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Summary of Nick's Sermon: A Time for Every Purpose This sermon is based on Genesis 21, which tells the story of the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah. Key Points: God is Faithful: Even though it took 25 years for the promise of a child to be fulfilled, God remained faithful to his word. The Importance of Holding On: We can easily get discouraged when our prayers seem unanswered, but the story of Abraham and Sarah reminds us to hold onto faith. Laughter in the Midst of Difficulty: Laughter is a gift from God that can help us see challenges in perspective. God Uses Our Mess-Ups: Even when we make mistakes (like Sarah suggesting Hagar), God can still work through them for good. God Blesses Our Mess: We may regret our past actions, but God is gracious and can still bless us. God Works Across Divides: While there is division in the world, God seeks to bring people together and show his grace to all. Biblical References: Genesis 21:1-7 - Birth of Isaac Scripture about laughter (not mentioned but referenced in sermon): unreferenced Additional Points: The sermon references the story of doubting Thomas (John 20:24-29). The importance of looking for God working in the lives of people from different backgrounds is mentioned. Transcript Thank you, good morning. Am I on? I think I am. Can you hear me yet? Great. We are still in Genesis, you may be surprised to hear. Genesis 21 already, and just been fascinated reading these passages, hearing what people have said through different aspects of God's Word in Genesis, and it is God's Word. Let's remember that when God gives us something on a Sunday morning it's because we need to hear it, and I need to hear it. There are challenges for me in the preparation of this Word. We need to hear what God is saying. It's quite a long passage, Genesis 21, it's quite involved, there's different elements to it, and we're just going to take a wander, a wander through it, deeper than our feet could ever wander. And we're going to, yeah, just have a table. The title on the screen is A Time for Every Purpose. It's not there, it doesn't matter, but it seems like we've been following, we've arrived, the subtitle in my Bible of Genesis 21 is The Birth of Isaac, and we've been following this story of Isaac, it seems like, for as long as Sarah was. It's just been going on and on and on. You know, God said, I'm going to give you a son, and then there's the whole Ishmael story, and there's all of that, and then years pass into years, and I think we've said, wasn't it 25 years from the time of the promise up to the time of the fulfillment, and yet we've arrived. Genesis 21, the birth of Isaac. So much drama has been generated since God made that simple promise. Like we've been on the edge of the fulfillment, week on week on week. It's around every corner, it could even be today, but today, finally, the time has come, and there is a beautiful rhythm to the first few verses of Genesis 21. I don't know what version I'm using here, English standard version. It's quite good in places and quite old-fashioned in others, but we're going to read it from here. The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as He had promised, and Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, that's true, in case we've missed it, Isaac, and Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded him. Makes the life of faith look very simple, doesn't it? The Lord visited Sarah as He had said and did to Sarah as He had promised, obviously, but it's not that obvious, is it? Because we're 25 years into the story, and there's been a whole load of stuff that has happened, and yet we come to this culmination, simply the Lord visited Sarah as He had said. All the years of waiting, hoping, doubting, trying to manipulate the promise, laughing at the prospect, it all came down to this, the Lord visited Sarah as He had promised. Johnny reminded us last week that God is committed to His promises, and here we see it, 25 years on, with every passing year their faith looked more and more ridiculous. Sarah got older and older, I mean these are these are crackpot people, you know there's a 99 year old lady or whatever she's saying, oh you know God's told me I'm going to have a child, oh well okay, good luck with that. God visited Sarah as He had said. One of the burdens of modern life, as you may well know, is being on hold to telephone call centers, listening to a recorded voice saying, thank you for holding, your call is important to us, and you know with every fiber of your being that your call is not important to them, otherwise they would have answered it. If you have any involvement with the Edge Center on a Thursday morning, you know that it's not true, their call is not important, and so we can spend the best part of two hours waiting to talk to somebody at Sheffield Council or whoever it is, no offense to Sheffield Council, didn't mean to mention you on the recording, just scrub that bit off, artificial intelligence. But even in the life of faith we can feel like we're in the waiting room can't we, all can feel like we're on hold. How many know what it's like to believe God for something, how hard it is as day runs into day to keep focused on what He has said, and not to be distracted, not to be discouraged, and not to let doubt overcome us, and not to make us think, well did we really dream it all up, did we have too much cheese one night, and we we really haven't heard God speak to us. We don't know what is happening, how do we keep motivated, how do we keep believing, you know your prayer is important to us, please hold on. And Abraham and Sarah were no different, they were overcome with distractions and doubt, but in the end the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, as He had said, that it's like it's almost like well obviously that was going to happen, but clearly it wasn't obvious, Sarah, but as He had said, God did it. And yet the church, the life of faith is littered with stories of people that have given up, people give up on those on those holding, on those telephone things, listening to the music over and over and over again, oh I've had enough. And the temptation is to say I've had enough. It seemed so exciting when we started, it seemed so fresh, it seemed so full of promise, it seemed like like it was going to, it was all going to make sense, it seemed like it wasn't going to be this painful, it wasn't going to be this confusing, it wasn't going to be this draining. Remember the rhythm of those verses, the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, hold on, despite the drama. Jonathan spoke to us yesterday morning about building a community church, and one of the things that he threw in was a poster that he's seen at Hollybush where with a little boy who with his head in his hands and the phrase was, it's always too soon to quit. And I think the story of Abraham and Sarah tell us it's always too soon to quit, because God does as He has said He will do, despite everything that goes on in the middle of it. And I don't know what's vexing you this morning, what is troubling you, what is eating away at your heart, what is discouraging you, what doubts are coming in, but let this word stand that God is faithful, He's faithful to His word, He's faithful to you. Johnny said God is committed to His promises and He's committed to His people, He's committed to you, it is worth holding on, hold on, come what may. And as we go through and we get to verse 6, it says that Sarah said God has made laughter for me, for everyone who hears will laugh over me. Good laughter I'm sure. God has made laughter for me. At the end of it all there must have been tears, there must have been pain, there must have been arguments in the Abraham and Sarah household. There were a few big issues weren't there over the years. But at the end of it all she could say God has made laughter for me. Laughter is a gift of grace. Don't despise laughter, it shakes our hearts free. Andy was talking earlier, it was about the pneumatic drill. Laughter is a pneumatic drill that breaks up the hardness of our hearts and the unbelief that grips us. If we can laugh when we get a grant for 20,000 and we lose one for 75,000, we can laugh because we've got the background of faith, the background of the goodness and the faithfulness of God that we know. This story of 146 is bigger than our application to Veolia or what their trustees decide or any of that, that God has showed us from the beginning that he has given us this and he's given us this land and he's given us the future and he's given us the opportunity to be part of the extension of his kingdom on this precinct, you know, subject to the decision of Veolia trustees. It's not is it? We're thankful for them and we're thankful that we can go back to them in future and we can ask them again, so think again. But we, you know, we can laugh. George MacDonald, I don't know who he is. I think he had a farm. He said, yeah, that was his dad, old MacDonald. His son George and his brother Ronald. Yeah, he said E-I-E-I-O, yeah. I thought we'd throw that in. I told you laughter was good. He said, one day, it is the heart that is unsure of its God that is afraid to laugh. It's the heart that is unsure of its God that is afraid to laugh. And we are people who live against the background of the promises of God and we shouldn't really be those who have our heads in our hands all the time. And I'm speaking as somebody who people always say to me, what's wrong? What's wrong with you? Why the frown? Why are you rubbing your head? I used to do that in Zambia, you know, it's like I'd come out of the office and everybody was sitting laughing and chatting and I'd be going like this. Rub our heads. I'm not really somebody who's always associated with laughter. Let's be honest, there's full transparency. Kizak and Sammy call me jolly old Nick and it's an exercise in sarcasm. But we shouldn't be those who have our heads in our hands and I have to learn this and we have to learn to laugh freely and unreservedly. I never really understood being not one of nature's laughers. I like making people laugh, but I don't always find it easy myself, but Toronto blessing. People were laughing all the time. 30 years ago we had this outpouring of God's Spirit on the church and there was one of them, there were lots of manifestations, some funnier than others, but there was one, the hallmark of it was laughter. People were laughing uncontrollably from nowhere and I was leading the church at the time and it was hitting our church and there were things going on and we embraced it. We wanted it. We had the meetings. We went to the prayer meetings, but I didn't get it myself in the sense of I don't know why people laughing. Think maybe I was, yeah, I'm spiritual. Oh, there we are. It started again. Yeah, so the... I don't know what I was saying, but yeah, anyway, yeah. So, but recently, this is what happened recently. About 30 years on from Toronto blessing, I was in a particular stressful situation. I used to sleep all right. Whatever happens, however stressful things get, I annoy Erica because I could just go to sleep. But one day I woke up early and started to chew over these things. I was thinking about it. And I went downstairs and started to think and I didn't particularly pray or have any particular encounter or whatever, but suddenly something like my perspective changed and I just started to laugh about the whole situation and I couldn't stop laughing about it and I just found what a liberation that was because what it was telling me was that you don't know what to do. You don't know the answer. I haven't even given you the answer, but God is in control and the people and one of the blessings of being involved in life in Africa is the way people are so ready to laugh against the background of intense suffering because, you know, because it's not flippant. It's not flippant laughter or just think of laughing, bury a head in the sand and just laugh anyway. It's actually facing, fully facing the facts that life is dreadful and there are so many challenges and there are so many unanswered questions. There are so many, so many things that people will point and say where is your God now and all of that is reality for people and yet the laughter is so near the surface. People will laugh and celebrate. I mean Alex, our friend in Kenya, when we went to see him last year just before I got sick and we were with him and he was just relaying some of the stories about the children that they were trying to support in Kenya and some of the challenges they had and some of the challenges he felt that he said I just pass them on to you because I don't have, you know, any answers and he said, he said we just look at it and we don't know what to do and we just say well Jesus is Lord and then just started laughing and laughing and laughing. Jesus is Lord, so he said, you know, it's, who was it yesterday saying oh it's God's problem. It's not flippant humor, it's laughing because we're confident in our God and as we learn and come to know the God who is faithful and certain and never lets us down then the result will be the freedom to laugh. It's a gift, you know, in the West we have so much even though we, you know, we look at our thing, oh broken Britain and it's all falling apart and NHS and blah blah blah and all of that stuff, we think, you know, we think we're hard done by but we have more than 99% of the entire world and yet we laugh the least. We have, you know, if there's nothing you can add to our life, if we don't have joy in the midst of our life, there's nothing you can add physically that will give us joy because we've got it. We've got opportunity, we've got power, we've got choice, there's money, people might feel like, oh I haven't got much money. No, you may not have much money but in terms of the context of the whole world, we've got loads of stuff. Even when people come on a Thursday and we try and help with, you know, with benefits advice, at least there are benefits to get. You know, there's a whole load of stuff that we have and we have the freedom and yet if we can't find peace in all of that, in the middle of it all, then we have a problem. So we have to discover the God who gives us laughter. Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. God has made laughter for us, not when our problems are solved. He's made laughter for us today. What problems are you carrying today? What grief are you carrying today? What sadness? What confusion are you carrying today? Because today God has made laughter for you because he's in control. He's in control. And so we move on. She said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I was born in a son in his old age. And then in the middle of it all, you see Abraham threw a feast to celebrate because finally they say, oh yeah, oh it actually worked out. You've been in that position before where you sort of celebrate like we're great people of faith. Abraham gets all the plaudits, doesn't he? He was a great man of faith. The Bible says he never weakened in his faith. Really? When you read through, God is so gracious. If he can say, it gives me hope for my judgment. When he looks at me, oh he never weakened in his faith. No, that was me. Man of faith and power for the hour. So he threw a feast and they celebrated because God had done what he said he would do. And in the middle of it all, Sarah looked up and she saw Hagar's son, Ishmael, laughing. Now it didn't say he was laughing at her, just that he was laughing because everybody else was laughing. Sarah was laughing, but there was something in it that pricked her. She didn't like what she saw. She didn't like the fact that he was there because he was a reminder of other things. There was this celebration that God had done what he said, and yet Sarah had actually been part of a big mess-up where they'd arranged for Abraham to have a child with Hagar, Ishmael, because they thought, well maybe this is the way that we can do it. And in the middle of it all, there is this reminder, probably I'm trying to get all confusing numbers, I think 14-year-old reminder of what she had done and what she'd been part of, and she didn't like it. And she said, send him away and send her away, banish them. Even in our blessing, even when we learn to love, there can be bitterness that controls our hearts. And she was bitter in the middle of her blessing, and she said to Abraham, take her away, send her away. Abraham, it was her who came up with the plan of course, but she didn't want him around, and Abraham was sad because it was his son. Now I read these words that come strongly, what came strongly to mind is like the link between these cross-references that come up in my mind, the link between doubting Thomas and Sarah, that Thomas, when Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he said, actually I'm not sure I believe it, but I want to put my hand in his side and my fingers in the holes in his hands, and then I will believe. And so Jesus graciously offered himself to him and said, here, put your fingers in here, put your hand in my side. And Thomas said, no, now I believe, now I've seen. And he said, blessed are you because you have seen and believed, but more blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. And Sarah was one of those who, yes, she saw the goodness of God. God is faithful even when we are faithless. He carries us through, but she marred her experience of the goodness of God because she messed it up in the middle, and she had a constant reminder of what she had done. I mean, I've been in so many situations, and we try and encourage one another with it, or when you think, when you see God is faithful all the way through, and somehow you know that at the end of it all, we're going to be laughing, we're going to be saying, well, God is great, God does all things well. And yet there's still that angst in the middle, and there's still that question, you know, what's going to happen? And there's a constant challenge that I bring to myself, so I don't really want to feel foolish at the end of it all. God will always be faithful, but I don't want to feel foolish when he is, when he shows himself good, and when he shows himself strong, and when he does what we know that he always does. I don't want to say, yeah, but I let the side down in the process. I got discouraged, I got fed up, I got impatient, and Sarah's joy was clouded by the memory and the reminder of what she did. More blessed it would have been to hold on to the promises of God relentlessly, and to see what he was able to do. The Lord visited Sarah as he had said he would do, and yet she received it. God is good, but she messed it up in the process, and there was pain, and there was bitterness as a result. God grants her request, and he said, you can read through the passage later, he said, okay, he told Abraham to do it, tell her to go away, give her some water, give her what she needs, and send her away into the wilderness. But he came to Abraham privately, and said, don't worry, I'm still going to bless him because he's your son. The grace and the kindness of God, even in our mess, God is able to bless our mess. God didn't join in the battle and say, yeah, I don't like them either, get rid of them. He said, I'm going to make him a great nation because he comes from you. Isaac is the child of the promise, but Ishmael is your child, and I will bless him. And so Hagar goes into the wilderness, and she gets to the point of giving up hope, and she even said, well, I'm going to put my child under this bush, and I'm going to turn away because I'm not going to look on the death of my child. She was expecting him to die there in the desert, and then God heard them and spoke to them and said, up, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation. Sarah saw Hagar and Ishmael as a sharp reminder of what had gone wrong. God used the opportunity to show grace in the middle of the mess. God is gracious. Who has a track record that is perfect? No arms are going up. I presume that's because you're shy. I know you're all very, very spiritual. God blesses our mess. We can all look back with regret. We can all look back with uncertainty. We can all look back and think, I wish it hadn't been that way. I wish I had maintained a faith. I wish I'd been stronger in my belief and in my declaration of the praise of God. The songs that we sing say, I'll praise God in the goodness and in the dark days. I'll praise God when things are going well, and I'll praise Him when they're not. I'll praise Him when I'm healthy. I'll praise Him when I'm sick. It doesn't always work out that way, does it? We like to have the results in front of us, and yet we can look back and we can see, actually, there are times in our lives that we regret. We regret our response to God. We regret the words that we've spoken. We regret the prayers we haven't prayed. We regret the unbelief we've expressed. We regret it, but God blesses our mess as well as our success. Historically, you know, Ishmael is the father of the Arabic nations, and there is a story right up to the present day. You only have to turn on the news. See, there is enmity, there is division, there is hatred between races and cultures, going all the way back to these roots. In our election and all of that that's going on, there are people that will want to stoke culture wars and divisions between any number of groups in society, whether it's between Christian and Muslim, whether it's between black and white, whether it's between rich and poor, wherever the division falls, people want to stoke that. And what we find is that God is a gracious God, and we don't find Him taking one side or another of a culture war. We find Him in the middle of it all, that God is able to say, I will bless Ishmael and make Him a great nation. And it reminds us that in a world that is built on hatred and division and separation, that Ishmael's descendants are our brothers. And so we must pray for them, and we must pray for people. We must look for the grace of God that links across. We must find out where He is. You know, I was brought up in a sort of a reformed tradition. I said, well, not brought up, but the church that I joined was very much reformed in its theology. What that means is that there was a very heavy emphasis on the Reformation, the Protestant tradition, and all of that. And so there was a sense that there was nothing particularly good about Catholic theology or Catholic doctrine or Catholic tradition. And we were brought up with the history of the wars and things that had gone wrong. And so you sort of brought up that suspicion and that uncertainty about things. And then I got into a meeting that I didn't intend to get into, where there was a man from our local Catholic church, and he was talking about how he visited a shrine where the Virgin Mary had appeared to different people, and they got healed of different things. And it all just sounded really weird. I thought, I don't need to listen to this. But as he got to speak and as he got to explain, and he talked about how he encountered God, how he encountered Jesus in that place, and he said, and all the stories about Mary and everything went to one side, and it ended up just glorifying Jesus about what he'd encountered there. And it really challenged my mind and challenged my thinking to say, actually, in the middle of where I think I've got God on my side, we find him crossing barriers and crossing boundaries. And so in all the culture wars that we've got going on, whether it's to do with, there can be anything. It could be, like I say, it could be where we come from, our background. It could be the sexuality and gender issues. It can be abortion. It can be all of those things. Yet what we need to do is look for God in the middle of all those things. If you read the stories of the 24-7 prayer movement and the way that they've been able to connect with people from every different background and every different lifestyle and every different thing, they said they already find God already there in the middle of it all. And God is able to make himself known. He doesn't wait for people to become like us in order to meet them or to speak them or to deal with their lives or to show them grace or to show them mercy. I have one friend who's a Muslim lady, and she's very outspoken, very gregarious, very funny. She lives in Zambia, and she said to me that she, because the expatriate community in Zambia has a lot of missionaries in it, and so she would come up again. She said to us actually, I think it was a compliment, she said, you're the first Christians that I've met that don't want to argue with me. And she said she had a problem. One lady came to her and said her opening gambit in conversation was, you're going to burn in hell. And she said, oh, well, at least I won't be alone because you'll be there with me. And that's the sort of humor that she's got. But as you get to know her and as you get to talk to her, you find out there is a great pain and great suffering and great grief that has gone on in her life, and yet she's able to articulate how she met Jesus in Bethlehem, near Bethlehem, where she went. She's from Lebanon, and she went there with a Christian friend, and she encountered the power and the presence of Jesus in that place. And she said her life has never been the same again. She would not identify as a Christian. She would not say that she's a Christian. She's a Muslim lady, but when you talk to her and you understand, you know that God met her personally. God is able to cross barriers that we struggle to cross. There are always treasures of grace to be found. Let's move on quickly. The passage at the end of verse 22 through to 24 is about the treaty with Abimelech. I think, again, read it. There won't be a tremendous benefit in us reading the details of it, but Abimelech was a man who recognized the grace of God in Abraham, and the two men agreed to conduct their relationship based on their reverence for God. It's a story of men being fashioned and shaped by the presence of God in their lives and by their reverence for God and their fear of God and manifesting righteousness and integrity in their dealings with one another. And quickly, as we come to a close, what I'm getting from that is that God is not just doing firework events. He's not just doing miracles in our lives, but He is slowly revealing and manifesting His character through relationships and through society. And this is the hope of revival that we have, that God would manifest Himself in our lives and our hearts to such an extent that it affects all of our relationships, all of our connections, all of our conversations, everything that happens. That's our prayer on a Thursday morning when people come in that they will, yes, they will hear the words of the Gospel, but they will also encounter the reality of changed lives and transformed lives, and we're seeing people's lives now as they come in also being transformed by the reality and the presence of God. And that's what you see in this, in the outworking of this relationship and this encounter between Abimelech and Abraham, two men that could have gone to war with each other, that could have fought each other, that could have argued with one another, that could have that could have torn each other to pieces, and yet they decided to deal with each other based on their relationship and the reverence for God. And Abraham decided to commemorate the grace and the goodness of God by planting a tree, a tamarisk tree, in verse 33. And as we draw to a close, what I want to say about this is that the message was so strong about the attitude we need when dealing with God's work in our life. He didn't throw a party or have a feast. He planted a tree. Trees are for the long term. Trees are generational. Trees span decades. When we first went to Zambia, and we bought the place that we still have there now, there was a big expanse of land at the back, very nice open space, and it was roasting hot. If you sat out there, it was like sitting in a wok, and there was just no shade anywhere. And Erica's dad was with us at the time, and we were saying to him, the problem with the garden is it's lovely, but it's just so hot. There's no shade. There's no whatever. He said, well, you could plant a tree. He said, oh, don't be ridiculous. We need some shade now. I want to wait for a tree to grow. But we did plant some trees, and now I will take you there. I just should have done it on here. I'll take you to Google Earth. You can see those trees from Google Earth. They're huge and shady and lovely, and he was a man of vision, and I wasn't. But trees are powerful. Trees tell us of, you know, trees span generations. Trees span lifetimes. They just, you know, whatever. And Abraham's moment to commemorate the goodness and the grace of God was to plant a tree, and that tells us something. He didn't just put up a banner or maybe it's not about him. There's that phrase, there's that quote that says we should plant trees the shade of which we will never sit under, and that I believe is at the heart of this church and the things that we talked about yesterday and the things that we're talking about when we look at 146 and the projects that God has given us. We are actually planting trees the shade of which we will not sit under. We're building for generations. We want to, there will be stories that we will only hear in eternity about what will happen in this place, that it will go on beyond any of us being here, and it's having that long view of the goodness and the grace of God, planting a tree to say this is how I'll remember. We are planting trees. Plant trees in your life. Don't just look for what is God going to do for me today. I think it's great when we do respond and we do pray for one another and we have an encounter with God here in the moment, but it's not about a here in the moment encounter that is going to change your life. It's going to be a tree that is planted. If God plants anything in you today, let it be a tree that changes you in 5, 10, 15, 20 years time. Don't be a Christian partygoer. Be a tree planter. And so God will do what he has promised to do. He gives us freedom to laugh. Always be grateful. Give no space to ingratitude or bitterness. God is able to bless our mess. Look for God's grace everywhere, even when you don't expect to find it. And don't throw parties, plant trees. Those are the lessons today. God bless you.

