All Together | 12/04/26 | The Invitation | Richard Thomas

All Together

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/354059/episodes/19001107-all-together-12-04-26-the-invitation-richard-thomas.mp3

At our All Together service today, Richard spoke from Numbers 10 about the inviation Moses gives to Hobab "Come with us".

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Church in the Peak podcast. We hope you enjoy this message. For more information, visit churchinthepeak.org or come and join us at 10 a.m. every Sunday. Okay, let's just pray for Richard and then he's gonna introduce himself a bit more. Okay, Lord, thank you for Richard. Thank you for the word you've put in his heart for us this morning. I pray you just anoint him. Lord, I pray that you'll speak through him into our hearts and you'll give us ears to hear what you want to say to us today. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Amen. Amen. Thanks, Phil, very much. Thank you to those who led worship as well. It's just just uh really great just to have that sense of being closed in. Sorry, you I'm almost behind you. That's a bit rude, isn't it? There you go, you're right. Um, so uh yeah, just to have that sense of being shut in with God, and um I was just just lovely. I had to when we were in that place of kind of kneeling before Jesus, I had a picture of him just lifting people up and him embracing them. Then we went on to talk about the embrace of the Father. So I I hope I hope you enjoy being loved by God. I don't know, maybe some do, maybe others aren't quite so sure, maybe you don't feel quite so lovable. But you know, it's nothing to do with how lovable you are, it's how full of love our heavenly father is that he loves those that are unlovely and and and then gradually bit by bit makes them more lovable. And uh it's gonna be only complete when we're with the Lord. But uh, if you don't know the love of Jesus, you know He He He really wants to share His love with you. That the Father's here and uh He loves to embrace us, and uh it's a rem it's a remarkable thing when the penny drops and you get a revelation of how very much God loves you. It's just an um amazing I don't know how you picture God. I can remember once being in a worship time and I had this vivid picture that I was walking up to God's front door. I don't know if he has a front door, but you know what I mean. It's just a picture, just a metaphor, and uh and and I knocked on the door, and and it was a bit like number 10 Downing Street, a bit black and foreboding, and uh and and then it and it was as if God opened the door and uh and you're a bit kind of eek, and uh and there was this just this lovely voice in my in my in my wherever it was in here somewhere saying Rich, it's so nice to see you, and it was just such a um a moment of revelation. I hope you've had moments like that where you think, isn't it amazing that Father God loves you, that he adopts you, that he gives his very own spirit to you. This is nothing to do with what I'm preaching about, by the way, but I just uh felt felt inspired to say. So uh if if you want that touch, find find someone you know and trust. Uh if you've never known that kind of love, you might have been a Christian for years. Given I I I was a Christian a number of years before I knew God loved me. I kind of I kind of didn't want to go to hell, which is a good reason to become a Christian. I didn't want to be condemned, I wanted to be forgiven, so so I gave my life to Jesus in a kind of I'll do anything, God help, uh, kind of way. And years later, just the revelation that God actually loved me. That's why he sent Jesus, because he so loved not just the world, but you. You know, it's ever so easy to imagine him loving the person down the road from you, isn't it? But actually he loves you uh as if you were the only one. And it's uh so if you've not known that love, grab grab someone and say, I want I want to know more of that this morning, because it's uh it seems to me that that's what God was uh do some of what God was doing and saying in the service this morning. Anyway, my name's uh Rich, short for Richards. I'm not actually Rich, quite poor, but uh uh Rich Thomas, and uh I'm uh I was 66 last week. That's how old I am, in case you're wondering. 66 years young, married to Deb, obviously much, much younger. And um we got three kids, adult grown up, we got five grandchildren, we're looking after them tomorrow. So tomorrow night we're gonna sleep like logs. So um uh and I live in uh Worcester, so um, so I've done various things way back when I planted my first church in Sussex when I was I think I was 23 when I got involved, and uh 26 when I went full-time in Lewis in Sussex, and we led that church to a bit of growth, and then I moved to Bedford, and I was in Bedford nine years working uh with someone called David uh Devanish and releasing him to travel the world. Uh we led the church there, and we've now been in Worcester, we moved again for that difficult move because our kids were young teens, uh, tricky time to move, and we've lived in Worcester for 25 uh 25 years. So, and for the last since 1995, I've been involved in um looking after churches, uh caring for leaders, fathering churches, and uh