WEBVTT 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:04.799 Woo! All right. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:06.799 Well, good afternoon, everybody. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:09.679 Uh, my name is Liam, not Levi. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:14.160 And uh before we get into it, I thought I'd just take a moment just to introduce myself a little more. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:19.440 Aaron said he's been over heaps, and that's true, so not everyone's had the honor of being over yet, but you're all welcome. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:20.399 Everyone's invited. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:23.920 Kayla will cook for us, and it'll be um a good good time. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:30.399 But yes, I'm Liam, married to Kayla, and we've been married for 11 years, and we've been dating for 14. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:33.200 I know we look super young, but we're not as young. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:36.799 Um we've got four kids, uh, Mike and Naomi, Chloe, and Bailey. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.399 And in terms of ages, they're 10, 9, 7, and 3. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:46.000 Uh we're from Wellington, born and raised Wellingtonians, and uh we've been up here in the Bay for about a year and a half now. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:50.479 And it's probably been the best thing for our marriage and for our kids, uh, for our family. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.320 Uh we do miss home a little bit, but we love this place so much more. 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:56.799 Uh, in terms of work, what do we do? 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.119 Because that's something you ask people you've just met. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:00.719 Um, I'm a banker. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:01.840 Crazy, right? 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:03.439 I know I look like one and sound like one. 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:08.400 In fact, my wife is also a banker, and we work at the same bank, different places. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:09.760 So it's good times. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:12.319 But I am honored to be able to share today. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.040 Um, and just a couple of quick disclaimers about this. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:17.840 Um, firstly, I'm a simple guy with simple thoughts, right? 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:21.840 So if you're looking for something theological and complex, this is not it. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:22.560 All right. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:25.760 Uh, the second thing is I don't like to talk for too long. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:26.159 Okay. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:31.200 Levi asked me to preach a couple of months ago, and I told him I would give him 10 of my best. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:32.719 And he said, Can you make it 15? 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:36.000 And I said, It would be a miracle if we get to 15 minutes. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:37.680 So, so we'll see how we go. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:40.959 Um, but let's pray again, and then we'll get into the word, eh? 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:43.200 Let's pray. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.959 Uh, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:50.640 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:56.239 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:02.400 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:03.439 Amen. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:05.200 That is the Lord's prayer. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:05.680 Amen. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.800 Uh, if you have a Bible, we're going to go to the book of 2 Kings. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:11.680 Um, if you don't have a Bible, someone's made slides. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:12.879 So um, here we go. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:15.599 Second Kings chapter 7, and we're going to verse 3. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:18.400 My version might be a little bit different to that, but that's all good. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:19.919 Uh it says this. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:23.599 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.000 And they said to one another, Why are we sitting here until we die? 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:32.240 If we say we were into the city, the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.479 And if we sit here, we die also. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:38.080 Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:40.479 If they keep us alive, we shall live. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:43.360 And if they kill us, well then we shall only die. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:46.319 And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:52.319 And when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise, no one was there. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:03:00.240 For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:08.560 So they said to one another, Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:16.560 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact, their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, and they fled for their lives. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:27.919 And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them, and then they came back into another tent, and they did the same thing. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:28.800 Amen. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:33.280 Well, today, everyone, I want to share a message based around two words. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:38.719 Two simple words that are powerful because they provoke a lot of conversation and a lot of thought. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:48.400 Two words that we have all probably said at some point in conversation with ourselves, our family, our friends, our spouses, and those two words are what if. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:49.840 What if? 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:54.319 I love these words because, like I said, they have they are powerful. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:59.280 They have the ability to either imprison us or they have the ability to propel us. 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:05.439 Because the words what if, they either become the language of fear or the language of faith. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:09.199 One thing I missed from my introduction is that I'm a massive movie fan. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:10.879 I love movies so much. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:13.280 Not that my opinion on movies means anything. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:17.680 In fact, if you ask Levi, he would tell you I've had some wild takes over the years. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:19.600 I'm about to have another one in a minute. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:20.800 Um but I love movies. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:27.839 And I think in recent years, the movies that have had an absolute chokehold on cinema and cinema goers has been the MCU. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:32.319 Every movie in the lead up to Endgame had people talking, had people asking questions. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:34.160 How would they connect these characters? 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:36.079 How would they bring the story together? 