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Good evening, Sioni. Hey, before you take your seats, this is a message that I uh I'll give you some background into message preparation. Uh sometimes you kind of have to work really hard. You read lots of stuff, you contemplate, you you reflect, and then sometimes it's easy. And sometimes you read a passage of the Bible and you are like, three points hit you in the face, and you're like, those are the things I'm talking about, and it's gonna happen. And this week uh I was uh had a particular situation where um I was in the car, I was talking to someone on the phone, and we ended up speaking for over an hour and a half, and he was talking about what he was feeling God was calling him to, and and different things. And um, I began to what I would describe now as prophecy, I would prophesy over his life, and I encouraged him, I said, you know, like don't put a limit on what God's calling to you to. And and this stirred up within me, and hopefully it was a blessing for him, but it was certainly a blessing for me to experience this like this upwelling of the Holy Spirit in coming alongside someone and encouraging them. And then I arrived in Sydney uh and uh after some meetings, I had lunch uh with another pastor, and and he spoke about some stuff that um I went away reflecting on, resonating on, and it was just a statement he made, a throwaway statement, and it began to align. And then uh the next day, as I sat down to read my Bible and drink my coffee in the morning, uh this passage of scripture, this alignment happened, and these three things that had lined up. And who knows when God's really trying to get a message across, he he has a gracious way of reinforcing it. So I don't know how polished this sermon will be. I don't know if it'll be a good sermon or a bad sermon, but what I do know is that the Holy Spirit wants to speak to someone tonight. The Holy Spirit wants to move. So would you open your hands to heaven? If you feel comfortable, don't feel obliged. And if you feel comfortable, whether in your heart or whispering, however you feel led to pray, would you invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you? Invite him to speak into the deep things of your heart. Because my heart tonight is not that you would hear just a message from me, that we would, you know, have a good time and go home, but that God would do something. And I don't know specifically if it's for everyone or who it is that's open to this, but I do know God wants to move. So, Heavenly Father, we invite you to speak to your people, to the deep things of their heart, and let life come out from it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hey, uh, before you take your seats, Denise, am I gonna bring you out the front? Oh no, we're not. Hey, uh Taylor's next to you, so she's got all the blessing to lay hands on. I won't bring you out. Denise uh has been a part of our church for quite a while. I had the privilege of doing alpha with Denise quite a while ago. Uh and uh she's off to Iowa of all places. Uh don't ask me to find it on a map, but it's there over there somewhere. And uh she's spending six months over there, so uh, would you extend your hands to Denise? But Heavenly Father, we pray for a season of blessing in Jesus' name, a blessing of uh a season of favor. And we know that you go before her, prepare friendships, prepare community, Lord God, and prepare people to come alongside her and encourage her in her faith and build her up, Lord God. We pray for a season like Katie spoke about this morning, where her roots would go deep, where that she would be built up for the things ahead in her life in Jesus' name. So we pray again for blessing and blessing and blessing in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. You may take your seats. Thank you, team. We're gonna start in John 10, verse 10. And maybe you've heard this passage before, but this is Jesus speaking. If you have a uh old school Bible with the red letters, this would be red letter, the words of Jesus. It says, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. And if you've seen someone's life that looks like they've been uh, you know, living with a bit of challenge, there's an explanation for it, because there is an enemy at work. But that's not the focus of our message tonight. With our focus is on the second part of this sentence where it says, I have come. Jesus has come for you tonight, that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly. More abundantly. There's this famous story, which might not be fully verified, but let's not let the truth get in the way of what is an incredible story. In 1914, a man by the name of Ernest Shackleton was leading an expedition to Antarctica. And I reckon if you're leading an expedition to Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton is a pretty good name to have. And he was an Arctic explorer, they actually left just before World War I broke out. And the story goes like this, and this part, you know, for good reason, let's just believe that it's fully 100% legit. But it said there was an advertisement in the newspaper to recruit a team for his