Capital Edge - 11 August 2024

Thank you everybody, you may be seated. Wow, bit of an emotional moment there. Hair today and gone tomorrow. What happened, but God is so good and he is so faithful and thank you, thank you John and Edie for the many years we had together. Thank you that a repositioning of God doesn't change the love you have for one another and there's a celebration of all that can happen in and through us as we serve Jesus. I got up this morning and just felt to spend some time being thankful and spent some time with the Lord just thanking him for his grace, for his goodness, for his love. It was only five years ago that I was given a few months to live. The doctors came in and said it's not looking good, talked to my wife about life support and here we are still today. Because God has the final say. And, you know, there were some really tough moments. I sat with one of my surgeons and I said to him, Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after my operation? And the doctor says, of course. We're not operating on your hands. We're operating on your body, and your hands will be fine. I said, no, I need to know for sure. Will I be able to play the piano after the operation? He said, of course you will. I said, well, that's great, because I couldn't play it before. And he looked at me and he goes, this is not a funny moment. And I say that to say even in the midst of darkest times, there's an inner joy that God can give you. And even those funny moments to just let you declare that you trust him and that he's in control. Show me the level of your stress and I'll show you the level of your trust. Oops. The level of our stress. determines the level of our trust and I'm so grateful for weeks like this where we learn to trust him that little bit more Christtianity isn't perfection but it is the right direction you know we can have a life that's never going to be perfect but we can just keep moving in the right direction with the grace of God and there was a time I was more stressed where today at 68 I just don't care But I want 30 year olds and 20 year olds not to carry care and go he can be trusted and when you get a grandpa like me that's started trusting like John and I all those years ago saying I can look back and it worked I can look back and go it worked He's been faithful in every season and he's been there in the good, the bad, the ugly. I don't know what I would do without Jesus and we've had a week of just drawing closer to him. On Wednesday night I mentioned on how can you trust him in the I don't know. There's lots of times in our lives we just don't know. But boy, there's got to be some things we do know to be able to trust him in the I don't know. And I'm glad that God is moving his church towards moving from preference Christtianity to conviction Christtianity, where we have the I do knows in our heart that no matter what, pestilence comes our way. I can't believe how COVID affected some Christtians in ways that I thought, wow. When you look at the Bible and you look at the Apostle Paul and you look at the early church and you look at Acts chapter 8, after the persecution, everywhere they went, miracles happened. In the darkest hour on the planet, it should be the brightest light for the church to be shone. And I'm glad that conferences like this last week are not just there to have a bit of time together and some time out, but hope... hopefully to draw us closer to Jesus and in our walk with him. Thursday night I spoke on personal revival. I didn't get through the whole message. But what I believe is God plants seeds in people's lives. And those seeds begin to germinate and people start to feel, hey, I want to be in personal revival. And some of the comments from some of you have been so touching in seeing your hunger to respond in personal revival. On Friday night I spoke on reason versus revelation and especially in a place like Canberra. My prayer is that the church of Jesus will not rise up just in intellect and just have head knowledge but be the kind of church that knows the revelation of God and move forward. The building that we have back in Adelaide that John was part of didn't come to us because we had the smarts but a moment of revelation broke through a miracle. I've seen miracle after miracle after miracle because of the revelation from God. And so I've been tossing on what to speak this morning as a continuance of our time together. And I want to share a truth with you that has been such an important part of my life and the life of the church that I led for so many years. And again, it was a moment of revelation. In fact, as I look back over 30 years of Edge Life, it was the moments of revelation that brought about the miracles that now we look back. on and go wow look at what God did and this was one of those moments and the reason why I want to share it with you is I believe it's a take-home message now when my mum was alive every Sunday we'd have Italian lunch At my mum's house, you could smell the sauce cooking as you drove up the driveway. The food was amazing and there was always too much. And the kids would get in there and she'd be cooking the sauce for the pastor and our kids were so hungry they'd be getting bread and dipping it in the sauce. And it was an incredible time but there was always so much food that we would take home enough to last us the next week. And if you're an Italian... And even if you're not, you ought to try this. If you cook pasta on a Sunday and there's leftover and you fry it in a frying pan on Monday with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of butter and it gets a bit crispy, the noodles get a bit crispy. Are you getting hungry? Around the edges. It tastes better reheated. My prayer is that what we get on a Sunday... will taste better on Monday. Excuse me. Sorry, I need some water. Sorry, I didn't think I would. I had the flu. I opened the window and influenza. Messages on a Sunday. Thank you, brother. I should have said yes the first time. Should taste better Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And so it is my heart and passion when I share the word of God that's become alive in me and real to me, that I can share it with others and you can taste it again on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. This story began a few years ago. when I was in Scotland and we'd been preaching in Scotland and we're about to go back to London and then fly to Sweden and I'd already been on the road nearly four weeks. I was traveling with a friend and the elevator broke in the little pub type hotel we were staying in and so we had to walk down four flights of stairs but I had a big suitcase and as I come down to about the second floor my suitcase broke. And all the clothes fell out. It's amazing what you can shove in there, but when you open it, it all comes falling out. And then you can't get it back in. And I'm on my knees in front of this broken suitcase, and these words come out of my mouth. I want to go home. I've had enough. I want to go home. And as I'm on my knees, the Holy Spirit said, do you know how many Christtians halfway through their walk with me say, I've had enough. The stuffing's coming out of my life and I don't know how to patch it all up again. I never thought, and don't take this as an angry statement or an aggressive thought, but I never thought I'd see so many Christtian families break up. So many Christtian families go, we've had enough. I never thought I'd live to see that. to see that day and I'm there trying to put some duct tape or whatever you call it duct tape they call it yeah to try to fix somebody had some in their bag trying to fit couldn't fix my suitcase our driver who lived down the road said to me you're not going to believe this I bought a brand new suitcase the other day and I'm only around the corner I'll go and get it it's bigger than this one and he comes back with a brand new suitcase and I was able to put all my gear in there and the holy spirit said I don't do patch-up jobs you I don't do patch-up jobs, I make new creations, you know, I give new beginnings, I give new life and I was so tired and exhausted and the Holy Spirit's taking that moment to speak to me and if I'd gone home I wouldn't have experienced a group of 3,000 people in Sweden where this group of churches was so discouraged because there was no new generations coming through. And I remember the Holy Spirit saying to me, I want you to get every person under 30 at this conference to come and stand at the front. And the conference was shocked at how many young people were there. And then I got the older generation to come and hug them. And then I got the generations to pray for each other. And a move of God broke out. Sometimes before a move of God comes, you get that feeling, I've had enough. The stuffing's falling out of your life. I'm glad I hadn't given up. I'm glad God gave me a new suitcase and I'm glad I got to go to that place and see a move of God and two years later many of those young people planted churches through Europe. The enemy comes in. A couple of nights ago in the hotel I knew the enemy came in to attack me. The enemy does come in but we don't have to give up and we can say God I am going to finish my race. My greatest desire is I want to finish my race strong. And so I finished that trip and a couple of weeks later I'm now in Africa and I'm actually now in Zimbabwe with World Vision and we had services where people walked for two hours to get there. No air conditioning, no... Unbelievable music other than the music that came from their singing, which was incredible. I've got videos of it. And on my way home, I'm on the tarmac in Johannesburg, ready to come home to Australia. and I said to God and please don't take this as a again a negative thing but I said to God I said how come in Australia if it's a little bit cold people stay home if it's a little bit too hot there's not enough air conditioning people have a plan B and church sort of fits into that their lifestyle where here I saw people that have got nothing celebrate you as a priority no matter what to come together on time to worship God and I'm going what's happening to our western world and by the way soon as I land landed in