Presence Conscious People | Ps Sharee Rice

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Newman Church podcast. Wherever you are in the world, we are so glad you've joined us. Our prayer is that this message will reveal more of who our heavenly Father is as we grow deeper in intimacy with Jesus. Enjoy the message. Hey, everybody. How are you? Good, good. You can take your seats. Before we get stuck straight into some. The word. I'm gonna just follow where I felt like, like the Holy Spirit lead me as I was sitting here in worship. And first of all, just hats off to you for sitting in a frozen room today to worship God, y'all. I was praying for fire to come down from heaven so that we could warm up a little bit. Like, I was like, do we need to get everyone doing a holy huddle? Like, do we need to do something to, like, I'm frozen to the core. I don't know how y'all doing it. So I'm gonna keep this short and sweet to help you all out today. Is that okay? All right, here we go. So this is what I felt like. The Lord lay on my heart today for you, and it's this. He gave me this picture of a moment that I was at home in my lounge room, sorry, in my bedroom with an airpod in my ear. And if anyone knows me well enough, you usually see me walking around with an airpod in my ear. And occasionally I have gotten up to preach with an airpod in my ear, forgetting that it was there because, you know, they just sit there and they're like, weightless, like, you don't notice. Anyway, whole other story, but I was in my room and I had this airpod in, and I was listening to some worship in the background, and often throughout the day, getting ready and things like that is what I do. I'll stick an airpod in and I'll be listening to something. And as I was listening, my housemate was trying to speak to me in the background, and it was that moment where it was like, hey, what? Huh? Did you. Are you talking to me? And, you know, like, are they talking to me? Are they talking to themselves? Are they talking to the dog? Right? There's a couple of different options. And the Lord spoke to me as I was watching, re watching this moment, and he said, shereen, this is my people right now. They're stuck in a place where they are longing for the Lord. They're longing for his presence. They're longing to hear him. There's this desire and aspiration, but they're actually missing my voice because they're tuned into everything else. And I felt like, there's this pure call for you as a location to actually step into the voice of God and to turn the voice and the noise down on everything else. But you know what he's, what's crazy about this is as he's leading me through this, I'm standing there in worship. I'm like, whoa, I had to sit down because I was like, oh my gosh, Lord, he is so speaking to each and every single one of you. But the question today is, what is in your ear? What voice is in your ear? Now, for some of you, it might just be the latest podcast on the word of God. For some of you, it might be worship. For some of you, it might be something else. And it's not a bad thing necessarily. But what we're missing is the purity of the voice of God because we're so distracted by what we're filling our heads with. And all he's actually looking for is that we would take time out and carve out time and sit with him. You know that moment when you sit on the couch with your partner or your friend and you're like watching tv and the person wants to talk to you and you're like paws? Like, back in my day, we didn't have paws, we just had ads. And so you'd get the conversation out in the ads. But I literally see like, the Lord's just wanting to sit on the couch with some of us and actually have a conversation. And he said to remind you that John 1029 or 27, I think it says, my sheep hear my voice. God actually wants to do more in you and through you and have conversations with you of an intimate level, in detail. If only we would actually allow the noise to be turned down in our ears. It's almost, and I feel for some of us, it's almost like a bit of an interruption because you're actually enjoying the podcast. You're actually enjoying the other sound that is in your ear. You know, you've got one ear available and one ear is like locked into a sound and you're actually enjoying the sound. And it's almost a frustration. Like you have to press pause. It's like, oh, come on, I'm going to press pause. Okay, now it's almost that sense of frustration. But the invitation is into a deeper place of intimacy with him, where what will enrich you is his voice and his word that goes far beyond what anyone else can teach you. Whatever I'm going to teach you here today. The Lord wants to say to you in your bedroom if only we would lean in and listen. And this is the thing. So when we take time to lean in and press pause on everything else and lean into him, there are whispers in his word that he wants to give to us individually, not just in a corporate setting, not just on a podcast, not just in a moment in the car, on the way in. Now hear my heart. All those things are good, but there's a more in God for us. There's an invitation for us for the more in him. You know, we're about to lean into a pretty crazy season of intentionality, of leaning into his presence. We've just come out of the consecration season before Pentecost, and now we're leaning into this time where it's like, God, we, as a church, want to seek your face. We believe that you are