The Heavenly Vision

Okay, if you could open your Bibles to Acts chapter 26. Okay, starting from verse 12, Acts 26. On one of these journeys, I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

About noon, O King, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, bright and then a sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Is it hard for you to kick against the goats? Then I asked, who are you, Lord? I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, the Lord applied. Now get up and stand on your feet.

I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven, first to those in Damascus and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea. And to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. That is why the Jews seized me in a temple courts and tried to kill me.

But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stunted and testified to small and great alike. I'm saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen, that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles. At this point, Festus interrupted Paul's defense.

You're out of your mind, Paul, he shouted. Your great learning is driving you insane. I am not insane, most excellent Festus, Paul replied.

What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things and I can speak freely to him. I'm convinced that none of this has escaped his notice because it was not done in a corner.

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do. Then Agrippa said to Paul, do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to become a Christian? Paul replied, short time or long, I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today will become what I am, except for these chains. The king rose and with him the governor and Bernice and all those sitting with him.

They left the room and while talking to one another they said, this man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment. Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. So Paul is an example of one of these gifts, a remarkable illustration of God's provision for his church right at the beginning of its story.

Paul at the end of a fairly long life, a very hazardous life, in which as I shall show you later, he paid a tremendous price to be a pastor, teacher, evangelist and an apostle because so many of those giftings were found in the character of Paul. He was such a remarkable man. But there's an example of God granting a gift to his church at an appropriate time.

Now, if a man is called by the Lord, then he knows. He knows that God has in some way set him aside. It's not an easy thing to give testimony to because, well, there's a natural humility that must always be part and parcel of someone who's going to enter into leadership.

And yet that humility has to be crossed with honesty. So what I've asked Nick right now to do is to just tell us again, some of us have heard a little, but tell us again about the steps in his experience that have brought him particularly to this occasion. Right, thank you very much.

Tony actually said to me, if you can think about it and prepare it. So I brought some notes because I know what happens when I get away from notes. That was a little illustration of last week and I've embarrassed myself.

So I've come prepared this week. Well, as you know, I'm not a new face here. I've been here four years.

So it's not as if I've just turned up out of the blue. I've been training here for four years to get to this point. I'll take you back to when I was 12 or 13.

I've been brought up in a Christian home and I went to a Billy Graham crusade. It was QPR Stadium, in fact. And when I went there, I knew that I wasn't a Christian.

I knew I had to become a Christian. I knew it wasn't my mum and dad's faith that I could rely on anymore. I'd got to that stage.

I'd always been brought up thinking I was a Christian because my parents were Christians. It's a pretty similar story for many people that were brought up in a Christian home. I remember one time, actually, my dad had recorded Billy Graham on the radio.

And I thought, well, if I listen to Billy Graham on the radio, I'll become a Christian. So I listened to him on the radio and nothing happened. Funny, that.

And so we went off to, like I said, the QPR crusade and I didn't actually really listen to Billy Graham speak. When I was 13, I didn't really think he was an amazing preacher. I know he's an amazing man, but when I was 13, I didn't think he was an amazing preacher.

But I knew afterwards when he was calling for people that didn't know Jesus for themselves, people that hadn't kind of given their lives over to him to do so. And it was that point I knew I had to go forward. It needed a bit of persuading from some of my close friends that had already made that commitment.

But I went forward. I really spent my teenage years struggling through as a Christian. I was what you call a Sunday Christian, the kind of pat on the head, what a nice Christian boy on Sundays and what a lousy Christian the rest of the week.

And I really struggled through school. I was really embarrassed about being a Christian and at some stages, I really dishonored God in some of the things I said and did. And for that, I'm ashamed, but those are the struggles when you're trying to sort of do all the things that your friends are doing.

Well, I'll bring you up to date, a little bit more up to date. One of the things that I did when I was growing up was attend some camps called Word of Life camps, and I loved those. I went as a punter to begin with and then I went as a staff and worked on program staff.

Now, let me think about this. I finished school and I started lots of different jobs. Well, I started sixth form, quit that because I knew I'd probably end up with nothing at that stage, and started a few jobs.

I spent a summer working on this camp for about three or four weeks and I was planning to go back to work after that and try to become a carpenter's apprentice, become a chippy, as the technical word is called. And a letter appeared at the camp offering a chance to go to Bible College in the States, which I wanted to do one day, and basically was asking, quote, for a young Timothy or Titus, those are two young men in the Bible who were under pull as a kind of terminology, to go to the States, train, and then come back and work in this country. Well, I had no ties and I really felt God saying, well go for it.

