February 18, 2024 • 30 mins
In this faith-inspiring episode, Dave "the Tibernator" shares his impactful journey with Jesus Christ and how it has transformed his life. Being a steadfast gospel-sharer, Dave discusses the essence of knowing and maintaining a deep relationship with Jesus. He engages us with a spiritual narration on the vital role of faithfulness with Christ, drawing compelling examples from the lives of Peter and Mary, treasured biblical characters.
Dave's remarkable testament encourages us to anchor our lives on Jesus, experiencing a life of eternity that starts the moment we let God into our hearts. He emphasizes maintaining simple and childlike faith, reflecting the teachings of Jesus himself. He gracefully connects his love for Christ with his tireless desire to help others realize their divine potential.
With a blend of heartfelt laughter and profound insights, Dave compellingly shares how our stories of burden transform into love stories when we let Jesus reside in our hearts. His inspiring journey is a beacon of hope to trust in God's promises actively working in our lives.
In this robust sermon, the speaker unpacks his personal journey of finding laughter, simplicity, and a direct relationship with God amid life's chaos. He discusses the transformative nature of childlike faith, dying to oneself, and embodying love as a Christ follower. These foundation stones draw us closer to Jesus and help us understand, embrace, and model God's love for us.
The testimony presented here invites us to question our worthiness and control, urging us to surrender to God's wisdom and unconditional love. Packed with enlightening teachings, personal reflections, and God-centered affirmations; this sermon takes us back to basics, helping us find profound joy and spiritual fulfillment. Experience the joyous art of becoming love, learning to get out of our own way, and embracing the divine mystery of child-like faith by joining Dave on this enlightening journey of faith transformation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
We have got a huge privilege today. We're going to hear from the Tibernator, the social terrorist.
I want to tell you the reason I've asked Dave to share is that he's faithful.
He's faithful with talking to people about Jesus.
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When we're not looking, he's out there talking to anybody who'll listen to him.
He goes into AA meetings just so he can share his testimony.
I hope that's the only reason. Anyway.
Just capture me. No, it's all right, brother.
(00:44):
Even if you do, AA is good. We love it.
But he is looking for every opportunity to share the gospel,
right, to share about Jesus.
And, you know, when somebody comes to the platform to preach,
It's because they've been faithful.
You know, it doesn't really, we don't really, you know, rely on talent or gifts.
(01:05):
Even though they're good, talents and gifts are good. Awesome.
But what God's looking for is a heart. He's looking for faithfulness,
someone he can trust, and someone who's teachable.
And so it's with a great pleasure that I've given Dave the opportunity to talk
to us about a relationship with Jesus. We're in our relationship series.
(01:26):
We did relationship with the Father last week.
This week, relationship with Jesus. Next week, relationship with the Holy Spirit.
And the week after, relationship with each other.
So, would you stand to your feet and welcome the Tibernator.
Music.
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Can everybody hear me? Yep. Can you hear me? Yep. Well, thank you to our little pocket rocket.
Look, I love this woman. The first time I saw her was up on the stage at the tent.
And I thought, look at that. Look at the enthusiasm there.
And that was the reason that we came here. We didn't know that this church was
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the church that put on the tent. We didn't know that.
But when we came here, we knew when we got here.
This is where we need to be. This is where we need to be.
I've got my phone on a timer this morning so I don't go over.
I'll tell you why, because when I start talking about Jesus, I am gone.
You know, when I'm talking to Jesus in the street, people are like this.
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You know, they're trying to move away because I won't stop.
One night we, and Pastor Nick was there so she can verify this,
we were talking, she can verify this, see I need proof.
We were talking to an older couple and we were talking for so long his wife walked off,
his wife just went can we go now and we kept talking and she just walked off
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and she was way up the street but he was inviting me to come to his place and
oh come for coffee and all that but she walked off but he was just captivated
by by a group of people that just wanted to pray for him,
So good morning, everyone online.
And what a great looking bunch of people you are.
That's why I like the other reason I like being here. See, I'm good looking.
(03:23):
And so I need to be around good looking people.
And that's why I like it here. You're all really good looking.
There was only a couple of thank yous there. I was hoping I'd get a few more.
Thank you. All right. Jesus is my most favorite subject.
And the reason is, is what he's done over my family is incredible, is beyond a miracle.
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You know, he has changed my whole family.
And we're still trying to keep up with him for what he's doing.
I have two absolutely beautiful daughters over there whose life he has changed.
You know, I have an absolutely beautiful wife.
I personally think she's the hottest girl in the room whose life he's absolutely changed.
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And, you know, my other daughters, God gave me a vision. They're all on the ark.
You know, they're all going to church. They're all loving life.
They're ringing me up. Dad, how are you going?
All that sort of stuff. But that's how good Jesus is.
He changes it. So when we were saying before, speak Jesus over your family,
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church, speak Jesus over your family, speak Jesus over your family.
It is really, really important because he will do what he said he would do.
Okay. Sorry. All right, here we go.
All right. So my first scripture, what I want to base this on is a relationship
with Jesus, is the relationship that we have with Jesus.
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See, we've all got a story. and I bet we could go around this room and everyone's
got a horror story to tell and I get that.
But you know, if we leave it there, we rip ourselves off because it's only when
we bring Jesus into the picture that that horror story turns into a love story.
And I thought of that just myself. I'm going to use that now.
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Our horror story turns into a love story. And yes, I do go to AA.
And the reason I go there is because I was where these people were once,
you know, and I sit there and I say, my name's Dave.
And I don't say I'm an alcoholic. I say, my name's Dave and my life was out of control.
And, and, and look, look, it's like fishing in a bathtub because they've got this, they've.