and and preaching. I've had to lead a church as well at the same time. So lead the church in in Worcester till a couple of years ago. I've now handed that on to someone else, so I'm uh foot loose and fancy-free now, and uh just looking after uh churches and congregations around uh around the UK. So that's that's the kind of uh role that I have, and looking forward to giving more time to that. Now I don't have to work for a living. So uh so is that enough? Yeah, oh thank goodness for that. Good. So we're gonna look at Numbers chapter 10, and um it's uh it's it's uh it's set the the Israelites have they've escaped from Egypt and and they're just to about embark. They went to the mountain of God, uh, God spoke, it was all a bit frightening, the mountain was shaking, they they they got kind of instituted as a as a nation uh there and they're about to move on. And um Moses in this passage is gonna issue an invitation. So if this talk had a title, it would be The Invitation. And uh so if you've got a Bible, we're gonna read from Moses chapter 10, uh, verse 12 and 13, and then from verse 29. So, Numbers 10, verse 12. Then the Israelites set out from the desert of Sinai and travelled from place to place until the cloud, that's the cloud of God's presence that went ahead of them, came to rest in the desert of Paran. They set out this first time at the Lord's command through Moses. Now, verse 29. Now Moses said to Hobab, son of Rule, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, we're setting out for the place about which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come with us, and we will treat you well. For the Lord has promised good things to Israel. He answered, No. It's a bit like human nature, isn't it? No, I will not go. I'm going back to my own land and my own people. But Moses said, Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us. So that's the invitation that Moses uh issued to this guy, Hobab. And um it's, you know, the future, it's all unknowns, really, isn't it? I mean, we think we know things, but we don't really know what tomorrow will bring. We don't we don't know what this year we're, what are we, four months into this year. We don't know what the rest of 2026 will bring. It's all unknowns, but we we know the one who does know, uh, and that's our our our faith. But we're we're on a a journey. I mean, it's a bit of an overused metaphor, isn't it? If you those of you who watch strictly, it's a strictly strictly journey. Those who watch the great British pottery, that's all we everything's described as a journey. But it is true that life is a journey, and the Christian life in particular, whether it's our individual lives as we walk with God and face the future and walk into the future hand in hand with Him, or whether it's us as a church or a group of congregations that are one church, we we don't know, but we're walking forward on this journey. We're not where we were last year as a church or as individuals, and we don't know quite where we'll be next year. Uh it's it is a journey, and we're changing uh and we're being changed as God works in us and speaks to us and so on. And and and that's what was happening with Moses. They they were kind of entering into a different kind of season, yet again uh that they'd had their escape. You remember the lamb had been uh uh slain and the the the blood had been put over the lintels, uh, they'd been passed over in terms of judgment, other people had been judged, and they'd escaped, they'd become a nation, a new identity, and they're on their journey towards what God had promised. It wasn't a kind of wandering around, oh, we're free, where should we go? Well, I don't know. No, they were following God, following his presence towards the promised land, towards the things that God had promised. In exactly the same way, but perhaps different things, so are we. We've been set free and we're and we're on a journey. And uh in that context, Moses issues to this guy, Hobab, who's quite a character, he issues us, uh he issues this invitation. Come with us, we'll treat you well. Or a better known translation is come with us, we will do you good. Why? Because God's promised good to us, it's not based on our ability, it's not because uh because of how great we are, it's not because Moses is a great leader, it's because we'll do you good. Why? Because God has promised things to us, and that's the same for you as an individual Christian, it's the same for you as a church as well. So I want to make some fairly uh basic comments about that, uh, about who who we are, uh, who God is, what he's promised us. Is that okay? Cool. Great. So here's the first point. The first point is this it's very basic. There's an us to come with. He says, come come with us. There was an us, he was inviting this guy, Hobab, to join with and become part of a people. Now, Hobab, if you if you know the backstory, is somewhat on his own. And that was the attraction to Moses. You remember Moses killed an Egyptian because he kind of went ahead of God's pride. He had a sense of calling, he had compassion, he had a lot of good things going for him, but he also had a bad temper, and he kind of went on his own, expecting to be recognized as the great deliverer, uh, and