Untitled Sermon (2)

I will send you a better one - what does better look like in our context?

Shel Silverstein - modern parable “The missing Piece” the story is about a circle that is missing its pie shaped piece, and it goes on a search for it and it tries big pieces, small pieces, broken pieces but non of them let it roll righting then one day - there it is, the perfect piece, it picks it up, and suddenly it can go faster, and faster - it is free. But after a while it realises now it can’t sing, or smell the flowers, or talk to its friends. It was going too fast. And in the end it decides to leave the perfect piece behind.

Making room for the Holy Spirit - feel under qualified

Paul Hudson - recently challenged - heart response when he became Regional Leader.

FIC - mutual challenging

Journey - think of it - not finished. Sharing in vulnerability - what trying to work through.

Margin - living with concept of overload. I had been to Evernote presentation -

Other hand wanting to hone and refine my hearing what God is saying - I read a couple of books by Shaun Bolz - Translating God and God Secrets.

3rd hand _ we are grappling with vision as a leadership and I am thinking how are we going to do this Vision well? How are we going to take all that we believe God is laying on our hearts with this group of people and not run everybody ragged by NOT overloading them.

What I want to discuss this morning is about a fusing of these differing ideas. What does it mean to live within our margins, (overloaded, exhausting world) with the confines of the hours we can be productive in a day, in a week, with our finite resources of time and energy, of hearing and sensing the Fathers heart, hearing the spirit (person not force) so I know what direction He would have me directing my/our energies and pouring my life into that and the vision we have been entrusted with here in Huddersfield and the surrounding areas.

God is interested in taking spiritual and the physical, we exist in both, we need to learn to operate with the two connected.

As many of you will be aware late last year started having problems with my heart.

I had already realised I was working on overload. For the last few Christmas’s we have put on some great evangelistic programs and I feel I have missed my part because I am literally blowing in and out of the house into the car - sometimes waving at our neighbours and saying hello.

And last autumn a small number of us had gathered down here on Sunday nights doing the “Talking Jesus’ course - and I had been challenged not so much about what I do for my paid role in church, but who I am outside the confines of that in my personal witness. I had made a pledge with myself to not do the craziness of December - one church event to the next, but to make space to do maybe some mulled wine and mince pie events for neighbours, see if we can invite them into our (hopefully) less busy December and the permissions we get that time of year.

But then late November amidst all my planning - the heart problems started. I would walk the 14 steps from my sofa to the kitchen and we had a stool set up so I was able to sit down, because believe me - I needed to sit sit down. My resting heartbeat was 39bpm but for no apparent reason suddenly would jump up to 165bpm (highest I saw was 184)

And suddenly from going at whatever pace I could muster I was forced to have to slow down. I was forced to have to slow down my pace - and in those moments when I could not go my normal speed I started having to put Margin into my plans.

It turned out the problem was some medication I was on and so I was taken off it and as it came out of my system I began to gain back some of my ‘normal’ self - but in that I also realised my ‘normal’ self was not a healthy self. I had found Margin, and it was slowly running away from my grasp again.

In those moments where I had been forced to stop - I had been more present around the home. I had been cooking more in the kitchen. I had been able to read more and be more contemplative rather than dashing from one thing to the next. I had been unable to multi-task as much, and the results on my personal life and my spirituality were positive.

I was hearing from God more consistently because I had time to stop and listen. And as I became well again, I realised there was a part of me that was dreading being back ‘up to speed’ because I realised that the ‘back up to speed’ had not been a healthy one.

I like to get things done, see things started and more importantly - finished. And if it can be in a short concise time - more is the better. Family will tell you even when I’ve been in for an operation on my neck - I can have a day or so ‘down’ but more than that I start to go stir crazy.

And during this time we were rolling out the vision - which I am really pumped up about - but yet I started realising / thinking how am I / are we going to start and sustain this?

So I am trying to work out how do I do what HE wants and be able to build in time so I am asking and reflecting and being obedient. How do I continue to do my job, be a father, help my disabled Mum move home, plan for camp, sort out the logistics of our holiday etc - yet still leave in time to hear and act on the things the HS is saying.

HS is to be our companion at all times. With us at all times, in all the places we find ourselves. Its not about a visitation - but a habitation - but how am I prospering that?