Sydney and went into the Qantas Club, front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, 11-year-old kids in Australia on Prozac depression medication. The lucky country. But I've just come from Africa where we gave the kids two dollar frisbees and they laughed and smiled and were happy and they were enjoying and we live in this great country where kids get what they want, everybody gets what they want and yet it doesn't satisfy. that need and so I said Lord what is it even in the church I said what is it in the church Lord that that happens that that somehow we don't really maximize this walk with you and this is what comes into my head and when something smarter than I can think of comes into my head it's probably God he said we don't go on the full journey of faith We don't go on the full journey of faith. And I said, Lord, what's the full journey of faith? I had a pad in my shirt pocket and a pen, and I wrote these words down, which I won't show them yet. I'll show them in a minute. gave me seven patterns which I'm going to leave with you today and I ask you to judge it I ask you to look at it because let me tell you if we embrace the full journey of faith not only will we endure to the end we will enjoy our Christtian walk. I want to enjoy my Christtian walk. I don't want to just endure it. A scripture we've often heard thousands of times if you've been in church, 2 Timothy 4, 6 to 8. As for me, this is the Apostle Paul, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight. Ladies and gentlemen, life is a fight. You just choose whether you're going to fight the good one or the wrong one. We can fight the fight of reason and do things according to the flesh and end up in a miserable place. Or we can fight the good fight and pay the price. I said to someone one day, we've got to pray the price and faith the facts. And so we fight the good fight. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race and I have remained faithful, full of faith. And I thought, God, I want that. this crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give me on the day of his return and the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing and I remember praying God I want to fight the good fight when my son passed away when my other son broke when I got cancer those moments were fights They were sad, sad times, but I had to make a choice. Will I fight the wrong fight, blame God, get angry at the church for not being there or whatever, or will I fight the good fight? Will I have... Will I finish the race? And when will I remain faithful? And so that day on the tarmac, and by the way, when you get off a plane, you can say tarmac, but when you get on a plane, don't say hijack. Sorry. Sorry, they get worse. So here are the seven stages of the journey of faith that the Lord showed me that I've had to live. When he showed it to me, it was a good sermon to... preach but now all these years later it's a lifestyle i've had to learn to live and i want to leave these with you and i want you to take them home and i want you to write them and and even when we did this in our church it became our new christians class it became a journey for our church we took a couple of years in these seven steps and it touched my heart that people would come up to me in church and go pastor danny i think i'm in stage three or i'm in stage five or i'm in stage two and so here we go number one if we i think we'll have it on screen here we are you can write them all down there's seven of them stage one is comfort stage two is connection stage three is cause and I will explain in a moment stage four is commitment stage five is crisis stage six is convictions and stage seven is consistency and I know it's God because they all start with C and so here we go so number one comfort what does that mean I'm glad the gospel is good news I grew up in a church where I thought God hated me because it was always you're never good enough for God and you're a sinner but I'm glad that I discovered the comfort of the gospel that the gospel comforts us it's good news for God so loved the world and I remember when I had my own revelation of the comfort of the gospel John chapter 10 verse 10 the thief's purpose is to steal kill and destroy but my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life I used to hear sermons about surrender and And sermons about, you know, lay your life down and you've got to be prepared to do whatever God wants. I learned to love Africa so God wouldn't send me there. Because I thought if I don't want to go somewhere, he'll send me there. I hate Africa. I hate going to Africa. Well, then God will send me there. And I had this wrong twisted picture of who God was. And I'm glad there came a time in my early years that I discovered the comfort of knowing that God's got a plan for me. I remember my wife when we first got married was baby. babysitting a little girl her name was Enya she was three years old and she was singing with an ice cream cone in her hand in front of the tv watching veggie tales and she was singing what we know as Jeremiah 29 11 God's got a plan for my life she's singing with a lisp God's got a plan for my life and I'm stressed to the max and I'm walking past her as she's singing and the Holy Spirit said this If I've got a plan for your life, I don't forget it. If I have a plan for your life, I don't lose it. We quote scriptures like God's got a plan for my life. Well, he doesn't forget it. He doesn't lose it. And if we understand his love and his desire to want the best for us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be subtracted from you. No, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added. I discovered serving Jesus that a surrendered life is an extended life. What am I missing out on? Frying my brains on drugs? Not being faithful in a marriage? Turning to alcohol because I lost a son and can't handle the pain? What does the world have that I could possibly want? No purpose, no sense of destiny. No promise of life after death. If the world knew how comforting the good news of Jesus is, we'd be running to him. We're paying. Some people go, oh, I don't believe in tithing. I'm just throwing this in there. Do you know if you serve the devil, you triple tithe? Start thinking of how much cigarettes cost right now. Start thinking about how much people have to spend to feel good. what things they have to put into their life to find themselves. I'd hate to think of all the money spent on plastic surgery. And you think the good news of Jesus doesn't bring control. It brings comfort, the comfort of the gospel. And then if you have a revelation of that, you go to stage two. No, can we still have the... Original slide, please. Sorry. And we'll bring the other one up in a minute. Stage two is connection. Once you have a revelation of who Jesus is, you connect to other believers. I've never seen people that like to go to the pub to booze up saying, do I have to go tonight? Gee whiz, here we go again. Another meeting at the pub. People want to be with the people they love. They want to be with the people that do life the way they do it. The church is not an institution. The church is a people. And when we are comforted by this amazing news, we connect with other people that share that same value, that same good news, and I call that the church. But listen. In, I'm 68 and in the last 50 years it breaks my heart to see Christtians that never go past stage two. When they're comforted, they're happy. When they're connected, but then, oh, they have an issue in the church, they get disconnected and they disappear. And people go from stage one to stage two, stage one to stage two, stage one to stage two. And then they go and divorce a church and then marry another church. And stage one, stage two, stage one, stage two. But the secret is moving on from just the connection and going to stage three, the cause of Jesus Christt. That's why I love the church with all its faults, because I don't serve the church, I serve the cause of Jesus Christt through the church because the gospel has comforted me. And I'm on that tarmac and I'm writing this down and I'm going, wow, I'd never thought of this. The cause of Jesus Christt is, is he God? Is he who he said he was? If there was no resurrection, choose your religion. I'm in church the other day with Tony Rainbow in Adelaide and he's got long hair. And I'm standing next to him and someone went up to him and said, Tony, you look just like Jesus. And I turned around and I said, no, I just look like Buddha. And they burst out laughing. Choose your religion, whatever you're into. Show me someone else that rose from the dead. Anybody can die for a cause. If all Jesus had done was die, so what? Others can die too for a cause. But he rose from the dead. And the fruit of that means I don't just love the connection with the church, I embrace the cause of Jesus Christt. Now when you embrace the cause, you live with amazing purpose. You don't live just to help out. You don't just do rosters. You give your life. You give your life and I don't work a day in my life. Absolutely Romans 12. And why? Because I live for the cause of Jesus Christt and God is about to release his church, not just on pulpits, behind pulpits, but giving every believer a platform to live for the cause. We've got people marching on streets that don't have a cause, but they join what they think is a cause and they protest and they don't even know what they're talking about. There's something inside of all of us. We want to fight for a cause. We want to be involved in a cause. And I'm grateful. I've got the greatest cause on earth, the cause of Jesus Christt, the gospel of Jesus. And when you get hold of a cause, it's not a position, but be positioned by God. be positioned by God in the society you know at the age of early 20s when I received a call from God while I was working in a menswear store and by the way it was in that menswear store that I got to lead people to Christt brought people to our home I didn't have the title Pastor Danny you know it's interesting you don't walk down the street and say hello I'm plumber John hello I'm electrician Peter Hey, I'm Pastor Danny. Call me anything you like, just don't call me