expedition. And for those of you in the room who don't know what a newspaper is, uh, it's this thing that has news and paper, and they go together and it's a newspaper. Um, they didn't have iPhones back then, 1914, no social media. So the way to get things out is you'd put it in the newspaper. Anyway, anyway, anyway, anyway. Uh the advert the advertisement read like this: it said, Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return, doubtful. Honor and recognition in in the event of success. And the story goes that Ernest Shackleton didn't sugarcoat what it would be like in the year 1914 to get on a boat with the technology of the time and explore the Antarctic. But the story says that thousands of men responded, wanting to take the journey to the land that must have, you know, there was no uh who's the Attenborough, no David Attenborough videos at the time to see what Antarctica was like. It was just a story you'd heard about, and they went on that journey. Um, and it's true because the ad really didn't lie. Uh, incredibly, this is has no application to my sermon, but uh the ship, the endurance, got stuck in the ice, uh, eventually sunk, and it took two years. But all 37 men from the journey got from Antarctica back to England safe and alive. So that's a miracle in itself, but uh you didn't come here for a history lesson. Uh what I want to talk to you about is the life Jesus brings us into. The life and life abundantly. Like Ernest Shackleton saying, There's an adventure ahead if you're willing to sign up for it. That's what Jesus calls out to those who are willing to follow him. He doesn't say, he doesn't come to say, I will give you life and life more comfortably. Not that God doesn't want us to live in blessing. And he doesn't come that you might have life and life more rich financially. Not that God is against money. And we could go through the list of things that sometimes we tend to associate with the decision to follow Jesus. But he says you that might come and have life more abundantly. As purpose-filled Jesus followers, we need to consider what that abundant life looks like. Not just whack a label on something that's a lesser version of abundant life, not just say this is what Christian life is and limit all that God has and wants to do in your life. For example, we have a pair of shoes over here. I'll take with the black one first. Uh it just happens. I think in I think in running and shoes, so that's what all the analogies are about. But this is a $70 pair of Nikes, or at least half the pair. Uh and they look fine. I buy them because one, they're cheap, and I am an accountant by uh DNA, so cheap works for me. Uh, but if I tried to run a marathon in these shoes, uh what would happen is there would be no uh bounciness of responsiveness of a nice running shoe. These would slap and just be painful. And the next day, after running a marathon, if I managed to complete it, I would probably walk like someone that um well I'm probably not allowed to describe what that would look like. You know, the the analogies would be, it wouldn't be glamorous. I would be aching and I would be in pain, my knees would be swollen and my ankles would be in pain. Because even though they've got the Nike tick and there's one there, and there's one there, and there's one there, and there's one there, they're not really a running shoe. They look like a running shoe, they're cool, I like to wear them. In fact, there's another Nike tick there, no, and then some other one, maybe one on the bottom. There's lots of Nike ticks, lots of things that say this is a Nike runner, and then I have this other one, I'll throw that to you, Claire. Good catch. And then then I have this one, which uh look, I don't once again I do buy them because they're on sale, not because of necessarily uh but this pair does not cost $70. Uh, because my wife is sitting on the front row, we won't talk in specific numbers of how much this one actually costs me. But and there's probably not enough runners in the room for me to get too excited about describing all the features that make this what used to be the world record marathon running shoe. Uh, it has an aggressive taper uh from the heel drop that is the from the front, and it's got a great rocker. Solomon can see that, you really enjoy that. You can see the air zoom pods in there. They they force you to run fast. That's what a that's what a rocker does. So uh you don't run slow in these shoes. And incredibly, because of the uh special foam within them, when you finish running them, you actually feel better than you actually would have if you'd just been wearing the cheap foams. Now, thanks for everyone pretending to care about my running shoes. So I can wear these and still walk. Uh in fact, I wore these uh to the Melbourne Marathon, and I was able to walk from the MCG where the marathon finished, back to South Bank, and it was like, it's okay. I wasn't dead, I wasn't crippled, uh, and I didn't need a wheelchair the next day. So these shoes, they have all the benefits of what they were designed for. They've got the one tick, Nike tick, there's two Nike ticks, there's three. They've got they are the real deal. Not