Future Sunday 2026

00:00
We’re so glad you’re here. We always say if you arrived as a guest, we pray you leave feeling like family today.
00:06
And you arrived on a good Sunday because today is future Sunday in our church where we’re looking at the future of our church.
00:15
And man, I’m excited about what God has ahead of us. My name is Josh. If I haven’t got to meet you yet, I hope I do after the service.
00:23
But man, we’re excited about what God has ahead of us.
00:27
But before we talk about what’s ahead of us, let me take a few moments today to talk about 2025.
00:35
What a year it was. Incredible year.
00:38
I wonder if there’s anyone, Hunty, maybe whether you could just grab the table for me and just bring that one up.
00:44
That would be fantastic.
00:47
I’ve got most of what I want to say in my head, but every now and then you’ve got a glance at those notes.
00:52
And today’s one of those days that I have somewhere between 30 minutes and two hours worth of things to say to you.
01:00
I’m very excited about what God has for us.
01:02
But can I tell you some things coming up in the life of our church before we open up the Bible together today?
01:07
Some very exciting things ahead of us.
01:10
Dates for the diary.
01:11
If you’re calendar people, you’ve got to write these down.
01:14
If you’re not calendar people, you definitely have to write these down.
01:17
Because I don’t know how you do your life.
01:19
I need a calendar.
01:20
So, write these down.
01:22
We have coming up 10 days of prayer. It’s going to be happening in February.
01:29
From the 9th to the 18th of February, we’re going to be spending 10 days as a church, but not just praying.
01:35
We’re also going to be fasting together as a church.
01:39
If you’ve never fasted before, maybe you’ve done one of these kind of intermittent fasts.
01:45
That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about dieting. I’m talking about fasting today.
01:50
We’re going to be teaching on fasting in two weeks time.
01:53
And so if you’ve never done it, you can hear more then.
01:56
But I’m really excited about 10 days of prayer and fasting that we’re going to do together as a church.
02:01
On the 8th of February, so just before we start, we’re actually going to also have something going on on the Sunday evening.
02:10
And we’re going to be doing a workshop.
02:12
It’s going to be how to hear from God.
02:14
And so if you’ve ever wanted to hear from God for yourself, you’re not sure whether you can hear from God.
02:21
Maybe you’ve thought, man, that would be an awesome thing to have.
02:25
Sunday evening, the 8th of February, 6 till 8 p.m., we’re going to have how to hear from God.
02:31
And we’re going to have some opportunity together to learn to hear from God together.
02:35
Anyone excited about that? It’s going to be fun.
02:37
Do you know where we’re going to be doing that, by the way?
02:40
I’ll tell you, Pat.
02:41
We’re going to be doing that in our new church offices because we’re taking on a new facility for our midweek gatherings, for our church office.
02:52
For those of you who’ve been around, you’ll know we’ve had an office for the last two years on the campus of San Suzy Girls High School.
02:59
And we’re moving that into a new space.
03:02
And we’re taking on Kenilworth Methodist Church as our new midweek gathering.
03:06
So Sundays, we’re staying here.
03:08
You show up at 9.15, 11.15.
03:10
But if we’re going to have prayer nights or worship nights, different things.
03:16
We’re a proper church now, people.
03:18
We’ve got a chapel.
03:19
Come on, somebody.
03:20
And so we’ve got a chapel.
03:22
And so on the 8th of February, we are going to be gathering in the chapel to hear from God together.
03:30
We’re going to potentially clear these pews out.
03:33
We’ll find out if they’re gone by then.
03:35
If not, we’re all going to be sat there.
03:37
Bring a cushion.
03:38
It’s going to be great.
03:39
But we’re going to hear from God together.
03:41
I’m very excited about that.
03:43
One final thing for your diaries that I want to tell you.
03:46
The 23rd of February, it’s a Saturday.
03:49
Put that date in your diaries because our annual church conference,
03:53
all of our churches around the world gathering for,
03:56
is going to be on the 23rd of May.
03:59
It’s called The Cave.
04:00
And I want to encourage you to get there.