late for dinner. But you know, my name is Danny and I do the work of pastoring, but every one of us is called. Everyone in this room is called and I received the call and I remember telling the story the other night of when I got on the bus. And God had been speaking all day through pastors that had visited me, Pastor Freddie Evans, who said, you know, there's a call of God on your life to be in church ministry. That just happened to be the call for me. Your call is different. We all got different callings. And I got on the bus. and the bus ticket said on the back whatever's around the corner God's already there I was preaching in Adelaide last year and talking on a different subject but I used this illustration and I said you know we all live called And we are all people that need to find our purpose. Because when you live with the cause, that becomes your purpose and your vision. And I talked about that day when I turned the bus ticket over on the bus. Sitting in that meeting was the best man at my wedding. I didn't know he was there. I get a phone call from him and he goes, you're going to get a present this week in the mail. And that week I got this book in the mail called Talking Tickets. This book is a book. book about the man who wrote those sayings on the tickets 940 000 lives recorded changed lives by reading what was on the back of a ticket the one i got if god is around the corner whatever's around the corner god's already there is here in this book And as this book landed in my letterbox and I started to read it, 940,000 people in Adelaide who would catch trams and they would catch buses and on the... back of the ticket there'd be these sayings in this book is story after story of people getting on the tram in adelaide victoria square to go to glenelge beach it's probably a 20 minute tram ride to jump off the jetty and commit suicide and by turning the back of the ticket and reading the hope on the back of that ticket they changed their mind and gave their lives to God. The man that wrote this book was a businessman, but he never stood on a platform and preached. But how many of you know he preached? Because he reached. And in that sense, every one of us in this room, we have been given eternal life. We've been given salvation. We have had the comfort. We've had the connection. But boy, let's go to stage three and embrace the cause of Jesus Christt. Because that's where the power starts to flow. That's where revival week anointing can take place in our lives. And so what happens is once you embrace the cause, you go to stage four. And you make a commitment. But when you make a commitment, you're not making it to the church. Once you've embraced the cause, your commitment's to the cause. So when someone offends you in your department or creative ministry, something happens and someone, well, I didn't get that opportunity, I'm out of here. No, if you've embraced the cause, your commitment is not just to a role, but it's to the God. who died for us and rose again for us. I remember John might have been around in the first years of our church. I spoke a message on seven young ladies you should never take out on a date. I don't know if you remember that, John. Misunderstanding. quotation misrepresentation and in all our lives will be misunderstood in all our lives there'll be opportunity to be offended do you know god will always allow you to be offended until you're not not offendable because it's part of our growth and so I want to encourage you capital edge and I believe the spirit is in this house how long have you been here pastor John 17 years thank you for not divorcing and remarrying divorce and I believe in transfer growth because sometimes God will have to bring people into your midst because that's where they can grow best so I'm not against transfer and growth but it's got to be transforming growth it's got to bring transformation because some people won't survive in certain places but can i thank you for your faithfulness and i do sense john and edie i sense that you you're not you haven't even fully stepped into your destiny then i think this has been preparation I think there's so much more to come and God is going to bring loyal people around you. They're going to love your transparency but they're also going to love your authenticity. And I believe God wants to do something in this place. I have been praying in the room and I believe that even the next revival week and all those things coming are going to be coming, take us to another level of equipping the body. Because God wants to do something in the capital city of our nation that has not been done before. And it can't be done by church politics. It can't be done by denominationalism. It can't be done by any of that. It's got to be a surrendered group of people that are willing to go on the journey of faith and see God touch. and we're going to see other states come here to pray but not just because we're going to rub shoulders with government or whatever but it's the body coming together to intercede and go into spiritual warfare for our nation can you give the lord a hand of praise for that today so stage four you make a commitment now once you make a commitment the devil doesn't like you Someone said to me, Pastor Danny, is speaking in tongues the original evidence of being filled with the Spirit? I said, definitely not. And they go, really? I said, what is? I said, trouble. You stay churchian and the devil won't bother you too much. But you stay Christtian, Christt follower, not just church goer, and the enemy doesn't like it, and every Christtian will... time of stage five will go through these three things that I've preached all my life where God will reveal something to you that he wants you to do and then everything goes into reverse it's like the very thing that God put in your heart now is attacked from every level until you realize was you come to a point you go i don't know if that even was god and you get to a point where you surrender you go god it's not about me it's not about what i want to do it's about surrendering to you and then god says okay you've passed the test now it's released back to you it's called the reveal reverse release and it happened to jesus filled with the holy spirit revealed led into the wilderness to be what tested reversal passes the test and comes back in verse 18 of luke 4 and goes the spirit of the lord is upon me because ladies and gentlemen this morning god wants us to have the right because The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I want to prove to everybody that I'm better. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I want to know. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He's anointed me. We've had appointing in this nation for the last 30 years and very little anointing. And God's bringing the anointing back. He's bringing lordship, not just leadership. And that's what's coming back. But we've got to handle crisis. But once you handle crisis, it's in your crisis. When my son died, it was crisis. And I had to work out what are my non-negotiable convictions. Because I've got to have non-negotiable convictions. See, I've never believed that Jesus will heal everybody. I've never believed that some of the stuff that's being preached that's scripture out of context we live on a fallen planet And the planet is cursed. But our spirit is not. And when we're born again, our spirit becomes new. But we're still on a fallen planet. That's why the two photos you saw today. I blame the fallen planet. And when I get to heaven, I'm going to find Adam if he's there and slap him. And Eve. Not really. But otherwise, the minute you become a Christtian. you should stop aging that minute you should stop because we're no longer under the curse but we shouldn't die either and i've had to do the funerals of some of the most beautiful christians on the planet and i've had super spirit christians saying they died out of the will of god we've got to stop that kind of carry on because we live on a fallen planet and god's sovereignty chooses whether sometimes he intervenes he can he can heal i pray for the sick all the time My son died, but I still pray for the sick. And I've prayed for nearly 3,000 now people that have lost their children. Only last week, two weeks ago in England, I'm telling a bit of our story. They asked me to, and a man comes forward. He said, I've lost both my sons with cancer. A 40-year-old son and a 50-year-old son. There's always someone that's gone through worse than you. But I could cry with him. I could feel the pain. But there he is still worshipping God. Because in our crisis, we work out what our real convictions are. And when I lost my son, it didn't change the resurrection of Jesus Christt being real. When I lost my son, it didn't change the supernatural way God called me into the ministry. And I've got the story to tell. When my son died, miracle after miracle of God, when I went to Bible college in 1983 and running out of food and saying to my wife, what are we going to do? And there's a knock at the door. I had too many stories of his miraculous power in my life to throw away what I don't understand, everything that I know, to be God. Because your conviction... Conflictions are developed out of your crisis and then you can live a life of consistency. So when I married Jesus, it was for better for worse. For richer for poorer. In sickness and in health. Forsaking all other gods. I will stay married to you by your grace helping me do that. And as I've said, I mentioned it the other night at many youth camps, where I'd say to young people, if you're married to Jesus, he'll never divorce you, because he signed the wedding certificate with his blood. And I remember writing these things down on the plane. We hadn't even taken off. yet and I wrote these seven things and I go God I know the comfort of the gospel I know that I'm connected to beautiful Christtians around the world that carry the same convictions but God I know that you saved me and I And I know when it happened. And the cause of who you are doesn't matter what happens in the politics in Australia. Doesn't matter if another crisis comes or we get another COVID or whatever. It doesn't change my love for