Buxton | 15/03/26 | Community On A Mission | Andy Hamill

Buxton

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/354059/episodes/18896730-buxton-15-03-26-community-on-a-mission-andy-hamill.mp3

Andy continued our series looking at the fundementals of church life, focusing on our being a community on a mission.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:02

I need your prayers this morning, okay? Because it feels like for me, just for me, I'm sure it's not for God, that this morning I'm flying by the seats of my pants. Okay? I had in mind what I was going to say. I'd started to make some notes about what I was going to say, and then over the last week, it's all been blown out of the water. Okay? So I've got a couple of notes that I will begin with. But then once my notes come to an end, who knows what might come out of my mind? So there we go. But yeah, I mean, as I think most of us here are aware, we've been working through a series on the church. Charlotte, could you just please get my phone out of my pocket so I don't need my Bible? We've been working, so if you want to turn to in advance, turn to Acts 2, verses 42 to 47. Yeah, we've been working through a series in Acts, based around Acts 2, verses 42 to 47, and that early church, that first church that was founded. And uh we've been looking, you know, it's asking, what is all this about? What is church all about? What's it for? What should go on in church? And we've looked at topics like hospitality, prayer, uh, worship, God's word, we've looked at giving. And then last week, so this is where all I'm gonna blame Harry. Uh this is where all my plans started to kind of leap out of the bucket, as it were. Uh Harry talked about living stones. Uh, and this week we're talking about a community on mission. Where am I going? A community on mission. So I'm just finding the passage to week three. Acts two. 42 to 47. So, yeah, community on a mission, which I think is really exciting. Um, I'm glad you do as well. We're all on a mission, aren't we? Okay. I remember I said a little while ago now, I asked a question, were you saved to get to heaven, or were you saved to bring heaven to earth? So it's something for you to think about as we're reading through Acts 2, verses 42 to 47, where it says this they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sought property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. So yet Harry spoke brilliantly last week. Um as church being built together as living stones. And it says in the passage that he read from in 1 Peter, it says, like living stones, we are being built into a spiritual house to be. And that was kind of the bit that stayed in my mind to be. To be. There's a reason for church to exist. There's a reason you and I are being built into this spiritual house. It's something that indicates there is life. You know, that there's inspiration, there's creativity, there's a reason for being. We're not just called to come and be static, we're to do something. Yeah? Does that make sense? And it goes on in 1 Peter 2. It talks about as being a royal priesthood, a holy nature. Peter talks about how we are to live in a pagan society. Talks about as abstaining from sin, living good lives so that nobody can accuse us of wrong. Talks about obedience and submission to God, showing respect to one another amongst other things. So, yeah, as I as much as I had prepared, as Harry spoke last week, I had to change things a little. And then on Thursday, I went with Phil to a capitalist leader's day. And uh kind of there'd been the odd ripple as a result of Harry's speaking last week, but then it was like on Thursday somebody threw a great big rock into the middle of my little preparation pond, and the whole lot went. So this morning we're talking about community on a mission. We are supposed to be a community on a mission. What does the Bible tell us that the Great Commission is? To go and make this uncle of all nations. So nations doesn't necessarily mean we get sent to far from places in the world. Nations refers to communities, to those places around us. So we are called, we are commissioned, it's a holy calling. It's not just, you know, this is what we're supposed to do, sort of thing. It's not just a um, it's supposed to be a passion. It's supposed to be what we do together, what we are called to do. It's supposed to be right at the core of our very being. We are called to go and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. This is a, I know I've got some notes on it, it's an authority charge, it's a mandate and a divine assignment that God calls us to. It's our active service that we are called to carry out. So on Thursday, there were just loads of stories that we shared. And I'm going to share some of them with you this morning. And then we'll see where I can find where God takes us from there. I've never done this before, so please bear with me, okay? I've usually got oodles of notes in front of me to read from. So uh, but I just thought, as we were hearing these stories, actually, this is where the rubber hits the road. You know, when we talk of making disciples, this is real. This is God at work in real time. This is making disciples in real time. And I just thought, yeah, we need to share these things and we need to start to think about where does the rubber hit the road for us? Okay? So, I don't know whether to show some videos for us. So here's here's my way of, here's where my thoughts are taken me. Okay, there's a couple of things that came to mind in the New Testament where Jesus, in my mind, this is part of discipleship, this is what discipleship is about. One thing that came to mind was, remember in the Bible there was a story where there was Jesus went to the Pharisee, went to a Pharisee's house on the Sabbath, and there was a guy there. He was always almost being used and abused by the Pharisees, in that he had what used to be called dropsy, I don't know what they call it now, is it edema? It was a swelling on the body as a result of fluid retention. And the Pharisees were basically using this guy to try and trap Jesus. To say, and Jesus said to them, Is it is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? He says to them. And they didn't answer. So Jesus healed of this guy anyway. And I thought to myself, this is life, this is discipleship in action.

