Building Gospel Bridges Talk 2

0:00 · Speaker 1 I'm going to introduce Phil to you all just before he speaks. I'm going to pray for Phil in a moment. I'm not going to spend too long on introductions because you have all sorts of different ways that you should already know this guy and his story, at least. Either if you are currently reading his book, Story Bear, if you're in home groups, if you've listened to the podcast that I did with Phil a few weeks ago, if you were here at the men's breakfast yesterday or the young adults event last night, unlikely there's many young adults here at this service, but certainly there's been plenty of opportunities to get to know him. But for those people, Phil, who don't know you, just a brief thing about family, about work, where you're coming over from, all that sort of thing, and then I'll pray for you.

0:40 · Speaker 2 All right, thanks. Good morning, everybody. So brilliant to be with you this weekend. My name is Phil. I live in Birmingham. Can everybody say Birmingham? Thank you very much for a bit more at home. I'm married to Danny.

0:52 · Speaker 2 We've got two boys, Caleb, whose love language is football. he's 12, and Joss, who's six, his love language is fighting. And my day job is I work for the Evangelical Alliance as a missiologist and evangelist. Basically, my heart and passion is seeing people come to know Jesus. So work that out across the UK, working for the Evangelical Alliance, but also part of the leadership team of a local church in Birmingham.

1:16 · Speaker 1 Brilliant. I'm going to pray for you, and then I'm going to give you all the time you need to it teaches. Father, we pray now for Phil as he comes to teach us. We pray that by your spirit, you will work in him and you will work through him for your kingdom purposes, for your glory. We pray for ourselves that our hearts will be soft, that our ears will be attentive to what you have to say to us corporately as your church, but also for what you have to say to us individually as your children. Father, we are so privileged to be able to partner with you in the work that you're doing in your world. Thank you that we have this opportunity to work together for you, that we have been given this mission, as we talked about last week, to scatter seed and then to hand the rest over to you as you open blind eyes, as you shine your light into hearts. And we pray that last week, this week, the month that is to come, that this will be a time that we look back on and remember as a time when this church really took on that mission in a fresh and new way, inspired by your spirit, bringing your word to bear in people's lives, bringing hope and light into places of darkness.

2:37 · Speaker 1 And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

2:39 · Speaker 2 Amen. Amen. I think we're going to begin by watching a little video.

2:47 · Speaker 3 We are the Evangelical Alliance.

2:49 · Speaker 4 We want everyone in the UK to have the opportunity to know Jesus.

2:54 · Speaker 5 We are an alliance of evangelicals. Of churches and charities. Entrepreneurs. Grimars. Colleagues.

3:04 · Speaker 6 Neighbours. Friends. Loving God.

3:07 · Speaker 7 Serving each other. Declaring with one voice Jesus is our King. We are an alliance of evangelicals.

3:15 · Speaker 8 Cheering each other on as we seek to be salt and light in the world. You'll find us everywhere. In places of influence.

3:27 · Speaker 3 And where people are hurting the most. In Parliament. In Government.

3:33 · Speaker 6 Agarinstadotseo. Speaking out on issues that matter the most. We are transforming communities. Changing lives.

3:41 · Speaker 5 with the amazingly good news of Jesus.

3:45 · Speaker 7 We are the Evangelical Alliance.

3:51 · Speaker 5 We pray, speak, listen and share. Through challenging times and choppy waters,

4:00 · Speaker 6 we stand together and serve each other.

4:02 · Speaker 4 We are the Evangelical Alliance.

4:04 · Speaker 5 Together, we're making Jesus known.

4:15 · Speaker 2 Well, it really has been brilliant to be with you this weekend, and hello also to those watching online. Before we get started, I want to just say a few thank yous. Thank you to you as a church for making me feel so welcome this weekend. It's been such a joy to spend time with you. And in a job like mine, you get to kind of see some characteristics and hallmarks of churches. And I want to encourage you this morning to say that, first of all, you're a church of great welcome. I don't think I've gone more than 10 meters in this church without someone shaking my hand and saying it's great to see you. But I want to speak that over you and say that you're a church that welcomes not just those in your own family, but those who will come to be part of your family.

