REUNION: Day Three - Morning Celebration // Gavin Calver

Gavin Calver

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

It is so great to be with you, and it's great to be here. I used to live right near here. Youth for Christ is based about four miles from here. And I used to live in a place called Hales Owen, so it's a joy to be back. Do you know what though? I find it annoying, unintelligent, somewhat opportunistic, and dare I say crass, when people use their sermons to advertise their ministry. However, I'm just sensing you want to hear more about the Evangelical Alliance. So if it's okay, we'll do a few minutes on that, then we'll move on. So the Evangelical Alliance is 180 years old this year. Started in 1846 with two aims that remain our two aims today. One, we want to unite the church in reaching the lost in every corner of the UK. And two, we want to give the church a clear, effective, united, coordinated voice within the corridors of power. Now let's deal with the E-word first, shall we? Here in the UK, that evangelical word, it's not redundant, but it does need redeeming a bit. It only means four things here. One, we believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. Stop changing scripture to baptize culture and start changing culture with the truth on the pages of the Word of God. Secondly, we believe the death and resurrection of Jesus, single most important thing in human history. Thirdly, we believe in the need for conversion. You don't come to faith by osmosis, you get on your knees and you meet your Savior. And fourthly, we believe in being active in the world, making the world more like the kingdom. That's why in this nation, evangelicals historically provided medical care and education before the state did. Or in recent years have come up with and delivered Christians against poverty, street pastors, food banks. Do you know? I think there might be one other thing as well for me about being an evangelical. It's an acceptance, no one part of the church will change the UK on its own. I love the apostolic church. You're amazing, you're full of dynamite and fire, and I'm really excited to be with you today. But you won't change your town on your own, let alone your nation. We've got to work with others. We're going to look at that more tonight on Jesus' prayer in John 17 that we might be one. There are over 80 network streams or denominations within the EA's membership. It can make my Sunday mornings fun. I turn up at a church, I don't really know where I am. I've got the name of a church, but I've got no idea quite how it's going to roll. Do you know what tells me where I am? First worship song. That tells me whether to keep my hands in my pockets or be my normal subutio goalkeeper in worship. The first worship song also tells me whether to wind my personality in or fully release myself on the people I'm amongst. It was very evident this morning I am supposed to be authentically myself in this gathering. I'm translated at least every four to six weeks in the UK. Not that long ago, right near here in Wolverhampton, translated for the first time into Punjabi. As I spoke at an Asian Christian fellowship in Wolverhampton, 300 Asian folks, I was the only white bloke in the room. And what was amazing is so many people in the congregation had come to faith from other faiths. There is nothing else in the United Kingdom that crosses every demographic, every ethnicity, every gender barrier, every class barrier, every generational difference, and brings us together as one, worshiping the same Jesus, contending for our nation together and going for it in the name of Jesus. And as the Evangelical Alliance, we are here to serve the Lord. And we will serve in gospel endeavour. We do all kinds of research and insight that helps people know what's going on in sharing the gospel. But one of the key things we do is speak up in the corridors of power. And let me tell you, friends, our access at the moment to the corridors of power is better than it's been in living memory. I have been to the most famous address in the UK. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll have noticed, with a bit too much regularity. In fact, when I put a comment about having been at number 10 a couple of weeks ago, someone underneath put, Can you tell us something you're doing that's different? Our access in these spaces is amazing. There was a moment a few weeks ago where I was with the Prime Minister, my leader in Northern Ireland was with the Northern Irish First Minister, my leader in Wales was with the Welsh First Minister all in the same week. I rang my leader in Scotland and said, What are you doing? We are in these spaces and in these places speaking up. And do you know what, friends? It's blooming hard work. We are talking on hard issues. It was such a joy a few weeks ago when, after four years of campaigning, the Scottish Parliament kicked out assisted suicide. We call it assisted suicide, not assisted dying. We already have assisted dying, friends. It's called palliative care. We worked for four years on that, but then 24 hours later we got a slap in the face when the House of Lords did nothing about sort of decriminalisation of abortion up to full term. Friends, these are hard times, but we are in the spaces speaking up on the hard issues, contending for life, contending for hope, and also pointing out that the church is doing more common good in this nation for free than anyone else. So leave us alone to preach about our Jesus whilst we do so much of your work on our behalf. We will keep contending for the fact Jesus is not an option, he is the way, the