Jesus, he seems to know exactly what has happened to her and what's going on on the inside of her heart. And this is the pivotal moment, the big risk. She lays it all on the line. He could have ignored her, he could have kicked her out, he could have called her all kinds of names. But what happens next is the complete opposite of what most people think God is like. Most people think God's gonna reject them. Most people think God is going to say, get your life right. Well, Pastor, I'm just working on me. No, no, no, no. Get to the feet of Jesus and allow him to wash you clean. Most people think that he would have been disappointed in her, or think that maybe he would give her a big lecture about how her lifestyle is dangerous and she better shape up or ship out. But instead, he looks at her and he smiles, like a loving father welcoming his child home. He seems at that moment to look right through her soul. She's never had a man look at her with purity like this before. They've all used her and abused her up until this point. She immediately starts to cry. A few tears, then more and more, start to begin to fall. And as she's standing behind him, kind of near his feet, her tears start to fall onto his feet. She looks down and she realizes that his feet are dirty and they haven't been washed. She can't ask for a towel. So the only thing she could wipe his feet with is her hair. So she gets on the floor, and all of her tears have washed his feet, and she's wiping his feet with her hair. Now you gotta understand again, in Jewish culture, to let your hair down in front of a man was the most intimate act you could ever do. It was the thing you did before sex. So she lets her hair down, and this speaks of intimacy between her and the master. Again, everyone's shocked, and Jesus says nothing. He lets her wash his feet with her hair. Everyone gasps. Simon is about to lose it. He's getting all jittery. She begins drying his feet with her hair. Then it says she had an alabaster box. Now I know we've sung great songs about it. I love the song, Mary and her alabaster box. But you know what the alabaster box was? It wasn't just perfume that was very expensive. I found out that this perfume was a perfume that was very expensive, but it was what prostitutes would wear around their neck on a necklace, and between men, they would anoint themselves with this very expensive oil, so the smells of the previous men wouldn't come into the next client. And so that the alabaster box isn't just expensive, an expensive offering, it represents her laying down her life and getting rid of everything that she knew to follow Jesus. She would use it one drop at a time in between the men because this was her profession, and she realizes that she won't be needing it anymore, so she pours it all out on Jesus. It represents the dirtiness of the past, her current life, the pain, the trauma, the abuse. Every last drop falls on his feet, every last bit of herself. She's all in, she's got nothing left, and she pours it all out on him. And while all of this is happening, Jesus turns to Simon. In fact, he turns to the woman, but says to Simon, it's like this, it's all going on. So he looks at her, and he's looking at her, but he's speaking to him. Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, here's the moment to rebuke him. You did not offer me water to wash my feet, but she washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she's not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she's anointed my feet with her rare perfume. So, in the end, the religious leader and the Pharisee, with all the knowledge in the world, knew so much about the Bible, he's the one that's rebuked. And the prostitute who gave it all for Jesus is the one that Jesus admires and acknowledges. So, my question to us here this morning, before we give into this offering, is when is the last time you've had a moment like Luke chapter 7 with Jesus? When's the last time you've poured everything you have on the master? When's the last time you've been in reckless abandonment, not just financially, but in your prayer closet? When's the last time you've sung an old hymn and it's touched your heart so much that you begin to uncontrollably weep in the presence of God because you know how much He's forgiven you, of how much He's saved you, of when's the last time you've heard uh Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, and your whole soul has melted and fallen before the Lord. When's the last time this has happened to you? Or are you becoming a Pharisee that knows a lot about Jesus, knows the scriptures, goes to church, but heart is far from him. For some of us here, the realization of no matter how dirty you are, no matter how long you've been ignoring him, he's here and he's not against you, he's for you, and he'll look at you with the same smile that he looked at Mary with, that he looked at prostitute with. And he's able to completely transform you in that one moment. I believe that as we come and give this, you know, these these cards represent reckless abandonment. Last year we had a miracle. You know why we we got to raise 1.1 million dollars? Because a bunch of people who had a past, a bunch of people who don't have such a clean yesterday, said, Jesus, you're worth it. A bunch of businessmen and women who who are so caught up, and God's called them there in you know to make money, realize I get to put purpose to