I was setting the alarm clock to write sermons, and to do my paperwork, to come to Pastors meeting and even to read my Bible and rush through my devotional - but I am not convinced until I had this enforced ‘time out’ that I was setting enough time into my day at the beginning to pause and hear the whisper of what the spirit was saying into my day.

Don’t get me wrong - it is a good thing to do all of those things. I’m not even saying its wrong to be busy, I enjoy being busy.

What I am saying is there is something fundamentally wrong with ‘overload’ that removes the capacity, the hunger and our availability for the spirit.

Maybe with you its not meetings or your job, it may be mentally, too many commitments, expectations, financial debt, anxiety.

It may be you are just about coping, surviving and hanging on - and whenever we talk about vision to accomplish what God is calling us to - you are internally saying “you are kidding me. If they ask me to add one more thing to the list i have going on in my head I’ll….”

The daily fight to keep your head above water already feels too much. And yet here is this guy at the front saying he wants me to give more… time to the Holy Spirit and what he is saying to us? Its just not going to happen.

I want to explore overload. Theres probably many here who are more qualified than me - however I have the microphone! I want to explore how this affects our relationship with the HS.Then I want to explore the concept of Margin - how it restores relationship and gives us the appetite and availability. Our relationship with Jesus is not just about us - but how the HS can lead us into being people who transform those around us.

Overload.

We live in world that keeps us busy, distracted - days go by, weeks, months. Who can believe we are in July??

A constant narrative to how are you? is “I’m really busy”. I’m good but I can’t wait for the holidays. It's like our default is ‘non-stop’ . Not enough time, too busy.

In Margin - Richard Swenson says “Something’s wrong. People are tired and frazzled. People are anxious and depressed. People don’t have the time to heal anymore.”

He calls this “The disease of marginless living is insidious, widespread, and virulent.” He continues “We need freedom to think and permission to heal. Our relationships are being starved to death by velocity. No one has the time to listen, let alone love. Our children lay wounded on the ground, run over by our high-speed good intentions.”

We live in 21st c with advancements of science and medicine. I love technology and marvel at the advancements, which if they told us of in Tomorrows World we would not have believed in our time!

I remember talking to Helens Grandma and walking through the advancements she has seen in her lifetime, form seeing her first car, aeroplane, electricity etc

We have cars that not only talk but listen and answer our questions. Robots that clean you house. Phones with many more processing power in your pocket than put man on the moon. So its not as though progress has not brought about advantages.

Progress has been good if we look at our modern western world - but it has given us more and more, faster and faster.

Look at YouTube videos circa 1950’s foretelling what our life would be like in the 21st century. They are genuinely funny. Computers and robots doing all our work so we can live in the lap of luxury with loads of free time for leisure activities. As an side you can also have a rather comical look at views of women transposed from the 1950’s to present day “what will the little lady do with all her spare time, watch out blokes, hold onto your wallets and all your hard earned money!”

And the promised free-time, health, wealth - has not become the utopia.

Even with our advancements in technology and health, our western world wealth - there is still something not right in our society.

As I expanded last time I preached, God ordained work, for us to have gainful activity as I unpacked from - but let me read from that passage again

3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

God has given our bodies limits - for our protection.

I recognise I love progress. I find slow progress difficult. I am an ‘up and off’ person - wanting to take as many with me as possible - but there is our goal - come on guys. I walk at a fast pace.

I do a to do list and one of my top items is “do a to do list” so as soon as I’ve written it I can tick one items off!

But progress does come with a price.

Wealth and technology and communication has not given us what we need in society.

I remember emails coming online and they were brilliant. I was one of the first of my friends to get the Internet and then an email address. And emails saved me having to make telephone calls at certain times of day. I could write them whatever time was convenient - dial in and leave them and the other person would collect and respond.

Texts came along on mobiles and I could do the same mobile phone to mobile phone.

I bought the Psion (who remembers that) the Palm Pilot, Windows CE device. My laptop could connect to my mobile phone. All progress. The iPhone came along and I was like “what magic is this that now I can email and text from the same device, with my calendar on it, replacing my iPod for music as well.

Facebook came along with another way of communicating with “friends” but suddenly loads of people I had sort of spoken to maybe once were wanting to be my friend and ‘poke’ me! Even some who wouldn’t say hi back when I talked to them.

