Fall, Sit, Go

I mentioned the other day how one of our prayers has been that God will bring us in touch with people in an ever-increasing circle now around the world, particularly through the Internet. Many of you may not know that we have more than 1,000 messages on YouTube alone on different subjects and anyone who has access to the Internet has only got to put my name and a subject and you get all the messages on that subject, on marriage, on sex, on love, and grace, faith, anything, humility. And there are people around the world who are listening to these things and who are being gripped by truths that they've never heard.

We praise God for that, the outreach of what started as a small church here and God has taken that across. We don't take any credit for it. We don't want a glory in it.

We don't ask anybody to give us money. God has provided us enough. We have a rich Heavenly Father who takes care of all that expensive ministry over the Internet.

It's very, very expensive, but God takes care of it all and we give glory to God for that because it is His work. Many times I fall on my face and say, Lord, this is not my work. I've got nothing to do with it.

It's your work. You're the proprietor, owner. You do your work and it's amazing to see how He reaches out to people because He sees the needy hearts around the world.

You know how a telephone goes up to a satellite up in the sky and reaches out to somebody in some other corner of the world? That's how we pray and God reaches out to someone out there in that corner and brings us in touch with each other, just like your telephone goes through a satellite and brings you in touch with somebody in the other part of the world. Imagine how God can do that. You must pray that your life will be such a witness for Christ, that God can take your prayer and through you reach people around the world.

He wants to do that and so this morning Sandeep Poonen will speak. He also happens to be my son, but he's my brother in Christ primarily. God gave him grace to start a church in California, which is one part of America which has got people of many, many cultures.

That's a church with about 40 adults and 30 children. There are a couple of interesting things about that church. In a small church like that, there are 13 different cultures.

There are what we call white American is a Caucasian culture and then Hispanics, which are people from Central America and South America and then Ethiopian, Chinese, Eritrean, African-American, Filipino, British from England, Brazilian and then from Indian cultures Telugu, Tamil, Malayali, Gujarati all in one church. I'm excited about that because that's a local church, typical of the locality. It's not one community.

It's people of different languages. Sandeep has trained up two others to be his fellow elders and they're the most amazing elders I have met who are under 35 years of age. Both of them did not have any connection with CFC, but they've in a very short time been gripped by the truths that they've heard.

Jeremy and Bobby McDonnell Hill. It's amazing to see how you can go to their website, New Covenant Christian Fellowship, NCCF Church, and you can listen to them. Listen to them and see if you agree with me.

There's such revelation on things which they have heard for such a short time. That teaches me one thing that it's not by a long study. I'm going for hundreds of conferences.

It's by revelation. God gives grace to the humble. So it's wonderful to see how God is doing this type of work in different parts of the world.

We pray that they've been gripped by the body of Christ and in their Sunday mornings they have other brothers and sisters also sharing in their meetings. I'm praying that there'll be many many little little groups. We're not looking for large numbers.

I think the early church, because they couldn't build meeting halls, they met in homes. I wonder if there was any church in the early 1st century that had more than 50 people in it. Because they were not all rich people.

They didn't have big huge homes to meet in. I sometimes think that the ideal size of a church is what was there on the day of Pentecost. 120 people.

You know one another. Unfortunately we have to have larger churches today for one reason. Because we don't have enough shepherds.

That's the only reason why a church becomes larger. If we had enough shepherds we could have many many churches of 120 people. Why aren't there many shepherds? Jesus himself looked with grief over people in his time and said there were sheep without a shepherd, as we heard the other day.

He said pray that there will be more shepherds. I believe that's the greatest need. Shepherds who have the care of the sheep, not hirelings who take a whip.

We have seen in the streets of Bangalore people who drive sheep. They're not shepherds. They're just taking to the slaughterhouse to kill them, to sell them.

And there are shepherds like that who take a whip and Sunday morning they whip everybody. You're not doing this, you're not doing that and chasing everybody. That's leading to the slaughterhouse.

Jesus said the good shepherd goes in front of the sheep. He leads by example and he says to me follow me as I follow Christ. And what he shares is what he's judged himself in.

You see when you preach what you have judged yourself in, you can preach with compassion. But if you think all these guys are all wrong in all these things as if you don't have the same flesh, then you preach with hardness. There's a difference between divine strictness and fleshly hardness.

And you can sense it. God is very strict. There's no one stricter than God.

