December 3, 2023 • 35 mins
When Helene speaks, it's as if history itself settles in for a chat. This remarkable nonagenarian, a mother many times over and a friend to the world, unpacks a treasure trove of experiences that promise to enrich and inspire. Her tales whisk you from the storied streets of Edinburgh to the natural splendor of Vancouver, and further still, to the welcoming shores of New Zealand. With every word, she weaves the essence of grace, faith, and the pure exhilaration of adventure through the generations she's touched. The wisdom of her years blossoms into an innovative approach to spirituality, resonating profoundly with the youth and reimagining church for the contemporary seeker.
As we turn our gaze inward, the episode becomes a canvas for reimagining the Christian walk. It's a pilgrimage from the rigidity of religious structures to the transformative embrace of Christ's teachings, where the sacred is found in stillness and the gift of the present moment. We delve into the legacy of grace as the bedrock of existence, as Helene's voice urges us to see ourselves as part of a divine lineage, living in the now with hearts wide open to grace. And as we reflect on the eagle's biblical metaphor of soaring resilience, we are reminded of our own capacity for spiritual renewal. Helene's parting wisdom – to balance life's beauty with its trials – is a poignant reminder that it is within community and mutual upliftment that we truly find our wings.
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Episode Transcript
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Brant Reding (00:00):
We have a special friend with us.
Helene has been traveling theworld here.
She flew from ScotlandEdinburgh to Vancouver a while
ago, spent there she has areally good dear friend there
and met with some of our dearfriends there.
And then she got invited tospeak in New Zealand and a
little uptie in the islandcalled Arama and so off.
(00:22):
She goes all the way to thatside of the world and then comes
all the way back here and isnow with us and then in a few
days well, tonight you're goingback to Vancouver and then going
back to Scotland.
She is well traveled and I loveto introduce her as the
nine-year-old with 85 years ofexperience, and some of you may
(00:44):
not know much about her storybecause she reminds me of Aunt
Tollo.
For those who remember AuntTollo, it doesn't talk a lot
about her journey, but we satwith you and it was so fun to
listen.
Married one son, widowed.
You are not just a grandmother,you're not just a
great-grandmother, but you are agreat great-grandmother.
(01:06):
Now you ponder that for aminute.
That's the equivalent of I'm agrandpa to Emily back there, new
baby Emily, and that would meanthat Emily would have to have a
child.
Then I'd be a great-grandfather, but then that child would have
to have a child.
For me to be agreat-great-grandpa I'm going to
have to be around for 120 years.
(01:27):
I think that's going to happen.
So you've had so much.
This is Helene's fifth visit tothis part of the country and we
had so much fun.
I got to tell the story.
We were coming down from theairport and she was supposed to
stay with Robin and Donna, butwe prayed that they would get
sick and so she'd have to staywith us.
(01:48):
No, we didn't, and so shestayed with us for the last two
nights.
And I'm driving her down theroad and you come from the
airport and you can see themountains and you can see the
ski hill.
That's where the 1988 WinterOlympics were and we lived not
far from that for many years.
That's where we started ourfamily.
Our oldest was in Jen's tummyat the time and I remember and I
(02:08):
pointed it out and I said, hey,that's where the jumping
happened, the Olympic jumping.
There was a guy named Eddie theeagle.
We called him and she went didyou watch the eagle on the fly?
Yeah, you ask her about eagles.
She'll tell you all about allthe references about eagles.
And she goes oh, your eyes litup and I said there's a movie
it's a true story of Eddie theEagle and it's on Disney, and
(02:31):
could we watch it?
So we got home and we watched itand I bawled like a baby.
I was like I don't remember itbeing this impacted.
If you haven't seen it, watchit.
It's really good.
Donna, you going to come up?
I've asked Donna to, becausethere's a reason why this day is
happening and there's a reasonwhy you guys are all here.
And part of Helene's story is Idon't know if you'll ever get
(02:55):
to it, but in Edinburgh you usedto reach out to students and
kids and children for years andyears and years, to the point
where so many were affected,hundreds of them, to the point
where they couldn't actually fitin, so to speak, into the old
style of church, the religiouskind of style.
So she created one, and sothat's what I love about her
(03:16):
she's just outside the box.
Jen Reding (03:19):
Yeah, so it was just on our hearts to invite Helene
here while she was in Canada soshe could come with her
childlike heart to bless all ofus with childlike hearts, but
especially you guys sitting inthe front rows and some in the
further back rows.
We've been praying for yourhearts and we are praying that
(03:44):
something will go deep downinside, that something will
touch you guys today, thatyou'll remember this day for a
long time, because Helenecarries so much love and so much
wisdom and we're just feelingso blessed that she can be here
with us today to share with you.
So, welcome here, kids, andwe're so glad that you guys sat
(04:07):
at the front today.
Ok, helene.
Helene King (04:11):
Thank you.
It's beautiful to be here.
It really is.
I do not know what is happeningto me, but during the worship
of amazing grace, I'm inabsolute tears and I just want
(04:34):
to say that there are differentkinds of tears.
There's tears of pain if youfall down.
There's tears of healing, butthen there's tears of joy and
I've realized what I'm cryingabout are tears of joy, and I
cannot believe that.
The song that was played is oneof my favorite songs and it's
(04:58):
amazing grace.
And what I want to talk aboutthis morning is grace, which I
find absolutely amazing.