Well, this is three or four weeks before college started and I was only 17 at the time and I just about got out there just as college started, so I spent a year in the States when I was 17. Around about that time, before I went and as I was going, I really felt a call to work with young people. I don't know quite what you call a call.

I mean, I didn't get this bright light on the road to London or anything like that, but it was a definite desire to work with young people. I often say to the, well, to people, but especially to the young folks when I'm talking to them, is that you need to go with what you feel led to, you know. If you really feel you should be doing this, then go for it.

Sometimes we tend to hold back, but I already felt God saying, you know, I want you to work with young people. I really enjoyed it, so I thought, right, I'll go for it, even though it took a long time to get there. So I went to college, spent a year there doing a basic Bible course.

Fantastic fun. It was a lot of people of my age at the college as well. Came back, did double glazing for nine months.

Not selling, incidentally. I was fit in it and worked as a civil servant for six months as well. And then I went back for a second year called a School of Youth Ministries course, which was fantastic.

Now, part of that was ten weeks inside of college, ten weeks out and ten weeks in. The ten weeks out, I had to suffer with working with a youth pastor in Florida. That was a real struggle, and I had an amazing time there because I was being trained up.

I was working with a man and his staff, which were men and women, who were very experienced in working with young people. I'm always up for learning. You know, even now, I've been, I've done four years training, but I'm always up for learning new things, and I think we should never come to a point where we think we know it all.

And I really enjoyed that, and I knew then that I wanted to work in a church. Before, I'd been working in what they call an itinerant kind of, not an itinerant, a para-church, that's the word, which means it's not actually a church, but it helps churches out. And I wanted to work inside of a church with young people ongoing.

So, when I came back from my second year of Bible college, I thought, well, I must, I must see if I can find a church. Well, about six months went by, and a few people encouraged me to get on with it. So, I decided to send four or five letters off to some big churches around the country.

Well, if the truth be known, the tab was the only one that said yes. Yeah, they were suckers, weren't they? Here I am. And I basically said, look, I want to come along and learn.

I didn't want to take a youth pastor's job then. I was 21. I really thought I wanted to learn more, learn more about working with young, young people on an ongoing basis in the church in this country.

So, they came down, I came down here. It was pretty much given the sort of first rung on the ladder. I was left to my own devices in some way.

I contacted people, youth workers around the town. It was Andy Fadadu. He's not here tonight, but I'd like to thank him publicly because he really helped me on my first stages.

And I started to sort of work here, get into the schools, work with the young people's group. I started Boys' Club. I worked for them for about six or seven months and what have you, and really enjoyed it.

And then the church offered me a chance to do the Oasis course. The Oasis course was a youth ministry course for two years up in London. Most of you know I've just completed that, and it was a fantastic thing.

I had to go up to London twice a week on the train. There's one thing I've learned to do in the two years of going up by train is fall asleep on the train and not dribble. You know, that's really annoying.

I did it once, you know, you fall asleep and then you wake up with a saliva patch. What you want, Oasis figures, is one of those dentist things that sit in your mouth and go, but I couldn't get one of them. But I did learn lots of other things at college as well, and it was fantastic.

I had some really excellent people in talking about all the different youth issues in the community, in the church, in the schools, and there's only so much you can learn in a classroom. And that's why it was good, because I came back to Worthing and then was able to put a lot of that into practice, and I've still got files of stuff which I can plough through on a rainy day. But it was an excellent course, and I really thank God that I was able to do that.

I'd like to thank the church that gave me the chance to go through it as well. And I feel now, having gone through that course and made some friends on the course that were in similar situations and going on from there, that I'm more able to do the task at hand. Not that I'm a professional, not that I know it all, but I'm more able, and like I say, I'm always learning.

So, like I say, I really thank God for this church, really, that were willing to take a risk on a 21-year-old who came down. When I wrote to the church and they offered, I came down for an interview, and it was quite daunting, really, because I came down during a hot summer's day, and I never go into Tony Sargent's office, and I looked around his ward, and I thought, now this guy likes books. I don't think he's ever been back there, he's got a lot of books.

And I really felt a warm welcome straight away, very relaxed, very informal, and he was able to talk. And then Sherry and I, that's my wife, came down for a day in the summer four years ago, and really enjoyed it, and met many of you, and stayed at the Bushes for the first, they were the one that hosted us, I'll remember that. Can I say first of all about that? When I was at the Bushes, really embarrassing, come down to Worthing, prospective young person to work in the church, and I was getting some ice cream out of one of the, he said, well help yourself, this is around at the Bushes house.