the God of revival, that you want to revive us so that we can revive others. We want to lean into that place of his presence. I don't know if you're registered for conference, but I want to suggest to you today that you should register, because I think there was only, I think, 200 spaces left this week to actually get into conference. And I just encourage you to come be a part of that. As we gather together to lean into his presence, lean into the place where we can hear the whispers of God together. And as you do that, I believe that God's going to meet you right there. He's going to meet you and have encounters with you that will leave you marked and changed forever. Because a podcast will give you information, a preaching session will give you information. But when you lean into a place of encounter and where you gather together with people who are hungry and leaning in, I'm telling you, there will be something that will be ignited in you, and it'll bring back this raw, authentic intimacy for the Lord. And after I was standing there watching this moment happen, as the Lord's speaking to me here in this worship moment, he shows me Romans, chapter ten, and he says, cherie, I want you to tell them that the intention of the earpiece in their ear is not to be distracted by the other things that they can press on their device and hear, but it's actually a microphone. And he's saying to us, as a people, now is the time to lean in to a nation that desperately needs to know him. This nation right now. I have never seen anything like it. And everybody that I'm talking to evangelistically are leaning into this space and saying, there is a hunger and an openness in the australian people that we've never seen before. And I believe that the Lord was showing me. He said this. He said this in Romans, chapter ten, verse 14 to 16. It says, how then can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how should they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sentenced? It is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and who bring glad tidings of good things. I felt like the Lord say to you, sometimes you have a desire for people to get saved in your world, but the reason that you're not in that space of actually seeing things is because there's an interruption in the sound. There's something else going on in the background, a podcast, a worship song or whatever, and we're not hearing him and actually stepping into what he has. It says, how can they hear unless someone is sent and unless someone preaches? Now, I'm not talking about preach. Stand up here with a microphone. That's not what Paul was intending. He was talking about you using the microphone of your life to amplify. Hey, God, what are you saying? And what am I meant to say? The beautiful thing about an airpod is that it's not just made so that you can hear something, it's actually made so you can speak something. It's got a microphone on it. And I feel like there's an invitation for us from God to step into a place where we are hearing from him so immersed in his presence that there is an awareness of him, that we are locked into this personal conversation with him, where it's like, oh, yes, Lord, come with me to John chapter two. We're gonna lean into this today, because I actually believe that God is calling us to be a presence conscious people. A presence conscious people. Let's read John chapter two together. It says this. On the third day, there was a wedding in cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now, both Jesus and disciples were invited to a wedding, and when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to his servants, whatever he says to you, do it now. There were six pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. And Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them to the brim, and he said, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water made of wine and did not know where it had come from. But the servants who did, who drew the water, they knew. And the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to them, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. And when the guests are well drunk, then the inferior. But you have kept the good wine until now. This is the beginning of the signs that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. And he manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. After this, he went down to Capernaum and his mother, his brothers, his disciples, and they did not stay there many days. Not to confuse anyone, that means they stayed there a long time. And today I want to talk to you. This idea about being present conscious people. I want to suggest to us that there are miracles that we are missing out on because we are more self conscious or self aware or self absorbed, or self centered. There is something more that God actually wants to do in our lives. If only we would become more presence conscious and aware. This passage of scripture is probably one of the greatest. It's one of the first miracles that Jesus did, but it's probably one of the greatest known stories outside of the church. If you bring up water to wine, people know that kind of concept because they've seen it on Jim Carrey, Bruce Almighty, having his. Bruce Almighty, the tv show. Yeah, the one that. Yeah, that one. It's got some classic moments in it, but there's this awareness of this particular miracle. But what's really interesting about this miracle