So I have an extreme passionand that's why, at my age, I
still travel.
I want people younger than meto get this.
I want younger people, which iseverybody in this room to go
(05:22):
higher and deeper in thisrevelation of love than I've
ever gone.
This love that we talk about isabsolutely incredible.
It makes you very brave.
So I just want to and I'm notgoing to share for very long,
but what I want to share is arealisation that our faith in
(05:46):
God is not about our faith inHim.
He's got faith in us.
It's a totally different way ofseeing and for every one of us
in this room.
I believe he's saying to eachof our hearts today I have faith
in you, and what I want toshare today, and what I'm
(06:08):
beginning to live in, even at myage, is that it's not about an
inner healing ministry.
It's a revelation that God isour Father and he wants to
reveal Himself to us as a Father.
And when we realise that we arechildren of God, it leads us
into adventure.
And I, like James Jordan, who'sthe founder of Father Heart
(06:32):
Ministries, he said we're notbecoming, we're not the great
man or woman of God, we'rebecoming a people, and I believe
that that's very true.
In the Old Testament God waslooking for a man and he found
David and in Acts 13, we readthat David was a man after God's
(06:53):
own heart.
But in the year 2000, I waslistening to a man called Brian
McLaren and he was a verypopular Christian leader in
America and he wrote lots ofbooks and he was interviewing a
man called Dr Peter Sanghe whowas a system scientist and Dr
(07:16):
Sanghe was speaking to a groupof about 500 pastors and Dr
Sanghe said he was in abookstore and he asked the
manager of the bookstore whatare the most popular books
selling at this time.
And the manager said books onthe new economy and books on
Buddhism.
So I have a question for yourpastors why are books on
(07:39):
Buddhism selling more than bookson Christianity?
And I laughed when I heard this.
Brian McLaren thought if I ask500 different pastors, I'll get
500 different answers.
So he turned the questionaround to Dr Sanghe and he says
why do you think that?
And he said this Buddhism isabout a way of life.
(08:03):
Christianity is about a systemof beliefs and at the beginning
of this new season that we'reliving in, I encourage us all to
rediscover our Christian faithas a way of life.
It's not about a whole systemsof belief, it's about a way of
life.
And for all of you here, I justwant to say life is an
(08:28):
adventure.
Don't be dismayed by things.
Take the next step and live inwhat's been revealed and you
will find your journey on.
So I began to think about it,and when we look at ourselves as
a group of Christians and thatis who we are but often we see
(08:48):
that we've presented our faithas a system of beliefs and what
we've done is try and competewith one another that I want you
to join my church, because Ibelieve it will be better than
somebody else's, because mybelief system is better and we
tend to argue about systems.
But the problem is in a worldof religious violence, we tend
(09:11):
to be part of the probleminstead of part of the solution.
So just briefly, I used to go toa high English church, very
much dressed in formality andswung in scents.
Then I went to a Presbyterianchurch in Scotland and then
(09:31):
there was a new pastor and itbecame very evangelical.
Then I was asked to be on theleadership of a charismatic
church, moving in the power ofthe Holy Spirit.
Then I went to Catholic placesof retreat and all had a system
of beliefs, which I understand.
But we argue about systems andwe can have an argumentative
(09:55):
faith.
But when we look at the life ofJesus Christ, he called on us
to himself so that he couldreveal the Father to us, not
based on a system of beliefs,but drawn to him as a person.
You know what the Bible is.
It's a book of stories.
It's about particular people, aparticular time in world
(10:19):
history.
And when we look at the life ofJesus Christ, he did not
provide a system of beliefs.
He came for one reason toreveal God as a Father to us,
and when we come to know andmove into this beginning of a
relationship that Almighty Godis our Father, it changes
(10:41):
absolutely everything.
You know what the Bible is?
It's a book of stories aboutparticular people, about a
particular time in world history.
It's a book of poetry, it's abook of wisdom and I think we've
(11:02):
made very small the message ofthe Kingdom of God coming to
earth.
I wonder if we realize that theground we're walking on is holy
(11:33):
ground.
I mean, I remember the story ofMoses and the burning bush and
he took his shoes off because hefelt the ground was holy.
Jacob saw a ladder reachingfrom earth to heaven with angels
going up and down.
He said surely God is in thisplace and I never knew it.
(11:57):
I feel that I don't want to sayvery much this morning because I
want to do something.
I am so proud of you because Idon't think we experience
(12:29):
silence enough.
You agree with me.
There's a sound in silence.
Britain's got talent on thetelevision and I watch this
every single night.
One man who stands up, he's 23years of age and he sings a song
(12:55):
.
The sound of silence, and Iwould like to encourage every
one of us in a moment just toexperience the sound of silence.
Don't worry about a doorclosing or the wind blowing or
anything.
Silence is incredible and youknow silence is so alive with
(13:20):
sounds.
So for a minute, let'sexperience silence, silence.
(13:56):
I'm really proud of you.
We have so many words going onaround, so many different sounds
, and I was reading the Bible,and in the Bible it talks about
David.
David was a man after God's ownheart, but today he's looking
(14:19):
for a people.
He's looking for people likeyou.
In fact, I would like to askyou to stand up.
Now.
(14:42):
What I love is, when I said tostand up, I meant the children.