And I got it out, and I was really pushing hard, because it was really frozen, and it just flipped off and went onto their carpet. You have to be there really, but it was rather embarrassing. One of those stories you should never tell, right? But I'm really thankful for this church.

At the moment, I'm really involved in a lot of different things. I'm sort of pushing more into schools. I do school assemblies, and we've just started up a lunchtime club at Worthing High School tomorrow morning.

I'm going in for two mornings a week to play basketball at the school at quarter to eight in the morning, that means I have to get up really early for me. And just to get to know some of those lads and some of those girls there at the school, and just be able to build relationships up, and help them to understand. Sometimes young people, certainly I find in schools that don't come to church, have a real misconception of Christians.

And it's excellent just to go in there and talk and chat, and start to sort of answer their questions if they're willing to talk. Also involved with the overall youth work now at the church, from Sunday school upwards, just overseeing that. And there's a great team here at the church that are doing amazing work, and I think we should be thanking them more often, personally.

Also with the Crusaders, with Peter King and Co, over at Worthing High School, school youth wing, that's a fantastic ministry, seeing kids from the schools and from the community come in. And also, of course, my favourite of all, I have to say that, is the group here at the church, working with them, and that's been fantastic as well. So, I don't know, can I just say some thanks? Is that alright at this stage? I don't know if you meant to do thanks, I've never done this sort of thing before, haven't been to too many churches like this, and done this.

But I'd like to thank firstly my mum and dad, because if it wasn't for them, you know, I wouldn't be here today, would I? But then that talk was last week, wasn't it? Yeah, right. Also like to thank my wife, who's stuck by me through thick and thin, and she's excellent, and sometimes I give to everyone else and not her, and for that I'm sorry. And obviously Tim and Tony, that have supported me.

I'd like to thank Alan Jones as well, he's been a great mate and a mentor since I've been here. People like Martin Smith as well, who's not been here, you know, he's over at Durrington, a friend and a mentor. And also the youth team of Manor, they're not only, which is Dan and Roz in, and Zoe and Steve Catlin, that they're not only people I work with, but they're my friends as well, and people I'm accountable to, and I want to thank them as well.

And of course, I want to thank the young people, because I've found, having worked here for four years, that young people, sometimes you think, oh I've come to give so much to these young people, but I find they've got so much to give as well, and I'm constantly learning from them, and I think we could learn a lesson from that. So I'd like to thank them. I could thank individuals, but I won't.

And lastly, I'd like to thank the church again, for your support, for your prayers, for your encouragements, and for the, not for prayers just for me, but for prayers for the young people and the ongoing youth work in this church, and in this community, and in the schools in the town. So thank you very much. Well I reckon you could learn a lot, a lot from a man, when he gets to the end of his life, and he looks back and he tells you what his goals were, and how he achieved them, or maybe at times stumbled on the way.

And here's the Apostle Paul, and he says to these Jewish and Roman officials, whereupon I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. And then when he's writing to the church in Thessalonica, he has this to say in the second chapter of his first letter and the fourth verse, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. And then when he's writing to Timothy, he has some encouraging comments to make to this young man, and he says in the eleventh verse, and we'll be reminded of this a little later, of the sixth chapter in the first letter, you man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses in the sight of God. I want to speak to Nick particularly, but I'll be very happy for you all to eavesdrop. The church that now meets at Maybridge is independent.

For a while it became part and parcel of Worthing Tab. It was struggling, and it didn't look as though it would survive. And we were very happy to bring the church into our fellowship and to begin, in the grace of God, a process of restoration and renewal.

And nothing delights our hearts more than for that church to now be fully autonomous. In other words, it's been rebirthed and it's fully fledged. It has its own pastor, its own deacons, its own elders, and it's financially utterly independent of us.

The only responsibility I have, the only responsibility my brother elders of the tab have, is that we are trustees. In other words, the building, the plant, we don't control it, but should they come for a rebuild, an expansion, or the selling of the particular property in order to buy something else, then the trustees would come in and pass their, give their advice and probably give assent to the suggestions that are being made. It's an awesome responsibility to be a trustee of a piece of land, be it this in the center of the town, for the tab must be worth on the market thousands, hundreds of thousands of pounds.

