REUNION: Day Two - Morning Celebration - Craig Hopkins

Craig Hopkins

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Good morning. Borida. Sitoiti. Dom mentioned yesterday that when he uh when he speaks, he gets all like Dudley on us. And when I speak, I'll get all Welshy on us. Welcome to a reunion. Welcome to reunion. It's a joy to be here and a great uh great opportunity for us. We know something of the sense of the presence of God here this morning, don't we? Someone said to me yesterday, Are you gonna try and be as funny as Dom is? I said, I can't be as funny as Dom is. Look at him. I can't compete with that. And uh so we we gather together this morning in this uh this auspicious place. What a joy it is to do it. And uh and uh as we are gonna listen, as we've just heard God's word read to us, we're gonna unpack it somewhat and try our best. And in the presence of God this morning, we're gonna know, oh, as we're already knowing, the power of the name of Jesus. Anyone believe in his name? Anyone believe in the power of gatherings? Of course. I mean, like we've uh we've known the joy of uh again, Dom mentioned it yesterday, but let us not give up meeting together. Why? Because Jesus is coming back, and he is coming back, and so we get to gather together and uh and uh I can't see any of you. Every cloud is a silver lining, of course, as they said. And uh and so, like uh I I I know that some people here for the very first time in our national gatherings. Fantastic. Uh, some of us have been around the block for a while. Uh I've I've been able, by God's grace, to stand at platforms such as this at Penegross and Swansea and Cheltenham. Uh they put me on so late in Cheltenham that as soon as I started talking, loads of people left in order to get the kids from the kids' work. At least what that's what they told me at the time. And uh I wouldn't know if you left at all uh because I can't see you. Uh and I get to do this together today. You know, I I've got great expectation in national gatherings. I love the fact that we gather locally in churches around the country. What a powerful thing that is. Anyone know that when God's people gather together in his name, in the presence of him, anything can happen. It was in a national gathering like this when I was 16 years old that a prophet stood and said to young people in the room, if you would give me your life, I'll take it and I'll use it for my glory in such a way that it'll blow your mind. I found myself listening and believing and pushing past people and coming down the front and kneeling in a national gathering such as this. 15 years, 16 years old. I was one of those awkward, gangly, horrible 16-year-olds, introverts, shy, I hated gatherings like this. You all freaked me out big time. I wanted to stay away. I'm not the the athlete that is that stands in front of you, but today I was like that gangly. Why are you laughing? Wrong time to laugh. I was one of those gangly ones, and like I hated it. But the moment came when the gospel of Jesus Christ that still works pierced my heart, and I pushed past people and got on my knees to say, Jesus be my Lord. And he he keeps his promises. It was in youth gatherings like we're having right now that uh that just a couple of years later I was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. We believe still in that, don't we? We still believe that that people can be baptized and filled with God, and to young people, God wants to keep on filling us and filling us. It was that age, yeah, it was around that age that it happened to me. Uh it was in national gatherings such as this that I met my best friend in the love of my life, and uh, who became my wife and uh and the mother of my three daughters. I can't guarantee that'll happen to you today. I'm confident in the first two, not so in the last one, but nevertheless, what a joy to be here together today uh in the reality of his great grace. Carl Truman in his uh great book, The Making of the Modern Self, posits this understanding or this question in this conundrum in our modern world. He says, if I was to tell someone of my grandfather's generation, in my grandfather's generation, that I was a woman trapped inside a man's body, my grandfather in his generation would just laugh. Not because he was being unkind, not because he was being uh ignorant, or not because he was being hurtful, but simply because that had no concept in his reality. Wow. Truan says that culture has shifted so monumentally that should we walk out of the doors today and go into the center of Birmingham and sit and someone say to us, I'm a woman trapped inside a man's body, and we do not instantly affirm and celebrate that reality, we are morally depraved. That's how culture has shifted. Truman argues that uh and then spends the rest of the book, and I've read it so you don't have to, uh, spends the rest of the book again and again, page after page, expounding the reality of how that has happened in a cultural thing. Everything