What I love is that you allstood up, and I don't know if
you realize, but what God islooking for today is a family, a
family of children who haveAlmighty God as their father and
(15:08):
, like I say, I'm only nine onthe inside, but you all are
children of Almighty God, and Ibelieve he wants to invite you
to a way of life such as younever know who has heard of
David in the Bible.
David was a man after God's ownheart, but today, today what
(15:35):
day is it?
Very good that she's right,it's today.
Let me teach you something.
What day is it?
What time is it?
How?
It's true and do we realizethat this now is a holy moment?
When God was looking for a manafter God's own heart, he found
(15:58):
David.
But today he's looking for apeople, not the great man or
woman of God, but a people.
And I believe please sit downand I believe that, as he's
beginning to look for a people,it's to walk the way of grace,
(16:20):
and this is why I'm so amazed atthis song that was sung.
It means so much to me.
So what does the Bible meanwhen it talks about grace?
Because I believe we need torediscover the world of grace,
where God's love and God himselfisn't earned but freely given
(16:43):
to every one of us, and thebeginning of this way of life is
to walk the way of grace.
In the book of Philippians 1,paul and Timothy, servants of
Christ Jesus to all God's people.
In Christ Jesus, where do welive?
(17:04):
We think we invite Jesus intoour heart, but we actually live
in him.
In him we live and move andhave our being.
So when he wrote the book toPhilippi was written.
It says grace and peace to youfrom God, our Father and the
(17:24):
Lord Jesus Christ.
But listen to this, the book ofRomans, to all God's people in
Rome grace and peace to you.
First Corinthians.
Grace and peace to you.
These are all books in the BibleGalatians, Ephesians,
colossians 1 and 2, thessalonica1 and 2, timothy, titus,
(17:49):
philemon.
Every one of these books beginswith the words grace and peace
to you.
What if everything we did beganwith the words grace and peace?
I talk about it a lot because Iwant to live in it, but I
(18:10):
believe we need to talk about itmore.
Do you know the word gracecomes from a Greek word meaning
karras.
This is what it means joy,favour, a pleasure to you, a
favour done with no expectationof return.
There was a Greek scholar,spirio Zodiacchi, and he says of
(18:35):
the word karras, grace is thefree expression of the love of
God to you.
Peace means shalom, it meansharmony, every kind of good.
Ireni is a Greek word for peaceand it's a feminine word.
(18:56):
I like that.
Is there anything morebeautiful than the free
expression of the love of God toyou right now?
Do you know when Paul wrote theletter to the church in Philippi
?
Do you know where he was?
He was in prison.
He was chained up.
He didn't get much to eat,there was no toilet.
(19:21):
He was never alone.
He was on his way to his owndeath.
And yet he can write this tothe church in Philippi Joy
favour, every kind of good toyou.
I don't know about you, but Ineed grace and peace spoken to
me on a regular basis.
(19:42):
What about?
Every time we met somebody, wesaid to them grace and peace.
It changes the whole atmosphere.
How would it be when people cankeep condemning themselves when
they say they're not worthy?
We interrupt them and say whyare you saying this grace and
(20:06):
peace to you?
What about when we makemistakes?
Have we made mistakes?
Can we say to ourselves graceand peace?
We don't want to make mistakes,but his grace is so greater.
(20:28):
The problem in the Christianchurch is so many of us have
made mistakes.
We keep beating ourselves onthe back because we've done it
wrong.
I remember one day confessingbefore God wrong thoughts, not
being nice to people.
I said I'm so sorry.
You know what he said to me,haleen, I don't know what you're
(20:51):
talking about, because he keepsno record of wrongs.
Why?
Because we're covered inChrist's righteousness.
Jesus said on the cross it isfinished.
I really believe that thisgeneration, which is everybody
in this room, will become moreand more like the one we focus
(21:16):
on.
Do you know what the root wordfor grace is?
Every word has a meaning.
Do you know what the word gracemeans?
It means a gift.
It's offered to me, to you.
You don't earn it.
It's not because you're goodenough.
It's a gift offered.
The only question is are weable to receive it, to taste it?
(21:41):
My favourite word in the Bibleis in the Old Testament and it
says taste and see that I amgood If I spoke about chocolate
and scientific talks on yourtaste buds, but if you don't
taste it, you don't know whatit's like.
I believe that God is invitingus in this day and hour to taste
(22:04):
this love that he's speakingabout.
Grace frees us to own our ownshadow side.
We've all got one, but when weown it and admit to it, it loses
its power.
Grace frees us and liberates usto own our true condition.
We all go through traumas andtroubles.
(22:27):
All of us have made mistakes,but when we face our shadow side
, that part of us that we've notshared with anyone, are shame
or guilt.
When we can tell our own story.
The shadow loses its power andwe become aware of the sacred,
(22:49):
even in the midst, the sameforce that made the stars the
grace of God to me, andloneliness, when I was
struggling with being so alone,which is different from
loneliness.
One of the biggest problems inthe world today is loneliness,
and it's even increasing.
That I saw in the news veryrecently, and you know what
(23:12):
loneliness is.
It's where nobody knows who youare.
So find a friend, talk to yourfriend, but let your friend talk
to you.
I believe, the more you whatyou look for you will find.
(23:32):
I believe that this generationis going to go so much higher
and deeper than I've ever gone.
There's a acidic tradition thatthe Bible speaks about and it
says everyone has a divine spark.
It's like when we make amistake, when we sin, he says
(23:54):
you're better than that becauseyou're made in my image.