all that he got was one dead Egyptian and and a wanted poster, really. So he fled for his life, and and the great attraction of where he ended up was it was at the back of nowhere, which, if you're wanted, is quite a nice thing, isn't it? For a time. So he ends up in the back of the desert uh with this family of wandering herders, uh, and and he's content there. And God blesses him because God's good like that. God blesses him and and actually starts preparing him for the future, because God does that even when we mess up. He's preparing him, uh he's shaping him up for future fruitfulness. And and the way he shapes him up is he gives him a wife, he gives him a family, and he gives him a flock of sheep. Good good kind of leadership lessons, really, and and he's beginning to be honed, he's been humbled, and now he's being honed, he's being shaped up for the future until God eventually calls him, age 80. Wow, you think you're too old to be useful to God? Well, Moses didn't start till he was 80, did live a long time though, but he he got going in the purposes of God. And Moses, this guy's right there in the back of the desert. He's the son of Moses' father-in-law. And uh they're a family of herders, and he's cut they're kind of living a somewhat isolated life. But Moses, it what Moses is doing is saying, don't be isolated. Don't be isolated, come with us, be part of the people of God, don't be a part, be part of. And I think it's worth just reminding ourselves who we are, because we live in a very individualistic society, don't we? Even many Christians who go to a church are a bit like billiard balls, kind of bounce off each other and back to our pockets, rather than a kind of mashed potato church where we're all mashed up together and part of something. And and and Moses is saying to this guy, come on, don't don't bounce off us, be be part of us, part of the people of God. And it I just want to just pause and just remind us this morning that the Christian life is corporate. We're living in the West and it's we're very, very individualistic. But the the Christian life can't really be led solo. I know some, you know, if you've been hurt, maybe you do what Moses did. You want to withdraw a bit, and I understand that, but you can't live the Christian life like that in the end. You can't live your Christian life on the internet and via podcasts in the end. It's about being part of a people. You get you get saved, you become a Christian one by one. God deals with you, you have your own, and there comes a moment in time when you put your trust in Christ, you commit to him, you make him Lord of your life, whatever phrase you want to use, you you become saved. That happens one by one, but as that happens one by one, you get added to a people. What a privilege. I mean it's a bit awkward, because you may have noticed there's some funny people along the end of your road. Have you noticed that? Because we're because we're all actually we're all a bit funny, aren't we? In our own special way. So it's a bit awkward, but what a privilege that we're not left on our own. We're made part of a people, of a family. We're now, it says in 1 Peter 2, once you were not a people. Once you were on your own, but now we're the people of God. 1 Peter 2, verse 10. And and that was how it was in the early church, too, Acts 2.41. Those who accepted the mass message, and God was dealing with them one by one, but they were, it says they were baptized and they were added. What what a wonderful thing not to be on our own, to be added into a church. And I just want to you know, it's sometimes it's easier to know I've been added joined to Jesus than it is that I've been joined to his church, but both are true. We've been added to Jesus, and you can't love, you can't love the bridegroom without loving his bride, the church. And we've been added to the church. Well, who who are we? Because as I've kind of meditated on this, I thought there's there's big parallels between them and us. Who who are we? Who are these? It's important we know our identity. And these people, firstly, that we're we're a people like them. We're called by grace. It says in in Deuteronomy 7, verse 7 the Lord didn't set his his love and his affection on you because you were more numerous, it was because he loved you. And if you unpack that, what he's basically saying is God loved you because he loved you. He set his affection on you because he he loved you. He just loves you. That's that's an old testament phrase for grace, isn't it? It wasn't because you got clever, it wasn't because you were more intelligent, wasn't because you had greater potential. He loved you because he loved you. We're called by grace to be part of his people. What a wonderful thing. It's by grace, Ephesians 2.8. It's by grace you've been saved through faith. And even your faith wasn't from you, it was a gift from God. So none of us can boast. We're a people called together into God's purposes by his grace. How good is God? Then we were people like them, covered by sacrifice. I mentioned a bit earlier about the Passover lamb. That that amazing story they had to kill the lamb. It's funny how lamb's still a bit of a traditional thing at Easter, isn't it? It's a strange thing. I