like my $70 pair of Nikes. And I say all that to say, let's not put a label on, call our Christian life something when Jesus has so much more for us. Let's just say, oh, well, that's all the Christian life is. That's all I can hope for in what God's gonna do in my life. No, he's come to give us life and life abundantly. Let's not settle for a $70 version of Christianity when he's come to give us so much more in our lives. I want to speak to you today about the calling, the cost, and the cross. The calling, the cost, and the cross. So today we're gonna look at Luke 14, and for the sake of time, we're not gonna read uh all the verses, but um I will walk you through some of the passages in it. And Luke is a disciple of Jesus, and the gospel of Luke is him giving an account of Jesus' life. There are four Gospels in your Bible, you find them somewhere in the middle: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the four Gospels have similarities, but they actually have differences in them. And you think, why, if four guys were all writing the same thing about Jesus, certainly it would just say all the same stuff. But if we gathered four people here today, and we uh say we all went on a holiday and we decided to write stories about our holiday, all of us would take away different aspects of that experience. Maybe you slept in and missed one of the things that happened, or you know, from your perspective, the thing that was most special of that tour was X, and someone else thought it was something else. So you do get these differences in the Gospels. And the other thing about the Gospels is that when the authors wrote them, they deliberately put different stories alongside different teachings, they put them alongside different events because in their mind they were trying to tie together something about who Jesus was. So when you look at the order of them, often what you'll find is that a particular story might be linked to a particular teaching. And it isn't that they happened simultaneously, it's just that when the gospel writer sat down and thought about a particular aspect of their time with Jesus, they saw that story was explaining this moment and things like that. So in verse 16 of Luke chapter 14, so Luke 14, verse 16, uh, Jesus is sharing what's called the parable of the Great Supper. And a parable is a story that Jesus would tell to convey a spiritual truth. And the parable starts with an invitation. Who likes to get excited when they get a good invitation? Uh, this week, thanks to Chat GPT, I made an invitation to my daughter's tenth birthday. She's getting the inflatable water play at uh the forum at the university. She's gonna have the time of her life, and she gets to take the invitation to her friends. It's kind of the only thing she talks about right now is her plan for taking the invitations to school. But adults, we love invitations too. Uh, but who knows that not all wedding invites are created equal. You get the wedding invite, and what's one of the first things you do is you look to see where is this wedding gonna be? And if you see a nice Hunter Valley winery, you're like, yes, I'm up for that. I'm up for the meal. It's gonna be some sort of slow-cooked braised beef or something, it's gonna be delicious. Maybe you get the invitation to the wedding that is in some sort of tropical paradise like Fiji, and you look at it and you go, come on, destination wedding. I'm gonna receive that. And we go through these things. Um, and for the record, I've enjoyed backyard weddings, I've enjoyed BYO weddings. Don't leave this place, feel like I'm putting pressure on you to have an Instagram wedding. But we all know people make weddings, not the venues. But when you encounter Jesus, this invitation goes out. Come experience life and life to the full. And in Christian circles, we name this invitation calling. It's Jesus calling out to us. And if you're in this room, the call of God is on your life. Call isn't reserved for people who are in full-time ministry. The call of God isn't reserved for people who serve on church platform. The call of God isn't limited to missionaries who go overseas. The call of God is on your life. No matter what your life looks like, no matter what your story is coming today, the call of God is on your life. No matter if you're a high schooler, no matter if you're uh older, your call of God is on your life. And we have the Bible, the call of God is both shared and specific. So, what does that mean? We have a shared calling. We are all called into the purpose and plan of Jesus. Jesus came that he may redeem and restore humanity, and we're all called to that. He's using all of us to bring the kingdom of heaven into a present reality. That's our shared calling. All of us are invited to participate and experience in the life and purpose of Jesus. But we also have specific calling. Some people are called into full-time ministry, and I was going about my business as a uh accountant until one day, in a moment, the call of God into ministry, full-time ministry came onto my life. Some people are called to go overseas and serve in missions. But when it's obedience to God, no matter what the calling is, it's