WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.580 As I mentioned, the last number of weeks, in fact, not just the last number of weeks, 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:08.740 but the last number of months, there is an enormous amount of work that has been going on 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:17.820 around the place, and it's been a huge encouragement to see people involved in working bees in all 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:24.400 sorts of different capacities. Last Saturday, particularly, not yesterday, but the Saturday 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:30.500 before, really hot, stinking, humid sort of day, and to see so many people sweating it up, 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:38.060 it was just incredible. It was an awful day, but let me tell you that an awful day in the sense, 00:00:38.140 --> 00:00:43.480 the next Sunday, like last Sunday, came in to church, and some of the guys who had been there 00:00:43.480 --> 00:00:48.039 the longest in that, well, I use the guys in general term, not referring just to blokes, 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:56.019 talking about how sore they were. Someone couldn't bend over properly. My neck couldn't move terribly 00:00:56.019 --> 00:01:01.899 well from all the shoveling and shaking, and it was just, but let me tell you, I find that work a 00:01:01.899 --> 00:01:09.159 whole lot easier than ministry. I've got to be honest with you, stick a tool belt on. Yesterday, 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:20.899 I shoveled 30 barrel loads of dirt around the place. I find that almost relaxing, almost as a great 00:01:20.899 --> 00:01:27.459 alternative to being in the face with people. In fact, I would rather sit on a bobcat so that you 00:01:27.459 --> 00:01:34.699 can't interrupt me, so that you actually feel like your life is a threat if you want to interrupt me, 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:43.040 because it's so much easier, I think, to do physical work than it is, in fact, to do ministry work. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:49.299 I'm not saying they're completely separated. I'm just saying that once upon a time, as a younger man, 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:56.980 partly because it was 20 years ago, I could work 90 hours a week in physical work, hotter than 31 degree 00:01:56.980 --> 00:02:03.840 heat than we had last week, and I could do it relatively, not that it was easy, but I could get up 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:11.140 day after day and do that kind of work, and I would sleep soundly at night. Even though you might have 00:02:11.140 --> 00:02:17.879 pain all over, the pain eventually would disappear. I think there are few things more exhausting than 00:02:17.879 --> 00:02:25.000 constant exposure to people, especially when there are difficulties to work through with people, 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:33.740 or that you are constantly serving them. I think mothers with little children have to be some of the 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:41.280 most tired people that I've ever come across, and also emotionally spent people that I've ever come 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:50.080 across, constantly serving little children. Ministry is like that in so many different ways. 00:02:50.879 --> 00:03:00.540 It is exhausting. It is like herding cats. It's been said that dogs have masters, cats have slaves, 00:03:00.539 --> 00:03:08.099 cats, cats. And at the moment in our house, we've got 10 cats. One cat, which is not ours, 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:14.280 had nine little kittens. Who would have thought? There is four or five still looking for a home, 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:20.639 in case you were wanting a belated Christmas present or something for someone, and they'll be 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:26.159 ready in about four or five weeks, so feel free to come and get one. But at the moment, you walk in the 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:31.299 back door of our house, and you've got to be careful that you're not treading on a cat somewhere. And 00:03:31.299 --> 00:03:38.240 they are all at different directions, doing different things, doing their own thing. And we, 00:03:38.539 --> 00:03:45.800 as a family, a family of five, are consistently serving these 10 cats in our house. It's awful. 00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:51.419 But that's what ministry's like. It's like herding cats. And you should try and get 10 cats 00:03:51.419 --> 00:03:59.479 to go in the same direction. Because cats have slaves, but dogs have masters. And so herding cats, 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:06.000 it's like St. Paul's Chatswood is 300 cats, me including as one of them. And we're all wanting 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:11.639 to do our own thing, go in different directions. It's like herding cats. And that is exhausting. 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:20.180 And living in Sydney means, in a significant city, we're surrounded by, you know, immediate neighbours, 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:24.079 hundreds of people. You walk down the mall in Chatswood, there's thousands of people. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:32.420 We are aware of millions more in our city. We are constantly exposed to people. And emotional 00:04:32.420 --> 00:04:38.420 burnout from overexposure to people is a real issue. It's why so many people in ministry burn out. It's 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:45.120 emotional burnout from exposure, overexposure to people. And once upon a time, the news of hostility, 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:52.540 faraway land would take months to arrive with us. Nowadays, in the world in which we live, 00:04:52.899 --> 00:04:58.160 a couple of shots are fired on the other side of the world. And we know about it by the news that night. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:07.439 We are already tired from exposure to people. Compassion dries up in the face of human need. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:15.120 And worse still is that we seem to be consistently called upon to be compassionate for people in our 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:21.139 world. And again and again, we're called upon to be compassionate. And yet when we are compassionate, 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:28.459 it seems like no real change is ever affected in our world. We see TV ads of starving children. 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:34.819 And so we give, but the ads just keep appearing. And it's like, well, I've sort of done my bit, 00:05:34.819 --> 00:05:42.519 but it doesn't seem to have done anything. They're always starving children. The tendency in that 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:50.920 overexposure to the needs of people is that we start to harden our hearts little bit by little bit 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:58.240 by little bit. It's much easier, I think, for us as a church to gather and theologize about evil and 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:03.420 suffering than to actually weep over it or to actually do anything about it. 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:11.240 Our desensitization to human physical and psychological need flows over into their spiritual 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:17.400 need. And so we have a core value of things like local and global impact. And we actually wonder, 00:06:17.580 --> 00:06:23.100 after years and years and years of being a church in this community, is it in fact ever possible, 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:29.080 become cynical, whether it's actually even possible to have impact for people's lives. 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:36.300 The need in our world is enormous. 55 million people die each year. A majority of those, 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:43.719 the vast majority of those, without Christ. So many people are lost. So few are saved. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:50.299 And so we ask ourselves year in, year out, how many times has the gospel been preached? How many 00:06:50.299 --> 00:06:56.279 leaflets have we dropped into mile boxes? How many doors have been knocked on? How many children have 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:03.500 sat through scripture classes? How many mission teams we had? We are told here in this text that 00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:14.079 the harvest is plentiful. And we wonder whether it actually is. I think as we begin here in verse 35, 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:20.399 that Jesus was in danger of overexposure to people too. It says that Jesus went through all the towns 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:24.959 and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:33.639 every disease and sickness. According to one Jewish historian, there was over 204, or there was 204 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:40.339 cities and villages in Galilee at the time that Jesus was preaching and teaching. And if Jesus were to 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:47.519 speak in two locations, remember, he doesn't get a plane and flies. It's like walking from town to town. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:53.060 If he was to speak at two locations a day, it would take him four months nonstop to get through them all. 00:07:54.740 --> 00:08:02.279 So apart from the sheer energy needed to keep up with that pace, there is the enormous emotional 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:08.839 drain of Jesus teaching, healing, preaching, doing all that, serving so many people. And yet, 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:17.419 Jesus' basic response to the vast people that were in front of him and all their needs that he saw 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:25.220 was compassion. Verse 36, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:33.399 and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. It says here that people without Christ are like sheep 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:42.820 without a shepherd. They will soon run out of pasture and starve. They will get lost. They will get caught in 00:08:42.820 --> 00:08:48.960 bushes. They will die. And in the meantime, sheep without a shepherd, are harassed, bullied, bruised, 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:59.420 beaten, helpless, exploited. They are adrift, moving as a flock together, barely knowing why or