4:56 · Speaker 2 And I want to encourage you in that to continue to be a church of great welcome. I also want to encourage you to say that you're a church of great life, and healthy things that are alive grow. This church is alive. The church across the UK is alive, but I want to say that I've observed such life in the people across this church this weekend. I want to encourage you that you're a church that's alive. And thirdly, I want to encourage you that you're a church of extraordinary leadership. It's been a great joy to spend time with leaders from Friday night through to today. And I want to thank you particularly, Chris, for your friendship, your generosity, your hospitality.

5:31 · Speaker 2 You're welcome. And I wonder, there's lots of leaders in this room. I'm not going to make them stand up, but could we just honor, I just want to honor the leaders in this room. Could we just give them a round of applause and say thank you for your leadership? God bless you. The gospel still works. The church of Jesus Christ is alive and kicking. And this morning, before we dive into God's Word, I want to encourage us and inspire you and enthuse you with something I'm really passionate about and invite you to do something really important.

6:03 · Speaker 2 And that is, if you're not yet a personal member of the Evangelical Alliance, I want to invite you to become one. Let me tell you what that is, why that matters, and what you can do about it. Well, first of all, lots of people ask me, what's an evangelical? Well, an evangelical is a good news person in a bad news world. Evangelical comes from the Greek word evangel, which means good news. What else? We evangelicals are people of the Bible. We don't change the words of God to accommodate our culture.

6:29 · Speaker 2 We want to see our culture transformed with the words of God. Secondly, we evangelicals are people of Jesus. We believe that His life and His death and His resurrection was the most important moment in the whole of human history. That He's our God, but He can also be our friend. Thirdly, we evangelicals are people of conversion. You don't become a Christian by accident. The most important decision any of us can ever make is to choose to follow Jesus or not. And fourthly, we evangelicals are people of activism.

6:56 · Speaker 2 We want to see the world become more like the kingdom. That's why it was evangelicals who were at the forefront of the abolition of the slave trade. More recently, that's like Christians against poverty, street pastors, food banks, whatever we can do to see hope come to the most hopeless in our world. And who we are as the EA, as I hope the video helped communicate, is we're an alliance of evangelicals. We believe that the church is better when it's one. And so we've existed to unite different backgrounds, streams, stories, ethnicities of Christians together. Because Jesus' prayer in John 17 is that the church might be one so that the world might know. And we've existed since 1846 to do two really simple things.

7:38 · Speaker 2 First of all, we want to see every single person in the United Kingdom come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. So we equip and we inspire the church to make that happen. But secondly, we speak up at the highest levels of government on issues that really matter to Christians. Why? Because first of all, if we don't, who will? Secondly, because the government needs to know what an incredible job churches like yours are doing to bless the communities in which you serve. And thirdly, because there's increasingly contentious issues on which we need to speak up on. Things like free speech.

8:10 · Speaker 2 Why? Because it shouldn't be a hate crime to declare that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And there's an increasing chill factor towards Bible-believing Christians in our nation at this time. But we have more gospel freedoms in the UK than almost any other nation on earth. But we need to keep them or we need to use them or we'll lose them. And so we speak up on behalf of all of us in government across the four nations of the UK to make that happen. One quick example of that, there was a bill going through Parliament a few years ago that would have enabled Ofsted to come into every Sunday school and youth group in the country and essentially vet what was being said. We thought that sounded more like North Korea or Saudi Arabia, government controlling private religion.

8:50 · Speaker 2 So we spoke up. And I'm delighted to say that as a result of that intervention, that bill has been kicked into touch for the time being. Isn't that good news? But here's where we need your help. Because the strength of our voice depends on the size of our membership. And we're around 600 organisations, 3,000 churches, and around 26,000 individuals. But increasingly, when the government asks us how many members we have, it's the individuals they want to know about. The great news is that this time last year, we were about 21,000 individuals.

9:19 · Speaker 2 It's now 26,000, so there's been a real increase. But the hope over the next 10 years is to get to 50,000. Why 50,000? Because 50,000 is about the size of the membership of the Liberal Democrats. Bear with me. We're not a political party. We speak on behalf of the church. But if you're bigger than the third largest political party in the UK, it means that when the new Prime Minister comes in, they need to give us a call rather than the other way around.

9:42 · Speaker 2 So this morning, I humbly want to ask you, would you help us increase our membership so that we might speak with a louder voice, that more people in the UK might come to know Jesus, and that we might maintain our gospel freedoms and tell the government what an amazing job the church is doing. If you're able to do that, I've got a little table in the sunny foyer. So when you're having your coffee after the service, come and see me. Give you a little form like this. You can fill in a few details. It costs just three pounds a month to join the Evangelical Alliance. If you're part of a If you're a couple, please tick the box that says join us as a couple. It's still £3 a month.

