Latest / Woodlands Church Academy's Podcast / The Nature of Church- Church Planting Basics- Tim Dobson

Transcript

The Nature of Church- Church Planting Basics- Tim Dobson · Woodlands Church Academy's Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um uh hopefully those who can make it tonight get a little bit of uh uh an idea.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um wonderful.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh these evenings that we meet together, um there's a few kind of things that uh when I've been involved in church party before, uh it's just really helpful for the for a kind of a core group of people to feel that um uh together they've thought through some things, they've talked through some things, they've prayed through some things, so that when kind of the church plant actually starts or when uh guests start coming through the door, actually people feel actually, oh yeah, this is the kind of church.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why we're doing this, I understand why this is our values, I understand what what we're trying to do here.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um because we probably all come with different ideas and different thoughts.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and again, for some of you, actually, this building has been the place where you've worshipped Sunday by Sunday for many years.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so the thought of something starting new uh happening, you might think, well, how how new is it gonna be?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: How different is it gonna be?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, part of these discussions are to say, actually, we can actually we can decide together what it's like.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think each time you plant a church, you can start from scratch, you can do anything you like.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's long as it's in the Bible.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um I suppose that's the caveat, which is why tonight we're gonna do that.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna say, okay, um, we come maybe with our own church traditions, and we say, well, in the church that I grew up in, church did dot dot dot dot.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or at Woodlands, we've always done it, dot, dot, dot, dot.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or at Chelsea, we did alike, this, this, this, this.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, actually, we can do it whatever way we like.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and in some ways that uh for those of you who are part of Woodlands, you might think, oh, it's a new adventure, it's a new new challenge.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm bringing up for that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I I'm kind of I'm not sure for the guys who've been part of Chelsea whether maybe that's a little bit more tricky or a bit more, ah, we're gonna have to flex.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're still in the same building, it still feels like home, but the way we're doing things might be a little bit different.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we want the conversations, but hopefully there's people from Chelsea on each of the tables so that when we do some discussions, actually we can generally talk to one another and hear from one another about what's going on.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So uh that that's why we're doing this session.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think Matt's probably said we've put them on different evenings of the week because different people can make different evenings.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so there's some people who probably couldn't come to the curry evening but are here this evening, and again, we're gonna do other evenings on Mondays and I think one on Tuesday.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the one probably we want you to get in your diary is the Saturday one.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I think again by the end of the evening, Matt might say a little bit about that because um to spend a morning together just gives kind of everyone a chance, and there's gonna be some children's provision and stuff as well, so families can be here.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So um uh that would be really good.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, church planting, what's church going to look like?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I think uh uh kind of counting.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've probably been involved um in uh six different church plants, and each time those churches have been planted, um, there's been a kind of a uh uh an idea, a vision uh of what could happen.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so kind of one of those was um a church plant kind of by by accident because people fell out.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of, and in some ways, kind of the church still exists, kind of uh 35 years later, um, but yeah, my home group decided that um the Anglican church we're part of couldn't contain what the Holy Spirit was doing in our home group, so felt that we ought to plant a church.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: I said, no, no, we can stay with the Anglican Church.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: They said, no, no, no, the Holy Spirit's too big for the Anglican Church.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so they planted a church.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in the planting church, they were planting in some ways against something.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And although they're still around, I thought, oh, maybe they should have there was something they could have talked about there.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the second one I was involved with was um down in South East London, and um I was going for a year's training on church planting and uh leadership.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I thought there was going to be kind of lectures in the morning and a bit of practical in the afternoon.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the practical in the afternoon was here's 40 people, plant a church, um, for a year, which again I was 25.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have a clue.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh I suppose that was one of the first times where I thought, okay, um there were two different groups of people there.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: One was linked with the church called Ictus that I was part of, and one was the London YWAM base.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And although you think that their theology would be similar, I actually had such a different idea about what Sunday church would be like.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: The YWAM guys were all out on mission all week, and so Sunday was a place where we meet together as Christians to encourage one another.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And um the guys from the Ictus Church were kind of out in the workplace all week, and so um uh so midweeks were where you connected, and Sunday was definitely for the non-church people from the estate to come to church.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had to try and navigate this real clash of expectations because one's wanted a two hour two and a half hour service with kind of an hour at least of worship and at least an hour of a Bible talk, and the others were saying, no, it's it's it's 60 minutes, it's 20 minutes worship, 20 minutes talk, 20 minutes kind of um uh kind of uh for for prayer and response.