But his strictness comes out of love. But as a fleshly hardness is the mark comes out from a man who's not judged himself and who imagines that other people have sins that he doesn't have in his flesh. Other people have weaknesses that it's impossible for him to have and they fall in areas where he never falls.

One of the great revelations, two great revelations we need. One, that Jesus came in our flesh like us, was tempted like us. And the second, that every human being has got the same flesh.

The worst terrorist and suicide bomber in the world does not have a flesh different from mine. He has the same flesh as me. And maybe his background, his surroundings were different.

So he grew up to be a suicide bomber. I had better parents, better surroundings. So never despise anyone.

No shepherd. Nobody can be a shepherd if he despises people. So we pray that there'll be more shepherds in him.

I encourage you to bear that in mind. Sandeep. Pleasure to be here.

I want to speak today on living with the resurrected Jesus Christ. Have you ever wondered what you would do if you saw Jesus Christ? I'm not talking about the person Jesus who lived while here on earth. What if you were to meet him and he were to come to see you tonight, the resurrected Jesus Christ? Would you run away from him? Would you run to him and embrace him? Would you be quiet? Would you have a lot of things to excitedly tell him or to ask him? I asked myself that and I looked at Scripture and I noticed some things about responding to the resurrected Jesus.

So I wanted to share with you some of the things that I saw that helped bless me. The first thing that I saw was from Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1 verse 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as a dead man and he laid his right hand upon me saying do not be afraid for I'm the first and the last.

Who's the one who's writing this? This is John the Apostle. He had leaned on Jesus's breast. He was physically very close to Jesus when he was here on earth.

He was a man who had stood faithfully to God for over 50 years since the day of Pentecost. History tells me that he had been thrown in a in a hole, a huge jar of oil and somehow survived boiling oil and he was writing this from the island of Patmos where he was exiled because of his stand for Jesus. And it says in verse 10 that he was in the spirit on the Lord's Day.

He was not grumbling and complaining or pouting asking God why he was exiled. He was in the spirit. He was in the best physical and spiritual position he could be in.

One who had been faithfully. He was a saint. One of the greatest saints who's ever lived.

But when he saw the resurrected Jesus, he fell at the feet of Jesus as a dead man. And you see that this isn't just a religious act. This was a response and we see that what he saw about Jesus.

You see in verse 14 and 15. His head and his hair were white like white wool. This is talking about Jesus.

Like snow and his eyes were like a flame of fire and his feet were like burnished bronze. Would have been caused to glow in a furnace and his voice was like the sound of many waters. That's Revelation 1 14 and 15.

He saw the eyes of Jesus that were flaming fire and he saw a purity that was completely different from his own purity. This man who had lived faithful to Jesus for 50 years. He saw the feet of Jesus that was bronzed like burning in a furnace.

He saw the sufferings of Jesus. Not just the sufferings of Jesus on the cross, but throughout his life. And this man who had been faithful for 50 years still saw something that was completely different.

He heard the voice of Jesus and he heard a voice of authority. And so his response was to fall on his face like a dead man. And that's the question that I was asking myself when I saw that response of a godly man to the resurrected Jesus.

And I asked myself will I fall on my face like a dead man? Now it's one thing we may do that if we see Jesus physically, but I asked myself spiritually can I be like that as one who has that posture that when I interact with Jesus Christ the resurrected Jesus because he lives I can face tomorrow. It's my first response to fall at his feet like a dead man. And I was wondering why I don't do that regularly.

And I see that in myself that I don't know if I regularly stand amazed in the presence of Jesus. Because I don't recognize that without Jesus I'm one who's condemned and unclean. One of my favorite songs, I'm sure it's one of yours too, is Amazing Grace.

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And I'll tell you to be honest for the past few months I've been meditating on that because I don't like the word wretch. I grew up in a church so I know the word sinner.

And I've gotten comfortable to knowing yes I'm a sinner, all I've sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But when you immediately tell me you're a wretch, I'm not initially thinking that's who I am. I'm a wretch.

I like a nicer title like sinner. And I wonder if that's why I don't see the relative beauty of Jesus in his purity. And when I see okay Lord I've been faithful with my eyes in this level of purity or something like that.

I've not gone to this website or that website. I'm trying to turn away my eyes from this and that. Still I don't see the eyes of Jesus in a completely different purity.

