Rejoicing at the Idea of Church

Levi explores what it means to rejoice at the idea of church. Drawing from Psalm 122, the Psalms of Ascent, Hebrews, and his own honest reflections, he invites us to see church as more than a weekly routine or social gathering. It is a place where we encounter Jesus together: present with us, crucified for us, and reigning as Lord. A warm, honest, and practical message about worship, community, sacrifice, and learning to come to church with renewed expectation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, brilliant. Wonderful. Well, hey, um, I wanted to uh talk with us today uh on the topic of rejoicing at the idea of church. Rejoicing at the idea of church. Psalm 122, verse 1 says, I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord. I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord. And just to get our rejoicing where it needs to be, we've got some crunchies. Um Trixie, who rolled her ankle yesterday, scored four goals in the first half for her soccer team yesterday. At the back. Yeah. Outstanding. Really good. Henderson family were successful in putting both kids to sleep. So this is a shared experience. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes two villages to raise two. And so have we got do we have any um birthdays? Any birthdays? Be blessed, enjoy. Anyone had a birthday today or this week? Yeah, Nikki, Tuesday? Nick, this coming Tuesday. Good hands, mate. That was a no-look catch. Well done. Any other birthdays or great big celebrations that are worthy of Lily had a dance comp? Hey. Big kind of like dance thing. You just did she just dance. She's training for dance comps and having dance comps all the time, but this was like uh last week or week before last day, up in Auckland. That was kind of the big big finale or mid-year finale? Kind of both? Yeah, a big end of year and mid-year finale all in one. Awesome, Lily. Love you. Anyone else with a crunchy worthy? What do we got back there? Oh, Stella, okay. A gold crunchy for a gold medalist. She won so gymnastics, and she has these comps and she wins them. And so I just go, amazing. Simone Biles, brilliant, you know, just wonderful. Um, anything else before we we're gonna continue to rejoice at the idea of church? So I wanted to preach today about this concept of being stoked about the idea of going to church. And I wanted to preach on this today because um I think that we all need to hear it. I need to hear it. I probably get excited about coming to church definitely once in every four church visits. Definitely, like 100%. Like one in a four, I'm a hundred percent amped. One in four, I'm reasonably amped. And that can be determined on like who I think is, you know, is one of the, you know, like if like Corbyn, he's a he's a he's a value ad in my life. If Corbyn's at church, like I'm I'm pumped. I'm like, I can't wait to see Corbs. I'm looking forward to it. So if Corbs is there, that's that other one. But that's me being excited, determined on someone else being at church. Then there's the other two. Now I dig I do drag my carcass to church, all four, but only half of which I'm I'm really genuinely excited. But the scripture doesn't give us this picture of church like I'm painting, which I think is reality. It gives us this picture of church that when we read the psalms, we're gonna read a number of psalms today, and in the psalms there's this whole idea that they get excited. The psalmist writes that they get excited about the concept of going to church. A tenth of the psalms, which is which is about um about 15 psalms, and if you've read the psalms, there are lengthy lyrics to songs are called psalms of ascent that they would sing on the way to church. I don't know what songs you listen to in the car on the way to church today, but sometimes, I don't know about you, but sometimes I only play worship songs on the way to church. Rest of the week, woo-tang, you know what I mean? But then on the way to the church, oh yes Lord, yes, Lord, you know what I mean? Then you you patch everything up with the wife, make sure the kids have brushed their teeth and brushed their hair, and then you get to church trying to make sure that you know you you look like you got everything, everything sorted out, and you don't, you know. But these guys are so excited about church, they sang, they wrote psalms to sing on the way to church. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. And for me, I was thinking this week, I would really love to preach this. And today, if you could imagine a really beautiful mirror right in front of my laptop, or maybe right behind it, so I could still read it, that reflects this sermon back to me. Because I'm not preaching anything at you today, I'm preaching at me, and I'm hoping that along the way you might be able to gain something for yourself. Because in the scriptures, we read about this whole concept of rejoicing about the idea of church. That is though they finish and can't wait to come back. Now, for the sake of what churches for this for this sermon, there are gonna be people in the congregation saying, Levi, where two or more are gathered, we are the church. I get it, Lone Wolf. I get it 100%. I'm talking, and I think there is some value to that, what you're sort of arguing in your mind at me. But today we're gonna define church as a faith community that gathers at least once a week for the sake of the sermon. So let's park the argument about what you think churches for the sake of the next 23 minutes. I want to talk about the gathering of the saints on a regular basis. I remember I had a um a conversation with um Hayden recently, and he said to me, He goes, Oh, you know, how's the church and whatever? We're just chatting away. And he said to me, Um, we started talking about sermons, about preaching. And he goes, Man, great teaching, or we're just sort of just talking. And he goes, Man, Sundays roll around quick, eh? There are 52 every year, and they just keep on coming. 