In the book of Philippians itsays you are made to shine like
stars.
Why do this when you've beenmade to shine like stars in the
universe?
Grace is a gift of liberationand of freedom.
How many here want to be free?
(24:16):
What do you want to be free of?
Just think about it.
Don't answer me now, but thinkabout it.
What do you want to be free of?
Because grace wants to bring usinto a freedom such as we've
(24:41):
never known.
God wants to bring us into theglorious freedom of the sons of
God.
Grace speaks of the vastness andgreatness of the universe
because it says in the Bible, inColossians all things were
created by Him and for Him.
He is before all things and inHim all things hold together.
(25:07):
Grace is where there's longqueues at the supermarket and
suddenly you become aware of thesacred in the midst.
When you begin to own your ownstory, you begin to see the
world and people verydifferently.
Grace comes when ourhostilities overtake us and
(25:34):
nothing makes sense, andsuddenly a wave of light takes
hold of us and says this, whichI say to everyone in this room
today you are accepted.
You are accepted in the love ofthe Father.
You may not know him, but justtake hold of the fact that
(25:57):
Almighty God is your Father andhe loves you.
And I would like to pray aprayer, and I don't know if any
of you have seen a movie calledthe Tree of Life.
I'd recommend it.
It's Brad Pritt in the movieand he says this, which I love
(26:20):
there are two ways of life theway of our fallen nature and the
way of grace.
You have to choose which oneyou will follow.
Grace doesn't try to pleaseitself.
It accepts being slighted,forgotten or disliked, except
when somebody insults us orinjures us.
(26:42):
Because our fallen nature onlywants to please itself.
It likes to have its own way.
It finds reasons to be unhappywhile all the world is shining
all around and love is shiningthrough all things.
And it finishes with this noone who loves the way of grace
(27:06):
will ever come to a bad end.
What is grace?
The free bounty and benevolenceof God to you.
I can't believe how many timesin the Bible the word grace is
mentioned, and I would just liketo say to each one, everyone in
(27:29):
this room you know there'sstill a sound in silence, so
maybe close your eyes for onemoment.
(27:51):
Close your eyes, feel theatmosphere of the presence of
God that's in this room rightnow.
But not only is God in the room, he's in you.
And not only is he in you, butyou're in him.
(28:13):
When you begin to know that youlive in him, it takes away the
loneliness.
Father, shine your grace andpour your love into every part
of us, every cell of our body,and may we trust it and accept
(28:36):
it, and to have the courage towalk the way of grace.
We ask in Jesus' name I wouldlike to finish with this that we
could sing amazing grace,because his grace is amazing.
(28:57):
Amazing grace, how sweet thesound.
There is a sound being playedtoday and we need to hear it, so
would it be okay?
I would like you to sing thiswith every cell in your body,
(29:20):
with all of your heart, becausehis grace and love for you is
absolutely amazing.
There's still a roof on thisbuilding.
Maybe our worship can take theroof off.
Lance Farkas (30:17):
I receive it.
I don't know if you guys heardthat, but that was declaration,
right, isn't that true?
Like as a son, if someonecompliments you or gives you
something, sons can receiveorphans can't so assign your
walking in sonship.
When someone blesses you, youreceive it, and it's not because
(30:41):
there any better than who youare.
You're not any less, but you'rejust receiving love.
Thank you.
Helene King (30:51):
How many of us see?
Did you see on the screen thebird flying?
Do you know what that bird is?
It's an eagle and you know theword eagle is mentioned in the
Bible over 30 times and it talksabout flying like an eagle.
(31:11):
There's a the book of John,there's a symbol against the
book of John in the Bible, andit's an eagle.
Do you know?
An eagle flies higher than anyother bird.
An, an eagle flies, and when itgets to 40 years this is a
particular type of eagle when itgets to 40 years, it goes into
(31:34):
hibernation, picks all itsfeathers off, waits five and a
half months.
Then, when the feathers growback, he starts to fly again for
another 30 years.
So I don't know about you, butI want to fly like an eagle and
I want my spirit to soar.
But it's absolutely amazingthat an eagle flies higher than
(31:59):
any other bird and the book ofJohn is symbol is an eagle.
So may we fly higher and mayour spirits soar higher than
we've ever known.
Lance Farkas (32:22):
Let's, can we give Helene a big hand.
Amen, amen.
Brant Reding (32:35):
Can we, can we?
Lance Farkas (32:36):
honestly, helene, can you come up here?
Can we, can we honor thisamazing woman of God and just
can we stand her feet and justthank her, just give her, give
her a little bit of applause.
Brant Reding (33:02):
You know, it's rare to have A gift that comes
all the way from the other sideof the world with all the
experience and exposure in life,and then, when it comes
together, we get the privilegeof unwrapping a gift that comes
from him through her, and hangon to this.
(33:24):
This is recorded, just likeother things are recorded, but
if you need to be reminded whenyou face some of those storms,
you know last night, as Helenewas sharing with us, about the
two wings, the wing of beautyand the wing of pain, and you
can't fly with just one eitherone.
(33:45):
And there's going to be somechallenges.
But I love that promise I'llnever allow you to be tempted or
tested beyond what you can bear.
I'll always give you a way ofescape, and the way of escape is
coming up, looking up, notlooking down, not trudging
around, looking up and findingout how to fly in this.
(34:07):
And then he puts us in theflock, so to speak.