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We've got to acknowledge that there's a higher power. So I say what God did
for me, and I'm able to talk about what God did for me.
And at the end of it, I have people say to me, I hope God can do that for me.
And you know what? God can.
And the reason I know that he can, because I'm looking at his children right now and what he's doing.
And Gabby, that was beautiful before, what God did.
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It was absolutely beautiful. When God turns up and confirms something,
and in your heart, you've got that ache for years and years. is it's just that eight.
You go, come on, God, come on. And then he does it like that.
You know, that's one of the most greatest things.
And what I want to start with, I want to start with the scripture that I want
to base what I'm talking about today is John 17, 3.
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And Jesus said, now this is eternal life, that they may know you,
the only one true God and his son, Jesus Christ.
You see, I thought eternal life was after we die. I thought we only get eternal
life after we die. But Jesus said, this is eternal life.
So when we come into the kingdom, we walk straight into eternal life.
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And he's with us all the time.
And that sense of not being alone anymore is incredible. You know,
it's that whole sense of not being alone.
And Scripture says we can know Jesus. So, church, we can.
We can know. This Scripture says it. And I believe every single word that Scripture says.
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And when I look at my Bible, if my Bible says Philip was taken up and taken
away and wasn't to be found, but 54 kilometers away, I don't know how it happened, but I believe it.
You know what I mean? And that's how I see Scripture. So I must be able to follow Jesus. Jesus.
I must be able to have a relationship with him if he says, Jesus is not the
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kind of one that comes up to you and says, hey, you can do this and then doesn't deliver.
He delivers. He's already delivered.
So in the past, I knew about Jesus.
I talked about Jesus. I knew friends that knew about Jesus, but I didn't know Jesus.
And that's where we've really got to be aware that we can be walking around
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talking about Jesus, hanging around people that know about Jesus,
but do we really know Jesus?
And that's where I think we sometimes rip ourselves off.
And the whole purpose today is I'd like us to take that one step and know about
him, and know him, and know his heart, because he's saying, come, come, you know.
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And it's such an amazing thing when we start to really know Jesus because I
wanted to know Jesus how Peter knew Jesus.
Look, Peter had a big mouth. We all know that.
He opened his mouth long enough to change feet. Got it, right?
I get that because I'm a little bit the same. I opened my mouth long enough to change feet.
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But you know what? Peter was the only disciple that walked on water.
But why was he the only disciple that walked on water? Because he said,
if it's you, Lord, call me out onto the water.
He wasn't saying, if it's you, Lord, can I come out onto the water?
He said, if it's you, come out. So he knew in his heart, if it was Jesus, he knew.
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And how did he know that? Because he knew Jesus.
And he knew that Jesus wasn't going to let him down. And he knew that Jesus
wasn't going to play silly tricks on him.
So when he stepped out, can you imagine? Like, I think about this sort of stuff. Can you imagine that?
Actually stepping out in the water's heart, right? Two or three steps.
And then he turned and looked at the waves and then he freaked out.
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But notice that when he was looking at Jesus, he was standing straight.
That's where we need to be, always looking at him.
Because, you know, the Bible says that storms are going to come to the good and to the bad, okay?
So wind's going to come. So two people built a house.
The storm and winds came to the one who built on a strong foundation and the house stayed.
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And the storm and winds came to the one who built to the house on no foundation.
But notice that the storm and winds came to both houses.
So sometimes we tend to, what happens is we become Christians and we think that's
it, everything's going to be good now.
And that's often not the case because we miss that life happens.
And life, what life is about, it's not about making sure nothing bad happens to us.
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It's making sure the only one that's good is standing right next to us and that
we can know and we can love him and bless him.
So that's what Jesus said. Now, Peter stepped out.
And Jesus said, come, Peter. And Peter got down out of the boat and he walked on the water.
Peter knew who he was and he trusted him. And it's like, and my other,
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the other hero I have in the Bible is Mary.
Mary is really, really amazing. You know, this lady watched her saviour get
crucified, watched him get put upon a cross, watched him die and watch him get
delivered into the tomb.
She came the next morning with with
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perfume to to put on
his body like how faithful is that he's died
like everyone else oh he's dead don't worry about him he's in the tomb but she
came to put to put to put a perfume on his body then when she gets there he's
not there right so freak out number one freak out number two she's standing
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there turns around sees a gardener right and and said to the gardener, sir,
can you tell me where you've laid him so I can go and get him?
She was on her own. What was she going to do? Pick him up and take him back.
Like, that's how faithful she was. She was going to pick him up,
take him back on her own. There was no one else with her. And then he said, Mary.
And that makes, that brings, just brings tears to my heart because she turned
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around and went, Rabbi, and just made a beeline.
And he said, don't cling to me, Mary. So she must've been coming fast.
All right. He said, whoa, don't cling to me, me, Mary, for I've not yet ascended
to my Father. But go tell my brethren.
Remember, all his brethren scattered.
See, this is why Jesus, I know Jesus never changes his mind.
Some people say, I've heard some people say, if Jesus wanted to,
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he would have come down from the cross.
That was never a thought in his mind. He never even thought about that,
because love doesn't change its mind.
And so that's why he stayed there, and he stayed up there, because of his love
for us and the the joy set before him.
What was the joy set before him? His kids are coming home.
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You know, it's like as a parent and we know the kids are coming home.
How happy do we get? The kids are coming home. Get ready.
The house is going to be wrecked in three seconds, but they're coming home. I get really excited.
So can you imagine that, that he's there on the cross? That's the joy set before
him. The kids are coming home. He knows it because he's paid for it.
So we can know Jesus, but there's three simple truths I had to get past.
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The first simple truth was I had to keep it simple.
Okay. Okay, the reason I had to do that is I'm an overthinker.