10:12 · Speaker 2 It counts as two. If your spouse isn't here, please tick the box, fill in their name. Tell them later. It'll be fine. As a little thank you, just because this matters so much, and frankly, it's the least we can do. If you join us this morning, we'd love to give you a little welcome box. It's the least we can do. In the box is a few things.

10:28 · Speaker 2 First of all, thank you for reading the book Story Bearer. I'm so delighted and so encouraged to hear that. But I've got another book. It's about friendship. Had a terrible pandemic. Two things happened. First of all, Story Bearer came out in March 2020, the week all the bookshops closed. The second thing that happened is my mum, as I'm about to share, sadly died of cancer.

10:47 · Speaker 2 And two things got me through that terrible season in my life, faith in Jesus and friendship. So I decided to write a book about the most important, least talked about relationship in the church and the world. That's in the box. We'd love to give you that. Second thing we'd love to give you is this. It's called Speak Up. It tells your rights and responsibilities when talking about Jesus in the workplace and in the community. Loads of people say you can't share your faith at work.

11:09 · Speaker 2 You can. You just can't abuse a position of authority over an employee Loads of people say you can't wear a cross at work. You can you just can't wear a life-size one because the health and safety hazard So let's share that with you finally and for some of this might swing the deal And I know that when Joe came this really helps people decide to join the evangelical lines if you join us this morning I'd love to give you an evangelical lines key ring. I know I know It's got on the end of it as many of you will know an attachable pound coin which means that the next time you need a trolley at the supermarket or a locker for your gym in an increasingly cashless society, you will thank Jesus the day you join the Evangelical Alliance. So please do come and join us. Let me pray. I've been prayed for. Why don't we pray this morning that the Lord would speak to us through his word.

11:53 · Speaker 2 Father, thank you that you're on the move in this nation. Thank you for this church that is alive. Father, thank you for those who will speak up for us in the corridors of power. But today, Lord, would you please speak to us? And I just invite you in your heart to pray a really simple prayer this morning. Dear Lord, would you please speak to me? In Jesus' name. Amen.

12:17 · Speaker 2 If you've got a Bible, we'd love you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And I'm going to read to us from verse 7 to 18. And this is a passage that has meant so much to me over the last few years. And I pray that the Lord might speak to us through it this morning. Paul writes, 2 Corinthians 4. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair.

12:51 · Speaker 2 Persecuted, but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written, I believed, therefore I have spoken. Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak. Because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

13:39 · Speaker 2 Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. I don't know about you, but I love that the Bible is real about life. You know, sometimes I just need a reality check in life. I have those regularly with my two children.

14:14 · Speaker 2 Not long ago, my 12-year-old was struggling to get something to work on YouTube. So I looked at him with not much sympathy and said to him, Caleb, when I was growing up, there was no YouTube. There was no streaming. We had four TV channels and no video player. And he looked at me and he went, Ugh, it would suck to be you. And then just before Christmas, I was sat in the kitchen with my six-year-old and I was wearing shorts. My six-year-old looked across the table at me and said, Daddy, this was genuine sincerity. He said, Daddy, why don't you take some hair from your legs and put it on your head?

14:54 · Speaker 2 I then reminded him that genetics are a terrible thing and that he should enjoy his hair while it lasts because it might not do so very long. But one of the things I love about the Bible is it's full of reality checks. One of the things I've been reading recently is through the Psalms. They're real, real people of God grappling with real feelings and real issues. And this is a passage that is real. Because it begins by comparing us to jars of clay. Jars of clay are not a flattering comparison. Easily cracked, easily broken.

15:33 · Speaker 2 But the news gets worse in terms of how Paul thinks about our human condition. because he says we're hard-pressed on every side. Anyone else feel hard-pressed this morning? Anyone else feel hard-pressed this morning? We can feel hard-pressed, can't we, by the challenges of work and family and lack of sleep, and it's been a long, cold winter, hasn't it? He goes on to say that we're perplexed in verse 8. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have asked the question over the last few years. Lord, what is going on?