You're never alone with him andhe intersects us into our lives
.
So we're grateful, helene, forall that you have woven in.
You know, sometimes you're like, oh, I don't even remember when
I was here last time, but I'lltell you.
(34:29):
There's words that are inpeople's hearts that will never
go away, because he wrote themthere.
So, thank you, amen.
Do me a favor, do yourself afavor, if you haven't met
someone that's around you orsaid something to them, but just
bless them.
Sometimes we often we come inwith great needs, but it's great
when it comes out of us, too.
(34:50):
Say hi or bless them or justsay God be with you, smile at
them, find out their birthday,their middle name or something
unique.
We have a special friend with us.
Helene has been traveling theworld here.
She flew from ScotlandEdinburgh to Vancouver a while
ago, spent there she has areally good dear friend there
and met with some of our dearfriends there.
And then she got invited tospeak in New Zealand and a
little uptie in the islandcalled Arama and so off.
(00:22):
She goes all the way to thatside of the world and then comes
all the way back here and isnow with us and then in a few
days well, tonight you're goingback to Vancouver and then going
back to Scotland.
She is well traveled and I loveto introduce her as the
nine-year-old with 85 years ofexperience, and some of you may
(00:44):
not know much about her storybecause she reminds me of Aunt
Tollo.
For those who remember AuntTollo, it doesn't talk a lot
about her journey, but we satwith you and it was so fun to
listen.
Married one son, widowed.
You are not just a grandmother,you're not just a
great-grandmother, but you are agreat great-grandmother.
(01:06):
Now you ponder that for aminute.
That's the equivalent of I'm agrandpa to Emily back there, new
baby Emily, and that would meanthat Emily would have to have a
child.
Then I'd be a great-grandfather, but then that child would have
to have a child.
For me to be agreat-great-grandpa I'm going to
have to be around for 120 years.
(01:27):
I think that's going to happen.
So you've had so much.
This is Helene's fifth visit tothis part of the country and we
had so much fun.
I got to tell the story.
We were coming down from theairport and she was supposed to
stay with Robin and Donna, butwe prayed that they would get
sick and so she'd have to staywith us.
(01:48):
No, we didn't, and so shestayed with us for the last two
nights.
And I'm driving her down theroad and you come from the
airport and you can see themountains and you can see the
ski hill.
That's where the 1988 WinterOlympics were and we lived not
far from that for many years.
That's where we started ourfamily.
Our oldest was in Jen's tummyat the time and I remember and I
(02:08):
pointed it out and I said, hey,that's where the jumping
happened, the Olympic jumping.
There was a guy named Eddie theeagle.
We called him and she went didyou watch the eagle on the fly?
Yeah, you ask her about eagles.
She'll tell you all about allthe references about eagles.
And she goes oh, your eyes litup and I said there's a movie
it's a true story of Eddie theEagle and it's on Disney, and
(02:31):
could we watch it?
So we got home and we watched itand I bawled like a baby.
I was like I don't remember itbeing this impacted.
If you haven't seen it, watchit.
It's really good.
Donna, you going to come up?
I've asked Donna to, becausethere's a reason why this day is
happening and there's a reasonwhy you guys are all here.
And part of Helene's story is Idon't know if you'll ever get
(02:55):
to it, but in Edinburgh you usedto reach out to students and
kids and children for years andyears and years, to the point
where so many were affected,hundreds of them, to the point
where they couldn't actually fitin, so to speak, into the old
style of church, the religiouskind of style.
So she created one, and sothat's what I love about her
(03:16):
she's just outside the box.
Jen Reding (03:19):
Yeah, so it was just on our hearts to invite Helene
here while she was in Canada soshe could come with her
childlike heart to bless all ofus with childlike hearts, but
especially you guys sitting inthe front rows and some in the
further back rows.
We've been praying for yourhearts and we are praying that
(03:44):
something will go deep downinside, that something will
touch you guys today, thatyou'll remember this day for a
long time, because Helenecarries so much love and so much
wisdom and we're just feelingso blessed that she can be here
with us today to share with you.
So, welcome here, kids, andwe're so glad that you guys sat
(04:07):
at the front today.
Ok, helene.
Helene King (04:11):
Thank you.
It's beautiful to be here.
It really is.
I do not know what is happeningto me, but during the worship
of amazing grace, I'm inabsolute tears and I just want
(04:34):
to say that there are differentkinds of tears.
There's tears of pain if youfall down.
There's tears of healing, butthen there's tears of joy and
I've realized what I'm cryingabout are tears of joy, and I
cannot believe that.
The song that was played is oneof my favorite songs and it's
(04:58):
amazing grace.
And what I want to talk aboutthis morning is grace, which I
find absolutely amazing.
So I have an extreme passionand that's why, at my age, I
still travel.
I want people younger than meto get this.
I want younger people, which iseverybody in this room to go
(05:22):
higher and deeper in thisrevelation of love than I've
ever gone.
This love that we talk about isabsolutely incredible.
It makes you very brave.
So I just want to and I'm notgoing to share for very long,
but what I want to share is arealisation that our faith in
(05:46):
God is not about our faith inHim.
He's got faith in us.
It's a totally different way ofseeing and for every one of us
in this room.
I believe he's saying to eachof our hearts today I have faith
in you, and what I want toshare today, and what I'm
(06:08):
beginning to live in, even at myage, is that it's not about an
inner healing ministry.