04:03
It’s a place where, just a profound place of encountering God.
04:07
We’re going to share more information in the coming weeks.
04:09
but I just want to give you a date for the diary there.
04:11
The cave tickets are going to be on sale soon.
04:13
It’s going to be 275 Rand.
04:15
You’re going to want to be in the room for it.
04:16
Let me give you another reason why.
04:17
Because we are flying a guest speaker in
04:20
to come and preach at the cave this year.
04:24
We’ve got one of my pastors,
04:26
Pastor Dave Thomas is flying all the way from the USA.
04:29
He’s going to be coming to lead worship with us,
04:32
to preach with us.
04:33
He’s going to be there on the Sunday afterwards
04:35
and it’s going to be a powerful time together.
04:38
So make sure you’re there, 23rd of February.
04:41
A couple of other things I want to look back at 2025.
04:44
We had a year-end offering,
04:48
and we had an opportunity for people to give into it on the 7th of December.
04:54
Anyone remember Giving Sunday?
04:56
It was so powerful.
04:57
We were sharing all the things we were believing for in 2026,
05:00
activating our faith for them all.
05:03
But I was stunned.
05:04
And I was humbled by how crazy a generous church we have.
05:09
Can I tell you how much our church pledged to give in our year-end offering?
05:14
This year, December, and it ran from December 7th all the way to December 31.
05:20
We even had some people giving on New Year’s Eve as they were launching into the new year.
05:26
But we had pledged to give in our year-end offering.
05:29
Can we have a drumroll, please? Anyone?
05:34
440,756 Rand. Come on, somebody. Amazing. That’s incredible. What an incredibly generous church,
05:47
activating our faith to believe that God has more for us individually and to impact our city.
05:56
So far, we’ve had 215,000, 713,000 Rand given, which is incredible.
06:04
And we’re so grateful for every Rand given.
06:07
One of the stories that impacted me from this season of generosity we were in was one of our young leaders.
06:15
He came up to me a couple of weeks after Giving Sunday and said that he felt stirred.
06:22
He had 300 Rand left in his account, and he felt compelled to give it all.
06:26
And it sounds a bit crazy.
06:27
So he went and checked with someone.
06:29
He said, am I being crazy?
06:31
And this person said, oh, flip, I felt the same thing for you as well.
06:35
And so he went all in.
06:37
And he said, Lord, I’m going to trust you.
06:39
He gave this 300 Rand.
06:43
And then about a week later, it’s a long story, but a week later,
06:48
God orchestrated a series of events where into his account a week later,
06:52
So someone gave 3,000 rand, 10 times what he’d given.
06:58
See, we serve a faithful God.
07:00
It was incredible just to see.
07:02
I was hearing stories of people pledging and then that week getting new jobs and new houses and different things.
07:07
And it was just amazing to see that as we trusted God, believing that he was going to make a way,
07:13
God was causing breakthrough to happen in people’s lives.
07:15
And so I’m so amazed.
07:18
Just so you guys know some of the places, you know that we gave away 100,000 Rand at the end of last year to different organizations, different things, churches, different people as part of that offering.
07:30
But we’re also doing things like buying a new trailer for all of our equipment to get it to church, to help out our serve teams.
07:39
We’re going to be investing in, we’re looking this winter, here’s some breaking news.
07:45
This winter, we’re looking to start a holiday club for the people in our church,
07:52
but also a whole bunch of people outside of our church to reach the next generation for Jesus.
07:57
We’re going to be investing into that through our year-end offering.
08:00
We’re going to be buying new production equipment.
08:02
You’re going to be seeing new lights on the stage, different things.
08:05
We are building a church here for the generations, and God is going to use your generosity to do it.
08:11
So can we honor every person who gave during year-end offering?
08:16
So grateful for all God is doing in our church.
08:21
One final thing I want to show you from 25 before we jump into the Word today is I want to show you,
08:27
I think it’s good as you all give.
08:29
I think if you give into the church, this is your money.
08:33
And this is your money for us to build the kingdom of God together, that we get to serve.