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so to navigate with with those people who quite hard.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: So again, there might be all kinds of expectations in the room here, and I mean our prayer and our hope is that as we talk together, we open scripture together, actually, what do we sense God is saying for us to uh agree together so that when uh we start inviting people in, there's that real sense of unity together, a real sense of God's in this, uh, a real sense of how scripture informs uh the way that we do things.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So is that okay?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So um there there are some kind of notes.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you're the kind of person that likes notes, there's some notes that are on uh your tables there.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh there's gonna be a kind of PowerPoint thing as well, which um I can put up to you.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So um there's something kind of very, like I said last time, if we're gonna be a church that wholeheart hardly follows Jesus, if we're gonna be disciples that orientate our life around him, actually we have to be absorbed with his obsession.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you were here for the Curry Knight, we were talking about the kingdom of heaven.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, the kingdom of heaven rather than church was Jesus' obsession, um, which is why the first session that we did as part of this kind of church party basics was actually the kingdom of God, because that's what we want to have, is the we want to have the kingdom obsession.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I said back then that Jesus mentions the kingdom over a hundred times, he only mentions church twice.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're church planting, you're thinking, okay, oh, we need to think more about church.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I think the first one we think about kingdom, but as we think about kingdom, then church orientates its around itself, around the vision of kingdom.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so as we talk about the nature of church uh this evening, in some ways I want you to hold that in light of what we said like last time.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if if the kingdom is about, it's not eating and drinking, like it says in Romans 14 7, it's kind of it's not religious behaviour, it's not religious organization, it's a matter of righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually that we're seeking to see people find the righteousness of Jesus, come to know God as the Heavenly Father.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're finding peace, that shall how do we love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all how do we love our neighbours as ourselves?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: How can we impact the local community?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: How do we find that joy of people whose brokenness needs some love and care and pastoral concern and counselling and prayer ministry?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we see the Holy Spirit imbibing all that we have?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I want us to keep the kingdom in our minds, but obviously the kingdom that we seek first, Jesus says he will build this church.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so tonight I'm just gonna take from um from the Bible just just four images that I think are helpful because sometimes when you talk about church, you can talk about activity.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: What's the church gonna do?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: How is the church gonna do children's work?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: How's the church gonna run us on this?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, we can get into, if we're not careful, we can get into the nuts and bolts of what's this new church gonna look like without saying, well, what is God's vision for church?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: If we're God's kingdom-seeking people, what's his vision for church?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how do we make sure we understand that?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh we want to be the church that Jesus always intended, rather than to have lots of activities that look very Christian.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um so on on the notes here, we've got um we've got four four images from the Bible.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and what we're gonna do is I'm gonna just give you five minutes or so input, and then in your groups, uh just to talk together about how do you think that vision of church would affect the way that we could do church together.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna look at um uh the body of Christ, uh, we're gonna look at uh the the uh church as temple, church as family, and church as the bride of Christ, uh, and see how those four those four images help us as we think about church.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's where we're going.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, first up then is um church as the body, the body of Christ.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um Andy was saying that uh kind of he's hoping that I'm not gonna be knocking anyone on the nose this time, because last time, when we talked about kingdom, we said that actually God's kingdom thoughts does need a body.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that that's part of so to see the kingdom come on earth as in heaven.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, God does need a body.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus needs a body.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so this image of church, church is the body of Christ, it's the the agent, it's the ambassador, it's the um the fullness of God.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: It somehow is represented as we, though we are many, we are one body.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about being the body of Jesus, but in touch with the head, and the head works through us to see his kingdom come in the world.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh there's I mean, I don't need to rehearse those Bible verses because I think for many of you in the room here, actually you'd be very familiar with what the Bible has to say about the body.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So uh passages like Romans 12.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: But just as each one of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have all have the same function, so in Christ we though many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if you look around the room, here we are, many members.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but very excitingly, we are going to be a new body, the new a new expression of the body of Jesus that's here.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh kind of we have many, but we have got different parts to play.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um Heather and Vicky came across to a toddler training morning, kind of uh back in September, wasn't it?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And actually we looked at look, we looked at this with regard to being a toddler team, kind of, and we said, well, kind of um, and we looked at kind of different parts of the body.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: What what kind of what kind of part of the body are you?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Are you an eye?