If I did all of my righteousness would still be like filthy rags and I would fall at his feet like a dead man. And that's what I saw that I needed to see how much of a wretch I was in order to have that response in my inner life. The great wretchedness that I had.

But it's not just the great wretchedness because that's just a negative. But I've seen that the more wretched that I see I am, the Lord is also telling me this is how great the riches of my grace is. If you were here and God Christ is here, that's the distance of his grace.

But if you could see Sandeep how much of a wretch you were and you keep digging lower and see how filthy you were, you'll also see from Scripture that not only are you such a horrible wretch, but that's the distance of the riches of his grace. In the book of Ephesians multiple times Paul appeals, talks about the riches of his grace that he poured out. He just took a big bucket and poured it on me.

The riches of his grace. But I don't see that. Maybe because I don't see myself as a wretch.

And as I see that, then I'm able to be more thankful and I'm able to see Jesus as a hero. But if I think lightly of the immense kindness of God, then I find it difficult to repent. I think I'm okay.

I think I'm better than so many other people so I just relax. And the other area then where I find that the reason why I don't fall on my feet is because I can be so busy with religious activity, busy with Bible study, busy with church, constantly gaining knowledge, but not using that knowledge to understand the big difference between me and the Lord. The big difference that there still is between me and the Lord.

So there's no loyalty, there's no change in a loyalty to Jesus, no change in my adoration to Jesus, no change in that fundamental virtue that Jesus is my hero. And I saw something from two women that showed me some of that difference. And that's from John chapter 11.

Please turn with me to John chapter 11. John chapter 11 is the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. And I see Mary and Martha both interacting with Jesus.

Remember they had sent a message, Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus saying, your friend, your brother Lazarus is sick. But Jesus delayed and didn't come till Lazarus had been raised from the dead, sorry had died and was four days dead. And then Jesus comes to Bethany.

And in verse 21 you see Martha coming out to Jesus. In fact in verse 20 you see that Mary stayed behind. Martha is the first to come to Jesus and she says verse 21, Martha therefore said to Jesus, Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.

And then she goes on and has a conversation. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give to you. And it goes on all the way through Jesus.

Jesus is responding to her and then Martha's going back and forth. All the way to verse 27. But when Mary comes to Jesus, you see in verse 32, therefore when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet saying to him, Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.

This was not a conversation. There's no more conversation. This was not Mary trying to engage in a conversation with Jesus.

This was just a cry of helpless desperation. It was a statement. And I asked myself, Lord when I come to you, do I want to have a conversation with you or do I just have a cry? Do I have an intellectual pursuit of constantly, well why this? Why that? How is this verse connected with that verse? Or underneath all of that, Lord Jesus, the bottom line is there's death in my life.

There's something that's dead and it's rotting. And Lord, I can have spent all my quiet time and all my time in Bible study investigating this or investigating that or I can just come to you and say, Lord if you can come to me, this death will come to life. I don't need to break it up and argue with the Lord.

And I find that you see in verse 33 that when Mary says that, Jesus is deeply moved. You can have a great conversation with Jesus and Jesus is not deeply moved. But when Mary just comes with a helpless cry and say, Lord if you'd been here or if you can come to my horrible mess in my life, there can be life.

Both say the exact same thing to Jesus. You see in verse 21 and verse 22, Martha and Mary say the exact same words to Jesus. One just becomes a conversation, another one becomes a cry that moves Jesus.

And Jesus obviously quickly moves and has Lazarus raised from the dead. I saw that there can be two people sitting in my church. There can be two people sitting here.

Both hear the same truths. Both can learn the exact same truths of the new covenant, how to pray, how to address God as our Father. We can say the exact same thing, but only one of us might come with genuine desperation where it's just a simple cry.

Another person is coming wanting to have a conversation with Jesus and an argument or a debate and wanting to find out all these intricate details. And only one moves the heart of Jesus. We know the story in Luke chapter 18 with the Pharisee and the publican.

And I think, I see it in my own life. I grew up in the church at CFC, so I've been trained to be not the Pharisee. I don't know if any of you would ever dare to pray like the Pharisee said.

Alright, thank you, I'm better than that other person. Thank you, I'm not that. We who sit in this church have been told at least a hundred times, don't ever speak like that.

But I wonder if there are two kinds of publicans. Two kind of publicans. One who says, Lord have mercy on me a sinner.