It's a revelation that God isour Father and he wants to
reveal Himself to us as a Father.
And when we realise that we arechildren of God, it leads us
into adventure.
And I, like James Jordan, who'sthe founder of Father Heart
(06:32):
Ministries, he said we're notbecoming, we're not the great
man or woman of God, we'rebecoming a people, and I believe
that that's very true.
In the Old Testament God waslooking for a man and he found
David and in Acts 13, we readthat David was a man after God's
(06:53):
own heart.
But in the year 2000, I waslistening to a man called Brian
McLaren and he was a verypopular Christian leader in
America and he wrote lots ofbooks and he was interviewing a
man called Dr Peter Sanghe whowas a system scientist and Dr
(07:16):
Sanghe was speaking to a groupof about 500 pastors and Dr
Sanghe said he was in abookstore and he asked the
manager of the bookstore whatare the most popular books
selling at this time.
And the manager said books onthe new economy and books on
Buddhism.
So I have a question for yourpastors why are books on
(07:39):
Buddhism selling more than bookson Christianity?
And I laughed when I heard this.
Brian McLaren thought if I ask500 different pastors, I'll get
500 different answers.
So he turned the questionaround to Dr Sanghe and he says
why do you think that?
And he said this Buddhism isabout a way of life.
(08:03):
Christianity is about a systemof beliefs and at the beginning
of this new season that we'reliving in, I encourage us all to
rediscover our Christian faithas a way of life.
It's not about a whole systemsof belief, it's about a way of
life.
And for all of you here, I justwant to say life is an
(08:28):
adventure.
Don't be dismayed by things.
Take the next step and live inwhat's been revealed and you
will find your journey on.
So I began to think about it,and when we look at ourselves as
a group of Christians and thatis who we are but often we see
(08:48):
that we've presented our faithas a system of beliefs and what
we've done is try and competewith one another that I want you
to join my church, because Ibelieve it will be better than
somebody else's, because mybelief system is better and we
tend to argue about systems.
But the problem is in a worldof religious violence, we tend
(09:11):
to be part of the probleminstead of part of the solution.
So just briefly, I used to go toa high English church, very
much dressed in formality andswung in scents.
Then I went to a Presbyterianchurch in Scotland and then
(09:31):
there was a new pastor and itbecame very evangelical.
Then I was asked to be on theleadership of a charismatic
church, moving in the power ofthe Holy Spirit.
Then I went to Catholic placesof retreat and all had a system
of beliefs, which I understand.
But we argue about systems andwe can have an argumentative
(09:55):
faith.
But when we look at the life ofJesus Christ, he called on us
to himself so that he couldreveal the Father to us, not
based on a system of beliefs,but drawn to him as a person.
You know what the Bible is.
It's a book of stories.
It's about particular people, aparticular time in world
(10:19):
history.
And when we look at the life ofJesus Christ, he did not
provide a system of beliefs.
He came for one reason toreveal God as a Father to us,
and when we come to know andmove into this beginning of a
relationship that Almighty Godis our Father, it changes
(10:41):
absolutely everything.
You know what the Bible is?
It's a book of stories aboutparticular people, about a
particular time in world history.
It's a book of poetry, it's abook of wisdom and I think we've
(11:02):
made very small the message ofthe Kingdom of God coming to
earth.
I wonder if we realize that theground we're walking on is holy
(11:33):
ground.
I mean, I remember the story ofMoses and the burning bush and
he took his shoes off because hefelt the ground was holy.
Jacob saw a ladder reachingfrom earth to heaven with angels
going up and down.
He said surely God is in thisplace and I never knew it.
(11:57):
I feel that I don't want to sayvery much this morning because I
want to do something.
I am so proud of you because Idon't think we experience
(12:29):
silence enough.
You agree with me.
There's a sound in silence.
Britain's got talent on thetelevision and I watch this
every single night.
One man who stands up, he's 23years of age and he sings a song
(12:55):
.
The sound of silence, and Iwould like to encourage every
one of us in a moment just toexperience the sound of silence.
Don't worry about a doorclosing or the wind blowing or
anything.
Silence is incredible and youknow silence is so alive with
(13:20):
sounds.
So for a minute, let'sexperience silence, silence.
(13:56):
I'm really proud of you.
We have so many words going onaround, so many different sounds
, and I was reading the Bible,and in the Bible it talks about
David.
David was a man after God's ownheart, but today he's looking
(14:19):
for a people.
He's looking for people likeyou.
In fact, I would like to askyou to stand up.
Now.
(14:42):
What I love is, when I said tostand up, I meant the children.
What I love is that you allstood up, and I don't know if
you realize, but what God islooking for today is a family, a
family of children who haveAlmighty God as their father and
(15:08):
, like I say, I'm only nine onthe inside, but you all are
children of Almighty God, and Ibelieve he wants to invite you
to a way of life such as younever know who has heard of
David in the Bible.
David was a man after God's ownheart, but today, today what
(15:35):
day is it?
Very good that she's right,it's today.
Let me teach you something.
What day is it?
What time is it?
How?
It's true and do we realizethat this now is a holy moment?
When God was looking for a manafter God's own heart, he found
(15:58):
David.
But today he's looking for apeople, not the great man or
woman of God, but a people.
And I believe please sit downand I believe that, as he's
beginning to look for a people,it's to walk the way of grace,
(16:20):
and this is why I'm so amazed atthis song that was sung.