Summary of Sermon: Covenant by Nick This sermon explores the story of Abraham and Sarah from Genesis 17, focusing on the concept of God's covenant and its enduring promises. Key Points: God's timing: The passage highlights the vast amount of time that can pass between God's promises and their fulfillment. We can get discouraged by waiting, but God's faithfulness endures. (Genesis 16 & 17) Resilient Faith: The long wait for a child teaches us about the importance of holding onto faith and God's promises even when there seems to be no progress. (Romans 4:17-21) God initiates the relationship: God is the one who pursues a relationship with us, revealing Himself and offering His blessings. (Genesis 17:1) God's Sovereignty: We are not God. There's a healthy reverence and humility required in our relationship with Him. (Genesis 17:3) The Power of Names: Names and labels can influence our perception. God changes Abram's name to Abraham signifying a shift in his identity and future. (Genesis 17:5) Transformation: God desires to transform us from the inside out. We can hold ourselves back by clinging to past limitations. (Gideon - Judges 6:11-16) Promises vs. Feelings: God's promises are not contingent on our emotions. We can rely on His faithfulness even when we doubt or feel discouraged. (Genesis 17:1-8) Signs of the Covenant: Circumcision served as a physical reminder of God's covenant with Abraham. God gives us various signs to bolster our faith. (Genesis 17:11) Illustrations: The author uses contemporary examples like service awards and long-term friendships to illustrate God's faithfulness despite the passage of time. The story of Zacchaeus from the Gospels demonstrates how God takes the initiative in relationships. Applications: We are encouraged to develop a resilient faith that trusts in God's promises even when facing challenges. We should acknowledge God's sovereignty and majesty in our worship. The sermon challenges us to examine the labels we place on ourselves and be open to God's transformative work. We can rely on God's enduring promises regardless of our emotional state. Verses Referenced: Genesis 16:1-16 Genesis 17:1-27 Romans 4:17-21 Judges 6:11-16 Transcript Thank you very much and excellent foundation this morning to what I want to say from the team so thank you Stephen team as well for leading us in worship that way we've already we've raced to Genesis chapter 17. So right into the heart of the story of Abram and Sarah I and remember Karen spoke very challenging last week about the birth of Ishmael and how that came about. And so if you do have a Bible or a phone or iPad or whatever it is figured up to Genesis 17 and we'll read it so we get some context into what I want to say this morning. So Genesis 17 from verse 1. When Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to him and said I am El Shaddai God almighty serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants. At this Abram fell face down on the ground then God said to him this is my covenant with you I will make you the father of a multitude of nations what's more I am changing your name it will no longer be Abram instead you will be called Abraham for you will be the father of many nations I will make you extremely fruitful your descendants will become many nations and kings will be among them I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you from generation to generation this is the everlasting covenant I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you and I will give the entire land of Canaan where you now live as a foreigner to you and your descendants it will be their possession forever and I will be their God then God said to Abraham your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant you and all your descendants have this continual responsibility this is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep each male among you must be circumcised you must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth this applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased all must be circumcised your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant then God said to Abraham regarding Sarah your wife her name will no longer be Sarah from now on her name will be Sarah and I will bless her and give you a son from her yes I will bless her richly and she will become the mother of many nations kings of nations will be among her descendants then Abraham bowed down to the ground but he laughed to himself in disbelief how could I become a father at the age of a hundred he thought and how can Sarah have a baby when she is 90 years old so Abraham said to God may Ishmael live under your special blessing but God replied no Sarah your wife will give birth to a son for you you will name him Isaac and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant as for Ishmael I'll bless him also just as you have asked I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants he will become the father of twelve princes and I will make him a great nation but my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year when God had finished speaking he left Abraham on that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household including those born there and those he had bought then he circumcised them cutting off their foreskin's just just as God had told him Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised and Ishmael his son was 13 both Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that same day along with all the other men and boys of the household whether they were born there or bought a servants or were circumcised with him that's the story Genesis 17 the title is covenant but I've broken down going through that passage broken it down into a number of different sections so we've just got some some points that we can draw from in terms of our application and our understanding of the story and the first thing that I want us to think about is that God's word and God's promises over our lives have no sell by date you don't get to a point where you think well yeah that was then but this is now you know that that is sort of worn out now it doesn't you know God may have said that in the past but but I think things have moved on we've progressed we've gone to a new situation a new reality and maybe the promise doesn't carry the same weight as it once did and one thing that's easy to miss with these accounts in Genesis has been pointed out over the last few weeks is just how long the span of time is between the events Karen spoke last week about the events leading up to the birth of Ishmael and here that was in chapter 16 and in chapter 17 Ishmael is 13 years old already it's like super fast forward I was saying we've raced to chapter you know 17 this this is a long period of time and we still haven't seen the fulfillment of the original promise given to Abram Abram and Sarah as they were then messed it up as Karen pointed out they and they involved Haegar in a in a plot to try and try and manipulate God's blessing and to work out how it would how the promise could actually be brought about according to their own understanding and God said no that's not the way it's going to be I'm going to bless you from a son from your own body and yet 13 years later we still haven't seen it when Erika spoke she talked about there being 25 years between the promise the original promise that Abram would have a son and the birth of Isaac 25 years is a decent amount of time isn't it it's not as long now as it once seemed but it's still a long time teaches me about and us about the longevity the length the span of time that God's promises can cover they can span years decades and they're still as valid today as they were the day they were given and we're an instant-minded people aren't we we if we send a text or a WhatsApp and we haven't had a reply in 20 minutes we think what's wrong what's wrong with those people haven't they maybe I better send them another one or send them a different one if you send a WhatsApp try a text message or then an email maybe even radically give them a ring they've seen the message there's two blue ticks and they haven't written back why aren't they answering I've got a number of friends now that I've turned off that blue tick thing so you never know with it yeah maybe we'll give them a nudge I remember we used to get a gold watch or a carriage clock when you've done 25 years service in a company my son my youngest son started a new job last May and this week he got his long service award he did personal letter from the CEO congratulations on on finishing a year we're not very good at allowing the passage of time are we without wanting something dramatic to show for it I mean he did laugh I like his perspective he did they understand it was a funny thing long service award for a free I don't know what they're expecting but these accounts ground us in the fact that God's work in our lives take a lifetime faith in Jesus is a long game I keep referring see I'm really good on I listen to what everybody said Chris spoke many weeks ago and said about a long obedience in the same direction I've read that book as well the world my world looks very different from when I was 16 and when I first came to faith it's four years so so much has changed but things God spoke to me then are still being worked out now and some haven't even come to be I found in the attic the other day a number of prophetic words I got in about 1988 and it was it's fascinating to see that these things still carry weight they still stand and I wonder if you struggle when God seems slow or even seems to have forgotten about you all together Genesis teaches us that just because nothing's happening doesn't mean nothing's happening God allows our lives to unfold and he doesn't seem to be worried by taking time Charles Slagle once said that God is extremely slow but he's never late he doesn't give us updates or commentary he told them 13 years ago actually you've got it wrong Ishmael is not the blessing there's going to be a son from your body 13 years later they're still waiting there haven't been there haven't been daily updates or you know like we get from Steve we get emails from Steve keeping us up to date with what's going on in case we in case we lose heart that God doesn't seem to to operate in the same way Steve but he's building strong resilient people who have the strength to hold on to him and his word even when there's no external disco even when there's no external encouragement even when we don't actually get the updates even when we don't know we haven't got you know our latest sort of nugget of encouragement from God or from anybody else can we keep holding on can we keep resilient can we keep our eyes focused on the promise on our understanding of what God has said we struggle don't we in that in the African churches which we've been so much a part over the years there's the thing where somebody was out God is good if he was there all the time and all the time God is good because that is his nature and it's a wonderful declaration but it's something in our in our sort of society that we can start to undermine and we can start to question and say yeah but there's all this that's happened and that's that happened but there's something about those statements and those declarations that are so important to actually say that yes God is good he's good throughout the span of time he's good throughout every change in our circumstances he's good in sickness and he's good in health he's good in poverty and he's good in wealth he's good all the time and there's a resilience and a strength that is needed in our hearts in order for us to navigate the life of faith and particularly in the times that we live in we have to be those that can hold on resiliently and rigidly onto onto the Word of God and say that we know what he said and we know what he would do and we will not be knocked sideways or blown around by everything that happens to us or everything that can come or everything that might undermine our faith we say know that we know that we know the God who we have believed so what Paul said didn't he I know who I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able that's nothing to do with feelings that's nothing to do with what might happen tomorrow that's to do with what we know what we know deep in our hearts what we've been persuaded and what we've come to the settled realization about that God is good and faithful in Romans it tells us the story about Abraham Abraham they said he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead and yet against all hope in hope believed and so became the father of many nations he faced facts and yet still believed can we face facts and still believe still hold on still choose faith still choose joy still choose that overcoming attitude to endure confusion and loss and hold firmly to what we know about God always challenged by the the accounts in the book of Acts about people like Silas and Paul when they were whipped and they were flogged and they were they were thrown in a dungeon and they were locked in stocks and there was there was there was nothing good about their situation and yet they were able to respond with joy they were able to respond with worship because they knew that they're God they they knew who they had believed and were persuaded in every way that he was good that he was faithful and that he would do what he had promised and that whatever happened to their lives God's promises would stand and that's the situation that we have and that's the the type of people that God is wanting to build in us we need to be tough we need to be tough people tough for tough in our faith tough in our resilience tough in our ability to hold on to the word of God and you don't need me to tell you that life has its own curveballs it has its own challenges it has unexpected twists and turns the question is will we stand when those things come will we know that God's promise is not undermined it's not set aside it's not forgotten but it stands in our lives secondly our relationship with God is his idea and not ours God appeared to Abraham and didn't just speak but gave him his name I am El Shaddai God Almighty that's a real big deal for someone fought for God to come to Abraham and reveal his name not just say you know give me sacrifices give me worship give me loyalty give me give me your stuff give me all those things he's actually I'm going to give you my name I'm going to give you my presence I'm going to give you my who I am could be reticent about using our first and English people can be can't we we're a bit more relaxed here you know I I am Nick or whatever you know but in in tradition we we don't like to keep our powder dry a little bit who we are we we we're a little bit more formal Americans are very relaxed about it all but giving our name it's a bit like the lifting of the veil this is who I am it reveals something about ourselves all the local tribes had their gods that they offered sacrifices to but he was God Almighty drawing closes and this is who I am I'm going to give myself to you Abraham through no for no reason except that I'm choosing to do it and the Bible is a story of how God has revealed himself to us and his intention to be known by us we think we hold ourselves back who think I'm not good enough I'm not strong enough I'm not faith filled enough I'm not you know I don't think I can really aspire to a relationship with God and yet we find God has actually come to us and revealed himself to us of his own volition and his own choice I am El Shaddai God Almighty God's idea to have a friendship with you not yours so when you think I don't know if I could be a very good friend of God go say well I'm being your friend I want to be a friend with you and yet we disqualify ourselves when it is actually God who has approached us God who has revealed himself to us God who has gone before us and lavished us with mercy and grace you look at yourself and you say well who am I that God should know me that you know that I could I could even think maybe I'm just on the edges I'll look just like Zacchaeus in the tree and he was he didn't even qualify himself he didn't want to introduce himself to Jesus he just wanted to see what was going on and so he climbed up like a spectator in life and looking down just to see if he could benefit from just seeing what Jesus was doing with his real friends and in the middle of it all Jesus looked up pointed at him and called in my name and says Zacchaeus come down because I'm coming to your house I'm coming to your house not would you like to come to my house I'm coming to yours he's very bold Jesus wasn't he wasn't very English I'm coming round get the kettle on that's the position of security we're in we are safe we are secure we are blessed because our blessing is from God to us not the other way around that he comes to us and he says I am God almighty of all the people to introduce themselves to us God almighty makes himself known to us made himself known to Abraham thirdly God is God and we are not sounds obvious doesn't it but it's easy to forget God is God and we are not verse three at this Abraham fell face down on the ground God spoke to him and Abraham didn't speak back he fell face down on the ground and God said to him this is my covenant with you and explained the terms of the covenant God has come to us and he's announced himself to us and his desire to have a relationship with us but it doesn't sort of put us on a unequal as somebody once said he's God almighty not God almighty so there he comes so close and there's such an opportunity for us but yet there was something in the revelation that Abraham received that caused him not to just say all right God let's have a chat he got down on his face on the ground and then God spoke to him and there's something about that relationship that we need to I think that was reflected in some of the songs that we chose this morning the the power and the glory and the majesty of who God is is so vital for us in our relationship with him because we have we're invited into a beautiful relationship with him we're invited into his promises we're invited into his blessing but we have to remember who we are and who he is and we have and there must be always that dynamic of worship between us you know we have that thing people will say well when I see God I'm going to have a word with him and I'm going to I'm going to ask him a few questions I'm going to sit him down and he's going to answer me these things we think well okay we'll see how that works out because there is a difference there is a difference between God and us there's a difference between the eternal and the flesh there's a difference and we have to know it and we have to respond to it we are free in our relationship with God but we have to know who he is he is God and we are not Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and from that time they decided we're going to decide now what's good and you find it now don't you people will say well if God is going to say this and if God is going to say that then you won't find me worshiping him I couldn't worship a God like that there are even people that will that will assert that what God has said is evil or wrong or not progressive or not modern enough or whatever it is and we have to understand that whatever we think we are not the judges of God and Abraham fell down on his face and then God spoke to him that was the position from which God spoke to him and there is that in our hearts where we have to know that we are we are who we are before God in order that God might speak to us we are not God God is God Simon Peter when he had interacted with Jesus he knew who Jesus was they were friends together they'd done all sorts of things together but when there was a revelation about who Jesus was who this was standing in front of him he said go away from me Lord because I'm a sinful man Isaiah when he saw God himself he said woe to me because I am a man of unclean lips and I live amongst the people of unclean lips there is a conviction that comes just by being in the presence of God and we need to be prepared for that and ready for that because that is the reality of what it means to be worshipers a revival of worship that will turn us inside out and put us down on our faces it challenges the natural arrogance of our hearts as we come to terms with what it means I am God Almighty and that immediately affects the way that we interact and the way that we relate with God thirdly or fourthly or fifthly I can't remember how many we've done three thank you God changes our names or changes names and he changes outcomes he changes the labels that are put upon our lives Abram's name was changed from Abram exalted father to Abraham father of many after 25 years things were beginning to happen at long last God said this time next year you will have a son and I'm changing your name from Abram to Abraham exalted father to father of men it's a good label Abram was a good name not a bad name and he said there's a change of gear now we are we are moving from from from one position to another where we are looking at the eternal blessing with the eternal promise this son you thought you'd worked it out Isaac each male was born and all of that but then none of that is gonna is gonna is gonna affect the eternal promise but it's Isaac who will be the source of the blessing and so Abraham's name was changed to accommodate the word over his life and future names and labels matter and names and labels can keep us rooted in the past or they can build faith for the future and our understanding and then there's so many things that we might it might be our actual name came across a child in our sad situation in our time in Zambia and when we asked the child's name we were told it was rubbish that was that was the name of the child and and it was such a such a terrible you know it's almost like something you throw away and yet and so people of faith and I think the family came to faith as well and they decided to change the name of the child to blessings or gift gift that's what it was gift not something but you know those simple things like that matter our names your name might mean something it might it might not is something that parents do these days a lot more than they used to do look into the meanings of names and what it all means on sort of want to our aspirations and our expectations our hopes for our children so we'll let's encompass it in a name I think Nicholas means great leader or something look it up later but we can label ourselves in our in our hearts and our emotions we can say well this is just what I am this is who I am this is what I've always been this is what I'll always be it's interesting how they stick isn't it I was fascinating you know the Jesus had had supper in the home of a man called Simon the leper he was someone who'd been healed but he was he's still carried that that label but there are things from our things from our past things from our our understanding of ourselves things from our upbringing that shape our expectation of what we can be and what God can do in our lives and God himself comes to right at the beginning of history comes to Abram says I'm going to change your name to Abram because I know that names matter and know that labels matter and and it's true of us today that there is so much that can can be encompassed in the labels that are placed upon us whoever controls the labels controls the outcome and we need to hear what God is calling us not what we call ourselves he would come to Gideon in the Old Testament while he was hiding away threshing wheat in a wine press an impossible thing to do and he said the Lord is with you mighty warrior and he looked out and he said I'm anything but a mighty warrior but that was what was spoken over him Jesus would change Simon's name I tell you you are now Peter and on this rock I'll build my church so much that is carried in the in the names that we that we have and very often we look back and we judge ourselves and we shape ourselves and we make the the Abram was limited by the by his imagination in terms of what he understood of himself and God was coming in and saying no I'm going to stretch your imagination and God wants to stretch our imagination about what is possible about what grace can mean in our lives about what transformation can look like you know we talk the message of transformation but we don't often really grab hold of what it means to be transformed from the inside out that we we have a gospel of transformation but we really expect to be the same we year after year after year and yet there is an opportunity and I know there are people in here that could give testimony after testimony of how God has transformed them from one place to another but we want to see that multiplied over and over again and one of the things that will be the key to that is if we are prepared to change the labels over our lives and our expectations over what can happen even the good things there are many good things many transitions that we go through in life from one good thing to another and yet it's that previous good thing that can hold us back whether it's a a life change of direction or change of employment retirement whatever it is there can be all of that and we can we can we can fail to really step into the fullness of all that's ahead of us because we we're pulled back a little bit by what we what we hear from the past God changes labels and finally the promises of God are not attached to our feelings we rely on our feelings very much for our encouragement don't we we encourage ourselves if we feel good all is good we feel good God is in heaven if we feel bad maybe years we're not sure other promises still standing other promises are strong when we feel bad as when we feel good and God was establishing here with Abraham an eternal unconditional covenant he changed his name and then he gave him an enduring mark he didn't say you know just just remember this you just tell tell people he said actually what we're going to do is give you quite a radical mark of circumcision to remind him and everyone of the promise Erica spoke about the signs of the covenant about the rainbow and the starry night and how Abraham had nine thousand starry nights to consider the promise of God and nothing that ever happened to him in his life was ever going to remove those stars from the heaven it doesn't matter you know and with it there was desolation all around him he could still look up and those stars would be there to remind him and God gives us marks that remind us that actually these promises are outside of ourselves they're outside of our circumstances are outside of whatever might happen to us and they are deep and permanent God came to him spelled out that he was going to become a father and it was Sarah his wife who would give birth and he laughed in disbelief this is Abraham the father of faith by the way who got all his credit all his righteousness credited to him for faith his first response was to laugh and and as I was preparing this I remember that song by Michael Cobb they called him laughter I won't sing it to you before he came after the father had made an impossible promise come true the birth of a baby to a hopeless old lady no offense to the to Sarah on there but just amazing what God can do but Abraham his his human response was to laugh how can this be it's impossible but then from that laughter he got himself together he took a deep breath and he stepped forward and he did what God had told him to do he did the circumcision he made the mark on his body and everybody else's all the other male bodies that were there to remind them of the of the nature of the covenant he set aside all his feelings and he acted on God's word he chose to believe he chose to put things into action he chose to to mark himself permanently in order that he would always remember what God had said and every generation after would remember what God had said because there needs to be those things in our lives we need to be those those moments where we take a decision to say actually we're not I don't even care what's going to happen tomorrow I don't even care what's happening to me at the moment I am going to choose to believe in the goodness and the permanence of the promises of God as we look forward as individuals as we look forward as a church and we consider all that God is going to do we choose to believe in the promises of God so excited and it's encouraging when we hear the hundred thousand pounds has come in and we think oh well maybe we got it right after all that's not what we're thinking or what we should be thinking you know that's a relief few they actually know that's what we that's actually what we expect because God has placed something in our hearts and promised us things that we are now seeing the unfolding of and so therefore we will continue to see the unfolding and we will continue to see and we will see God establish things in this community and in this church that even we won't even see the fulfillment of there'll be others that will come after us because we believe in the promises of God it's not down to you know did did we get it right did we get it wrong what do we feel today or how you know how's it going how was the how was the feeling at the prayer day what do people think we don't take focus groups to decide whether the promises of God are still valid they are there but perhaps our response when we consider what God has said is to laugh and we have to be those that will then stand up and take action and make decisions and allow ourselves to be marked by the promises of God not just moved by the promises of God let's not allow it would only just be a moved emotionally into a into a into faith but we want to be marked forever to say we are people who have staked everything on the promises of God and as we come to communion don't want to take away from what James said he's going to say but as we come to communion it's that that is so important it's that it's that it's not an emotional process it's not something that we go through and we we try to find the emotions for communion but it's actually a physical thing to remind us that these promises stand forever that this covenant stands forever remember God's word stands no matter what time has passed he wants us to choose faith in him regardless of what has happened or is happening or will happen he has chosen to come to us and open a relationship with us not the other way around God is God and you are not I am not God has things to say about you your life your future that are different to what others have said or you've said about yourself and we need to listen to him and what he says and it may be difficult to believe God or to trust him but you can choose to do it you can determine to put your trust in him every day for the rest of your life and be marked forever as a believer in Christ and as a believer in God not just while things are running well but forever forever and ever and ever and on into eternity amen God bless you