Another person is saying, Lord have mercy on me a sinner. But one is just a statement. One is just a conversation.

It's just a way of praying. And the other person though, it's actually a cry. And we see that among the two tax collectors, only one meets with Jesus.

Only one moves the heart of Jesus and their heart is blessed and they go home justified. We see that in Simon, the Pharisee and that woman who poured out that expensive perfume. Simon sitting there, reclining with Jesus on the table, having a good feast for Jesus.

But just sitting there, having a conversation with Jesus. And there's that other woman, the woman in the city, had nothing to offer. Pouring that perfume, that expensive perfume at the feet of Jesus and weeping.

One had a cry, another had a conversation. And I have to ask myself, Lord Jesus, when I interact with you, is my first response to fall on my face? Because what I have above all the questions that I have, why isn't this solved? Why is this problem not answered? Lord, I just have a cry. And I want to leave it at a cry.

I don't want to go into all the details of asking this, why and why that. Lord, I want to maintain most of all a cry. And as I see your life, and as I see my life, I see a big difference.

And all I have, Lord, is a cry saying, Lord, if you can come, this death can be brought to life. And I want to thank God for CFC for that. I would never have understood what worship was if I had not come to CFC, if I was not raised in CFC.

I heard over and over again what worshipping was. It had nothing to do with music. It was a falling on your face and having a cry that says, Lord, glorify your name.

Take whatever you need to take from my life. Whatever the cost is, Lord, you can have it. If you need to take any of my most precious assets, Lord, you can take it because you'll only take those assets if you know that it will glorify your name more through my life, my children, my wife, my house, my possessions.

Lord, you can have everything. That is true worship. Everything I have is yours because you're the one who first gave everything for me.

So all that I have is yours. I learned that in this pulpit. And I want to have that spirit of the woman who poured that alabaster vial of oil in Luke chapter 7, the woman of the sinner.

Oh, Mary too. She too. You see, after Lazarus was raised again, the next chapter in John chapter 12, she's pouring this expensive perfume, that which cost her something.

She learned what it meant to worship Jesus. So I'm thankful for that. That's that first word, to fall.

Fall at the feet of Jesus. The next thing that I want to talk about is to sit. You see in Revelation chapter 1, we read that right after John falls at the feet of Jesus as a dead man, Jesus raises him up and says, do not be afraid.

It's a very good thing. Jesus does not stop us from falling at his feet, but he doesn't want us to remain there. He wants to raise us up and say, do not be afraid.

He does not want us to be afraid of him where he is unapproachable. He wants to raise us up. He wants us to sit with him.

This was a big discovery I realized about that story of the publican and the Pharisee. Maybe we can quickly change there. Sorry, turn there.

Luke chapter 18. I talked about the story about the Pharisee and the tax collector, the publican. In Luke chapter 18, verse 9, it's where the story is.

And, and we know this story. I hope most of us who've been coming to CFC know the story of Luke chapter 18, verse 9, all the way through 14. And for many years, I knew the story.

But what I didn't know about the story was that the end of the story was in verse 14, not in verse 13. And I have to remind myself often that the end of the story is not the tax collector saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner, which is in verse 13. The end of the story is verse 14.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. Who left the temple with their head lifted up? Both did. But one had his head lifted up in pride, the Pharisee, thinking he was better.

But the tax collector also had his head lifted up when he left the temple because he went home justified. And I found that so many years of my life, I would pray and say, God be merciful to me, a sinner. But I didn't go to the end of the story.

I didn't accept the justification, the full, complete acceptance in the beloved, in Jesus Christ that I had with the Father. So I didn't accept the voice of Jesus after I fell at his feet that said, come on, come up higher. Don't stay there.

Stand up. Don't be afraid. I want to take you to the Father.

And when he asked us to sit, he asked us to sit on the lap of God. We know that in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 6, we heard yesterday that Jesus, we've been raised with Christ and seated in the heavenlies with him. Where is Jesus seated? We know from Hebrews that he's seated at the right hand of the Father.

But I saw this beautiful verse in John chapter 1 that showed me where at the right hand of the Father, Jesus was sitting. Where exactly? I used to picture a separate throne. I picture this huge throne of God.

And then you go over to the next huge throne and that's where Jesus was. But I saw this beautiful verse in John chapter 1, verse 18. No one has seen God at any time.