It means so much to me.
So what does the Bible meanwhen it talks about grace?
Because I believe we need torediscover the world of grace,
where God's love and God himselfisn't earned but freely given
(16:43):
to every one of us, and thebeginning of this way of life is
to walk the way of grace.
In the book of Philippians 1,paul and Timothy, servants of
Christ Jesus to all God's people.
In Christ Jesus, where do welive?
(17:04):
We think we invite Jesus intoour heart, but we actually live
in him.
In him we live and move andhave our being.
So when he wrote the book toPhilippi was written.
It says grace and peace to youfrom God, our Father and the
(17:24):
Lord Jesus Christ.
But listen to this, the book ofRomans, to all God's people in
Rome grace and peace to you.
First Corinthians.
Grace and peace to you.
These are all books in the BibleGalatians, Ephesians,
colossians 1 and 2, thessalonica1 and 2, timothy, titus,
(17:49):
philemon.
Every one of these books beginswith the words grace and peace
to you.
What if everything we did beganwith the words grace and peace?
I talk about it a lot because Iwant to live in it, but I
(18:10):
believe we need to talk about itmore.
Do you know the word gracecomes from a Greek word meaning
karras.
This is what it means joy,favour, a pleasure to you, a
favour done with no expectationof return.
There was a Greek scholar,spirio Zodiacchi, and he says of
(18:35):
the word karras, grace is thefree expression of the love of
God to you.
Peace means shalom, it meansharmony, every kind of good.
Ireni is a Greek word for peaceand it's a feminine word.
(18:56):
I like that.
Is there anything morebeautiful than the free
expression of the love of God toyou right now?
Do you know when Paul wrote theletter to the church in Philippi
?
Do you know where he was?
He was in prison.
He was chained up.
He didn't get much to eat,there was no toilet.
(19:21):
He was never alone.
He was on his way to his owndeath.
And yet he can write this tothe church in Philippi Joy
favour, every kind of good toyou.
I don't know about you, but Ineed grace and peace spoken to
me on a regular basis.
(19:42):
What about?
Every time we met somebody, wesaid to them grace and peace.
It changes the whole atmosphere.
How would it be when people cankeep condemning themselves when
they say they're not worthy?
We interrupt them and say whyare you saying this grace and
(20:06):
peace to you?
What about when we makemistakes?
Have we made mistakes?
Can we say to ourselves graceand peace?
We don't want to make mistakes,but his grace is so greater.
(20:28):
The problem in the Christianchurch is so many of us have
made mistakes.
We keep beating ourselves onthe back because we've done it
wrong.
I remember one day confessingbefore God wrong thoughts, not
being nice to people.
I said I'm so sorry.
You know what he said to me,haleen, I don't know what you're
(20:51):
talking about, because he keepsno record of wrongs.
Why?
Because we're covered inChrist's righteousness.
Jesus said on the cross it isfinished.
I really believe that thisgeneration, which is everybody
in this room, will become moreand more like the one we focus
(21:16):
on.
Do you know what the root wordfor grace is?
Every word has a meaning.
Do you know what the word gracemeans?
It means a gift.
It's offered to me, to you.
You don't earn it.
It's not because you're goodenough.
It's a gift offered.
The only question is are weable to receive it, to taste it?
(21:41):
My favourite word in the Bibleis in the Old Testament and it
says taste and see that I amgood If I spoke about chocolate
and scientific talks on yourtaste buds, but if you don't
taste it, you don't know whatit's like.
I believe that God is invitingus in this day and hour to taste
(22:04):
this love that he's speakingabout.
Grace frees us to own our ownshadow side.
We've all got one, but when weown it and admit to it, it loses
its power.
Grace frees us and liberates usto own our true condition.
We all go through traumas andtroubles.
(22:27):
All of us have made mistakes,but when we face our shadow side
, that part of us that we've notshared with anyone, are shame
or guilt.
When we can tell our own story.
The shadow loses its power andwe become aware of the sacred,
(22:49):
even in the midst, the sameforce that made the stars the
grace of God to me, andloneliness, when I was
struggling with being so alone,which is different from
loneliness.
One of the biggest problems inthe world today is loneliness,
and it's even increasing.
That I saw in the news veryrecently, and you know what
(23:12):
loneliness is.
It's where nobody knows who youare.
So find a friend, talk to yourfriend, but let your friend talk
to you.
I believe, the more you whatyou look for you will find.
(23:32):
I believe that this generationis going to go so much higher
and deeper than I've ever gone.
There's a acidic tradition thatthe Bible speaks about and it
says everyone has a divine spark.
It's like when we make amistake, when we sin, he says
(23:54):
you're better than that becauseyou're made in my image.
In the book of Philippians itsays you are made to shine like
stars.
Why do this when you've beenmade to shine like stars in the
universe?
Grace is a gift of liberationand of freedom.
How many here want to be free?
(24:16):
What do you want to be free of?
Just think about it.
Don't answer me now, but thinkabout it.
What do you want to be free of?
Because grace wants to bring usinto a freedom such as we've
(24:41):
never known.
God wants to bring us into theglorious freedom of the sons of
God.
Grace speaks of the vastness andgreatness of the universe
because it says in the Bible, inColossians all things were
created by Him and for Him.
He is before all things and inHim all things hold together.