52 sermons that need to be preached, 52 kids' rosters that need to be put together, 52 sound men, 52 AV guys. Thank you, Seb, 52 venue people, 52 opportunities to um dedicate kids. We've got baptisms in a few weeks. In fact, this Thursday night we have a young adult's interest night, 6:30 p.m. special mention. Looking forward to it. Word of mouth, bringing friends, gonna be great. I'll be there as a young adult. And it's gonna be it's gonna be brilliant. You have these opportunities to gather as the saints, to sing songs, to hear, to meet, hopefully to make friends, to be a part of something that's bigger than yourself. And for the sake of today's sermon, let's define that as the church. Psalm 5, verse 7 says this But I, by your great love, can come into your house in reverence. Note what he says there, the psalmist. He says, In reverence, I bow down toward your holy temple. Wow, I get that you might bow down to the cross, I get that you might bow down to this amazing Bible that's up here. I get that you might bow down to some kind of embodiment of Jesus, but to bow down to the building, it seems kind of odd. Imagine if a stranger walked past and saw you bowing down outside to the church building. What are you doing? And you go, wow, I'm just excited about the church. I'm so pumped about the gathering of the saints that I bow down towards his holy temple. I wouldn't do that. I don't think any of you have done that, but the psalmist writes that that's exactly what he does. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 say this. Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. And I think this is a great verse for dedicating kids today. Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another all the more as we see the day approaching. In our Christian faith, there are many different church traditions that place different emphasis on the church and the gathering of the saints. They had the Psalms of Ascent. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they had more altars than temples. They had they had places where they would build rocks as a memorial of the things that the Lord had done. I think that's really cool. Moses had the tabernacle, which was like a um picture, like a big top circus tent. So we went from rocks to altars to like a canvas tent that they would set up and pack down every week. I mean, I just think it's amazing that we can come in here, flick on the lights, throw on the AC units, maybe just like adjust the chairs. The band can just, you know, tinkle the ivories and we're away. But but in the old testament, they would they would tear down, imagine that every week, tearing down a big top circus tent and storing it away. Uh and you would we would follow the Lord where where he would lead. So we had rocks and we had we had the tabernacle, and then and then Solomon's temple uh was built and then rebuilt after it was destroyed, and it was it was ornate, it was beautiful, it was wonderful, it was a magnificent. When I went to Montreal for the first time, my friend said, You have to come, Levi, we've got to take you to the basilica. I think it was I think it was of St. Paul. And I was like, Oh yeah, I can't wait to see it. And it was a massive cathedral, difficult for me to put in words, built into the rock of this mountain in Montreal. Just the most wonderful. And we would walk in, and there was a room at the back full, full of crutches, full of crutches where people had come into the basilica to be prayed for and were healed, and would cast their crutches. And they decided after some time to keep the crutches as a testimony of all the people who were healed in that place, and so the whole room was just full, just full of these crutches. We went from rocks to altars to temples from canvas to wonderful, ornate, beautiful buildings, to these days. We think about what is today, and I it it's it will sound political only because the real estate is political, but what's the most valuable real estate, the most fought-after real estate, the most emotional real estate, the most tricky, the most difficult, the most complex real estate in all the world is a battle between multiple different ethnic, religious, and people groups about a place that represents for them what? The most holy place, the most holy temple, a place where they would and do indeed bow down. A wall in Israel is a place where people might go just so they they could weep and pray on a wall and come back and tell their friends, how is your weekend? Oh man, I just I I laid my hands on that wall. The apostles, they valued church gatherings. In fact, the church in the New Testament, the early church, I've mentioned this before, was they would establish a church when they would have 10 Jewish families or 10 Jewish men that represented 10 families, they would then start a