the cause of Jesus Christt because I can't deny it. And then you make a commitment that's a life commitment. You will handle crisis. I've had my son Michael in hospital. Three times in the last... 12 months and on a couple occasions it was touch and go he got sepsis nearly died and in my head I'm going what happens if I lose another son am I going to say that's enough stuff this Or is he still God? At what point does he stop being God? And so we need the kind of faith where our convictions will lead us to a life of consistency. And I was about to put the pad away and listen to this. The Lord said, let me show you what each one of those steps reveals. So if we can put the other slide up. The comfort of the gospel reveals the love of Christt. The connection reveals the church. The cause reveals the cross of Jesus Christt that he died for us. And of course, the resurrection. Our commitment will bring us into community. Not just the community of the church, but our commitment makes us connected to our communities. I meet with non-Christtian people all the time because I'm not just called to serve the church. I'm called to serve the Bibles written for the world. it's not just written for the church your gifts are not given to you just for church the gifts that are inside of you and inside of me are given to us to be in community and make a difference i have led more non-christians to christ since my son died than before when people have said how can you still believe in god And after losing your son by being killed by a lightning strike at a youth camp. I haven't got time to show you this morning, but on my phone, I have the last message my son was going to preach the day he died. Ten o'clock in the morning, he went out in his car and started to write a message to preach that night. 2.30 in the afternoon, he got killed. And we found the message on the front seat of his car, written by hand. There are storms out there. There are storms out there. There are clouds, it's dark, what's your God's perspective? What are you going to do? And finishes the sermon, keep your eyes on eternity and died 2.30 that afternoon. After he died a few weeks later I went to visit his kids. One of my grandchildren said, Nono will you come and pray for us? as we go to bed. Our son Christ had written a special prayer for each one of his children and it was framed, written by hand, sitting next to their bed. As I started to read and on the walls were posters, heaven is our home. He'd been teaching his kids about eternity as if he knew, who knows. And as I knelt down next to Elijah He was only 11 at the time and I started to read his dad's prayer. I couldn't finish it. I just couldn't stop crying and I got up and I walked out and as I walked out I said I'm sorry Ligey I need some time. He got out of bed and followed me down the hallway and he put his hand on my back. He goes don't cry Nono, don't cry Nono, heaven is our home. Heaven is our home. He's 18 now, moving to Canberra in a couple of weeks. Going to join the Air Force. But loves Jesus with all his heart. Loves Jesus with all his heart. His brother, 22 now, came to pray for my dad the other day because my dad's on his last legs really. Starts praying in tongues over my dad. 22 years old. Lost his dad when he was 14. I'm so glad. that crisis next one develops our character we can take crisis and fall apart or we can let crisis build our character and when we do that out of the crisis our convictions are established and what happens is they become our credentials nobody cares how many years or not or not a bible school i did Nobody's going to care what degrees I've got. They just watch your life and realise, is it real? And I'm spending time with non-Christtians. And as I share how God helped me, I remember one day kneeling down by the bed and I said, God, I don't even know where to start reading the Bible. What happens if I find a scripture that you're my protector and my son died? And I said, God, he was 39 years old. God, will you mind if I just go to Psalm 39? The Psalm of his age, and maybe there's a verse there. I need something. And I go to Psalm 39. You can go and read it. Verse 4. Lord, show me how short my life on earth will be. My life is but a breath. We're just a passing shadow, yet we will trust you. And I'm reading this, and you've heard me share this before, I'm sure. I knelt down by my bed and I said, Jesus, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, but I trust you. And in my head came a voice, and I trust you. And I said, God, you trust me with what? Don't you think I knew when I called you that you were going to lose a son? Don't you think I knew that? Don't you think I knew one would break? Don't you think I knew you would get cancer? But I trust you. And I said, Lord, what with? He said, to finish your race. to finish your race strong. You see, because out of crisis, your convictions are developed and they become our credentials. My credentials isn't a piece of paper on a wall. My credentials this morning. I want the musicians to come think. you my credentials are really my convictions the things that are no plan b no no no no I have family members who blame God for our son dying it's not doing any good for them. They're not getting anywhere with that kind of pain. Do I feel the pain? Some of you may remember a man's name called Ray Bevan. Travelled to this country for many, many years, a friend of ours. As I got off the platform here on Friday night, I get a text that his son had just died. 50 years old, just died in his chair while he was painting a painting. I was able to immediately go back to the hotel and get on the phone and ring Ray Bevan in Wales and soon as he heard the phone ring he answered the phone. He goes I'm not up to answering phones but I'm taking your call. You know my pain. We cried together. The pain comes back. You feel it. Guess what? He's preaching this morning. It'll be tonight our time in the UK. He's going, no devil is going to cast me down. I'm going to get up and preach in my pain and I'm going to declare the goodness of God. Friends, no religion will do that for you. No religion. But when we know the comfort that we find Christt and we find our connection in God's family with all its problems and then we embrace the cause of Jesus through the work of the cross that we celebrated in communion today, we make a commitment that brings us into community. as authentic Christtians. Authentic Christtians. Crisis will develop our character. Our convictions will determine what our real credentials are. And our consistency will take us to the completion of our faith. I'm not smart enough to come up with that. That was a moment of revelation. But it's become application. And as we close today, there's two types of people I'd like to pray for. Number one. You might be here and you've never started a journey of faith. You've never known how much God loves you. You've never known that He loves you. He died for you. And yes, life is not guaranteed that it will always be perfect, but it will be worth it because He will be with you in every step. His love will never leave you. I've never felt unloved by God. And you're here today and you've never become a follower of Jesus, never. And you're checking this place out today or you've come a few times. I'd love you to take a step of trusting God. And the Bible says God won't push himself on us, but he says if we, in our hearts, believe, wow, this is true, God is real. And we're prepared to make a commitment to that. You can start this journey. Doesn't happen overnight, but you can start an amazing journey. While every head's bowed and every eye closed, if you're here today and you think, I don't have that faith, I don't have that knowledge of God, I don't have that certainty that God is real, but I certainly would like to start that journey, I would absolutely love to pray with you this morning. Not embarrass you, but pray with you. If you are here and you're in that posture, would you slip up your hand wherever you are if you want me to pray for you? And I'd love to pray for you this morning. If there's anyone here this morning that go, Danny, I want to go on that journey of faith. It scares me a bit. I don't understand it all. But I'd like to start even having a conversation. If there's anyone, it's a bit dark. I can't see real well. But if there's anyone, I can't, yeah. Don't f***. think there is but if there is come and talk to me afterwards as soon as the meeting's finished I'll be down here I'll sit with you I'll talk with you because this is not a gimmick it's the true gospel second group of people is there's many of us and I've been there and it's like you've been in stage one and you've been in stage two and at times you've been in the other stages but I saw a picture when I was praying in the room today this morning that it's a bit like you've just stepped aside a bit it's not a big deal you're saved but this morning the holy spirit's talking to you and saying get back on the journey of faith get back on board do the full journey don't get discouraged don't step aside don't some of you have put your gifts on hold you've put a lot of stuff on hold the pressure of life and we're going to stand and we're going to worship and again it's no big deal to me but if you feel you need to get back on that journey For some of you, you're just going to take this home and work your way through it. But for some of you this morning, you might need to make a declaration to God and come and stand at this altar and say, God, I want to be back on the journey. I don't want to stay off to the side. I want to be on the journey of faith. Shall we stand this morning? And I'd love to pray with you. Just give you a hug and pray with you. If you say, Pastor Danny, I need the Holy Spirit to help me. I want to finish. You can decide this morning to do the full journey of faith. I've made that decision in my life, no matter what, I'm going to finish this journey of faith. Some of you need to declare it this morning to God and say, God, you've got me. I'm going to finish my journey of faith and just come and stand at this altar as a sign. I'm in God. I'm in. Thank you, brother. Bless you. Let's sing. And I'll just open up the altar.

