WEBVTT

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 and welcome to Christchurch. As you've probably guessed, this is about discipling. And as we

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 open this series, Jay and Michelle opened last week with this great way of talking about this

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 Christ-centeredness when we come to unity of being one with one another, which is at the heart of the

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 Christchurch vision that we would be one and becoming one that we are then able to go and be

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 disciples. Because here in week two, we're talking about this sense of discipleship, or if some may

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 prefer the word apprenticeship, because it's very much the same. We are learning and we are growing.

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 We are focusing on the vision and the vision imperative that Jesus gave us to be able to

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 become all that he wants us to be in him. Now, I don't know whether, like me, you've been following

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 the Commonwealth Games. Hasn't it been great? I've been catching bits and pieces of it as I go in.

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 And I don't know what your favorite sport has been, but I've certainly really enjoyed the swimming.

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 I've enjoyed the basketball particularly. I thought that was great. And like many people watching,

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 I wish I was 40 years younger. I wish I was a lot fitter. I certainly wish I was a lot lighter.

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 And for the basketball, I wish I was a lot taller. It's been great. But watching isn't my bag. I want

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 to get involved. I can't sit back. There's something in me that itches and says, actually, I want to be a

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 part of that. And that is our discipleship. In 1924, the Olympic Games were being held in Paris.

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 And a young American rower called Bill Havens, and his picture should come up on the screen,

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 had been chosen to represent the USA. Yet he had a big decision to be made. Because at the time that

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 the Olympics were being held, his wife was about to give birth to their first child. A young American

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 rower who knew that he would have come home with the gold medal made a decision. And he made a decision

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 to stay for the birth of his child. Let's fast forward. And it is then 1952. It's 28 years later.

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 And again, there's a young American rower that's gone to the Olympic Games. And this time, he wins the

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 gold medal. And the winner of that event sent the following telegram to Bill Havens. And it read like

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 this. Dear Dad, thanks for waiting around for me to be born in 1924. I'm coming home with the gold medal you

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 should have won. Your loving son, Frank. Here's a picture of them. That's a picture of his son.

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 And we've got a picture of them together. You see, what's the story got to do with discipling? It's got

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 everything to do with discipling and apprenticeship. Because I think that many churches are filled with

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 people that they have sacrificed opportunities and think that we've missed the prize. We haven't.

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 often the decisions we have made in discipleship have been good decisions. We thought that somehow

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 our day was lost. We thought that somewhere where we had grieved that maybe that we should have given

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 up hope that our life and ministry somehow didn't bring all that it should have been. That's not true.

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 We wondered if the sacrifice was worth it. Bill Havens and his son, I look at that picture,

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 and I see that the right decision was made. And so many of us at times in our discipleship, we have

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 given up. We think that it was a once and only chance that we were given. God doesn't stop again

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 and again and again, wants us to engage with that discipleship. There is an apprenticeship.

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 There was an apprenticeship in that story. It was a love of canoeing, father and son,

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 father showing the son, the son encouraging his father. It goes on like that. That is what we are

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 called to do. That is the life of discipleship. Nothing is wasted. And whether we admit it or

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 acknowledge it, Jesus has invested a lot in us. You see, in this Easter season, as David said earlier,

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 you know, we may think Easter is over and done. It is not. The cross is empty. The tomb is empty.

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 Jesus has moved on. And in our story today, he's talking to his disciples. And he's saying to his

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 disciples, there is more. There is a lot, lot more. And somehow we may think that we've missed the boat

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 in bringing people to know Jesus. And I've heard all the stories. We're too old. We've done our bit.

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 We're leaving it. We're leaving it to the younger people.

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 Maybe there is something in us that we say we can't do that because we've denied him. Maybe we're

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 a new Christian and we think maybe that's not our place to do that. You've got to attain a certain

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 level before you can actually engage with discipleship. The thing is, is that Jesus focuses

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 us ahead and says, whatever is gone is gone. Use it, but I'm looking forward. And that's what we're

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 about this morning. We're looking forward. The disciples had screwed up big times. They had regrets.

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 It says in our reading this morning that even when they met with him, they'd seen all of this. And even

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 then there were still doubts. But they went with it and great things happened. Bill Havens made the

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 right decision. He made the right decision for him, for his wife, and for his son. And the gold came home.

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 What a great thing for us maybe that many of us may have had regrets that maybe we see in our lives

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 that there are things that have happened. And Jesus says, that's okay. Let's use that as experience

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 and move forward to sacrifice what we want on the altar of his purposes.

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 You see, in Christchurch, when we came together, there's all sorts that have happened. There was two

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 churches that came together and we all got together and we decided, we prayed, we fasted,

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 and we asked God what this new chapter was going to look like. And discipleship was very high up there,

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 that we would be a people that, like the clip, wouldn't just sit around and consume and say,

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 that was a nice Sunday service. Thank you very much. And we're not even going to think about you,

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 Jesus, until we come next Sunday. It was about that we were going to go out and we were going to do

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 great things. That's what he promised and that's what he's doing. Because if you look at Christchurch,

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 we have seen people baptized, people dedicated, thanksgivings. We have seen parents bringing

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 their families along. We have seen families bringing their children along. We have seen wives

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 impacting their husbands. We have seen husbands' ministry impacting their wives. We're seeing new

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 women's groups spreading up. We're seeing amazing men's groups, growth groups, all sorts that are

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 happening. Our schools work. You could just go on. I work amongst older people. I work in residential

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 homes. You could list and list. It is about going out. But it starts with our discipleship.