truth, and the life. And preaching the exclusivity of Jesus Christ is the most loving thing you can do, not the most hateful thing you can do. And we will say this in these places. In my interview later, I'll talk about stuff I can't now because this is recorded. But we have prayed with people you see on the tell. We have spoken up for Jesus in places that you see on the tell, and we are doing all we can to say we are good news people in a bad news world. The church needs to be heard, and we are here to help. Do you know? Um, I ought to get onto my passage. So for years, the Evangelical Alliance's gateway to the corridors of power was the church membership. We've got 3,000 church members. If your church isn't a member, there's grace. We can deal with that today. We've got 500 organizational members, but we live in an increasingly individualized culture, you'll have noticed that. So for the last few years, the access to the corridors of power is the individual membership. About four years ago, that was at 14,000. We set a target to get it from 14,000 to 50,000 over 10 years. Two reasons for that. Reason one, similar membership to a political party. We're not a political party, but gives an idea of scale, doesn't it? 50,000 EA personal members, a new Prime Minister rings me, not the other way around. Second reason for 50,000, particularly in a political space, we've got a full-time presence across all four parliaments of the UK. And in a political space, they get membership. They get that for every person signed up, there's 30 or 40 people with you that haven't signed up. So 50,000 individual members, at the moment, we can legitimately say we represent well over half a million people. 50,000 individuals we can say we represent in the millions. Why does that matter? In our culture, the loudest noise comes from some of the people with the smallest stakeholders. We don't want to get rightsy, but we want to be clear, there are millions of us. Which is why I'm delighted to say we're not at 14,000 anymore, we've got 29,000 individual members now. But but we're on track for 50. And I want to ask you, unashamedly, if you're not a personal member of the Evangelical Alliance, could you just become one this morning? It's not hard. I've got a table at the back. I will work that table, I will stay there as long as you want to sign up. But here's the thing, friends. I used to say it cost a cup of coffee a month to be a member of the EA. That's not true. Coffee's gone up. It costs three pounds a month to be a member of the EA as an individual or a couple. If you're married, don't even check with your spouse. Sign up as a couple, it counts as two when I'm in the House of Lords next week. No, maybe do check, but sign up as two. But here's the thing: it's not about money, it's all about voice. You say, why does it cost anything? I'll tell you why. If it was free, it's as useful as a Facebook group when I do advocacy. We've never been asked how much people pay, but how many subscribing members we have. So if you're not a member, could you just crack on and become one? Because we need to stand together as good news people in this nation. We will never get in your way locally. Go deep in your postcode, love your place, love your space, but be part of the national story. And if you do sign up, I'm gonna give you a present. Why I like you. Why else? Let me be honest, friends. I take a lot of stick for the job I do. I take a lot of stick on behalf of the church. Some of it at a time hurts with hindsight. It's funny. I've got a screenshot of someone having a go at me on social media at about midnight a little while ago. It says, at Gav Calva, you are the scum of the earth and are gonna burn in hell. Hashtag love wins. We will keep taking hits for Christians and churches. We need the church to stand with us. And if you do sign up, I'm gonna give you this box. It's got some presents in my latest book I wrote, my friend Phil Knox, Good News People. How can evangelicals be defined as gospel good news people? There's resources in here, there's other stuff, but if this doesn't swing the deal, I'm genuinely out of ideas. It's an EA key ring, bear with me. This button the top's got a logo on it, it's a fake detachable quid. In our increasingly cashless society, when you need a supermarket trolley, you'll be so grateful you joined. When you need a locker at the gym, happy days. All I ask, each time you use it, would you pray the three things I pray each time I use mine? I pray that the church will be united in this nation. I pray that the voice of the church will be heard effectively in the corridors of power. And I pray that together we'd make Jesus known. Let's pray, shall we? Lord, we just pray those three things now. We pray that your church will be united, not just in the UK, because there's people here from other nations all over the world. But specifically in this moment here in the UK, would we show the world what unity is in a fractured society? Might the voice of your church be heard effectively in the corridors of power? From parent-teacher-governor meetings through to Downing Street and everything in between, would a voice of hope, a voice of Jesus be heard. And Lord, I pray that together we'd make you known for your glory and your kingdom. And Lord, I pray you'd be with us now. I pray you'd speak to us, challenge us, provoke us, and open our ears to what you want to say. Whether through me or in spite of me, Lord, speak to your people, we pray. Amen. If you've got a Bible, would you turn it on? Or open it up to Acts 5. If it's any help, it's page 939 in my Bible. I'm just going to read from verse 12. The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats, so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits. And all of them were healed. Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. Go stand in the temple courts, he said, and tell the people all about this new life. At daybreak, they entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin, the full assembly of the elders of Israel, and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported. We found the jail securely locked with the guards standing at the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside. On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what might this this might lead to. Then someone came and said, Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people. Friends, I just want to ask us this morning what season is it we're in? What season is it? You know, I'll never forget my first week in this job. I did an interview with a BBC journalist. Her first question was, Why is the church dying? I said, I've never heard so silly a question in all my life. The church has never grown as fast as it is right now. More people gave their lives to Jesus yesterday than any day since he rose from the dead. And if you want better news still, more people will give their lives to Jesus today. I've never felt so much on the winning team, I've never been so encouraged, I frankly don't understand the question. She said, She said, Why is the UK church dying? I said, That's an entirely different question. I said, but there's not going to be a British section in heaven. So the church is growing fast, I long for the same here. And do you know what, friends, we're starting to see signs of the same here. We're starting to see signs of a new move of God empowered by the Spirit. Whichever research you want to listen to or not listen to, whichever research gets discredited or elevated, do you know what? The stories of what we're seeing on the ground is like nothing we've seen in living memory. We are living in war times spiritually. It costs you more to be a sold-out Bible-believing Christian, but what's at stake is greater than normal. The potential's amazing. I think we're living in the time we've prayed for. We've prayed and prayed and prayed for openness in the culture. And now we've got it. Let's not be like Jonah in Jonah 1 when he's asleep and these sort of so sorry, the sailors sort of shake him to say, How can we be saved? Let's be awake to what God's doing in our day. What a time to be alive. And have you noticed how little the secular stories are working? They're just not working. We were sold this secular dream. The secular project has fundamentally failed. And no one will admit it. I love pointing out to politicians, many of whom you'd know, something very simple recently. I keep commending them. Any politician I haven't seen for a while, this is what I say to them. You've done so well. You've really grown. Over this last year, you have developed so incredibly impressively. And I am remarkably blown away at how simple you find it to answer something you couldn't answer a year ago. What is a woman? Have you noticed how secularism is failing? There is a major move of God coming to the UK in my lifetime. But we need to ask the Lord to break our hearts. And we need to be aware of who He is in this season. And the first is this from verses 12 to 16. In this season, we need to know God's power. We need to know God's power. I'm a keen runner. I run every couple of days, about six miles each time, and I run in Adidas running shoes. There is one reason for that, and one reason alone. There is an Adidas outlet near my house. I love a bargain. And Adidas's running slogan is this impossible is nothing. When you put this body into their shoes, that proves to be false marketing every time. There is much that is impossible for me when it comes to running. But with God, nothing is impossible. And I wonder if some of us have tamed the Lord, have made the Lord small enough so he doesn't disturb us or shake up our world, or made him small enough so that we can remain comfortable or dare I say, in control. But God could do anything. In the passage, it's the fact that God's moving so much that gets the apostles into trouble again. I don't know about you, but I'm good at getting into trouble. I always have been. Some people aren't good at getting into trouble. But I don't mind getting into trouble if it's because God's moving. I don't mind you getting into trouble locally. We'll help you. The Evangelical Alliance will help you when you get into trouble locally because the activity of your church is exploding so much through the power of the Spirit that the authorities locally want to sort you out and put you back in your box. We will be there for you. I tell you something, we need to start growing our prophetic imagination for what the Lord might want to do. You know, angered by previously putting two of them in prison, the authorities now have to act and they throw them all into prison. Friends, we as the people of God need to reconnect with how powerful our God is. Stop telling stories from China and Iran and acts and getting excited if you don't believe it can happen in your postcodes. We need to know God's power. And what I love about the Lord is even when we do things badly, he moves in power sometimes. My worst ever sermon was over ten years ago. It was in North Wales on a Friday night. It was a youth event. North Wales on a Friday night is a disaster to get to from anywhere. So it was a difficult journey. I got there. I had been told there will be hundreds of young people there. Turns