(25:07):
Grace is where there's longqueues at the supermarket and
suddenly you become aware of thesacred in the midst.
When you begin to own your ownstory, you begin to see the
world and people verydifferently.
Grace comes when ourhostilities overtake us and
(25:34):
nothing makes sense, andsuddenly a wave of light takes
hold of us and says this, whichI say to everyone in this room
today you are accepted.
You are accepted in the love ofthe Father.
You may not know him, but justtake hold of the fact that
(25:57):
Almighty God is your Father andhe loves you.
And I would like to pray aprayer, and I don't know if any
of you have seen a movie calledthe Tree of Life.
I'd recommend it.
It's Brad Pritt in the movieand he says this, which I love
(26:20):
there are two ways of life theway of our fallen nature and the
way of grace.
You have to choose which oneyou will follow.
Grace doesn't try to pleaseitself.
It accepts being slighted,forgotten or disliked, except
when somebody insults us orinjures us.
(26:42):
Because our fallen nature onlywants to please itself.
It likes to have its own way.
It finds reasons to be unhappywhile all the world is shining
all around and love is shiningthrough all things.
And it finishes with this noone who loves the way of grace
(27:06):
will ever come to a bad end.
What is grace?
The free bounty and benevolenceof God to you.
I can't believe how many timesin the Bible the word grace is
mentioned, and I would just liketo say to each one, everyone in
(27:29):
this room you know there'sstill a sound in silence, so
maybe close your eyes for onemoment.
(27:51):
Close your eyes, feel theatmosphere of the presence of
God that's in this room rightnow.
But not only is God in the room, he's in you.
And not only is he in you, butyou're in him.
(28:13):
When you begin to know that youlive in him, it takes away the
loneliness.
Father, shine your grace andpour your love into every part
of us, every cell of our body,and may we trust it and accept
(28:36):
it, and to have the courage towalk the way of grace.
We ask in Jesus' name I wouldlike to finish with this that we
could sing amazing grace,because his grace is amazing.
(28:57):
Amazing grace, how sweet thesound.
There is a sound being playedtoday and we need to hear it, so
would it be okay?
I would like you to sing thiswith every cell in your body,
(29:20):
with all of your heart, becausehis grace and love for you is
absolutely amazing.
There's still a roof on thisbuilding.
Maybe our worship can take theroof off.
Lance Farkas (30:17):
I receive it.
I don't know if you guys heardthat, but that was declaration,
right, isn't that true?
Like as a son, if someonecompliments you or gives you
something, sons can receiveorphans can't so assign your
walking in sonship.
When someone blesses you, youreceive it, and it's not because
(30:41):
there any better than who youare.
You're not any less, but you'rejust receiving love.
Thank you.
Helene King (30:51):
How many of us see?
Did you see on the screen thebird flying?
Do you know what that bird is?
It's an eagle and you know theword eagle is mentioned in the
Bible over 30 times and it talksabout flying like an eagle.
(31:11):
There's a the book of John,there's a symbol against the
book of John in the Bible, andit's an eagle.
Do you know?
An eagle flies higher than anyother bird.
An, an eagle flies, and when itgets to 40 years this is a
particular type of eagle when itgets to 40 years, it goes into
(31:34):
hibernation, picks all itsfeathers off, waits five and a
half months.
Then, when the feathers growback, he starts to fly again for
another 30 years.
So I don't know about you, butI want to fly like an eagle and
I want my spirit to soar.
But it's absolutely amazingthat an eagle flies higher than
(31:59):
any other bird and the book ofJohn is symbol is an eagle.
So may we fly higher and mayour spirits soar higher than
we've ever known.
Lance Farkas (32:22):
Let's, can we give Helene a big hand.
Amen, amen.
Brant Reding (32:35):
Can we, can we?
Lance Farkas (32:36):
honestly, helene, can you come up here?
Can we, can we honor thisamazing woman of God and just
can we stand her feet and justthank her, just give her, give
her a little bit of applause.
Brant Reding (33:02):
You know, it's rare to have A gift that comes
all the way from the other sideof the world with all the
experience and exposure in life,and then, when it comes
together, we get the privilegeof unwrapping a gift that comes
from him through her, and hangon to this.
(33:24):
This is recorded, just likeother things are recorded, but
if you need to be reminded whenyou face some of those storms,
you know last night, as Helenewas sharing with us, about the
two wings, the wing of beautyand the wing of pain, and you
can't fly with just one eitherone.
(33:45):
And there's going to be somechallenges.
But I love that promise I'llnever allow you to be tempted or
tested beyond what you can bear.
I'll always give you a way ofescape, and the way of escape is
coming up, looking up, notlooking down, not trudging
around, looking up and findingout how to fly in this.
(34:07):
And then he puts us in theflock, so to speak.
You're never alone with him andhe intersects us into our lives
.
So we're grateful, helene, forall that you have woven in.
You know, sometimes you're like, oh, I don't even remember when
I was here last time, but I'lltell you.
(34:29):
There's words that are inpeople's hearts that will never
go away, because he wrote themthere.
So, thank you, amen.
Do me a favor, do yourself afavor, if you haven't met
someone that's around you orsaid something to them, but just
bless them.
Sometimes we often we come inwith great needs, but it's great
when it comes out of us, too.
(34:50):
Say hi or bless them or justsay God be with you, smile at
them, find out their birthday,their middle name or something
unique.
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