changes, you know that to be true. How on earth do you do we respond within that context or that reality of a shifting culture? At the end of his book, Truman, who's a believer, after unpacking Marx and Weber and Engels and Nietzsche and all the rest of them, comes to the end and talks about the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ has existed within problematic cultural moments again and again and again. And has still thrived again and again and again. But particularly in the second century, the ledge of the third century, and from Christians who were cowering uh in certain parts of the empire, wondering to they dare say Jesus is Lord when all of society said Caesar is Lord, that because they held ground in certain ways, at the moment in history came when Caesar himself bowed his knee and said, Jesus is Lord. How does that take place? Truman says, by being, by existing, as a close-knit, doctrinally bounded community that expects its members to be brilliant citizens of the earthly kingdom until or unless it contradicts or undergirds the citizenship of the heavenly kingdom. And we've heard something of that already over the last couple of uh sessions. When you're preaching in these types of things, you just hope, you hope and pray there is a God that works out by his spirit what preachers preach on, and that they do not steal what you're about to say. And hope that you just build on those things, and I think by his grace he's done that. I don't care what comes after me then, because I've done my bit. Dom talked about the reality of the fact that Jesus is coming back. And we have to live that life well in light of that. We don't conform to the standards of this world. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. We've got to live that out. We we're gathering here today in reunion, of course, because we wanna we wanna do something in mission to reunite together. And it's lovely to see each other's faces and uh and make new friends and find old ones. And and if you're you're here for the very first time in our national gathering, we're so delighted, so delighted, because the reality is you're the most important people in the room. In fact, the children in that crash are the most important people in the world, room, because everything that's gone before has existed so that we're here now. All of our fathers and mothers did that. Not so that they had a great time then, so that they'd pass something on so that we'd experience now. We need to be close-knit, we need to live out this Christian faith with all our gusto. And we need to be doctrinally bounded. That's what I'd like to just hold on to from this passage that we've had read to us by Sarah. Uh, to apostolic uh people, this passage has become, uh has historically been extraordinarily important because again, uh 110 years ago, uh men and women grasped something from this text that so invigorated them, so blew their minds, so excited them at the person of Jesus that it was Christ who gave some to be apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers. They were so excited that Jesus remains the head of his church and still does extraordinary things to his church. They got so excited at the reality that Jesus is so active amongst us in giving these gifts to us that they belt the globe with this gospel. And they did. Sorry, I'm Welsh and I'm gonna get excited this morning. That's just how it's gonna be. And they did, and they're doing it, and we're still doing it now. This portion of scripture was so important to them. Anyone know then that in gatherings such as this, people's lives can be changed? People can be filled with the Holy Spirit, people can find the love of their life. And anyone know in gatherings such as this, God speaks. A few months ago we were in Oxfordshire. We holidayed there in rural Oxfordshire, which is lovely. And uh the posh pot, a little like West Brom, in as much as that it's in England, and um and uh and we wanted to go to church on Sunday. You know, when you're on holiday, it's like, oh, do we have to go to church on Sunday? We're off. Any any pastors in the room? I regret saying that now, of course, looking back in hindsight. Uh but we went, or at least we tried to, we got in the car, and uh, you know those mornings where everyone in your family hates each other in equal measure? Does that ever happen to you? Um at one point on the journey to church, we were both we were all shouting at each other and not speaking to each other at the same time. We were so late, we were so late, we took we took the wrong direction, wrong turning. Uh I ended up getting fined by Oxfordshire City Council by going the wrong way down the road, God bless you. And uh, and uh and finally when we got out of the car, it was hammering down with rain. We got to the church building an hour late, and I swear, we got there, we went, nah, forget it, and we just went home. We instantly went home. The following week, my daughters were at Limitless. My wife and I went