08:38
And when you give, it’s basically saying we’re trusting God and we’re trusting the elders and the staff of this church to spend it in a sensible way to impact lives for the kingdom of God.
08:48
So let me just show you, because we want to be a transparent church, let me show you what happened in the way of giving last year.
08:55
Our total income last year, 2025, was just over 2.85 million rand given into our church.
09:05
Yeah, praise God for that.
09:08
And of that, the tithe was just under 2 million rand that came in from the members of our church family.
09:14
Vision offerings was about 220,000 rand.
09:17
That was from the 2024 offering.
09:20
Some people were still giving in the first part of the year and then from last year’s offering.
09:25
And then what we had was a…
09:32
Amen.
09:33
We had a global grant.
09:35
Who knew that was hard to say?
09:36
From our Freedom Church global family, Pastor Josh, for those of you who remember, came here in June of last year.
09:42
He saw what we were doing, and the directional leadership team of our church said,
09:46
we think if we invest some money into the church now, you’re going to be able to accelerate forward in what God’s doing.
09:52
And so they sent 425,000 Rand to invest in our church, which meant that we were able, with that money, took on a new staff member.
10:02
And so we were able to then push things forward in our services, which was incredible.
10:08
Other things then, the other includes things like ticket sales for Dauntless Hoard, Cave Charge, different things, a few other things in there.
10:16
The thing I want to just point out to you here to help you to see is how our spending, our expenses went.
10:24
We had just over 23% on salaries, facilities about 22%.
10:29
That’s important to us, and I just want to help you to see why.
10:33
we spend a lot of time and thought and effort and prayer thinking about best practice of how to spend
10:38
money that comes into the church we ask a lot of people we talk to a lot of people here’s what
10:42
you’ll see in the majority of churches that if churches that don’t own their own building
10:49
or still have a bond or whatever generally about 75 to 80 percent of the income or expenses sorry
10:57
goes towards salaries and facilities, generally 75 to 80%.
11:01
What we’ve managed to do last year was keep that at 45%.
11:06
And so we worked really hard to make sure that we’re not just spending on salaries and buildings.
11:14
Why? Because that meant we were able to spend a lot more on ministries.
11:19
And so that includes things like bringing people in to speak.
11:23
includes our kids, our junior youth launch, our flags outside, everything that makes a Sunday
11:29
happen, all that kind of stuff, feeding our serve teams, all those things. But also you’ll see that
11:34
we gave away a lot of money last year. 21.2% went outside of our church to bless other people.
11:42
And that was amazing. I think what, just so you guys, you know, as a church family, we’ll probably
11:47
look to bring the missions budget down a bit this year in order to invest more in our church.
11:52
because we think there’s some more investment that needs to go in to our church.
11:56
So let me just say this.
11:57
For those of you who give, what impact does that have?
12:01
I want to show you just a couple of stats.
12:03
We could be here all day showing you this stuff.
12:05
But let me just show you a couple of things and share a couple of stories before we open up the word.
12:10
The first stat that I want to show you, from 2024 to 2025, we saw a 48.28% increase in attendance on our Sunday gatherings.
12:25
What does that mean?
12:26
That means more people hearing the name of Jesus preached, more people gathering in community, more people being prayed for, more people being loved and supported,
12:35
more people finding the fullness of Jesus in their lives, more baptisms, more children being ministered to,
12:41
more youth being ministered to. That’s a big deal, everybody. And I’m so excited about what God is doing.
12:47
The other thing I want to tell you is that we saw last year alone in 2025,
12:52
we saw 112 people respond to the gospel in one of our Sunday gatherings.
13:00
People saying yes to Jesus, going from death to life, that’s incredible.
13:05
And so as you invest in our church, know that it’s making a difference.
13:10
I was thinking about some of the stories.
13:13
We had a serve team party last night.
13:14
I was sharing some stories with our serve teams.
13:18
And a couple of the stories I was thinking about, there were so many.
13:22
But a couple of the stories I was thinking about, people impacted in our church.
13:25
One of the last services we had, myself and our youth pastor, Letitia, we were able to pray with a young woman who had been involved in a quite a toxic cult in the CBD.