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:37.759 What's going to happen next? 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:44.240 In fact, they had everyone sitting in the movie theater until the credits finished so that we could see what was coming. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:47.360 And outside of the movies, they've also released series. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:49.040 Now here comes my wild take. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:53.519 At the top of the list of series to watch, a lot of people have Loki or Wonder Vision, right? 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:56.800 I'm not promoting that you should watch these, I'm just saying that's what people do. 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:58.800 They watch these too as the best. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.800 But for me, the what if series is probably up there, right? 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:12.879 Because it takes stories and it takes people and characters that we have come to know and come to enjoy and come to love, and they introduce something different at the beginning. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.959 A different decision, a different question, a different change, a different action. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.639 And I've often thought that life is similar to that. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:28.000 That if there was a different action or a different decision or a different thought, how different would my future have been or could be? 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:32.800 And as we read about the lepers, they have their own what if moment. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:33.360 Right? 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.839 They are doing what they are supposed to be doing. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:39.759 They are doing what is socially acceptable for them in this time. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:43.279 And I just imagine that one of them is just fed up with the law. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:48.399 He's the one that pipes up, he's the one that says, Why are we all waiting here to die? 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:51.600 Because if we stay where we are, we're gonna die. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:54.720 If we go back to what we know, we're gonna die. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:00.000 But if we go forward, I mean we might die, but we could live. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:00.399 Right? 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:02.319 They have their own waterf moment. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.319 And they decide to start walking. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:04.959 Right? 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:08.000 And as they're walking, we realize that God is working. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:10.480 They don't know, but we know from reading the text. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:20.000 They don't know that every step that they've been taking here on earth is causing heaven to create a sound in the ear of the enemy that is causing them to fear and to flee. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:38.480 And I guess for me, I as I read that, I was thinking to myself, man, what if all we need to do, all I need to do to reach that blessing or to receive that promise or to fulfill that prophecy that was spoken over me so long ago, what if all I need to do is to start moving again? 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:48.319 Whether it be steps on earth or a conversation or a decision or a plan that I've put on the back burner, what if, what if it's time to start moving? 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:56.000 And I think for us the question isn't, should or shouldn't be, what if it all goes wrong, but should be, what if it all goes right? 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:56.720 Right? 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:59.279 What if God has already gone before us? 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:05.680 What if, with every step we take here towards what God has asked us to do, what if he's already won that battle? 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:08.000 We would never know until we started moving. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:12.000 And I always think that God never makes mistakes, right? 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.120 Everything that happens is on purpose and for a reason. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:26.879 That this job that we're in, this church that we're in, the season, this challenge, that it's not random, but that God is preparing us and positioning us so that he can share that plan and that purpose. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:34.160 Um back in 2010 is when I gave my life back to Christ. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:38.079 So I grew up in I grew up in church, went away from church, came back to church. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:40.480 Just a classic church story, right? 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:44.319 Um so in 2010 is when I gave my life back to Christ in December 2010. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:50.319 But in the year leading up to it, I was studying at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuit Center. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:56.800 So if you don't know what that is, that's you basically go there and you learn about rock climbing and kayaking, sea kayaking, white water rafting. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:01.519 Well, everything to do with outside, we were learning that and learning how to take groups of kids out. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:01.920 Right? 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:04.959 And that year I met a really good friend of mine, his name's Marcel. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:16.160 And Marcel and I, we decided that year that we would live in an eternal winter for the rest of our lives, that we would jump between the north and the southern hemisphere, winter to winter, for the rest of our lives. 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:18.639 In fact, I think Marcel's uh still doing it. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:20.240 He's still still doing it to this day. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:21.519 Um but that's what we decided. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:22.480 That was the dream. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:27.120 So we did what most people do when they have a dream is we start to work towards it. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:33.840 We start applying for jobs, we start putting aside money, we start chasing this thing that we decided that we would do. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:39.440 And as we get closer, I apply for this job over in Aspen, Colorado, and I get this job. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.399 Mark Sowell gets his job at Whistler, I get this job in Aspen. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:45.440 We're about to begin what we think is the dream. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:58.159 And because I'm so young and have no idea how to do this thing, I get someone involved, like a third party, like a travel agency or some someone who's gonna help me book flights and accommodation, sort my visa and do all that stuff that an 18-year-old doesn't really know how to do. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:07.279 That guy calls me two weeks before I'm due to leave, and he says, bro, your visa's gonna be a little bit delayed, everything else was sorted, but you'll get it about five days, six days later. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:08.720 And I was like, Oh, that's sweet ass. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:10.639 And as an 18-year-old, I was like, that's all good. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:12.960 My employer will be happy as that I'm coming six days late. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.480 So I call the mountain and they're like, nah, you have to be here at this time. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:19.759 We're gonna do training, season opens here, you gotta be here. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.039 I'm like, sweet. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:28.159 So I call the guy back, I tell the guy, I was like, yo, I need the visa on time, otherwise I'm gonna lose my job. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.279 And he says, sorry dude, like I can't help you. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:37.120 So we go back to the mountain, tell him again, and they said, All the best, mate, you're gonna have to give your job to someone else. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:45.440 And in that moment, I think I do what most 18-year-olds do who have saved up a bunch of money, and it feels like they've just lost their dream. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:47.440 I decide to spiral, right? 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:51.600 And my best mate and my brother, they're so supportive that they decide to spiral with me. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:55.120 Not that they lost their dream, but they just they just want to help me out. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:56.320 That's just what they do. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:06.720 Um, so we're doing that, and we're at this party one night, and our cousin's there, who's not really cousin, but is kind of a cousin, and she said, You should come to church, it would be good for you. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.320 And I'm like, sweet ass, we'll go to church. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:11.360 We don't have a job, we've got nothing else to do, we'll be there. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:18.879 Um, so we go to church with her the next day, and we're sitting there and we're just enjoying the bright lights and the loud music, basically, just a big concert. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:24.799 And we're sitting there and we feel like something's moving inside of us, and that night I give my life back to Christ. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:28.080 That night I'm like, yo, I've got nothing else to do. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.200 I feel God moving, let's respond, let's go down the front. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:40.240 And in those days, when you responded in the altar, you come down to the front, there's a big party, and then you get taken out the back to be cancelled or whatever, whatever they call it. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.840 It was probably Levi that actually took me out back in 2010. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.840 Um, but as we're doing this, I realize my brother and my best friend they also respond. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:51.360 We're down there having a moment together, and we're being led out the back. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:54.879 And on my way out, I see Kayla for the first time. 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:58.639 And right then and there, I decide I'm coming back to this church. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:03.200 Like this, this church, I'm coming back for Jesus and that girl. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:05.759 And um so that's exactly what I did. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.120 Like, I commit to the bit. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:12.639 We are involved with church now, and you know, serving in teams, and we do three years of internship together. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:17.200 I get to know Kayla, we start dating, we get married, we start to have our first kid. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:26.159 And in 2015, when Kayla's pregnant, my boy Marcel's back in Wellington, getting ready to go to Cadrona for another winter, because that was the dream, and he was still living it. 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:32.399 He stays with us on our couch, and we're just talking, and he goes, Bro, what if you had just gone? 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:34.000 And I was like, Yo, what do you mean? 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:34.960 Like I lost my job. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.440 And he's like, But you could have still gone ahead of holiday. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:41.360 And I was like, Oh, yo, that's actually that that's a good shout, you know. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:44.799 Like, I didn't have to sparrow, I could have still gone and enjoyed myself. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:49.279 And I had a moment there, and I was like, Man, what if what if I had gone? 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:51.759 How different would my life had been? 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:52.399 Right? 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:54.559 Do I still give my life back to Christ? 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:55.200 Probably. 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:58.559 I mean, there are churches in America, so it might it might have happened. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:00.000 Um, do I still meet Kayla? 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:00.639 Probably not. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.360 Like, I go down this rabbit hole of what if? 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:05.360 Like, what if what if I had just gone? 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:07.200 What how different would this have been? 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:14.000 And I realized in that moment that God hadn't closed that door to punish me, but he had closed it to protect me. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:23.200 Like we hadn't, I hadn't realized that you know God's no was so important to the yes that he had that for us and for our family and for this, for um our lives. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:30.879 So I think as we read about the lepers, as we as we go through the word, they they do something pretty incredible. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:35.519 That they realize that the miracle isn't where they are sitting, but it's where they're willing to walk. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.639 Had they not gone, nothing would have changed for them. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:44.960 If they had not hadn't moved, they would still be doing what was acceptable and expected of them at that time. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:52.399 But because they did go, they were able to realize the blessing that God had gone before them and that um they would receive that. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.879 So today, instead of asking, what if I fail? 00:12:55.039 --> 00:13:01.600 I guess for us as a church and as a personally, I think uh you know we should ask, you know, what if God has already gone ahead of me? 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.360 Uh what if he's already made a way? 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.840 What if he's preparing people for conversations and decisions and plans that I put on the backbone? 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:10.320 What if what if God is already working? 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:11.120 Amen. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:13.679 All right, well, that's 10 of my best, everybody. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.960 Um that after this, we're gonna have a great feed. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:20.639 I've actually got nothing else for you, so I think from here, uh we're gonna hand it over. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:20.960 Amen.