back to the same church and the sun was shining. We held hands as we walked in. It was just a beautiful moment. And in that moment in that atmosphere, just exactly what we've done this morning, just like your local church and my local church, people praising him in different ways in different voices, with different hands held in the air, and it's all beautiful, it's lovely, it's fantastic and fantastic. As those things were happening, the spirit spoke to me. And I've been following the Lord now for a number of years, and I've got to learn his voice a little. And he said to me, as I looked out, and people just hands in the air praising. It was beautiful. Without he said, I'm not attracted to praise. And I know it's the spirit because I'm not as clever as him. I'm not attracted to praise, he said. I'm attracted to faith. You see, the heavens declare the glory of God. All praise belongs to him. Heaven and earth will declare praises, of course, and we get to have the join in of my friends when it's coupled with faith. You see, when the in the New Testament, Jesus never, never has a go at his disciples for not raising the dead or parting the sea or or walking on water. He never has a dig a digger with them for those things. He always challenges them and uh and gets annoyed with them sometimes because of one thing. Oh, you lack of faith. Is there faith in the room this morning? Because God comes where he's wanted and he's attracted to our faith. And so for a few moments, may faith arise in our hearts as we fix our eyes on Jesus. There's three words in this passage that has had had read to us that has burned within me over the last couple of weeks, and I want to share them uh with you this morning. It's uh it's found in verse uh 6, verse 8, and if you've got them, I'd underline them if I were you. There's three words that I'd like us to just spend the rest of our time on. When he ascended. Over this last weekend, of course, we've celebrated Easter. We've celebrated the reality that on that Friday, the Lamb of God, perfect, sinless, spotless, majestic with all glory, spoken words that no one's heard before. Done things out of compassion that no one's seen before. This Lamb of God, according to the scriptures, died, nailed to a cross, taking the sin of the whole world. Paul says that he was crucified, died according to scriptures, he was buried. And on the third day, according to scriptures, this same Jesus rose from the dead, beating death itself. This Jesus. We celebrated that, of course. And uh and we know as Dom mentioned, Jesus is coming back. But where is Jesus now? What happened to Jesus? Where is Jesus now? We know that he said, uh, it's good that I go away, because unless I do, I the comforter won't come. But where is Jesus now? He's not physically here. He knew the reality that when the Spirit comes, other things would happen. He knew the reality that even greater things we would do because of him. Where is Jesus now? Luke helps us and uh tells us that when they were in Bethany, uh Jesus, as he was blessing them, was lifted up before them, and a cloud enveloped him and obscured their view of him. A little like Ivan Parker yesterday as he got up onto this platform. A cloud obscure him and beauty and one like wow, look at this. There they were, they saw this Jesus that had been crucified and risen and told them, You stay in Jerusalem now until power from on high comes. This same Jesus, this Jesus uh lifted up before them and a cloud covered them. Clouds in scripture uh show lots of different things, lots of brilliant things. A cloud covered Sinai on the when Moses was receiving the law, showing something of the power of God. You don't go in there, you don't go in there. At the commencement and the opening of the of the temple, of Solomon's temple, a cloud filled the place so that the priests couldn't take, uh couldn't uh partake into their services. Clouds mean something, it's it means something special, something ethereal, something powerful, you know, something happening in there, and the and the the followers of Jesus saw him lift before them, and a cloud blocked them from view. That was their scene. What happened up there? Scripture is scant on detail. There was no TikTok vloggers or whatever that side. There were no YouTubers, there were no like they weren't up there. Scripture is scant on detail, but it does say it gives us a prophetic understanding of one thing. What happened when the crucified resurrected, God the Son ascended back to the Father? Gives us a scant detail. Psalm 24 helps us though. Lift up your heads. Can you imagine that scene for a moment? As heaven wondered what on earth is happening, that God the Son would take on flesh and go to them and do that for them. But when he ascended, lift up your head. Oh you gates, and you ancient doors swing white. That the king of glory may come. Who is he? The cry the cry came. Who is he? This king of glory. The Lord, strong and mighty. He is the king of glory. Lift up your heads, oh