13:38
It was very intense.
13:41
They want everything from your bank account details to every detail you can give them to draw you in.
13:49
And it’s very toxic.
13:50
And she found herself even in a leadership role in that environment.
13:53
And then last year, the Holy Spirit opened her eyes and showed her what was going on in her life.
13:58
She came through to our church and we were able to pray with her.
14:02
And the way I saw the Holy Spirit ministering to that young woman as she’s in tears,
14:07
literally in the car park out here in San Suu Kyi, in Saks,
14:10
she’s in tears as the Holy Spirit is doing a work of freeing her from the things of the past.
14:16
I was thinking, man, every person who invests in our church, you’ve got a part of her story.
14:20
I was thinking about the young woman who we were able to lead on a journey of emotional, spiritual, and physical healing from sexual abuse and trauma in her past.
14:32
And she stepped into some of the fullness of life that Jesus had for her.
14:37
Why? Because some people in our church decided to show up and invest.
14:43
I was thinking about marriages that last year were on the rocks.
14:48
people not sure coming into 2026 whether they’d still be together.
14:53
And yet, because of the ministry of our church,
14:56
those people’s marriages are coming from health to health,
15:00
growing in life in Christ.
15:01
I could go on, church family,
15:03
but the investment that you all make makes an eternal difference,
15:07
a material difference.
15:09
And I’m so grateful for our church.
15:12
Do you know our community, here’s what I know,
15:14
our community would miss us if we weren’t here
15:17
because we’re making a difference. And so it’s been a great 2025, but I’ve got about 17 minutes
15:24
to tell you about 2026. Come on, somebody. Can we get into Future Sunday? I’m so excited. Hey,
15:31
let me start Future Sunday this way. Can you turn to the person next to you? Maybe you don’t know
15:35
them. You can get to know them. I want you to turn to the person next to you and I want you,
15:39
and even if you’re a guest, you can do this exercise. You can guess. But I want you to tell
15:43
the person next to you, why is Freedom Church here? Why are we here? What are we here to do?
15:51
What difference are wir here to make? Why are wir here? You’ve got 30 seconds. What do
15:56
you think? Why are wir hier? Why are wir hier? What wir hier to do?
16:14
okay okay I didn’t give you 30 seconds I’ve got work to do here today let me interrupt you
16:19
come on someone shout out to me why are we here what do you reckon
16:28
connecting people to Jesus
16:31
freedom that’s a good word I like that one healing yeah I like that anyone else yes I’m
16:38
basically saying yes you all I can barely hear any of you it’s great it’s fine um all good answers
16:44
but not the answer I’m after today um because because I want to share with you some of um what
16:49
the future holds for us as a church. Let me just tell you the future’s bright, everybody.
16:54
I’m excited about the future of our church. As I look at where we’re going and what God is doing,
17:00
I’m so excited about the future of our church. Why do we have Future Sunday? Let me start there.
17:05
Proverbs 29 verse 18 says this, where there is no revelation or other translations say no vision,
17:13
people cast off restraint. The idea here is that a restraint, something that keeps me on track,
17:21
is a good thing. That if I just go this way or that way, it’s actually, you know this in your life,
17:26
that you need something to give you parameters to focus. But blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s
17:32
instruction. So Future Sunday is all about articulating the revelation, the vision that God
17:38
has given us so that we can have restraints this year. That is to say we can have focus.
17:43
focus on the things that God has for us so why are we here well if you ask Meg why we’re here
17:51
two years ago she would say something like this she would say that she grew up in a home
17:58
that she had loving parents she had great parents but but as you look at the the generations that
18:05
she came from there was a large amount of dysfunction and there was also no faith no
18:10
context of church or faith. They weren’t even Christmas and Easter people. They were funeral
18:15
people. You’d only find them in a church on a funeral. That was it. And so that’s the family
18:21
she came from. She was invited to church by a friend who went to a youth group and she ended
18:27
up giving her life to Jesus. And as she gave her life to Jesus, she started to see some of the
18:34
dysfunction that was in her life. Pain from the past, experiencing her family of drug abuse and
18:41
sexual abuse and different traumas that had caught up her family. And she was coming out of that
18:48
environment and stepping into something new now with Jesus. And over the years, God started to set
18:56
her free from worry and anxiety, from fears, from control, and started to unleash her into the God
19:06
call on her life and her purpose. But the most impactful reason why Meg would tell you that she
19:11
was, we were planting this church, was because the work that Jesus did in her was not just for her.