I got up this morning and just felt to spend some time being thankful and spent some time with the Lord just thanking him for his grace, for his goodness, for his love. It was only five years ago that I was given a few months to live. The doctors came in and said it's not looking good, talked to my wife about life support and here we are still today.

Because God has the final say. And, you know, there were some really tough moments. I sat with one of my surgeons and I said to him, Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after my operation? And the doctor says, of course. We're not operating on your hands.

We're operating on your body, and your hands will be fine. I said, no, I need to know for sure. Will I be able to play the piano after the operation? He said, of course you will. I said, well, that's great, because I couldn't play it before.

And he looked at me and he goes, this is not a funny moment. And I say that to say even in the midst of darkest times, there's an inner joy that God can give you. And even those funny moments to just let you declare that you trust him and that he's in control. Show me the level of your stress and I'll show you the level of your trust.

Oops. The level of our stress. determines the level of our trust and I'm so grateful for weeks like this where we learn to trust him that little bit more Christtianity isn't perfection but it is the right direction you know we can have a life that's never going to be perfect but we can just keep moving in the right direction with the grace of God and there was a time I was more stressed where today at 68 I just don't care But I want 30 year olds and 20 year olds not to carry care and go he can be trusted and when you get a grandpa like me that's started trusting like John and I all those years ago saying I can look back and it worked I can look back and go it worked He's been faithful in every season and he's been there in the good, the bad, the ugly. I don't know what I would do without Jesus and we've had a week of just drawing closer to him. On Wednesday night I mentioned on how can you trust him in the I don't know.

There's lots of times in our lives we just don't know. But boy, there's got to be some things we do know to be able to trust him in the I don't know. And I'm glad that God is moving his church towards moving from preference Christtianity to conviction Christtianity, where we have the I do knows in our heart that no matter what, pestilence comes our way. I can't believe how COVID affected some Christtians in ways that I thought, wow.

When you look at the Bible and you look at the Apostle Paul and you look at the early church and you look at Acts chapter 8, after the persecution, everywhere they went, miracles happened. In the darkest hour on the planet, it should be the brightest light for the church to be shone. And I'm glad that conferences like this last week are not just there to have a bit of time together and some time out, but hope...

hopefully to draw us closer to Jesus and in our walk with him. Thursday night I spoke on personal revival. I didn't get through the whole message.

But what I believe is God plants seeds in people's lives. And those seeds begin to germinate and people start to feel, hey, I want to be in personal revival. And some of the comments from some of you have been so touching in seeing your hunger to respond in personal revival. On Friday night I spoke on reason versus revelation and especially in a place like Canberra.

My prayer is that the church of Jesus will not rise up just in intellect and just have head knowledge but be the kind of church that knows the revelation of God and move forward. The building that we have back in Adelaide that John was part of didn't come to us because we had the smarts but a moment of revelation broke through a miracle. I've seen miracle after miracle after miracle because of the revelation from God. And so I've been tossing on what to speak this morning as a continuance of our time together.

And I want to share a truth with you that has been such an important part of my life and the life of the church that I led for so many years. And again, it was a moment of revelation. In fact, as I look back over 30 years of Edge Life, it was the moments of revelation that brought about the miracles that now we look back. on and go wow look at what God did and this was one of those moments and the reason why I want to share it with you is I believe it's a take-home message now when my mum was alive every Sunday we'd have Italian lunch At my mum's house, you could smell the sauce cooking as you drove up the driveway.

The food was amazing and there was always too much. And the kids would get in there and she'd be cooking the sauce for the pastor and our kids were so hungry they'd be getting bread and dipping it in the sauce. And it was an incredible time but there was always so much food that we would take home enough to last us the next week. And if you're an Italian... And even if you're not, you ought to try this.

If you cook pasta on a Sunday and there's leftover and you fry it in a frying pan on Monday with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of butter and it gets a bit crispy, the noodles get a bit crispy. Are you getting hungry? Around the edges. It tastes better reheated.

My prayer is that what we get on a Sunday... will taste better on Monday. Excuse me. Sorry, I need some water.

Sorry, I didn't think I would. I had the flu. I opened the window and influenza.

Messages on a Sunday. Thank you, brother. I should have said yes the first time. Should taste better Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

And so it is my heart and passion when I share the word of God that's become alive in me and real to me, that I can share it with others and you can taste it again on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. This story began a few years ago. when I was in Scotland and we'd been preaching in Scotland and we're about to go back to London and then fly to Sweden and I'd already been on the road nearly four weeks.

I was traveling with a friend and the elevator broke in the little pub type hotel we were staying in and so we had to walk down four flights of stairs but I had a big suitcase and as I come down to about the second floor my suitcase broke. And all the clothes fell out. It's amazing what you can shove in there, but when you open it, it all comes falling out. And then you can't get it back in.

And I'm on my knees in front of this broken suitcase, and these words come out of my mouth. I want to go home. I've had enough.

I want to go home. And as I'm on my knees, the Holy Spirit said, do you know how many Christtians halfway through their walk with me say, I've had enough. The stuffing's coming out of my life and I don't know how to patch it all up again. I never thought, and don't take this as an angry statement or an aggressive thought, but I never thought I'd see so many Christtian families break up.

So many Christtian families go, we've had enough. I never thought I'd live to see that. to see that day and I'm there trying to put some duct tape or whatever you call it duct tape they call it yeah to try to fix somebody had some in their bag trying to fit couldn't fix my suitcase our driver who lived down the road said to me you're not going to believe this I bought a brand new suitcase the other day and I'm only around the corner I'll go and get it it's bigger than this one and he comes back with a brand new suitcase and I was able to put all my gear in there and the holy spirit said I don't do patch-up jobs you I don't do patch-up jobs, I make new creations, you know, I give new beginnings, I give new life and I was so tired and exhausted and the Holy Spirit's taking that moment to speak to me and if I'd gone home I wouldn't have experienced a group of 3,000 people in Sweden where this group of churches was so discouraged because there was no new generations coming through. And I remember the Holy Spirit saying to me, I want you to get every person under 30 at this conference to come and stand at the front.

And the conference was shocked at how many young people were there. And then I got the older generation to come and hug them. And then I got the generations to pray for each other.

And a move of God broke out. Sometimes before a move of God comes, you get that feeling, I've had enough. The stuffing's falling out of your life.

I'm glad I hadn't given up. I'm glad God gave me a new suitcase and I'm glad I got to go to that place and see a move of God and two years later many of those young people planted churches through Europe. The enemy comes in. A couple of nights ago in the hotel I knew the enemy came in to attack me. The enemy does come in but we don't have to give up and we can say God I am going to finish my race.

My greatest desire is I want to finish my race strong. And so I finished that trip and a couple of weeks later I'm now in Africa and I'm actually now in Zimbabwe with World Vision and we had services where people walked for two hours to get there. No air conditioning, no...

Unbelievable music other than the music that came from their singing, which was incredible. I've got videos of it. And on my way home, I'm on the tarmac in Johannesburg, ready to come home to Australia.

and I said to God and please don't take this as a again a negative thing but I said to God I said how come in Australia if it's a little bit cold people stay home if it's a little bit too hot there's not enough air conditioning people have a plan B and church sort of fits into that their lifestyle where here I saw people that have got nothing celebrate you as a priority no matter what to come together on time to worship God and I'm going what's happening to our western world and by the way soon as I land landed in Sydney and went into the Qantas Club, front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, 11-year-old kids in Australia on Prozac depression medication. The lucky country. But I've just come from Africa where we gave the kids two dollar frisbees and they laughed and smiled and were happy and they were enjoying and we live in this great country where kids get what they want, everybody gets what they want and yet it doesn't satisfy. that need and so I said Lord what is it even in the church I said what is it in the church Lord that that happens that that somehow we don't really maximize this walk with you and this is what comes into my head and when something smarter than I can think of comes into my head it's probably God he said we don't go on the full journey of faith We don't go on the full journey of faith.