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 Because unless we are rooted in Christ and we have that confidence to go out,

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 not much is going to be born out of that. So it's a great testament to us all of what is happening

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 at the moment. We aren't called to be spectators. I was wondering if you talked to somebody who did

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 their apprenticeship 20 years ago, what they would say to you. Because certainly any apprenticeship 20

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 years ago is not what is probably alive today. But anybody who did their apprenticeship 20 years ago

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 will tell you that they have worked hard to keep up with what their career is in order to train others

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 that are coming through. That is the life of an apprentice. And so I want to encourage you and

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 encourage everyone this morning that whatever it has been that has gone before, that we should be on it.

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 That we should be in there. We should be encouraging our younger people coming through, other adults

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 that God's bringing to us, even older people who may have walked away from the church disillusioned

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 many years ago and are coming back because they want to find something new. And they are looking

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 for something new. Not the old, but something new and relative. Mike Henderson puts in his book,

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 Making Disciples, called One Conversion at a Time. A disciple is a follower. And that great rabbinic

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 reference to, may I be covered in the dust of my rabbi, that you walk so closely to your leader that you

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 know what they're doing, what they want to teach you. You don't miss anything. And we want to do that

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 more and more as our discipleship. A disciple is one who is in a process, and we are in a process,

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 a process of growing and learning through our mistakes, through what we've done. But the joys of

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 seeing people coming more and more. And we may sit there, and we may look at our feet and say,

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 oh well, it's somebody else's job. But it's not. Because if we want to get involved, we are called to be

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 participants. And that's what this story was about. As Jesus was sending his disciples out, he said,

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 I'm going back to be with the Father, but the work doesn't stop. And I'm empowering you in the power

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 of the Holy Spirit to go and do that. And this requires commitment. Commitment. And anybody who's

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 done an apprenticeship will know what that looks like. You know what it looks like. Trinity students,

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 I'm amazed with our Trinity students, how much commitment there is placed in by every member of the

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 faculty and member of that college as to what they do. I am an all. Being a Christian, in addition,

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 is to be ready to give testimony. And I'm not going to ask you what the last time was that you shared

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 your faith. But I wouldn't be surprised that we show it in lots of ways if we're truly in our

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 discipleship by the ways in which we live our lives and other people are drawn to us. You see,

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 after Jesus left to go back to the Father, the disciples, it said that people were drawn to them

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 by the way in which they lived their lives, in the way they were, not just what they said.

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 Being a disciple involves personal growth, and also it's the character. And we talked about that last

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 week, the character of Jesus in us. You know, if you're just brewing at the moment to complain about

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 something, then it might not be the character of Jesus in you. It might well be it's the character

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 of Jesus that wants to go and bless and encourage somebody from what you've heard today.

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 It's also evangelism. On the day of Pentecost, people were transformed. And I've seen new Christians

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 again and again and again, and it's so encouraging. I hope if you're a new Christian here, be encouraged.

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 Because I love being around new Christians. It's really exciting. There's a new energy. There's a

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 new dynamism about that. I met with Tim Daniel, my colleague, and many of you will have known Tim.

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 And Tim was right in at the beginning of shaping this vision of what we were going to do in Christchurch

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 here. And he told me this great story about a guy that they've just invested in in Wales,

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 who was a new Christian, who was a publican. And he set up this pub, and people who walk in there are

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 just hearing about Jesus. And it's great. And people are bringing their friends along, because they want

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 them to have this great experience in a great pub, where there's a great atmosphere, and they want to

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 hear more. Isn't that great? I'm sure you want to do that on a Sunday morning, don't you?

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 Yes, people said. You see, Jesus called disciples into apprenticeship, into something that was exciting.

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 Jesus called Peter. Peter had done things the same way day in and day out. He was a professional.

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 He was a fisherman. He knew when the time was to fish and when not to fish. He knew his job

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 inside out. And in fact, on this particular day, he said, do you know what? There's no point in fishing

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 anymore, because there's nothing there. And then he met Jesus. And Jesus said, let's go fishing.

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 I think there are many Christians who have given up fishing, because they said, we've done that. We think

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 we know our community. We think we know our family. We think we know the people that you're calling us

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 to raise. We think we know all of this. And Jesus said, no, actually, come and look again, and fish

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 afresh. Let's have a look at that clip of Peter's conversion.

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 The question is, whatever stage we're at, as Peter was, will we invite Jesus in to help us to go and do

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 what he's calling us to do afresh?

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 Thank you.

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 If God bless you in temptation, God bless you in a session with you in a feel of

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 them here.

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