don't know if we get it from there, or it's very tasty. Anyway, they killed the lamb and painted painted the blood on the on the top of the door, on the side of the door, and and God said, I'm gonna come in in judgment over the whole land of Egypt. But but those who are covered by this lamb's blood have done this thing in faith, that they'll won't be subject to judgment, uh, and and others will. And the lamb was slain. And it's all pointing to Jesus. Do you remember when John the Baptist saw Jesus centuries later? John was baptizing, and Jesus walks along the bank ready to get baptized, and John points at him and says, Look, this is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. We're a people covered by sacrifice. Isn't that great? To know you don't, your sins are covered. That God will pass over your offenses, the things you wouldn't want others to know about, the way we sometimes think wrongly, act wrongly. They're passed over, they're covered by the blood of Jesus. He's He's paid the price for us. How wonderful. We're called by grace, we're covered by sacrifice, we've been set free by power. Not quite the same as them. They had the amazing crossing of the Red Sea, the Passover, just some miraculous things. But you know, it's no less miraculous that you've been set free, that his spirit has caused you to be born again, that there was this new life on the inside of you. We've been set free by the resurrection of Jesus, by the coming of a new kingdom. Isn't it amazing? We're a people set free by the power of God. It's very easy to just think we're a bit like the Rotary Club, but but we sing songs. A bit more religious than them. No, no, no, no. We're we're it's an amazing thing to be part of the people of God. But we don't realize because we're so aware of our frailties, but we don't realise what a wonderful thing it is that God's grace rests upon us, that we've been set free by his power. And and like them too, we know the presence of God. I really enjoyed worshiping this morning, just being together in the presence of God. For them, it was it was actually physical, there was a cloud there, there was fire, there was God's presence. There was a pillar of fire at night and a cloud to follow by by day. But for us, we know the presence of God. Isn't it amazing? The Bible says your your body, this wearing away thing, is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And when we when we come together corporately, we're a temple of the Holy Spirit. We know his presence amongst us, and when we worship even more, God's God's Spirit comes particularly. He kind of sits enthroned on the praises of his people. It's lovely to have an expectation of the presence of God. Moses put it like this on one occasion, God said to the Moses, I tell you what, Moses, you've offended me, but I'll send an angel with you. And many of us, wouldn't we? It'd be nice, wouldn't it? To have a dirty great angel with you. That'd be great. If I fancy that anyway, maybe I do, I don't know. But but Moses says, No, no, no. What else marks us out? What else distinguishes us? It's the presence of God. It's wonder, it's wonder. I mean, Debbie and I really enjoyed being here this morning to be in a church that values and treasures the presence of God, where where corporately lots of people at the same time want to open up their spirit to his spirit. It's a wonderful thing. Treasure it, enjoy it, keep keep going with the presence of God. That's what makes us different to other people. Other people do great things. There are unbelievers that do wonderful, charitable things, amazing achievements. We could put men on space, we could do all sorts of things. But how wonderful it is to be a people that know his presence. And then and then, last of these kind of hallmarks, there are people with promises. They've got promises, they're going for a promised land. The Lord says Moses in verse 29, the Lord has promised good things. You know, we've got we've got promises too, haven't we? Jesus says, I'll never leave you. It's that kind of promise. If you abide in me, you're gonna bear much fruit. That's a that's a great promise. Abraham was told, we're we're kind of in the line of Abraham, aren't we? Children of Abraham. What did God say to Abraham? I'll bless you, and I'll make you a blessing. In fact, all nations will be blessed through you. That's a great thing, you know. We're the children of Abraham. God will bless us. And not only will he bless us, but he'll make us a blessing to others, and even other nations will be blessed. We've got promises. Prophetic, you've got prophetic promises about about Streams in the peak districts, streams of life in the peak districts, about lots of pinpricks of life, beacons of light, light around. I can't remember. They're the two I remember. I'm sure there's others you can fill can fill in the gaps. But you've got promises of God and you're pursuing them. What a wonderful thing. It's a fantastic thing to be a people marked out by the grace of God, by the sacrifice of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to know that God is with us and he's inviting us forward. Come, come, says Moses. Come with me, I'll do you good. Why? Because God has promised good things to us. It's a confident