Summary Introduction Erica starts with an illustration about her son singing a children's worship song and how it made her think about brokenness and God's mercy. Recap of Last Week's Sermon Erica summarizes the previous sermon where they spoke about the importance of trusting God even in difficult situations. Abraham's Story - Genesis 15 Erica focuses on Genesis 15 where Abraham has just rescued Lot and other people from a battle. Abraham decided to return all the captured plunder to the king of Sodom, even though he had won the battle and could have kept it. This act of giving everything back to the king impressed God because Abraham gave God all the glory for his success. The Importance of Giving God the Glory The message is that we should give God the glory for everything good in our lives, not take credit for ourselves. Often we focus on the temporary pleasures of the world instead of the permanent reward of knowing God. Erica emphasizes that trusting in God will never leave us feeling like we missed out. Abraham Questions God's Promise Abraham reminds God of his promise of a son, as it had been 10-15 years since the initial promise in Genesis 12. This act of reminding God is seen as acceptable because it shows dependence on God's faithfulness. God Reaffirms His Promises to Abraham God reassures Abraham of the promise of a son, using the countless stars in the sky as a metaphor for the multitude of descendants Abraham will have. God establishes a covenant with Abraham, promising him land for his descendants. The Ritual of the Cut Pieces God instructs Abraham to perform a ritual with sacrificed animals, cut in half and laid on the ground. Vultures came to eat the sacrifice, but Abraham drove them away. This is seen as a representation of doubt and negativity that can try to steal our joy and faith. God Shows Abraham the Future Abraham falls into a deep sleep, and God reveals the future struggles and hardships Abraham's descendants will face. Difficulties do not negate God's promises; they are part of the journey. Finding Freedom Through Worship Erica uses Philippians 2:13 to remind listeners that God works in them to desire and do what pleases Him. This means God gets the glory, not us. She emphasizes that God doesn't forget or abandon us, even during moments of doubt about faith or salvation. God's Unwavering Promises Referencing the stars again, Erica highlights God's faithfulness to His promises, even when we doubt. She assures listeners that God remains a covenant-keeping God, even when we are faithless. Quotes Hebrews 13:5 ("I will never leave you nor forsake you") to emphasize God's constant presence. Worship as an Expression of Gratitude The sermon shifts to the purpose of worship. Worship is not about manipulating God to obtain things; His promises are already established. We sing and worship because our hearts overflow with gratitude for God's free gifts and the freedom He offers. Conclusion Erica emphasizes the privilege of being a worshiper and the freedom that comes with focusing on God's faithfulness. The sermon ends with a powerful declaration of "amen." Key Points Give God the glory for everything good in your life. Trusting in God is more valuable than temporary worldly pleasures. Don't be afraid to remind God of His promises. Doubt and negativity can try to steal your faith, but you can overcome them. Struggles and hardships are part of life, but God's promises are still true. God works in us to accomplish His will. God's promises are unwavering, even when we doubt. Worship is an expression of gratitude for God's faithfulness and the freedom He provides. Transcript speak through eric is now in jesus nine uh... one it's dark green now it's dark green jensen i wonder if you could put up that song once again i look upon the cross where you died that first jesus christ i think upon your sacrifice just made me smile i had that song for such a long time and i tell you why it made me smile uh... was because when aiden was very little how old was he probably about three uh... it was probably about three and he uh... he used to love that song and he used to sing the second bit i'm humbled by a mercy but he would sing humbug mercy and and and and and and and and i broken inside was how we saw it and uh... and this morning i was just uh... thinking about that song it's an absolutely brilliant song but i just remember this little three-year-old going humbug mercy and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and broken broken inside so i thought i'd share that with you uh... just as my introduction to powerful really really powerful he did a solo as well uh... once a wedding only once uh... but i was i have to say i just thought that by the grace of god uh... he spoke really clearly uh... last uh... sunday from genesis chapter fourteen and i just kind of want to recap the three points that he spoke about or the god spoke through him and remember the title was when a lot is at stake and a real lot person lot was at stake and it would you mind getting me a glass of water please thank you and and abraham when a lot is at stake there were three things one of them was the first one was keep calm and factor in god but god everything looks impossible but god the army looks huge but god the situation looks bleak but god the second point was gather your three hundred and eighteen trained men uh... and maybe that's not literal well it won't be literal for us three hundred and eighteen trained men but find your trained people the people that will stand alongside you and battle for you and with you and isolation is not gift from god it's a strategy of the enemy it's a strategy of the end we are much stronger together then we will ever be apart and so when we are feeling in that place where things look challenging and difficult gather the people around you that will remind you and help you to strengthen your faith thank you very much and then the third point was abraham and rescued a lot and in the process he freed all the women and other people i'm still trying to understand what that movement of the people mean but um... just to regard again a reminder that our decisions and the choices that we make have a ripple effect on other people and uh... abraham decided to save one man and so many other families were saved in the process don't underestimate what god can do through the decisions that you make and the impact that it can have on the world around you and so we come to chapter fifteen and abraham has rescued lot and a ton of other people and he's also come away from the fight with all the plunder which is normal all the gold and the silver and everything and by law all of that stuff belongs to abraham there's no disputing it he won the battle he gets all the stuff and he goes to the king of sodom to return his people back to him those that he'd rescued and uh... the king of sodom says to him all this plunder is yours and abraham says i don't want any of it and now by right this all belongs to me but i don't want any of it because i don't want anybody out there to say that it was they that made me rich i really was struck by that he didn't he wanted all the glory for any success or any prosperity or any achievement or to go to god so when the king of sodom said you can have it all all of this is yours how amazing really really good stuff he made the choice to walk away from all of that so that god would get all the glory for all the prosperity and all the achievement and all the success that abraham would have and uh... it reminds me that saying from jim elliot you know that famous one don't you he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to take hold of what he cannot lose it's all rightfully his there would have been nothing wrong to take it it wasn't theft he wasn't stealing it but he made a decision he didn't want anyone to be able to say we made you who you are we played a party wanted all the glory to go to god and i just found that really big challenge and asking myself the question this week is i've been mauling it over and i've been mauling this chapter over a lot who do i give credit for the achievements in my life who do i give credit for the successes of the things that i feel i've done well or the right choices who i do who do i give credit to do i give it all to god and say god have all the glory you do i try and share it a little bit well you know it was some garden some may and whatever and i want to be like abraham who says you know what lord jesus it's all yours everything everything is all yours and now we come to genesis chapter fifteen and i'm going to read it if that's all right you're still with me sure okay so genesis chapter fifteen i'm going to read from the beginning after this the word of the lord came to abraham in the visit vindict vision it's given up the plunder and now he has this vision don't be afraid abraham i am your shield and your very great reward but abraham said sovereign lord what can you give me since i remain childless and the one who will inherit my state is aliased of Damascus and abraham said you have given me no children so a servant in my household will be my air then the word of the lord came to him this man will not be your air but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your air he took him outside and said look up at the sky and count the stars if indeed you can count them then he said to him so shall your offspring be make a note in your bible verse six abraham believed the lord and he credit it to him as righteousness he also said to him i am the lord who brought you out of her the childians to give you this land and take possession of it abraham said sovereign lord how can i know that i shall gain possession of it so the lord said to him bring me a heifer a goat and a ram each three years old along with a dove and a young pigeon abraham bought all of these things to him i love that it's all as if it was sitting there waiting uh... he just went out to the supermarket and came back with it all abraham said that sovereign lord oh yeah i've done that but abraham brought all of these things to him cut them into two and arrange the halves opposite each other the birds however he did not cut in half then the birds of prey came on the carcasses but aden drove abraham drove them away as the sun was setting abraham fell into a deep sleep in a thick and dreadful darkness came over him and then the lord said to him no for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in the country not their own and that they will be enslaved and ill-treated but i will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterwards they will come with great possessions you however will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age in the fourth generation your descendants will come back here for the sins of the amorites has not yet reached its full measure when the sun had set and darkness had fallen a smoking brazier and a flame blazing torch appeared and passed through the pieces and on that day the lord made the covenant with abraham and said to your descendants i give you this land from the wadi of egypt to the great river the uphrates the land of the kennesites kennesites kabmanites and hitites perisites rafayites amorites kennesites and gurgersites and jebusites are men so it's given up the plunder and god comes to abraham in a vision and it says i'd like to paraphrase it i'm not sure that god said it exactly like this but bear with me says it says i saw what you did back there and how you valued me more than all the other stuff and all the other treasure and some people would have thought that abraham was a fool to have passed it all up but god is saying you made the right decision don't be afraid abraham i am going to be your shield not i'm going to be i am your shield your protection against blows against violence against missiles whatever it is i am your shield that was a promise that god made to abraham and to his people and i am your very great reward what he was saying was abraham you will not be a loser when you give up everything for me i will more than make up what you have given up i will more than make up for you and he says that to us today as i go through you'll never be the loser for putting your faith in jesus never you'll never come off worse all the world has to offer and it's got some incredible things to offer amazing valuable stuff out there but when we give our lives to jesus we will never be the poorer for it sometimes we behave like god is a killjoy or he's out to ruin our fun or make life miserable but what he's actually saying is when you put your trust in me you will never be the poorer abraham you'll never be the loser and he says that to you this morning so he says to him don't pine after all the other joy just know abraham that i am your shield i am your very great reward the king of sodden was offering so much amazing and valuable stuff but god was not saying i'm going to give you more stuff abraham i'm going to give you more gold and more silver he says i'm actually going to give you myself wait in the balance all the stuff out there or god himself who are we sure yeah well i'm sure this morning i'm really sure this morning because i'm in the presence of all you lovely people and we've sung some really amazing stuff about the promises of god and i feel quite good because i've read this chapter and i'm so excited about it all that god has said about his promises and but i know that monday morning is coming way up all that that is out there or god himself and i love abraham's reply because he's kind of blunt because he kind of says oh yeah thanks ever so much god thank you for giving yourself to me but what about that what about that other concern i have what about that other thing that you promised me what about the other stuff that i need you to do and i just realized how easy it is for us to focus on the dirt and the dust of daily living that we actually forget that god himself has promised to walk with us every day god with me and all the other stuff out there that he's promised it's all there god hasn't forgotten he's not forgotten me his concern is for me but sometimes i lose sight of the glorious truth of his promise and i hold on to the dust and the dirt of today god with you and abraham reminds god of the promise of a son as if god had forgotten now to be fair to abraham the promise was initially given in chapter 12 and there are there was about 10 to 15 years between chapter 12 and chapter 15 like for us it's just a few pages in the bible isn't there there's chapter 12 oh look there's chapter 15 but for abraham that was that was 10 to 15 years that god that god had promised all that time ago and it'd be easy to imagine that god had forgotten have you ever felt like that time passes maybe god you've forgotten maybe god i hadn't heard you properly maybe god is getting older and we know what happens as people get older don't wait you think like that yeah god is getting out what do happens when people forget i say they forget people can have a conversation with me do you remember i told you about that thing a week ago no i told you no it happens with nicholot actually sometimes i have to go back to the original conversation and i'll say it was a sunny day and we were out walking with the dogs and we had quite a robust conversation about it and we came to the conclusion and this was going to happen and that was going to happen do you remember and sometimes i can even see the cogs turning like i know i'm supposed to remember so i'm going to put my remembering face on and hopefully she'll think well i've remembered and remember you said i've got i've got a memory of an elephant who said yeah that's right yeah are you calling me an elephant but sometimes we behave as if god is getting older and we all know what happens when people get older they forget and so god is abraham is reminding god about a promise that god hasn't forgotten about but it's just wonderful to know that god isn't offended when we go back to him and we say i feel a bit wobbly about this i feel a bit uncertain about this i feel a bit doubtful about this it's been a long time lord some of you have been praying over god's promises for your children for a long time for your children for a long time and sometimes you think and you can feel like god's forgotten them because that's what we do we forget don't we we forget the promises that we've made and i love that god doesn't get offended or he doesn't get cross and he reiterates the promise and he says to abraham i've not forgotten and then he takes him outside and i really hope i can communicate this this morning because it's the most beautiful thing god takes him outside and he shows in the stars in the sky and he says to him this is your reminder abraham your children your offspring that i've promised you they're gonna outnumber the stars in the sky you know what came to me this morning and i may be wrong my theology is wrong but i just wonder whether god put the stars in the sky in order that there would be a reminder for abraham all those years later so thought isn't it isn't that what he did with Noah with the rainbow i don't think a rainbow existed until that point didn't exist and suddenly there is a rainbow that is just there to remind Noah that he was never ever going to flood the earth again maybe god put the stars in the sky just for abraham to remind him that he hadn't forgotten and he takes him out 15 to he takes him out and says i'm gonna fulfill my promise just you look at the stars now it would be another 15 to 25 years before he would become a father just like god had said do you know how many night skies there are in 25 years 9 000 night skies to stare at every time abraham had a wobble every time he had a doubt every time he wondered whether he'd misunderstood god or not heard properly or that god might have forgotten or they wouldn't do it because other people had let him down maybe god would do the same he was human just like us abraham was and every single time he had that wobble he was able to go out to the sky and look at the stars and be reminded that god's remembrances are have been established in time forever if you remember the story of the children of israel god says to them that to make halters aren't they so that they can go back to remember that's right isn't it you know take your children and go back and remember what god's done and then god would lead him into another thing and he would say make another altar and bring back your children to remember how many of those altars still stand none not a single one of those altars exists today i tell you what exists today though stars in the sky and the rainbow doesn't that tell you something about the promises that god makes with us that they are established that no tsunami or earthquake or as we've heard in Dubai this week cloud seeding any of you seen that nothing no war no missile nothing ever can touch the stars in the sky or the rainbows that will ever come they were established to remind abraham to remind Noah and to remind us that god's promises his relationship with us is rock solid i don't know about you that just makes me so excited when you're on your own you're on your own and you have in that moment of doubt where is god in the middle of this look at the sky look at the sky nine thousand reminders to abraham before the promise actually was fulfilled it blows my mind i hope you can see that i'm getting quite excited about this next time you have the wobbles find a night sky and look up don't look at the wobble find a night sky and look up they're easy to find they happen once every 24 hours round about they're not difficult if you can't find one by yourself give me a ring and i'll find one with you you know if you've got to go search him we're not trusting in the night sky we're not trusting in the stars but we are trusting in the god of the stars the one who flung it all into space and causes it all to exist now this is the nature of this god are you still with me the account tells us in verse six that abraham believed in the lord and the lord accounted to him as righteousness he didn't believe in the promise all the stars all the stuff he believed in the lord and you know what that simple seed of belief did in that moment it put him in a place of righteousness do you know what righteousness means what does righteousness mean right standing before god now it's interesting to go back in time into abraham's life abraham was obedient to god he worshipped god he tithed he went to battle for god he did all of that but it was his belief that putting him in right relationship with god all of that other stuff didn't none of that other stuff was accounted to him as righteousness it was when he put his trust in god and he said lord jesus no i didn't say lord jesus my god i believe in you it was at that moment at that moment that god says this is what puts you in right standing with me isn't that just so exciting bible tells us we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone and when we put our trust in him regardless of how fragile it is or how uncertain we are god credit is that that is a very difficult thing to say that god credits it it it it to us as righteousness and puts us in right standing before god hallelujah hallelujah god reiterates his promise to abraham about it so we've had this you know god says i'm giving myself and abraham goes yes lord but what about that other promise and god chosen the sky and all of that and the remembrance of that and then he comes back again and god says you know i'm going to give you land and an inheritance for your people and again abraham comes back and he says okay god thank you very much for that but how can i know that it will be mine where's the proof god isn't offended we ask him questions it's not offended i actually think he enjoys showing us what he's going to do next because he says to abraham bring me a three-year-old heffa female go around a turtle dove and a pigeon all sounds really weird to us doesn't it any ritual that we do today well we wouldn't do that it would be really messy and steve bode would tell us off for messing up the carpet but as soon as god begins to describe the animals abraham knew exactly what he was talking about because this was a normal ritual when two people were making a contract or a promise with each other they would get these animals and they would cut them into pieces and they would lay them down half of the animal on this side and half of the animal on that side split into and the contract was two people would make that agreement and then they would walk together down the center sounds really weird doesn't it down through the center down through the center of the minute if you had to do that in my marriage now i mean the white dress would be a right mess wouldn't it down through the center two people together and the implication was is that any of them that broke the contract any of them that didn't do their part or failed to do their side of the bargain they were to be put aside just like these birds and the heffers and the rams and all of that they were supposed to be regarded as that so making a contract a covenant a relationship had huge implications if you knew that you couldn't hold up your side of the bargain it was a deadly serious quite literally that deadly serious abraham does exactly what god has asked him to do and i'm sure in his mind he's thinking to himself this is me and god walking down this thing together and you know if i was abraham my heart would be pounding because i know that i am a failure i know that i fail over stuff i have great intentions about things i'm going to do but i know how easy it is for me to break my vows he's making he's preparing himself to walk down this thing with god and god doesn't turn up god isn't there for ages and as abraham waits ready to walk down to play his part the carcasses on the ground begin to dry up and the vultures begin to appear and then you know what abraham does then has to do he then has to try and scare the vultures away because they want to come and devour the carcasses they want to come and devour this ritual that god that abraham knows needs to happen the vultures were physically coming to the animals but i also believe that they were spiritually swirling around abraham's head doubt i've laid it all lord just as you've asked me to do and now i'm waiting where are you maybe i misunderstood maybe i've made god angry any of you's that statement any of you use that statement maybe i've made god angry maybe he won't come maybe he's punishing me maybe i've done something and he's punishing me anybody ever use that statement before yeah maybe he's changed his mind i bet you know what that feels like when people have promised stuff and they've changed their mind the problem is is that we interpret our promises in the same way that we have experienced them ourselves when i was little we used to have something called a pinky promise do you remember those pinky promise i'm just doing it for one four six they were really important promises weren't they the pinky ones because there was this thing that was done it's solid and did you ever have the promise i'm sorry if anybody's offended by this but that we used to do cross my heart hope to die stick ten needles in my eye do you remember those they were like real promises you know if you said that people were supposed to believe you a promise was never just a promise you had to like say something else to make it stick and then you remember the fair weather promises don't you where somebody's promised you something when the weather was nice and then when circumstances got tough i've done that to people made promises that i've not been able to keep because of different things and i can imagine that abraham is putting all of that on gardeners the vultures are swirling around they're swirling around his head as well bringing in doubt bringing in fear maybe god isn't who he says he is maybe god won't come maybe i'm wasting my time all the time the vultures are swirling around well i looked on the internet you know to work out how you're supposed to get rid of birds of prey from your garden you know what it says says don't treat them like pets yelling is good make yourself big and i began to think about that spiritually what does it mean if vultures the vultures can't steal the promise but they can steal my joy and they can steal my peace and they can steal my security and they can fill me with doubt and all of that kind of thing if the vultures are coming to steal your yelling is good make yourself big assert the truth of his promises assert your faith you know what else works rattle your pots and pans every time they come close rattle your pots and pans we had thieves come to our house in zambia one day and i got a saucepan and i ran it down the burglar bars like this to make a huge noise they never came back again rattle your pots and pans when the when the vultures want to come in and steal your joy and tell you that god is not a god of his word or his promises you remind them rattle your pots and pans every time they do they come close disrupt the influence of doubt and negativity worship loud surround yourself with people the other thing you need to do is remove any perches so they can't settle don't give them the platform are you all right there Kathy Kathy sparrow we don't want purchase the vultures though do what you need to dismantle dismantle anything that is that is not creating an environment where faith can flourish and when doubts and fears come you need to want to make sure that they don't take root i'm trying to rush through this what a great passage today so is a Abraham weighted shooing off the vultures god sends him into a deep sleep basically what god is saying is i am making you incapable of walking down this thing with me incapable and as Abraham is asleep god shows him the promise and how it will be fulfilled but also shows Abraham that they will be struggle and strife and difficulty and hardship and all of those things before he would see the the problem filled why do we think that struggle and strife and difficulty and all of those things why do we think that those things undermine the promises of god one of the scriptures in the bible says in this world you will have trouble but take heart in this world you will have to why do we look surprised when it comes as if god is not he's not true to his word he is says you will have trouble but take heart and as Abraham wakes up he sees god the smoking brazier with a burning torch passed through the pieces of the sacrifice together i want you to understand this because this is really crucial we sometimes live as if the promises is down the promise that god has made to us is down to us to maintain and we work really really hard and we forget that when they walked through the pieces to make the covenant to establish the relationship it wasn't two people that walked down each of them making the contract with each other it was god alone why because he knew that we were frail and we were broken and we wouldn't be able to keep our end of the bargain and if we aren't able to keep our end of the bargain that would break the covenant and it would mean all the promises would come to an end so god took himself down there because he was the only one that was able but perfect enough to keep the covenant hallelujah and we're running around frantically trying to keep our end of the bargain we have no end of the bargain to keep he made the covenant by himself we struggle with this we struggle with grace we really struggle with grace because we want to do more and do stuff in order to earn it god made that covenant with you all by himself when you were fast asleep and completely incapable he made a covenant with you oh hallelujah thank you Jesus he took full responsibility for his promise you see it isn't about your effort or your faithfulness or your watchfulness that his promise to you is fulfilled it's about his effort and his faithfulness and he is determination to fulfill his promise hallelujah on that day god made a covenant with Abraham that required nothing from Abraham at all in actual fact he was capable couldn't even get up he'd been in such a deep sleep i was thinking about this the vows that i've made to god over the years and i have to say i failed at every single one of them lord i'm going to get up earlier i'm going to spend more time with you lord jesus i'm going to be up at four i'm going to pray longer i'm going to be a new christian and i'm going to be praying longer any of you said that do you know lord jesus i'm going to be more loving and kind and patient i do the kind bit all right the patient bit i still struggle with a little bit lord jesus i'm going to be more forgiving i'm not going to fail you lord i'm not going to deny you lord jesus i'll be totally devoted to you lord fail fail fail fail fail and if i'd walked down the center of that covenant making ritual that would have been the end of the relationship because of my failure i want to tell you something jesus hasn't failed on his part of the bargain and as he made a contract with himself means that we are completely secure in his promises i'm almost finished i want you to shift forward some and i don't know exactly what date it was but some three thousand five hundred to six thousand years later and it wasn't the blood of animals but we're going to be strewn out for god to walk through for the covenant to be made it was the body of his son jesus he would be the sacrifice where it was rams and lambs and bulls and all of that he would be the sacrifice and his body just as abraham did to those pieces his body was broken into pieces and his blood was poured out in preparation for a new covenant a new promise it didn't mean that the old he got it failed at the old one this was a new one and as he died on the cross the lord jesus he was completely alone and i don't know whether the cross is on either side i've done a lot of reading on this this week maybe the cross is on either side kind of resembled the picture of the animals in abraham's day i don't know but i do know that when that covenant was work made jesus god walked through the center of that sacrifice completely on his own and he made a covenant with you and with me completely on his own and he took full responsibility for it completely on his own and he when he said it was finished he meant it completely and utterly over your life and even though he knew that you would get it wrong i love when people say um you know i'm i feel like i might have disappointed god he had no illusions about what he was taking on he knew exactly what we're like you only disappoint someone if you pretend and then they find out who you really are god knows exactly about each and every one of us is not phased he made a one-sided covenant because he knew that we couldn't do it on our own he knew that we would fail and this promise this promise was the forgiveness of sins once and for all it would mean that we didn't have to go every five minutes to go and slot for a ball or a cow or whatever in order to be forgiven again this sacrifice was a once and for all sacrifice that was made for your sin in the past for your sin today and for your sin in the future that's what the new covenant was it was about reconciliation with god which means that we can walk we walked with god yesterday we can walk with god today and we can walk with god tomorrow and the indwelling of the holy spirit the indwelling when i gave my life to jesus i was filled with the holy spirit the holy spirit took residence in my life that's part of the covenant that jesus has made with us he didn't meet us halfway almost of the way god did it all through jesus because only he gets the credit for the success and the achievements in my life we aren't the promised makers or the promised keepers he makes the promises he keeps the promises and he keeps them all by himself we don't give ourselves to god he's already given himself fully and completely to us hallelujah we don't make covenant with him he makes covenant with us and at the bottom of each contract at the bottom of the thing to do with your life there where there should be two names both playing their part there is one name and it's been signed the name of jesus in his blood no labor or hard work the bible says come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest no effort involved the bible also says that he who began the good work in as he's the one that will carry it out so when you're running around trying to make yourself better go to jesus he is the one that will carry it out to complete fission he is the one who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure god does it all in us and through us which means we don't get any of the glory all the glory goes to jesus and i'm always almost finished so when you have a wobble about your faith and you're worried about your salvation and afraid that god might forget or be offended or be disappointed with you or might forget you or might neglect you or might not see you in the crowd i want to encourage you they go outside and look up at the stars and remember that god has established a promise in the heavens that cannot be touched by anybody that reminds us that he is a covenant keeping god faithful to his promises even when we are faithless god is still faithful even when we walk away he has said he'll never leave me or forsake me even when i've gone and i've looked for my own source of provision god has still said i'm your provider i'm your protector i'm your shield i'm your deliverer i'm your strong tower i am all of those things yes but i get it wrong lord jesus and i don't do it right and i sing yesterday and he says the promise is still stands they are yes and amen the reason we worship and i'm going to ask the musicians if you would come back the reason we worship is not to make those things happen they're established they're established all those things are established we don't have to sing louder for them to happen they are already established we sing and we worship because our hearts are grateful and our lives are free and we've decided that we're going to look at those things and worship jesus what a privileged people we are what a privileged people we are amen