new church gathering. We read about these baptisms in the um in the New Testament. And these days, you know, like there's a baptismal font under here, we have a beach, we'll baptize people there. But back in those days, they would have 10 people, 10 families that would gather, and they would have to gather in a home that had a pool to do the baptisms. And so you can imagine that there was even people with some wealth who were building and establishing this Christian faith, and their homes became a place where people would come and gather and eat, and they would read the scriptures and they would hear them aloud, and they would baptize people, and and there's this journey, there's this journey, there's this journey of what it is to be a part of a local church. The Catholic faith. The church for them is where Christ meets us through the sacraments, meets us through the communion or the catechism of the Catholic faith. If there's one thing that I think the Catholic faith, our our Christian brothers, our Catholic brothers do so well, is the catechism, is the process. Is is you know, I think sometimes when people come to our church, come to local, our expression, they sort of don't know. Like someone asked me earlier today, like, hey, what I'm gonna baptize, like I'm dedicating my child this morning, this afternoon. What do you want me to do? You know, like no one knows what's going on. But the Catholic Church, you know. You know what's going on. Like the hymns are on the wall. Like you walk in and there's a sense of like, oh yeah, first communion, and there's sacraments, and then there's process, there's confession, there's process, there's process. The church for them, I think, is about God meeting us through those sacraments. The Orthodox Church is a church where heaven touches earth. The Anglicans, the church for them is the word, the sacrament and tradition where they all meet. The Presbyterians, and here we are in a preszy church, is where God's word is faithfully preached. The Baptists is for them church is a family of believers following Jesus together. The Pentecostals or the charismatics, the church for them is where the Holy Spirit moves among his people. The Catholics emphasize sacrament, the Orthodox emphasize presence, the Anglicans emphasize worship, the Reformed Church emphasizes the word, Baptists emphasize community, and the Pentecostals they emphasize power. But all of those traditions of our faith are trying to answer the same question. How do we best encounter God together as his people? Modern evangelicals or people, some sometimes those of us who are a little bit tarnished by a church experience might just say, ah, all this talk about gathering, I don't need to be a part of a gathering. I can be a Christian all on my own. And I would say to that, a hundred percent you can be. There are hermits or starrets or people that have, or, or, or monks, people that have removed themselves into a monastery away, and they they operate in a in a in a lifestyle that's separate to humanity so that they can retain faith and religion and their belief in Christ without being tarnished by others. Absolutely, you don't need others to walk in your Christian faith. But I wonder if you've tried it for a few days and how difficult it might be. Wonder if you've tried to go to the gym without accountability, tried to eat well without someone helping you along the way, tried to do anything in life, tried to be good at anything without a coach. To be a part of a Christian faith is like bumper boats. And I'm just hoping that our little pool of bumper boats is gonna leave you not bruised and battered in a negative sense, but a sense of like, oh, I've never thought about that before. Oh, thanks for your help. I'm really glad that I could have this conversation with you. And so I say all of that to say that I would love to in the next few moments teach you how I approach church, and my prayer would be that it might help you. Because before, when I said I don't look forward to church every week, there were a number of people out there that I saw with my little eyes that gave me a wry-wee smile. And I just wonder if the next few moments might help us. So, Father, we just pray that you would speak, that you would reveal yourself to us. I'm sharing my testimony, and I'm asking, Lord, that you would use that for your purpose, and that you would shape your kingdom and heal hearts and open up our minds for your glory, for your kingdom. And then I'm praying, Lord, that you might just help us along the way. And we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. The first thing I say is this is that when I come to church, I treat Jesus like he's in the room. When I come to church, I treat dreat I treat Jesus like he's in the room. My favorite place at church is right out there. It's probably where you saw me before church, is where you see me after church. I love it. It's great. I love a warm handshake, a big hello, nice hug, a little side hug if necessary, and a little, a little welcome, just a little hello. I love just laying eyes on God's people, just like just looking in your eyes and just seeing how you are and asking how your week was. I I think there's value in us just being a family. But but more than the tangible moments of humanity that we have, I think that there's a really important supernatural part of us coming into church. It's a both hand, isn't