out I have more fingers than there were young people there. There were nine teenagers at this event. The churches had club together to hire in a ten-foot-high stage. Because they'd paid for it, they insisted that I preach from it. Now I'm six foot three, right? So there I am, 16 foot three in the air, towering over a bunch of young people, smaller in number than the disciples. I've been brought there to preach the gospel, so I did it badly and in a mood, but I did it. Then at the end of the evening, this is back in the day before bank transfers, used to deal in the ministry of envelopes. They'd give you an envelope with the gift towards your work in it. I always had a rule though: don't open the gift till you get home. Decide with the Lord on the way home how it's gone. Do not be influenced by the size of the check. So all the way home until the early hours, the Lord and I discussed the event, and I think we both felt it had been an abject failure. Then I got home, I opened the envelope, out fell the gift. Five-pound book token. You can't put that in the petrol tank. So I wrote it off as my worst day. Till not that long ago, I was preaching in Stoke on Trent on a Sunday night. And this lad comes up to me afterwards, he's probably in his late 20s. He says to me, Do you remember that youth event in North Wales with no young people in the huge stage? Well, I remember it. Do you want some, do you? He says, I became a Christian that night. I said, How? And he says, I'm now a youth evangelist. And and I've just done an outreach to the local estate, and 32 lads gave their lives to Jesus, I said. You only have to get one Samaritan woman to get their village. Friends, we have got to stop overestimating ourselves and underestimating our King. I can do so little, but in his power and his strength, even when I do things badly, he can move in power. We need to know the Lord's power. Stop underestimating what the Lord could do in your postcode and start getting on your knees and crying out that he might move in ways you've only dreamt or read about. We need to know God's power. Secondly, verses 17 to 21A, we need to understand the end of the story. You know, we need to know what's coming at the end. No matter how many bad things happen between now and the end of time, no matter how many wars, how many pandemics, however much persecution there is, no matter how many good things happen, you know, no matter how many revivals there are, renewals of the church, economic upturns, no matter how many World Cups England winning, I mean proper ones, football ones. The end of the story remains the same. Jesus wins. We have got to hold to the end of the story in the middle. Throughout history, Christians have been attacked, but Christianity isn't wiped out. From the early disciples being dipped in pitch and used as human candles in Nero's garden through to so-called things like the Islamic State of recent years, people have attacked Christianity, but you can't get rid of it. The fastest-growing church in the world right now is Iran, where they've done everything to get rid of it. And I know of um an Iranian ministry group who are hiring a hotel swimming pool, putting on swimming lessons during the day so locals don't catch on. And they've worked out between dusk and dawn they can baptize 350 Iranians a night in the hotel swimming pool. God is moving. We need to hold to the end of the story, however hard it is in the middle. You know, when Paul writes to Rome, I'm bound, I'm eager, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Rome was the ultimate and imperial power and pride. It was the greatest thing humans could create. People went on a pseudo-religious pilgrimage to stare in awe and wonder at Rome. In contrast, Paul was a funny-looking little fella with a bald patch, crooked nose, a mono brow, bad eyesight, bandy legs, and no great rhetorical gifts. Funny looking little fella writes to the most powerful city in the world. In his day he might have looked crazy, but 2,000 years on, the Colosseum is ruins, but Jesus is alive. Friends, we have got to hold to the end of the story. Like I said before, the secular stories have never seemed so shallow. The Jesus story has always been so rich. But coming back to the passage, I love asking what the Bible. Looks like, you know, what does it actually look like? What's going on in this moment? Well, Peter and John had previously been arrested, but this time they're all arrested and they're all thrown into jail for preaching. Whenever the early church are put in jail, do you know who I feel sorry for? Whoever's guarding them. Because have you ever noticed how they always think, yes, captive audience, and start preaching. It's a bit like when David fights Goliath. He's got two choices. One, he's so big he's gonna kill me. Or the one I prefer, he's so big, there's no way I'm gonna miss. And in this passage, during the night, and now this stuff's mad, isn't it? It's amazing. An angel of the Lord comes along, opens up the cell. Good news, fellas. You're free. Bad news, fellas. You gotta go and do what got you in here again. And then here's the fun bit locks the door again. So no one knows. I don't know about yourself, but I need a big fat dose of bravery. I need to know the Lord more closely, more powerfully. I need to be able to step out more holding on to the end of the story. You know, I quite often sit opposite, I'll sit closer than I am to any of you, to some of the most powerful people in this country. And all I need to do in that moment is not think anything of myself, but remind myself how big my Jesus is. Because in that moment, it doesn't matter