equally significant. So calling can look like being a stay-at-home mum as much as it looks like being a missionary. People can be called to a profession to, whatever that might be, to be the best doctor or the best chef or the best whatever they might be. People are called to minister alongside whatever place they find themselves, whether it's uh a profession or whatever, there's still opportunity to minister in the midst of it. And when it comes to calling, one thing I want you to know, like that phone conversation in the car, don't put a limit on what God's calling you to. If you leave with one thought here today, don't put a limit on what God can do and can call you to. Ephesians 3 verse 20 says, He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask, think, according to the power that works in us. It's a cliche that never gets old. God, he equips the called. He doesn't call the equipped. You might feel like God couldn't possibly calling me to step in to any form of ministry, to love those around me, to do something significant for him, because I just don't have the stuff, I don't have the skills or the gifts, but he has the giftings, he has the equipping for you if you're willing to step out and respond. In writing his story of redemption, God uses shepherds and stutterers, God used prostitutes and project managers, he used the downcast and the desperate. And when Jesus came, he called fishermen, tax collectors, and doctors. There is no limit on what God can do with someone who says yes to his call. But we must say yes. In that parable that we're talking about, the parable of the great supper, it tells that a a um a man, it's let's read. Verse 16. Then he said to him, A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come, for all the things are now ready. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, I've brought a piece of ground and I must go to see it. I ask to have me excused. And another said, I have brought five yoke of oxen, and I'm going to go test them. I ask to have me excused. Still another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And we see three things that get in the way of the invitation. Firstly, the landowner. For him, it was his wealth that prevented him responding. The oxen owner, his possessions, prevented him from coming. And the groom, his relationship, prevented him from coming. And none of those things are bad things. But for all those people, they've become the main thing. They've become bigger than the invitation before him. And the parable goes on, and the door is thrown wide. The master of the house says, Go into the streets and the lanes. Bring the poor, the crippled, and the blind. The purpose of God will advance. It'll keep moving forward. But you will you respond to the invitation to be a part of it? God's on the move in our church. God's on the move in Australia. God's been on the move since Jesus rose from the dead. God's been on the move since Adam and Eve fell, and he said, I'm going to restore all things. He is advancing. The question is, will you be a part of what he's doing here with us? Georgia, can we get the whiteboard for us, please? So because I am a bit of an accountant and I think this way, we're going to start our first part of the invitation. Let's give it up for Georgia as she wheels it over here. Yeah, that's perfect. If you want to play a game with Georgia, she claims to be wearing lilac shoes. I don't know that they're lilac, but you can check that out later on. Make a decision for yourself. So the first part of our equation, and this will test my handwriting, is calling. Calling. You can read that, hopefully. And if you can't, squint and just pretend like you can. So the next part of the equation. I don't know what TV shows are your guilty pleasures. If there's any married at first sight people here, we can pray for you guys later. Maybe you're a farmer who wants a wife person. There's all types. There's the game show types, any game show people. I'll have to admit, I can get sucked into a yeah, a bit of, you know, you sit down to watch the news or something, and there's a game show on, you can very easily get sucked in. There's the really unique types. Those are the uh Antiques Roadshow people. Anyone, anyone have no idea what Antiques Roadshow is? There's people admitting to actually liking Antiques Roadshow even better. Uh there are some younger men in the room who don't know Antiques Roadshow. Antiques Roadshow, old British people, generally generally older in life, I should say. Uh, and they bring their random stuff, and an expert comes and tells them if it's an anti. Antique worth something or worth nothing. And it's pretty boring, but when you see it, like, is that random thing like, is he about to say that's worth half a million dollars or something like that? And you can get sucked in. One of the shows that I can get sucked into is Grand Designs. Yeah, we've got some. That's the most excited I've ever seen someone about Grand Designs. You might be the biggest Grand Designs fan I've ever met. Grand Designs, for those unaware, it's a show where people build their dream homes. And Grand Designs always has two moments in it. There's