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: An eye that sees, that kind of notices.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of when people come into church, you you want people who who notice uh who comes in looking happy, actually, but you want to notice who comes in looking a little bit down.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's some people who are good at uh noticing, they can see people and see situations.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, maybe they can see what God's doing.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I find that really hard concept.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh I only do what I see the Father doing.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh God, do I see what the Father's doing?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, some people can actually just they can have the intuition, they kind of can almost kind of see in their mind's eye what God's doing.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, so actually we need people within church here who see people, but people who see what God's up to.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um it says that again, uh if the whole body was an ear, where would the sense of sight or smell be?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, some people are like an ear, they're good at listening.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Either listening to people, but again, maybe good at listening to God.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Listening to what God's saying and then passing on those prophetic words, those encouraging words, and listening.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Some people are like a hand.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, actually give me something practical to do, and I'll just I'll come alive.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just I love to serve, I love to get behind projects, I love to give my time and my energy.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: They're just like kind of the hands that are gonna get onto onto the business.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um but also Paul says it's like your feet, feet, the feet take the body somewhere.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, take the body out into the world.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, we need people that are gonna help us to take us out into the world.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: We need those who are people with a bit of evangelistic spark, people who are gonna make sure that we don't stay static but actually go somewhere.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and like it says here, actually, we're many members, but actually, as we each bring our own skills, our own gifts, actually we are together that one body.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, uh verse 12, just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: For we were all baptized by the one spirit, so uh as to form one body.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I thought I suppose for me um the question is what part do you feel you could play?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, what part of the body do you think you are?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and sometimes kind of uh I think a bit older in life you get, you kind of you've had a guy doing lots of things, and you've probably kind of decided actually I can I can put my hands to things.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I I think probably teaching is something that God's given me as a gift.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now I can do other stuff.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this afternoon there was a lady who was in kind of quite a desperate situation.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I sat down and I was quite pastoral.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: I could, I, I, I can, when I put my mind to it, I I can, but you know what?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I had to go home and have a lie down afterwards because because I just I just felt it.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was just so exhausted.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh now after I've done this talk and helped you learn tonight, I'll go back home and I'll hardly be able to sleep because I'm just I I love I love and I think for each of us, we probably have a part that we can play.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um and if we all do the part that we're designed to do and that we're gifted to do, and we're kind of buzzing because we're doing it, actually that's where a church can really be the body of Christ, that we respect one another.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: We don't say everyone has to be an eye or everyone has to be an ear or everyone has to be a foot, but actually, when we recognise that we're all part of the body and we've each got something unique to bring, actually that's when kingdom, I was gonna say magic happens, but but kingdom activity kind of starts to happen.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's where that's where it's at, which is why Paul talked about the body and talked why unity was such an important thing, is because if you all know your God-given gifts and skills and and character and whatever, and you bring it with a certain-hearted love, uh, working in unity together, I mean that's the business.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's fascinating.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I haven't put this in the notes, um, but when Paul talks about, is everyone an eye, is everyone an ear, kind of no, we need where would the sense of here it be?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, it at the end of it he says this.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: So this is in 1 Corinthians 12.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, uh it says, the eye can't say to the hand, I don't need you.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then it says, the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: And when we talk about the eye or the ear or the hand or the foot, you kind of might think, oh yeah, I think I'm a bit like the hand, or I think I'm a bit like an eye, or I think about it.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, when we talk about the head, who's the head?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul says here, actually the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, Jesus is saying to us, I can't say to you, I don't need you, because I need you.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, Jesus is saying, East Bristol needs you.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I can't do without you.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: The head can't say to the feet, I don't need you, because the head the head does need you.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, Jesus needs you.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus needs you to bring the genuine you with the love and the passion and the energy you can bring together, being knit together in one body, that we we serve him.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and so my first little thing, talk together in groups, is actually if Paul, when he teaches about church, one of the main things he's got is that Jesus the head, kingdom dreams, kingdom thoughts.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to see this happen in East Bristol.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus the head's dreaming and thinking.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'd I'd I'd love to see this change, or I'd love to see people come to know me, or I'd love to see this situation of injustice, or I'd love to see the kind of the racial hatred that's out on the street, or the violence.