And I said, Lord, what's the full journey of faith? I had a pad in my shirt pocket and a pen, and I wrote these words down, which I won't show them yet. I'll show them in a minute.

gave me seven patterns which I'm going to leave with you today and I ask you to judge it I ask you to look at it because let me tell you if we embrace the full journey of faith not only will we endure to the end we will enjoy our Christtian walk. I want to enjoy my Christtian walk. I don't want to just endure it. A scripture we've often heard thousands of times if you've been in church, 2 Timothy 4, 6 to 8. As for me, this is the Apostle Paul, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God.

The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight. Ladies and gentlemen, life is a fight. You just choose whether you're going to fight the good one or the wrong one. We can fight the fight of reason and do things according to the flesh and end up in a miserable place.

Or we can fight the good fight and pay the price. I said to someone one day, we've got to pray the price and faith the facts. And so we fight the good fight. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race and I have remained faithful, full of faith.

And I thought, God, I want that. this crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give me on the day of his return and the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing and I remember praying God I want to fight the good fight when my son passed away when my other son broke when I got cancer those moments were fights They were sad, sad times, but I had to make a choice. Will I fight the wrong fight, blame God, get angry at the church for not being there or whatever, or will I fight the good fight?

Will I have... Will I finish the race? And when will I remain faithful? And so that day on the tarmac, and by the way, when you get off a plane, you can say tarmac, but when you get on a plane, don't say hijack. Sorry.

Sorry, they get worse. So here are the seven stages of the journey of faith that the Lord showed me that I've had to live. When he showed it to me, it was a good sermon to... preach but now all these years later it's a lifestyle i've had to learn to live and i want to leave these with you and i want you to take them home and i want you to write them and and even when we did this in our church it became our new christians class it became a journey for our church we took a couple of years in these seven steps and it touched my heart that people would come up to me in church and go pastor danny i think i'm in stage three or i'm in stage five or i'm in stage two and so here we go number one if we i think we'll have it on screen here we are you can write them all down there's seven of them stage one is comfort stage two is connection stage three is cause and I will explain in a moment stage four is commitment stage five is crisis stage six is convictions and stage seven is consistency and I know it's God because they all start with C and so here we go so number one comfort what does that mean I'm glad the gospel is good news I grew up in a church where I thought God hated me because it was always you're never good enough for God and you're a sinner but I'm glad that I discovered the comfort of the gospel that the gospel comforts us it's good news for God so loved the world and I remember when I had my own revelation of the comfort of the gospel John chapter 10 verse 10 the thief's purpose is to steal kill and destroy but my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life I used to hear sermons about surrender and And sermons about, you know, lay your life down and you've got to be prepared to do whatever God wants. I learned to love Africa so God wouldn't send me there.

Because I thought if I don't want to go somewhere, he'll send me there. I hate Africa. I hate going to Africa. Well, then God will send me there. And I had this wrong twisted picture of who God was.

And I'm glad there came a time in my early years that I discovered the comfort of knowing that God's got a plan for me. I remember my wife when we first got married was baby. babysitting a little girl her name was Enya she was three years old and she was singing with an ice cream cone in her hand in front of the tv watching veggie tales and she was singing what we know as Jeremiah 29 11 God's got a plan for my life she's singing with a lisp God's got a plan for my life and I'm stressed to the max and I'm walking past her as she's singing and the Holy Spirit said this If I've got a plan for your life, I don't forget it. If I have a plan for your life, I don't lose it. We quote scriptures like God's got a plan for my life.

Well, he doesn't forget it. He doesn't lose it. And if we understand his love and his desire to want the best for us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be subtracted from you.

No, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added. I discovered serving Jesus that a surrendered life is an extended life. What am I missing out on? Frying my brains on drugs?

Not being faithful in a marriage? Turning to alcohol because I lost a son and can't handle the pain? What does the world have that I could possibly want?

No purpose, no sense of destiny. No promise of life after death. If the world knew how comforting the good news of Jesus is, we'd be running to him.

We're paying. Some people go, oh, I don't believe in tithing. I'm just throwing this in there. Do you know if you serve the devil, you triple tithe?

Start thinking of how much cigarettes cost right now. Start thinking about how much people have to spend to feel good. what things they have to put into their life to find themselves.

I'd hate to think of all the money spent on plastic surgery. And you think the good news of Jesus doesn't bring control. It brings comfort, the comfort of the gospel. And then if you have a revelation of that, you go to stage two. No, can we still have the...

Original slide, please. Sorry. And we'll bring the other one up in a minute. Stage two is connection. Once you have a revelation of who Jesus is, you connect to other believers.

I've never seen people that like to go to the pub to booze up saying, do I have to go tonight? Gee whiz, here we go again. Another meeting at the pub. People want to be with the people they love. They want to be with the people that do life the way they do it.

The church is not an institution. The church is a people. And when we are comforted by this amazing news, we connect with other people that share that same value, that same good news, and I call that the church.

But listen. In, I'm 68 and in the last 50 years it breaks my heart to see Christtians that never go past stage two. When they're comforted, they're happy. When they're connected, but then, oh, they have an issue in the church, they get disconnected and they disappear.

And people go from stage one to stage two, stage one to stage two, stage one to stage two. And then they go and divorce a church and then marry another church. And stage one, stage two, stage one, stage two. But the secret is moving on from just the connection and going to stage three, the cause of Jesus Christt.

That's why I love the church with all its faults, because I don't serve the church, I serve the cause of Jesus Christt through the church because the gospel has comforted me. And I'm on that tarmac and I'm writing this down and I'm going, wow, I'd never thought of this. The cause of Jesus Christt is, is he God?

Is he who he said he was? If there was no resurrection, choose your religion. I'm in church the other day with Tony Rainbow in Adelaide and he's got long hair. And I'm standing next to him and someone went up to him and said, Tony, you look just like Jesus. And I turned around and I said, no, I just look like Buddha.

And they burst out laughing. Choose your religion, whatever you're into. Show me someone else that rose from the dead.

Anybody can die for a cause. If all Jesus had done was die, so what? Others can die too for a cause.

But he rose from the dead. And the fruit of that means I don't just love the connection with the church, I embrace the cause of Jesus Christt. Now when you embrace the cause, you live with amazing purpose.

You don't live just to help out. You don't just do rosters. You give your life.

You give your life and I don't work a day in my life. Absolutely Romans 12. And why? Because I live for the cause of Jesus Christt and God is about to release his church, not just on pulpits, behind pulpits, but giving every believer a platform to live for the cause.

We've got people marching on streets that don't have a cause, but they join what they think is a cause and they protest and they don't even know what they're talking about. There's something inside of all of us. We want to fight for a cause.

We want to be involved in a cause. And I'm grateful. I've got the greatest cause on earth, the cause of Jesus Christt, the gospel of Jesus. And when you get hold of a cause, it's not a position, but be positioned by God. be positioned by God in the society you know at the age of early 20s when I received a call from God while I was working in a menswear store and by the way it was in that menswear store that I got to lead people to Christt brought people to our home I didn't have the title Pastor Danny you know it's interesting you don't walk down the street and say hello I'm plumber John hello I'm electrician Peter Hey, I'm Pastor Danny.

Call me anything you like, just don't call me late for dinner. But you know, my name is Danny and I do the work of pastoring, but every one of us is called. Everyone in this room is called and I received the call and I remember telling the story the other night of when I got on the bus. And God had been speaking all day through pastors that had visited me, Pastor Freddie Evans, who said, you know, there's a call of God on your life to be in church ministry. That just happened to be the call for me.