All progress - but all at a price.

I have former friends who stopped talking to me because they posted something on Facebook - I did not see it and so never responded and they took umbrage.

I have WhatsApp which is great for some things, but so many people have added me to their little groups that after a weeks holiday where I ignored it I have over 1400 messages. But some I later found were really important and i missed the important for the dross.

The average day I get 2-300 emails - many of which are just rubbish, but I still have to filter through and sometimes when I’ve done that I don’t have the time to respond to the important.

When I used to have a home answer machine - if I was out, someone would leave a message and I would get back at my convenience, but now I have people getting irate because they phoned my mobile, “I didn’t answer” and now its 2 hours later and you are still ignoring me!

So my and your days do not get shorter and easier, but we work longer and harder - not just at work but on our work devices at home.

Progress has come at a price.

The pain we pay in life, in society is most probably most in our social life - maybe with family and friends, maybe emotional - feelings and attitudes (manipulation from the Internet), maybe spiritual - our time invested in our relationship with God.

The pain we buy into - is generally our relational life.

If we look at Jesus life and teaching - they weren’t focused on progress, but her was invested into relationship; social, emotional, spiritual.

We often do not feel overload creep upon us, it insidious.

When we get new things we are energised, isn’t this great, we see the advantages - but we do not see the way it is starting to impact.

2 x weights. I held out. One reps - lift, then rest.

Overload - could be too many choices. too many commitments, activities, hurry debt, information, media, social media, technology, noise, possessions.

Straw that breaks the camels back - its not the straw - its overload.

Gentle pressure is too much - adds too much and causes to have to rest it down.

Reps - not breaking a sweat because there are rests in-between.

Whenever there is no rest / interval to catch breath, one more thing, commitment, saying Yes, financial commitment - can be the straw.

Young person - cultural & social pressures - fitting in can be a real problem. It can take over and be an overland. Other - providing for family, debt, anxiety, overcommitment.

More and more, faster and faster has lead to human overload - so we fill our schedules - that we have less time for the contemplative, mediation, prayer. Less energy for service, less interest in relationships.

But what about “13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Does this mean you can live a healthy life chronically overloaded - No

I have not met anyone - that being chronically overloaded is good. In church - I do not meet people who are chronically overloaded and who are in love with Jesus and making a difference to the world around them.

2: HS as our companion and partner

As I said - it took a full stop for me to realise overlaid had suppressed my availability and appetite for the fullness of the work of the Spirit. Recently I know we have had some great bible studies on pursuing God’s presence - Mike spoke recently on the ark of the covenant and a great study last week on crossing the river Jordan. In fact it was that which released me to speak on this - this week.

This is not going to be an in-depth Bible study. This is me speaking on what I believe the Spirit has been saying through others, through some of my reading and listening in this season. My hope is that it will be practical about how do we live when we leave here. When we go home to the pressures of home, kids, ill parents, debt, work pressures, study concerns, broken relationships….

When you can’t even consider making more time for the Holy Spirit. Or how about if God through His spirit was to say to you “I want you to be part of this or that part of the vision” or my desire is to release you into this ministry” are you frightened of that because your mind goes to “how would I fit that in??” (I believe that was what God was revealing last week I sat here)

So we do the spiritual equivalent of a child (fingers in ears - la la la!)

Or tomorrow - kids to get out the door, traffic jam etc How do you make room for the HS?

Now we know from teaching the HS is not a force, a power - HE is a person, co-equal in the trinity - FS& HS - much more than just an empowerment for service “Butler of Heaven”

HS points us to Jesus, makes us more like Jesus, he interprets our groans of prayer to the Father.

17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

HS is a spirit of truth - interacts with us - to comfort (if lonely) - he is affection of father, comes to set us free and remind us of our identity in Christ.

When other remind you of who you were and what you have done - he reminds you of who you are. He comes to make us not a better version of ourselves - but that we look like Jesus.

We are called not to religion (thank goodness) but to a relationship., a friendship

(last letter to Corinthians)

14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Its not about a visitation, its not about a one off when you become saved. “Its not about visitation - its about habitation”

16 Don’t you realize that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

When we make time and room for the Spirit, we are open to our minds being renewed, we can retrain our thoughts and behaviours.