you gates, and be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord Almighty, he is the King of Glory. Can you imagine the scene as heaven receives to itself again God the Son. Now with flesh, when he ascended. We know that from that place he was glorified. He's seated at the right hand of the Father. He's now making intercession for us. Oh, and then he's preparing a place for us. He's preparing a place for us. And one day, one day he's ready to come back for us. When he ascended. What does that mean for us? What does that mean for us? Three quick things, then I'm done. You can pick up your kids and we can all have a bun fight then. Three quick things. What does ascension mean for us? His ascension establishes our unity. In that uh great passage, after Paul has expounded the reality that once we were dead in our transgressions and sins. We were dead, enslaved, condemned, but now because of Christ. We've been made alive, lifted, and now seated with him in heavenly realms. This Paul has unpacked that he says you've got to live then a life worthy of this gospel. You've got to look after each other and be kind to each other, be patient with one another. Why? Because there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and in all and through all. One. You see what happened? That's it. Then he says, But to each one of us, grace has been given. Anyone want to argue with Jesus over who gets what grace? Anyone in this room brave enough to argue with Jesus on whom grace is given? And what apportionment that is? I reckon that's up to Jesus, do you? To whom grace is given. What grace is given? This isn't saving grace, this is ministry grace. To what grace is given? To which gender it's given. I reckon that's down to Jesus, not you and me. But to each one of his grace is being given. That is why it says, Paul says, when he ascended. You see, his ascension has established our unity. His ascension has established our unity. We're not united today because we've got some sort of collective understanding or we relatively like each other or whatever. We are one because he is God. Father, Son, and Spirit. And his ascension has established the reality that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one church. One church. He's not promised to build your church. He's not promised to build my church. He's not promised to build the apostolic church. He has promised to build his church. And he has established unity in that. We've got to just get over ourselves. So individually, my friends, we're falling out with other Christians. You've got to get over yourselves. We've got to sort that out. Oh yeah. Anyone know that's hard. Anyone know that's hard? Somebody will do my head in. But it isn't on the basis, oh, I gotta let's get a party and let's we strategize for unity. Let's try and work things out. No, my friends, we're already one. We're already do you believe this, Jesus? Believe him this morning? We're one. This Jesus is established unity. Let me just get a little bit technical for a second. You see, when Jesus, uh God the Son, became incarnate in flesh, he took on our humanity and perfectly, by his brilliance, lived it out perfectly. He suffered and died in order to die for us. He died and he rose again. Scripture tells us that anyone know that when God touches something, something everything's the same and everything's different. And so scripture is clear that Jesus, when he rose from the dead, he had a glorified body. He could do things that was the same but a bit different from before. So when he ascended, he took humanity with him. And so now at that moment, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit in one. I've got to be careful here, lack of in case I go on a heretical route. So bear with me. God the Father, God the Spirit, God the Son in one brings our humanity in. We are one. Because He is one. And He brings us into Him. My friends, we have no idea what that means. And all of eternity we'll be blown away of what it means to be in Christ. And so, individuals, local churches, uh national movements, we've got to get over ourselves. We're one. Dare I say this morning for the future of the Absolute Church? It isn't to stay siloed, it isn't to get all proud, it isn't to be anything, it isn't to be weak or insignificant, it is simply to play our part in the one church of Jesus Christ. That's our role. His ascension, I've got to keep going. His ascension establishes our unity. His ascension empowers our mission. When he ascended, he led captivity. He took many captives and gave gifts to humankind, says Paul. Quoting in that verse from Psalm 68. That Psalm 68, if you flick there, you're welcome to, or you can do it later. That Psalm 68 is a phenomenal Psalm. It's one of ascension, it's one of victory. When may God arise and his enemies be scattered. Anyone know that God doesn't need uh uh doesn't need negotiators to help him resolve conflict? He doesn't need like uh the UN to help him, certainly doesn't need the president of