The only begotten God, this is Jesus who is in the lap of the Father. He has explained him. That's the Jesus who came down.

One who sat on the lap of the Father. And it's just a picture. But it was a beautiful picture of the intimacy that Jesus had with the Father and the message of intimacy that Jesus brought.

And that's the intimacy that I have in Christ, in the heavenlies, on the lap of the Father. When I go to the Father, where do I stand? When I go and I'm seated in the heavenlies, where do I stand? So where am I seated? Am I seated in the corner of heaven, far away from the great throne? Or have I seen the true justification of Jesus that says, come on, keep coming closer, past all the angels and come be seated on the lap of love. This is something that I have to have my eyes open to.

And in Revelation chapter 4, I wanted to point out these two things. As we sit on the lap of love, God being our loving heavenly Father is something that we've heard so much in this church. And us as young people need to really embrace that God is a loving Father and that we are fully justified whenever we come covered in the blood of Jesus.

But I see in Revelation chapter 4, I see this throne of God. This is the God that I interact with. And in verse 8, we see that the living creatures closest to the throne are crying out, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.

And they're saying that. They never cease to sing that. So what do I hear when I'm seated on the lap of love? What's the song that you hear when you sit on the lap of love? I'm not a pampered child.

I'm not a child who just God says, yeah, go do whatever you want. You know, I love you. Yeah, Jesus died for you.

Go do whatever you want. If I sit on the seat of on the lap of God Almighty, I must hear that song singing, holy, holy, holy. And then you go to the next chapter in Revelation chapter 5, we see that the wrath of God is going to be poured out among all the humans.

And we find that the person who could open the seal, the only person was this lamb. But when John goes to look at this lamb, he sees a lamb as if slain. What does a lamb look like that is slain? It's not a pretty white lamb.

It's a dead lamb. There's blood. It's not a very pretty picture.

When I'm sitting on the lap of love, I'm hearing holy, holy, holy. That's the closest tune in my ears. And the closest sight that I see is a slain lamb.

So if I just walk out casually out of the lap of love into my daily life, I've not seen, I've not sat on the true lap of God the Father. If I just jump out of the lap of love and I don't see, hear the voices of the angels, holy, holy, I've missed the true God. It's a fake Father that I've interacted with.

And there are so many voices, young people especially, of voices you'll hear about the grace of God that has been twisted to an end. By people who have not understood that it is about full surrender and it is about constantly going outside the camp and bearing the reproach of Jesus. And so they comfort themselves with the Jesus, making the narrow way more broad.

Finding scripture verses but only showing one side of Jesus as the loving Father, always talking about grace but never talking about the cross. They're like sheep walking in the woods, carelessly, not realizing that the woods have a lot of dangerous animals that want to eat it up. And so there's no soberness.

They think they have the joy of the Lord, they think they have the love of the Father, but there's no soberness. One verse, that very simple verse by a fisherman that explained this so simply is 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17. If you address his Father, the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in holy fear.

Very simple. You want to call God Father? You want to have the right to be called children of God? Jesus gives us that right. You want to call God Father? Live your life in holy fear.

An uneducated fisherman could summarize it in just a few words as God's inspired scripture. And then if you turn with me to John chapter 17. Jesus tells me the name that the Father had given Jesus to give to us, to guard us in.

John chapter 17 verse 11. This is the prayer that Jesus prayed right before he died. In John chapter 17 verse 11, he says there halfway through that verse, and I come to you holy Father.

Keep them in that name, in thy name. That's the name. Holy Father.

The holiness of God and the fatherhood of God both held. And that too is something that I'm deeply thankful for, for this pulpit for the ministry of CFC. I thank God that I just didn't hear about the holiness of God.

There are many churches that preach that. I didn't just hear about the fatherhood of God. Many churches preach that.

But I kept hearing that you have to hold both those names at 100%. It's not 50-50. It's both the holiness of God and the fatherhood of God at 100%.

And I find that scripture backs it up. I find that Peter talks about that in 1 Peter 1.17 as I showed you. And Jesus said keep them in that name.

Don't keep them in the name of just being the Father. Don't keep them in the name of just being holy. Keep them in the name of being Holy Father.

And that's how we sit on the lap of love. We sit on the lap of love of the person who is our Holy Father. And none of us can do that on our own.