Marginless means I bounce form one meeting to another, from seeing one person then another without catching breath. Margin means I build in those moments where I can pause and say Holy Spirit - can I be aware of you in this place, in this moment I am about to enter.

When Helen and I were dating we kept on making room for each other in our diaries. Helen was studying midwifery with stupid shifts, I was all different committees and leading teams at BS and we lived opposite side of Leeds so I remember us arranging to meet at stupid times of day and night in a coffee shop in the arcades in the town centre so we could see each other. And we though - when we get married won’t it be easier seeing each other all the time.

And so we got married and assumed we’d spend loads of time together but neither adjusted their schedule or worked hard because we thought it would just happen - and we got a few weeks/months in and realised we were seeing each other with quality time less than when we were going out!

And through married life we’ve had to keep adjusting. When I started my business up and it got really busy - we had to readjust. When Nina came along - we had to re-adjust, then came Ellie - we had to readjust again.

There has had to be an intentionality - which was so easy when we were dating but if we did not put effort in it would not have been good.

We don’t need to ask for ‘more of the holy spirit’ (I understand what people mean when they say that) - because we have access to the fullness of the HS - but the Q is how can we make more room for Him?

Maybe you are saying this morning - have you seen my diary, my schedule, my to do list. I am burnt out, shattered - I have no space for more. How can I make more room?

I want to introduce you to Margin. Jesus lived a perfect example for us.

There is no better texts to study on a life of Margin and availability to the HS - than the life of Jesus.

A constant pattern, Jesus in crowd - woman with bleeding - Jesus felt the power, paused.

HS there to empower for the mission set before us as He did for Jesus.

Margin is not a spiritual necessity, but availability is.

This is about being available - and we cannot do that if our lives are overloaded. God expects us to be available to Him and what He wants us to accomplish in the world around us - yet how many times dow we give God the busy signal?

Ever tried phoning someone who is constantly busy - you soon get the message and leave it.

Can God really accomplish what he wants in and through you if your life is booked up, full schedule even if it is efficient?

I don’t believe that is what God is calling us to.

I’ve been reading “Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible" - and they talk about how time is such a western mindset.??

Moved to Spain for the 1st 6 months I found everything so frustrating. Forms for everything and you could not email them. You had to queue - sometimes for hours. Everything closed at lunchtime. So consequently where in the UK I would have a list of things - go to bank, go to town hall, fill in forms etc I had to relax with doing ONE thing.

After 6 months we started to settle in - and in that settling in we had more time for people, and more time for God.

Mańana was less of a time (literally morning or tomorrow) and more of a ‘eh’

And when we returned the two things we noticed most about our UK culture which we struggled with most, was consumerism - we arrive back in the uK just before Christmas and after the way we had done it in Spain - so different - but the other was time the speed of life and how we so quickly had reorientate ourselves into continuous organisation. And how relationship suffers in this environment.

Relationship cannot be rushed - it takes time and commitment.

We believe that God has given us a vision - a mandate. To transform Huddersfield for him. To be his hands and feet. As we enter into our autumn term we are going to be exploring how we do that, what it means further - but if you understand nothing else at this point in time. God is calling you to represent Him everywhere you are this week.

Here, in this building, when you go back to yours (or others) homes. As you work, or study, or sign on or go to camp or on holiday…

He is asking us and reminding us to be his witnesses wherever we go. To help the least, the last and the lost in His name.

He is calling us to live a life of worship, to be generous with our time, money and energy - but all of these assume we have margin - not so overloaded, over committed, with all He has given us that we cannot respond when he speaks.

What I realised when I was ill was that my life was planned at 99%.

I walk really fast - one of the tell’s for Helen - who is normally walking a way behind is that she was actually walking faster than me.

And those of you who occasionally look over my shoulder as I try to work out how to book something into my diary - its not unusual to get a ‘oh dear’ - because it looks crazy. Now some of that is its not as bad as it looks because I use it as an accountability tool as well with my time - so I put everything in - That and the old memory!

But I had gotten my life back to the speed I used to have it when I had my own business - crazy speed.

But I believe God was using that time to slow me down, slow down my diary, my planning and scheduling to 80%.

Because when we do that - we have room, because then the HS can use and guide us in the ordinary.

If my time is 100% planned and I am walking and the HS speaks to me to stop and talk to someone - what do I do - I ignore the it as a passing thought and carry onto my meeting.