Summary This sermon explores the story of Abraham rescuing his nephew Lot from captivity in Genesis 14. Aiden uses this story to provide guidance on how to deal with difficult situations in our own lives, emphasizing the importance of faith, community, and the potential impact of our actions. Key Points: The Battle of Nine Kings: Aiden summarizes the story of Abraham leading a rescue mission to save his nephew Lot, who was captured during a battle between five kings and four eastern kings. A Lot at Stake: The title of the sermon refers to the high stakes involved in Abraham's situation. This is used as a springboard to discuss the challenges we face in our own lives. Reacting to Challenges: Keep Calm: Aiden emphasizes the importance of maintaining a sense of calm in difficult situations. This calmness is not simply a feeling, but a deep-rooted trust in God's sovereignty and goodness. Assemble Your Team: We are not meant to face challenges alone. Building a strong community of support is crucial. Consider the Ripple Effect: Our actions and decisions can have a significant impact on others, both positively and negatively. Illustrations: Modern Airplane Stories: Aiden shares personal stories of missed flights to highlight how the stakes can change our perspective on a situation. Cuban Missile Crisis: The story of Vasily Arkhipov, a Soviet Navy officer who potentially prevented nuclear war, is used as an example of staying calm under pressure. World Trade Center Rescue: The teamwork displayed in the aftermath of 9/11 is used to illustrate the importance of a strong support system. Grandmother's Ministry: The story of Aiden's grandmother who started a children's ministry that continues to impact many lives demonstrates the far-reaching effects of our actions. Call to Action: The sermon concludes by encouraging listeners to reflect on how they can apply these principles from Abraham's story to their own lives in dealing with challenges and making a positive impact on others. Bible References: Genesis 14 (primary passage) Acts 7 (story of Stephen) Transcript Thank you Rowland. All that's loud. I'm sure he won't mind me saying this, but a couple of weeks ago I was in awe of Darren. A full 10 days before he was due to preach, he'd sent round his PowerPoint, he'd primed the team who were leading the service and he had everything ready. So I resolved that I would learn from his example and I would do the same. Long story short, I sent my PowerPoint to Pete yesterday. So thank you Pete. Appreciate that. There's not here is he? This morning we're looking at the Battle of the Nine Kings in Genesis 14. It's got a couple of other titles as well. If I could have my first slide please James. Other titles include The Battle of the Veil of Sidim or The Slaughter of That Place. We have a catchier title to follow, so don't feel like you need to write any of those down. And I'm going to be breaking the mold a little bit because I'm not going to read the passage in its entirety on the proviso that you go home and read it this afternoon because it's such a short passage but there's so much to unpack in it. And the reason I'm doing that is twofold. The first is there's lots of difficult words to pronounce and the second more serious one is that sometimes, I might just be speaking for myself, when you read the Bible word for word, I sometimes lose track of the fact that this is a real event happening to real people many years ago and sometimes I can fall into the trap of treating it a bit like a fairy story or a bit like a novel that isn't this interesting but actually this is a real thing that happened to Abraham and the people at that time. And just to kind of help us with that, I've transposed what happened or tried to transpose what happened onto a modern day map so we can kind of understand where this is happening, where this is taking place. And what happens is we have five kings sort of around the Dead Sea region and there's uprising that goes on there and in response to this uprising four eastern kings, the four eastern facing, west facing arrows, from sort of Kuwait, southern Iraq and Syria region go to try and quash these rebellions and around the Dead Sea area there's this big battle, the battle of the nine kings. In these five kings that we've got, the point is going to work on there, you've got the kings of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, cities which I'm sure you may have heard of but we'll come up later on, back one. And as this battle is going on the four eastern kings plunder the five cities that they've gone to quash and in doing so they take away a lot, Abraham's nephew, as well as lots of other people and lots of possessions. When Abraham hears that lot has been taken, he immediately gathers 318 trained men from his household and sets out to rescue his nephew, Abraham, and his band of brothers reach a city called Dan, which is just in sort of East, sorry Northern Israel. And when they get there they stop for the night and they plot what they're going to do next. And they sort of build this plan and then they go in and they attack the kings who have taken a lot. And what they do is they then chase them up to the further Black Dot which is just near Damascus and then they chase them on further and they completely route these four eastern kings and they retrieve all of the stuff that they've taken as well as lot and as well as the other hostages that they took and they bring them back. So I hope you're still with me after that and I guess here comes the catchier title for the note takers amongst us. The title is A Lot at stake, Genesis 14. I try little play on words you think, but actually I really feel that there's much more from this passage that we can take both in the world that we're looking at. And I think that the list of wars is endless. The list of civil wars is endless. The list of problems that our world is facing is seemingly endless, but also about how we deal with our own lives as well. How do we talk to people? How do we love people? How do we interact with people when there is a lot at stake? I really think there's so much to unpack. If you look at what's happening in Ukraine, Palestine, Congo, Myanmar, the list goes on and then you spend five minutes on Twitter, you realise that everyone's an armchair expert and you switch on the news and you've got Mr. Expert or Mrs. Expert giving their opinion on why this has happened and what series of events led up to this and what will happen next. And there's all of this sort of rhetoric that goes on and yet at the centre of it all there is suffering. People are dying, families are going hungry, there is a lot at stake. And at the risk of beating this tripe saying to death when we forget how much is at stake we run the risk of harming people and hurting relationships in our own lives as well. So I'm packed this a little further and perhaps set the scene of what I mean. I'm going to tell two short stories both of which involve me nearly missing a flight. That's not a common occurrence and these were out of my control. The first one I was travelling home from Zimbabwe with a friend and we were due to fly from Harari to Johannesburg and then Johannesburg on to London. As we went through security in Harari a storm descended on the airport and visibility was so low and as we sat in the departure lounge we watched our estimated time of departure get ever further away and we only had three hours to play with in Johannesburg and so that time was getting shorter and shorter and it quickly became apparent that we were at risk of missing our flight. Friend said to me what are we going to do and I said well it's quite simple if we do miss our flight the airport will sort us out because it's not our fault they'll put us up in our hotel and then we'll fly out tomorrow evening instead. Neither of us had work to get back for neither of us had any commitments to get back for and actually as we started to talk about this I started to get a little bit excited about the prospect of staying in Johannesburg. We would go to the Santa more we'd buy some swimming shorts relaxed by the hotel pool that was paid for by the airline. It was actually quite exciting and then in a cruel twist of fate our flight was called and we made it on time. Fast forward a couple of years and Meg and I were travelling home from Zambia. We were due to stop over in Ethiopia and then fly onwards to Manchester. We stopped in Ethiopia we had a meal and then we went to board our gate. We beeped our boarding pass on the little scanner and there was kind of a warning noise and we were ushered to one side and that was the the that was the extent of the information that was passed to us. As we stood there waiting in the rapidly emptying departure hall I caught the unmistakable glimpse of our plane pushing back and then departing to Manchester without us on it. Ethiopia and Airways put us up in a hotel we had two nights in Ethiopia the difference was that we were due to land back on a Sunday both of us had worked the following Monday both of us were training to be teachers we were in our last term we both had assignments to finish suddenly there's a lot more at stake and that definitely influenced our levels of anxiety our levels of stress when dealing with this situation and that's the kind of difference I want to draw out when we're looking at things today. Life is different our reactions are different yet we need to be so careful when a lot is at stake and I do hope none of us find ourselves in a situation where our nephews have been carried off by four eastern kings even though this is happening around the world today when you look at the suffering that's going on but nonetheless I believe that Abraham gives us some handy tips for when we find ourselves in situations like this so this is on that one there we are Abraham's guide for when there is a lot at stake point number one keep car the 27th of October 1962 a Russian B-59 submarine meanders its way towards a patrol up the coast of the USA the last message received from Moscow was pretty cryptic and commanded the vessel to patrol the coast of the USA days have passed since the last message and there'd been no further contact with Moscow the submarine had been able to pick up some radio signals that these have not been particularly helpful and then they started to hear explosions these were only signaling charges which were being dropped by the US Navy above to try and get the submarine to surface but they didn't know that yet the captain of the submarine Valentin Savitsky concluded that war must have broken out they were being fired on by the US Navy and the only plausible course of action was to fire the T-5 torpedoes a submarine had in its arsenal these were nuclear torpedoes and would have decimated major cities causing tens of thousands of deaths if not more captain Savitsky was certain in what he needed to do but in order to launch those torpedoes he needed the consent of two other members of his crew Ivan Maslenakov agreed that they needed to launch and it all came down to Vasily Archipov an argument broke out amongst these three men and his archipof calmly tried to convince the other two that they should not strike he held firm and eventually he managed to convince them to surface the submarine at which point they were able to contact Moscow and await further orders the captain eventually did what Vasily Archipov had asked him to do and Vasily Archipov is now credited with single handedly avoiding nuclear war and the outbreak of world war three this passage we're reading does not give us too many words but the indication I get is that Abraham doesn't fret he doesn't flap he hears the news he collects himself and then he formulates a plan on how he is going to go about this rescue mission so how does that help us does this happen because Abraham is just a cool calm and collected guy nothing phases him he's easy going i don't think so i think this happens because Abraham knows the god in whom he believes and the god in whom he trusts when the storms are swirling around his head when everything is working against him he does not get carried away he does not know the fate of his nephew he knows that he's been kidnapped he knows that he's been taken he does not know if he's still alive but he does know that his god is still sovereign he does know that his god is still on the throne he does know that his god is still good and he does know that his god is still watching over him just saying calm is pretty useless no stressful situation has ever been dissipated by the words keep calm but this is a different calm i don't believe this is a feeling of calm i believe this is a more of a state of calm i like to call it the but god factor when steven's taken before the the judges in acts he is asked to defend himself and he gives a defense and as part of it he gives the story of joseph joseph being the guy who was sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to egypt and and all of that sort of stuff uh steven says this because the patriarchs were jealous of joseph they sold him as a slave into egypt but god was with him and rescued him from all his trouble troubles joseph was sold into slavery but god and this is a common reprieve that we see throughout stories in the bible even the easter story jesus was crucified and was laid in a tomb but god raised him the calm in these situations that we face is not a feeling but a sure and certain understanding that the wind and waves of life will buffer us they will come but god is still in control point number two assemble 318 fighters perhaps quite not as literal as we see in the passage but there's definitely a message in here about the power of the team that surrounds us and that's why i've chosen to ride to Amsterdam with james hope you'll as part of my team we recently watched the film the world trade center about the events that took place on september the 11th 2001 in new york and this film follows two police officers who are part of a squadron that were sent in to try and evacuate one of the towers while it was still burning they gather up all their gear and they they start making their way towards the staircase they've got extra tanks for air because it's going to take them hours to get up to the people who need them as they as they collect all this gear they feel the building start to shake more debris starts to fall windows start to break and then there's the the unmistakable crash of the building down coming down on their heads they rush to the elevator shaft to try and protect them because it's an empty space two of them make it that the others sadly don't and what happens is the building has fallen down on their heads these two police officers are trapped by concrete and steel and they're stuck and then suddenly everything goes quiet everything goes dark and it's just the two of them they're hoping that someone hears them the whole day passes the towers collapsed in the morning the whole day passes and in the evening the the search is called off everything goes quiet everything goes dark yet above them in the rubble there is a single us marine who has a torch and a conviction that he shouldn't stop looking and he starts clambering over the rubble shouting if you can hear me say something bang something and he does this but i don't know how long it is but there's a there's a period of time where he hears nothing at all and then the people below him hear him shouting and they they twang a little piece of metal because they've got so much dust in their lungs and he hears it so then he shouts again if that was you do that again do that again so they do it again and eventually he pokes his torch through the hole and he sees these two police officers in a moment he gathers a team of people with hydraulic machinery stretchers oxygen torches ready to rescue these people while he's doing that he shouts down to them we are marines and you are our mission we're coming for you long story short they open up the cavity that they're in they pull them out they put them on a stretcher and there's this really moving part towards the end of the film where there's a long line of people all over the rubble and they're passing the stretcher with these men on person to person in that particular example each person has their role to play there's the guy who found them he formulates the team there's people who dive into the rubble and they they're they're they're pulling out bits of concrete off these people's chests there's other people who are just holding torches that the other people can see and then right at the end you have a long line of people each with their own life-saving role to play passing the stretcher to the next person to get them the medical care that they need each person has their role to play on this team each person has been chosen for a particular role some people are diving into the rubble others are just holding torches and it's important in our lives to identify those people that we can build a team with us it might not be 318 but it might just be one person either way we need those around us who can encourage us who can build us up who can play their part in our mission the enemy will always seek to isolate us and it's our responsibility to identify our 318 people and build each other up third point there we are bring back the other people this is a rather subtle secondary story that's happening alongside the main story of course lot is rescued but as the passage states in verse 16 he recovered all the goods and brought back his relative lot and his possessions together with women and the other people and those that's kind of a secondary is just great lot is back and all the other people have been brought back but actually when you dig into that the ripple effect of lots rescue is huge on these women and other people as the bible describes them they were taken off they didn't know what their future held and yet Abraham's mission to rescue his nephew meant that all of these other people were liberated all of these women and other people were free and in orchestrating his daredevil rescue Abraham completely changes the outcomes for all of these other people and how we deal with the storms in our own lives has a ripple effect on those around us on those and on those who we may never know my grandmother on my mum's side my dad mentioned her last week it was a very small woman four foot tall she used to call herself a bear of little brain which was a drastic understatement when they lived in Ghana she began the children's ministry for the church of pentecost the church of pentecost now has churches in over 60 countries and is absolutely huge she wrote the syllabus and faithfully delivered it to a group of children when they first started the church and then when she died in 2015 the children's ministry of the church of pentecost which was still running elements of the curriculum that she'd written had over 750,000 members many of whom probably do not know who Margaret Mills is but who are direct beneficiaries of her faithful completion of her mission the storms in our lives will affect those around us and in some cases they'll affect generations to come and we always want that effect to be one of grace liberation and one that draws people home to their loving father similar to Abraham's mission when he rescued Lot so there we have it that is Abraham's three-step guide to dealing with solutions when there is a lot at stake point number one keep calm this is not a feeling but it is a settled conviction that no matter what is happening around us God is still good God is still for us God still loves us God is still on our side point number two assembling our army of 318 the strength of our team around us directly influences our mission and how we deal with it and it helps us deal with the things that life throws us and then point number three when you bring Lot back remember the other people as well our decisions our actions and our plans do affect other people do have a ripple effect and we have the opportunity to be a life-changing liberating force in the lives of those we come into contact with and what a privilege that is I'm going to close there thank you Rowland thank you

ÖVERSÄTTNING: Ann Jäderlund UPPLÄSNING: Ann Jäderlund Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. DIKT: Ur ”Mariabiotoperna” av Casper André LuggDIKTSAMLING: Mariabiotoperna (Rámus förlag, 2023)MUSIK: Danska stråkkvartetten: Sonderho bridal trilogy: Nr 3EXEKUTÖR: Danska stråkkvartetten

