Wirksworth | 05/07/26 | Giving | Peter Williams

Wirksworth 

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/354059/episodes/19446779-wirksworth-05-07-26-giving-peter-williams.mp3

Peter continued our series of church fundementals, looking at giving. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Fantastic. Lord, we pray for Peter. We just thank you for what you put in his heart. We thank you for bringing him here today. Thank you for his perseverance. Despite having a bad back, that he still longs to proclaim your word. Lord, speak through him today. May our eyes, ears, hearts be attentive to what he's gonna say. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

So uh yeah, my name's Peter, one of the elders, and um I I would bring you greetings from Matlot, but I don't think I've been there for a good six weeks. So um so they'll probably think I'm a stranger when uh when I go back. Um, but that's where Pamela and I usually worship. Um I have um yeah, as it's been said, got a bit of a bad back, and um I can't really stand up straight at the moment, which is why I'm doing the Valdunican impression. Um, this um this was me um just five weeks ago. This is me on a boat going into Harlem, and uh I was in the Netherlands, cycled 550k round the Netherlands less than six weeks ago, um, camping along the way, and here I am hardly able to walk about 100 yards without stopping. So um, we never know what's round the corner, and uh, I just want to encourage you to um kind of live every day and take every opportunity. Um, thank you. Um, so um I've been asked to speak on giving today, and uh over the last um few weeks been thinking about what to um say and uh what has God um wanting me to kind of share with you about giving. And um usually um somebody comes to the front and there's a sermon, you kind of listen, you maybe think, oh, that was a good point. Uh a week later, you can't remember anything about it. Um, but today I think it's going to be a bit more like a seminar. I believe that God's got um some things where he wants to radically change you as the church here in Worksworth. I think he wants to change some of your perspective about church, your place and your purpose uh within it. So uh you've all been given a card. If you haven't got a card, they're on the back table there, and there's a whole load of pens. You might have found out on your pen it's got two ends. That's because if you want to colour in, you can use the big end, and if you want to write, you can use the small end. What I want to ask you to do is, as I'm speaking, if there's stuff that you think, ah, good point, I want you to write it, but only on one side of the card, so you can't write very much. Okay, and I want you to leave the second side blank and you'll realise why later. So uh I'm gonna start off um with uh some reading from the Bible. So this is from Luke 10. Um, if you want to follow along with your Bible, I think it might be on the screen. Um, I'm reading from the New Living Translation just because it's really easy to understand um as I'm speaking. So at that time, Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way. My father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. And then they were alone. And he turned to the disciples and said, Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen. I tell you, many prophets and kings long to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it. Now, as Jesus talks to his disciples there, he's speaking to us as well. And actually, um, we have heard some stuff that prophets and kings would long to hear. And uh we've got these treasures amongst us. God has spoken some stuff to us over the years. Whether we're a new Christian, whether we've been a Christian for many years, we've stored up some of those nuggets. And uh He's revealed them to us because we're part of His holy family. Now, just before this bit in Luke, um, Jesus sent out the 72. Not just the twelve, the seventy-two. The twelve had multiplied to a seventy-two group, and he sent them out. And this was the report that came back, just the verses before I just read. When the 72 disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name. Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk amongst snakes and scorpions, and you can crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you. Rejoice because your names are registered in heaven. And that's our start point. It's our names are registered in heaven. But do you want to do the stuff that the disciples were doing there? Do you want to see the demons flee? Do you want to be able to walk amongst snakes and scorpions and crush them with nothing injuring you? And I don't think we're talking about physical snakes and scorpions there. We're talking about the things of the earth, the things that would be thrown at us. So, what does Jesus say you need to do? As you are setting out as a group of people in Worksworth, establishing church, what does he say to you? The following verses just after this bit in Luke, Jesus takes a kind of a turn. So he's been you've doing all this amazing stuff, you're seeing the demons flee, and they say to him, Well, what should we do? And he goes on and he says, You need to love your neighbour. And then he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. So that's Jesus' response to the disciples going, Well, what do we do with this? And he says, Go and love your neighbour. Go and take care of those that are not cared for. Go and love all the people around you. So, what does Jesus say to you, his chosen ones, who is sending out amongst the wolves? Wolves? Yeah, absolutely. The world the devil would seek to devour you as you stand up in the name of Jesus. But he's given you all authority. They might eat you at any opportunity, but Jesus wants you to take every opportunity. So how can you get ready for that? Now, some of you are thinking I said I was going to speak about giving. And actually, for you as a church, I believe giving is one of the routes to you seeing the church radically changed. One of my favourite verses of the Bible is from Matthew 6. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And I wonder what we treasure. What's the things that are most important to you? What do you value the most? In Mark 10, as Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him and he knelt down and he asked, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus asked. Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments. You must not murder, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not testify falsely, you must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother. Teacher, the man replied, I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young. And looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. There is still one thing you haven't done, he told him. Go and sell all your possessions and give your money to the poor, and then you'll have treasure in heaven. And then come and follow me. And at this the man's face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God? And this amazed them. And Jesus said again, Dear children, it's very hard to enter the kingdom of God. In fact, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were astounded. Who in the world can be saved? They asked. And Jesus looked at them intently and said, Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God. And then Peter began to speak up. He said, We've given up everything to follow you. Yes, Jesus replied, and I assure you that everyone who has given up their house or their brothers, sisters, their mother, their father, their children, or their property for my sake and for the good news will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property, along with persecution. Now I told you the wolves would eat you, but it's intrinsically linked to your giving. Jesus goes on, and in the world to come, that person will have eternal life. But many who are greatest now will be least important then. And those who seem least important now will be greatest then. Now this passage is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Same passage. That means it's really important for us to hear. We don't get the same thing in each of the Gospels, we get different stories, but there's some key stuff that's in them all. And this is one of them. So why is it there? Because actually, giving of ourselves is incredibly important if we're going to establish church. So I'm going to ask you some really difficult questions. What is your faith costing you right now? It's not necessarily an easy question, that, is it? As we think about how life is, as we think about what we do on a general day-to-day basis, how is our faith costing us? Are we being persecuted for what we believe in? Jesus said the wolves will be there as we spread the word. If we're not experiencing some of that persecution, are we really speaking the word of God? Are we in poverty? What have we lost in the name of Jesus? I think if the answer's nothing, then we've got some soul searching to do. What could you stop doing to have more time? We're all busy, aren't we? Our lives are, you know, we need diary planners, we need um help from our phones to tell us, uh, you've got another appointment, you're supposed to be here. We set alarms for things to make sure we're in the right place at the right time. But what we could could we do to have more time to establish church, to establish his kingdom? Is it TV? Is it Facebook or Insta or if you're young enough, TikTok? Is it sport? What is it that we could give up to take a break from that actually would give us that extra bit of time? What could you not be spending to have more money to invest in the kingdom? I think when I ask questions like this, it hits home to me. Is it the holiday? But you deserve those. You work hard. Is it your investments for your future to keep you safe? Is it Sky TV? Is it your clothes? Your hairdo. Your nails. I just wonder where are you investing? If you have a look at your bank statement. We don't even get bank statements these days, do we? But if you look at your bank statement, what does it say about where you're investing in the kingdom of God? It's a hard question. But I believe Jesus asks this hard question in the passage. He talks about giving it all up for his kingdom. So time, your money, your gifts. I think we always think about tithing our money. It's uh giving 10% of all we earn. But actually, we're encouraged to tithe and do gifts on top. And so we think, I've got to ten percent, I'm doing really well, and Jesus says, Yeah, but the gifts come on top of all of that. But then there's our gifts too. What about the gifts God has given you? Are you using them to extend the kingdom? Pamela challenged me the other day about gifting and comfort zone. So, if I was starting out in a new church, where I'd want to be is maybe um behind the words. People can't come and disturb you whilst you're doing the words because you've got to concentrate on that. Maybe like serving the coffees quite like serving coffee, and it means I can have a short conversation with people, and because I'm a bit autistic, then actually the short conversations they're easy, where the standing around having a longer conversation I find a lot more difficult, and it puts me out of my comfort zone. So that's where I'd choose to be. I wouldn't choose to be at the front. I wouldn't choose to do the leading stuff. It's not where I feel naturally comfortable. Actually, God has given me some gifts, and I need to use those gifts for his kingdom. And so I don't get to do the words. Every time there's a who else could do the words, I'm like, I could do the words too, and then there's never enough time for me to be rotored in to do the words. And um it frustrates me because I think it would be really, really nice to sit at the back and do that. But actually, that's not what God's calling me to do at this moment. There might be a time where actually he wants me to do that, and I'll do whatever he wants me to do. Will you do anything he wants you to do? Is it costing you tears? As you establish church. I was um on a plane back from hardship in Portugal last week and the week before, and uh was on the plane back on Friday, and I was reading this book where The Forgotten Manifesto of Jesus by Philmore, he's the guy who writes all those commentaries, and the bit at the bottom says how revival in Iran is spreading across the world. And you don't think of Iran and revival, you know, the two things don't necessarily go together. The book had piqued my interest, and I started having a bit of a read on the plane, and I read this, and uh I thought it was quite relevant to us. So let me ask you a question. How much does it distress you that the majority of Western Christians fail to produce any spiritual offspring? How shocked are you that most Western churches remain the same size or shrink smaller with each passing year? Since Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is his bride, it makes sense that he begins his forgotten manifesto by revealing to us how much he longs to help his bride to multiply. He invites us up to face up to our spiritual infertility and to plead with him to entrust us with a growing family.