the moment where someone sets their budget. They tell the host of the show how much they intend to spend. And there's the moment where someone sets their timeline. And there's a famous saying that usually goes, Oh, we want to be in by Christmas. And my brother-in-law is here, he's building a house. And I heard him say he was going to be in by Christmas. And I immediately got worried for him because I've seen grand designs enough time to know that if once you say it, it adds three months to your build. And if you keep saying it, it just keeps adding months and months. And eventually, like the show comes back two years later, and this house is still not finished. And they come back two years later and they're still not finished. But uh, luckily, my brother-in-law Petter here knows what he's doing in life and uh is well ahead of schedule. Sometimes Grand Designs just has rich people, and the rich people can't actually do anything to help, they just have lots of money, so they have all these builders there, and they build extravagant homes, but it kind of feels like it's not that interesting. You're just spending lots of money. Um, in their in those episodes, they usually say things like, Oh, yeah, our budget was 800,000, but we spent 3.4 million or something like that. And you're like, Where did that three million dollars just come from? Like, who are you people? Uh what I really enjoy about Grand Designs is when the real battler types come in and they're short on cash and they don't have tradies to come and fix everything, they're just giving it a go. They have this dream in their heart of the house they want to build, and they've got very limited resources, but they're just giving it a go. Grand designs hinges on that idea. You have the grand design, but the question is: can you make it happen? Do you have the money? Do you have the time? Do you have the determination, the sheer drive and will to make this um one-of-one type house, this unique house and existence? And after the parable of the great banquet that we were talking about before, where the invitation goes out, Jesus, there's a Luke gives an account of Jesus teaching the crowds. And he didn't accidentally place these side by side. First, he records Jesus' inviting people, talking about inviting people into the kingdom, and then he immediately records Jesus explaining what accepting that invitation means. Jesus says to the crowd, whoever doesn't bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. We've gone from calling to the cost. The invitation is a free gift, yet it costs everything. Jesus being the master teacher gives two illustrations. He says, No one starts out to build a tower, no one starts out on grand designs without working out if they've got the money to finish. He also uses the illustration. No one goes to war without first figuring out, have I got the army to actually win this thing? Like the builders on grand designs. Do you have what it takes to see this through? Verse 33 of Luke 14 says, So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. And I've said this before, but these kind of passages they tend to fly in the face of like popular Jesus. Of like, we love singing, Jesus, you are my best friend, and like we're high five and we're having a great time. And then he says stuff like this, and it's like, whoa, relax, Jesus. Like, where's cool Jesus? Where's like fun Jesus gone? And we get all excited about calling, and now you're telling me it's gonna cost me everything. Grace is a free gift, but calling has a cost. Like Ernest Shackleton gathering people to the expedition in Antarctica, Jesus is gathering gathering people to experience life and life abundantly, but there is a cost to it. Jesus has told the parable about the landowner, the oxen owner, the groom, but now he's making it personal to us. When we pursue the call of God, there are some things we can't bring with us, there are some things we have to choose to leave behind. And this isn't saying that you've got to earn your way to God. Like I said, the calling goes out, the invitation goes out, and like that parable says, the invitation goes to the crippled and the lame and the blind. It's an invitation for anyone. It isn't saying that grace by which you're saved has anything to do with what you can do for God, but it is saying you can't have two masters, you can't live for two things. You can't put something beside Jesus because Jesus has no equal. You can't put something beside Jesus because you'll end up putting it above Jesus. Like Claire said before, we have a way of forgetting that Jesus is Lord of all. And that means Jesus isn't an addition to our life, he's the Lord of our life. It's not the wealth, the possessions, or relationships are bad, but they can't be above Jesus. So in our equation, we have calling plus, I'm gonna do it this way, plus the cost. And what that equals is the cross. Calling, cost, and cross. And the cross seems too much to bear. The cross seems like a heavy burden, but there was one who was able to do it. You see, the cross of Calvary, at the cross of Calvary, when Jesus died, and as we sang about, that is where Jesus responded to his calling. And it's