whether you run the country or not, you don't run the world. Let alone made it. Friends, we need to know God's power, but we need to understand the end of the story. Because people are brave when they have a kingdom perspective, not a right now one. Know God's power, understand the story, and finally, verses 21b to 25, we need to get everyone involved. Everyone needs to get involved. Back to the passage. I love this moment. The Sanhedrin have gathered, and as you'll know, they're the Jewish council. Now the Sanhedrin, proper wealthy, proper clever, and properly well dressed. Now they were geniuses. Now I'm from a family of geniuses. My dad's a genius. I'm one of four kids, the other three are all geniuses. I didn't get the brains, I got the looks, right? But genuinely, I've grown up around geniuses. And at least in my house, the geniuses I've grown up around can solve any conundrum known to mankind, but have no common sense. So they can solve any theory but can't put a picture up straight, right? That's how I imagine the Sanhedrin. Proper geniuses, but not a lot of common sense. And they're sat in their circle and they say, Could you just go and get the prisoners, please? And the person goes to get the prisoners, comes back and says, They're not there. Well, uh, okay. Was the door open? No. Were the bars broken? No. Where have they gone? Dunno. And I love to think of the Sanhedrin sat in their circle, trying to solve, with their brains the size of the solar system, trying to solve this. Steam is coming out of their ears. They're trying to focus, where have they possibly gone? Until someone looks out the window and goes, surprise! They're out there. What are they doing? Exactly what you put them in here for. I think it's an amazing moment, isn't it? But when the spirit of the living God is in your heart, it should overflow to those around you. Your love for Jesus should be infectious. You know, I remember during the COVID pandemic thinking if the R rating of this virus is this, how much should the R rating of our gospel be? It should be transforming communities. And let me get something clear, friends. I can be a bit much for some people. I can. I love the tube in rush hour. I love getting on it with a Christian friend. Standing in the bit where you're stood in someone's armpit and no one can move. And we just have a really loud conversation about Jesus. And if anyone's interested, boom, divide and conquer. Most people are not built like me. The Lord needs me, but he doesn't need you to be like me. He needs you to be like you. And I think for too long we have made evangelism and the sharing of the gospel a personality type, not something it should be, which is any Christian with a pulse should be involved. We've made it a personality type for larger than life, in your face, storytelling, big mouths. I can't imagine the kind of person you're thinking of. But actually, the time has come for us to say we're going after disciples, not just decisions. And it will take seven people on average for someone to be a lifelong follower of Jesus. And we need to start celebrating each step, but we need everyone to be involved. Too many of us have forgotten that we're supposed to be involved too. Because we're all different, we all do different things. My dear friend Pastor Agu introduced me at a prayer meeting recently. He said, This is my friend Gavin. He has the wrong personality for his nationality. I took that as a compliment. But here's the thing, friends, we need all personalities involved to reach all personalities. We've all got something to share. You know, one of the things people haven't talked about recently in the UK enough is the impact on reverse mission in creating spiritual openness. Because here's the thing, friends, the UK is more open to Jesus than it's been in my lifetime. But no one's talking about the fact for over 30 years we've been receiving missionaries from all over the world. So if anyone in this room came to the UK as a missionary, let me take this opportunity to thank you. Because you have changed the spiritual landscape of our nation. But you've also taught us some things we forgot. A friend of mine came to the UK as a missionary, but he'd never been on an aeroplane before he flew to Heathrow. He gets to Heathrow Airport, he goes to get his bags. He's got a decision to make he's never made before in his life. Something to declare or nothing to declare. So he goes through something to declare. And he says, I declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that by believing you'll have life. The guy at customs looks at him, what? He says, I declare that Jesus died for you, and they let him into the country. Friends, we must not forget that we have something to declare. We have something to speak up about. We have something to be clear about. In our churches, we are not forcing it down people's throats, but we mustn't miss our opportunities to talk about Jesus. 