So it's very easy for me to think something right to its end conclusion and
be lost right out here somewhere.
So we need to keep it simple. And how do we keep it simple? Well, Jesus said so.
He said we must become like children.
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So he said, then Jesus called a little child to him and set him in the midst
and said, assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little
children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Now remember, he's already said this is eternal life to know God.
So when he says when you come into the kingdom of heaven, he's not talking about in future tense.
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He's talking about now. And we'll by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
It is really easy for me to be a child.
Really easy. And I'll I'll give you two quick examples. One,
when my older daughter was young and we was in the supermarket and she'd been
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giving me grief all day, I simply stood there and I said, biscuits,
biscuits, biscuits, biscuits.
And she said, no, and walked off and I cried. What? What?
There was a lady in that aisle that said, how dare you treat your father like that?
And look, it was classic. Look, revenge is best served up cold and on a full plate of crazy.
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So, but that's not the child I'm talking about. The child I'm talking about
is quite a little while ago, and my wife and I have had a conversation about this.
I was riding to work, right? When I'm on the bike, I like to look tough.
I like to look, you know, like, you know, but as I'm riding,
I was riding along and And I'm just running along and I thought, Jesus is here.
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Jesus is here. And then I thought, well, Jesus, put your helmet on in case you
fall off and break your head. And then I started laughing.
And so people driving next to me thought, what's going on with this bloke?
Then I started laughing.
Then I felt him holding around me to hold on. And I'm saying,
hold on, Jesus, we're about to come into a bend. I started laughing again.
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This is nothing that was made that wasn't made through him.
And I'm worried about him falling off and breaking his head. Right?
And so that kind of child, then I realized that's what it was.
Just keeping it really, really simple, not being caught up in everything else.
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Look, the Bible is full of some amazing stories that I still don't understand, but I love them.
And God will reveal them in time. And that's what I like about him. He takes his time.
And so become like a little child. child.
And as I said, becoming like a little child was really, really easy for me. So the.
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Is learning how to die to myself. That was a big one, how to die to myself.
And look, I can tell you now, I was so self-centered, even though I could keep
it real as far as being a Christian, I was self-centered.
But then I saw a scripture, James 3.16, where envy and self-seeking exist,
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confusion and every evil thing is there.
I was a landing strip for the enemy to come in and confuse me because I was self-centered.
And I realized the only way I was going to deal with that.
See, this is another reason why we know we can follow Jesus because he says,
pick up your cross and follow me.
Church, if we couldn't follow him, he wouldn't have told us.
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He wouldn't have said, pick up your cross.
He would have said, hey, guess what? I'm going to heaven. You're not going to come.
But he didn't say that. He said, pick up your cross and follow me. So I can follow him. him.
You can follow him if we pick up our cross. And what does picking up our cross mean?
Picking up our cross means getting out of our own way.
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And that was my big problem. I was in my own way. I was getting too confused
over stuff. I was just in my own way.
So getting out of my own way is what worked it. And that's what I liked about
Peter. He often got in his own way.
You know, like, can you imagine the other disciples?
Look at this bloke, thinks he can and walk on the water. Hey,
what's he doing? Then he jumps out onto the water. He's walking on the water.
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And I would have just loved to have been there and seen their face when he got
back on the water. At least I tried.
Even though he was soaking wet, at least I tried.
So yes, we can follow him, but we need to die for ourselves.
Because if we don't die to ourselves, we actually can't follow him.
Because self will stop us all the time. It'll get in the way all the time.
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And let me tell you, I am the worst person to get in my own way.
Because when I'm in my own way, I don't even know I'm in my own way.
And I'll argue black and blue that I'm not in my own way. I never knew I had eternal life.
I never knew I was in my own way. And I never knew how to become like a child.
But as it started, this was all happening and Jesus was doing it for me.
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And what I saw then was John the Baptist said, John the Baptist said in John 3.30, he gave me a clue.
I must decrease so that he may increase.
That was a clue. And I thought, okay, well, how do I decrease?
And then I just listened and read scripture. John the Baptist knew what he was talking about.
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And so every day I have to get up and decrease. Lord, it's your day today.
It's not my day. So we do this physical and spiritual disciplines like fasting, praying every morning.
All these things are really good to help us to decrease and for him to increase.
And as we realize that he's causing
us to be like little children and then decrease, it works. It just works.
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Church, all I can say to you is believe him.
He's standing right now ready. Ready. Believe him.
You know, when he was on that cross, he said, you don't take my life, I lay down my own life.
When he was battered and bruised and beaten, he said, Mother, here is your son.
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Son, here is your mother. He shouldn't have even been alive.
He should not have been alive.
And we're worthy not because of ourselves, but because of what he's done for us.
And I want to talk to anyone in this church that feels like they are not worthy.
Because you're talking about number one offender right here.
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That feels like they are not worthy. If you think you're not worthy, you're not of yourself.
But Jesus has made you worthy. He has made you worthy.
Because he will present you. Now, get this. I know some people are probably going to go, what?
Get this. He's going to present you holy, blameless, and without fault before the Father.
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So guys, drop the worthiness. Drop the worthiness. He's made you worthy.
Take it. Take what he's done and accept it. We can't do it ourselves, but he can do it.
And you know, there's all sorts of, life gets us. Life gets us.
It pulls us down. it does all sorts of things to us.
That's why we've got to hold onto his hand, because he's the only one that can pull us through.
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And then I have the third point, third and final point, become love.
And Paul said in the scripture, now the goal of my instruction is to become love.
And in 1 John 4, 17, it says, love has been perfected in us in this,
that we may have of boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is,
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hold on to that thought, as he is,
I'm going to say it really slowly, so are we in this world.
I'll say it again, because as he is, so are we in this world.