where Jesus fulfilled the cost that it would take. The night before his crucifixion, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. And Luke writes in Luke 22, verse 41. I may have not given this to the team, so it might not be in the screen. It says, And he, being Jesus, withdrew from them about a stone's throw. They're in the garden, and he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground. I don't know if you've ever felt the weight of a moment, the significance of a moment such that you sweat blood from your body. There is actually a scientific name for it. I didn't look it up and I can't tell you what it is, but um such an intense moment in the garden. He knew what lay ahead of him. Jesus was not caught off guard when he went to the cross. He knew it was the calling for which he had come, and in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was preparing himself to pay the cost. Jesus knew the cost, sweat like drops of blood, and yet he embraced it. The cross represented not just physical suffering, but the toll of rejection from the people who followed him. The crowds who had followed him, wanting miracles and wanting to hear his teaching, were now calling for him to be crucified. His own friends were denying they knew him. But the cross was also a spiritual suffering of bearing our sin upon himself. He knew the cost, but he took it upon himself. Hebrews 12, uh, the author says, For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. And his calling to be the Lamb led to the slaughter. You've heard phrases like that, they're taken from Old Testament prophecy. His calling to be the sacrifice by which our sin was removed and that by which we could be restored. He took it all upon himself. And because of the cross, we're calling and cost combined. Jesus is the one seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Because of the cross, Jesus is the name above all names. And because of the cross, the resurrection life is offered to us. It's at the cross we can look at our wealth and say, not my will, but your will be done. It's at the cross we can look at our possessions and say, the stuff I'm chasing, it isn't about me, it's about the kingdom. It's at the cross we can look at our relationships and say, not my will, but yours be done. Imagine what our marriages, what our parenting, what our dating, what our friendships, whatever stage of life we're in. Imagine what they look like when someone is fully aligned to God's will and not just our own. The way we can love sacrificially, the way we can give to others generously. It's at the cross where calling and cost combine that the kingdom breaks out and we experience life and life abundantly. And it changes the equation. So now the calling is to to respond to the calling is to experience the victory of Jesus. We partner in all that he's done, all that he achieved on the cross. We become a part of his victory. And to respond to the calling, to come to the cross is to experience the joy of surrender. That takes a bit longer to write up. So now that cost is not a burden, but a joy that we have, that we might experience this one who loved us so passionately, that we might experience something of the eternal, divine purposes of God, that we might experience the thing that we were created for and that his image was put upon us. The cross is where we experience life. It's at the cross where his death offers us the resurrection life. Jesus never asks us to carry a cross. When Jesus says that line, if anyone wants to come after me, you've got to take up your cross and follow me. And we go, whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus, where's all the lovey-dovey stuff? Where's all the fun stuff? Where's all the encouragement? He doesn't stand on the sidelines and watch. He first took up his cross. Before he ever called fishermen to leave their nets, before he ever called tax collectors to leave their tables, before he ever told us to count the cost, he counted his own. In Gethsemane, he knew exactly what obedience would cost him. Yet for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Unbelieving, and I'll invite the team to come up. I'm believing there are people in this room who are coming alive to the call of God. And maybe you've been in church services like this many, many times. But like I said before, let's not put a limit on the call of God on your life. Maybe you've been following him for decades and decades, but I want to tell you, let's begin to believe for what God is calling you to. Let's continue to step forward into all he has for us. Like Ernest Shackleton's advertisement, there's an invitation going out. God is calling people today. Come and be a part of the adventure. Come and be a part of what I am doing in this earth. It's not about safety and comfort. But you'll experience something real. You'll experience something of Jesus. And I'm believing that people will experience the joy of the surrender. Where you make space, the more we make space in our lives, the more we gain of Jesus. The more we lay down at the cross, the more of his resurrection life we can pick up. The calling and cost of Jesus doesn't equal death. It