78% of toddler groups happen in churches. But did you know that most of them tell stories about bear hunts and sing about wheels on the bus? And when we ask them why, the answer was we don't want to offend people. I find that insane. When I go to Sports Direct and they talk to me about trainers, I'm not offended. I'm in a sports shop. If people come to church and we talk about Jesus, it couldn't be less offensive. It's his house. We've got to recalibrate, refocus, and get everyone involved in longing to reach people. This is a season to know God's power, to hold on to the end of the story, but to get everyone involved. And you know what? Nothing's wasted. My lad plays for a football team that I hope helped coach, and one of the guys on the other team broke their leg recently, and I ran over to ask if I could pray. And they said, Yeah, and I was praying, and inside I was like, Lord, this would really help. If you could heal this leg, this would do me a massive favor, Jesus. This would make no end of difference to the evangelism I'm trying to do with these parents and kids. Please, Jesus. I was begging, please. Absolutely nothing happened. And do you know what? Since I've had at least ten conversations with people, why was your first instinct to pray? What were you believing for? Friends, we have got to go for it and leave the outcomes to the Lord. But we've got to go for it. It's a season of playing, not of holding back. Let's not overestimate our actions and underestimate our prayers. Let's petition heaven, let's go for it, and let's believe God wants to move in power in our day. And here's the thing: outreach is a team game, not a solo pursuit. So don't leave it just to others. I was preaching at a church that had these prayer boards on the wall, one with loads of names, one with hardly any. There was digital boards. During the notice, button, five names went from the long list to the short list. The whole church started dancing and singing a song. I was like, what are these nutters doing? You know? Every church I go to does something that seems a bit weird. And the pastor comes up to me and says, the long list is who we've committed to pray for every day that they might become Christians. And the short list is those who've surrendered their lives to Jesus. So, but what we used to do was we made outreach an individual game. And when someone got despondent, they gave up. We've now said as a church we're going to reach these people together. As a church, we're going to celebrate together. And as a church, we're going to move forward together. We are living in the moment we've longed for. I preached in more than a few weeks ago, and I preached, they asked me to preach for an hour and a quarter. And I preached for an hour and a quarter. I was just getting started. And something miraculous happened. At the end, an eight-year-old boy came, was the first person who came up to me and said, Would you pray for me? I want Jesus to be my best friend. I think to myself, in no other time was the ground so ripe that after an old bloke speaks for an hour and a quarter, an eight-year-old wants to become a Christian. Or I was in Emsworth near Portsmouth. And at the end I was at my EA table. It's probably prophetic for today. There was a huge queue of people wanting to join the Evangelical Alliance. And my lad was with me, he was helping sign up because every so often my wife and I both preach away, and my lad Googled which was closer. Emsworth was closer to home, so he came with me. Pastor comes over and says, Those seven people that just gave their lives to Jesus, one of them is our own revival story. Two weeks ago, he had a dream and he came to church off the back of a dream. And no one knows who he is, and this morning he gave his life to Jesus. Amazing. But then in the car, my lad says to me, Dad, that wasn't true, was it? Jesus doesn't appear in dreams like that. Two hours on the way home, I spoke to my lad about dreams and the power of the supernatural. On our driveway, he says to me, Dad, would you pray for me? I'd have a dream about Jesus. Friends, God is moving in ways we've not seen before. I went to preach at a church in Amersham. I preached there just before the pandemic. 200 people, one service. Amazing, big church. I went to preach three weeks ago, 850 people, two services. The pastor says to me, We haven't changed anything, God's just moving. And he says that I'm probably the only leader in the UK that will say this, but I really don't want any more people. We're bursting everywhere. We've just bought the building next door. Frankly, we could do with 18 months with no growth if that's possible. What a moment we're alive in. This is the moment we've prayed for. Across the UK, if you're older than me, you live in a post-Christian nation. If you're younger than me, you live in a pre-Christian nation. Whichever nation you find yourself living in, it's more open to Jesus than it's been at any time. This is the moment for us as the people of God to know the Lord's power, to extend our prophetic imaginations to what's possible. To understand the end of the story, no matter how hard it gets, Jesus wins. And to get everyone involved. It's not a time for solo pursuits, it's a time for the whole church to reach out in the name of Jesus. If you're able, would you stand with a man? We are time poor and passion rich in this room. But there's no way I'm going to hang out with the apostolic church and we're not going to cry out together instead of just listening to me. I want us to cry out as the people of God that he might in this very moment extend our prophetic imaginations for what he wants to do in and through us in the place he has placed us. Whether that's what we heard about Street Connect before, whether that is in your local church, whether that's in another nation, let's spend 90 seconds or so crying out to God together that he would extend our prophetic imaginations for what's possible. Let's pray, church. Jesus, I pray, you would move in power. You would do incredible things. You would move mightily, Lord, in our day for your kingdom, for your glory, that you would do what only you can do, Lord. You would do what only you can do, Jesus. In this moment, that your kingdom be your glory, Lord Jesus. You would move mightily and powerfully and powerfully, Jesus.