even where 00:08:59.420 --> 00:09:11.280 they're headed. The unbelievers you know may not seem to fit that description. But do not be misled by the 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:19.220 shell of self-assurance. If you see them with the eyes of Christ, you will recognize sheep who 00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:25.860 desperately need a shepherd behind all the self-assured sinful behaviors, life frustration, 00:09:26.579 --> 00:09:33.659 exploitation, despair, and hopelessness. And Jesus' response to them is compassion. That is, 00:09:33.659 --> 00:09:43.559 the word means to be moved in your stomach to have pity. It's a gut-wrenching pity for the lostness of 00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:50.860 people, their hopeless state. It is to have your stomach turn and your emotions moved in the face 00:09:50.860 --> 00:09:58.399 of human need. It's the same word used in the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, where the father saw his 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:05.659 broken son trudging over the heel after he had run away. And the only emotion that the father feels for 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:14.659 his son is compassion. The prodigal son should be better titled the compassionate father, because that 00:10:14.659 --> 00:10:20.879 in the end is what that parable is all about, the compassion of God. The father represents God in that 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:28.919 parable and his compassion towards us. It's God's compassionate towards us. He sees our rebellion. 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:38.200 He sees our sin. He sees our failure. He sees the carnage that is our lives. And he's moved in his gut 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:47.440 to do something to have pity on us as sheep without a shepherd. He has a deep-seated feeling of pity that 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:53.980 drives into action, an action that in the end that saw his own son take the way of the prodigal, 00:10:54.360 --> 00:11:03.120 to go on the cross, to die for us, to see the Lord Jesus become the prodigal so that we could be 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:08.760 welcomed into his family. And so I've got to be honest with you. I stand here today and I've got to 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:15.860 ask myself, do I feel that pity for those people that I know who don't know Jesus? 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:25.080 Is my immediate response as I walk down the mall in Chatswood, pity, compassion for the sheep that 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:34.480 are lost, all moving between Westfield and Chatswood Chase like a flock lost, looking for something? 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:44.560 Or is my immediate feeling get out of my way? Is my immediate feeling racism as I gaze upon people? 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:46.180 Judgmentalism. 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:55.720 And so when I look at this text and I think about my heart, that's my need. 00:11:55.720 --> 00:12:07.420 My need is to feel compassion because of their need. That's my first need. My first need is to feel 00:12:07.420 --> 00:12:15.360 compassion because of their need. And if we misdiagnose the condition, we in fact won't be 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:24.120 pleading for the right solution. Our need is to have the compassion of Jesus. And compassion is a work 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:33.740 of his grace in our hearts. It's not the product of my work. It's the product of prayer, of calling God to 00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:41.960 change my heart. Remember we looked at it last week from Luke 11, that Jesus, sorry, the Father delights 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:50.019 to give us what we plead for in prayer. And he calls us at the very end of Luke, of that section we looked 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:57.199 at, is to plead for the Holy Spirit to come and to bring reformation in our hearts, renewal in our 00:12:57.199 --> 00:13:06.559 hearts. And that is the first prayer. Have I become desensitized to the crowd of shepherdless sheep? Have 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:14.860 you become desensitized? Around five years ago in this country, less than 16% of the population of this 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:20.879 country went to church regularly. 16%. Not calling them all Christian, just talking about people who 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:27.180 went to church regularly. If we assume that they are in fact Christian, 16% are Christian, if we make 00:13:27.180 --> 00:13:34.659 that assumption, a full 84% of this country don't declare any pretense to know Jesus at all. No pretense 00:13:34.659 --> 00:13:44.840 to know Jesus. And so at 7.48 this morning, the population of our country was 23,722,000 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:54.159 people. 80% of that is just short of 20 million people who are on a Christless journey as a flock, 00:13:54.700 --> 00:14:04.220 moving nowhere. 20 million people. That's the need. Jesus saw the need as he preached around Galilee. 