19:17
We now look at our children, and we would say the generations after us will now not need to fight
19:24
the battles that she fought, the giants she had to fight, because we now see that our daughter
19:31
Evelyn and our son Noah are going to live a different story. And then she would say,
19:37
look around the city of Cape Town. How many people are where I was? How many generations need saving?
19:45
She would give you some version of that story. My version of the story would be that I grew up in a
19:51
a church context. My parents were pastors. I would often see in years of ministry,
19:59
this August is 15 years of full-time ministry for me, which is amazing. I’m just grateful to God
20:05
that he’s brought me this far. And what I’ve seen over the years is a lot of people who know the
20:12
name of Jesus, know about Jesus, but are not living in the fullness of Jesus. I know a lot of people
20:19
in the culture who would claim the name of Jesus and their lives wouldn’t look like Jesus.
20:25
And so one of the verses I think that summarizes for me the future of our church is actually a
20:32
verse that I preached at the start of our church here in the southern suburbs. I went back and
20:36
looked at my notes. The first two Sundays I preached on this verse and I want to give you
20:40
this verse today. And so if you’re someone who likes a verse for the year, I’ve got one for you.
20:46
John 10 verse 10 says this.
20:50
Jesus is talking.
20:51
He says, the thief, the enemy, our spiritual enemy,
20:54
comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
20:58
Let’s pause there.
20:58
Anyone seen in their lives, maybe 2025, the enemy came to steal some things.
21:05
I want to tell you next week, we’ve got a message from our senior pastor,
21:10
overseas our global churches.
21:12
Gary Snozell is going to be preaching a word about restoration.
21:16
I want to encourage you to be here next Sunday for that word.
21:19
But this is the story of a lot of people in our city,
21:23
maybe even in the room today,
21:24
that the enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy.
21:30
But I have come, Jesus says,
21:33
that they may have life and what?
21:36
Have it to the full.
21:39
The fullness of life.
21:41
Translation say abundant life.
21:45
Abundance, fullness.
21:48
My irritation at times was seeing Christians claim the name of Jesus
21:55
and not live in the fullness of a life in Jesus.
21:59
And so can I give you a phrase that I hope you’ll carry with you in 2026?
22:05
Take some internalizing and some thought.
22:08
Sunday and the Sunday after and the Sunday after that.
22:11
Why are we here?
22:12
I want to be able to give you an answer.
22:13
And I want each of you to be able to give each other an answer as well.
22:17
And this is why we’re here in 2026.
22:21
It’s to lead people to discover Jesus and experience the fullness of life in Him.
22:30
To lead people to discover Jesus and experience the fullness of life in Him.
22:38
I want to explore those two ideas that we have there.
22:41
Discovering Jesus and experiencing the fullness of life in him.
22:45
Let me start with the second one.
22:47
What would the fullness of life look like for you?
22:52
Just pause.
22:54
Take a moment to think about it.
22:56
I think probably each of us in the room today would have a sense of what fullness might feel like.
23:03
Maybe we can invert that and you know what emptiness feels like.
23:07
Or maybe you know what partial life feels like.
23:11
That is to say you’ve experienced a measure of Jesus,
23:15
but the fullness of Jesus up till now has escaped you.
23:21
But here’s the thing that is a contention point for me, I guess,
23:26
is that some of us, we live a half-hearted, lukewarm Christian existence,
23:31
and yet Jesus promises us fullness.
23:37
And I want to say to us today, church family,
23:40
my burden, our burden for 2026
23:44
is that if you are a member of our church family,
23:46
that you would experience the fullness of life in Jesus.
23:53
The fullness of life,
23:56
if you wrestle with anxiety and worry,
23:59
what does the fullness of life look like?