And men who serve with me here in the elder, they're trustees too of this land along with other members of our congregation. But you know, Nick, the thing that paralyzes me is not the trusteeship that I'm given of church property, but the Apostle Paul here when he's writing to the Thessalonians says, God has entrusted me with the gospel. God has placed into my care the ministry of taking this good news of Jesus and telling other people about it.

And it seems to me that if what we say is true, that the gospel is the only way whereby a man, like a woman, can avert hell, then the person who is responsible for the discharging of that message has an incredibly high responsibility. It's given specifically, but of course not exclusively, to men and women who are called to preach. There is a sense in which all of us are involved, but because our Lord Jesus has set in His church some pastor-teachers, because our Lord Jesus has given some elders and some deacons in a local church situation in order to create the infrastructure for the church to continue and to develop, then the responsibility falls heavily on the shoulders of such people.

And the Apostle says, I am a trustee of the gospel. So Nick, and the overspill is to Sherry, as well as to all of you here, how do you go about it? How do you discharge your obligation? What is the nature of your responsibility? Well, legally speaking, I have to be informed, although the illustration is not very good, because my knowledge is somewhat piecemeal of the trust deed of our church. And there is a necessity, Nick, for you always to be looking at the trust deeds of the gospel, which is none other than what is contained within this book, Genesis right through to Revelation.

You are reading it for yourself, ministering to your own heart with the goal then of being able to take what you have learned and to teach it to others. It was John Bunyan who spent a time in jail as a result of being a pastor-teacher. The man was so indoctrinated in the Bible that if you pricked his hand or his arm, biblical blood would flow out.

In other words, the message and the man, they had so interwoven that when you saw Bunyan, you not only heard when he preached, but you saw the way he lived, an exposition of the gospel. You know, the man who is so indoctrinated, I prefer the word intoxicated, as Bunyan and as was the Apostle Paul, find themselves in the same category as Jeremiah. Do you remember Jeremiah? He was a very reticent man.

I don't think actually that he probably had the natural charisma that Nick has. He didn't want to be a pastor. If he had to be in the ministry, then don't give him Jerusalem, give him a little village like the one from which he came.

But unfortunately it didn't work out like that. It often doesn't. God puts you where you don't expect to be.

He's in Jerusalem and he's having a hard time. He's ridiculed and he can't stand the ridicule. Some people can take pressure more than others and he psychologically couldn't take it.

And he's in the stocks and they throw things at him. And so he decides to quit and he says in the 19th chapter of the prophecy that bears his name, Lord, I'm not going to say any more in your name whatsoever. And then he said, there came a burning in my heart.

It was just like the lava of a volcano and it started to come up and up and up and out. It came through my mouth. They couldn't stop me, Lord.

That's what it means to be so committed to the gospel that you cannot stop proclaiming it. It's your obligation to know it and for your knowledge to brim over so that you're telling it to as many people as will listen to you, whether they're in worthing schools and they are an attentive audience or worthing schools and a non-attentive audience. Then you have to use all the charisma and all the training that you've got from Oasis and what you've picked up in the States and so forth to try to make your message interesting.

They say of the maths teacher that his responsibility is to make vulgar fractions look decent to kids. Responsibility of a youth pastor to try to so plug in to the interest of young people that they appreciate that what you have to say is actually more important than where Brighton and Hove, Albion play next season. How about that for some of you who don't think I know the first thing about sport? And I wasn't even working at that one, it came voluntarily.

That's your obligation. How do you know? How do you know a man, a woman who is a trustee of the gospel? Well you see they put the first, they really do. You see it's interesting that when the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Galatia or the churches in Galatia and they question his credentials as being a minister, he doesn't say well you know I got a BD from Jerusalem and here's the certificate and there's a signature of the chancellor of the seminary.

He says, let no man trouble me, I bear in my body the marks. Sometimes to be a leader demands a commitment that is almost improper were it to be expected at any other level than that of Christian ministry. You see there will be times when you will be lonely, whether it's in this fellowship here or wherever God leads you to in the years to come.

They say of a leader that unless there is somebody following him then really he's not a just taking a walk on his own. Sometimes when people are following you, there are decisions that you have to make. There are times when you'll spend hours before the Lord trying to work out what is a particular policy and not everyone will have the same vision as you have got.

Now here is a problem because you see within the Christian ministry there is an accountability and a spontaneity. There is if you like a charismatic element and there is a cerebral element and you will be accountable to others whether it's here at the tab or wherever God takes you in in your life and you will need their wisdom. You will need them to pull together what their reactions are on certain situations, but there may be times there always is in leadership when you will say, but this I believe I have got from God and therefore we will go down this track.