00:14:04.620 --> 00:14:09.220 He saw the crowds. He had compassion on them. He calls us to see the need in front of us. 00:14:09.700 --> 00:14:13.420 Now, not 20 million people are not all of our need, but 20 million people. 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:24.460 Those 20 million people can't know ultimate meaning in life. They cannot know what it is to be purified, 00:14:24.580 --> 00:14:30.200 to have a clean conscience before the God of this universe. They cannot know the privilege of what it 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:38.460 is to be able to call him Father. They have no hope for eternal life. The need is huge. 00:14:38.460 --> 00:14:47.480 And our need is to feel compassion because of their need. And so firstly, our need is to pray, 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:54.940 I believe, as a church, for that compassion, for that Holy Spirit to come and to renew us with the 00:14:54.940 --> 00:15:02.460 gospel in such a way that we have that compassion. But notice secondly, when confronted with the enormous 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:10.420 needs in front of Jesus, he doesn't see hopelessness in the way that we might have an external, 00:15:11.180 --> 00:15:15.700 yes, let's get out there, but internally feeling a sense of hopelessness or whether or not it's even 00:15:15.700 --> 00:15:22.680 possible to have gospel impact. Jesus sees potential, not hopelessness. Verse 37, 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:31.779 then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Jesus saw an 00:15:31.779 --> 00:15:38.439 amazing potential. He says the harvest is plentiful. And so the metaphor changes in the second half here. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:46.039 Unbelievers are not only like sheep who are in trouble, but they are like a paddock of wheat ready 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:56.039 to be harvested. And so we need the eyes of Christ not only to see the need, but also to see the 00:15:56.039 --> 00:16:03.919 expectancy and the hopefulness of the harvest which is before us. And so that's the second question. Do I 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.980 look at my neighbours and my colleagues and my classmates and my friends with a real sense that 00:16:08.980 --> 00:16:14.919 this person is a potential follower of the Lord Jesus? And I want to put it in my hand and say, 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:21.219 not enough. In fact, I want to say yesterday afternoon, spent some time with some people, 00:16:21.319 --> 00:16:25.439 never even occurred to me that these people here are potential followers of the Lord Jesus. 00:16:30.319 --> 00:16:36.759 It has probably been so long since the Lord has used most of us to lead a person from unbelief to 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:41.860 faith in the Lord Jesus that we actually even really wonder whether there's any potential left there at 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:49.720 all. We still know that there is a terrible lostness in the world. We still feel some compassion when we 00:16:49.720 --> 00:17:01.120 let ourselves think about it enough. But potential, potential, we wonder, could there ever be a harvest time 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:09.799 in my life after so many years of fruitfulness? And the answer to that question, I believe, is a resounding 00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:17.659 yes. Yes, it is. When Jesus said in Luke 18 that it's hard for the rich people to enter the kingdom, 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:26.759 the disciples responded with a, well, who then can be saved? Who can be saved? And Jesus seemed to take 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:32.039 away all potential for the harvest for them, but actually what he was doing was actually laying a new 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:37.619 basis for the potential for the disciples. He answers, what's impossible with men is actually possible 00:17:37.619 --> 00:17:47.319 with God. What we're meant to notice is that it's actually God's harvest. He is the Lord of the harvest 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:56.939 and it is his harvest field. It is his paddock. It is his crop. It's not ours. It's God's harvest in 00:17:56.939 --> 00:18:00.399 Chatswood. It's not St. Paul's Chatswood's harvest. It's his harvest. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:11.759 And so harvest time at St. Paul's in our lives won't come because we've got so many competent 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:18.840 communicators. It won't be because we've organised ourselves well. It won't be because we've got better 00:18:18.840 --> 00:18:28.600 facilities. The harvest that we want to see is in fact impossible for us. New birth is a miracle and so 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:37.799 our goal is to see God to do the impossible through a bunch of failures like me, like you. 00:18:41.959 --> 00:18:48.179 That's the way it's happened in history and that is how it will happen again. In God's time, 00:18:48.179 --> 00:18:55.659 he will perform the miracle of harvest and every time it happens, it will be marvellous in our eyes. 00:18:55.660 --> 00:19:04.880 It will be marvellous to see it. What then should be done? There are many things that can be done 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:10.700 by us for the harvest, but considerable effort needs to be poured into the