any nation to help him. May God arise and his enemies be scattered. It talks about the reality of God uh at Sinai becoming uh giving the law. It talks about the reality of when the Ark of the Covenant is brought into Jerusalem and David is dancing with all his might. May God arise and his enemies be scattered. So much so that it gets to uh to later on in the psalm and it talks about this, and it quotes this verse in Psalm 68, verse 18, when when he ascended on high. Uh you'll this this reality of this powerful, mighty, glorious God, when he ascended on high. Of course, some people would say that Paul has made a mistake and has quoted the psalm wrong, because if you look at Psalm 68, verse 18, it says, When he ascended on high, you took many captives and you received gifts. And Ephesians chapter 4 says, You gave gifts. At the cross, when Jesus died, Paul tells us in uh Colossians that something else happened that day. That every power opposed to God, every principality and power, every dominion or rule that stood against in rebellion against this glorious God, Jesus disarmed them. Disarmed them and triumphed over them. Triumphed over them. And everything that those enemies of God, sin, death, hell, Satan, every every strategy of the enemy to distract us and confuse us and enslave humanity, he disarmed them all. And so at the cross, when he did that, uh, and his resurrection proving it, and his ascension guaranteeing it, he empowered our mission. So he took all the powers of all the nonsense that tried to rebel against him and all the bounty, and he received the honor and the glory and everything that belonged to him. And then because that uh the reality of receiving, uh, Paul is right that that reality means receiving, and like a great old general that knows the knows how to look after his own, not only did he receive, but he gave. He gave. From the bounty and the wonder of the spoils of the victory of the cross, the things that held us and kept us and broke us and caused us to be addicted and enslaved and ensnared by every wild and vile thought and perception and deception of the enemy. And by disarming them all, he gave liberty and freedom and blessing and honor and all the joys that heaven could do. He received it and he gave it to people. He gave some, he says, to be apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, so that the church might grow in and grow out and grow up. And so, if you're an apostle, a prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher this morning, my friends, know this, and everyone else know this. The gifts of the ascended Christ who won the victory over death, Satan, hell, and the grave. And he's given these things to the church, seen in people in this room. Wow! To show how brilliant he is. The feast in question is the feast of Pentecost. How clever is God that in this reality that when he ascended, he gave gifts to men. When he ascended, from the Father and the Son, came the Spirit to us, ascended for us. That reality of sin separates us from God. But when he dealt with sin, when he rose from the dead, and when he ascended, he ascended the Spirit. So there's no separation now. God in us, God with us, God on us. How kind is God. That's why we've got every confidence in the reality of the fact, my friends, that this morning people could put their faith in Jesus for the first time. People will be filled with the Spirit, of course. Why? Because he ascended. And in that ascension, he empowers our mission. Anyone know that our mission is a hard job? Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Anyone in the room know that that's a pretty difficult job? My friends, it gets an awful lot easier when the Spirit comes. When the Spirit comes, you see it in the New Testament. You see, we know it in our own lives. We know it in our own lives. When the Spirit is on us, something liberates us in a way that we can speak boldly to others. Anyone know? Anyone want that? Because we know that the mission's there. We can't detract from it, we can't pretend it isn't, we can't just gather in reunion and have a nice time. The world is still exists, we're still on mission. Anyone need the Holy Spirit? My friends, he's guaranteed the empowerment of his mission because he has ascended. And he gives gifts to humankind. And of course, the chief of all is the gift of himself. This glorious, wonderful Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord. What does it mean for me? I friend, my friends, I I reckon, as we heard prophetically last night, let's ask for the Holy Spirit. I come Holy Spirit. When he ascended, he uh he established our unity. He empowered our mission. And uh and finally he uh his ascension guarantees his success. His ascension guarantees his success. You see, God is not on holiday right now. Do you know that? The Lord Jesus is not taking a few days off to go to some conference somewhere. He's not uh he's not wondering, oh, what shall they do? What are they gonna do? How is this gonna happen? Uh, and