16:11 · Speaker 2 goes on to say we're persecuted. Now don't hear me wrongly on this. We do not suffer the same levels of persecution as some of our brothers and sisters around the world. Imagine going to church this morning, for example, in Afghanistan. But as I've mentioned, there is an increasing chill factor in our nations towards Bible-believing Christians. Still in verse 9, Paul says we're struck down. Now as Bible scholars have looked at this, they reckon that this struck down refers to Paul being in a really difficult place emotionally, mentally. And yet when we think about who's writing these words, this is Paul.

16:49 · Speaker 2 It's like a super apostle. He's at the top of his game, responsible for writing over half of the New Testament, planting churches all over South Europe and the Middle East. And yet he's honest about his broken condition, with himself, with others, and with God. We don't have it all together. And when we partner with God, as you in this series seek to build gospel bridges, to partner with God, you don't have to have it all together, because Paul clearly didn't have it all together. But what he then goes on to recognize is that despite his human fragility, despite feeling like a fragile jar of clay, something changes because of the first five words of this passage, which say this, but we have this treasure. See, if there's treasure in your jar of clay, that changes everything. If you know Jesus, that's the treasure.

17:48 · Speaker 2 There's hope in your heart. It means that you can say with Paul, you're hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. That hope in your heart, a jar of clay, changes everything. But here's the thing about hope. Hope is only any good if it's in the right direction.

18:14 · Speaker 7 Step up here on this chair and close your eyes. All right, and then everybody fill in. And we're going to ask you to fall and then they will catch you. So you have to trust us. I'm going to count to three. Just relax and fall. Okay? One, two, three.

18:36 · Speaker 2 No, no, no! Hope is only any good if it's in the right direction. And there's been a lot of talk about hope recently, hasn't there? I saw an advert just before Christmas for a butter product. This butter product said there is hope in baking. Now, I love a chocolate eclair, a cream tea, and a little bit of quiche like the rest of us. But my hope is not in baking. It's an advert for a well-known chicken restaurant at the moment, going around.

19:08 · Speaker 2 It says these words, believe in chicken. If that's the best the world has to offer us, I'm looking to Jesus. Because hear me really well on this. Our deepest hope as Christians is not in world peace. Our deepest hope as Christians is not in government. It's not in economics. It's not in our next promotion at work. It's not in our sports team doing well.

19:39 · Speaker 2 It's not in our house extension. Our deepest hope has a name, and his name is Jesus. See, in the beginning was the author, the answer to the question not yet posed, solution to a mystery not yet disclosed, liberator to a regime not yet imposed. And there in the background as the story unfolds, holding his run from times of old, waiting as priests, poets and prophets foretold of the author of all love and life, and all that is good. And then, bang, in a moment that is cosmically linkable, the author becomes unthinkably shrinkable, Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity. Because the author comes down to meet us, the king of the world becomes a fetus. And from Judean hills, the story was broadcast.

20:32 · Speaker 2 And some logged on, hooked up, tuned in. And to those who did with a wireless connection, the author promised life and resurrection. Weaving tales, leaving trails, breaking jails, removing scales from people's eyes open to a kingdom where humanity hails the author. But then impaled. You see, love is just words until action prevails. And this point is proven by bloods drawn by nails. And squaring up sin and death, the author wails, it is finished. But that's just the finale of season six.

21:09 · Speaker 2 Because in season seven's a box full of tricks. The author smashes death in the face with a spade because hell cannot hold his loving tirade. And for 2,000 years, the story continues. Get yourself plugged in like there's nothing to lose. So reach for your settings and turn your life-eye on because the author is still speaking. His heart is still beating. And the story is love and with it, he freezes because the author has a name and his name is Jesus. And if you know Jesus this morning.

21:39 · Speaker 2 Your hope is in the right place. There is treasure in your jar of clay. You may be hard pressed on every side, but you are not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed. The hope in Jesus changes everything. And that's what Paul is trying to communicate in this first half of this passage.

22:08 · Speaker 2 Trying to convince the Corinthian church just the magnitude of the difference that Jesus makes. But then what Paul does is he flips in this passage to remind the Corinthian church that it's not just for them. Verse 13, Paul writes, It is written, I believed, therefore I have spoken. Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak. there's that quote you might be aware of attributed to St. Francis of Assisi that says preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words and I know what the person is trying to say that we live lives that are so beautiful and attractive as you are doing as I have witnessed in your lives this weekend and if we do so our lives are so beautiful they draw people to Jesus without ever having to say anything but the gospel from Jesus through Paul and beyond is words and deeds together we do live lives that draw people to know Jesus but we also speak we tell our story we share the goodness of what God has done and we desire in our hearts with the fire and the treasure that we have within us and the hope placed in the right direction we desire that that hope is something that others know it's not just for us. And the person I've seen this most recently in is my son Caleb, the one who was struggling with the YouTube video.