Are you getting it? Can you get it? As he is, the Lord of glory that has saved
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us from every foul thing, as he is.
You know, there's a scripture that says that because I go to heaven,
you will do greater things than I because I go to my father.
You know, he showed me that scripture. What was the greatest thing that Jesus ever did?
Some people say, oh, the healings, the raise from life, the this,
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the that. The greatest thing that Jesus ever did was loved. loved.
So does that mean then, Jesus, that I can love like you did?
Yes, it does. And that's what it really means for the greatest thing is to know how to love.
See, when my wife and I got married, we didn't give each other our hearts.
We gave it to God because we knew that God would never break it. We knew that.
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And now when I get up in the morning, I've said to her quite often,
and she's is in the same situation.
If I'm peeping my head about me, she can't upset me because I'm waking up in
the morning expecting nothing from her.
That's what we've got to do. Wake up and expect nothing from the world,
but everything from Christ.
And if we don't expect anything, we're not going to be... Sorry.
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Stop. So if we accept him, we've got nothing more to worry about. Life will go.
It'll do what we want it to do because we'll follow his lead.
So I'm going to stop there, but I want to say to you three things.
Three things, sorry. Three things.
Become like a child, learn to die to yourself, yourself, and become love.
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Those are the three things that are going to help us to follow Christ.
And I found that when I do them, I feel him so close. When I get up in the morning
to go into the study, I feel him waiting.
And I run to the study and get in there because he's in there waiting for me.
So if you want to have a really amazing relationship with Jesus and you want to go further.
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Please don't leave today without talking to someone and without having some
prayer and without thinking about it and without thinking about what Jesus can do and has done.
And I plead with you, hear him out. Hear what he's got to say.
Okay. Can everyone just quickly bow their heads?
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And what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk to, if this message has touched
you and you want to go deeper or you don't know Jesus or this message has touched
you, then what I'd like you to do is I'd like you just to consider taking that extra step.
If you don't know Jesus but you think, you know what, I want what that guy's
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got. I want what he's got.
Then I would ask, let's pray.
And while everyone's head is bowed, if anyone is thinking those thoughts,
Lord, can you put your hand up for me so I know who to look to and who to pray for?
And if you want to think about that, it's okay if you don't want to put your
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hand up, please don't feel condemned, but come and talk to one of us.
The Bible says that we are saved by the grace of Christ, by grace alone, in faith alone.
When Paul was leaving the jail, the jailer said to him, how can I be saved?
And he said, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth,
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that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for
your great love. I thank you for what you've done in my life and in the life of others.
And I just pray, Lord, right now, anyone who's struggling, anyone who's feeling
the pull on their heart, Lord, bring them to someone.
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Bring them to someone so that they can talk. Bring them to someone who they can discuss it.
And I'm going to give the mic back to Pastor Nick now, now, and she's going
to open the floor up and speak again.
Just stay in that moment. I'm just going to ask if there's anybody here,
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you're not convinced that you have that relationship with Jesus that Dave talks
about. It's a relationship.
And so if you're here today and you're like, I'm not sure I have a relationship
with Jesus, we're going to pray a prayer right across the church.
And if you pray this prayer out loud, you're inviting Jesus into your heart
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to have a relationship with you.
And so right across this church here right now, right here right now,
if that is you, just say to the Lord, Lord, I'm going to invite you into my heart right now.
As we pray this prayer together, church, say, Say, dear Jesus,
I'm inviting you in to have a relationship with me.
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Thank you for saving me.
Thank you that you rose from the dead so that I could have eternal life.
Thank you for saving me.
Fill me with your Holy Spirit.
Music.
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Anything I've done to offend you, forgive me. Wash me clean.
I receive you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. Wonderful, wonderful.
If you prayed that prayer for the very first time, please come see me and Dave
at the end and just say, you know what, I let Jesus into my heart today for real, for good.
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So how good was Dave? Come on, give him some encouragement. So good. Gold.
I just want to capitalize on what he said. It's how incredible,
you know, that we can have a relationship with the Son of God.
Amazing that Jesus can be talked to you every day through that,
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you know, his beautiful Holy Spirit.
He said, it's better if I go so that I can send the Holy Spirit.
And next week, we're going to be talking about relationship with the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus knew it would be better because he was here in one place.
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He could only be in Jerusalem or he could be in Samaria.
He could be only in one place. But he said, it's better if I go to heaven,
sit at the right hand next to my dad,
next to my father, because I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit
who's going to be me with you 24 7
365 days a year all the time he's omniscient
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he's omnipresent he's everywhere all the time he's can speak to you all day
like on your on the motorbike or in the car or on your way to work or going
for what I mean you have the presence of God available to you all the time isn't
that incredible do you know No, there's a veil.
Not that veil.
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There's a solid veil, a ceiling between God and man.
And only by Jesus going to the cross was that veil torn and made open.
And that is why in John 14, 6, he said, Jesus said of himself,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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And no one comes to the Father except through me.
He is the only way. he is he is is that narrow-minded no that's the truth,
that's the truth that Jesus is the only way to the father,
and he is holy amen I'm going to pray for you all I wanted to open up um what
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really caught me in what Dave was saying was about the love because like who
would agree that Dave's just a big love bucket.
You know, he's just a big love bucket, isn't he? You could like go and have a drink from his well.
I reckon he's got something to give you,
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today out of his heart. And I'm just going to open up the altar as we finish.
We're going to sing a song.
Aren't we? Yes. We're going to sing a song. And as we sing a song,
If you would like some ministry to receive just the love of Jesus,
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then I want to invite you forward to come forward.
I'm going to ask Dave to pray for you and lay hands on you and impart what's
on his life because what's on his life is pretty special.