Nick continues our new series on Genesis. This week he is speaking on Genesis 7. His topic is "A man of faith" Summary Nick Lugg delivered a sermon titled "A man of faith" on February 18th, 2024, as part of a series on the book of Genesis. The sermon focused on the story of Noah and the theme of faith. Here's a summary of the sermon along with a list of Bible passages used: Summary: Nick Lugg began by emphasizing the importance of understanding what God is saying to us through the book of Genesis. He referenced the previous week's sermon by Jonathan and introduced the topic of Noah as a man of faith. The sermon explored the concept of faith using Noah as an example, highlighting Hebrews 11:7, which speaks of Noah's faith in building the ark. Lugg discussed the nature of faith, emphasizing that it goes beyond mere belief and requires a foundation of trust in God that governs every aspect of life. He noted that faith is not automatic and referenced Jesus' question about whether faith would be found on Earth when he returns. Lugg also pointed out that faith is a key component of pleasing God, using examples from the lives of Abraham and Noah. Throughout the sermon, Lugg presented several points about faith: Faith is not a "wait and see" approach. Faith is not limited by age; Noah's faith endured at 600 years old. Faith is not easy; it requires resilience, determination, and hard work. Faith is trust without knowing the end of the story, as exemplified by Noah's obedience in building the ark. Faith can be lonely and takes time to unfold; it requires perseverance and trust in God's plan. Lugg shared personal stories and reflections on faith, including experiences from his missionary work in Zambia. He encouraged the congregation to respond to the message by examining their own faith and trusting God, even in challenging circumstances. Bible Passages Used: Hebrews 11:7 Hebrews 11:32-40 (referenced) Lugg's sermon provided a deep exploration of faith using the story of Noah as a powerful illustration. He challenged listeners to consider the role of faith in their own lives and encouraged them to trust in God's plan, even when faced with uncertainty. Transcript Hello, good morning. I think we need to hear your body. Happy smiling faces. Yeah, we're moving rapidly through Genesis. It's still going to take us a while. It's not one of those deep letter by letter exegesis, but we want to find out what God is saying to us week in and week out. And I was very pleased and relieved to see my title this week. Now we're a man of faith. I know Jonathan spoke absolutely last week with a challenging passage. For those on the preaching team, it's a bit like spinning the wheel of jeopardy. Sometimes these early chapters of Genesis. But what a series that we've got. It's an epic series full. And Sheila's doing a wonderful job in the entrance hall there, putting up key themes from each. And if you haven't seen it or haven't noticed it, as you go out, have a look and see the creative artwork that she's doing out there. Reminding us of the key themes week by week by week. But at the end of Jonathan's talk last week, we were introduced to Noah, a man of faith. I'm going to put these, I'm in between. You see, I can't see this and then I can't see you. So I don't know what to do. I need more faith. Noah, a man of faith. Yeah, so Jonathan, at the end of chapter six, talked about the story of Noah, how God came to him. And the world had become so corrupted and so ruined. That God said, right, I'm going to do something about this. And I'm going to flood the earth. But in the process, he didn't just spot Noah. Like, oh, here's somebody. He knew Noah. And he knew what was in his heart. And so he spoke to him and said, I want you to build a boat in order to save you, your family, and two of every kind of animal that walks all over the earth. And so as we come into chapter seven, we've got the story of what actually happened when the flood covered the earth. And there's all sorts of stuff as Jonathan alluded to last week, that in history and archaeology, that would point to the historical facts of this story. And it's amazing. But because it's not a historical lecture that we're into this morning, we want to know what God is saying to us. And so the question is about faith. Noah had faith. Hebrews 11 says, by faith, when warned of a flood, not yet seen, Noah built an ark to save himself and his family, he moved and lived by faith. And faith is what pleases God. It's as simple as that. It's not very complex. It's not very complex, but that's the hardest thing. But faith is what pleases God. It's what God judges. You know, it says that when Abraham had so many things against him, if you read the story of Abraham, as we will do, and as we go through the story, you'll see so many things that he got wrong. So many errors, so many mistakes, so many failings, so many sins. But yet God knew that he was a man of faith. And when he saw faith in him, he credited it to him as righteousness. And God noticed in Noah, despite the sin, because he says Noah was blameless over all the earth. Well, in actual fact, probably technically, he wasn't blameless because he was born into sin the same way he was born outside of Eden, the same way so that everybody else had been. He was corrupted like all of us. But yet there was something in his heart that expressed itself in faith. And God saw that faith and said, I like that. And he credited to him as righteousness. And he was able to save him. He's blameless over all the earth. Faith is more than just believing stuff. We can believe in all sorts of things. I won't mention some of the things we can believe in because we've got some younger members here. But you know the sort of thing I'm talking about. It's more than just believing in God. It's a foundation of trust in God. Over everything else, the foundation that governs everything that we are, every decision that we make, everything that happens to us, where we live by faith, it gets into all of that. It's not just about an hour and a half on a Sunday morning as we know. It's about what happens to us in the darkness. It's what happens to us in the grief. It's what happens to us at the graveside. It's what happens to us in the hospital room. It's what happens to us in the celebrations. It's what happens to us everywhere. Faith is the foundation of life, whatever happens to us. And faith is not automatically part of religion. When Jesus said, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? It was a genuine question. Will he find faith on the earth? He'll find religion. He'll find churches. He'll find all sorts of things going on. But will he find faith when he met people and he saw their response to him and he said, well, I've never seen such great faith. Or where his disciples found him, where Peter, I mean, I'm sorry for Peter, don't you? I mean, he tried everything. And he did everything so well. And he was the one who said, Lord, let me walk to you on the water. I can do it too. And so he got out of the place, started walking, then he sank to you. Oh, you have little faith. Wow. I'm sure Jesus was smiling at the time. Let's put a bit of apocryphal interpretation in there as well. But, you know, faith is what he's looking for. Faith moves God and without faith is impossible to please God. It's not where I'm likely to please God without faith, or God would prefer it if we had a bit of faith. He's actually saying without faith, there's no, I'm not even talking to you. Faith is so important and it's so, so much of a challenge to our lives. It's so easy for faith to be put to one side, to be put on the shelf, and for us to just go through the motions of life. Go through the motions of religion. Go through the motions of church. Go through the motions of church. Leadership, dare I say. And yet still put faith on the side and on the shelf and leave it there. But yet without faith, it is impossible to please God. And characters like Noah challenged the very heart of our relationship with God. It is the number one thing on our checklist when we are assessing our relationship with God. Now, I've got some points that I want to just bring up that hopefully will challenge us and make us think through. About what faith is not and what faith is related to the story of Noah. Faith is not, let's wait and see. And sometimes that's our favourite approach. I have to put myself in that as well. You know, well, we'll see what happens and then we'll give thanks to God. But faith is not about wait and see. It's not about hedging our bets. Noah didn't say, I think I'll wait and see if it rains. Because then, he'd have missed the boat. Oh, you see? Do we wait and see and then give thanks to God? If God wants it to happen then of course it will and if he doesn't then it won't. And then it sounds like faith, doesn't it? But it's not actually. What God told Noah made no sense. It was very easy for him to ignore. I haven't read it in there but I'm probably somebody clever than me. It was like as if there had been no rain. Anyway, rain wasn't a usual part of the life. I mean, can't imagine it, can you? Every time we look out the window it's raining here. So, you know, if God says I'm going to send a great rain over the earth, he says, well, what's new? But to Noah, it was all new. And elsewhere in the Bible it says in the times of Noah, people were marrying and giving him marriage. Their life was going on as normal. God hated it. He saw the corruption that was there but the people themselves loved it. Oh, it's great. Never had it so good. Times are going on. And God spoke to Noah about something not seen, not understood, not felt, but yet discerned in the spirit of Noah responded with faith. God is looking for that active partnership. Noah didn't know anything, all he knew was to build a boat. He didn't know what would happen, what the future would look like, but he knew that God had spoken to him. There's a story and I hesitate to, I'm not hesitate to tell the stories because God has done great things. But, you know, full disclosure, faith is not my automatic go-to all the time, as I'm sure it's not yours either, before you look at me like that. When things happen, when challenges come, when fear comes in, when worries are there, when there's financial pressure, when there's health pressure, when there's family pressure, whatever. We don't think, oh, it's all right, we're going to pray. Everything's going to be fine. God is in control. We don't always think like that. We run to the panic button. There was a lady in our church in Mexico who was, well, she was part of our church in Mexico. She was a missionary in Latvia and she'd gone out a number of years before and it's been a remarkable story and I only found out more about it as time went by because she's quite a quiet person. But she went out, you know, like many of the stories of missionary heroes that we've read, she went out to Latvia with one suitcase and that's all she had. And the way things unfolded, she ended up, she bought a house, she got established there and when you heard the story of her ministry and the people that she'd impacted, it was just incredible what God had done in her life. But she was getting older and she was suffering with arthritis and the winters in Latvia were not kind to her and she was really worried and fearful about the coming winters and she felt with that and a number of other factors that it was actually time for her to come home. And so she contacted us and said, I want to come home, but I can't because I can't sell my house, I can't. There were all sorts of reasons why she couldn't do it and she just felt trapped. And so I, along with another leader from the church, we went out to Latvia to see her, to encourage her and to see what was going on out there. And she said, I'd really love, I really need to be back before the winter, before the snow sets in, but I just can't see how it's going to happen. And there's me, you know, suddenly, sometimes you do open your mouth and you hear what you're saying, don't you? And I said, well, why don't we, you know, has God spoken to you about coming back? She said, yes, I believe he has, I believe it's time for me to come back. And you've seen God's faithfulness to you every step of the way through the whole of your journey, through in Latvia, and you've seen his blessing on you, yes, I have. I said, right, well, believe God now that he wants you to come back and don't wait and see, well, what haven't, you know, if I sell my house and this will happen and that will happen and the other happen, book a flight and plan to come. And I must have had a certain area of authority because she did it. And she booked a flight a few months ahead. I thought I felt really pleased with myself. I felt like a man of faith for the hour. And I knew that within a week or so, the house would be sold. Of course, it wasn't. And it kept on going and nothing changed. She booked her flight. She was planning, she was packing up her things. She was working out how to get back to England. But yet nothing happened in terms of selling the house. It went on and on and on until she was due back on a Sunday on a Ryanair flight. And on the Wednesday of that week, she rang me. She said, you'll never guess what's happened. I've got a cash buyer for the house. This is the only person that had ever shown any interest. She'd not even had anybody look at it. She'd not even had anybody ring. She'd not had any inquiries at the estate agent. There had been absolutely nothing until three days before. How many between Wednesday and Sunday is? Four days before she was due to come, she had a cash buyer for the house. And she came home and got open the door to her future. And I was just blown away by that. And I still am when I think about that. And it's one example that I can think of. We've got one's active partnership in our faith. We don't just have to wait and see. There are things that we have to put into place. There are things that we have to say. Not we'll wait and see if it's your will, Lord. But because it's your will, we will trust you. And therefore, we will act in advance of even seeing these things fulfilled. So faith is not a game of wait and see. Secondly, faith is not a young person's game. Verse six of chapter seven. I haven't read the first, but I was supposed to, but I haven't. But you can read it in your own time at home. Pete's going to go and watch the sermon later. So follow his example. Seven, verse six, Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. Albert got away to go yet. 600 years old. Who told you it was a young person's game? Who told you that it was all to do with our life performance and our track record and our CV? Faith is there. For all that Sheila brought the word. If you just want to reach up and take hold of Jesus' hand, I could apply that to faith. If you just want to take hold of faith, it's there for you. The opportunity is there for you regardless of the circumstance, the situation, the age, the background, the story, whatever. Noah was 600 years old. Faith is a gift. We embrace it. We adopt it and it can start today regardless of what has gone before. Whether it's faith for the first time, putting your faith in Jesus for the first time, you can do that at any time. It's not a great long build-up towards that. Today is the day of salvation. And when it comes to our trusting in God, maybe you know deep in your heart. Like I said, we don't always go to faith and sometimes we never engage faith. We just worry and we fear and we're anxious and we're just running circles sometimes. Well today, there's an opportunity to stop. Maybe you've said it's over. Maybe you've got, maybe you feel 600 years old in faith. There's a whole background of story behind you. There's so much under the bridge, so many things you've seen, exciting things you can think of from the past. Stories you could tell. We just celebrated the 20-year anniversary of being in Unit 3. Maybe you think back that time and think, those were the days, my friend. We thought they'd never end. I was waiting for you, Howard. But not now. That was then. But now it's, well, we're just old. We're just finished. It's just watching. What else goes on? Faith is not just, let me just say it's not a young person. It's not just a young person. We want a young people to be alive with faith. We want a young people to engage with faith. We want them to experiment, to journey on the adventure of faith. That's the whole vision and the whole purpose, that we don't just teach young people Bible stories, but they actually experience God for themselves. But what about us? In fact, their best chance of experiencing faith for themselves and the goodness of God for themselves is what they see in us and what they see in those that have gone before and what they see in those that are right there. So whether we're 95 or whether we're 75 or whether we're young things like me, there's an opportunity for us to engage in the adventure of faith. Thirdly, faith is not easy. Did you know that? Noah's task was not easy or enjoyable. It's a great story. You know, Noah often only crops up in cartoons or Sunday school stories. If you think about Noah, you either think of those sort of really bright, colorful cartoon drawings that you see in children's Bibles or Evan Almighty, Steve Carell. And it's a bit of a funny story. It's an interesting story. It's a fascinating story. But actually, it was a real story. Noah's task was not easy or even enjoyable. God said to him, I want you to build an arc. And he was, oh, fantastic. Thank you, Lord. Well, building an arc is not easy. Didn't even have YouTube videos or anything to help him in the process. Hard work and inconvenience. Faith requires resilience, determination, hard work, doing things we'd rather not do. How do you get two of every kind of animal onto a boat and then sail with them for a year? It's not one of those things you're just going to say, oh, Lord, more, Lord, give me more. I want more of this experience. We're living with one puppy. It's not easy. It requires resilience, determination, and hard work. And as I've said, doing things that we'd rather not do. But that's the cordial. Sometimes I think we think, well, faith is easy or faith should be exciting or faith should be something to jump up and down about and sing about and dance about. Well, it is. But in the reality, in the everyday, in the Monday to Friday, it's hard work. I remember the day when we finally bought 146. And Andy had set up this almost like an eBay auction for the place. And we've got our bids and everything in place. And it was in there. And they kept extending the time. And it was just seemed like to be going on forever and ever and ever. And in the end, the countdown came down to zero and said, congratulations. You have won the auction. And everybody was celebrated. Oh, we've done it. God, it was amazing. An amazing story of miraculous provision and faith. It was such a celebration and an exciting then. Looking forward. Now this means that there is a bright future ahead. There's all sorts of things that are going to be achieved through this building. And there are all sorts of things that are going to be achieved through this building. But here we are today from that moment of celebration up till today. It's not actually all been dancing and singing as it, Andy. It's been challenging. It's been hard work. It's been burdensome. Sometimes when you sit and you scratch your head at a meeting this week with a lot of head scratching. Celebration led to hard work, transforming communities, believing it and celebrating it is one thing. Engaging faith and doing it is another. And there are greater things that still to be done in this city. But there's harder work ahead. There's challenge ahead. There are things that will put us off ahead. Things that will make us think, actually there's an easier way to do life than this. But in actual fact, there's no other way because without faith it's impossible for us to please God into experiencing the experience, the fullness of God. Number four. Faith is trust without knowing the end of the story. Noah did not know what was going to happen. He built the ark according to God's instruction. He gathered the animals according to God's instruction. They got on the boat according to God's instruction and then God shut the door. And that was it for a year. Imagine what that is just bobbing about with an affectionate reference to Steve Wright in the afternoon. Serious bobbing, no G. Some of you know what that's about, some of you don't. Bobbing about on the sea. God shut the door without telling him what came next. How do you feel today as you're looking forward with faith? Can you trust God even if you don't know the end of the story? Are we happy to trust God if we don't know the end of the story? If we think, well if I know the end of the story I'll have faith, it won't be a problem. But I'm just a bit anxious about not knowing what's going to happen. Just a bit worried about the fact that it might not work out as I want it to. It is tough and it is difficult. And this can be applied in so many ways. Not just to that but I read Steve Legg's book recently. Steve and Becca Legg who spoke at our women's conference. Our husband Steve, a friend of ours, he has terminal cancer. And God is doing amazing things in their life. But he's written a book about what it's all about. And he was talking about Becca, his wife there and the things that she'd said. And she realized she said that there are all sorts of things you have to come to terms with in the walk of faith. And one of the things is that everything is going to be alright. Everything is going to be okay. But then she added it might not be the okay that I want. But everything is going to be okay. And that is really, really difficult when we're talking about faith not being easy. To have faith in those circumstances. I think of so many examples. Noah is our big one today. But Paul and Silas in the Macedonian jail. They were imprisoned for preaching. And they were put into chains. They were flogged. They were put into a dark dungeon. The worst possible outcome for their life of faith you would think. And their response was to sing songs of worship and praise. And the thing is we know the end of this. So we know that in the end that there was a miraculous deliverance for that jail. But they didn't know. In Hebrews 11. Let me just quickly look up to the Hebrews 11. It introduces us to the whole thing of faith and Noah and all the other characters. You can find Hebrews quickly. Nobody. Not me. Here it is. Hebrews 11. Go through it by faith, by faith, by faith. Here we are. Verse 32. In Hebrews 11. How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jeff, David, Samuel and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. Amen, we say. Then he says, but others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prison. Some died by stoning. Some were sword in half, and others were killed with a sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. Amen. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith. So faith takes you through every circumstance of life. Faith takes you through the celebrations and the glory and the victory. Faith takes you through the darkness and through the sadness and through the grief. Faith is our calling. Faith is trusting God without knowing the end of the story and how much we want the guarantees, and yet he never, ever gives them. Faith, fifth point, faith is lonely and it takes time. Park life must have been weird. There must have been a buzz about Noah's world where the God judged, where there was noise, and there was activity, and there was celebration, and there was life, and there was hundreds of thousands of people all going about their business, and suddenly the flood came and there was silence. There's not even a record of God speaking to them while they were in the ark. One year in the boat, they just had to sit, trapped by their faith. So faith is lonely and it takes time, and some of you can identify with that. You know what it is. You've put your faith in your trusting God, and things have panned out in a way that you think, well, this is bleak. Where is God in all of this? But God was there. God shut the door on the ark. God put them in the ark. God left them in the ark. God had purpose for them in the ark. He had a plan. He had a future. He had a vision of all that the future was going to look like because of Noah's obedience, but in the middle of it all, Noah was just left there with his animals and his wife and his children, probably in that order. And he's just like... It's not good. It's not enjoyable, but it's where his faith took him. And that can be the perfect description of our life. Sometimes we're in the middle part. We hear God, and we have faith in God, and we trust God, and then we put it into action, and then there's just silence for a long time sometimes that just goes on. And we can lose sight of what is ahead, because we're not thinking like that. God is thinking about that. He's thinking about the long-term vision. We're just thinking about, well, how do we get through the next 24 hours? Sometimes that's it. We're stuck there. We have to just trust God in the process. That is where faith really becomes real. Can we give honor and glory to God in the middle of all of that? Some of you will know, some of you won't. A number of years ago we went to live in Zambia, and we had a decision to make, and we decided to, in effect, burn our financial bridges. We sold our house against advice, but it was a good decision. We sold our house, and we basically put everything that we owned onto a ship, and then sent it off on the ocean on a shipping container, and we just turned up the four of us in Zambia, starting our new life that God had given us to live. And yet things did not work out as we'd planned and hoped, and how much we look forward to, and we had our gloriously victorious farewell services and all of that, and all the excitement of everything else. Very soon we were stuck in a very difficult situation, where if we'd had a way out, we would have taken it, but we didn't have a way out because God had shut the door. And so we were left bobbing. Bobbing up and down, not quite sure what to do, and remember talking to a friend of ours, a man who's just died recently called Dave Plale, and he said, it seems, it was a very helpful word from guys, it seems that God has got you over a barrel. And you can't do anything, so don't do anything. Don't make any decisions, don't try and fix it, just bob. And sometimes that, as I said, is the perfect description of our life. We're just in the middle of something. But because we took that advice and we had no much choice to take that advice, it did lead to an unfolding and an opening up and an understanding of that God really is in control over the whole of our lives. And yet it's in those moments of bobbing, in those moments of challenge, in those moments of boredom, in those moments of wondering, well, this doesn't look like faith, this doesn't look like victory, this doesn't look like God is anywhere near where I am. We can lose sight of our faith, but hold on if that is you this morning. And so faith is not way to see, it's not a young person's game, it's not easy, it is lonely, and it does take a long time to unfold. And we need to make our decisions, and we can make our decisions this morning. So like Sheila said, we can reach out to God, give me faith. It's hard for me, Lord, but I choose to trust you. I choose to trust you for my life. I choose to trust you for my future. I choose to trust you for my family. I choose to trust you in my health. I choose to trust you in everything because, Lord, that's what you've called me to do. And for us as a church, we choose to trust God. We don't know so many questions when it comes to leadership issues and so many unanswerable questions. What do we do? How do we how do we grow the church without the facilities? How are those problems and yet God has called us to transform a community and we can hold on to him without knowing all the answers and without knowing the end of the story? How do we do it? We hold on to Jesus and we reach out to him and it takes us away from planning. It takes us away from all the things that we try and achieve for ourselves. It takes us away from our cleverness and our wisdom and puts us in the hands of God. Hold on to him because Noah was a man of faith and because of him, because of that, he came to a point where the waters receded and we shall get on to those. As Chris takes it up next week, we'll get on to those and we'll see how the world opened up and unfolded before him. The journey of faith. As the worship team come back, I want to invite them to come back. I would like us to consider this word and to respond to the word of God because faith is a need that we all have to get it right without faith it's impossible to please God. And yet it can be the biggest challenge in our lives because our hearts pull away because we're fearful, because we're anxious, because we worry about stuff. So easy to get into that. What's our reaction when we read in the Bible it says, don't worry about anything. You think, oh well, that's easier said than done. And as we worship, as we pray, I want you to make a response. And sometimes we're very easy to say, well, you know, wherever, if you want to just respond where you are, respond in your own heart, I just feel it's important in terms of putting our faith into action, that if you know that you need faith, if you know that you need strength for the journey, if you know that you need the resources, if you feel, if you can identify with Noah in all the difficulty and the challenge and the bleakness of his experience, then I would invite you to come forward and to stand here and to pray. And also as you do that, I believe there will be people here who, maybe if you keep it quiet, keep it to yourself, you wouldn't know, but I believe it's just a faith step of my own, that people will have the word of God for you and will be have an opportunity to share it with you. And I want to encourage you, as people do respond, and as we respond together, to also for us to pray together and to seek God for his word for one another, because this is word that brings faith, and it's word that inspires his word that encourages them in. So just as Jonathan and the team begin, I just want to make some space here, and I want to encourage you, if there's anything in you, any measure of response, did you want to say anything in? Yeah, but I'll. Yeah. All right, okay. Yep, you go for it. Then do come forward, and we're more than happy to pray.