unknown 9:49

You know, his his followers, Jesus' followers seeing discipleship in action.

SPEAKER_05 9:54

He's brought the kingdom of heaven right into that guy's life. He's taken him, he would have been somebody who was on the margins of society because of his condition. He would have been somebody possibly who who suffered physically, possibly suffered emotionally as well, and in an instant the kingdom of God breaks in and takes him from exclusion and isolation, bringing him back into society. He heals him physically, makes him whole, and brings him into the kingdom of God. And for me, that's that's that's what discipleship is about, isn't it? Bringing the kingdom of God into the world around us. Yes, saving, seeing people getting saved, people healed and made whole. Being far from God, which this guy was, according to the law, of the Pharisees, he was far from God. And all of a sudden, he's close, he's near, he's in the presence of God. And as a result, he's healed and made whole. Loads of accounts of people with leprosy who get healed in the Bible, isn't there? At one point, ten of them get healed in one go. Again, people who literally had to live on the margins of society. Who the Pharisees would say, what has this person or this person's family done? How have they sinned? You know, as a result of them, you know, that they are like this. And all of a sudden, Jesus arrives on the scene. One word from Jesus, and they are healed, made whole, moved from the margins into the kingdom of heaven. What a great thing! We'll come to the video just a second. We heard of a guy called Ethan who had been in prison. He was ready to take his own life. He cried out, God, if you're real, do something. All of a sudden, he feels a weight lifted from his shoulders, from his very being. Just feels this weight. He didn't know who he was talking to in saying God. He was just crying out, God, if you're real, do something. He was ready to take his own life. He prayed to God, and God broke in. The weight of life, of his life, was lifted, the burdens were lifted from him. Found a local church on Instagram. Social media is good for some people, it would seem. He now goes to that church, he's been saved, baptized, filled with the Spirit, and an active part of the church. He's gone from prison to sleeping in a churchyard to being saved, healed, and made whole. This isn't just happening in far from parts of the world. It is happening here, in our nation. We heard of a guy who was a guy spoke who was sharing about the ministry and the work that he does, and how the local authorities don't know how to deal with some of the people who, again, are living on the margins of the place where they live. He said to the local authorities, what these people need is a radical change of world view. They kind of need some sort of epiphany, something to break into their lives and bring about a complete turnaround in the way that they think about themselves and the world around us. Does that sound familiar? Anyway, it's shared about a guy who has gone from being a debt collector, you know, has in collecting debts along with consequences if you don't pay your debts, to becoming a Christian. He's gone from a life of crime and chaos to making a contribution to society. And his family are now being raised in a Christian home. Why? Because God broke in. God used a church to break into this guy's life. People like you and you and men. Sorry, what if you just scroll in there? Let's see if this guy here. Yeah, it didn't it didn't go uh to full screen when I just put it flying there.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Hello, my name is Michelle Freuner. I'm currently based in Germany after leaving Turkey living 25 years there, and um I'm leading the light of the nation's heart in Qatar. I just came back from a trip to Syria to Venus that was actually together with my co-worker Cheryl Shah, who is from Syria, and um the things I saw there were really um forget that. So the situation in Syria after uh so many years of war, the hopelessness, how destroyed things are, how uh dirty things are, and yeah, it needs really years for this country to get up on their feet. And still there are fightings going on while we were there. The uh Syrian army was attacking Kurdish areas, and then again they were displaced people that wanted to go to this province where we have our church in African because many people fled from there in front of years to refugee camps and now they had to flee again and they were afraid uh what would happen. So Sheo went there to convince them that it's all good and he went through the area where it was where actually fighting happened and where ISIS uh fighters just fled from a prison. It was quite dangerous, but he managed to bring uh 50 families back to their home town and we helped them with mattresses and blankets and arriving. But they are the the poverty is unbelievable in Syria. Um we visited a family which are believers and they had no feed, they had no eating because the father of the family wants to leave the family and he doesn't bring home any money. The mother was not even able to get up because of very strong back pain and she shared the misery. And I sat next to her, laid hands on her, and I prayed in the name of Jesus, and then uh all of a sudden she stood up with no pain and served us tea. That was amazing, and it shows me that when people have nothing else than cheeses, then she shows up and she is faithful. We also visited a family that just came back to Africa, and they were sitting in a flash that had no electricity, we set him sharp. And there was also no door to the former renters when they left, they took the door with them. So we bought them a door that they at least had eat one room. And uh, although this was a very disturbing situation, um and uh there was a little girl, maybe 10 years old, and she insisted to sing a merchant song for Jesus, and it was so beautiful, her eyes that shined when she was singles for choice. And it's amazing to see how people find um hope and uh comfort in Jesus with difficult situations like that. So, uh, but God is doing amazing things among the Kurdish people. I preached in a church in Aleppo on Monday at one o'clock in the afternoon, and it was packed with 200 believers, maybe women. Um the way they worshiped, you could really see how much they loved Jesus. And the same after 80 families are part of our church there. Um and in Lebanon also I preached in a church that serves Kurdish refugees. Also, the the church was packed with 200 people. Um so God is on the roof. Please pray that God gives us the necessary resources that we can help this growing church in Syria, that they can really make a difference, that they can shine the light of Jesus in their neighborhood, and that many more are going to be saved in this area that has been so uh suffered uh during war. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 21:06