We need the Holy Spirit to come within us who can cry out, I'm a Father. So I talked about falling. I talked about sitting.

And then I want to show you a third thing which is go. Three simple words. Fall.

Sit. Go. We fall at the feet of Jesus.

We sit on the lap of our Father. And then we go to tell others the good news. Turn with me to John chapter 20.

John chapter 20 verse 16 and 17. This is Mary Magdalene. She was the first person, not the first woman, the first person to see Jesus after he was raised from the dead.

This was the first person who interacted with the resurrected Christ. And Mary finally recognizes that it is Jesus in verse 16. John chapter 20 verse 16.

Jesus said to her, Mary. And then when he said her voice, she turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher. And then in verse 17, Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

But go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God. Mary Magdalene was somebody who loved Jesus the most. She was the first person who saw the resurrected Christ.

And she had no problem falling at the feet of Jesus and sitting at the feet of Jesus. But Jesus was telling her, you need to go. In Philippians chapter 2, we see that Jesus was the one who modeled that.

He was sitting on the lap of love. And then the Trinity decided Jesus needed to go. Go and tell the human race that you have a Father.

And so we cannot be fooled into an intimacy that falls at the feet of Jesus, that sits on the lap of love, but that doesn't also hear the voice of Jesus that says go. The heart of God doesn't rest when even one person does not know that God is a Father and that they can be like Jesus Christ. And the heart of the Good Shepherd longs for the one sheep and rejoices even more when that one sheep comes back to know God as a Father.

Over 99 other sheep were sitting on the lap of love in the heavenlies. The heart of the Good Shepherd longs and rejoices at the thought of that one sheep who's lost and might come to know God as a Father. In Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4, some of us may remember this verse, we have heard it.

Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4. This is a wonderful promise for those of us who want to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4. Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4. The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples that I may know how to sustain the weary one with the word. He awakens me morning by morning.

He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. So Jesus wakes me up every morning and he says come listen to me. That's the first thing he does.

He asks me to listen to him. That's the second half of the verse. But morning by morning he's waking me up to listen to him.

But he isn't just trying to tell me how much he loves me. That's part of what he tries to tell me. But he also wants to give me a word.

He wants to give me something on my tongue. He wants to take something that I hear through my ears and make it something that can be something that is spoken through my tongue that is a helpful word for the weary. How are the weary and the heavy laden going to come to Jesus? He's going to take disciples like you and me who sit at the feet of Jesus, who follow the feet of Jesus, who sit on the lap of love, who hear like disciples morning by morning things that the Lord is trying to tell us.

But then also hear the voice of God saying go. Let your tongue be anointed with fire so that you can give a weary one a reminder that God still loves them, that God is a father, that Jesus is ascending and that God wants to call him. Jesus wants to call him and her, their brothers and sisters.

I want to show you a little clip of a video that I saw recently. It's a video about a race that was run and it is not any kind of race. It's a triathlon.

Let me explain to you very quickly what a triathlon is. It consists of three parts. Swimming, biking and then running.

And it's just not swim for a little bit, bike for a little bit, run for a little bit. It is swimming for 4 kilometers. So they swim for 4 kilometers and then they bike, they ride on a bicycle for 180 kilometers.

And then after that they run for about 42 kilometers. I'm tired just saying that. I want to show you this race which is the end of that race.

So these people have already swam for 4 kilometers, then they biked for 180 kilometers and now they're finishing the 42 kilometers. Can you play the video? Is that ready? Johnny Brownlee may not make the finishing line. He's looking over his shoulder.

He is desperately in trouble. Just get him some fluid here. He cannot be helped.

I don't think I've ever seen this. Let's see if Alistair stops. Johnny Brownlee is not going to finish this race.

Alistair says come, come, come. He's got him. I have never seen this before.

Henry Schoeman is going to win this race because Alistair Brownlee has stopped for his brother. I don't even know if that is allowed. This is incredible.

I don't think he cares if it's allowed or not. That is the most incredible thing I have ever seen in a triathlon. Alistair Brownlee is trying to get his brother across the line.

Coming down the two Brownlees. It will be Richard Murray on the blue carpet in just a few seconds. This is absolutely insane.

Here comes Richard Murray. The two Brownlees are trying desperately to get across the line. Oh my God.

Johnny Brownlee in second. It will be third across the line. Alistair Brownlee and then can Mario Mola be fourth? That is the most insane last few meters.