Erica continues our new series on Genesis. This week he is speaking on Genesis 2:1-25. Her topic is "God's masterpiece" Summary In her sermon titled "God's Masterpiece" on January 14th, 2024, part of a series focused on the book of Genesis, Erica Lugg delves into the profound theme of humanity being God's masterpiece. The biblical foundation for her message is rooted in Genesis 1:26-27 and 2:7. Throughout the sermon, Lugg employs vivid imagery and relatable anecdotes to convey the significance of recognizing each individual as intricately crafted in the image of God. Lugg begins by highlighting the accessibility of the book of Genesis and its foundational role in the Bible. The central theme of the sermon revolves around the concept of God's masterpiece, prompting the congregation to ponder the question of who or what God's masterpiece might be. Lugg engages the audience by challenging them to consider their identity in Christ, building anticipation for the revelation of the answer. The sermon unfolds as Lugg explores personal encounters, such as standing before the awe-inspiring Victoria Falls. By describing the grandeur of this natural wonder, she draws parallels between the majesty of creation and the intentional design of every individual as God's masterpiece. The mention of Victoria Falls serves as a powerful metaphor for the overwhelming love and creativity of God cascading over each person. Lugg skillfully weaves personal anecdotes into the narrative, sharing a pivotal moment standing on the bridge near Victoria Falls with her family. This personal touch adds authenticity to the message, illustrating the transformative impact of recognizing God's craftsmanship in one's life. As the sermon progresses, Lugg expands on the idea of various natural wonders, like the Northern Lights, the Grand Canyon, and the intricate details of a ladybird's spots, each serving as a testament to God's creative genius. By incorporating these diverse examples, she emphasizes the vastness and richness of God's artistic expression in both the macro and micro aspects of creation. The sermon takes a reflective turn as Lugg addresses concerns and doubts individuals might harbor about their own significance. She shares a powerful revelation of how, just like the rest of creation, humans are God's masterpiece, irrespective of doubts or external opinions. Drawing attention to Genesis 1:27 and 2:7, Lugg stresses that being created in God's image is a foundational truth that surpasses any external circumstances or challenges. Throughout the sermon, Lugg integrates key Bible passages, including Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:7, Isaiah 43 (pertaining to the new thing God is doing), and Psalm 139. These passages serve as anchors, grounding the sermon in biblical truth and emphasizing the continuity of God's involvement in the lives of His creation. In the concluding segment of the sermon, Lugg encourages the congregation to shift their focus from flaws and mistakes to Jesus as the ultimate restorer. She passionately urges them to embrace their identity as God's masterpiece, emphasizing that this identity is not earned but bestowed by God's intentional design. The sermon wraps up with a powerful affirmation of each individual's intrinsic value and the constant presence of God in their lives. The congregation is left with a resounding call to perceive themselves as God's masterpiece, echoing the truth from Psalm 139 that every moment God is thinking of them and cherishing them. In summary, Erica Lugg's sermon masterfully weaves together personal experiences, relatable anecdotes, and biblical truths to convey the profound message that every individual is God's masterpiece. Her engaging delivery and emphasis on recognizing one's identity in Christ make the sermon both inspiring and impactful. Key Bible passages referenced in the sermon include Genesis 1:26-27 and 2:7, Isaiah 43 (the new thing), and Psalm 139. Erica concludes with a powerful affirmation of each person's intrinsic value and God's continuous presence in their lives. Bible Passages Used: Genesis 1:26-27 Genesis 2:7 Isaiah 43 (referencing the new thing) Psalm 139 Transcription We're going to be going to Genesis, which is like a really easy book in the Bible to find in that it's right at the very beginning. And the theme of this morning is God's masterpiece. Now I know that those of you who know Jesus, you know the answer to this question, this statement about who is God's masterpiece or what is God's masterpiece, any ideas? We don't have any ideas, right? We have no idea as Christians, oh my goodness people. And what we've seen and what we've heard this morning is God doing what God does with the people that He loves with all His heart. And I'm going to talk about God's masterpiece, but I know you already know the answer, but I'm hoping that by the end of it we will see it not just as a thing that we kind of know in our head, but where it positions us this morning and where it places us this morning and how God sees us. Now I remember the first time I ever encountered the mighty Victoria Falls. Any of you been to Victoria Falls? A few people. It's incredible. It spans 1,700 metres across the Zambezi River. Every single minute, 500 million litres of water cascade over that waterfall every single minute. People in Zambia and Zimbabwe, they don't call it Victoria Falls. That was the name that David Livingston gave it. They call it Mosi Owatunya, which means the smoke that thunders, because the spray from that falls rises 400 metres above the waterfall. It's the smoke that thunders. I remember the day, Nick and I stood there with two very little boys, we were just starting on our adventure, our Zambia adventure of extended life there. On the backdrop of maybe some concerns from friends and family that maybe we were taking the children somewhere that would mean that they would end up not being able to fulfil their opportunities because we were taking their way for the UK and we were taking them somewhere else and maybe they would end up lacking in their future because of it. And I understand the concerns, but as I stood on the bridge that day and we were absolutely wept through to the skin from the spray from that mighty Victoria Falls, the bridge was shaking with the power and the thunder was deafening. It was a glory to God in the highest moment and I knew then we weren't lacking anything, we were gaining absolutely everything, but that's a different story altogether. We have in Genesis, right at the very beginning, a glimpse of Creator God displaying his glory and if you, well, that was one thing. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and we have been in awe of his creation ever since. Any of you seen the Northern light? I never have. Spectacular. Was it a glory to God in the highest moment? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Have any of you seen a full moon on a winter's evening? Yes. Yes. Is it a glory to God in the highest moment? You can look at the moon. What about a field of sunflowers? Look at that. Isn't it a glory to God in the highest moment? Look at that. Graham, you're doing a grand job. Moving on to the Grand Canyon. I've never seen this. Look at that. Any of you seen the Grand Canyon? Neil, how does it compare? Amazing. Amazing. Did you stand on the edge going, wow. You went down there. What about the intricate detail of a ladybird's spots? Every single one, completely unique, no two ladybirds the same. Glory to God in the highest. What about the Great Barrier Reef? I've never been there. I've heard it spectacular. Anybody been? What's it like, Ross? Spoketacular, no idea. What about man Everest? Anybody be there up there? No. Of course you haven't. It takes training. What about this one? I love this one. What about a meerkat? Aren't they the most extraordinary of animals? This family of meerkats must have posed for the photograph. Look at that. Glory to God in the highest. What about, did you know? I mean, Dylan is still in here this morning. Down at 1-4. Oh, hi, guys, at 1-4-6. What about, I'm kind of glad he's not here because I probably won't get it right, but what about the buzzy bee? They tell us that if the buzzy bee goes out of existence, becomes extinct, the whole of our ecosystem will go to pot. Because of that, a tiny little fluffy thing. Glory to God in the highest. Don't you just want to say it? Glory to God in the highest. But as is the case with every great composer and every great artist or choreographer, there is only room for one masterpiece. That one piece, that is the most excellently done of all things. That one piece, which is their greatest work of great works. That one outstanding, creative thing of skill and depth. The one piece that most reflects the capacity and the imagination and the skill and the craftsmanship of the master himself. Look at yourself. Amazing. The piece that most expresses his thoughts and his ideas. The piece that most helps us to see him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as his likeness is most expressed in every paint stroke are everything. Van Gogh, he painted a great many work. I think this is the next picture up there, Graham. But this apparently is his masterpiece. I don't understand it, frankly. Anybody art critics or whatever? Yeah, sorry. Art critics, do you get it? I have no idea why that would be a masterpiece. It looks like something that Sammy could draw. But apparently it is the piece of art that most expresses who he was as an artist. Starry Knight. He didn't actually ask my permission about what I thought about his painting before it became his masterpiece. In fact, nobody in the art critic world has ever asked me, in my opinion, about what I think about there. It is just the masterpiece. It is a matter of fact. I don't know how to pronounce this, but this is the next one. Guernica. What is it called? Guernica. You see? I don't even know how to say it. Apparently this is Picasso's masterpiece. According to Google, this is the one. Mozart's is the Jupiter Symphony. Any of you heard of the Jupiter Symphony? No idea. I've never heard of it in my life. Never heard it. And I'm quite interested to know that there are no words to sing and there's no chord sheet that you can use to strum along to. And yet those three things are the one thing that most expresses their thoughts and ideas, the composers and the artists that drew that. And here we find in Genesis chapter 1, verse 27. Am I clicking on this too much? Am I spitting? Is it all right? God said in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, he says, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God. He created the male and female. He created them. Nick mentioned that last week. Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 says this, The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man began to live. And I want you to get into your mind the incredible imagery that is here. Up until now God had spoken the world into being as he spoke the world was created. But in the case of mankind, he steps down and he gathers the dust with his own hands. And he begins to mold and to make with his own hands forming, putting together very specifically and very carefully. And when it was exactly how he wanted it to be, he stooped even lower. Now I'm a first aid instructor, so I know what it is like to give someone mouth to mouth resuscitation. You have to come very, very close. But the Bible says that after he had moulded and shaped God, stooped even lower and breathed his own life into mankind's nostrils. And when he had done that, he stepped back after six incredible days of creativity. He stepped back and he said, I'm done now. And he rested. He didn't rest because he was tired. He rested because he was done. That's it. This is the perfect thing. Glory to God in the highest. And I love the finality of this. Nothing more to add, nothing to change, to remove or tweak or consider. He was done. We were like him, made in his image. Now it was very good. Some of you this morning are imagining that is the case for everybody else out there except you. That is the case for the whole of humanity. Made in the image of God, brought to life through the breath of God. Every single one of us seated here today. Yeah, but not me. Right, aren't we? Yes, you, every single person. Now we all know that this isn't the end of the story and that fear and sin and failure and weakness and sickness of all mards, the image of God in us. But I want to just encourage you this morning again with Katie's testimony and Katie and Katie. The Katie's testimony and the other testimonies that we've heard that day, that today, that we cannot, because the image of God isn't something that we got for ourselves or something that we earned or a quality that we possess and only certain people have it. It was something that made humanity what it is. And if we didn't give it to ourselves and it's nothing that we possess, we cannot lose it even if things have come along and marred the image of God in us. I am made in the image of God full stop. Now I know stuff has come in. That's why I gave my life to Jesus all those years ago. I know that there are things in my life that have come in and marred and distorted and disfigured the image of God within me. And yet underneath, still underneath, wants a masterpiece, always a masterpiece. Is that right? Some of you are not sure. Is a masterpiece still a masterpiece if fire and flood damage it? Yes. Yes, because it's a condition. It was created that way. It was a masterpiece because it was made that way. Fire and flood come in and suddenly everybody springs into action because, oh my goodness, we need to do something to restore that masterpiece back to what it was supposed to look like. Remember when the, was it two years ago, is it the Louvre in France burnt down? Notre Dame. I've said that several times. Yeah, Notre Dame burnt down. And everybody, in fact it made headline news above everything else that was going on in the world. It was because this incredible masterpiece, this incredible thing of beauty had burnt down and suddenly all the restorers, millions and millions and millions of pounds poured into restoring this incredible masterpiece. Nobody said, right, you know what, fire and flood has come, that's it. Fish bash boss, throw it, roll it all up and throw it away. That's not what you do with a masterpiece. You call in the restorers. You call in the restorers come. Let's try and work out how we take it back to the original condition, even though it's been marred. And tarnished and covered in fire and certain whatever it is. And it's true for us. I am made in the image of God. I am his masterpiece. When people tell you that we are just like all the other animals, we're not. We're not like all the other animals. All the other animals are created beings. Nobody stooped down and breathed life into them. That's what makes humankind, humankind. We are incredible. Some of you are going, yes, but I'm not. I can hear you. I can hear you. All that stuff didn't destroy who we were. It marred it and distorted it and twisted it, but basically, fundamentally, in the core of who we are, we have been created in the image of God. And his life is in us. So the restorer. Who is our restorer? Sound really nervous this morning. Is it Jesus? I think the answer is Jesus. I'm not really sure if it's Jesus. I think it's Jesus. I think because we're Christians. I think the answer is supposed to be Christ Jesus. Have you heard about that little boy who went to Sunday school and somebody described something? You know, what is fluffy and got a long tail and gray and all of that? I think. How does he say it? I know the answer is Jesus. I know the answer should be Jesus, but it sounds like a squirrel to me. That's what it is coming across this morning. I think the answer is Jesus because we're in church and everything comes down to Jesus. But actually, it sounds like a squirrel to me. Who is our restorer? When you came up to the front here, when you came up to the front here and you declared about yourselves, all the things that have marred and distorted and disfigured, the basic image of God in you that he put in you, you did nothing for yourselves. Who is it that came alongside you and said, do you know what? I'm going to take you back to your original condition. Who was it? Jesus. Jesus. The rest of you are all nervous. You think I'm just going to pick on me in a minute? I might do. It's Jesus. Jesus came along and he didn't say, oh, gosh, I can't do anything with this. It's too far gone for me, guys. All the rest are made in God's image, but God kind of messed up with you. Jesus is the reason. The reason Jesus came was to redeem us and restore us and renew us. He came as a master restorer and he looks and he says, I know that the image of God is under all this stuff because that's human kind. It's under all this stuff and sin and fear and failure, but just give me a moment. Just give me some time. Just give me your willingness. Just bring me yourself and I will sit and I will carefully and painstakingly pick away and add touches here, there and everywhere and bit by bit by bit. You will begin to see the image of God that is there already. You'll begin to see it for yourself. Hallelujah. You know those moments, don't you? When you see it for yourself, suddenly you, maybe you've had an issue with something all your life and suddenly you realize it's gone. It's because Jesus, the restorer, I'm going to work at this bit by bit by bit. And you're going to see my image that is already there. I'm going to make it visible. No idea where I am on my notes. The master himself says, I know what this is supposed to look like. Allow me to make you look like the image that is already inside you. I love it when people that don't believe in God don't understand that actually, whether they believe in God or not, they're still made in his image. It's a fact. Yeah, I know, but I'm an atheist, I don't believe in God. It doesn't change who you are. It doesn't change your core. I know, but I don't believe in anything that you're talking about. I really don't believe in God. There is no God. Well, I'm really sorry to tell you because you're walking around carrying his image. It's just covered by stuff. And when we become believers, what we are saying to Jesus is I surrender to you deal with the stuff that is marring and distorting the image of God that is already inside me. It's a fact. Yeah, I know, but I don't feel it. I don't feel like, did he ask your permission? Okay, so when you feel like it, then you can be made in my image. And when you don't feel like it, then you don't have to be made in my image. It's just a fact. Whatever you feel like this morning, he didn't ask your permission when he made you. He doesn't ask your permission when he calls you a masterpiece. He is the master and he decides who is his masterpiece. And I'm sorry to tell you that that's you. Whether you like it or whether you don't. He really is not interested in changing his opinion on who I am. I wasn't going to show this video, but I think I might. Can I just put that video up? I love it. You'll see, I don't know whether you'll see why I'm showing it. Are you amazing? Say it with a big voice. Are you amazing? Are you amazing? Are you amazing? Say it with a big voice. Are you amazing? Thanks, Graham. Anti-Aker, you are amazing. I did have to prompt him. Did you notice? I said to him, say, anti-Aker, you are amazing. And then I had to say to him, say it in a big voice. Anti-Aker, you are amazing. And the reason I love this is because every year it comes up on my Facebook reminder. And it just, do you know what? I am amazing. But as are every single one of you seated in here. It's not a special thing for special people. It is just the nature of God in you, his breath in you, a masterpiece made in his image, in his likeness, like nothing else in all creation. Anti-Aker, you are amazing. And that's for you, and for you, and for you. I wish I could have got him to do all your names. We'd have been here a very long time. Some of you are saying, yeah, but not me. It's just a fact. All these other things have come into Mart and Distour. But Jesus in his grace carefully comes alongside and he begins to pick away and paint away and brush away and smooth away and restore this and restore that and change this and change that. And one day we stand back and we look and we say, oh my God, you are amazing. Glory to God in the highest. When was the last time you looked at yourself in the mirror without a critical view and said, glory to God in the highest, look at what you've made. Anti-Aker, you are amazing. When was the last time? When was the last time you said, because we do this, we think it is humility to rubbish ourselves. We think it's not humility, it's actually pride. It's false humility because what it says is, God, you don't know what you're talking about. And God, you are telling lies because this doesn't apply to me. That's what it means. It's not humility. To stand and say, I am who I am by the grace of God made in the image. Oh, yes, I know. You can tell me to the cows come home. All the things currently that are marring my life that are distorting the image of God in me. I know all the rubbish that I carry, but basically bottom line. Anti-Aker, you are amazing because of Jesus. I want to encourage you this morning. I want to encourage you. So the restorer comes along, no idea where I am, I knew this would happen. The restorer comes along and what we do is we get fixated on the stuff that is marring. We get fixated on the stuff that is rubbish, the stuff that we know shouldn't be there, the stuff when you've been a Christian a long time and you do that thing you know you shouldn't do and you shouldn't know better. Anybody else like that or is it just me? Liz, your hand went straight up. We ought to know better. Graham, thank you for being honest. Those of you that didn't put your hand up, just put your hand up now and be done with it. Christians for a long time then we still do the things that we know we shouldn't do or think the things we shouldn't think and all of that and I get all of that and we become fixated on this and we become fixated on all that is rubbish and all that is wrong and all that we should change and all of that stuff. What we need to become fixated on is the restorer. We need to become fixated on his hands as he changes and tweaks and whatever. Every now and again he might say to you I'd get the job done a lot quicker if you'd stop throwing back paint over there every single time I change that bit and we have to change that. Let's stop fixating on old things. Isaiah 43, any of you do Alexio 365? I think the passage at the beginning of the year was from Isaiah 43 where it says behold I'm doing a new thing the oldest gone and the new has come. Is that a statement of fact? Is it a statement of fact? Is he saying I wish the old had gone and I wish the new had come? He says no I'm doing a new thing the old has gone, the new has come and then what does he say? He asks his question. Do you not perceive it? Why do you think he asked that question? Do you not perceive it? Sorry what was that voice? Because we know we won't believe it. I've just told you the old has gone and the new has come but do you not perceive it? He wants us to see it. That this is the process is just a matter of fact this is what Jesus has done. We need to start perceiving it. We need to start owning it. The world is an awesome place but even more awesome than the world that we live in. The world that we live in are the people that are in it. Ephesians 2 verse 10 and I have no idea where I am says I am his masterpiece created in his image. Would you like to repeat that? You want to say it again? Oh yeah but what about that? What about that thing? What about that situation? What about that relationship? What about this? What about that? What's the answer? I? Oh no you see now you've all lost your confidence. You're doing exactly what I'm saying. Oh gosh maybe that's changed it. Oh that's obviously changed it. I've stopped being his masterpiece now. Now I'm just a failure and I'm rubbish and I've made a mistake. Am I or am I not his masterpiece? Okay let's say it in a big voice shall we? Okay right. Come on guys if we're going to get it to go from here to here we're going to have to put some effort in aren't we? Right after three, one, two, three. What about that? What about that issue in your life? What about that thing that keeps going wrong? Is he telling a lie about your life? Is he speaking the truth about your life? Oh hallelujah I think it's sunk in. I am a masterpiece created in his image. I am the apple of his eye. You are the apple of his eye, what else are we? Fifthly and wonderfully made. Fifthly and wonderfully made. Fifthly and wonderfully made. I think the apple of his eye is precious, long known, seen and accepted, restored, redeemed, healed, forgiven. More than the mighty Victoria Falls, more than the northern lights, more than the butterflies, ladybird dots, more than the Grand Canyon, more than any of the seven wonders of the world, more than anything that you could ever walk on, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, look through a window at, more than the moon in the sky, more than the sun, more than the stars, more than absolutely everything you made in the image of God with his breath, living inside you, you are the apple of his eye. You are his greatest masterpiece, you are the thing that he looks at and he says, you represent me, you are more like me than anything else in all creation. I love you and I cherish you and I'm working on you and I'm changing you, glory to God in the highest. Glory to God in the highest. I'm a conqueror, glory to God in the highest and you know when we grasp that truth and we stop being the kind of people that go, no, not me. When we do that, that's unbelief. And we say to God, I don't actually believe your word, I know that you're saying it about somebody else and I really love you that you're saying it about somebody else but it doesn't apply to me, what we are saying to him is that he's telling lies. The Bible tells me is that my God is not a person, he's not a man that he should lie. He speaks the truth and he says about you, oh my word, when I created you, masterpiece, yes I know that there is stuff that needs to be done. I know you need to reflect me more, I know that we need to deal with some things in your life, I know that it will be an ongoing process of restoration but whatever happens and however it works, you are my masterpiece. Glory to God in the highest. Just to finish, have you heard that wonderful quote, it's not in the Bible, it says beauty is in the eye of the beholder, have you heard that? Have any of you ever used it? It's a rubbish quote. It's a rubbish quote, I analyzed it because when you look up that word, it's rubbish because what it all meering, see that's what enthusiasm does, drips your earring out your ear. It says because it says that beauty doesn't exist on its own, it has to be something that is observed, that's what it says. Beauty, your beauty, your pop masterpiece-ishness exists because the God created it to be. To be seen in the glorious world around us and much more than that, beauty exists because he created it in you. Glory to God in the highest. So next time you stand and you see something spectacular, just remember, anti-acre, you are amazing and then put your name there. I want to read this over you just to finish. Psalm 139 says, I thank you God, for making me so mysteriously complex, that makes me smile. Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it. How thoroughly you know me Lord, you even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place. Carefully and skillfully, you shaped me from nothing to something. Hallelujah. You saw who you created me to be before I even became me. Before I'd even seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book. It tells me he has purpose over your life. Listen to this, every single moment you are thinking of me. You think you're alone and that nobody cares, that you're isolated in your pain and your sorrow and nobody would even notice. He says, every single moment. Remember the 500 liters of water going over, Victoria Falls, every single moment you were thinking of me. How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought. Oh God, your desires towards me are more than the grains of sand on every sea shore. Glory to God in the highest. And when I awake each morning, how does that end? You are still with me. Yeah, but I'm on my own. No, you're still with me. God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart, examine me through and through, find out everything that may be hidden within me, put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. In other words, restore. See if there is any path of pain I'm walking on and lead me back to your glorious everlasting ways, the path that brings me back to you. You are incredibly made in the image of God with the breath of Him within you. Glory to God in the highest. Amen.

Nick starts our new series on Genesis. This week he is speaking on Genesis 1:1-31. His topic is "The God of Creation" Summary In Nick Lugg's sermon titled "The God of Creation," delivered on January 7th, 2024, he starts by expressing gratitude for being present and sharing a personal testimony of triumph over challenges, highlighting the theme of being a living testimony. The sermon marks the beginning of a series on the book of Genesis, promising an in-depth exploration of its themes, theology, stories, characters, and their relevance to faith in 2024. Nick emphasizes the importance of not assuming knowledge of scripture, encouraging the congregation to engage in a fresh reading. The sermon focuses primarily on Genesis chapter 1, where Heather reads the creation account. Nick unfolds the verses systematically, drawing attention to key aspects and weaving them into broader theological concepts. The central idea revolves around the opening phrase of Genesis, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," emphasizing the pre-existence of God before creation. Nick explores the concept of God hovering over the void and darkness before the creation of light, drawing parallels to other biblical narratives where God hovers over situations, creating a consistent pattern of anticipation and expectation in God's interactions with humanity. The narrative transitions to the moment when God speaks, stating, "Let there be light," and Nick underscores the profound power of God's spoken word. He connects this creative act to significant moments in biblical history, demonstrating how God's words bring about transformative change. The sermon then delves into reflections on prayer, emphasizing that God, as the Creator, hovers over situations before inspiring prayers and initiating action. A personal testimony is shared about a recent illness, providing a poignant example of God's sovereignty and control in situations where the individual initially lacked awareness of the severity of their condition. Nick highlights the humbling realization that God moves in ways often beyond human comprehension. The sermon concludes with a powerful call to worship God as the God of creation. Nick challenges the congregation to recognize God's role as the Creator and to approach worship with reverence and awe. Throughout the sermon, Nick skillfully intertwines biblical narratives, personal anecdotes, and theological insights to deliver a rich and meaningful message about the God of creation, leaving the congregation with a deeper appreciation for God's sovereignty and an inspired perspective on faith. Bible Passages Used: Genesis 1:1-31 (Creation account) Various references to other biblical stories, including Abraham and Sarah, the Exodus, Jesus' birth and resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of Jesus' return. Note: The summary is based on the provided transcript, and some details may be omitted or condensed for brevity. Transcript Not often had a round of applause before the message. So it's really good. And it is really good to be here and to be standing here. Genuinely, a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know how or when it would be possible. But as a friend of mine used to say in Zambia, I'm a living testimony. So it's good, really, really good to be here. And we've had a lot to fit in this morning. But I do want to take some time to open up a new series that we're going to be looking. It's a bit of a marathon effort, I think. But it's going to be good. We're going to be looking at the book of Genesis. So much in the book of Genesis in terms of themes, theology, stories, characters, and foundations for our faith in 2024. And so we're going to be doing that. And I'll weave in a little bit of testimony as well, because it really is amazing what God does. We're going to, as Andy did at the beginning, we read the Scripture together. That was powerful. And it's really important, I found not to assume our knowledge of the Scripture. We think, oh, yeah, we know that. But it's good to go back and to actually read what it says and to read together. So I'm going to ask Heather if she'll come and read for us, please. Genesis chapter 1, and then we'll pick it up from there. Thanks, Heather. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering at the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day. And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven, and there was evening, and there was morning, the second day. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land earth. And the waters that were gathered together he called seas. And God saw that it was good. God said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind on the earth. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day. And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the earth. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, let the waters swarm with swarms of living, creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures, and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them, and God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit, you shall have them for food, and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good, and there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. Well isn't it? That's somebody once said, let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start, and God saw it all, and it was very good, amazing just to go right back to the beginning of Scripture. Want to speak this morning with the title? There's only so much you can draw out. I urge you to go back and read, and read those scripts, good to hear, have Heather read it to us. But God, don't just read these chapters. There's only so much you can draw out in 20 or 25 minutes to look at, but there's so much that God has to say to us through his word. And the subtitle this morning is God of creation. If we go back to the beginning of time, we discover how everything that we see, everything that we understand, every life that we live is rooted in God, and his creative power. It will change our perspective, and I pray our motivation and values when it comes to living the life that God has given us. So let's go back to verse one. Shall we? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. For us, often the story of our lives, our experience on earth, the story that we have to tell, begins with us. We understand life through our own eyes, through our own experiences, through the people that we've met, through the feelings that we go through. And so we've developed, and it's a phrase that's come up in recent years, we develop what we call our personal truth. This is, doesn't matter what you say or think, this is what is true to me. This is who I am. This is what I think. This is what I believe. This is what I understand about God. This is what I understand about the world. This is what I understand about other people. It's my truth that counts. But Genesis forces us back to a time before my truth was even a thing. And it takes us all the way back to the beginning and says simply, in the beginning, God. That's it. Before anything, God, God was there at the, what is the beginning? But whatever it is, wherever it was, however it happened, there was God and God alone. Perfectly fulfilled, perfectly secure, perfectly complete, having no need of anything or anyone. And in his heart, he decided, I'm going to create. And he created the heavens and the earth. He created the world that we live in. He created human life. He created all the life around us. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And in verse two, it says, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. A bleak picture of nothingness, no form, no landscape, just dark and empty. I don't know if you've seen those pictures of the Mars, whatever it's called, the rover that's gone to Mars. No, it's an actual rover, or, you know, that's what it's called, but you know, these pictures that come back of absolute emptiness. You keep expecting, when it goes around the corner, there's going to be a little green man with horns or something in a waving at the camera, but there's nothing utterly devoid of anything, no hallmarks of life, utterly barren. And the earth, as it was, was full of absolutely nothing, but the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And the poetry of the account gives us a sense of drama, a sense of expectation. There was nothing but God was hovering, hovering with anticipation, with expectation brimming with power about to move. And as I read it and prepared and thought about it, I thought, why the drama? Why couldn't God just create a world and be done with it? Remember the purpose of Scripture is always to explain, to teach, to describe the nature of God. And so there are things that we need to understand and know, and that there is a pattern of expectation and anticipation that is repeated again and again through Scripture, bleakness and desolation. God hovering, and then God said, there seems to be that drawn out pattern in God's dealings with us, not only at the moment of creation, but also as he goes on through his dealings with human beings. And as I thought about it, I jotted down a few ones that came immediately to mind. There's the story, as we shall come on to later in Genesis, of Abraham and Sarah, and the promise of Isaac that they were old and they were a hundred years old, and God said to them, you will have a son, and your descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky. And then from that promise, years passed and nothing happened. Peace and desolation, barrenness, no change, just the promise of God. God was hovering over their situation until Isaac was born. The people of Israel and their deliverance from Egypt, Grams talked about it this morning, but there was slavery, there was subjugation, there was suffering, there was all of that, and God was hovering over it, and then the moment of deliverance came. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. God hovering until that moment when they entered the promised land. There's the prophets and the promises of a messiah against the background of nothing. You know that between the last of the Old Testament prophets and the coming of Jesus, there was 400 years of silence, complete silence, nothing from God, and then suddenly, as we've just been celebrating at Christmas, the angels announced the coming of Jesus. Good news of great joy to all the earth. God was hovering, and then he said, Jesus' death and resurrection, three bleak days while he was in the tomb, darkness, emptiness, nothingness, and then God said. The coming of the Holy Spirit, wait, wait until the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus said, they had to wait with nothing until God said, and then of course we go forward and we remember that Jesus is coming, and in the bleakness and the desolation and the nothingness, God is hovering, and one day God will say, and Jesus will come. So we don't have a God much as we would like one who just does stuff instantly. There it is, there's your situation solved, problem answered. We have a God who hovers over the darkness and the emptiness and the silence, and that's what Genesis 1 gives us, a picture of God, he's full of power, full of creative vision, full of promise, hovering over nothing. How long was he hovering? No one knows. The people that say the world was created, is it on the 23rd of October, 4004 B.C.? There are others that say it was a few longer years than that. Who knows? What was happening in the heart of God? No one can know. But it reminds us, and I want to remind us this morning and for us to think about it, that the bleakness, the silence, the darkness, and the emptiness are not evidence that God is not there. Cheryl said it this morning, when we're suffering, we are closer to God, perhaps than ever, that when we are in the midst of darkness, emptiness, silence, void, God is hovering over. The environment that draws his creative power, the environment in which he pours his vision, and because we can't know what is happening, we can't shortcut the process, but we can trust him. We can trust him because he's a God who hovers, and he's full of power. He doesn't always show it, and there are many periods in our lives where we don't know. We give testimony. I can give testimony of a moment in my life, I've seen the power of God, but other times when you just go on, and you go on, and you go on, but we can trust God in the process. That's three, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and there was evening, and there was morning the first day. So matter of fact, isn't it? And God said, at certain point, after all the hovering, and all the brooding, and all the preparation, God said, let there be light, and guess what? There was light. God saw that the light was good, I like that, he said. When God speaks, he speaks, and things happen. Can there be a more definitive description of God's power, after the bleakness, after the darkness, after the emptiness, and God said, let there be light, and there was light? God said, and Isaac was born. God said, and the people of Israel were delivered. God said, and the Red Sea was partic. God said, Jesus was born. Jesus died, but on the third day he rose, God said, and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, and as I've said, Jesus will come again. And so from the circumstances of our lives, to the events of earth shattering significance, the God of creation, he hovers, and then in his own time, he speaks, and things happen, and things change. And we love to think that we've got control, don't we? We love to think that our words, our prayers, our willpower carry the power to change things. If only we could get it right. If only we could get the right faith, and the right attitude, and the right words, and we can say it in the right way, and we use the right phrases, then things will happen. We like to shout at the darkness as if it's going to listen to us, and yet the first pages of Genesis reveal a God who genuinely carries all the creative power to affect change, and he hovers over darkness until he speaks. We've talked this morning about prayer and the importance of prayer, and there's no way that we could ever make a case to say that prayer is not important, but we have to understand the right perspective. Realize where we stand in the process. Everybody wants that every great move of God begins with prayer, as if when people have an idea, oh, well, we'll pray, and then we'll make things happen. But in actual fact, I believe it's as God hovers over situations, as he broods over situations. There's a moment when he's drawing himself towards action, and he draws people in to pray, and he inspires the prayer in our hearts, and I believe he, as we get more inspired and more active in prayers, because God has been brooding. I remember when we went to Gordon in Manchester, and we talked to Victoria, who spoke at the Women's Conference, she gave us a fascinating perspective, where she said that, you know, we think about Jordan thought Baitmore and our community as it is. We look out and we see the precinct, we see 146, we see the houses and the flats and all the areas and all the things that go on. She said that God was here before a single house was built, that he broods over that what we see here was seen in the heart of God way back before anybody ever walked on this land here, or before anything was built, before any house was put up. God broods over it, he hovers over it. And so it's exciting to be here at this moment, it's not like we've not discovered this community, we've discovered this place at all, let's pray and see what we can do. God has drawn us in to something that he's been part of from the beginning, in the beginning God was there, and as we draw together to pray and as we pull our faith together, it's because God is drawing himself to action. So it's an exciting thing to hear that and to see that, and we know that, I think it just humbles us, the majesty of Genesis, I know it's all the story of creation and everything else, it just humbles us and brings us to a point where actually, you know, we're not the agents of change here, in the beginning God, God created, God moved, God poured out his power and he continues to do that, the God of creation. We've not drawn himself, oh God, we've discovered something, we've discovered a community where you could really do something, why don't you come over and we said sometimes that we treat him like he's a grandfunder, you know, please, please, please, please, please, could you do something for our work, for our people, for our situation, and God says actually I've known it from way before you, in the actual fact I was here, before you were even a twinkle in your mother's eye, the power of God, it's humbling isn't it, to come before the God of creation. Can't help but, it's always awkward to talk about, I was challenged, you know, I do want to talk about things that have happened to me because it's important and it's God, it's a humbling thing because God has done great things but I know that there is just one example of the sort of things that God can do but it's really set my perspective and prepared me I think for the things that I began to see in this passage to understand that actually what happened to me in the last few weeks as I got ill was a woman so like God was saying like step aside, so many things I think well I can't step aside there's so many important things to be done and what will happen, the world simply won't carry on. So on the 5th of December it was, the way back in 2023, I had no idea that there was anything terribly wrong with me, other people were telling me you look sick but I wasn't. It was just a change of weather. I didn't feel too well, I had a fever that was coming and going but in between I felt okay and took a paracetamol as you do, you know that's it, that's it. But it had been going long enough and I thought well okay, we'll try and see the doctor but who can see a doctor? You know there's, I was supposed to go to Poland so I thought well, well we'll see, if I can see a doctor that's fine but if not we'll go to Poland and take lots of paracetamol it'll be alright. And anyway I did see a doctor, I got, he didn't have to wait 3 weeks, had to wait 40 minutes and managed to get in and he referred me up to the Hallamshire Hospital and on the way there I felt a little bit more unwell, I've been feeling on and off since Friday and this was Tuesday and I began to feel, yeah I'm not too sure if I feel all that great, nothing too dramatic. We were chatting about the likelihood of us getting to Poland later that night, I was looking on my phone to see well if I go to the hospital they might want to, it might take a while in the hospital so what I could do is I could change my flight and maybe go the next day, that would be a good plan, it wouldn't have been a good plan but that would seem like a good plan. And when we arrived at the hospital car park the space was a bit narrow and so I got out of the car, Eric said you know just standing and I'll straighten up the car in the parking space and I stood, now I've collapsed and fainted before in my life but this one I had no idea what had happened, it was the last thing I ever remember before eventually coming to on the floor of the car park, I've got evidence that my phone has smashed but I don't know how that happened and nobody actually knows where it went but fell down on the back of my head in the car park and woke up, I don't know how long, God was obviously brooding over the nothingness and the void and the emptiness, having crashed my head on the car park and there were people there who were able to help us to seem like, well he said he was an off duty doctor I presume he was and a paramedic and I remember there being some confusion about what to do and where to go and then beginning to realise actually this is probably a bit more serious and a change in the weather and needed a bubble thing to be in the infectious diseases unit where I was intending to go. The conversation I remember was about anything but that, it was about ambulances and A&E and getting to northern general of all places for a CT scan, all of which actually, and now no, probably would have mean I would have likely have actually died. It turns out that the last place you want to call an ambulance from is the Hallenshire Hospital Car Park, they're not too clear where that is or how long it's going to take, there are no lifts, wheelchairs, whatever, there's just helpful car park attendants who lift up the barriers and help you to get out without paying. So I was bundled into the car, we were sent to the minor injuries clinic, told we would be transferred to northern general, some off duty paramedics were there and they were very kind, they did everything they could to help. I had no ability to join in a conversation, I was just doing what was done to me, I was just put into a chair and pulled into the hospital, they said they would take me to reception and then they would sort out an ambulance to northern general and I'm thinking but not saying I don't need to go to northern general, I need to go up to floor E and they said well this is what we'll do, you banged your head, that's the important thing, I think it's not really the important thing. But anyway they eventually found a wheelchair, pulled me backwards into the unit, I had no idea what was happening and then without any conversation, without anything else happening, I was just pulled through corridors, into lifts, up and round corners, through doors, until eventually without any announcement or fanfare, just wheeled into the infectious disease unit, into a side room where they took control of the situation, which is the, to me an amazing thing, because it was completely out of my hands, God was moving on my behalf. It's not easy to claim the miraculous in every set of circumstances but I look back with amazement of that day and it's a little bit, it's not fear but you think wow really what could have happened, how many different things could have gone wrong and how many things did I not control and yet God controlled them, I've learned that doctors tend to begin with understate, I know there's some doctors here, tend to begin with understatement of the situation, and then they slowly and progressively just begin to rub in just how bad things are and so these doctors, I'd heard some of these terms before, I knew about it, so they quickly confirmed, yes it's falcipram malaria, if you want some entertainment at night, Google chat, the deadliest strain at what they said was quite a high level, they've gone on since to explain, it was at least twice the level that they would have expected the worst consequences and they weren't quite sure why I didn't have the worst consequences, and after they'd done the blood tests which were the priority, they sent me for a head scan as I had a large lump on the back of my head and it became clear and it came back clear and they said well it's fine, it's clear, it's only then they explained and again I didn't even know what it meant so these were like the side issues and again, medics and doctors and people would probably know what it means, in fact one of the doctors told me it was a ridiculous result, my blood platelet level was about 30, she said that's ridiculous and could result in spontaneous bleeding and the fact that I'd bashed my head on the car park floor, she said you're really lucky you didn't have a brain hemorrhage, yes thank you for the grace of God. My point is that I didn't know I was sick, I wasn't praying any prayers and I don't know if anybody was praying for me, but God was simply hovering over the situation, there were medical things going on that were like a perfect storm with the power to do the worst that God held everything, I know there's no pattern, I'm just giving you my personal story but God moves in different ways, in different circumstances, there are no alternative but to be humbled and amazed that at that time without any input or faith from me or anyone else, God moved in power on my behalf and it's a very precious thing to see and understand, he's not on call to our prayers for us to understand the detail of every situation, put our prayers together and then God wakes up or prayers come through, I'd better do something, he's ahead of us. And as he's about to move as I've said, he inspires us to pray so that we might be part of a story greater than ourselves. Now I've also been part of many stories and many situations and you have to, I'm sure where the things that we've prayed for, the things that we've wanted have not worked out, how we've wanted, we've not seen the miracle we expected or hoped for, we've not had all of that but my experience and I hope your experience too and if it's not that just to take the encouragement that even in those circumstances of bleakness and darkness and confusion and the situations where we can't understand and we can't know what God is doing, God still hovers over the whole situation, been in rooms where everything that we've prayed for has not come to pass and yet we still know the presence of God in power in that place. He holds all things together by his powerful word and so when you attempted to think, well I should, maybe I should have prayed more, maybe I should have prayed different, maybe I should have prayed better, maybe if I'd got the words right, maybe if I had more faith, do away with all of that because in the beginning it wasn't our prayers that created the world, in the beginning it was God and in the beginning God hovered over the darkness and the bleakness and the emptiness before any of us were even a thought, God was there and God was there before us, he'll be there after us. He was there before we were born, be there long after we've gone and so we need to worship him in his rightful position, his God of creation. I can only get a small snapshot of what this passage gives us, we can't get into all the stuff about what happened to the dinosaurs and all of that marvellous interesting debate but what we see is God in the first chapter of the Holy Scripture in the beginning God and we begin to see how we understand and we apply what we learn in our own lives in 2024 so we worship him this morning as the God of creation. Amen.