it? We come here because it's great to see friends, it's lovely to catch up, it's lovely to learn people's stories. But on the other hand, it's really important that we understand that this bizarre thing that is the church is actually the place where God has determined that he would meet with his people. That it was rocks, that it was cloth, that it was a building, and now I do believe through the Holy Spirit we are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen. But yet we are still encouraged in Hebrews to gather as some have stopped doing, and so that when we gather, it's got to be more than the RSA, otherwise, we've already got one. It's got to be more than the club rooms, we have enough of those, but there's got to be something that's different about our gathering more than just a warm handshake, and I believe it is Jesus. Psalm 26, verse 8 says, This, Lord, I love the house where you live. I love that, the place where your glory dwells. That there's something, um, there's something about this real estate. We were praying the other day, and and and Heather, Heather Long, she said, she was like, I said, has anyone in our prayer meetings? We like to start praying and then we stop, like, who's what's the Holy Spirit saying to people? And sometimes nothing, or sometimes we're not listening, you know, but other sometimes everyone's like, Yeah, this, this, this. And she says, Levi, I'm just full of gratitude for this building. And I was like, Heck yeah, Heather, you know, riff, riff on that, you know. And she's like, Man, the history. She's like, it's just so quirky, it's awesome. Like, God's just done such great things, He's given us a space. We can meet. She's like, We used to meet in the community hall down the mount. That was great for a few weeks. Then it was so bad. And now we're here. And then we just gave God thanks in that prayer meeting for about 15 minutes for this building, the building where his glory dwells, where he's done great things. I treat Jesus like he's in the room. Uh the book of Matthew and Matthew 1, verse 23, calls Jesus Emmanuel. Emmanuel translated as God with us. When I come to church, I treat Jesus like he's in the room. So when I when so I'm getting really specific now, when I come into my seat, um I I you you will very seldom see me look around. I don't like looking around because it's not about you. Hey, it's about him, and so I'm very seldom looking around. I hardly even talk to the people behind me, only before church, but during church, I think that less distractions the better. And with all these kids running around, we have enough of those, eh? I want to get here, and what I do is I just start talking to Jesus. Now, this might sound to you like I'm asking you to suck eggs, which I don't understand what that saying means, but I think it was applicable. It might be like, what else do we do, Levi? Well, I don't know what you do. I'm just telling you what I do. I come to my seat and I just start talking to Jesus. I treat him like he's right here, like he's present in my life. He's Emmanuel. And I say, Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your presence. And I start thinking about people that I've met as we've come through the doors, and I was thinking about four goals, and I was thinking about different people, and and we've got mums and dads trying to put their kids to bed, and thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Father. And I'm like thanking thanking Jesus for for Anna, who put all of the work in to get all those books and certificates and facilitate all of those families. That's a big job. And I was like, you know, then I'm like, oh, and and and and and hunger foods are here today. And I was like, yeah, Lord, thank you, Lord. Like I'm just talking to Jesus like he's very close. I treat him like he's in the room. I talk to him as if he was right next to me. I'll pray prayers like this. Lord, today touch every heart. I pray prayers like this, Lord, thank you for filling us up. Refresh, Lord, your people today. This is the first way I talk to God every day. I certainly try, is as a friend. Psalm 25, verse 14 says, the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. Let me read that one more time. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. I think that word fear there, um, it's a funny word because it's always in the negative in the West and in English how we translate it. So we might go, friendship of the Lord is for those who are scared of him. If I could, for a moment there, just um maybe encourage you, rather than using the word fear as in scared, that you might use the word fear as an awesome. When I first met Nadia, I was afraid. But not scared. I would later become scared. But I was afraid because she was so great. I was afraid that I was inadequate. I was afraid that I was like that nothing about me was worthy to be with her. You know her, man. She's the cook. She's the most brilliant person. She just walks in a room, everyone's just like, it's gonna be great, nutties here, you know. So we're at the house painting and doing all kinds of different things. We just we just got a oh have we told you we just bought a house? Have we told you that? Yeah, whatever. Yeah, it's great. Amazing, who cares? You know what I mean? And uh she'll be there doing things, and then she'll just it and she was grumpy, she was grumpy for like two days because she