Please show me the path picture. Just won the most insane final two minutes of racing I've ever seen in triathlon. Whether that was legal or not between the Brownlees.

That is the most brotherly thing. Just remember this. The man who stumbled was in first place.

He was about to win but he was starting to lose his way. He was about to give up. He would never have finished.

You saw that he was just supposed to walk away. In fact the medical doctors later on said the brother shouldn't have done what he did because he may have died of heat exhaustion. But here is the brother who was trailing behind him.

He was coming in behind but he didn't pass him by. He said let's together cross the finish line. And if you watch the video you will see that he is talking to this boy.

The brothers are talking and encouraging him and then at the end he obviously pushes him in front of him so that the brother finishes first. What a magnificent picture of the heart of God. It started with Jesus.

He was sitting on the lap of love but he came behind us. It says that he emptied himself and became a servant. And he became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God.

I find that the saints of God have that. Paul was willing to be accursed so that his brothers, his Jewish brothers could hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was willing to be poured out his whole life till the end of his life so that others could hear that they didn't have to be slaves to sin or slaves to the law but could be free in Christ.

And I talked about Mary Magdalene. She was clinging to the feet of Jesus. She had a simple and pure devotion to Jesus but Jesus' words to Mary Magdalene I can imagine it almost was saying don't cling to me Mary.

I appreciate that you have an important devotion to me but go and pick up your brothers. Yeah they are the head of you. They are the disciples.

They are the ones who are going to be the apostles but I want you to go and pick them up and tell them. Carry them on the shoulders of your faith and tell them that they have a father. Tell them that I'm ascending.

Tell them that they too have a father and that we're brothers. Is it possible that's why Jesus woke you up this morning? Is that why Jesus has awakened your ear to hear something? Because he wants you to encourage somebody who's ahead of you. He's trying to get you to encourage those who are more senior in the faith.

Not with a word of pride as if I know it all but one who says I don't want anyone to fall behind until we all attain to the unity of the faith. That is just like Christ who's the mature man and rather than giving into the jealousy and the envy of Lord why did you allow him to be ahead of me? Lord why have you given him all of this ministry? Why have you given him all of those opportunities? I die to all of those thoughts of envy and jealousy and say Lord you've woken me up this morning. You've given me a word.

Lord help me to pick somebody else up. Yeah he was running first but now he's falling behind. I'm not going to try to beat him and look at him and say okay I guess I don't know what happened to him.

Lord he's my brother. I'm going to put his hand around me and I'm going to encourage him so that we can all finish together and even if I have to push him so that he gets ahead of me no problem. Let him have a greater ministry than me.

Let him have a greater access to people's lives than even I've had. Let him who's younger than me. Let those who are in the next generation have a much greater access to these truths.

I know that's how I feel. I got these truths that were discovered by the leaders here in their 20s and 30s and 40s. I got it from day zero in my life and so for you the young people.

I've never heard the message of CFC to be one that just sits around. It doesn't go around the way other churches may do it. But I've been inspired.

I was inspired to not have just a message of Jesus that says have a personal relationship with Jesus and that's enough. And so I'm so thankful that God has placed me in a church like NCCF where I have younger brothers who are picking me up when I feel faint, when I feel like falling. They come and put their arms around me through their sharing, through the words that they speak on Sundays, through text messages, on WhatsApp, in many different ways.

They pick me up and say keep going Sunday. Yeah you weren't first. They don't try to have some great thoughts but through their ministry of simple text they're encouraging me.

And I get it almost every day. What a wonderful ministry that we can have. I wanted to show you a quick picture of our church from a couple of years ago.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture before I came. That's there with my dad and my mom. And we think of our church, I thought of my church like Acts chapter 13 verse 1. In Acts chapter 13 verse 1 it talks about this church in Antioch.

The church in Antioch that they were prophets and teachers. Then in verse 2 it says as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. At NCCF we have wonderful teaching.

We have the teachings of CFC. We've gone through basic Christian teaching. We're now going through from Babylon to Jerusalem, verse by verse studies of Daniel and other things.

And we're going to continue to that through the Bible and many other things. So we have had the wonderful heritage of great accurate teaching that we all can trust. And we have a good spirit of prophecy among the people who are there.

We have many people who get up and share every Sunday. And it's a very good spirit. It's not a spirit of competition.