23:44 · Speaker 2 And he discovered this when, like you, he was going through Storybearer because he was particularly sympathetic for me when the book came out in the week all the bookshops closed at the beginning of the pandemic. And he decided after, in those kind of few months after, he said, Daddy, why don't we stop reading the Chronicles of Narnia, which I was a bit gutted about, and start reading your book. And I thought, as so few people were reading it at that point, I thought that would be great. So Caleb and I read Story Bearer together. And as if you got to those bits, one of the things, spoiler alert, the book encourages you to do is to pray for a number of people to become Christians. And Caleb, because he's quite manipulative and wanted to delay his bedtime, he wrote a list of every single person in his class to become a Christian. and we had to go through each and every one before we went to sleep. I think he was very proud of himself, until one day he comes back from school really excited and said, Daddy, Daddy, today something amazing happened at school.

24:40 · Speaker 2 I'm like, what? He said, Jacob became a Christian. I'm like, wow. I said, tell me what happened. He goes, well, I went up to him, right? I'm already thinking this is bad. I went up to him, I said, Jacob, do you want to live forever? Jacob said, yes.

24:59 · Speaker 2 Caleb says, alright, you've got to become a Christian Jacob said, okay Caleb says, alright, you're now a Christian Now, for the record, before you think I'm never reading another word this man writes ever again That's not how the book says to do evangelism And do you know what, if he's doing evangelism like that when he's 28, not 8, we've got a problem But it does show that he gets it He gets that his treasure is not just for him but for those around him. And Paul goes on to explain why this is the case in verse 14. He says, Because we believe and therefore speak because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. Following Jesus or not is a matter of life and death. Life now and life in heaven forever. Becoming a Christian, knowing God, doesn't just make your life a little bit better. And I think sometimes in our comfortable Western world, we can be kind of conned or can become to think that kind of faith in Jesus' church.

26:17 · Speaker 2 And knowing God just kind of slightly improves our lives a little bit. But it doesn't. It changes everything. I've realized this in the life of my mate Dave recently if you've got to the last chapter of Story Bearer spoiler alert, I talk about my mate Dave we've all got a mate called Dave, haven't we? and my mate Dave lives in Newcastle in the northeast of England but he's from Birmingham so he speaks a bit like this and I've been praying for Dave in terms of my list of people to come to faith Dave's been on my list for over 20 years he still doesn't yet know Jesus but at one point a couple of years ago I reached out to Dave because I was speaking in Newcastle on a Sunday night and I said Dave can I stay at your house on a Saturday night before I preach his church on a Sunday night and he texts back and he says yeah I feel that would be great because obviously your text is in Brummie accent and he says would you like to come to church with me on a Sunday morning well I nearly fell off my chair I text back and said Dave this isn't normally how it works. Normally it's the Christian who invites the non-Christian to church. And he texts back and he says, yeah, but there's a girl I quite like.

27:31 · Speaker 2 I thought, I thought whatever it takes, whatever it takes to get Dave to church. So we turn up at this church on this Sunday morning. It's not quite, not quite as trendy as Glen Abbey. There was a, but it did, it had a little balcony. And in the, in the pews below, there were lots of people. And then in the balcony, there was me, Dave, and the girl he quite liked. And so if you'll picture the scene with me, I don't know if you saw me worshipping alongside Chris a minute ago, I'm quite an exuberant worshipper. And the first couple of songs came on, and I didn't know them, which was really weird, because I'm like a professional Christian.

28:05 · Speaker 2 And then the third song comes on, and it was Amazing Grace. And I love Amazing Grace. It sums up so much for me what Christianity is about. So it's fair to say I give it some when Amazing Grace comes on. So I throw my arms in the air. Amazing Grace! I was so loud that the people in the pews below were turning around to hear what the racket was in the balcony. If I'm really honest, a bit of false pride swelled up in me.