When that happens you'll have to be very careful that you got it right. A leader can have a very lonely time. He can also be very vulnerable because when you're at the forefront of the battle then you are exposed to incredible hostility and the devil is always a dirty fighter.

He knows the vulnerable aspects of everybody's personality. What is sometimes referred to as the Achilles heel. He knows the right moment when to come and he knows the most fragile part of our nature and he comes if not through the front door, if not through the double glazed windows, he'll try the back door and in every way he'll endeavour to reduce you to a bundle of contradictions.

Such is the pressure that comes upon men and women who are leaders. Such incidentally is the pressure that comes upon all who endeavour to follow our Lord Jesus Christ. So the Apostle Paul will tell you when he's writing to the Ephesians to be concerned about the wiles of the devil and not only does he tell the Ephesians to put on the whole armour of God but Nick in his final comment to the Ephesians he says, pray for me, for you Paul, you've knocked up 10 years, 20 years as an ambassador, you are impregnable.

Paul says I know the enemy and I also know myself, pray for me that I might remain strong and consistent as a trustee of the gospel of Christ. So he tells the Galatians examine my body, if you want my statement of credibility then it's not just my theological belief, though Nick that's important, that's one of the reasons why I'm giving you a two-inch thick book later on to commemorate this occasion in your life, a wonderful systematic theology. But it's not what you know there that is important, of supreme importance, it's how you live here, it's the brunt of the battle that you are prepared to take.

Let no man question me says Paul, I bear in my body the marks and they were there physically, they stoned him on several occasions, they left him for dead on a couple of occasions. There were times when he hovered on a piece, when he clung to a piece of driftwood wondering in the Mediterranean Sea if the next billowing wave would drag him down to a death of drowning. And you can't live that sort of life, you can't be under that type of pressure as the Apostle knew when on several occasions they took the skin from off his body without physically bearing the marks.

Now God forbid that anyone here, let alone Nick, should have to do what the Apostle did or go through that, but it was only eight days ago when I stood by the tomb wall, just went by the tomb of William Carey, that great man of God, Serampore, 40 miles north of Calcutta, and I remembered what he had gone through and how his leadership had been completely questioned by those who should have known better in the United Kingdom who didn't understand the pressures that he was under there in India, unsupported, a tent maker with a wife whose mental illness was increasing, having buried his own son, having known his early manuscripts in which he translated the scriptures from the English into the Hindi language be burned. It was Carey who one day wrote in his diary, everything seems against me, but I have the Lord and that is enough. Carey bore the marks, Paul bore the marks, and if you were to ask either of these two men if they could speak for themselves right now, Nick, how they continued, how they coped, they would have told you because they knew the presence of God.

It's so necessary for a trustee of the gospel, it's so necessary for the ordinary Christian to know what the old-fashioned hymn means when the hymn writer says, keep the touch of God in your soul. Wrestle, watch, and pray until the break of day, but keep the touch of God in your soul. Nick, in a while we'll be laying hands on you.

I'm mindful that when Timothy was ordained to the ministry, hands were laid on him by the Apostle Paul. Timothy seemed to have been a fairly reticent man, almost the Jeremiah, so to speak, of the New Testament. Some characteristic of timidity might have been his naturally, and yet the Apostle Paul says, when our hands were placed on you, Timothy, then there was an unction, an anointing of the Holy Spirit, and one or two of us spoke out the Word of God as we declared what would happen to you in the ministry which was to follow, in the days, in the months, in the years that were yet to be.

Paul teaches Timothy that a man has to, has to be dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit, and that's something else which I advise you and all who are listening this evening. The obligation of the trustee of the gospel is to know the gospel. It is to be so full of the gospel that you can't help talking about it.

The identification of the trustee is this, that wherever he goes, men and women recognize, not because of what he has to say, but because of the way that he lives and what he's prepared to endure, that he is indeed committed to the cause of Jesus Christ. But there's one final thing. You see, Timothy was at the, Paul was at the end of his ministry.

I'm getting towards the end of mine compared with you. You're just at the very beginning, so you need something to aim at. All you young people, you precious young folks who are listening this evening, you need something to aim at.

You need a goal. Then what is your goal? Well, says Paul, when I was stopped on the Damascus road, I saw Jesus. I recognized who He was, the man who had been killed, the man who had been crucified, He who we had put to death.