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: The head's kind of dreaming, I'd love to see this happen.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And the head needs the body, and needs the body to be connected.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I mean I mean, our bodies are amazing things, aren't they?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you ever think about it.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, the the way that your fingers can move and hold things and eat things and I mean you do it without thinking.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's just that your brain is sending messages all over your body without you knowing it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: In some ways, the church is like that.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't sending messages all over the place to us to move, to act, to do, to digest food, to breathe in oxygen, to actually bits of the body we don't actually see uh doing what they need to be done, as well as the bits that we can see.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the same with the church.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's bits that are seen, that uh do what they do, there's bits that sometimes we don't see, but actually they still need to do the bits they've got to do.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and as we discover our gifts, as we either uh you're aware of what your gifts are, and you think, could I bring this new venture?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're not sure.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: But as you connect with other people, actually, and I think one of our hopes is that we can call out the good in other people.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: We can say to people, Oh, do you know what I can see this in you?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've noticed that you're such a great welcomer.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or I noticed that kind of when we are sharing things, kind of you just put things in quite a clear way, and maybe you're a teacher, or kind of when we were praying, there's kind of as you prayed, I just felt like the Holy Spirit was really using you.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, we can call out other people to be the body together.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I've waited too long on that one, but uh, there's a question.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: In what way could you see yourself as a functioning part of the body of Christ in this new church cloud?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, in what way could you see yourself being part of the body, hands, eyes, ears, feet, lower intestines, kind of whatever it is they feel you can be?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so talking in groups, um, if you could put some, if you want to just personally put a personal response on here, if you've got any ideas this evening, actually we'd love to, for those who've written on the flip chart papers, because um, for those who couldn't be here tonight, uh, we'd love to take them away and just kind of make a little bit of note.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that's you've got five, ten minutes?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, talk about that idea with the body of Christ, what could it look like?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Talk in your groups, write some personal things down on the paper or things together on the big sheets.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll press stop here, but someone must remind me to press go again.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Go.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Back again, back in the room.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um okay, second one, second up.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh I think the I the image of church as temple, uh, I think you think it's a fascinating biblical imagery.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh the idea of a temple is um the God who's everywhere is somewhere.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we believe that God is everywhere.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And in some ways, with God being everywhere, how do you relate or how do you encounter a God that's everywhere?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe there's times where you see a sunset or you're walking on a mountain, or actually you're in creation.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And actually something about creation does speak to you, and you think actually the God is everywhere, speaks to me personally.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, from the start, God always intended that the God who was everywhere was somewhere.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: So even um Garden of Eden, kind of we we read there in chapter three that God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, the God who's everywhere wanted to be somewhere, he wanted to be in the garden.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's supposed the garden was like a temple, it was a place where kind of, although they would go and do their stuff, if they came to the garden, God would be walking in the garden in the cool evening.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it says, isn't it?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as you read um uh through the Old Testament, when the people of God come out of Egypt and they receive the law, actually, one of the things that God says is uh, build a tent for me.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I want to dwell in the middle of you, I want I want to be with you.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: The God who's everywhere, I want to be here, definitely here.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, here's a tent, and here's the Holy of Holies, and and and and the kind of Shekinah glory kind of descends.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the God who's everywhere is somewhere.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: So the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies once a year.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: You bring sacrifice and offering and worship to the the place, the temple, the place where God who's everywhere is is somewhere.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that the um I was reading my quartan this morning about Solomon building the first temple.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, rather than just be a tent that moved around, uh, again, David and then Solomon had this idea, actually, we're living in kind of houses.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, you deserve a house to be in.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not not a place to have idols and shrines, but a place where your your presence could dwell.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and that's just an incredible thought, isn't it?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: That they built this human temple that with human effort and maybe with God's kind of design, but the time came when they when they prayed, they dedicated it, and somehow the presence of the God who's everywhere came to fill this space.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: This bit of geography had the space where God was.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um it's almost when Jesus comes.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, he comes as the God who's everywhere is somewhere.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And here's Jesus, and he's healing the sick, and he's raising the dead, and he's bringing the wisdom of God, and he's confronting injustice, and the God who's everywhere is somewhere in the person of Jesus.