Nick Lugg

She's a Vesta girl in a Vesta world! Y el resto sólo vivimos en él… La empresaria y rostro indiscutido de la farándula pasó por nuestro estudio para contarnos de su nueva canción (cargada de tecito), de su paso por los hitos culturales que definen las conversaciones en los medios y de pasar de hacerse famosa en una serie adolescente a formar parte del imaginario colectivo nacional. Vesta artista, Vesta empresaria, Vesta Diosa! Presentado por

Presentamos a uno de los nuevos talentos del sello - 2K00 de 777 Events, desde Puerto Rico, en Orlando, FL junto al DJ y Productor - Matteo Lugg. Hablamos de futuros eventos y proyectos, y más. / Presenting a new label talent - 2K00, part of 777 Events and from Puerto Rico, at Orlando, FL together with the DJ and Producer - Matteo Lugg. Talking about next projects and events, and more.

Rich talked about a tech support scam that takes over your computer. When in doubt, press Control + Alt + Delete at the same time on your keyboard, then select your web browser and hit End Task. You can also turn off your computer or restart it. Whatever you do, don't give access to your computer, or download any software.Jennifer in Laguna Hills wants to know what to do with old cell phones. Rich recommends checking out this list of places that take them as a donation. Rich also likes Gizmogo, Best Buy Mail in Recycling Boxes, EcoATM.Marta in Laguna Nigel wants to know if there's an Android app that lets you set audio reminders by voice and have it announce the reminder at a certain time. Rich recommended Talking Recordable Voice Alarm, Talking Alarm Clock Beyond and Voice Memo Reminder but all of them require some level of manual time setting for the alarm. Listeners recommend using Alexa for this functionality!Rich used Lugg to get his new furniture delivered and it mostly worked out great. He then sold his old couches on OfferUp and the process was excellent.Sharon in Williamsburg, Ohio wants to know how to improve her Wi-Fi signal. Rich recommends moving the router to a more central location in the room.David in Orange wants to know why his phone number is out there.Google is making it easier to remove search results about you that contain your personal information.Nick in Anaheim wants to know if his computer was hijacked by ransomware.Kimber Streams of Wirecutter shares top affordable laptop and Chromebook picks under $1000.Patricia is in Southern California wants to know why her Wi-Fi is still showing even though she cut the cable to her box and cancelled service.David in Cerritos wants to know how to find the phone number of an old friend. Rich recommends Sunshine Contacts, Google Contacts, Siri Search on iPhone and WhitePages.com to do a reverse search of someone's address or name to find their phone number.Here's how to set up vertical app drawer scrolling on a Samsung phone.Liz in Riverside wants to know how to get rid of old hard drives from her deceased husband's computers. Rich recommends an e-waste recycling facility that offers hard drive shredding, or an application called DBAN or similar. Listener Tom recommends freeware called CBL Data Shredder.Verizon now has a $25 unlimited plan through Visible.Scam alert: Watch out for bogus QR codes to pay for parking lots and meters.Nina in San Bernardino wants to know why she can't access her Outlook email through Chrome. An extension might be interfering, check them here.Ron asks if there is a free QR Code generator that will take an iPhone contact entry and turn it into a QR code that the recipient can scan and add to their contacts? Rich likes HiHello. See his card here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this #ArthurandDaddyAdventure we're exploring another hidden and wild place from the amazing Wild Guide to Wales book by Daniel Start, Tania Pascoe, and Wild Things Publishing. Find out more at https://wildthingspublishing.com/product/wild-guide-wales/ Where Next? There's so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can: Go to https://www.naffordjunction.co.uk Read Our Articles Subscribe to Our Podcast Sign-Up to Our Free Email Newsletter Join the #VoteWithOurMoney Campaign Work Through the Sustainability Roadmap Find Companies to Help You Grow, Eat, and Live Sustainably Follow Nafford Junction on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube Help Us Inspire Others If you're passionate about helping climate change, please consider supporting Nafford Junction, you can: Become a Patron to Give Regular Contributions Buy Me a Coffee to Make a One-Off Contribution Create for Us and Publish Thought Provoking Content Become an Inspiring Leader and Advertise with Us Support Nafford Junction at https://www.naffordjunction.co.uk/support Production Notes This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably. Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice. * We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It's one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.

On this adventure I'm exploring another hidden and wild place from the amazing Wild Guide to Wales book by Daniel Start, Tania Pascoe, and Wild Things Publishing. Find out more at https://wildthingspublishing.com/product/wild-guide-wales/ Where Next? There's so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can: Go to https://www.naffordjunction.co.uk Read Our Articles Subscribe to Our Podcast Sign-Up to Our Free Email Newsletter Join the #VoteWithOurMoney Campaign Work Through the Sustainability Roadmap Find Companies to Help You Grow, Eat, and Live Sustainably Follow Nafford Junction on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube Help Us Inspire Others If you're passionate about helping climate change, please consider supporting Nafford Junction, you can: Become a Patron to Give Regular Contributions Buy Me a Coffee to Make a One-Off Contribution Create for Us and Publish Thought Provoking Content Become an Inspiring Leader and Advertise with Us Support Nafford Junction at https://www.naffordjunction.co.uk/support Production Notes This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably. Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice. * We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It's one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.

Nick Lugg

It's International Women's Day and the theme for 2023 is ‘embracing equity', but how does this apply to photography and content creation? Canon Ambassador and professional photographer, Ilvy Njiokiktjien speaks to the Fashion Director of Vanity Fair, Nicole Chapoteau, as well as content creator, Rosie Lugg, who uses TikTok and Instagram to achieve success in photography, to find out what challenges they're facing in their industries.Join Ilvy as she discusses representation and equity with our guests in this special International Women's Day episode.Thanks so much for listening!Follow us on Twitter: https://canon.sm/pro-twitterJoin us on Facebook: https://canon.sm/pro-facebookEngage with us on Instagram: https://canon.sm/pro-instagramConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://canon.sm/pro-linkedinWatch us on YouTube: https://canon.sm/youtube

4 de los 10 artistas del sello disquero en 1 mismo podcast, hablando del gran próximo evento en agenda, Grooves By The Seas, a celebrarse el sábado 4 de Marzo del 2023 en la Playa Poza del Obispo en Arecibo, Puerto Rico. También dialogando sobre cómo apoyar la escena colectivamente, recalcando el trabajo de todos en la escena. / 4 of the 10 record label artists at 1 podcast, talking about the next big event, Grooves By The Seas - March 4, 2023 at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Also emphasizing about how to support this music scene all together.

Our Christmas devotions for 2022

Our Christmas devotions for 2022

Klagomuren på P1. Petters barndomsmobbare Tobbe gör entré. Tom har startat ett medborgargarde.Kom ihåg att den ideella organisationen BROTTSOFFERJOUREN erbjuder dig kostnadsfritt stöd om du blivit utsatt för brott, är vittne eller anhörig. Ta hand om varandra i jul!

We discuss comments from Braden Lenzy and Josh Lugg as well as whether Tyler Buchner should play in a bowl game if he's healthy, should Notre Dame and Boston College play more often, comments from Lane Kiffin, and should the Dallas Cowboys sign Odell Beckham Jr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to our Sunday Gathering, Andy Hollingum is leading, Jonathan Dunning is leading worship and Nick Lugg is speaking.

Erica Lugg finishes off our series on Romans 16

Skrikstäda huset för 200 spänn. Lugg eller inte? Har Sigge skägg? Vad är ens skägg? Harvey Weinstein. Kathy Hilton, Lisa Rinna, Anna Wahlgren. Det ständiga jämförandet.

An unexpectedly fire duo joins us in this week's episode! Voice actor, producer, and screenwriter Yuri Lowenthal best known as the voice of Sasuke in Naruto, teenage Ben Tennyson in Ben 10, and Peter Parker/Spider Man in various video games has an exciting new project. Yuri just worked together with LA hip hop artist Big Lugg to create an album that is, in its own way, a first of its kind: the hip-hop album FIRE STYLE! (featuring the cast of Naruto). Now, Yuri and Big Lugg are giving us the lowdown on how it happened!Yuri shares how this unexpected collaboration started thanks when Big Lugg reached out to him with an uncanny request. He then goes on to tell us about how they started their collaboration which resulted in the creation of the 2-minute track Prayer which definitely thrilled Naruto fans! Big Lugg also joins us to share some insights and anecdotes about working with the Naruto cast while creating the album. Timestamps:[1:44] The message that started it all[5:01] What makes FIRE STYLE great according to Yuri[7:31] Big Lugg talks about the charities that benefit from the Saints Row app[9:26] Big Lugg talks about the natural progression of the collaboration[16:16] How you can show your support for the album[24:12] What it was like working with the cast of Naruto for FIRE STYLE!Sign up for exclusive updates to the show! https://mailchi.mp/ca034f33e0b3/alicynswonderlandFollow Alicyn:Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/alicyn/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alicynpackardTwitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/alicynLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicynpackardFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicynpackardartistWebsite: https://www.alicynpackard.com/Follow Yuri Lowenthal: YouTube: https://www.facebook.com/YuriLowenthalFacebook: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYuriLowenthalInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yurilowenthal/Twitter: https://twitter.com/yurilowenthalFollow Big Lugg:Website: https://biglugg.comFacebook: https://facebook.com/bigluggInstagram: https://instagram.com/bigluggmusicTikTok: https://tiktok.com/bigluggTwitter: https://twitter.com/bigluggmusicListen to FIRE STYLE! here: https://open.spotify.com/album/09Oy3gVqsZjEuT24qTttyy?autoplay=true

This week on The Driven Chat Podcast, John Marcar and Racheal Downie sit with Envision Racing Formula E Team at their headquarters at Silverstone headquarters ahead of the London Formula E race. This special episode features four very different conversations with four very different personalities - each of whom has a very special role to play in the team.First up, John and Rachael speak to the team president and MD, Sylvain Filippi, who shares his fantastic outlook on life and how his outgoing approach to work granted him an extraordinary career.Driver Nick Cassidy is up next and shares his experience of driving with Envision. He also tells the story about his journey within motorsport, including the big decision to relocate to the other side of the world to Europe from New Zealand.Our third guest is the sensational Alice Powell. Alice is a development driver for Envision but also has a fascinating motorsport career as a pioneer for female drivers. Alice shares a very open and honest account of her experience as a lady in an often male-dominated sport.We round up our conversations with Envision's technical director Mike Lugg who shares his career journey from V8 Supercars in Australia to later looking after some of the world's most technologically advanced racing cars.Find the episode in the usual podcast places and see the entire back catalogue at drivenchat.comGet in touch with the show via email - podcast@drivenchat.com or slip into our DM's on your preferred social feed, and don't forget to check out our youtube channel via YouTube.com/DrivenChat, to see some premium visual car content!The Driven Chat podcast is brought to you by Paramex Digital - for more information on Driven Chat, visit www.drivenchat.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What do garden gnomes, the #BlackLivesMatter black squares of June 2020 Instagram, and formulaic pop songs all have in common? They're kitsch. In episode 56 of Overthink, Ellie and David investigate the history of kitsch as an aesthetic category distinct from art. How does the superficiality and mass-reproducibility of kitsch explain its uses as a tool of fascist propaganda? They discuss the American cultural instinct to deploy inspirational quotes in response to national trauma, kitsch as an antidote to working class alienation, the decline of emotionally significant, critical art, and more.Works DiscussedClement Greenberg, “Avant-Garde and Kitsch”Tomáš Kulka, Kitsch and ArtCatherine A. Lugg, KitschZach Brown Band, “Chicken Fried”Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, Dogs Playing PokerSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram, Twitter, and TikTok | @overthink_podEmail |  Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSupport the show

Nick continues our series on Romans

Nick continues our series on Romans

Erica leads our devotion for today

Odd-Petter har sett seg lei all smal talken med folk han ikke lengre snakker med, Steffen er passelig lei denne facebook appen og Frank Harald har lest nyheter!!Dette og mye mer får du i dagens episode av Sånn Er Det!Support the show (https://www.facebook.com/Sannerdet/)

In this interview, we are talking about Gatekeeper a great way to login without logging into your computer. Gatekeeper Website - www.gkaccess.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/drpelto/message

I ukas episode snakker vi en del om urin, men vi henter oss inn igjen og forteller om ukas garnkjøp, 80yarnchallenge og hvilken tidsalder vi mener er best å leve i.

Erin Dotsey and BJ Saldana-Tovar of Petronella Cybersecurity interview Jamel Lugg of Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper is a proximity token based Multifactor authentication (MFA) solution that meets compliance with regulations such as HIPAA for medical practices and CMMC for DOD contractors. Token based solutions like Gatekeeper are much more secure than SMS based MFA. PTG particularly likes the inclusion of a password manager as well as deep integration with Microsoft Windows to help humans use a PIN instead of a complex password, while retaining the utmost is cybersecurity and logging.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://akfrailey.com/2016/12/30/lugg-the-mighty-and-the-oskilth-civil-war-short-story/

We recently sat down with Atlanta artist $lugg for an exclusive “Off The Porch” interview! During our conversation he discussed growing up in Riverdale, growing up with Waka Flocka & super producer Southside, his biggest life lessons, his start in pursuing his rap career, witnessing Waka Flocka blow up, working with Mike Will Made It, his relationship with Sony Digital, new EP “Sage in The Air”, his new music video “Mr. Maxwell“, his upcoming EP “Till My Fingers Burn”, and much more! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dirtyglovebastard/support

In 2010 an accident took place on a level crossing at Herefordshire. An everyday trip turned into a disaster when the barriers opened as a train approached, two cars were hit by a train and one woman tragically lost her life.Join us this week to find out what went wrong at Moreton-on-Lugg.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/SignalstoDanger)

Mozart the Lugg is back but this time it's on his own turf!  This week we'll cover what to be weary of this summer when you're out with your pup, fruits that are safe for your dog to eat, and the usual shenanigans when getting dropped off at the Minj's.  Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/thezettyandindyshow

https://www.goddessdayspa.com.au Lousie Lugg is an Author, Educator, Healer, Beautiful Soul Lousie and her team make your Spa Journey embedded with beautiful Rituals that help to Calm, Ground & Centre you. Our therapists are highly trained Professional & Friendly who will deliver an exceptional treatment catering to your personal needs in a respectful and caring way. You will be taken on a Rejuvenating Spa Journey beginning your spa treatments with a Singing Bowl Ritual to Balance and Energise your Chakra's. Enjoy the soothing Sublime Spa Sounds during your treatment and Enjoy our Spa Tea's and Refreshments before you leave. It may be time just for you or bring a special friend or loved one.