is that it's not so much about the fact that water turned into wine. That is the biggest deal. What it was was a prophetic statement or a prophetic action about what was happening with Jesus life. See, Jesus is the pitcher of water to wine. See, the image of water to wine is that water represented the old covenant. Wine represented the new. The wine was after the new covenant, after the old. Sorry. Wine was after the water. And the new covenant was after the old. The wine was from the water, and the new covenant was from the old. The wine was better than the water, and the new covenant was better than the old. And Jesus life. Here is a picture of the old covenant was. Now, the new covenant is here. Jesus was the depiction of wine. And I need to explain this to you, because if you go back to Genesis, chapter three, there's a story in there about Adam and Eve and how they partake of the fruit of the garden. They eat and in that moment, God comes back into the garden looking for Adam. And he says to Adam, where are you, Adam? It's not because God lost Adam, but because he wanted Adam to recognize. Do you recognize that by taking part of the tree that you are now separated from me? And there is distance? And so he comes into the garden. He's Adam, where are you? And Adam comes out, and literally, him and Eve are covered with fig trees. Now, if you're from Dunkid's church, you would have seen it. Little people, little fig trees, leaves. You know, they come out covering themselves because they're trying to cover their shame and their nakedness and that sense of they've done the wrong thing. And this is where sin enters the world. And in this moment, Jesus, it actually. Sorry. It says that God covered them with skin, with a lamb skin. And it was the institution of the lamb of God that was slain to cover sin. And in that moment, the Lord has covered them with a lambskin, which instituted the lamb of God to be sacrificed for sin, which then was going to be a prophetic picture of the lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world. And this is what this covenant, new covenant, represents. The old covenant is the water. Now, it was good, but hands up, who knows? Wine's better. When was the last time you went to a party that they're like, hey, we've run out of drinks. Can you run down to the shop and get some drinks? You go down the shop and get some drinks, you bring back water, people are going to be looking at you like, we ran out of drinks and you bring water because the wine was always better. Now, I need you to capture this, and I need you to understand the nature of this image that Jesus is painting here. It is his first miracle of all the miracles he could have done. It's this one. It's a prophetic statement to say, the old covenant was and was good, but now the new covenant is here. The new covenant is now what you and I get to sit in and be a part of. And it's a picture of him saving the best to last. The interesting thing is about this passage that if you go back to verse, let's go back to verse three. And it says this. And when they had run out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. Now, Jesus isn't being smart. He's not turning around and go, well, woman, what that has nothing to do with me. You'll notice the distinction between the two verses is that one says, mother of Jesus. And then his response is, woman. This is the moment where Mary calls out his prophetic destiny, his calling on his life. She recognizes that in this moment, because if you go back to John chapter two, there's a moment. John chapter one, two. John one, where John the Baptist sees Jesus coming towards him and says, here comes the lamb of God. To take away the sins of the world, not to cover sin like old covenant, but to take away sin under the new covenant. Now, that's really significant, important, because Mary is hearing this. Now, you've got to remember Mary, 33, 30 years ago, gave birth to Jesus in her womb when an angel turned up and said, you're about to conceive the son of God. For 30 years, she's been holding on to this promise. She knows that Jesus is the son of God. She knows that he's going to step into the call that is on his life. And so she sees these moments beginning to happen. They're at a party, and she turns to Jesus and says, hey, Jesus, we've run out of wine. Now, she comes to him with an expectation that you are who God has told me you are. I'm gonna leave this with you. She didn't put any expectation on him. She just walked up to him and said, hey, we've run out of wine. But then she turns to the servants, and she says to them, do whatever he says to do. See, the whole reason this miracle unlocked is because people became aware that Jesus was in the room. That whole thing shifted and changed in that moment. Because when Jesus says to her, woman, what does that have to do with me? He's not being disrespectful. He's actually recognizing a distinction between his mother, who looked after him, and now the woman that was calling the purpose and destiny of God out of him. And as she turns to the servants, she says to the servants, I want you to do whatever he tells you to do. Jesus could have said, okay, guys, just run down to the bottle o and grab a few drinks, right? He could have just, like, run next door, go to the neighbors, and get some more wine. But in this moment, he literally brings them to an awareness of who he is. But the best part about this is that they lean in. Let's read this again. Come back to verse five. It says, his mother said, do whatever he says to you to do. Now, there were six border pots, and they were for the manner of purification of the jews, they contained 20 or 30 gallons, and Jesus said to them, hey, guys, take them pots over there and fill them with water. We've run out of wine. You want us to get water? Like that person that turns up to the party with water? You're like, meh. Like. So Jesus says to them, I want you to go and get water. They don't sit back and go, well, we need wine, so maybe I'll just go next door and get wine. They hear what he says, and they do what he says. And as a result of doing what he says, they bring before jesus these gallons of jars. And what's really cool is verse five says, sorry. Verse seven. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them to the brim. They brought back these jars to Jesus, and they filled them to the brim. They didn't leave a little bit of extra space for, like, Jesus to put a little plonk on the side, give it a stir, and now distribute as a concentrated version of wine in a small part. No, no, no. They filled them to the brim. Why? Because they were filled with expectation. What's he going to do? See, when you become consciously aware that Jesus is in the room, anything is possible. Everything shifts and changes when Jesus is in the room. Think about it like this. You and I know the end of a story because we've been here and we've seen it from a post production kind of deal. Imagine being in the room in the moment. Mary's like, hey, guys, just do whatever he says to do. They go away. They don't question. They don't argue. They don't negotiate. They don't debate. Like, they literally hear what he says, go and does it, and then bring it back. Not only do they bring it back, they bring it back with expectation that it is so full that nothing can be added to it. And they come with expectation. They bring it before Jesus, and then comes this moment, like, we don't know when it turned to wine. Was it when they walked it back? Was it in the moment when they sat it on the ground? Was it in the moment they scooped in, when Jesus said, I now want you to take a scoop and take it to the master of the feast? Okay. Remember, we're not at the finish line. We're here in the middle of the story together. Picture yourself. Jesus comes to you and says, I want you to go do XYZ. What's your first response? Is it obedience? Is it obedience in expectation? Or is it, oh, lord, I don't know. I don't know if I could do that. I don't know if I could say that. Oh, oh, oh. Because their first response was obedience. Their second was to take up an expectation, and their third was a step of faith, because then Jesus turns to them. They're sitting there. The jars are right there in front of them. And Jesus says to him, hey, now, go take a scoop and take it to the master of the feast. I just filled this jar with water, and now he wants me to take a scoop of it and take it to the master of the feast. He asked for wine, not water. And do you understand, like, the implications of this? It was horrific in that culture to run out of wine, especially at a wedding. So can you imagine the servants being the one being like, did it change when it got to him? Did it change when he drank? Did it change when they scooped? I don't know. But at what point was the miracle unlocked? I want to suggest to us that the miracle was unlocked in the moment of their obedience. Do whatever he says. Friends, I'm telling you today, the Lord said from the very beginning of his service, my sheep hear my voice. You are his sheep. You are his children. You hear his voice. How will a world out there know him if nobody speaks? God is looking for a people who will lean in to relationship with him, who will be so consciously aware of his presence. Not just in a church service where you get your tickle me elmo moments and you feel good for a moment, but in the everyday life. But for most of us, there's another airpod in our ear that's got, like, distraction and sound and noise. Sometimes we just turn up the volume so we don't actually have to deal with the voice that's telling us to go do XYz. Cause we're like, oh, have you ever been there? Sometimes it's a whole lot more convenient to be like, turn it up, turn it up, turn it up. Just go about my life. You know what the other thing is? It's crazy with headphones and earphones and airpods and all that sort of stuff. These days. Everyone walks around in a zone, in a zombie room, to the world that's going on. Unfortunately, we've got a whole generation of christians that are rising up with the same thing, past generations that have left it to the frozen chosen or left it to the elite few. The special force tactic team, the evangelists. Can I suggest that when Jesus said, go make disciples of all nations, it wasn't to the professionals. It was to everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus. So we have this, we have this call and mandate to live in a relationship with him where we become like the servants in this story and become so aware of his presence. Jesus is in the room. Jesus is in my car. Jesus is on the train. Jesus is in my university. Jesus is with me in my high school. Jesus is with me in my workplace. Jesus is with me. Have I got ears to hear? Because if I've got ears to hear, he's got something to say. It's his desire that all men would know him and that none would perish. And