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's this little kind of cryptic comment about destroying the temple.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he says this kind of um uh he said to them, Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: They replied, It's taken 46 years to build this temple.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: How are you gonna raise it in three days?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: But the temple he was spoken about was his body.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, the God is everywhere, was somewhere.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, Jesus says, Actually, my body is the temple, actually, the fullness of God in human form.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh kind of um the the radiance of the Father was was in Jesus.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: His his physical body was carried the presence of God.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, as we read through scripture, um, we read that actually what's happening now, actually now, is we're being built together as a temple.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: It says here in in 1 Corinthians 3, don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: That God's Spirit dwells in your midst, that God is everywhere, where is he?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, he's in your midst.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: You're now a temple.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: For God's temple is sacred.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: You together are that temple.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's an amazing thought, isn't it?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: That when we meet together, somehow our human relationships, our human love and connection, our loyalty to Jesus, somehow we build something that welcomes the presence of God.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: The God who's everywhere, somehow he's here with us.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um Paul says in the Ephesians, in him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple to the Lord.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And in him, you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you were to come and if you thought I I need to find Tim Dobson, probably where you'd find me, rather than not, is at my house.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: I do go to work and do it, but actually, there's a place where I live, where I dwell.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: 79 Drew Stoke Avenue, if you were to pop in for a cup of tea, kind of, and that's where you find me.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, God's saying, actually, where are people going to find God?
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: The God is everywhere that they're maybe oblivious to.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, where's God's home?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Where's God's dwelling?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Where does he live?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he could be here in our relationships as we form church together, because we're built together with our human relationship based on Jesus.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, people could come through that door and somehow they encounter the God who's everywhere.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: They can suddenly think, do you know what?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: God is here.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's something about who we are and what we do, and that, and that's what Paul is trying to say here.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Peter says the same kind of thing.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: He says, as you come to him, the living stone, rejected by humans but chosen by God, and precious to him, you also, like living stones, each one of you, living stone, actually, you're being built together into a spiritual house to be a holy priest offering sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now I just think that is amazing.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: There is a sense in which Paul says, Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, there's something about actually the God who's everywhere is somewhere.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: When we're born again, the God who's everywhere is here.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's in me, he's in you.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, which is why when we're in the workplace, when we're talking to our family who aren't yet Christians, actually the God who's everywhere is somewhere, because he's in you.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's in me.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, that's why, like I was doing this later this afternoon, was praying for darkness to be kind of diminished and the light of Jesus to come.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And why could I pray that?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm a temple of the Holy Spirit.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's nothing in my words, my prayers.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's because I I know that somehow in being born again, there's a temple that's that God is everywhere and somewhere.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: In that chance of speaking with that lady, I kind of got confidence that I know who Jesus is and I know his Holy Spirit is here.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: So to confidently care and witness and pray.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um but that's a great vision, isn't it?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: That that East Bristol, what if there could be just outcrops of little temples that aren't built by human hands, but they're built by the work of the Spirit in our lives as we've been built together?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: The God is everywhere somewhere.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh that you might think that's just blown my mind, but it's true.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe five minutes in your group to say, in what way could you see yourself?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh sorry, no, that's that was the first one, isn't it?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So this question is how do you think people coming into our church gathering could experience the presence of God?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: So the God is everywhere is somewhere.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if if we work at Unity, if we work together, loving one another, caring for one another, we're living stones being built together, where God's we could be God's home, God's house.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: How could people coming in here, how do you think they could experience the presence of God?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Five minutes?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna press.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, write that down if you can either put a little circle around what you've written already, or um write on the back, or is there more than one piece of paper?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's more than one piece of paper there, so so do do that.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna press pause.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: So do remind um uh record record.