So God is on the move, isn't he? You know, again, breaking in into places that we would consider probably as far from God, let me know, you know, as we could consider as far from God as they might be. A strong, vibrant church bringing hope to a nation that so needs it, particularly at the moment, doesn't it? Bringing hope and salvation to a nation that needs it. And this is in my mind what discipleship is bringing people far from God into a relationship with God. Um show another uh issue where it might be that way. So yes, please.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

I want to say thank you, Catherine, for standing the work in South Sudan. Since we've been compulled for this work in 1998, workers grow from five main believers amongst the supposed people in South Sudan to now over 90 churches of churches ranging in size from 30 up to 300. God is doing some amazing things, particularly in the last five years, for workers just absolutely mushrooms. Here we first of town, just three weeks ago, they had a crusade and they saw thousands of people gather, hear the village preach, and many respondents in the villages. They're seeing God's move with such power, such wonderful features of light and colour, and just God transforming the community. It's such exciting to see it on the people's faces there. Here, again, you can personally have the radio station now, which is broadcasting the good news right across eastern Equatoria to most of the most people. And again, people are hearing the good news, hearing health messages, giving a local update to the community to be able to phone in and have an input into the things that are going on. Some of the support that you have given is going towards training local pastors. And we gather the pastors here, village pastors who have no access to formal education, we gather them once a year and they receive training and uh and go uh with their hearts and their heads filled with such a joy as they have lovely fellowship times together.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