is the resurrection life. It is life and life to the full. The calling and the cross aren't about trying harder. The calling and the cost is about following Jesus. Following the person, not just trying harder in our own will to please him. That's why the cross is the place of grace. The cross isn't about performance, it's about the experience of grace himself, Jesus Christ. To experience life and life to the full is to experience the person of Jesus Christ. So as we consider perhaps tonight, as we prayed that the Holy Spirit would speak to you to your calling, maybe he will also speak to you about the cost that you need to pay. And it might be uncomfortable. It might feel like that Garden of Gethsemane moment, like, God, are you really calling me to lay that down? But it's to experience the person of Jesus Christ. It's not just to achieve stuff, it's not just to build a resume where you can feel like, you know, you've done all the Christian things that Christian people are supposed to do. But it is to experience Jesus Himself. Would you stand across this room? I don't know everyone in this room. So before we move into the next part, I do want to give an invitation to follow. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? Have you ever made a decision to follow Jesus? That is to put your faith and your hope in Him. And I know many in this room, whether recently or many, many years ago, made that decision, and they're all on the journey. It's not a journey about being perfect. It's not a journey about having all the right Bible verses. It's a journey about discovering and following the person of Jesus Christ. Experiencing all that he has done for us and all that he continues to do in us and through us. But I wonder if there's someone here who tonight needs to make a decision. So I'm going to follow him. The Bible says that when we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus was risen from the grave, that he died on the cross for our sins, that is, for all our mistakes and all our shortcomings, and we declare that he is risen again. All that he did on the cross for us is given to us. So we're not our mistakes, we're not our failures, our shortcomings. We are the righteousness of Jesus. And it's a gift to us. The resurrection life of Jesus. If that's you tonight, I'm going to count to three. And would you be brave enough to raise your hand? And I'm going to lead you in a prayer to follow him. So right across this room. One, two, three. If that's you, would you raise your hand? I see hands going up. Beautiful. Beautiful. We don't drag this out, but we do not want to miss anyone. If there's anyone else, the Bible says that Jesus stands at the door of our heart and knocks. And so for us to open up. If you raised your hand, or perhaps you didn't, we're all going to pray this prayer as a family, as a church family together. You can repeat it after me, but you're praying it to a God who hears you. Jesus. I come to you today. I come to you today. I put my faith in you. I put my faith in you. I believe that you died on the cross for me and you were raised from the dead to give me life. And you're seated in the heavens. Where my future lies. Help me to learn what it is to live for you. What it is to live for you. As I follow and trust in you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Yeah, we'll do that now. Awesome. If that is you and you haven't received one of these, our team will be in the foyer and they'll be holding these up. It's a good news guidebook. It's here to encourage you and support you. Perhaps you didn't raise your hand. Perhaps you weren't ready to pray that prayer. Perhaps you're exploring what faith is. You go, Hamish, you seem really excited about that Jesus guide. Well, I encourage you to get one of these as well and just read it. Um, it's simple explanations about the truth of the Bible and what it is we believe, why we believe it, and what this Christian life looks like. So I encourage you to take that. And the moments we have left, we're gonna worship. I loved uh, as Jody's saying, the Spirit of the Lord is here. And I can't go through this room and speak to your calling. Like I said, we have a shared calling. The reason why this church is here is because we have a shared calling to be the hands and feet of Jesus to this world, but I can't speak to your specific calling. I don't know what it is that God wants to do in and through you specifically. But the Spirit of the Lord does, and he's faithful to meet with you and to speak to you. And as he does that, he might speak to you about the cost. He might speak to you about the things you need to surrender. And I pray that you have the courage to accept the joy of surrender, to lay those things down in the garden, to lay them down at the cross, and to experience the victory that He has. Would you close your eyes and if you feel comfortable, open your hands to heaven? Holy Spirit, come. Speak to your people. I open my heart and I pray those here before you open their hearts, speak to us about our calling. Give us the courage to respond. That the people here would experience life and life to the full. In Jesus' name, team, would you lead us?