primary step. 00:19:12.140 --> 00:19:18.680 Action is demanded. Jesus calls for action on our behalf. He doesn't call for inaction. He doesn't say, 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:25.539 just sit back and let God do it. Verse 38, ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers 00:19:25.539 --> 00:19:34.340 into his harvest field. It's what we've seen consistently throughout this series on prayer, 00:19:35.340 --> 00:19:40.220 that God is sovereign, he's good, he's the father who delights to give us and yet at the same time he 00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:47.340 calls for us to beg and to plead and to ask him consistently and consistently that his will be done, 00:19:47.339 --> 00:19:56.379 that his kingdom come, that our needs are met. And so in sync with his compassion for the lost, 00:19:56.859 --> 00:20:05.019 Jesus calls us to beg God to send out workers into the harvest field. The word here is literally to 00:20:05.019 --> 00:20:12.419 beg. It is to plead that the Lord of the harvest will cast out workers, begging God to literally throw 00:20:12.420 --> 00:20:22.340 workers into the harvest field into God's paddock, if you like. And this begging is linked to the 00:20:22.340 --> 00:20:32.580 compassion. In fact, it comes out of compassion. Prayer is the action that follows the feeling of 00:20:32.580 --> 00:20:42.400 compassion. It's a strange thing to plead for though, for God to raise up workers. It's strange, 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:50.180 because I'm putting my farmer's hat on here for a little bit. It's strange that the farmhands 00:20:50.180 --> 00:21:02.759 should beg the owner of the farm to send out workers into the owner's harvest field. That's strange, 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:14.740 as an agricultural analogy. Because it seems to imply that God doesn't know, one, that there's a 00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:23.220 shortage of workers in his harvest field. And secondly, that it's almost like the owner of the harvest 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:31.099 doesn't care whether or not the harvest is coming in, which is the exact opposite of every farmer that I 00:21:31.099 --> 00:21:42.539 know. Why then are the farmhands told to beg the farmer to get more help into the farm? 00:21:43.879 --> 00:21:50.079 I think something very important is happening here. And there's only one, there is at least one 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:59.159 possible answer that might be the only answer. That is that God has willed that his miraculous work of 00:21:59.159 --> 00:22:09.220 harvesting be preceded by the earnest prayer of his people. It's consistent with what we have seen 00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:20.360 in the last few weeks about prayer. Before he does a great work. One of the things that God does is he shifts 00:22:20.360 --> 00:22:30.579 the heart of his people so that they are compassionate. And that he shifts the heart of his people in such a way 00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:34.339 that they compassionately plead for the work. 00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:46.639 To my great shame, I have not been faithful to pleading that prayer. Having said that, I am however convinced 00:22:46.639 --> 00:22:56.639 that the really great issues before us as a church, namely the harvest, will be settled on our knees. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:06.080 Not literally, figuratively. Be settled in prayer. That doesn't mean that we don't do anything except pray, 00:23:06.860 --> 00:23:11.100 but it does mean that we should do nothing without praying. 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:23.040 It is true that God often uses means. It is also true that we as a church, by default, and as by sinful 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:31.940 people, by default, we often focus on the means and we forget that the really significant work of what God, 00:23:32.659 --> 00:23:38.599 the really significant work must be God's work. Otherwise, what we do will come to naught. 00:23:41.099 --> 00:23:46.819 Jesus' compassion issues in prayer and a call for us to pray. 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:55.539 It may be that if we fail to pray, it is because our compassion is defective. 00:23:57.299 --> 00:24:01.200 Or it may mean that, in fact, we are compassionate people, 00:24:01.460 --> 00:24:04.439 but they've actually not diagnosed the problem correctly, 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:11.519 and that is, we don't clearly understand the desperate plight of the lost. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:21.460 And if that is the case, what we will do as a church is we will throw all of our energies 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:29.279 into the secondary solutions rather than the primary solution. 00:24:29.460 --> 00:24:33.940 In fact, we will argue over what are the best secondary solutions, 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:39.660 and we will not give ourselves to consistent prayer for the lost. 00:24:39.660 --> 00:24:45.560 And so, my friends, we begin a new ministry year. 00:24:46.300 --> 00:24:48.900 The harvest is still plentiful, I believe. 00:24:49.900 --> 00:24:52.019 In fact, the needs seem to be endless. 