If my finances are all committed to 100% every month and God speaks to me to bless someone or to give to something - I hear him, I consider it and my mind starts to try to work out how can I do that - so I never get round to it.

If I am so tied in on social media, Facebook, the latest binge on Netflix that my paradigm is I have no time, and HS says I want you to give some time to cleaning in the church, or helping with the children's ministry or Dalton or Springwood to being regularly in community - I immediately push through onto my next thought.

If I am so caught up in my own plans and picture of who I want to be - rather than making time to hear from Him - whenever the HS wants to transform me, to do sanctification, to encourage me in

Jesus wants to move into our situations and make a difference.

Bill Johnson talks about the symbol of the spirit being a dove, and how if we want to walk with a dove on our shoulder - we have to go steadily. We have some collared doves come into our garden - and they are so easily disturbed - scattered.

If we walk, live knowing the HS is right here in us - with us.

What is your posture when you come into here. Are you a consumer who wants information - a good sermon which I am satisfied with. Worship - the songs I like, at the volume I’m happy with. Maybe a word of prophesy - which is a nice word - encourages me. The people I want - talking to me at the end.

Or are you coming wanting to partner with the HS? Are you looking for what he is saying to you? Are you looking to step outside of your comfort zone in worship because that is how HE is encouraging you. Maybe you having a sword of encouragement for someone else.

Maybe worshiping in songs you don’t like because the worship is not about you. Maybe forgoing even hearing the sermon to serve because you have been prompted to volunteer in an area.

What are you going to be doing tomorrow. is you day so planned out that there are no opportunities for the HS to prompt you to maybe stop and have a conversation with someone (where you find out they really need it)

To pause away from your desk at work - maybe go outside into the sunshine and sit and listen.

Is there space in your day away from the phone, computer, TV where you are able to pause, reflect, listen, read - worship or are you hoping what happens in these 90 min here on a sunday will sustain you the rest of the week and bring transformation.

How about shopping - instead of dashing round task oriented - could you have time to move round slowly. Ask God to direct you to someone.

I’m not good at these things - but here’s the thing - when I intentionally make space I have the coincidences where I suddenly find I bump into people I know, or get into conversations with complete strangers.

Where I have space you talk to the guy on the street and enough time to go get them a coffee and check in.

What happens when we make this space? At beginning I said our environment is physical & spiritual.

We focus so much on the physical - the pressure infant of us - yet the HS want to impact and make every moment spiritual as well. He brings wisdom when we need it, when around us others are reminding us of failures, he is wanting to remind us of who we are in Christ, he brings comfort in grief and disappointment.

He also longs to work with us to do the extraordinary in our ordinary.

If we are as a community going to accomplish even part of what we believe God is saying in this season - we have to make some changes.

We have to make some small steps before we can make big advancements.

Are we willing to make space for what the HS is wanting to say to us and do through us.

How are you going to plan the HS into your day. Every one of our days looks different so we have to work it out differently.

School teacher - just after kids go out, before opening door to next lot - great time to say “Holy Spirit - How Can I be more like Jesus in this next lesson, I’m looking out for what you are saying or doing or prompting.

Other - day more haphazard - what are the prompt points - to pause and invite Him in?

It might mean a day with no technology, switching off social media. It may be reviewing finances so you are not so overstretched.

He is pointing us to a life looking more like Jesus, and being able to respond as if we are Jesus’s hand and feet.

This is about a decision this morning, about taking responsibility, if we want the habitation (ask yourself - do you really?). Not just nice meeting in here but true habitation, when you go home from here and feel lonely, or to a job tomorrow where you really do not want to be, HS just as interested - and that’s where the opportunity is.

HS loves to hear us worship. Worship unlocks the presence of God in our lives wherever we are.

1 - Acknowledge overload - wherever that is. Mentally physically, financially

2 If you want to make that commitment. I’m going to change my diet - because i want the spirit engaged all week.

Some of us do the equivalent of come here on a sunday and eat a meal expecting it to last us all week and keep us and grow us and sustain us. If it were a meal - a lot of us would look a lot thinner!

Make a commitment to be available - TTT

I believe when we acknowledge, repent and commit - the spirit is able to engage. Counter cultural. Identity tied up in this.