all the rest of it. He's not doing that. He is on it. He is relentlessly pursuing people for himself. The Holy Spirit is on earth right now, relentlessly pursuing your neighbor and my neighbor, your family members and my family members, your colleagues and my colleagues. He is relentlessly pursuing them. He is on it, and he's looking for a people that would partner with him in his mission to go and make disciples of all nations. He is on it, he's not backing away from it, he's not gonna change his mind, he's not gonna look, oh my goodness, Bragen's a hard place. West Brom's a tough environment. We better back off there. No way. No way. Wherever you live right now, I want I just like speak this to you. Something of the spirit, of the like difficulty of your mission. No way. His ascension guarantees his success. He is coming back for his church, and scripture tells us that that church is going to be made out of multitudes upon multitudes upon multitudes of people drawn from every language and nation and culture and tribe. And we will stand and sit and bow around the throne, millions upon millions upon millions of us, and we will bow and say, Worthy is lamb. We will do that. He's not coming back for a bruised or defeated or apathetic or a weak church. He's coming back for his bride, and he's gonna wash her and cleanse her and present her to the Father without blemish or spot or wrinkle. He is going to win. I don't care how you feel this morning, how low or woe you feel, Jesus has saved us for his glory, and he is and will do something in our seemingly insignificant lives for his success. You see, not one of his promises has been broken. If you take, if you'd give me a life, oh young people, I'll take it and I'll use it in such a way for my glory. Not one of his promises has been broken. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I'm never gonna leave you. I'm never gonna forsake you. I'm gonna be with you always. Not one of them has been broken. And so when those disciples saw the Lord enveloped in a cloud and heard an angelic voice say, Why are you looking up this same Jesus? This same Jesus. He's coming back for you. He's coming back for us. So my friends, I wonder how you're failing, how you're the sins that easily entangle us. The things that trip us up and weigh us down, the attitudes, the fears, all of these things. So friends, uh do you believe Jesus? You see, he's attracted to faith. And what you believe about the Lord Jesus changes everything. And in a moment, in a moment, by his wonderful grace, he can touch our hearts afresh. And everything's the same. And everything's different. When he ascended. When he ascended, he established our unity. My friends, let's leave this place just getting over ourselves. Stop messing around. If you need to go and ask for forgiveness, or be patient with someone, obey with someone, just get on with it. We are one. We are one. His ascension has empowered our mission. How much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? I still believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. His ascension has guaranteed his success. How do we exist in a culturally changing world by being a close-knit, doctrinally bounded community? The days to live out what it preaches about this Jesus. That's how. With a faith that attracts him to us empowers us in this world. Anyone believe him? Do you mind if I pray for us? Maybe if you're able and willing, I'll stand together. Let's just do that. We're gonna just sing in in a moment, and that's fantastic. Come, Holy Spirit. Father, uh certainly my intent has been by your grace to just lift our eyes a little more towards Jesus. We believe in the virgin birth, in the sinless life, in the atoning death, in the triumphant resurrection, the ascension, the death, the abiding intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ, his second coming, and his reign forever and forever. We believe that, Lord. We believe that. We wanna so if there's any areas of unbelief in him this morning, I just pray in Jesus' name now you just cast it aside from us that we may see Jesus. That we may see Jesus. My friends, that prophetic word given to me and others years ago remains. If you this morning, if you would give him your life, he will take it and use it in such a way that'll blow your mind. You confess that Jesus is Lord. And I in this gathering there'll be people who haven't done that yet. And so as we sing, you want to come and sit and kneel or whatever down this front, you do that. You want to come and speak to me or anyone else during this m this conference, you do that. And in these moments too, who knows that the Holy Spirit might fill us with Himself. So if you want to be prayed with to receive the Holy Spirit's empowerment, then I reckon come forward and allow people to pray with you as well. And if you want to be empowered for mission, then reach out your hands and let faith arise and three words that changed everything. When he ascended. Praise God.