00:24:52.820 --> 00:24:54.980 Just here in the harvest field of Chatswood, 00:24:55.080 --> 00:24:58.320 let alone the rest of the 20 million people in this country, 00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:00.980 and let alone the billions of people in our world, 00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:06.240 and our objective as a church is to see people rescued by the Lord Jesus. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:07.940 That is why we exist. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:10.099 We are a lifesaver station. 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:14.380 We are a mission outpost in this area, in this time, in this place. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:19.240 In the last couple of years, we have taken very significant steps, 00:25:19.819 --> 00:25:26.880 significant risk, in fact, to upgrade and to fit out our facilities for mission. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:33.160 That is why we've gone through what we've gone through and continue to go through. 00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:35.180 It is for mission. 00:25:35.700 --> 00:25:39.840 Let me emphasise that point again and again and again. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:44.640 The facilities exist for mission, not for our comfort. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:48.560 I have said that consistently for the last number of years, 00:25:48.620 --> 00:25:50.480 before we even proceeded with it. 00:25:51.100 --> 00:25:54.900 These facilities exist for mission, not for our comfort. 00:25:54.900 --> 00:26:01.380 And so we must be vigilant consistently that that becomes and continues to be 00:26:01.380 --> 00:26:05.060 the main thing in front of us as a church. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:10.240 We must be careful that we do not treat our time to build program 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:15.640 in the same way that we might treat a renovation at home. 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:25.780 And so the renovation at home, namely, is that we put all this effort into upgrading our home 00:26:25.780 --> 00:26:29.980 and then at the end of it, we crack a bottle of bubbly, we sit back and go, 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:32.940 ah, that's awesome. 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:38.060 In the same way, when I built the deck at the back of the rectory, 00:26:38.059 --> 00:26:43.339 the goal of the deck was to be able to sit on it and enjoy it. 00:26:46.740 --> 00:26:49.740 And the temptation will be for us to do the same as a church, 00:26:50.039 --> 00:26:54.200 to celebrate sometime in March and to sit back and go, isn't this for, 00:26:54.399 --> 00:26:57.179 we don't need to look at it again for another 30 years. 00:26:57.180 --> 00:27:01.880 That will be a temptation. 00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:07.340 This project has in many ways been part of a new beginning, 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:11.220 but it also signals a new beginning for us as a church. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:15.039 And so let's pray for harvest time at St. Paul's. 00:27:15.340 --> 00:27:19.220 I don't know what God is going to do amongst us and will continue to do amongst us. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:22.019 I don't know if this is a season for significant harvest. 00:27:22.019 --> 00:27:23.200 Maybe not. 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:29.220 I know for a fact as your pastor that I personally believe that I'm not broken enough, 00:27:29.460 --> 00:27:32.539 I'm not dependent enough, I'm not compassionate enough, 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:37.579 and therefore I'm not prayerful enough for others. 00:27:38.379 --> 00:27:45.160 And so firstly, my prayer is for my heart and my prayer is for our hearts 00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:49.599 that we might see the compassion which is in front of us. 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:52.480 I read an article once which is very interesting. 00:27:53.059 --> 00:27:58.500 It said that atheists give to need because they're moved by compassion. 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:02.959 Christians give to need because they're motivated by doctrinal 00:28:02.959 --> 00:28:05.599 or by reputational concerns. 00:28:06.619 --> 00:28:08.099 Oh, may that not be true for us. 00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:15.059 That is, we give because more out of a sense of duty rather than compassion. 00:28:16.219 --> 00:28:19.279 And I believe that sometimes our praying can be the same. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:22.779 We pray for global mission, local mission, 00:28:22.879 --> 00:28:26.160 because we think we know that we ought to doctrinally 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:30.180 rather than we're actually pleading with God out of hearts of compassion 00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:31.279 for those who are lost. 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:38.220 And so pray that our hearts and our collective heart at St Paul's 00:28:38.220 --> 00:28:40.779 senses the need, feels the compassion, 00:28:41.299 --> 00:28:43.839 sees the potential and stays fervent in prayer. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:47.419 This is what we've been talking about throughout this series 00:28:47.419 --> 00:28:52.199 and what I talked about from Luke 11 last week. 00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:56.159 Our Father in heaven delights to hear our prayer, 00:28:56.459 --> 00:28:57.539 to answer our prayers, 00:28:57.659 --> 00:29:01.220 and particularly he delights to hear and to answer the prayer 00:29:01.220 --> 00:29:04.720 that we would call for the Holy Spirit to come 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:08.199 and to bring gospel renewal and renovation in our hearts. 00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:10.940 That's our first call here, to pray for that. 00:29:11.900 --> 00:29:14.440 And secondly, pray that we will be a church 00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:17.000 that has a very real sense of the potential harvest 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:20.279 that we are in right now in the middle of 00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:23.980 and that we will be consistently looking to do whatever it takes 00:29:23.980 --> 00:29:26.279 to be working in that harvest field. 00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:30.100 And so I'd encourage you to be praying for ICS 00:29:30.099 --> 00:29:32.000 kicking off this week 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:37.899 and for the 11 young lives that God has given us already 00:29:37.899 --> 00:29:41.500 and the families associated with those young lives, 00:29:41.559 --> 00:29:43.539 the privilege of being able to minister to them 00:29:43.539 --> 00:29:45.359 and the many more that are going to come 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:46.559 in the next couple of years. 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:49.299 Pray too that you as a member of St Paul's 00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:51.139 will be one of those workers 00:29:51.139 --> 00:29:53.139 thrown out there into the harvest field 00:29:53.139 --> 00:29:55.919 so that the lost and the hopeless will find their shepherd. 00:29:56.579 --> 00:29:57.639 And thirdly, pray, 00:29:57.640 --> 00:30:00.120 I want to encourage you to pray for those of you know 00:30:00.120 --> 00:30:01.300 who are outside of Christ. 00:30:02.060 --> 00:30:03.200 At the beginning of last year, 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:06.259 I encouraged us as a church to pray one plus one plus one 00:30:06.259 --> 00:30:09.240 in the hope that under God's sovereignty 00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:11.160 that it will equal one at the end of the year. 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:13.460 I know that's not good mathematics, 00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:17.660 but that is pray for one person once a day for one minute 00:30:17.660 --> 00:30:20.700 that they would know Jesus by the end of 2014. 00:30:22.259 --> 00:30:24.259 I started well with that, 00:30:24.360 --> 00:30:26.440 but I didn't finish well with that. 00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:28.700 And so, by the grace of God, 00:30:29.539 --> 00:30:30.759 re-engage with it again. 00:30:34.059 --> 00:30:35.900 I find it really difficult 00:30:35.900 --> 00:30:38.220 to stay consistently praying prayers 00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:41.380 that revolve around God's priorities and not mine. 00:30:41.779 --> 00:30:43.000 That's my sinful heart. 00:30:44.059 --> 00:30:45.700 The flesh is weak, 00:30:46.080 --> 00:30:47.519 but the spirit is willing. 00:30:48.340 --> 00:30:50.279 Our Father is a compassionate God, 00:30:50.600 --> 00:30:52.900 and when we ask for a fish, 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:54.559 he does not give us a stake. 00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:58.659 And so, start this year confident and hopeful 00:30:58.659 --> 00:31:02.159 to pray God's priorities in prayer, 00:31:02.339 --> 00:31:06.559 and especially for the harvest that we are placed in as a church. 00:31:07.299 --> 00:31:09.799 Now, already, a bit earlier this morning, 00:31:09.879 --> 00:31:13.480 I told you about the deep needs which are in front of us right now 00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:16.259 to get part of that mission up and running. 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:18.839 And so, as I do every Sunday, 00:31:18.940 --> 00:31:19.920 I stand down in the front here. 00:31:19.980 --> 00:31:22.099 You're probably wondering why I'm standing down in the front here most Sundays. 00:31:22.379 --> 00:31:23.680 I'm inviting people to pray. 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:27.220 This morning, I want you to come and pray for our mission. 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:29.720 Just briefly, feel free to go to morning tea, 00:31:29.819 --> 00:31:30.859 but for those who want to gather, 00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:32.279 I'm going to be down in the front here, 00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:33.299 straight after the service, 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:35.019 and I'm going to pray for ICS, 00:31:35.059 --> 00:31:36.400 and we're going to pray for ICS, 00:31:36.660 --> 00:31:39.160 we're going to pray for the hoodles that we have right now in our mission, 00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:41.660 and that we, as a church, 00:31:42.019 --> 00:31:44.040 would have compassion for those that are lost around us. 00:31:44.120 --> 00:31:46.180 Please enjoy me in prayer straight after.