expectation, isn't it? Come with us. Therefore, that's why he's confident about his invitation. Come with us. You'll be loved, you'll be treated well, because God has promised good things to us. That's that's who you are. You're all of those things. That's the us that we go with when we stick together and move forward into the purposes of God. We too have been called by grace, covered by sacrifice, set free by the power of Jesus to know the presence of God and explore his promises. Amen? Now that leads on to the next thing. That's a long first point. Umpteen points, really. I just cheat. But the second main thing is this because of that, there's a decision to make. There's the invitation of God, there's a decision to make. Come. And there's this guy, Hobab, you can imagine him. Come on, Hobab, come with us. And Hobab's staying there, and and he has a choice to make because he can stay. And the reality is in life, the familiar is very attractive, isn't it? We get comfy. How many of us sit more or less in the same place every time we come here? Almost nothing wrong with that. It's kind of comfy. We get used to the drafts, not too much, it's not too little. You know, we get comfy where we are. Because we're creatures of habit and we're like that spiritually, we're like that in our in our lives. And Hobram has got familiar where he is. He likes it at the back end of the desert. He knows his sheep by name, he knows what he's doing, he has the same routine. The familiar is attractive. And and so Moses asks him again. Because the first off, he says, No. And you know, and as we look forward to the promises of God, you know, we all we all have that choice. We can say, No, I'm I'm not for moving. I'm I'm uh and in fact, if you if you don't go forward, you tend to go backwards. It's very difficult to stay in the same place. If we don't move forward with God, we gradually drift backwards. And Hobab's quite honest, he says, No, I'm going back. It's interesting. And Moses, because of he's gracious, he re-issues the invitation. Because actually, to move forward in God's purposes is going to cost Hobab. He's going to have to embrace the inconvenience of living as a traveller. We do like to stay where we are, but we have to embrace, to go forward with God, we have to embrace the inconvenient sometimes. Does that make sense? New places, new ways of meeting, new places to meet in, new ways of faith. And Hobab has got to embrace the change that comes with that. There's a verse in the Bible somewhere that says, We are not like those who turn back. Which meant that at the time there were those who, like Hobab, were turning back. We say, No, I don't want to move with this. I don't want to be part of that. Some do, but I hope I hope we don't. You see, there's a walk of faith for you as a church, and you're embracing some of the inconvenience of sometimes you turn up on a Sunday, and some of the people you used to sit in next to are now meeting somewhere else. And sometimes your favorite meeting host person is not there because they're somewhere else. Or sometimes you're meeting with 20 people in a room and you've been used to meeting with 170, 180 people in a room, and it's oh, this is a bit different, isn't it? Let's embrace the inconvenience. Why? Because we're a people of promises. We're pursuing, we're on a journey towards the promises of God. And we have to know that what is ahead when we walk by faith in obedience is of more value than anything we leave behind. That's a good sentence. What is ahead when we walk by faith in obedience is of more value than anything we leave behind. There's a cost to obedience. There is a cost, it's it's a bit awkward, but how wonderful it is to pursue the promises of God as individuals and corporately as a church. There's a decision to make. And then thirdly, there's a journey of faith to make for us all. Church is a family that you travel with. You kind of do life together as you follow Jesus. You know, you know, the whole thing of being called a Christian, we we use that term. It almost existed in Antioch, but it wasn't widely used for about 300 years of believe of believers until uh the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, and then it became a like a status thing. I'm a Christian. Something I am before that, they were called things like followers of the way. I like that. See, Christians got a certain kind of status. You I went to the dentist this week, which wasn't nice. Um, anyway, you have to fill in the health form, and it says religion, and I tick Christian on principle because I am, but but it's like this is what I am, stationary. No, actually, I'm a believer, I'm follow, I'm a follower of Jesus. I like that, a follower of the way. And as a church, we're following Jesus. It implies dynamism, doesn't it? It in follow uh walk. Abraham literally, as he followed God, he literally set out, didn't he? Go where I show you. Well, where's the map? Well, I'll just show you. And he set out. New Testament where believers were called followers of the way. The Christian life's a dynamic thing. Do you see that? And we're on a journey of faith together as a church. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Psalm 84, verse 5 Blessed are those who set their hearts on pilgrimage. I love that verse, because it's a decision to make. I'm gonna keep moving forward with God. We're on a it's a spirit, a pilgrimage is a spiritual journey, it's a journey with a purpose, isn't it? A spiritual purpose. And and then it's a great psalms. It goes on to say you go through dry patches, but you dig down and you make it a place of Paul until eventually you appear before God in Zion. It's a great picture of the Christian life. Blessed are those whose hearts are set on having a journey with God. Has your heart set on a journey? Or are you kind of a pudding Christian? We want to be on a pilgrimage together, journeying into the purposes of God. Not too attached. You know, a pilgrim has to travel light because he's moving on. He's not too attached to the things of this world, he's moving forward with God. You're ready for pilgrimage. It's a great picture, and then and then fourthly, there's a contribution to bring for every single one of us. For Hobab, Moses says, Hey, Hobab, you can be our eyes. It was literal, literal eyes. He was used to kind of desert life, he lived in that kind of area. He could guide them, he would know the best places to camp. He he says, literally, you can be our. We need seers, we need people that can see spiritually, guide us. That was his contribution, but you know, we've all got a contribution to make. Every single person in this room has got a contribution to make. You know, the Hobab could have thought, well, I'm just a shepherd, but Moses saw, saw his potential. No, you could help guide us. You you know how to exist in this kind of place, but we've all got our abilities, haven't we? We've all got particular gifts, spiritual gifts. We've all got potential, particular natural abilities, we've all got a bit of time, we've all got talents, resources of some kind or another. And what Moses is saying is come on, come with us, be part of the us, because this is the interesting thing. Everyone is needed. Do you ever feel superfluous? Do you ever feel, well, everything, if I wasn't here, it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. That's not true. It's a lie of the enemy. Everybody has a contribution to make, everybody's got something to bring to the party, to the journey, into God's purposes. And uh, and this passage just kind of leaves it hanging. You think you turn over the pages and there's nothing there. You don't know what it's kind of what did Hobab do, but but in Judges chapter 1, verse 16, it indicates that his descendants are now in the promised land. So there's the potential for change. Hobab was the no, I'm not coming, what's more, I'm going back. But in the end, by the grace of God, he went with them, and his descendants are there, now enjoying obtaining the promises that even previous generations. See, some of the promises of God, maybe some of us won't live to see all of them. Maybe it'll be our children and grandchildren that enter into some of the things that that we've trusted God for, and and how's descendants are there obtaining the land that had been uh uh uh promised to them. We're walking with a good God, so we can expect good things. Amen. So most of that, oh I'm gonna come to the end, I promise. But most of that has been about us being invited into the purposes of God individually, we're all invited, corporately, but all invited because God has got great things ahead for church in the peace. There'll be challenges just like there were tons of challenges for them. Challenges, difficult times, times where they went a bit backwards, times where they went, it was not all easy riding, but God had promised good to them. But but I want to turn it around a little bit, and and I want you to imagine that you're Moses and and you're the one doing the inviting. And I I want to kind of finish with a story because our job as believers, as followers on this journey, is to invite others to join us, to say to others, come with us, because we'll we'll do you good. Why? Because God's with us, not because we're brighter, cleverer, not because we've got all the answers to people's questions, but come with us. And and I'll finish with a story. I was in I was preaching in Lewis in Sussex a couple of months back, and um to church I planted back in '83, I think it was. Um anyway, I was preaching there, and it was great. And a young man just brought a contribution in the worship, and there was I I don't know what it was, but I thought, what a lovely guy. I don't know if that ever happens to you. I just kind of getting a bit grandfatherly. I thought, what a lovely guy, I'd love to talk to him. So over coffee, I went and said, Thanks so much for your contribution. I really, really was blessed by what you said. And I got got an attering to him, and he said, Oh, I've only I've only been a Christian or just under four years, three and a half years, I think he said, something like that. Oh, how did that happen? And he said to me, this was his story. He said, Well, I moved down to Scotland from Scotland. I was moving down to Brighton. Oh, what brought you? I've got a job with American Express. Oh, okay. And he said, he said, and I was packing my things, and no Christians in my family. I was packing my bags, filling up the