got this stain for the the hardwood remove, it's like a 50s home for the the kitchen cabinetry. She got a stain for it, and she was staining, then she went and got a different one, like darker stain than a darker one. And she's just she's just grumpy, just subtle grumpy. Not you know, some people are hangry, there's grumpy, just subtle grumpy. So just kind of like low-level grump. And um, and then and then she's like, that's it, no, I've had enough. So she went and decided to fully change from the dark stain to a cream paint. So total, right? And then she did her first good prep, good prep, and then first kind of coat, and kind of did half of the kitchen and then put these these little gold little knobs on. And just like that, just like stoked. Just came home happy. That story actually has nothing to do with what I'm saying, but I just it kind of came to my mind. Sorry, anyway, so I guess the point is that she's awesome. You know, she does cool stuff. That's the fear that we're talking about here that the psalmist is writing about. The friendship of the Lord is for those who, for those who care, I think is what it's saying. For those who are interested, for those who lean into his awesomeness, for those who understand that he has gravity, for those who understand that when when he's in the room, it's magnificent. For those who go, yeah, man, I hold weight behind God and the fact he sent Jesus and I can have a relationship with him, I am not taking that for granted. I'm excited and full of awe. And to those people, he makes known his covenant. John 15, verse 14 says, You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing. Jesus is saying here, I'm bringing you into the blueprint, to the plan. But I've called you friends. For all that I've heard from my father, I have made known to you. You are my friends, he says. You're no longer servants, but you've been brought into the family. I say all of that to say this. When I come into church and I finish shaking your hand at the front door and I move to my seat, I treat Jesus like he's in the room. If you're taking notes, the second thing I do, it's kind of like a transition that I that I take while I'm while I'm at service. The second thing I do is that I treat Jesus like he died on the cross. So over here we have a cross. And this is the light for the cross. Sorry. Emphasis. Um I start with him, I start here. I say, Jesus, thank you that you're here. Touch every heart, Lord. And then I transition to knowing that he paid a price and suffered for me and for us. I transitioned to go, Lord, thank you that you're present, but then also, man. I've shared this story before, but Nadia and I were in in Paris many years ago, and we had those um, you know, you hi we hired little bikes and we're cruising around in these little, this is pre pre-electric bikes, too, eh? This is actual pedal. We're actually pedaling. And so we're pedaling through Paris. And then I was like, we should go to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. And then I like kind of like matched it, and then we we we pedaled there, and then I just want you to know there was work, you know, and uh we pedaled there, and then we got there, and then I wasn't sure if it was the right place. So then I had her phone with a Google image of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and I was holding it up next to to make sure that we were at the right cathedral, who clearly we were, and we walked in and she bumped into these nuns, and these nuns like um fell over, you know, and Nadia is like just ruining everyone's you know lives. Uh these women of the cloth, you know, were being bumped into by this brilliant woman, and then they were like, Are you Nadia? No, they didn't say that. And so, and then and then we walked in, and then as we walked in, there was a there was a uh a life-size iron cross about that size, and hanging up at an angle off the wall, and it had a life-size, like bronze statue of Christ being crucified. And we could grab these little um tea light candles, and we grabbed the candle, and it took me by surprise that it was there. Because it was kind of a gloomy space, you know, it's cool, you know. Um, very little like electrical work had been done in these spaces to keep them authentic. And I was like, oh. And we both were taken aback by the suffering that he went through. I think we can get um we see the cross, we go, yeah, cross, cross. Nails through his hands, yeah, yeah, yeah, get it. That'll be tough. Hung there, probably suffocated in his own blood. Yeah, yeah, that's a mission. And we're kind of like, you know, but there's this one verse in the Bible that whenever I think about it, it always grounds me. The Bible says that the Roman soldiers, while they were mimicking him and putting the crown of thorns on his head and going through a really horrible mockery of Christ, the Bible says they spat on him. Apart from the transmission of diseases, spit cannot hurt you. It can't hurt you. If I spat on someone, if you spat on me, I wouldn't be in pain from the spit. Oh, you know, ouch! It would be yuck, it would be yuck. It's so gross. Ooh, spit is so gross. But when you spit on someone that's below you, you can't physically hurt them, but you can degrade the soul. When you spit on someone that's below you, that you are beating up and mocking, and you spit, it does something to the inside. If you've ever been