Not only has he got a lot of love, but he's got a gift of evangelism on him.
He's got the love of God for others upon him. And so if you would like to be
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a better soul winner, a better witness,
a better representative of Jesus Christ in your workplace, in your community,
I'm going to let Dave Frieda lay hands on you and impart the gift of evangelism upon you.
So if that's you, just as we stand, just come forward and I'll be with you.
I'll be with Dave, me and Dave down here praying for you. an impartation
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of soul winning anointing and
also just that love of Jesus because once you get touched with the love of Jesus
you have to tell others it spills out of you so why don't we stand church and
we're going to sing that song one more time and if that's you just come forward
and we'll close the service right now thank you.
We have got a huge privilege today. We're going to hear from the Tibernator, the social terrorist.
I want to tell you the reason I've asked Dave to share is that he's faithful.
He's faithful with talking to people about Jesus.
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When we're not looking, he's out there talking to anybody who'll listen to him.
He goes into AA meetings just so he can share his testimony.
I hope that's the only reason. Anyway.
Just capture me. No, it's all right, brother.
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Even if you do, AA is good. We love it.
But he is looking for every opportunity to share the gospel,
right, to share about Jesus.
And, you know, when somebody comes to the platform to preach,
It's because they've been faithful.
You know, it doesn't really, we don't really, you know, rely on talent or gifts.
(01:05):
Even though they're good, talents and gifts are good. Awesome.
But what God's looking for is a heart. He's looking for faithfulness,
someone he can trust, and someone who's teachable.
And so it's with a great pleasure that I've given Dave the opportunity to talk
to us about a relationship with Jesus. We're in our relationship series.
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We did relationship with the Father last week.
This week, relationship with Jesus. Next week, relationship with the Holy Spirit.
And the week after, relationship with each other.
So, would you stand to your feet and welcome the Tibernator.
Music.
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Can everybody hear me? Yep. Can you hear me? Yep. Well, thank you to our little pocket rocket.
Look, I love this woman. The first time I saw her was up on the stage at the tent.
And I thought, look at that. Look at the enthusiasm there.
And that was the reason that we came here. We didn't know that this church was
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the church that put on the tent. We didn't know that.
But when we came here, we knew when we got here.
This is where we need to be. This is where we need to be.
I've got my phone on a timer this morning so I don't go over.
I'll tell you why, because when I start talking about Jesus, I am gone.
You know, when I'm talking to Jesus in the street, people are like this.
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You know, they're trying to move away because I won't stop.
One night we, and Pastor Nick was there so she can verify this,
we were talking, she can verify this, see I need proof.
We were talking to an older couple and we were talking for so long his wife walked off,
his wife just went can we go now and we kept talking and she just walked off
(03:01):
and she was way up the street but he was inviting me to come to his place and
oh come for coffee and all that but she walked off but he was just captivated
by by a group of people that just wanted to pray for him,
So good morning, everyone online.
And what a great looking bunch of people you are.
That's why I like the other reason I like being here. See, I'm good looking.
(03:23):
And so I need to be around good looking people.
And that's why I like it here. You're all really good looking.
There was only a couple of thank yous there. I was hoping I'd get a few more.
Thank you. All right. Jesus is my most favorite subject.
And the reason is, is what he's done over my family is incredible, is beyond a miracle.
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You know, he has changed my whole family.
And we're still trying to keep up with him for what he's doing.
I have two absolutely beautiful daughters over there whose life he has changed.
You know, I have an absolutely beautiful wife.
I personally think she's the hottest girl in the room whose life he's absolutely changed.
(04:11):
And, you know, my other daughters, God gave me a vision. They're all on the ark.
You know, they're all going to church. They're all loving life.
They're ringing me up. Dad, how are you going?
All that sort of stuff. But that's how good Jesus is.
He changes it. So when we were saying before, speak Jesus over your family,
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church, speak Jesus over your family, speak Jesus over your family.
It is really, really important because he will do what he said he would do.
Okay. Sorry. All right, here we go.
All right. So my first scripture, what I want to base this on is a relationship
with Jesus, is the relationship that we have with Jesus.
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See, we've all got a story. and I bet we could go around this room and everyone's
got a horror story to tell and I get that.
But you know, if we leave it there, we rip ourselves off because it's only when
we bring Jesus into the picture that that horror story turns into a love story.
And I thought of that just myself. I'm going to use that now.
(05:15):
Our horror story turns into a love story. And yes, I do go to AA.
And the reason I go there is because I was where these people were once,
you know, and I sit there and I say, my name's Dave.
And I don't say I'm an alcoholic. I say, my name's Dave and my life was out of control.
And, and, and look, look, it's like fishing in a bathtub because they've got this, they've.
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We've got to acknowledge that there's a higher power. So I say what God did
for me, and I'm able to talk about what God did for me.
And at the end of it, I have people say to me, I hope God can do that for me.
And you know what? God can.
And the reason I know that he can, because I'm looking at his children right now and what he's doing.
And Gabby, that was beautiful before, what God did.
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It was absolutely beautiful. When God turns up and confirms something,
and in your heart, you've got that ache for years and years. is it's just that eight.
You go, come on, God, come on. And then he does it like that.
You know, that's one of the most greatest things.
And what I want to start with, I want to start with the scripture that I want
to base what I'm talking about today is John 17, 3.
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And Jesus said, now this is eternal life, that they may know you,
the only one true God and his son, Jesus Christ.
You see, I thought eternal life was after we die. I thought we only get eternal
life after we die. But Jesus said, this is eternal life.
So when we come into the kingdom, we walk straight into eternal life.
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And he's with us all the time.
And that sense of not being alone anymore is incredible. You know,
it's that whole sense of not being alone.