Your call is different. We all got different callings. And I got on the bus. and the bus ticket said on the back whatever's around the corner God's already there I was preaching in Adelaide last year and talking on a different subject but I used this illustration and I said you know we all live called And we are all people that need to find our purpose. Because when you live with the cause, that becomes your purpose and your vision.

And I talked about that day when I turned the bus ticket over on the bus. Sitting in that meeting was the best man at my wedding. I didn't know he was there. I get a phone call from him and he goes, you're going to get a present this week in the mail. And that week I got this book in the mail called Talking Tickets.

This book is a book. book about the man who wrote those sayings on the tickets 940 000 lives recorded changed lives by reading what was on the back of a ticket the one i got if god is around the corner whatever's around the corner god's already there is here in this book And as this book landed in my letterbox and I started to read it, 940,000 people in Adelaide who would catch trams and they would catch buses and on the... back of the ticket there'd be these sayings in this book is story after story of people getting on the tram in adelaide victoria square to go to glenelge beach it's probably a 20 minute tram ride to jump off the jetty and commit suicide and by turning the back of the ticket and reading the hope on the back of that ticket they changed their mind and gave their lives to God.

The man that wrote this book was a businessman, but he never stood on a platform and preached. But how many of you know he preached? Because he reached.

And in that sense, every one of us in this room, we have been given eternal life. We've been given salvation. We have had the comfort.

We've had the connection. But boy, let's go to stage three and embrace the cause of Jesus Christt. Because that's where the power starts to flow.

That's where revival week anointing can take place in our lives. And so what happens is once you embrace the cause, you go to stage four. And you make a commitment.

But when you make a commitment, you're not making it to the church. Once you've embraced the cause, your commitment's to the cause. So when someone offends you in your department or creative ministry, something happens and someone, well, I didn't get that opportunity, I'm out of here. No, if you've embraced the cause, your commitment is not just to a role, but it's to the God.

who died for us and rose again for us. I remember John might have been around in the first years of our church. I spoke a message on seven young ladies you should never take out on a date. I don't know if you remember that, John.

Misunderstanding. quotation misrepresentation and in all our lives will be misunderstood in all our lives there'll be opportunity to be offended do you know god will always allow you to be offended until you're not not offendable because it's part of our growth and so I want to encourage you capital edge and I believe the spirit is in this house how long have you been here pastor John 17 years thank you for not divorcing and remarrying divorce and I believe in transfer growth because sometimes God will have to bring people into your midst because that's where they can grow best so I'm not against transfer and growth but it's got to be transforming growth it's got to bring transformation because some people won't survive in certain places but can i thank you for your faithfulness and i do sense john and edie i sense that you you're not you haven't even fully stepped into your destiny then i think this has been preparation I think there's so much more to come and God is going to bring loyal people around you. They're going to love your transparency but they're also going to love your authenticity. And I believe God wants to do something in this place.

I have been praying in the room and I believe that even the next revival week and all those things coming are going to be coming, take us to another level of equipping the body. Because God wants to do something in the capital city of our nation that has not been done before. And it can't be done by church politics. It can't be done by denominationalism. It can't be done by any of that.

It's got to be a surrendered group of people that are willing to go on the journey of faith and see God touch. and we're going to see other states come here to pray but not just because we're going to rub shoulders with government or whatever but it's the body coming together to intercede and go into spiritual warfare for our nation can you give the lord a hand of praise for that today so stage four you make a commitment now once you make a commitment the devil doesn't like you Someone said to me, Pastor Danny, is speaking in tongues the original evidence of being filled with the Spirit? I said, definitely not. And they go, really? I said, what is?

I said, trouble. You stay churchian and the devil won't bother you too much. But you stay Christtian, Christt follower, not just church goer, and the enemy doesn't like it, and every Christtian will... time of stage five will go through these three things that I've preached all my life where God will reveal something to you that he wants you to do and then everything goes into reverse it's like the very thing that God put in your heart now is attacked from every level until you realize was you come to a point you go i don't know if that even was god and you get to a point where you surrender you go god it's not about me it's not about what i want to do it's about surrendering to you and then god says okay you've passed the test now it's released back to you it's called the reveal reverse release and it happened to jesus filled with the holy spirit revealed led into the wilderness to be what tested reversal passes the test and comes back in verse 18 of luke 4 and goes the spirit of the lord is upon me because ladies and gentlemen this morning god wants us to have the right because The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I want to prove to everybody that I'm better.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I want to know. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He's anointed me. We've had appointing in this nation for the last 30 years and very little anointing. And God's bringing the anointing back.

He's bringing lordship, not just leadership. And that's what's coming back. But we've got to handle crisis. But once you handle crisis, it's in your crisis.

When my son died, it was crisis. And I had to work out what are my non-negotiable convictions. Because I've got to have non-negotiable convictions. See, I've never believed that Jesus will heal everybody. I've never believed that some of the stuff that's being preached that's scripture out of context we live on a fallen planet And the planet is cursed.

But our spirit is not. And when we're born again, our spirit becomes new. But we're still on a fallen planet. That's why the two photos you saw today. I blame the fallen planet.

And when I get to heaven, I'm going to find Adam if he's there and slap him. And Eve. Not really.

But otherwise, the minute you become a Christtian. you should stop aging that minute you should stop because we're no longer under the curse but we shouldn't die either and i've had to do the funerals of some of the most beautiful christians on the planet and i've had super spirit christians saying they died out of the will of god we've got to stop that kind of carry on because we live on a fallen planet and god's sovereignty chooses whether sometimes he intervenes he can he can heal i pray for the sick all the time My son died, but I still pray for the sick. And I've prayed for nearly 3,000 now people that have lost their children. Only last week, two weeks ago in England, I'm telling a bit of our story.

They asked me to, and a man comes forward. He said, I've lost both my sons with cancer. A 40-year-old son and a 50-year-old son.

There's always someone that's gone through worse than you. But I could cry with him. I could feel the pain. But there he is still worshipping God.

Because in our crisis, we work out what our real convictions are. And when I lost my son, it didn't change the resurrection of Jesus Christt being real. When I lost my son, it didn't change the supernatural way God called me into the ministry.

And I've got the story to tell. When my son died, miracle after miracle of God, when I went to Bible college in 1983 and running out of food and saying to my wife, what are we going to do? And there's a knock at the door.

I had too many stories of his miraculous power in my life to throw away what I don't understand, everything that I know, to be God. Because your conviction... Conflictions are developed out of your crisis and then you can live a life of consistency. So when I married Jesus, it was for better for worse.

For richer for poorer. In sickness and in health. Forsaking all other gods. I will stay married to you by your grace helping me do that.

And as I've said, I mentioned it the other night at many youth camps, where I'd say to young people, if you're married to Jesus, he'll never divorce you, because he signed the wedding certificate with his blood. And I remember writing these things down on the plane. We hadn't even taken off. yet and I wrote these seven things and I go God I know the comfort of the gospel I know that I'm connected to beautiful Christtians around the world that carry the same convictions but God I know that you saved me and I And I know when it happened. And the cause of who you are doesn't matter what happens in the politics in Australia.

Doesn't matter if another crisis comes or we get another COVID or whatever. It doesn't change my love for the cause of Jesus Christt because I can't deny it. And then you make a commitment that's a life commitment.

You will handle crisis. I've had my son Michael in hospital. Three times in the last... 12 months and on a couple occasions it was touch and go he got sepsis nearly died and in my head I'm going what happens if I lose another son am I going to say that's enough stuff this Or is he still God?