28:33 · Speaker 2 I've repented for that. But then about 10 days later, I'm on the phone to Dave. And he says to me, Phil, I went back to that church you went to. They're still talking about your singing. so I decided to make the most of the evangelistic opportunity I said Dave can I tell you why I sang like that he goes go on then I said the thing is Dave following Jesus doesn't just kind of it's not a slight improvement to my life it's not like when you kind of upgrade your broadband or get a slightly better tv package I said Dave Jesus completely changed my life and that song kind encapsulates so much of it. It talks about being blind and seeing, being lost and being found. I once was a wretch, but now I'm different because Jesus changed my life. I said, Dave, do you get it?

29:24 · Speaker 2 He goes, not really. So I decided to rewrite the words to Amazing Grace, how you might sing it if Jesus made your life a bit better. It goes like this. Average grace, how bland's the sound, that slightly improved my life. I went to church, I liked the songs, and now I have to be nice. It's not average grace. It's amazing grace. How sweet the sound.

29:50 · Speaker 2 Saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. In another conversation with Dave a few years ago, we were talking about his life, and his life was a bit of a challenge. and he said to me, Phil, my life's such a mess. What shall I do? And I'd learned the right to have this kind of conversation. So I said, Dave, your life is a bit of a mess.

30:22 · Speaker 2 I'm not very pastoral. I said, the best thing you can do is give your life to Jesus and let him sort it out. Dave said this in response, what's the second best option? This morning, if you know Jesus, it doesn't matter what else is going on in your life, how hard it is, whatever challenges you face, your hope is in the right place. There is treasure in your jar of clay and you're living in the best option for your life. But if you don't know Jesus this morning, it doesn't matter how good your life is, how much money you have, how popular you are, how good your job is, you're living in the second best option for your life. Jesus changes everything. and Paul then goes on having tried to convince the Corinthian church that they need to do something about this treasure he then brings it back to our own vulnerabilities as human beings verse 16 he says we don't lose heart don't lose heart this morning Glenaby though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we're being renewed day by day.

31:41 · Speaker 2 I don't know about you, but I've observed in my life, so often God's best work is done in me and through me when I'm at my weakest. When you feel most vulnerable, when you feel most like a jar of clay and cracked, fragile, that's when God so often has done His best work in me, but also often through me. And I think Paul here in these last verses is making a connection between our own fragility, our own jars of clay, but also the treasure that's almost so big it has to burst out to a world. I believe that or I have spoken. Sometimes when we're at our weakest, that's when God's at his strongest. And when God partners with us. And I want to encourage you this morning, don't rule yourself out from being used by God. from partnering with him in building gospel bridges, in being good news people in a bad news world, in being hope to those around you, in bearing your story and his story to a world that desperately needs it.

32:48 · Speaker 2 The person I've seen this most recently is my mum. I mentioned her at the beginning of the talk that she went to be with Jesus on the 8th of June 2020 and that I spent the first few weeks of lockdown sat at the end of her driveway watching gradually the cancer take over, her physically deteriorate. But yeah, this was a woman who'd chosen to follow Jesus. She had treasure in her jar of clay. And then she did something I recommend we all do if we know we're going to be with Jesus soon. And that is she took her iPad one afternoon and recorded a message to be played at her funeral. She always wanted the last word, did my mum.

33:29 · Speaker 2 And in this beautifully recorded message, she talks about the fact that her hope is in Jesus, which means she knows forgiveness for her past, God's presence in her present agony, and the absolute assurance that when her earthly vessel gives way, she will go to heaven to be with Him. And she then talked about her own desire. She believed and therefore spoke because she talked about her own desire for all those at her funeral who didn't yet know the Lord, to know the Lord for themselves. and when her funeral came around we weren't able to do it in person it was when the restrictions were in place so we had to do it on Zoom hundreds of screens turned up it was extraordinary we played my mum's message and because she wasn't around to stop me and I'm an evangelist I had the last word I gave people the opportunity to respond to my mum's message and choose to follow Jesus for themselves and as we flicked our screens off of the funeral, I opened my phone up and there was a message from one of mum's friends which simply said this, Phil I prayed that prayer with you, I believe Jesus died for me. Isn't that amazing? But why does that happen? Because a woman who at her weakest physically is at her strongest spiritually and she chooses to let the treasure burst out of her fragile jar of clay to people who desperately need to hear it.