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, um we're there.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be so good.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh I mean that I mean we've just talked on our table there.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh again, we've probably got time for feedback, but we'll we will take your sheets in at the end.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I um I always feel when non-church people come into a group of believers who are united, loving Jesus, worshiping him, using the gifts of the Spirit, teaching the word, kind of, oh, there's something here.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they then they can't put the finger on what it is, but it is we're the temple, we're doing the business, and God's presence is somehow here, and drawing in those who are broken, drawing in the lost.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh, but the idea is we do need to be together, we need to be united.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's living souls being built together, and that's the adventure that I think we're gonna be on in the next two or three months, is actually different backgrounds, different churches, different experiences.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: But are we gonna love one another?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna google?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna go along somewhere?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it might be a bit, but we're gonna be built into the temple where where God's gonna be here, and people are gonna get blessed and find him for the very first time.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um great.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, then, family of God.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um actually, there's something about church, it's not a school, it's not a business, it's kind of um uh when we find our Heavenly Father, um uh we do find one another.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: So there's something about when we're born of God's Spirit, when God comes to live in us, when we cry out Abba Father, actually the person, the God who God, sorry, the God that Jesus has brought you to is the Father that He's brought me to.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: And somehow as we're born again, actually we are born into a family.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that family metaphor is just um an extraordinary image that that kind of uh I may not know you very well, but actually there is there's blood that holds us together.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's that it's the blood of Jesus, that's it's the family blood that kind of that holds us together.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now what does it really mean for us to be brothers and sisters?
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, sometimes it kind of certain churches where you might say, Oh, brother Tim or whatever, and it can be just a little off your off your tongue a bit, but but there's something that's that's that's that's real about that.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus says something that um when he says, Oh, your mum and your brothers are outside, he says, actually, no, they're not outside.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he looks around at his disciples and he says, he replied, Who is my mother?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Who are my brothers?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Pointing at his disciples, he said, Here are my mothers, my brothers.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: For whoever does the word of my father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's the it's the it's the family likeness, it's the family identity.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: We are we are family together.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Peter, in one of his little kind of pithy things at the end in this letter, he says this show proper respect to everybody, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and again, as we start new church, it's not kind of, and we think, oh, we're the body and we're we're got different parts to play, and I'm gonna do my part, you do your part, and or we're a temple and we're the living stones, kind of actually there is a relational connection.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've got uh two brothers and a sister.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um those relationships are dear, close relationships.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're kind of we're on the WhatsApp messages probably most kind of most weeks that kind of on the phone we have family gatherings when we all meet together.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, there's something back, oh yeah, team Dobson, kind of uh it's us.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and actually we're Team Jesus, actually, it's it's us, we're family.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um and can you look at one of the other actually I I'm my memory I still remember names, but I know this you're my sister, you're my brother.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: But what does that look like?
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: What's it what does it mean to be um uh to be the the the family uh family of God?
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um I suppose do families always get on?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: No kind of they probably have the fallouts from time to time, but kind of they probably come back to the fact that um but it is us, it kind of uh and and I suppose my hope and I think our hope for church is that actually we will be family together.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: And family means kind of uh a commitment to one another, a devotion to one another, uh hoping the best for one another, looking out for one another.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: Those kind of things of what it means to be part of family, uh maybe our human family may be slightly dysfunctional, and and and actually what we can find here is it's there's kind of family of well, actually, this is how human relationships should be working, and and can find a sense that there's nothing to do with uh oppression or or or abuse or control, there's nothing sexual, but actually there's there's just this sense of I'm loved from who I am because I found Jesus.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: In finding Jesus, I've come into connection with the Heavenly Father and I find a brand new family.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: And and and you are the bit of the family that I'm living alongside, worshiping on the side, serving alongside.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so if church is extended family, how could you treat other people within the church as brother or sister?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Without just saying the phrase, kind of what does that really mean?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and again, I think we can be we have our little contained lives sometimes, and um, but what would it really mean if we said actually in this new church, family is the biggest metaphor we're gonna go for because we want everyone to feel they're included and noticed and so there's there's two questions on this bit.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we may not have time to do both of them, if not, choose one of them.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: If church is an extended family, how could you treat other people within church as brothers and sisters?
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if we are family, how might that affect the way we are church and we join in church activities?