At what point does he stop being God? And so we need the kind of faith where our convictions will lead us to a life of consistency. And I was about to put the pad away and listen to this. The Lord said, let me show you what each one of those steps reveals.

So if we can put the other slide up. The comfort of the gospel reveals the love of Christt. The connection reveals the church. The cause reveals the cross of Jesus Christt that he died for us. And of course, the resurrection.

Our commitment will bring us into community. Not just the community of the church, but our commitment makes us connected to our communities. I meet with non-Christtian people all the time because I'm not just called to serve the church. I'm called to serve the Bibles written for the world. it's not just written for the church your gifts are not given to you just for church the gifts that are inside of you and inside of me are given to us to be in community and make a difference i have led more non-christians to christ since my son died than before when people have said how can you still believe in god And after losing your son by being killed by a lightning strike at a youth camp.

I haven't got time to show you this morning, but on my phone, I have the last message my son was going to preach the day he died. Ten o'clock in the morning, he went out in his car and started to write a message to preach that night. 2.30 in the afternoon, he got killed.

And we found the message on the front seat of his car, written by hand. There are storms out there. There are storms out there. There are clouds, it's dark, what's your God's perspective?

What are you going to do? And finishes the sermon, keep your eyes on eternity and died 2.30 that afternoon. After he died a few weeks later I went to visit his kids. One of my grandchildren said, Nono will you come and pray for us?

as we go to bed. Our son Christ had written a special prayer for each one of his children and it was framed, written by hand, sitting next to their bed. As I started to read and on the walls were posters, heaven is our home. He'd been teaching his kids about eternity as if he knew, who knows. And as I knelt down next to Elijah He was only 11 at the time and I started to read his dad's prayer.

I couldn't finish it. I just couldn't stop crying and I got up and I walked out and as I walked out I said I'm sorry Ligey I need some time. He got out of bed and followed me down the hallway and he put his hand on my back. He goes don't cry Nono, don't cry Nono, heaven is our home. Heaven is our home.

He's 18 now, moving to Canberra in a couple of weeks. Going to join the Air Force. But loves Jesus with all his heart. Loves Jesus with all his heart. His brother, 22 now, came to pray for my dad the other day because my dad's on his last legs really.

Starts praying in tongues over my dad. 22 years old. Lost his dad when he was 14. I'm so glad.

that crisis next one develops our character we can take crisis and fall apart or we can let crisis build our character and when we do that out of the crisis our convictions are established and what happens is they become our credentials nobody cares how many years or not or not a bible school i did Nobody's going to care what degrees I've got. They just watch your life and realise, is it real? And I'm spending time with non-Christtians. And as I share how God helped me, I remember one day kneeling down by the bed and I said, God, I don't even know where to start reading the Bible.

What happens if I find a scripture that you're my protector and my son died? And I said, God, he was 39 years old. God, will you mind if I just go to Psalm 39? The Psalm of his age, and maybe there's a verse there.

I need something. And I go to Psalm 39. You can go and read it. Verse 4. Lord, show me how short my life on earth will be.

My life is but a breath. We're just a passing shadow, yet we will trust you. And I'm reading this, and you've heard me share this before, I'm sure. I knelt down by my bed and I said, Jesus, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, but I trust you.

And in my head came a voice, and I trust you. And I said, God, you trust me with what? Don't you think I knew when I called you that you were going to lose a son?

Don't you think I knew that? Don't you think I knew one would break? Don't you think I knew you would get cancer?

But I trust you. And I said, Lord, what with? He said, to finish your race. to finish your race strong.

You see, because out of crisis, your convictions are developed and they become our credentials. My credentials isn't a piece of paper on a wall. My credentials this morning.

I want the musicians to come think. you my credentials are really my convictions the things that are no plan b no no no no I have family members who blame God for our son dying it's not doing any good for them. They're not getting anywhere with that kind of pain.

Do I feel the pain? Some of you may remember a man's name called Ray Bevan. Travelled to this country for many, many years, a friend of ours.

As I got off the platform here on Friday night, I get a text that his son had just died. 50 years old, just died in his chair while he was painting a painting. I was able to immediately go back to the hotel and get on the phone and ring Ray Bevan in Wales and soon as he heard the phone ring he answered the phone.

He goes I'm not up to answering phones but I'm taking your call. You know my pain. We cried together.

The pain comes back. You feel it. Guess what?

He's preaching this morning. It'll be tonight our time in the UK. He's going, no devil is going to cast me down. I'm going to get up and preach in my pain and I'm going to declare the goodness of God.

Friends, no religion will do that for you. No religion. But when we know the comfort that we find Christt and we find our connection in God's family with all its problems and then we embrace the cause of Jesus through the work of the cross that we celebrated in communion today, we make a commitment that brings us into community. as authentic Christtians. Authentic Christtians.

Crisis will develop our character. Our convictions will determine what our real credentials are. And our consistency will take us to the completion of our faith. I'm not smart enough to come up with that.

That was a moment of revelation. But it's become application. And as we close today, there's two types of people I'd like to pray for.

Number one. You might be here and you've never started a journey of faith. You've never known how much God loves you. You've never known that He loves you.

He died for you. And yes, life is not guaranteed that it will always be perfect, but it will be worth it because He will be with you in every step. His love will never leave you.

I've never felt unloved by God. And you're here today and you've never become a follower of Jesus, never. And you're checking this place out today or you've come a few times. I'd love you to take a step of trusting God. And the Bible says God won't push himself on us, but he says if we, in our hearts, believe, wow, this is true, God is real.

And we're prepared to make a commitment to that. You can start this journey. Doesn't happen overnight, but you can start an amazing journey.

While every head's bowed and every eye closed, if you're here today and you think, I don't have that faith, I don't have that knowledge of God, I don't have that certainty that God is real, but I certainly would like to start that journey, I would absolutely love to pray with you this morning. Not embarrass you, but pray with you. If you are here and you're in that posture, would you slip up your hand wherever you are if you want me to pray for you? And I'd love to pray for you this morning. If there's anyone here this morning that go, Danny, I want to go on that journey of faith.

It scares me a bit. I don't understand it all. But I'd like to start even having a conversation. If there's anyone, it's a bit dark. I can't see real well.

But if there's anyone, I can't, yeah. Don't f***. think there is but if there is come and talk to me afterwards as soon as the meeting's finished I'll be down here I'll sit with you I'll talk with you because this is not a gimmick it's the true gospel second group of people is there's many of us and I've been there and it's like you've been in stage one and you've been in stage two and at times you've been in the other stages but I saw a picture when I was praying in the room today this morning that it's a bit like you've just stepped aside a bit it's not a big deal you're saved but this morning the holy spirit's talking to you and saying get back on the journey of faith get back on board do the full journey don't get discouraged don't step aside don't some of you have put your gifts on hold you've put a lot of stuff on hold the pressure of life and we're going to stand and we're going to worship and again it's no big deal to me but if you feel you need to get back on that journey For some of you, you're just going to take this home and work your way through it.

But for some of you this morning, you might need to make a declaration to God and come and stand at this altar and say, God, I want to be back on the journey. I don't want to stay off to the side. I want to be on the journey of faith.

Shall we stand this morning? And I'd love to pray with you. Just give you a hug and pray with you.

If you say, Pastor Danny, I need the Holy Spirit to help me. I want to finish. You can decide this morning to do the full journey of faith. I've made that decision in my life, no matter what, I'm going to finish this journey of faith.

Some of you need to declare it this morning to God and say, God, you've got me. I'm going to finish my journey of faith and just come and stand at this altar as a sign. I'm in God. I'm in. Thank you, brother.

Bless you. Let's sing. And I'll just open up the altar.

Transcript for:Capital Edge - 11 August 2024

Transcript for:
Capital Edge - 11 August 2024