It's a spirit of helping one another saying this is what the Lord is going to do for me in the future. It's a prophetic voice of what God will do in their own lives. And I'm thankful for that.

But we're not sitting around saying thank you God for this wonderful church. We want to have the spirit of verse 2 that says Lord what do you want of us? You've given us great teaching through the ministry of CFC. You've given us a good prophetic spirit every Sunday.

But Lord what do you want from us? Who are you setting apart? Where do you want to send us? Where are the Barnabas's? Where are the Paul's that you want to send us? I'm so thankful for the message of CFC that taught me that and that is teaching us that. And that we're just not going to go anywhere doing this or doing that. We know we were taught that when Jesus gave the commissions to the apostles and the disciples saying go in all the world and make disciples and go into all the world and preach the gospel.

It was also combined with but wait till you're filled with the Holy Spirit and with power. So we're not just planning to go anywhere. We're waiting on the Lord.

We're ministering to the Lord, worshipping with Him and fasting and saying Lord what do you want to do with us? We don't want to be at rest until all your enemies are made a footstool. There are so many enemies in my own flesh first of all. But there are so many enemies that need to be made a footstool and only then you will return.

You're seated at the right hand of the Father but you're waiting until all your enemies be made a footstool. Lord Jesus where are the enemies of the cross of Christ that we can be an arm that reaches out with the message that God doesn't, God is not angry at you. God loves you.

He died for you. He wants to be a father to you and you can be his brother. Dear brothers and sisters, there are many things that make Jesus unique.

But one of the things that's most special to me that he's unique is that he's a living person. He's not dead. He rose from the dead.

Because he lives there are many things we can face tomorrow. All fears are gone. If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead Paul said Christianity is to me most pity.

Our faith is worthless is what Paul says. I don't want a change in knowledge. I don't want to just fall and sit and go.

I don't want the sermon to just be something that gives me more information. The disciples knew that Jesus was going to die and rise again. Jesus told them many times that he was going to die and that he was going to be raised from the dead.

It didn't change their lives. But then something happened when that revelation hit the very bottom of their hearts. That Jesus stood as unique as one who was raised from the dead.

Similarly all of us know a lot of the truths about Jesus suffering and taking up the cross and dying and being raised and the resurrection of Jesus. But it doesn't sink in until we're willing to let the resurrection of Jesus really have that change in our lives. I share these truths not as one who is living this way.

So I was thinking about that as I was preparing to speak. Lord should I tell people where I'm at or should I tell people where you want me to be at? And what I preach here is where God wants me to be at. But I don't see myself as a wretch like I should.

I don't sit on the lap of love always like I should. I'm not going taking every opportunity like I should. So that's my word of hope as I stand here.

I am asked to speak and I speak the truth that God says this is the standard. And I don't want to water it down. I don't want to lower the standard.

But then I'll come down and let us together kneel. Together at the cross. Nobody is excluded.

All of us can kneel together at the cross and fall at the feet of Jesus together and say Lord you really can have it all from now on. I've made a mess of my life in so many ways. You can have it all now.

And I want to consistently be at the feet of Jesus. And I then want to also hear the voice of Jesus saying get up, come sit on the lap of love. Sit with me and hear the voices of the angels crying holy, holy, holy.

See the slain lamb. Let that affect you so deeply as you walk out into the world. And then go, don't cling to me.

Go and help those other disciples, those other brothers, those other sheep that are lost. That's a wonderful word of hope. Those of you, your young brother, your young sister, even if you're defeated in sin, don't come with a conversation to the Lord.

The Lord is not looking for great explanations of why you're doing this and that and why your father did this and that's why you're dealing with it. Reduce it to a cry. Lord I need you.

Lord if you'll help me, this death can come to life. And ignore the voice of the devil that you're no good. We are no good.

We're all no good. Paul said that at the end of his life. We're no good without Christ.

But the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. And we fall at his feet. He did not spare his own son.

God did not spare his own son but offered up everything for me. So father I come to you with that spirit. I want to fall at my face, fall on my face before you, at your feet and say Lord whatever I've accomplished today is meaningless.

I want to have daily, hourly interactions with the resurrected Jesus Christ. I hope you all, many of you, all of you will join me. Falling at his feet, sitting on his lap and going to tell so many others all over the world of this wonderful father we have.

A wonderful Savior. May God help us.