spat on or been near someone or seen on television, you revolted on the inside. And they beat him, they mocked them, but then they they circled back and they spat. To break his heart. I treat him like he's in the room, but then I transition and remember that he paid the ultimate price for me. And that's Matthew 27, verse 30. They spat on him. I start to pray prayers like this. Where would I be without you? Thank you for your sacrifice. I couldn't, I couldn't do any of this, Lord, without you. This is where I move from prayer and kind of talking, I move into singing. Uh, in fact, Rose, would you mind? Do you want to join me? Thank you. Psalm 40, verse 3 says, He put a new song in my mouth, the hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. Psalm 47, verse 1 says, Clap your hands, all you nations, shout to the Lord with cries of joy. I begin to transition and I begin to actually, I actually then at this point, which is probably about the second song, sometimes, sometimes the third song, really then going, Yeah. Oh, heck yeah, I'm singing songs to Jesus. Whereas before that, James Baldison's up there looking at me, going, Who's he talking to? You know, what's he up to down there? He's not singing the lyrics because I'm just you know how it is, he just and then all of a sudden it hits me like, Yes, man, shout to the Lord. Of course I should shout to you for all you've done for me. I transitioned. He's on the cross. Psalm 104, verse 33. I will sing to the Lord all my life, I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Psalm 84, verse 1 and 2. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty. My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and flesh, they cry out for the living God. What a joy it is to sing in church together. I was so blessed today because Brooke was sitting behind me. Oh, I was awesome. I had I had stereo sound with Rose and James, and then I had like this, and I had Brooke behind me singing. I was like, Yes, Lord, it is a blessing to be in your house. Because when I sing by myself, I'm not sure he's blessed, you know. Hebrews 2, verse 12 says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters in the assembly. Note this, where I will what? Sing your praises. I'm not telling you to do any of this stuff, by the way. I'm just telling you what I do and what I've tried to do for 30 years walking with Jesus, and it's from the Bible, so you you can I present it to you. And this is the last thing I do. Number three, is I treat Jesus like he's seated at the right hand of God, the right hand of the Father. He is with me. Um technically, he was for 33 years in physical embodiment on the planet. He's no longer here. You can't find Jesus anymore. But he's not on the cross, is he? Because he was killed on the cross and then he was buried in a tomb, but then we celebrate that at Easter. He he was resurrected again, and then the Bible says he ascended, and now he seats, he's seated at the right hand of the Father. So the scripture, oh I'll give you a couple, Colossians 3, verse 1 says, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Hebrews 8, verse 1. Now, the point in what we are saying is this we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. On the cross, he's my savior, but at the right hand of God, he is my Lord. There's a difference, eh? Because the Savior saves, you know, but a Lord leads. When you're drowning, and someone from the greatest surf club in the world, or Manu, stand up, saves you, you're saved. And then you go, Thank you for saving me, sir. All the best, and then you get on with your life. Because all they do is save. That's all they do is save. Have you seen The Guardian? Kevin Costner and um Ashton Kutcher. That's a good film. Watch that tonight. All that you just save. He just saved and he's saving, saving, saving. If all I need is saving, I'll never grow. I remember my friend who's a fireman in Canada, he saved these two guys in our local lake, where it was quarry, and he saved these guys who would they couldn't swim. Teenagers they couldn't swim, which I think is New Zealand a kind of a bizarre concept. Teenagers couldn't swim. Two guys, young men. And he went and saved them. But the first thing that happens is when you go to save somebody, he told me this, I've never saved anybody, they pull you down. So then he dragged these kids out and yelled at them in French. And I think it was some some hearty words, you know. And I could see it in the veins, and he was so mad that they would swim without this is Pat, without knowing how to swim, that they would then potentially harm someone else because of their negligence. But they were saved by him. If they don't then learn how to swim, they'll need more saving. I come and I talk to Jesus like he's here, then I go, Yes, Lord, you're up there. Thank you because you saved me, but you're at the right hand of the Father now, you're not a savior anymore. You're a Lord that leads my life. I must grow in my faith in you and mature in my faith, otherwise, I'll always need saving. I'll always need saving. Because I'm gonna go through the same thing all the time that needs helping. My kids need saving all the time, except Mika. My kids need saving all the time. Ryder's not here, we can talk about him. Always needs gas money, bro. Always needs gas money, then uses the car, brings it back, no money. So then no cars have gas in them. If