24:01
It looks like seeing that Jesus is holding your future
24:05
and that he’s going to take care of it.
24:08
So I don’t need to worry.
24:10
I’m good.
24:13
The burdens have been taken off my shoulders.
24:16
Why?
24:17
I’m at peace.
24:18
Jesus has got my future.
24:22
If pride is something you wrestle with,
24:26
what is pride?
24:26
My pastor would always say that pride is reserving ourselves
24:29
for the last word.
24:31
That I don’t need input in my life.
24:35
I don’t need someone to speak in because I’ve got it.
24:39
Me and my few years of existence on the earth
24:41
know more than every other human,
24:44
so I don’t need anyone to speak into my life.
24:47
It’s pride.
24:48
So what does pride then,
24:50
what does the fullness of life look like?
24:52
It looks like humbling myself
24:54
to have someone speak into my life.
24:56
That’s the fullness of life.
24:58
That’s the fullness of life.
25:00
Maybe the fullness of life for you this year is hope
25:03
because you’re looking over this year and you’re seeing some things and you’re a little bit nervous
25:09
about it. Right now, you’re not sure how you’re paying your rent at the end of the month. Right
25:13
now, you’re not sure what’s going on and there’s hope and the hope in Jesus is going to give you
25:19
the fullness of life. I was even thinking about, I love this chapter, Romans chapter 8 and one of
25:29
the verses I think speaks to the fullness of life. Romans 8 verse 17 in this context of hope it says
25:36
this, now if we are children then we are heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Amazing
25:43
promise. A lot of us like to stop there but the next bit is interesting. If indeed we share in his
25:51
sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. What does the fullness of life look like?
25:58
it doesn’t look like easy street.
26:00
It doesn’t look like,
26:02
see some of us, we misunderstand
26:04
that we thought we were expecting the easy life
26:08
and when it didn’t come,
26:09
we thought that we weren’t having Jesus.
26:12
But actually experiencing the fullness of life in Jesus
26:16
can include sufferings.
26:17
Do you know how I know that?
26:19
The cross.
26:23
Was Jesus not the fullness of who he was in the cross?
26:27
Of course he was.
26:30
And so some of us, because life was hard in 25,
26:34
discounted the idea that we could experience fullness.
26:38
The work was intense.
26:39
The relationships were challenging, that were fracturing.
26:42
And yet here’s the promise.
26:44
You can still experience the fullness of Jesus
26:47
in the middle of those seasons.
26:49
Why?
26:50
Because if indeed we share in his suffering,
26:53
in order that, there’s an order.
26:58
how do you get to the glory of Jesus through the cross through the suffering of Christ
27:05
and so this year even if challenges come your way friends know that the fullness of Jesus is still
27:11
here for you to discover Jesus what an amazing idea can it’s future Sunday and I’m excited but can I
27:22
just rebuke you for a second. I’ll go back to nice pastor afterwards. Some of you didn’t know you’re
27:27
going to get rebuked in church today. Okay, let me just go there. I said discover Jesus, and some of
27:33
you, it did nothing to your heart. You’re so familiar with the idea and the presence and the person of
27:40
Jesus that your affection was not stirred for him. You were not excited about the idea of discovering
27:46
Jesus because you said to yourself, I’ve already done that. I heard a preacher saying one time that
27:54
trying to discover God is like taking a can of Coke. You pour out all the Coke and then you go
28:01
into the Atlantic Ocean and you try and collect the whole Atlantic Ocean into a can. You’ll get a
28:09
measure of it, but the next day you get to go in and you experience another part of what it is to
28:15
have the ocean. You’ll never fully discover him, friends. But the promise of Jesus is that every day
28:23
we get to wake up and say today, I get to discover him again.
28:30
I get a fresh revelation of him in his word. I get to enjoy him afresh. I fear, I was going to say
28:38
in churches, let me be more challenging. I fear in our church, in this church, that some of us
28:47
would treat Jesus and treat Jesus currently the same way he was treated in his hometown.