I appreciated that He was none other than God's own Son and that He'd been raised in the power of an endless life. I saw Him and I heard Him say, Saul, don't persecute me. Rather, take what you can receive of my salvation and spread it around.

Confront the kingdom of darkness. Go wherever you're led by the Holy Spirit and do what I'm asking you to do. Be my ambassador.

Saul, plug into me so that when later on they call you Paul the Apostle, you will be able to say of your ministry, but it's not Paul who lived. It was Jesus who lived through Paul. I live but not I, but Christ lives in me and the life which I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

In other words, the Apostle is saying that vision I received on the Damascus road, it was always in the forefront of my mind. There was never a day, there was never a week, there was never a month when it faded. I was not disobedient.

I'm guilty of the blood of no man. I've lived in such a fashion. I've tried to serve my God as best I can and when He gets a little further down the road from where He is in Acts 26, when He's dashing off one of His last letters to a young man who He calls His son in the faith, He says in effect, Timothy, it's the end of the race.

I'm through. I've run. I've done my best.

I've finished the course. I've completed the track that I have to go down. I fought a good fight.

I now hand the baton on to you and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord will give me, I, Timothy, and all those who like you remain faithful through their lives in the dissemination of the gospel of Christ. What do we concentrate on this evening? What is our goal? To be true to the vision, to share with others that which we have received from Christ when we're not down to get back up and to fight again, when we've been bloodied, when we've sometimes felt like going back to respond to the healing ministries of the Spirit, to get back on our feet and to go further down the track and to keep true and faithful. I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, entrusted with the oracles of God.

I faithfully preserved them and shared them and tried to bring other men and women to faith in Jesus Christ. May that be what you do, Tim, what you do, Nick, and what others here in the tab also try to achieve. Sherry and Nick, perhaps you could come and take the chairs just up here.

Yes, thank you. Sherry, before you sit down, let's just pounce on you for a moment. Now, did you ever think, you know, when you were just knee-high to a grasshopper there in the United States that one day you'd be marrying someone who'd become a pastor? No, because my mom always said I'd marry someone rich and famous, so totally opposite.

Well, you're going to achieve the second. Actually, when I was a teenager, I always said I wanted to marry a youth pastor, but youth is very different in America, and I guess in a sense, being as a teenager, I loved my youth group, like many of you down there love your youth group. I always thought that it was a very glamorous thing to do is to be a youth pastor's wife.

It's not until I become a youth pastor's wife that I realize it's actually very difficult, but no, I don't think I did too bad, actually. You were brought up in a Christian family? I was. Yeah, and your mom and dad, therefore, are supportive of what you're doing with... Very supportive, yeah.

What do you think perhaps are the demands upon a youth pastor and his wife over against other people? Anything particular? No, I think we're all... As Christians, we're all doing very similar work. Some work in churches, others go into a job, and as Christians, we're all doing the same thing, and I think it's easy to look at pastors or missionaries and pray for them because they're working in a church, but I think we all need prayer. I think anybody that's in a normal job, quote-unquote normal job, needs just as much prayer as the pastors and the missionaries because we're all fighting the same battle.

We're all finding it very difficult in the real world. One of the things that's impressed me of many things of you and Nick is your choice of house. I mean, you seem to have got a house with the biggest lounge as though you need a bus from one end to the other.

I mean, are you thinking of having 20 children or is that... It's actually long, but it's very narrow, so actually when you get a load of young people around, especially when we have girls sleepovers or whatever, it's actually quite cushy. You get to know your partner very well sleeping there. Yeah, that's one of the reasons why you've got such a... Well, you tried to get a large lounge for the work that you do.

That's right. We did. Well, I just need to talk to Nick for a moment, but we're so glad, Sherri, that you're behind him and backing him.

Nick, just before you respond to some questions, I'd like you to remain standing, but Brian, you've got some verses to read from Scripture which are particularly relevant to this occasion. If you could half-face the congregation and half-face Nick because I think it's important that he sees as well. The first are words of Paul to the church at Ephesus, which we have already been thinking about tonight.

But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. That is why it says, when he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. The other three were addressed to Timothy, a young pastor himself. The first, chapter 1, verse 18, we might change the introduction and say, Nick, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you so that by following them you may fight the good fight.

In chapter 4, verse 9, this is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance and for this we labor and strive that we have put our hope in the living God who is the Savior of all men and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters.

Give yourself holy to them. And finally, in chapter 6, but you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith.

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God who gives life to everything and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time. God the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, who no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and might forever.

Amen.