And Scripture says we can know Jesus. So, church, we can.
We can know. This Scripture says it. And I believe every single word that Scripture says.
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And when I look at my Bible, if my Bible says Philip was taken up and taken
away and wasn't to be found, but 54 kilometers away, I don't know how it happened, but I believe it.
You know what I mean? And that's how I see Scripture. So I must be able to follow Jesus. Jesus.
I must be able to have a relationship with him if he says, Jesus is not the
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kind of one that comes up to you and says, hey, you can do this and then doesn't deliver.
He delivers. He's already delivered.
So in the past, I knew about Jesus.
I talked about Jesus. I knew friends that knew about Jesus, but I didn't know Jesus.
And that's where we've really got to be aware that we can be walking around
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talking about Jesus, hanging around people that know about Jesus,
but do we really know Jesus?
And that's where I think we sometimes rip ourselves off.
And the whole purpose today is I'd like us to take that one step and know about
him, and know him, and know his heart, because he's saying, come, come, you know.
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And it's such an amazing thing when we start to really know Jesus because I
wanted to know Jesus how Peter knew Jesus.
Look, Peter had a big mouth. We all know that.
He opened his mouth long enough to change feet. Got it, right?
I get that because I'm a little bit the same. I opened my mouth long enough to change feet.
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But you know what? Peter was the only disciple that walked on water.
But why was he the only disciple that walked on water? Because he said,
if it's you, Lord, call me out onto the water.
He wasn't saying, if it's you, Lord, can I come out onto the water?
He said, if it's you, come out. So he knew in his heart, if it was Jesus, he knew.
(09:02):
And how did he know that? Because he knew Jesus.
And he knew that Jesus wasn't going to let him down. And he knew that Jesus
wasn't going to play silly tricks on him.
So when he stepped out, can you imagine? Like, I think about this sort of stuff. Can you imagine that?
Actually stepping out in the water's heart, right? Two or three steps.
And then he turned and looked at the waves and then he freaked out.
(09:23):
But notice that when he was looking at Jesus, he was standing straight.
That's where we need to be, always looking at him.
Because, you know, the Bible says that storms are going to come to the good and to the bad, okay?
So wind's going to come. So two people built a house.
The storm and winds came to the one who built on a strong foundation and the house stayed.
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And the storm and winds came to the one who built to the house on no foundation.
But notice that the storm and winds came to both houses.
So sometimes we tend to, what happens is we become Christians and we think that's
it, everything's going to be good now.
And that's often not the case because we miss that life happens.
And life, what life is about, it's not about making sure nothing bad happens to us.
(10:11):
It's making sure the only one that's good is standing right next to us and that
we can know and we can love him and bless him.
So that's what Jesus said. Now, Peter stepped out.
And Jesus said, come, Peter. And Peter got down out of the boat and he walked on the water.
Peter knew who he was and he trusted him. And it's like, and my other,
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the other hero I have in the Bible is Mary.
Mary is really, really amazing. You know, this lady watched her saviour get
crucified, watched him get put upon a cross, watched him die and watch him get
delivered into the tomb.
She came the next morning with with
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perfume to to put on
his body like how faithful is that he's died
like everyone else oh he's dead don't worry about him he's in the tomb but she
came to put to put to put a perfume on his body then when she gets there he's
not there right so freak out number one freak out number two she's standing
(11:14):
there turns around sees a gardener right and and said to the gardener, sir,
can you tell me where you've laid him so I can go and get him?
She was on her own. What was she going to do? Pick him up and take him back.
Like, that's how faithful she was. She was going to pick him up,
take him back on her own. There was no one else with her. And then he said, Mary.
And that makes, that brings, just brings tears to my heart because she turned
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around and went, Rabbi, and just made a beeline.
And he said, don't cling to me, Mary. So she must've been coming fast.
All right. He said, whoa, don't cling to me, me, Mary, for I've not yet ascended
to my Father. But go tell my brethren.
Remember, all his brethren scattered.
See, this is why Jesus, I know Jesus never changes his mind.
Some people say, I've heard some people say, if Jesus wanted to,
(12:00):
he would have come down from the cross.
That was never a thought in his mind. He never even thought about that,
because love doesn't change its mind.
And so that's why he stayed there, and he stayed up there, because of his love
for us and the the joy set before him.
What was the joy set before him? His kids are coming home.
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You know, it's like as a parent and we know the kids are coming home.
How happy do we get? The kids are coming home. Get ready.
The house is going to be wrecked in three seconds, but they're coming home. I get really excited.
So can you imagine that, that he's there on the cross? That's the joy set before
him. The kids are coming home. He knows it because he's paid for it.
So we can know Jesus, but there's three simple truths I had to get past.
(12:45):
The first simple truth was I had to keep it simple.
Okay. Okay, the reason I had to do that is I'm an overthinker.
So it's very easy for me to think something right to its end conclusion and
be lost right out here somewhere.
So we need to keep it simple. And how do we keep it simple? Well, Jesus said so.
He said we must become like children.
(13:08):
So he said, then Jesus called a little child to him and set him in the midst
and said, assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little
children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Now remember, he's already said this is eternal life to know God.
So when he says when you come into the kingdom of heaven, he's not talking about in future tense.
(13:28):
He's talking about now. And we'll by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
It is really easy for me to be a child.
Really easy. And I'll I'll give you two quick examples. One,
when my older daughter was young and we was in the supermarket and she'd been
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giving me grief all day, I simply stood there and I said, biscuits,
biscuits, biscuits, biscuits.
And she said, no, and walked off and I cried. What? What?
There was a lady in that aisle that said, how dare you treat your father like that?
And look, it was classic. Look, revenge is best served up cold and on a full plate of crazy.