Let's start at the very beginning - Acts 1:1-11

Doubt...the doorway to faith - John 20:24-28

When winning is losing - Mark 15:1-38 - Nick Lugg

Grace for our shame and our pain - John 13:21-28 - Erica Lugg

Camilla Lif: Rosa lugg och rakat. Per Naroskin: Moderna myter. Helena von Zweigbergk: Det nygamla normala. Lyssna på Spanarna i P1 med Ingvar Storm. I Spanarna hör du varje vecka tre skarpsynta personligheter som försöker avläsa trender i vår vardag och ge oss sina framtidsvisioner. Till sin hjälp har de programledaren Ingvar Storm.Veckans panel och spaningar i Spanarna i P1:Camilla Lif: Rosa lugg och rakat. Per Naroskin: Moderna myter. Helena von Zweigbergk: Det nygamla normalaspanarna@sverigesradio.se

Camilla Lif: Rosa lugg och rakat. Per Naroskin: Moderna myter. Helena von Zweigbergk: Det nygamla normala. I Spanarna hör du varje vecka tre skarpsynta personligheter som försöker avläsa trender i vår vardag och ge oss sina framtidsvisioner. Till sin hjälp har de programledaren Ingvar Storm. spanarna@sverigesradio.se

A flood-hit farmer has vowed to clear his name after being accused of illegally damaging a mile-long stretch of protected riverside in Herefordshire.John Price, of Day House Farm, Kingsland, says he had permission to carry out work on a flood-prone stretch of the river Lugg, near Leominster.But his actions now face scrutiny by three government agencies.They have launched a joint investigation following reports of activities including dredging, the illegal felling of trees and profiling of the river banks.We also look at the vital contribution made by hill farmers to the Welsh economy - and how producers face an uncertain future due to changes in farm support.What is natural capital? And how can you make it pay on your farm?The Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board unveils a new five-year plan – and wants you to have your say on the levy board's future.The Red Tractor Farm Assurance announces a review of its standards – and we've all the latest market prices in our regular round-up.And crisp giant Walkers creates climate-friendly fertiliser using potato waste – and carbon dioxide from a brewery.This episode co-hosted by Farmers Weekly chief reporter Johann Tasker and Surrey farmer Hugh Broom with Farmers Weekly news editor Phil Case.

Ensomhet, kjærlighet, alderdom, død. Poeten Caspar André Lugg har lenge vært opptatt av diktene til den amerikanske forfatteren Louise Glück. Likevel kom det som en overraskelse på ham at hun skulle få nobelprisen i litteratur. NRKs Annelita Meinich møtte Lugg til en samtale om forfatterskapet hennes.

Poultry are soon to go into lockdown - all birds usually kept outside must be brought inside to protect them from avian flu. The Chief Vets in England, Wales and Scotland are bringing in the measure after more cases of bird flu. The disease has recently been found in turkeys on a farm in North Yorkshire - following cases in Cheshire, Devon, Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire. We speak to a free range egg producer about what it all means for her business. The importance of farming to the Welsh language must be recognised in plans to support the industry after Brexit, according to Wales' Welsh language commissioner. Aled Roberts told the BBC funding needs to be targeted towards helping family farms survive. The Environment Agency is investigating reports of damage to the River Lugg in Herefordshire. The area is in a Site of Special Scientific Interest and so protected, but according to Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, a long stretch of the riverbank has been destroyed and straightened turning it into what they describe as ‘a sterile canal with bank and riverside habitats completely obliterated’. The Environment Agency says it's treating the incident ‘very seriously’ since the works have the potential to cause significant, long term ecological harm to nearly a mile of the river. And it's the time of year for brassicas, with Brussels Sprouts appearing on our plates. Many brasscias can be grown in the UK, but over the past 20 years fewer farmers have chosen to do so, because margins are tight and costs are high. We ask what the future holds for the sector. Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

We huddle up in the Lugg garage and talk about a few of our favorite things. We also brush up on some of the insane things going on in our state and national politics. If there was EVER a time to weld defiance and obedience into one inseparable whole, it's now. Beer: Ground Control by Ninkasi Brewing Co Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Madeira Casks by Woodinville Whiskey

Johan Hugo Wanloo berättar om när han gick förbi närlivsen där hemma och köpte två Plopp, inte en utan två. Han är out of control helt enkelt. Pirate Rock

Belinda har tatt kjøkkensaksen fatt - igjen - og Kristin har grått i Guds hus. Hva tenker egentlig Jesus og de om homofili, og når er det ok å spille julemusikk? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we are missing the Gun Nerd but joined by our former guest Nate Lugg to discuss what the heck is going on around here. We may not solve all the problems but we try to pull back the curtain on some of the insanity and inconsistencies many have come to accept. Beer: Punkin Ale by Dogfish Head

Hoy en Planeta Educativo ¡Acompáñanos en un capítulo muy especial! Analizamos la última temporada de RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, con un grupo VIP de invitades. Nos acompaña el psicólogo educacional y experto en evaluación, Francisco Silva. La psicóloga y experta en liderazgo Barbara Zoro. La profesora, experta en lenguaje y migración Javiera Sandoval. La educadora de párvulos y doctora en educación Ximena Galdames. Y la bióloga, educadora y más o menos experta en educación de la ciencias, Paulina Bravo. Acompañamos en una experiencia que tratara de unir Liderazgo, Educación y Cultura Drag. Princess Conchita Alonso Fresia Salvaje Alexis C. Monroe Ofiona Brava Daysi Danger Miss Brava Treasure Fräulein Hedwig B. Excéntrica Puedes conocer más de Alexis C. Monroe y su increíble banda ‘IMPERIO BAMBA' aquí: https://www.instagram.com/imperiobamba/ https://imperiobamba.bandcamp.com/releases Además, puedes conocer más de sindicato y corporación de personas trans ‘Amanda Jofré' en: www.amandajofre.com https://www.instagram.com/amandajofre.oficial/ Y algunos papers sobre liderazgo, diversidad y género, muy en la línea de lo que discutimos. Capper, C. A., Alston, J., Gause, C. P., Koschoreck, J. W., López, G., Lugg, C. A., & Mckenzie, K. B. (2006). Integrating Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Topics and Their Intersections with Other Areas of Difference into the Leadership Preparation Curriculum: Practical Ideas and Strategies. Journal of School Leadership, 16(2), 142–157. doi:10.1177/105268460601600203 Smith, J. (2011) ‘Agency and Female Teachers' Career Decisions: A Life History Study of 40 Women', Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 39(1), 7–24. doi: 10.1177/1741143210383900. Blackmore, J. (2006). Deconstructing Diversity Discourses in the Field of Educational Management and Leadership. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 34(2), 181–199. doi:10.1177/1741143206062492

This podcast explores the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) review of the local highway network (LHN) in England. This review was undertaken in a similar time frame to theJuly 2019 report of the UK Parliament Transport Select Committee (TSC) into thesubject. The report acknowledges that the LHN is receiving insufficient funding.This review has been underpinned by engagement with CIHT members and keysector bodies involved in the LHN.The podcast starts with an introduction from Ginny Clarke, Chair of the CIHT Learned Society and Technical Strategy Board, Andrew Hugill from CIHT, Mike O'Dowd Jones, Matthew Lugg and Steve Gooding.For more on the review see here: https://www.ciht.org.uk/knowledge-resource-centre/resources/improving-local-highways/

This podcast explores the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) review of the local highway network (LHN) in England. This review was undertaken in a similar time frame to theJuly 2019 report of the UK Parliament Transport Select Committee (TSC) into thesubject. The report acknowledges that the LHN is receiving insufficient funding.This review has been underpinned by engagement with CIHT members and keysector bodies involved in the LHN.The podcast starts with an introduction from Ginny Clarke, Chair of the CIHT Learned Society and Technical Strategy Board, Andrew Hugill from CIHT, Mike O'Dowd Jones, Matthew Lugg and Steve Gooding.For more on the review see here: https://www.ciht.org.uk/knowledge-resource-centre/resources/improving-local-highways/

This podcast explores the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) review of the local highway network (LHN) in England. This review was undertaken in a similar time frame to the July 2019 report of the UK Parliament Transport Select Committee (TSC) into the subject. The report acknowledges that the LHN is receiving insufficient funding. This review has been underpinned by engagement with CIHT members and key sector bodies involved in the LHN. The podcast starts with an introduction from Ginny Clarke, Chair of the CIHT Learned Society and Technical Strategy Board, Andrew Hugill from CIHT, Mike O'Dowd Jones, Matthew Lugg and Steve Gooding. For more on the review see here: https://www.ciht.org.uk/knowledge-resource-centre/resources/improving-local-highways/

The guys interview Oliver Lugg, a Diplomacy loving guy who has created an awesome Youtube video about the game. They also discuss stupid greedy vs smart gains, the Western Europe 1300 variant and Amby's Diplomacy variant development plans. Intro & news The guys are recording at Malt, a serious proper bar. Kaner quickly picks on Amby's handwriting. Then they get onto drinks. Amby laments a little Covid weight gain (0 mins 10 secs) Interview with Oliver Lugg: Diplomacy Youtuber extraordinaire The guys give a full disclosure that the interview with Oliver Lugg is being recorded after they actually catch up (4 mins) Kaner & Amby welcome Oliver to the show about the quality of his Youtube video on Diplomacy - for podcast listeners, press pause now and watch the video for context: (7 mins) Amby asks Oliver how he got into the game (7 mins 45 secs) Kaner asks about within the video whether Oliver was in a scene in the video playing the game (12 mins 15 secs) Amby brings up whether there was a mathematical thread running through the video (13 mins 35 secs) Amby asks about the nature of the game not being like chess (15 mins 40 secs) Being an Australian who has lived in the UK, Amby asks a little about the Britishness of the video (17 mins 50 secs) Amby asks about how much time was needed to pull the video together (20 mins 30 secs) Kaner asks about how Oliver came across the 2012 online championship - for podcast listeners, you can listen to our interview with some of the final players in episode 5 (22 mins 45 secs) Kaner asks about Oliver's 5 rules and what is his favorite rules when it comes to cognitive biases (25 mins 15 secs) Kaner asks about AI and manipulative behavior (28 mins 20 secs) Amby asks Oliver about famous individuals who played the game, and where he got his research from (31 mins 45 secs) Amby asks about Oliver's perspectives on real world events and the nature of Diplomacy skills being played out (36 mins) They talk about the nature of loss aversion (37 mins) Amby asks Oliver about his interests in psychology (38 mins 20 secs) Amby asks about Oliver's plans for playing the game in the future. Amby discusses the London Diplomacy Club and also previous interviewee Garry Sturley and his plans for a Diplomacy Tour of Britain (40 mins 45 secs) Kaner reflects on the use of Risk pieces in the video. Amby asks about Oliver's future creative endeavors. Oliver discusses his music and singing, listen on his Youtube channel (44 mins) The guys wrap up the interview with Oliver (47 mins 15 secs) The guys return and discuss what they enjoyed about Oliver's Diplomacy video (47 mins 45 secs) They talk about Risk (53 mins 30 secs) Presidential campaign update Amby asks Kaner how his election campaign is going. The guys also give a shout out to Hal Schild, Brother Bored and Bryan Pravel, all new Patreon supporters of the show (55 mins) Stupid greedy vs smart gains Amby admits he's in a Diplomacy slump with his gameplay (58 mins) He was riding high early in the year, but hasn't been following his own advice (1 hr) He got back in with his Fake NewsLeak Interference Democalypse game where he failed to appreciate what was going on in the board, and put too much trust in allies (1 hr 1 mins) Kaner then rubs Amby's nose in another game, A Humble Low Stakes Match where Amby had players piled onto him after being the first stabbing (1 hr 4 mins 45 secs) Amby acknowledges maybe he's not such a great player and just had a big win (1 hr 7 mins 30 secs) The guys then go onto to discuss that they've worked out they're in two of the same anonymous games, but don't know who is who (1 hr 8 mins 20 secs) Around the grounds In doing so Kaner & Amby transition to an Around the grounds segment, starting with the Western Europe 1300 game they're in Western Quintuple (1 hr 9 mins) They discuss the variant map itself first for Western Europe 1300, a 5 player game with England, France, Burgundy (same as the variant Hundred) but adding in Aragon and Castile. The map was developed by Matthew Medeiros and brought to online game play by Fake Al and Oliver Auth (1 hr 10 mins) The guys then start discussing how they're going, being mindful it is anonymous and they're both in it. To do so they examine each of the five players' positions (1 hr 13 mins 45 secs) They then move onto their Scottish Clan Wars game, What's Under your Kilt. They discuss how the gameplay in this variant map tends to be more fighting north-south, as opposed to east-west (1 hr 23 mins) They agree to talk about this game a little further on, as its still pretty early days in this game (1 hr 25 mins 45 secs) New Diplomacy app: Diplicity Kaner has discovered a new Android app for lovers of the game called Diplicity - search for it wherever you download your apps from (1 hr 26 mins 50 secs) Amby discusses the wonderful aesthetics of the app and particularly the maps (1 hr 28 mins 20 secs) They go onto discuss a bucketload of variants available, including two they've never seen: Twenty Twenty and a 5 player Vietnam War variant set in 1955 (1 hr 30 mins 45 secs) Kaner loves the autogenerator for the titles of games (1 hr 35 mins 30 secs) They discuss how it may be different to the Conspiracy app where many players would go into CD, impacting the gameplay for hardcore players (1 hr 37 mins) Amby's Diplomacy holiday plans Amby is heading off for a week's holiday. He discusses his plan to do some Diplomacy variant development (1 hr 38 mins) The first one he'll focus on is a Classic Standing Armies variant. But Amby will implement Kaner's suggestion for an initial build phase so Italy can build two fleets to take Tunis (1 hr 40 mins) His second variant idea is really dependent on the coding skills of a Diplomacy loving developer. Based on some ideas from Kaner, Amby is planning a Black Death variant. Basically a Europa Renovatio map modified back in time approximately 100 years to the starting period of the Black Death  (1 hr 43 mins 30 secs) Amby goes onto discuss how he plans to keep the board generally balanced, similar to Europa Renovatio (1 hr 48 mins) He goes onto discuss how the randomness of the hurricane in the Pirates variant (a non playing player who moves and spawns randomly) could be bumped up to multiple units as the Black Death (1 hr 50 mins 30 secs) Kaner gives his suggestion about plague spawning (1 hr 52 mins 35 secs) Kaner recommends Amby plug into tobi1's coding skills instead of pushing for Oli's time (2 hr 0 mins 50 secs) They discuss what the image should be for the Black Death. Kaner suggests you do a Google images search for Hieronymus Bosch to give an idea of what he has in mind (2 hr 2 mins 50 secs) The guys start wrapping up the show (2 hrs 5 mins 45 secs) Venue: Malt, Brisbane Drinks of choice: Kaner: House malt lager Amby - Hither and Yon shiraz from the McLaren Vale, and later the House malt lager Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone. Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.        

James Snell as Albert Campion and Cyril Shaps as Lugg.The breakfast of Albert Campion, famous gentleman private detective of the 1930s, is slightly marred by The Times' deaths' column announcing the funeral of R. I. Peters, a tormentor of Campion's at school. Six months later, Peters's freshly-dead body turns up elsewhere ...Directed By: Brian Miller BBC BristolParson/Pepper: Michael DrewWhippet: Haydn WoodKingston: David McAlisterJanet: Diana BishopLeo: Garard GreenPoppy: Judy FranklinEffie: Amanda MurrayInspector Pussey: Christopher ScottHayhoe: Phillip ManikumFarringdon: Paul NicholsonPC: Nicholas Orchard   Check Out Our Range Of Radio Shows

En huligan berättar om varför det är så gött att slå sönder en käke. Tora om varför LUGG är en grej blend tjejer. Niklas om Ekstedt om kvinnohatande kockar och mansrollen som uppfostrare. Vi pratar också om allt annat i hela världen. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anna, Matilda och Glenn röjer upp i både husflyttar och locusthorder. Matilda lajvar 112 och letar klipp i Amerikanska södern. Det är ett avsnitt fyllt av spel, där nästan alla är bra, men kanske inte för alla.

Anna, Matilda och Glenn röjer upp i både husflyttar och locusthorder. Matilda lajvar 112 och letar klipp i Amerikanska södern. Det är ett avsnitt fyllt av spel, där nästan alla är bra, men kanske inte för alla.

Experts want the new home learning TV programmes to have subtitles automatically. It is believed that having subtitles is an easy and proven way to improve children's literacy.Literacy expert Ros Lugg told Kate Hawkesby this is something that very few people are aware of this."There's a lot of research showing early readers can make three or four times as much progress if children's programmes have got subtitles automatically added."She says that it helps through the ages - with one university lecturer finding students got higher grades when he added subtitles to videos.Lugg says that most parents may not be able to set up their TV to do this, so it should be automatically set up by TV programmers.  

Intro: Up next, we hear Amanda Lugg’s presentation from the virtual town hall held on March 25th by the New York Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. Amanda Lugg is the Director of Advocacy for African Services Society, a multiservice human rights agency based in Harlem dedicated to assisting immigrants, refugees an asylees from across the African diaspora. The PNHP town hall can be viewed in full at vimeo.com/401517736. Outro: That was Amanda Lugg, Director of the Harlem-based advocacy and support organization, African Services Society, speaking at the virtual town hall held by the New York Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. Amanda advocates for public policy which prioritizes the treatment, care, and support needs of HIV-positive immigrants in the US.

Tony sits on the Emeritus Council of Advisors for Supply Chain Asia and Chairman of the Transported Asset Protection Association Asia Pacific, a non-profit organization. Discover more details here.Some of the highlights of the episode:Coronavirus crisis: 200 million workers have not returned to their jobs; 60% of companies did not have a contingency plan The automotive industry in the next 4 to 12 weeks.How the crisis is affecting the whole electronics manufacturing sectorWhat can companies do to mitigate risk in their Supply ChainsOther potential risk clusters: Korea, Japan, ItalyFollow us on:Instagram: http://bit.ly/2Wba8v7Twitter: http://bit.ly/2WeulzXLinkedin: http://bit.ly/2w9YSQXFacebook: http://bit.ly/2HtryLd

Stötta oss på Patreon: http://patreon.com/tombola Skicka in ämnen till tombolan: tombolapodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @carlstanleyy & @_marcusberggren Tombola Podcast klipps av Niklas Runsten @niklasrunsten

La estrella chilena nos visitó y tuvimos una linda charla donde la música tomó protagonismo.

On this Voices of Yoga (voicesofyoga.com)podcast we are talking with Pete Lugg a Scottish based Zen Yoga teacher, also partner to founder of the publishing company Handspring which specialises in books for professionals in the fields of yoga and health. We talk to him about all of this and more. Voices of Yoga is about sharing insights and inspiration from Yoga Teachers around the world. Enjoy and be inspired. Disclaimer: Yoga is for everyone. However, it's important that to ensure you are ready and able to practice any type of yoga practice in a suitable and safe way that's appropriate for you. And where necessary you check with your medical practitioner/doctor to gain approval. It is recommended that you consult your physician before beginning any new exercise program and that at any time during a practice you feel nauseous, dizzy or in pain you stop and seek medical advice. We accept no liability whatsoever for any damages arising from the use of Voices of Yoga Podcasts and whilst Voices of Yoga Podcasts uses reasonable efforts to share accurate and up-to-date information it may contain some technical or other mistakes, inaccuracies or unintended errors. Voices of Yoga Podcasts cannot be held responsible for these. We will not be liable to you in respect of any personal injury or other aspect that you may suffer or directly or indirectly as a result of listening to our Voices of Yoga Podcasts including liabilities arising in contract, tort (incl. negligence) and for break of statutory duty. You may have your own opinion or experience which may be different and that is to be welcomed as part of being curious about yoga and the journey we are all on. If you have any reason to believe Voices of Yoga podcasts content is slanderous, illegal, promoting dangerous acts or in violation of copyright law, please contact us at: voicesofyoga@mail.com Namaste Lindsey & Emma - co-founders of Voices of Yoga and its predecessor YEDTalks.

Casper André Lugg har på kort tid etablert seg som en av de fremste unge, norske poetene. Først og fremst på grunn av språket, som er lyttende og konsentrert, tydelig og vakkert, men også på grunn av bildene han skaper av mennesket i møte med naturen og med verden. Luggs femte og nyeste diktsamling, Tilgi det virkeliges blomstring, er dedikert til det åpne øyeblikket og utforsker diktets måte å forbinde seg med verden på, som noe selvstendig og likestilt; en organisme. Lugg kommer til Lyrikksalong for å snakke med Fredrik Hagen om sitt forfatterskap. Arrangementet er støttet av Tiden Norsk Forlag. Lyrikksalong er støttet av Fritt Ord, Hordaland fylkeskommune og Litteraturhuset.

Casper André Lugg har på kort tid etablert seg som en av de fremste unge, norske poetene. Først og fremst på grunn av språket, som er lyttende og konsentrert, tydelig og vakkert, men også på grunn av bildene han skaper av mennesket i møte med naturen og med verden. Luggs femte og nyeste diktsamling, Tilgi det virkeliges blomstring, er dedikert til det åpne øyeblikket og utforsker diktets måte å forbinde seg med verden på, som noe selvstendig og likestilt; en organisme. Lugg kommer til Lyrikksalong for å snakke med Fredrik Hagen om sitt forfatterskap

First impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S10 and why this device will make iPhone users think twice; A student discount on the S10; Curating photos on the Google Home Hub and Chromecast; Secret microphones and cameras; Apps for furniture delivery and discounted gift cards; Sextortion scam emails and more.Links:Samsung Education Discounthttps://www.samsung.com/us/shop/discount-program/education/Google Home Hub photo curation tip:https://twitter.com/iizLiz/status/1098016623326162944Raise Discounted Gift Cards$5 off your first card: https://geta.raise.com/RDEMUROLugg Delivery$20 off your first Lugg with code RICH7911https://lugg.com/Follow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontechEasy ways to listen on your phone or smart speaker:"Hey Google, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Hey Siri, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Alexa, Enable the Rich on Tech Flash Briefing"

Santa Claus does very little conquering in the 1964 sci-fi kids flick "Santa Claus conquers the Martians". Episode edited by Linnea Intro remixed by Linnea Starcrashed logo designed by Ebba Music: Polyphonic Congas by Unicorn Heads Hooray for Santy Claus by Milton de Lugg & the Little Eskimos

Vesta Lugg 3-7-18

Vesta Lugg 3-7-18

Vi har hatt besøk av fantastiske Katarina Flatland denne uken! Vi snakker moteuke og mote-Norge. Er det trendy å være sur? Vi produkttipser, snakker hårfargekjemi og ikke minst: skal du klippe lugg?

Casper André Lugg er ute med sin tredje diktsamling som han har kalt Nymånedagene. Han sier i samtalen med Diktafon at han ikke er ute etter å skape noe nytt men å fordype og utforske sin egen stemme. Han sammenliknes i programmet med en ikonmaler som gjenskaper sine motiver innenfor gitte rammer. Programleder i Diktafon er Annelita Meinich

Mr Matthew Lugg “Planning For a More Sustainable Environment”- a low carbon society?

Vodcast by the director of environment ad transport Leicestershire.

Lugg and Lacey Lohner take us to an Australian Outback festival stage this week where everyone hears High Rollers, ATM Ate My Card, Desert Of Lies, Glad To Be In Love, Paris Time, Get Along, & Echo In My HeartLive N Kickin Dedicated to Delinda Dyrssen