all he's looking for is for you. And I like these servants to become consciously aware. Jesus is in the room. Do whatever he says. And on doing whatever he says, do it with expectation. And then when the moment comes, step out in faith. Because at that moment, when they stepped out in faith and they took what they knew to be like water, and they took it to the master of the feast and he drank of it, he stopped the whole party and said, whoa, hang on a second. Hang on a second. Everyone brings out the best in the beginning, but you have brought out the best till last. Oh, I'm telling you right now, there are so much that God actually wants to do in these last days, his return. He wants to awaken a nation. He wants to awaken a people. He wants to awaken souls to know him. And what's crazy is that God doesn't use angels to do this. Acts, chapter eight. Philip's having a conversation. Angel turns up and he's having a conversation with an angel. And the angel says to Philip, I need you to go down to South Road on Gaza because there's a man there you need to meet. And Philip goes down there and meets a man, leads him to the Lord, hears him over reading scriptures, and they have an encounter. And he gets water baptized as he comes past a puddle of water. Now, all of that happened because of a moment that Philip engaged with God and what God was doing. But did you notice? God didn't send the angel to go do what Philip was called to do. Why? Because angels have never experienced God's grace, his mercy. They only know God in the purity of holiness. They've never experienced his grace and his mercy. So therefore, they cannot do the work that we have been called to do. Because we have experienced grace and mercy. We've experienced love. We have experienced his goodness. We've experienced from good to great. We've experienced who he is. And as a result, we need to be able to go and share that with others. Presence conscious people versus a self conscious people. You know what? So often, and I'm gonna be really honest with you, I'm in the same basket. There's moments where I'm self absorbed. There are moments where I'm self centered. There are moments where I am self focused. I'm on a mission, I'm going here, and I'm doing this, and the Lord's whispering to me, and I've got another airpod in. I'm listening to something else, and it's like, oh, that's inconvenient. Turn up the worship. Yes, Lord. I love you. Go talk to them. Yes, Lord, I worship you and go talk to them. I'll just sing a little bit louder because more often than not, sometimes we actually don't want to step out because we're concerned about what might be the response, what might be the reaction, what might be, what might be. But what if. What if they respond and say, yes? What if God gives you a prophetic download that unlocks the key to their salvation? What if it unlocks a family and a generation and a community and a nation? What if God wants to do something through you? See, the thing is that the best till last, the good to great, it only gets better because one corinthians chapter three, verse 16, tells us that you and I are now the temples of a living God. So let's flick over and come to this verse with me. Verse eleven says this, this beginning, the signs Jesus did in cana of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. Can I help you understand why that's so important and why that's placed there? There are 400 years between the departure of God's presence from the temple and Jesus arrival. The temple of God had the presence of God in it. But because of profane fire, because of sin and because of disobedience, God removes his presence from the temple. Have you read your bibles? That happened. He removed his presence because of disobedience. What unlocked the glory of God? What unlocked the glory of God in Jesus in this moment was their obedience. Could you imagine for a second if all we did was hear and obey where God would break out and people's lives would be changed? Everything changes when the glory of God breaks out. This is so significant. This is the first mention of the glory of God breaking out in Jesus life. And it is in the first miracle all he ever did and the glory of God breaks out. You know the first thing they did after it? Verse twelve. After this, they went down to Capernaum, he, his mother, his brothers, his disciples, and they did not stay there many days, meaning they stayed there a few days, a long time, because the purpose of Capernaum was that there was an unreached people group that needed to know Jesus and he starts his ministry. The glory of God broke out because of obedience. What miracles are you and I missing out on in the everyday because of disobedience? We serve a really good God. He is so gracious and so merciful towards us. He's only ever looking for us to co labor with him and to partner with him in doing these things. And if you're anything like me, and we've missed it, there are moments where I'm too busy, I'm on a mission, I've got to be somewhere. There are other moments that I'm just like, oh, insecurity rises up. But what if they reject me? What if they don't like me? What if, what if, what if, what if? But what if they do? The glory of God now dwells in you and I. I. We are now the temples of the living God. When we come to faith in Christ, we become new creatures, we become a new creation, we become what's called like a new prototype is what the word means new. When we become the fullness