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we were saying in our little group just a moment ago that uh looking at the body and what part you bring to play uniquely uh it's great.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, sometimes uh it's nobody's calling to do the wash it up.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody feels caught.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I just come alive when they empty the bins.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, there's just some family stuff that kind of just needs to happen.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you know that you're part of the family, so there's family chores, there's family colour, and then we just muck in because we're family, and that that's part of the deal as well.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you can either go for what's mean to be family in the way we love one another, or what's mean to be family when we do church, that actually, okay, we are prepared to kind of pitch in, and another feels called to do some things, but actually it's a family business.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're involved with that.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just because we want to take chance to pray.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Just five minutes on that one again.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, image of family, what do you take from that?
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as we start.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Gone.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: On it.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this is gonna be the best recording ever.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, uh there's lots to explore that, isn't there?
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: And and I I think all ages, we're just saying about actually all age, obviously having me about this, but it's just a certain age group that's here, but actually, hopefully it's gonna be kids and teenagers and uh grandparents, and I mean a whole lot, isn't it?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and family brings with it the different challenges, different opportunities.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um great metaphor.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Last one then.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um the church is described as the bride of Christ.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, what so whether it's kind of John the Baptist talking about Jesus and and um the disciples that used to be disciples of him and now being disciples of Jesus and they're now Jesus' people rather than his people.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, um, the bride belongs to the bridegroom.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens to him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: That joy is mine, and it's now complete.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: But he realized that this image of uh that goes through the whole of the Bible of marriage of God, the the bridegroom and and his people being the bride.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, when we come to the church, uh Jesus uh is the bridegroom, and the church is the bride.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when Paul is talking about marriage, he starts off talking about husbands and wives, and and eventually he's then he ends up talking about it's a great mystery, Jesus and the church.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, that the church is the bride of Christ.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh now what does that mean?
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: The book of Revelation would again have take us this imagery of um let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um because of time, I think there's just two things.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: One is do you love the church like Jesus loves the church?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes we can be disappointed with church, sometimes we can be upset by church, sometimes we can kind of uh we feel the church is dot dot dot dot.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: And somehow we can have a we can get grumpy with church and we can get kind of out of sorts with church.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, right at the start, I would say, do you love the church like Jesus loves the church?
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because he loves it like a bride.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine the kind of the best romantic movie ever you've watched, and it comes to the wedding day, and there's the bride, ta-da! And the bridegroom is just so in love and so kind of she's the one, and kind of um yeah, there's gonna be in the years ahead.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's ups and downs, the church is made of people, people will disappoint you, kind of, but in the end of it, do you think actually no I'm gonna love the church likes Jesus loves the church?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's one thing about the bride.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think the second thing is that the bride's made herself ready.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think there's something about about holiness.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think something about kind of um Jesus coming back for a bride without spot and blemish, and and I think sometimes um we're gonna do church, we're gonna do activities, we're gonna actually there's a call in this world where bad and sad things happen, where actually are we gonna be committed to homeless?
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna be committed to uh a lifestyle together that is honouring Jesus by the choices we make and the kind of the life that we live, the way we handle relationships, money, sex power kind of is the kind of actually the bride has made herself ready.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, there's something about the people of God that uh kind of physical benefit is of some value, but training in godliness is of value both in this life and the life to come.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus comes for his bride, actually he's looking for a godly, pure, holy bride.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, I think there's some journeying that we need to do with that around how do we maybe at times it doesn't sound nice to charge one another because it might come across as being judgmental and harsh, but do we so love the bride and love the church that when we feel that we're stepping out from a godly holy life, that we're called to do, I feel there's family members who love me enough to bring a bit of challenge.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not in a harsh way, but because we love the bride.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we want the bride to be not corrupt and and kind of uh drab and dirty, but actually to be spotless and to be ready for Jesus.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that's part of the deal.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: Again, how do we journey that one together?
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where oh we let things slide and we let things go, and oh, it's only human, and but there's something about the resilience of the church being the love of Jesus' heart.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh do we have that same love of being um yeah, pure and spotless and and ready for Jesus?
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um just one little reflection each.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Go around the circle.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: What what when you hear that phrase bride of Christ, uh referring to the church, uh what do you think and how do you respond?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then we just we will Matt's just gonna wrap up and we're gonna take chance to pray.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?