my dollars, I'm gonna, I'm gonna actually lay it all out at the feet of Jesus. Single mums who who who saved up that extra thousand dollars for the whole year in reckless abandonment came and gave into the house of God for vision offering. Youth as young as eight years old, kids as young as eight years old last year gave one gave$13. It's all they had. Like the widow's two mites. It's not about money, it's about surrender. It's about Jesus. I have a past. I have I never want to be the Pharisee that invites Jesus over to my home. I don't I don't want to be the one that attends church, but never actually steps through and gets on my knees and cries at the feet of Jesus and lets everything out, no matter who what they think, no matter what they say, no matter what my bank account says, no matter what, I'm gonna build something in this moment that would cause the master to look at me. And then he turns to her and he says, Your faith has made you well. Your faith has made you well. He turns to her and he says, Because of your act, because of your worship, because of your surrender. You get saved, you get healed, you get delivered. Your generations will change. You're no longer a prostitute, you're a woman of God. Why? Because she pushed through and she got to the point of complete abandonment and intimacy and worship to the king. I'm gonna give us a few minutes as we come up with our families. It's always a really special moment. I wanna I wanna give some of you an opportunity. If I'm honest with you, if I could just like a lot of pastors get nervous at this moment, I killed the fear of man a long time ago. So I want to be I want to be honest with you that some of us are giving into this offering and it's safe. It's safe. You can afford it, it actually won't even put a dent in your life. But I believe maybe in this moment the Holy Spirit is re-speaking to us so that we could be like Mary, this woman, and recklessly abandon our lives before Him. Some of you are gonna scribble out that number and go, that's costing me nothing, and generations will be saved and generations will be changed because of the number that you put on this offering. I'm believing, I'm not gonna tell you how much we're giving, but it's gonna hurt. I'm believing that every dollar is gonna represent a soul. Every dollar, every dollar that we give, that my wife and I give, and my kids are giving their own offering. I'm believing that every dollar is gonna represent a soul that gets saved and discipled at Freedom Center over the next 10 years. I'm believing for it. I have to believe for it. Otherwise, why would I give? I believe in this church, I believe what in what God's doing in this church, not because I'm the pastor, but because Jesus is here. Because he's worthy of me to weep over, he's worthy of me to give everything over to. And so if we could stand to our feet as we do this and the team's gonna sing, but I do want to give you the opportunity to rethink about this. Don't be like the religious crew who just go through the motions. Ask the Lord, ask the Lord, what are we to give this morning? And let's just obey him, let it all out in full abandonment to the King. So, Holy Spirit, as we sing and as we give into this special moment, Lord, first of all, we thank you for what you're building here. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for the hundreds of decisions that have already come out of this place this year in the back end of Malimi Street. Lord, I thank you that for the next five years we get to have some prominence and some centrality at the new building. Lord, we get to put a sign up that thousands of people will see. Lord, I thank you that you are you are placing us physically in a central, influential place. But Lord, I think you're doing the same in the spirit. I think you're giving us, and when I say us, it's not me and Grace, it's us as a church more influence, more voice in the nation of New Zealand. And so as we take this moment, Lord, to fill out a card and we come up with our families and we give into this offering, Lord. We pray right now, if you've got your offering card, hold it in your hand. We pray right now that you would turn these dollars into souls, Lord. Those that we've been believing for for years, that in this next building they'll get saved. Lord, those that we've been believing for that in this next building they'll be at the altar repenting before the king, crying like that prostitute, wiping your feet with their hair. Father, we thank you for souls saved and disciples made. We thank you, Lord, that you can take this offering and you can do far more than we can ask, think, dream, or imagine. We thank you, Father, that you are no man's debtor, and there's none of us in this room that could give so much that you wouldn't return into our lives. I declare blessing over every family that gives today. I declare blessing over every business that gives today. I declare the favor of God and a turning point in their businesses and in their families because of what they sow and what they sacrifice today. Most of all, Jesus, we want to capture your attention and we want to capture your heart this morning. Let our faith make us well, let our faith shift something for the city, and we're believing for another miracle this year. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. We're gonna give you a few minutes to do what you need to do and give into the offering.