boxes ready for the move, and I had a thought, and I thought, do you know what? If I ever get the chance, I think I need to find out about God. That was it. That's a bit random, isn't it? But that's what that's what he thought. So he he arrives down in Sussex on the south coast there. Uh he goes to work in uh to American Express, and and then he gets to the coffee time. They're in the coffee time, and you know what it's like in the in the coffee time in a in a big office. How was your weekend? It's always that's a month, that's what you talk about on Monday. How was your weekend? Oh, I got wasted, or whatever the conversation will be. I can't must have been good, I can't remember a thing. Uh oh, what's what's Brighton over Albion? Okay, uh all the different, oh, we took the kids out, it's all the different things going on, and then this this young lady says, says, Um, well, I went to church and it was great. If anyone wants to come with me next week, you'd be welcome. That's all she said, and so he's thinking, Oh, this is my chance. So he says, So I wouldn't mind coming along, see what it's like. And she says, Okay, I'll meet you. So she arranged to meet him outside the building, so she's very considerate, so he didn't have to go in to this weird thing all on his own. And uh so she did that, uh, and it and he enjoyed it. So he came the next week, and I uh very shortly he became a Christian. And then and then the wonderful this is not a strategy, but the wonderful thing was he ended up marrying her, and uh and uh which is not an automatic, just in case you're thinking, Oh, that's an idea. So he uh he uh he ended up marrying her, and then there were a couple of toddlers running around manically, so it was it was just a lovely story, but the backstory to that was someone like me in her church said we're not very good at this evangelism block, are we? No, we're not very good, and and and he said this right. I'll tell you what, this week, here's the deal when you well when it comes in your office and they say, What did you do at the weekend? This is what you say. I went to church, it was really good. If you want, you can come with me. So she was fed the limes. That was that was it. Literally, it wasn't rocket science. I went to church, it was good. If you want, you can come with me. Well, she's like Moses, wasn't she? Come with me, it was good. Not exactly the same words, but almost the same words. Didn't say because God's with us and all it didn't talk about the promises, and here's a young guy now saved, bringing their kids up to know and love Jesus. But you see, I don't think there's any single one of us who couldn't do the same. Might be in the office, might be in the in the rotary famous rotary club, might might be the whatever you do. It could be in the pub, could be in the dance, could be could be in the WI, could be at a youth group. We could all do that, couldn't we? What do you do there we can? I went to church. That's really good. If you want, I'll meet you outside, but we could go together. See, we we've received this invite from God to be part by his grace, to become people that are blood boards, who know his presence, got promises over our lives and over our church. It's a wonderful thing. But having received and accepted that promise, we get to hand it on back to others. And I want to encourage you to do that. Come with us, come with us to Buxton, come with us to Worksworth, come with us to Matlock. Who knows where else we'll open up in the next two or three years? Who knows? But come with us, we'll do you good. Not because you're massively brilliant, although I'm sure you're wonderful, but because God is good and He's promised good to us. Amen. Amen. Let's pray together, Lord. We thank you for your grace. You're so good, Lord. Who we that you should invite us into your purposes. But we thank you that we've been cleansed through the sacrifice of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for being the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Thank you, you've touched us deep on the inside. You put new life within us, so we've been born again on the inside. Thank you that your power is at work in us individually and corporately. And thank you that you've promised through the ups and downs of life that you will do good to us. And Lord, I pray for every single person here this morning that you would give them the opportunity to pass on the invite to others. I was in church, it was good. Why don't you come along? Lord, we ask you that you would help us to keep bearing fruit as we abide in you. Thank you. It's inevitable, Lord. So if we abide in you, we will bear much fruit. Thank you for that promise. We look forward to seeing more and more of its fulfillment as we step out in obedience to you. Lord, we we confess sometimes we feel like just staying where we are. We're sorry about that. We confess sometimes we feel almost like turning back. We're sorry about that. But we ask you that we would, by your grace, keep moving forward with you. Forgive us our kind of isolating instincts. Lord, we don't want to be on our own. We thank you that you've delivered us from the curse of being on our own. You've made us part of a people, and we thank you. Amen. Amen. Phil.