It's wonderful that the church is advancing here so much, that there continues to be many changes that run alongside the advance of the gospel. Their climate here is really harsh. There's months where there's no water, there's often threat, and often the harvest fails and people are left hungry. The global politics is having a massive effect upon Southeastan, there's very low employment rate in the amount and the amount of money coming into Southeastan is massively reduced. There's a lot of civil unrest and fighting, and actually, in these times, we remember the verse about the manifold wisdom of God's being made known through his church. And that's so true here in Toposa Land. The churches here are the hope of the world, they offer hope to the community. The Toposa people themselves are a warrior people full of resilience and strength, adaptability, and they love their people. And when you take up those attributes and place them into the Kings of Heaven, it is of no surprise to us that the gospel here is advancing right up to the borders of South Sudan. The church here was so encouraged to know that you are praying for them, that they're not alone, that they are remembers. So we were asking to continue to pray for their thriving church here, pray for the hardships to reduce, pray for them to be peace, and pray for God's kingdom to continue to be established across the Posa lands with this amazing people group that we love so very dearly.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Before Jesus, I was an atheist. I grew up on a council estate where Christianity was non-existent. Only violence, alcohol abuse, drug use, along with criminality. At least that was the life I'd fallen into. As a child at the dinner table, I asked my mum, what is God? Her reply was, There is no God. With blind trust, I crossed off the question. As an atheist, I was sceptical of everything I looked at and refused to look towards Christianity. One night, whilst watching a debate between Richard Dawkins, an atheist, and John Lennox, where Richard Dawkins admitted that historically Jesus Christ existed, and this blew my mind, and the door opened. Atheism is the religion of coincidence and nothing. Before the universe, nothing. After death, nothing. Where does that leave a human being empty? It leaves us alone, but with Jesus I found a home. Rather than the sin and evil on whom I have discovering the opposite, that there is a God of truth and life and good. I hope that he continues to fill me with the Holy Spirit. I feel that I have been given many times on this journey to him. I hope that my Father, our Creator, brings me more joy, more strength, more courage, so that I can show the people around me that the only way is Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_05 27:31

I think that last one was probably the most relevant to our own society and our own culture. We are in a society that, as he said, you know, don't give a second thought about God. Perhaps even whether he exists or not, it's not even discussed, talked about. And Jesus had to go and make disciples. And discipleship was nothing new in the New Testament times. It had been around for a long time. And Jesus' disciples would have known exactly what he meant. Discipleship in that time would have been something where people would have gone to a rabbi and they'd have almost kind of put their own natural father to one side and gone to be with this rabbi who would have taught them about God and about his law. And in many ways, almost became a father figure. And this rabbi was to teach them about God. And so that was kind of the model of discipleship that Jesus' followers would have known about. And Jesus was saying, go and do the same sort of thing in the communities and nations around the world. He wants us to let them know who God is. About his love, his grace, his mercies. John was just praying not too long ago that God would break in to people's lives as they had seen with Jesus, as they had seen and experienced with Jesus. And this is what we are called to do, isn't it? Yes, to teach people about God and about who he is. And the fact that he does exist, actually we carry the Holy Spirit with us, which means we can bring the living God to people's lives as well. And we can bring people into a relationship with the living God. There was loads of examples, as I say, on Thursday, which just inspired me. And you can kind of think you know, these are these are kind these are kind of the Premier League examples of testimonies, aren't they? But actually, they are examples of regular people, just like you and I, who are starting out in faith. Who are recognizing that people are far from God, recognizing what God has done in their lives, and saying, come on, this is what happened to me. So discipleship is not just about getting people across that line of faith. It's about walking with people, taking them, helping them to go from where they are and walking alongside them with patience, with perseverance, with prayer, with consistency, reflecting the character of God in their lives and bringing them into that living relationship with God. Do you know? I don't see in the Bible, please feel free to correct me, I don't see in the Bible Jesus sitting somebody down and saying, We need to go through this prayer. I see loads of examples where people suddenly exclaim, He's the Messiah. Where people go, I believe. Where they say, I'm gonna follow you, Jesus has come alongside them, stepped into their lives, broke down all the barriers that got in the way of their relationship with God, and led them into relationship with the living God. He's alright, or I'm happy to be corrected as an example otherwise, and that's what we're called to do. We're called to do likewise.

unknown 32:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

So I don't know whether I've made any sense at all this morning, but I hope you've been inspired as much as I have. And I'm believing that we we might get some inspiring stories up on the Catalyst website at some point from here in Boxing, from where we've stepped into the lives of those around us on behalf of Jesus and taking them from where they are far off. That's amazing. People need hope at the moment, don't they? Let's get on the side people. Bring them that hope. Bring them that healing. Lead them to the one that can make them whole.

unknown 33:10

Let's pray.