28:53
When Jesus arrived in his hometown, the Bible said he could do no miracles there
28:58
because there was dishonor for him. I wonder if we can be a church this year that says,
29:03
I want Jesus.
29:07
I want to discover him again.
29:09
I want a fresh revelation of him.
29:12
Because here’s the thing, if you want the fullness of life,
29:16
you only need Jesus.
29:22
We have different pursuits.
29:23
We have different ideas.
29:25
Now, when I discover him afresh, he leads me into fullness.
29:30
You will not find fullness in your career.
29:35
You can give your whole life to something
29:37
that will not make you full.
29:39
You will continue to thirst and be hungry
29:42
and you will not discover it.
29:45
But when you discover Jesus again,
29:49
man, you’re gonna find fullness.
29:52
But here’s the thing,
29:54
the vision for this year that I have
29:56
and I hope you have for us as we go into this year
30:00
My vision is to lead people to discover Jesus and experience the fullness of life in him.
30:06
But let me be clear.
30:08
I hope your vision is not to be led to discover Jesus and experience the fullness of life in him.
30:15
I want you to have a vision for others as well.
30:18
To lead people.
30:20
So that if you’re on a serve team on a Sunday morning, you know that you’re here to lead people to Jesus.
30:27
And experience the fullness of life in a small group, in your workplace, with your family.
30:33
That we would all take ownership of this idea that we all get to do this together.
30:41
How are we going to do that though?
30:43
I want to give you a concept to chew on today.
30:47
And the concept is this, the power of one.
30:51
The power of one.
30:53
Let’s open up Acts chapter 3 together.
30:57
Acts 3 verse 1 to 10.
31:00
We’re going to read a little bit of Bible.
31:02
You with me?
31:06
This is just after day of Pentecost.
31:11
The Holy Spirit’s come.
31:13
Peter and John are walking to the temple.
31:15
It says one day.
31:18
Everyone just say one day.
31:21
Just say it one more time because some of you didn’t say it.
31:23
One day.
31:24
One day.
31:26
Let me just pause.
31:26
One day.
31:28
Do you know, we’re going to read about a man and it was his one day.
31:32
It was his one day to encounter Jesus.
31:35
I think there’s some of you in the room today.
31:36
Today’s your one day.
31:39
You came and you thought, let me just try church today.
31:42
Let me try Jesus today.
31:45
It’s your one day.
31:46
Can I tell you something?
31:49
He’s here.
31:53
If today was your one day, just to try it again.
31:56
come back
31:59
you did not miss him
32:01
this is not the Sunday that Jesus was not in church
32:04
he’s here
32:06
and one day
32:08
we all have a one day moment
32:10
one day
32:11
one day Peter and John were going up to the temple
32:14
at the time of prayer
32:16
at three in the afternoon
32:17
now a man who was lame from birth
32:18
was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful
32:21
where he was put every day to beg
32:23
from those going into the temple courts
32:25
When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
32:30
Peter looked straight at him, as did John.
32:33
Then Peter said, look at me.
32:37
So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
32:43
Then Peter said, silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.
32:49
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.
32:52
Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up.
32:55
And instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
32:58
He jumped to his feet and began to walk.
33:01
Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God.
33:07
When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
33:11
they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful.
33:18
And they were filled with wonder and amazement of what had happened to him.
33:23
I love the contrast here of Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 3.
33:30
Acts 2, Peter stands in front of a crowd and then the crowd gets bigger.
33:36
And the Bible says that 3,000 people were added to their number.
33:43
And I think, let’s be frank.
33:47
In some of our churches now, if a pastor had a church that grew 3,000 people overnight,
33:57
I don’t know how many pastors are stopping for the one.
34:02
Let’s forget that.
34:04
Let’s put it on us as individuals.
34:06
If you have a great success in your life, the one day and the next day you’re walking in,
34:14
Are you ready to stop for the one, the power of one, one person?
34:21
And do you know why Peter did this?
34:23
Because he’d seen his Lord do it throughout his ministry.
34:27
Jesus was very familiar with the crowds.
34:31
He loved the crowds.
34:33
Very familiar.