(14:10):
So, but that's not the child I'm talking about. The child I'm talking about
is quite a little while ago, and my wife and I have had a conversation about this.
I was riding to work, right? When I'm on the bike, I like to look tough.
I like to look, you know, like, you know, but as I'm riding,
I was riding along and And I'm just running along and I thought, Jesus is here.
(14:31):
Jesus is here. And then I thought, well, Jesus, put your helmet on in case you
fall off and break your head. And then I started laughing.
And so people driving next to me thought, what's going on with this bloke?
Then I started laughing.
Then I felt him holding around me to hold on. And I'm saying,
hold on, Jesus, we're about to come into a bend. I started laughing again.
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This is nothing that was made that wasn't made through him.
And I'm worried about him falling off and breaking his head. Right?
And so that kind of child, then I realized that's what it was.
Just keeping it really, really simple, not being caught up in everything else.
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Look, the Bible is full of some amazing stories that I still don't understand, but I love them.
And God will reveal them in time. And that's what I like about him. He takes his time.
And so become like a little child. child.
And as I said, becoming like a little child was really, really easy for me. So the.
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Is learning how to die to myself. That was a big one, how to die to myself.
And look, I can tell you now, I was so self-centered, even though I could keep
it real as far as being a Christian, I was self-centered.
But then I saw a scripture, James 3.16, where envy and self-seeking exist,
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confusion and every evil thing is there.
I was a landing strip for the enemy to come in and confuse me because I was self-centered.
And I realized the only way I was going to deal with that.
See, this is another reason why we know we can follow Jesus because he says,
pick up your cross and follow me.
Church, if we couldn't follow him, he wouldn't have told us.
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He wouldn't have said, pick up your cross.
He would have said, hey, guess what? I'm going to heaven. You're not going to come.
But he didn't say that. He said, pick up your cross and follow me. So I can follow him. him.
You can follow him if we pick up our cross. And what does picking up our cross mean?
Picking up our cross means getting out of our own way.
(16:39):
And that was my big problem. I was in my own way. I was getting too confused
over stuff. I was just in my own way.
So getting out of my own way is what worked it. And that's what I liked about
Peter. He often got in his own way.
You know, like, can you imagine the other disciples?
Look at this bloke, thinks he can and walk on the water. Hey,
what's he doing? Then he jumps out onto the water. He's walking on the water.
(17:02):
And I would have just loved to have been there and seen their face when he got
back on the water. At least I tried.
Even though he was soaking wet, at least I tried.
So yes, we can follow him, but we need to die for ourselves.
Because if we don't die to ourselves, we actually can't follow him.
Because self will stop us all the time. It'll get in the way all the time.
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And let me tell you, I am the worst person to get in my own way.
Because when I'm in my own way, I don't even know I'm in my own way.
And I'll argue black and blue that I'm not in my own way. I never knew I had eternal life.
I never knew I was in my own way. And I never knew how to become like a child.
But as it started, this was all happening and Jesus was doing it for me.
(17:48):
And what I saw then was John the Baptist said, John the Baptist said in John 3.30, he gave me a clue.
I must decrease so that he may increase.
That was a clue. And I thought, okay, well, how do I decrease?
And then I just listened and read scripture. John the Baptist knew what he was talking about.
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And so every day I have to get up and decrease. Lord, it's your day today.
It's not my day. So we do this physical and spiritual disciplines like fasting, praying every morning.
All these things are really good to help us to decrease and for him to increase.
And as we realize that he's causing
us to be like little children and then decrease, it works. It just works.
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Church, all I can say to you is believe him.
He's standing right now ready. Ready. Believe him.
You know, when he was on that cross, he said, you don't take my life, I lay down my own life.
When he was battered and bruised and beaten, he said, Mother, here is your son.
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Son, here is your mother. He shouldn't have even been alive.
He should not have been alive.
And we're worthy not because of ourselves, but because of what he's done for us.
And I want to talk to anyone in this church that feels like they are not worthy.
Because you're talking about number one offender right here.
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That feels like they are not worthy. If you think you're not worthy, you're not of yourself.
But Jesus has made you worthy. He has made you worthy.
Because he will present you. Now, get this. I know some people are probably going to go, what?
Get this. He's going to present you holy, blameless, and without fault before the Father.
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So guys, drop the worthiness. Drop the worthiness. He's made you worthy.
Take it. Take what he's done and accept it. We can't do it ourselves, but he can do it.
And you know, there's all sorts of, life gets us. Life gets us.
It pulls us down. it does all sorts of things to us.
That's why we've got to hold onto his hand, because he's the only one that can pull us through.
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And then I have the third point, third and final point, become love.
And Paul said in the scripture, now the goal of my instruction is to become love.
And in 1 John 4, 17, it says, love has been perfected in us in this,
that we may have of boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is,
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hold on to that thought, as he is,
I'm going to say it really slowly, so are we in this world.
I'll say it again, because as he is, so are we in this world.
Are you getting it? Can you get it? As he is, the Lord of glory that has saved
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us from every foul thing, as he is.
You know, there's a scripture that says that because I go to heaven,
you will do greater things than I because I go to my father.
You know, he showed me that scripture. What was the greatest thing that Jesus ever did?
Some people say, oh, the healings, the raise from life, the this,
(21:17):
the that. The greatest thing that Jesus ever did was loved. loved.
So does that mean then, Jesus, that I can love like you did?
Yes, it does. And that's what it really means for the greatest thing is to know how to love.
See, when my wife and I got married, we didn't give each other our hearts.
We gave it to God because we knew that God would never break it. We knew that.
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And now when I get up in the morning, I've said to her quite often,
and she's is in the same situation.
If I'm peeping my head about me, she can't upset me because I'm waking up in
the morning expecting nothing from her.