rider's involved, there's no gas in the cars. And then I'm like, Can I borrow your car? We bought him a car for his 18th birthday. Great car. Can I borrow your car? And he's like, mmm, I said, Ryder, come sit down. I said, when mum or dad want to use the car, always say yes, bro. Always say yes. Grandparents, always say yes. Anyone who loves you, who's who's for you, say yes. Not strangers, but parents. He goes, why is that? I says, because we'll always put gas in your car, bro. Always. He goes, oh yeah, yeah. He throws the keys at me. But at the moment, with Ryder and his car and gas, always needs saving. Always needs saving, always needs help. Hugo needs help, Jovi needs help, Megan needs no help. But my prayer as a father is to get them to the point where they don't need help anymore. They don't need saving. They have lordship, there's instruction, there's friendship. We can guide them. I'll wrap this up. I'll land this plane, but I just want to reiterate. They rejoiced at the concept of going to church. And I'll be the first to admit, 25% of the time, that's once a month, I'm frothing for church. Another 25%, I'm reasonably excited. The other half, like if the hurricanes lose to the Chiefs next Saturday night, I'm not coming to church. I boycott the church next Sunday. But if we win, I'll be here wearing hurricanes outfit. How lame is that? That I would change my whole concept of coming into this most holy place based on if a rugby team who's playing a sport, throwing a rubber ball around, lose or win. But I say that because we all know what that's like. I start with him like he's here, like he's here. Thank you, Jesus, that you're present. Father, I give you my anxieties today. I give you my fears. I give you my thoughts. I give you my kids. I lift them up to you, Lord. Thank you so much. I'm praying for rolled ankles. I'm I'm thankful for these babies. And then I remember, man, he died for me. Oh, wow. And then I'm like, yes, I'm listening and singing to the all the words of the song. But then hopefully by the end of church, I remember where he currently is. And he right now is not on the earth. He right now is not on the cross. He right now is at the right hand of the Father. The Bible calls him an intercessor on my behalf and on your behalf. He is like talking to his father about us. He stands in the gap. There's an accuser. We'll do another sermon on the accuser, but there's an accuser talking to the throne room of God about how bad we are. And Jesus is standing, flagging the play. That's not true. Lord, I paid the price, thou clean, thou wash, thou brand new. His mercies are new every day. And he's reminding God the Father, the faithful judge of what he's done and how we now live. I treat him like he's in the room, like he's on the cross. But at the end of the day, I shift my focus and I purely give him thankful praise and worshipful singing because of the fact that he now is at the right hand of the Father. And he spread out his hands towards heaven. Nehemiah 8, verse 6. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen. Amen. Lifting up holy hands. So I will bless you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. Every now and then our worship leaders or the service MCs or the pastors or whoever encourages us to raise our hands. And you get all kinds of hand raising, eh? This is my favorite. Lifting a box. This is what it looks like. It's my favorite. It's a posture of receiving something from heaven. You get other people, the old one-hand raise. You get a two-hand raise, you know, someone with a two-hand raise, and they love the Lord, you know? They've got both hands in the air. Sometimes just a little thing with hands in pockets. But the raising of hands is not just an idea that someone came up with on a Sunday morning. The raising of hands and the clapping of hands and the singing of praise and the being grateful is a time old tradition. I just read you 1 Timothy, that's New Testament, 1 Kings, Old Testament, Nehemiah, Major Prophet, Psalms, 151 Psalms. And all of these references are to the lifting of hands. We don't always feel like coming to church. And that's cool. We don't always come to church. And that's cool too. But I just pray that today might have helped you just a little bit. From someone like Anna, hey. 22 years been in church a whole life. I've not been in church my whole life, but from the moment I started, I haven't yet stopped. Found Jesus at 12, I'm now 42, 30 years, just been coming to church faithfully, at least once a week. Good days, bad days. But most of the time, I try and go through this process. Intimacy, sacrifice, lordship. Let me pray for you, then we'll have some snacks. And I've looked out good. Thank you, Father. We love you, Jesus. Father, we just want to take a moment right now just to um, I guess, just to maybe process a little bit of um what's happened today. We've got families that have dedicated their kids. Uh, a transient moment, too. Those families then had to then sign their kids into the kids program, come back and get settled in and parents going back and forth. Lots happening today, lots of lots of great moments. Um, this sermon that I've preached today, the concept was not to challenge, but to hopefully lead, guide, encourage. And I'm just praying, Lord, that you would just right now, in in this moment of silence and gratitude, just highlight what needs to be highlighted.