34:56 · Speaker 2 Will you do the same? My final encouragement to you is that you have a part to play. As introduced, my job at the Evangelical Alliance is I'm a missiologist, so I study the pathways by which people become Christians. And we regularly ask people who are new Christians who was the most significant person on that journey. And they don't say a pastor like Chris or an evangelist like me. They say a friend, a neighbor, a colleague, or a family member. My resounding message to you this morning is each of us have a part to play in people's journey to faith. And it may take time, like in the case of Dave, or indeed my mum's friend.

35:38 · Speaker 2 But we keep praying. We keep living and we keep speaking. I went to a wedding and it was really posh. And I don't live in a very posh area. So I felt a little bit a fish out of water. And I was there on my own. It was on a Friday. Apparently it's cheaper to get married on a Friday.

35:58 · Speaker 2 My wife wasn't with me, turned up at this wedding. And this very, very posh man beckoned us through to these tables. And like on the screen, there was lots of cutlery and lots of kind of beautiful things on the table. Flowers and special little favors and bags of things. It was gorgeous. And everybody's name was written in beautiful calligraphy. And I did that thing, you know when you arrive at a reception, you walk up and down and you look for your name. Well, I did that, but I couldn't find my name.

36:30 · Speaker 2 And I thought, is it because they're written so beautifully, I just can't see it. It's all kind of flouncy letters. I walked up and down a couple of times, still couldn't find it. And I had this really awkward moment where I was like, am I even here? I looked at the couple and I was like, do I really know them? I did, it was fine. And then I thought, what's less awkward? Do I go and talk to a bridesmaid and say, "Do you know where I'm sitting?"

36:51 · Speaker 2 Or do I go to the groom and say, "Am I at the right... was it just an evening thing?" I had this nightmare moment. So I decide the least awkward thing is just to go home. So I kind of walk back through this very posh village, and I kind of get in my car, and I'm typing the postcode into my sat-nav, and I suddenly remember, I'm like, "He asked me for Deitch requirements. The canapes were nice, but I don't think it would have been because of them. So I resolve it within myself, I'll have one last look, and it was so awkward. I walked back to this wedding, everybody sat down, Grace has been said, I'm like...

37:28 · Speaker 2 She's walking across. I do one last lap, and then... My name has never looked more beautiful. I wanted to run along the tables, do you know what I mean? High five, everyone. I had a seat at the table, but more than that, I'd been seated with the family. This morning, when it comes to being good news people, you have a seat at the table. And it's with the family.

38:02 · Speaker 2 It's with this family as Glen Abbey. But it's also with the family of God across the world. Because the family business of the church is being hoped to the hopeless. Good news people in a bad news world. Bringing life to the dying. Light into darkness. And you have a seat at the table. So this morning, may you know in your fragility of jars of clay

38:33 · Speaker 2 that there is treasure and hope in your heart. may you know that we believe and therefore speak may you know that the gospel changes everything and may you not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we're being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so may we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. Let's pray, shall we? I wonder, first of all, as we bow our heads, whether some of us this morning feel far from God. Maybe you've never had a moment where you've opened your heart to God. And I just want to invite you not to miss this moment.

39:34 · Speaker 2 If you know today that as I've been talking about living in the second best option, treasures in jars of clay, I just wonder for you this morning, if that's you, just invite you with all I am to open your heart to God and let him in. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, it means that you can be forgiven for your sin. No God with you today and no hope for the future. And if that's you, I just invite you in your heart to say in whatever words feel comfortable to you, God, I'm sorry where I've got it wrong. Thank you, Jesus, that you died and rose again for me. And I might not have it all together, but I want to have a go at following you. If that's you, I just urge you to open your heart to God this morning. and if you did pray that prayer with me I just invite you at the end to make yourself known to Chris or one of the team here they would love to pray with you I'm sure

40:48 · Speaker 2 but secondly I wonder whether some of us who as I've been speaking have been thinking of the Daves in your life thinking of the Jacobs, thinking of the friends like my mums who don't yet know Jesus. And this morning maybe the Lord is encouraging you to play your part, take your seat at the table. And we don't do it alone. God goes with us and I invite you to ask God to give you the help, the strength, the words, the encouragement that you need this morning in that regard. Father, I thank you for this wonderful, alive, generous, welcoming church. I pray that in them and through them your kingdom would come and will be done.

41:51 · Speaker 2 I pray that they would not lose heart. Father, help us to make you known. And may we be good news people in a bad news world. For your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.