34:35
There was a crowd of people when the feeding of the 5,000 happened.
34:39
There’s a crowd of people.
34:41
He loved the crowds.
34:43
And then he would stop.
34:45
as Zacchaeus was in the tree.
34:48
And then he would stop to heal the blind man.
34:52
Peter saw throughout Jesus’ ministry
34:55
that they could live with the crowds and the one.
34:59
And as a church, I believe that’s where God is leading us to.
35:03
But it’s not because leaders will do it.
35:05
Because listen to me, our leaders do this.
35:08
I know our leaders and they spend most of their time
35:11
with individuals, with ones, talking, praying.
35:14
connected. But I was just thinking about this this morning. What if we had a culture as a church
35:20
that was not reliant on a system that I’m sure someone here is going to take care of them.
35:26
What if every one of us said one day, maybe this is someone’s one day. Maybe they need this today.
35:32
Maybe I’m going to pick myself up and maybe I don’t want to be the person to do it today,
35:36
but I’m going to do it because this might be their one day. And I’m going to be here to help someone
35:41
to discover Jesus and experience the fullness of life in Him today.
35:45
What does that look like?
35:46
Maybe it’s having a conversation in church.
35:48
Maybe it’s having a conversation somewhere else.
35:50
Maybe it’s when you know that you’re ready to serve today
35:54
and you don’t really want to serve, but you’re going to show up
35:57
because someone’s one day is dependent on me
36:00
doing the thing that I’m meant to do.
36:03
That I get to make a difference in somebody’s life today.
36:07
Why? Because it’s somebody’s one day.
36:11
it’s somebody’s one day here’s a phrase i want us to take hold of as we head towards the end of the
36:17
message that our church is built by one person at a time our church is built one person at a time
36:25
and so if you’re a member of our church family you get to invest your life into one
36:33
and maybe you’ve been the one,
36:35
can I encourage you to step into investing in the one?
36:39
Find one, just one person at a time.
36:41
Just pray for one, just care for one.
36:43
Do you know, why do I show up early and stay late?
36:47
For the one.
36:49
Why do I sacrifice?
36:50
Because I want to help someone to discover Jesus.
36:53
That’s why I sacrifice my time
36:55
for every person who gives into our church.
36:57
Why do we give?
36:59
For the one.
37:00
For the one person that’s going to discover Jesus and experience the fullness of life in Him.
37:06
That’s why we do what we do, church family.
37:09
It’s not because we like putting on church services.
37:13
Why do we show up to serve?
37:14
It’s not because we love being in a hot junior school.
37:18
It’s because there is one person today who needs the love of Jesus to experience the fullness of life in Him.
37:25
I hope you’re excited today, church family.
37:28
The future’s bright, everybody.
37:31
because Jesus is alive.
37:33
He is reigning.
37:34
He is ruling.
37:35
That we get to come and worship Him.
37:38
And when we do that, things change.
37:40
I’m going to break a table in a second.
37:42
God is good.
37:43
We’re going to see some things this year.
37:46
We’re going to see some things this year.
37:48
But it’s not because we’re searching out the crowds.
37:51
It’s because our church is built one person at a time.
37:54
That we get to…
37:55
So can I encourage you,
37:57
if you’re a member of our church family,
37:59
every time you come to one of our gatherings,
38:02
if you’re heading to small group,
38:03
you just pray the prayer.
38:05
Jesus, help me to lead someone to discover you.
38:09
Experience the fullness of life in you.
38:11
Maybe you feel like you need that.
38:12
I’ve had small groups where I’ve just needed that for myself.
38:16
And yet I’ve still prayed that prayer.
38:19
And in serving others, God’s actually blessed me.
38:23
In being there for someone else,
38:25
it’s exactly what I needed.
38:27
Some of us, we need the purpose of being helpful.
38:31
Some of us know, it’s like, I just need to be helpful to somebody.
38:35
That’s what we need.
38:37
Some of you, you just showed up today.
38:39
If you weren’t on a serve team, you weren’t going to be here,
38:41
but you knew you needed to be helpful.
38:45
And God will use it to bless you and to minister to someone else.