of who we are in God, the new life that we have, and we begin to step into that and share from that place. I'm telling you, everything changes. So what's required of us? Firstly, do everything he tells you to. Obedience. First Samuel, chapter 15, verse 22, says that to obey is better than sacrifice. He's only looking for his. Do you know, I believe that we would see more miracles, more salvations, more wild stories if we would lean in and obey. But you can only do what he says to you says to do. When you take out the noises of the world, we take out the noises of everything else, take out the things that are distractions, and they might be good things, they might be good distractions, they might be like good podcasts teaching you about the word of God. They might be really good worship moments. But is it just drowning out his voice in the everyday where he wants to engage you? Because we first need to take that out to be able to step in and hear him and to obey. The second thing is they filled it to the brim, they had expectation. And the thing that we need is to not step out in fear, but to actually step out in boldness and expectation, not knowing what's going to happen, but trusting God that he's good enough that he's got it covered and he'll look after it. And can I say this even when it makes no sense, there are some things that I've had to like. Like, I've not had to. I've wanted to after it. There's been some moments where the Lord has said, hey, I want you to go do this. And I'm like, but, God, why? That doesn't make any sense. I remember this one time, I felt really strongly impressed on my heart to drive a different way. And I was like, what's. It's going to take longer. Why would I do that? And he's like, I want you to go this way. And literally, as I followed the promptings of the Holy Spirit, it was like, then the next thing came, I was like, I want you to stop here, okay? And then it was like, I want you to go and speak to that person. I was like, I've got a schedule, lord. Like, lean into a conversation, unlocked a healing moment. I literally have a. Just a real simple picture that comes to mind. I shared this picture with that person. They're like, how did you know? I said, well, this is going to be a crazy story, but I actually don't drive this way. And I was meant to be on the other side. The other way. And the Lord said, go this way. And so I hear from God, and this might sound crazy, but I'm a Christian. And so, like, I just did what he said. That person receives something from God. Because my ears were open to heard. I was willing to obey. And as I stepped out in faith, feeling like I would look like an idiot, he actually came through. There's so many little moments that he's actually wanting to lead us on. Cause this church here doesn't exist for us to be consumers. This church doesn't exist for us to be comfortable. This church doesn't. And really uncomfortable today with heating, but. And if that's the seal and the deal for you, then, like, it's probably a warmer church down the road, but, you know, this church, we're gonna make you feel really uncomfortable, because we don't exist to purely be consumers of the presence of God. We exist to be a conduit that his presence could flow through to somebody else. And I believe that God actually wants to take this location from good to great. I believe he wants to take it from where it is into something beautiful that reaches the community that it lives in, that impacts the culture of the space that you occupy. This is a metron given by God for now to reach people. And I don't know if you've ever partnered with the lie that just says, oh, people don't want to hear about it, people don't want to talk about religion, people don't want to hear about church, blah, blah, blah. I'm telling you right now, there's a generation out there that are so hungry because everything else is leaving them empty. Everything else is leaving them empty. And this church is not here to entertain or be a place that makes people feel like this is a great one place to come. No, this is a place where we seek the face of God. We seek the Father, we seek his heart, we seek his word, and we worship him with all of our hearts. I believe that God wants to use you. I believe that God wants to flow through you. And his heart for you today is that you'd become more aware of his presence, the supernatural in the everyday. And it's really interesting even just being introduced here today. Cherie, the evangelist or the evangelist pillar? Evangelism pillar. My day growing up, evangelism was a swear word. Not really helpful. I didn't want to be an evangelist straight up. Didn't want to be a pastor either. Actually, pastors looked after sheep and sheep are dumb and sheep poo on themselves and they have gangs. So I wasn't interested in being a pastor either. But I never wanted to be an evangelist either. Clean sheep, you shear them regularly? Yeah, great, awesome. Sprayed, fleed. Yeah, awesome. But I didn't want to be an evangelist. I didn't want to be titled anything that had to do with evangelism or evangelist because it was like a swear word. It was like, and can I be really, really, really honest with you? I think what happens is we identify with different words and terminologies and what we do is we actually separate ourselves from what actually God has called us to. He didn't just say to the evangelist, go win the world. He came to seek and save the lost. He left his