That's what we've got to do. Wake up and expect nothing from the world,
but everything from Christ.
And if we don't expect anything, we're not going to be... Sorry.
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Stop. So if we accept him, we've got nothing more to worry about. Life will go.
It'll do what we want it to do because we'll follow his lead.
So I'm going to stop there, but I want to say to you three things.
Three things, sorry. Three things.
Become like a child, learn to die to yourself, yourself, and become love.
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Those are the three things that are going to help us to follow Christ.
And I found that when I do them, I feel him so close. When I get up in the morning
to go into the study, I feel him waiting.
And I run to the study and get in there because he's in there waiting for me.
So if you want to have a really amazing relationship with Jesus and you want to go further.
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Please don't leave today without talking to someone and without having some
prayer and without thinking about it and without thinking about what Jesus can do and has done.
And I plead with you, hear him out. Hear what he's got to say.
Okay. Can everyone just quickly bow their heads?
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And what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk to, if this message has touched
you and you want to go deeper or you don't know Jesus or this message has touched
you, then what I'd like you to do is I'd like you just to consider taking that extra step.
If you don't know Jesus but you think, you know what, I want what that guy's
(23:37):
got. I want what he's got.
Then I would ask, let's pray.
And while everyone's head is bowed, if anyone is thinking those thoughts,
Lord, can you put your hand up for me so I know who to look to and who to pray for?
And if you want to think about that, it's okay if you don't want to put your
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hand up, please don't feel condemned, but come and talk to one of us.
The Bible says that we are saved by the grace of Christ, by grace alone, in faith alone.
When Paul was leaving the jail, the jailer said to him, how can I be saved?
And he said, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth,
(24:19):
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for
your great love. I thank you for what you've done in my life and in the life of others.
And I just pray, Lord, right now, anyone who's struggling, anyone who's feeling
the pull on their heart, Lord, bring them to someone.
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Bring them to someone so that they can talk. Bring them to someone who they can discuss it.
And I'm going to give the mic back to Pastor Nick now, now, and she's going
to open the floor up and speak again.
Just stay in that moment. I'm just going to ask if there's anybody here,
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you're not convinced that you have that relationship with Jesus that Dave talks
about. It's a relationship.
And so if you're here today and you're like, I'm not sure I have a relationship
with Jesus, we're going to pray a prayer right across the church.
And if you pray this prayer out loud, you're inviting Jesus into your heart
(25:28):
to have a relationship with you.
And so right across this church here right now, right here right now,
if that is you, just say to the Lord, Lord, I'm going to invite you into my heart right now.
As we pray this prayer together, church, say, Say, dear Jesus,
I'm inviting you in to have a relationship with me.
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Thank you for saving me.
Thank you that you rose from the dead so that I could have eternal life.
Thank you for saving me.
Fill me with your Holy Spirit.
Music.
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Anything I've done to offend you, forgive me. Wash me clean.
I receive you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. Wonderful, wonderful.
If you prayed that prayer for the very first time, please come see me and Dave
at the end and just say, you know what, I let Jesus into my heart today for real, for good.
(26:47):
So how good was Dave? Come on, give him some encouragement. So good. Gold.
I just want to capitalize on what he said. It's how incredible,
you know, that we can have a relationship with the Son of God.
Amazing that Jesus can be talked to you every day through that,
(27:10):
you know, his beautiful Holy Spirit.
He said, it's better if I go so that I can send the Holy Spirit.
And next week, we're going to be talking about relationship with the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus knew it would be better because he was here in one place.
(27:31):
He could only be in Jerusalem or he could be in Samaria.
He could be only in one place. But he said, it's better if I go to heaven,
sit at the right hand next to my dad,
next to my father, because I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit
who's going to be me with you 24 7
365 days a year all the time he's omniscient
(27:55):
he's omnipresent he's everywhere all the time he's can speak to you all day
like on your on the motorbike or in the car or on your way to work or going
for what I mean you have the presence of God available to you all the time isn't
that incredible do you know No, there's a veil.
Not that veil.
(28:17):
There's a solid veil, a ceiling between God and man.
And only by Jesus going to the cross was that veil torn and made open.
And that is why in John 14, 6, he said, Jesus said of himself,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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And no one comes to the Father except through me.
He is the only way. he is he is is that narrow-minded no that's the truth,
that's the truth that Jesus is the only way to the father,
and he is holy amen I'm going to pray for you all I wanted to open up um what
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really caught me in what Dave was saying was about the love because like who
would agree that Dave's just a big love bucket.
You know, he's just a big love bucket, isn't he? You could like go and have a drink from his well.
I reckon he's got something to give you,
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today out of his heart. And I'm just going to open up the altar as we finish.
We're going to sing a song.
Aren't we? Yes. We're going to sing a song. And as we sing a song,
If you would like some ministry to receive just the love of Jesus,
(29:47):
then I want to invite you forward to come forward.
I'm going to ask Dave to pray for you and lay hands on you and impart what's
on his life because what's on his life is pretty special.
Not only has he got a lot of love, but he's got a gift of evangelism on him.
He's got the love of God for others upon him. And so if you would like to be
(30:07):
a better soul winner, a better witness,
a better representative of Jesus Christ in your workplace, in your community,
I'm going to let Dave Frieda lay hands on you and impart the gift of evangelism upon you.
So if that's you, just as we stand, just come forward and I'll be with you.
I'll be with Dave, me and Dave down here praying for you. an impartation
(30:30):
of soul winning anointing and
also just that love of Jesus because once you get touched with the love of Jesus
you have to tell others it spills out of you so why don't we stand church and
we're going to sing that song one more time and if that's you just come forward
and we'll close the service right now thank you.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.