unknown 20:05

Ouch.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

I just read it and I just stopped. I was like, I can't read on from this point. Because actually, the question that's being asked, I just see the reality of it in our churches. And I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be in a church that's shrinking or staying the same size. I was once in a church and they boasted for a hundred years their membership had been the same. It's like that's terrible. That's absolutely terrible. You're not growing. That means you're not doing what we're tasked with doing. So um I gave you a postcard to put some notes on one side, and actually, I want you to think about what your headline is going to be on the other side. Because actually, the headline is what I want you to be looking at in the coming weeks. I want you to read your headline every day, and I want you to start to pray for it every day, maybe shed tears. Because we're desperate to see growth. As it goes on in this book, um, it asks us about our spiritual fertility. So, how are you sowing your wild oats of the kingdom? Fillmore writes, people don't have to be clever or well educated or especially gifted to play their part in the growing church. That means all of us can be involved. Because Jesus will do what he wants to do. There's a story in this chapter that I was reading of a guy called. David and David was wanting to plant into a people in northern India called the Bojpuri people. The Bodjpuri people are like totally massive, it's like hundred million or something, and they're pretty much an unreached people group. And he went there and he went with a whole load of uh other believers and all the other believers were killed. And he had to flee with his family. And uh for a couple of years he prayed and he fasted and he cried every day. And God sent him back, and this is what he said. We saw no churches planted in year one. We saw no churches planted in year two. My missions agency threatened to fire me for my unfruitfulness. And yet, as the six of us experimented together to find out what it looked like for us to live out Luke 10 amongst these people, we slowly began to build momentum, and in year three we planted eight churches together. In year four, we planted 48 more, and in years five, six, and seven, we planted 148, 327, and 527 churches. By the end of year nine, we totaled over 2,000 churches, gathering 55,000 Bajpuri believers. Within 15 years, we had over 80,000 churches and over 2 million believers. All of this amongst a people group which only had 5,000 believers 15 years before. You imagine 68 million people in the UK. If we could plant twenty thousand churches in the next 15 years and see the nation turned upside down. That'd be my prayer. So I started with where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Does that include seeing worksworth thrive and grow through radical conversions? Is this like a gem that you're polishing every day, that you're holding tight onto, that it may not be lost? Because I want to encourage you that it should be. Proverbs 16. Verse 9 it says, we can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. And that just puts us back, doesn't it? We can make grand plans, but God determines our steps. But a few verses later, verse 15, says, When the king smiles, you remember Jesus was smiling at his disciples. That's you. When the king smiles, there is life. His favor refreshes like a spring rain. We need to aim to make our king smile. And how does our giving financially, time-wise, gift-wise, tier-wise, do that? Got a final picture. Um, whilst we were away for the couple of weeks, uh my um uh vine overgrew quite massively, and so yesterday I was out there looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame with a pair of scissors, Pamela's Esmeralda, um, and uh I was snipping off all the bits that weren't bearing any fruit. And as I've asked questions today, you might have felt like, ouch, that hurts. But as I was cutting back my vine and the pile on the floor was growing to look almost as big as the vine itself, I just believe Jesus said, I'm asking some hard questions today. But actually, that's what it's like when I prune you. And I want to prune off some of the stuff that's not gonna bear fruit. Because actually, the reason that we do that is that the main plant would grow bigger, plumper fruit. And we want to see big, plump fruit, don't we? We want to see his kingdom being juicy and sweet as it grows, rather than having little tiny sour grapes. So I just want to encourage you, if you feel like I've been harsh this morning, I just believe Jesus is asking us, his church, some hard questions. That's me too. I'm part of your church. How are we gonna give to see his kingdom grow in this town? Steve, you um you did that song, This Is My Surrender, and just as you um were leading us in that, I just felt we should come back to that um just so that we can just engage with Jesus and ask him, what do you want me to do?