mission and his mandate to you and I and he invited us to co labour with him in doing it. You have a boss in heaven who's like, okay, come on, you're on the clock, let's go. You've got 88, 90 years to do this. Let's get this thing going. Let's just make sure that we're clocking in and out with him. Being about the father's business, loving people, reaching people, sharing with people, with good news, it changes everything. When we first started our college, we had a group of like eight students join us for numer school spirit. And back then it was Newma College and we had about eight students and we had this class and it was evangelism. And we ran the class for about eight weeks. And then we said to them at the end of the eight weeks we're going to take you to a shopping center and we're going to walk out and we're all going to go and find people to pray together first I hear from God first. And then we're going to go out and find people to share with. They're petrified, like shaking in their boots, horrified. Some of them even took a sick day. They wanted nothing to do with it. Well, the following year we started Numa School of spirit and we started what we called, sorry, not following year. The following year after that, we started a school with an activation component to it where every week the students go on the streets for two and a half, 3 hours and they go out and they share their faith, whether it's on a university, in a high school, at a breakfast program, or whether that's in a community project or whether that's down the street just walking past people. And it was really interesting because that first year it was like evangelism. No. And year after year after year we've seen God do something where now all of our students want to be there for that class. They don't want to miss it, they want to be a part of it. They want to get out in the street. They want to be able to reach people and have a go. It's the best thing ever. When you lean in to God's heart and what he's got for people and what's really cool is watching the fruit of those things. We're now seeing people come to Alpha who are getting saved on the street. We're now seeing people come into our locations through being saved on the street. We're now seeing things activated across Perth, across Hobart, across Adelaide, across Sunshine coast. It's starting to cultivate an appetite for these things. And I just want to invite you into it. So I don't know where you are today, but I just believe that God actually wants to move in and through you. He wants the presence of God to actually. Not for you just to be consciously aware of him, but to actually be a conduit of his presence. And so if you want to be more aware of his presence or potentially even you want to be aware of his presence because maybe you haven't been. I'm just going to ask you to stand to your feet and we're going to pray and I just believe that God's going to activate something in you in the same way that it was a moment where it was like, just do whatever he says. The moment they responded, the miracle went to action. And so I invite you into that right now, and then I'm going to invite you to begin to picture somebody in your world and in your life that you know, needs to know Jesus. And I'm going to ask that the Holy Spirit would come in this moment and make you more aware of his presence, make you more aware of his purpose to reach people in and through your life. [00:44:21] Speaker B: Thank you for joining us. We hope that you enjoyed today's podcast and we realize that not everyone has had the opportunity to respond to the good news of the gospel. And for this reason, in all of our services and platforms, we want to extend to you the opportunity to follow Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we have been created for relationship with God. However, sin, which is essentially disobedience, independence and disbelief, or us simply missing the mark, entered the world and separated us from God. Romans chapter six, verse 23 says that the wages of sin is death and a debt was owed. And the Bible tells us that he, Jesus, demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, he died for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. John 316 says, for God to love the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus, that whoever believes in him will be saved. All that is required of anyone is that they believe in Jesus. The son of God who came, lived, died and rose again so that we could be forgiven, made right and given the right to become children of God and to have life forevermore with him. Today you can begin a relationship with Jesus. To believe in him is to simply to respond with faith in our hearts and confess with our mouths that he is Lord and we do that through a simple prayer. Follow along with me dear Jesus, I believe that you are the son of God. I thank you that you love me and came to forgive me of my sin. I repent from my old way of life and I turn to follow you. I receive the free gift of eternal life and I ask that you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live a life of following after you. I thank you that I am born again as a child of God and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you prayed this prayer for the first time, we would love to connect with you and connect you to your next step and the local church in your area. You can contact us on our website at Numa Church. Thanks for listening.