Faith Over Fear Motivation | Taking Risks Transforms lives

TRANSCRIPT 

I want to do something a little bit different. We've approached this series a little bit differently and I want to just hover around this whole area of risk. And I want to ask the question of us, what enables one person to be able to step courageously into the unknown situation with confidence that things will work out yet they cannot see how it will ever work out and what stops another person.

What keeps them crippled by fear and anxiety, unable to take a leap of faith? Because they won't move unless they get a written guarantee from God. What is it that causes this to happen for one and not happen for another? Now those of you that have been around for a while, you know that Anne and I have been married for 36 years.

At least we've got a picture of Anne and I, look at that. She married well.

She still looks the same. I've got less hair, as you can see. We've been married for 36 years. Of those 36 years that we've been married I think we've lived on our own for about six months. Six months. six months after we got married. And and the reason for that was everywhere we went, there were people that needed help.

There were people needed to come into an environment by which they could learn how to love God and learn how to grow in some areas. So we just began doing that and it was interesting because we met some very interesting characters as we began this process of stepping out and we also had some very interesting experiences.

It was not uncommon for us to come home from work at the end of the day and look around and go, where's the stereo? Oh, they've nicked it and they've gone. Oh, all right, what do we do now? We're never doing that again. No, so we take someone else in. And then the boom box would go missing, then some clothes would go missing, then money would go missing.

And then one day I thought, this is enough. The flippin TV was missing that, come on. Lord, you cannot expect us to keep doing this. He says, just keep doing it. It's just stuff. Just keep loving people. And so we had that as part of who we were, risk takers in that area all the time. But it went to a whole new level when a teacher approached us about a young student, 15 years of age, that was in a particularly difficult situation.

A lot of brokenness going on in the family and was unable to study and would we take her in? And we prayed about it and we said, we feel like the Lord is asking us to take that risk. So we're going to risk him and we're going to take her in. So she became part of our family. Now I've never had a 15 year old daughter, right?

So she comes in and she's a little wild. She's had no, she's had no discipline or boundaries or things like that. And so she just felt like she could just go walk and run around the streets and do whatever she wanted at night. And I felt the weight of responsibility. She's now living in my house.

So I've got to. Protect this girl. And so I'm trying to put some discipline and I'm trying to put some boundaries on her and this is not going well. She is bad. Bucking and biting and snarling and it's oh man, and anyway, it came to a head one night when she came out and she said, I'm going out and I can still see her and she's walking out and I'm telling you, she had the shortest of shortest miniskirts.

You could see what she had for a buck. That's how short it was. And I just looked at her and I thought, This is not going to end well. And I just said to her, If you're going to be in this house, you're going to follow the rules. And I did the usual thing, and it got quite volatile. I won't tell you exactly what I did, because I'd probably get arrested.

But it was quite volatile, and in the end I said you've got to choose. You've got to choose. You don't want to live under these rules. That's how my dad raised me. I've learned a lot since then. So anyway, she turned around, she walked back in the room, and then she changed. And she came out and she sat down.

And I thought, oh, I am so good at this pairing stuff. No problem. And anyway, I asked her after a while, I said, like, why didn't you go? I said, because I basically gave you an ultimatum. You're either part of here or you're not. And she said, I sat in there and I was so angry. And I sat in there, but I thought, do I want to go back to where I was with no discipline and nobody's loved me enough to even put any boundaries around me?

Or would I actually say, you know what, I'll need to change and suck it up and become part of a family. And so that's what happened. So that changed. And then we began to help her discover who she was in God. And then we helped her discover her career path. She ended up becoming a great English and film and TV teacher.

And at the end of the 12 months, which was very exhausting, I can tell you, she decided, hey listen, could I stay? And it's for how long? Oh just permanently. So we said yes and then we stayed permanently and then about a year after that she started saying God's told me that I'm gonna work alongside you in ministry all the days of my life and I thought that'll be great until you find a husband and then this other one turned up from another place and they joined our interesting family and suddenly he started saying the same thing and then they fell in love And then they decided they wanted we thought, surely you'll go now.

It's no, can't we build your garage in? It's my garage. It's where I put my car, so they built the garage in. And then before we even came down here, when we were asked to come down, they said, if you're going, we're going with you. This is what it's all about. Here is our family now.

There's another photo. There it is. And it's still as beautiful as usual. It's beautiful. I'm just balding and going fat, that's all, but this is our weird blend of family. And it was really interesting with this because this was a massive risk. It was a massive risk to take someone in your home and entwine your lives together.

And the biggest pushback we got was from other Christians. and other leaders. And here's some of the comments that I was gobsmacked about. It was like, why are you taking this girl in? She's not blood. You don't do this for her. And I'm going, what? Isn't this what Jesus would do? And then it was, Hey, what's going on here?

Why are you spending money on her? Why are you putting her through university? And I'm going, isn't that what, isn't that what Jesus she's not family. It's yeah, but it is now. We and it was like, wow. What is going on here? And then when the only one that said anything accurate is this, they said, listen, you bring her in Matt, you're going to lose everything.

And they were right.

That was the only accurate thing, but here's the deal. Yes, we lost everything in regards to privacy in regards to sharing of all the things that we've got, but we gained so much more because we gained and we learned. How God feels about people and to what extent he will go to rescue one. And we learned that somehow he was leading us into a place that we had to do the same thing and become a risk taker and step out there.

So what have you had to risk over the years? Where have you had to be a risk taker? Maybe you've had to leave a dysfunctional family and for the sake of your kids and the future of them because it's just not possible to stay there. Maybe you've had to walk away from a great job because there was another relationship in that job that could compromise your existing relationship so you chose to walk away.

Maybe you had to stand up to a bully. Maybe you had to let go of a friendship that was just unhealthy. With unhealthy, I remember when India and Dex were little, they would, all the kids would get in trouble all the time because you're my best friend and you be my best friend and rah. And I would say, here it is, just get this down kids, I am Dexter Cruz Rosso and I'm everybody's best friend.

Same thing, I'm India Jane Rosso, I'm everybody's best friend. That worked marvellous, until India's now 13. And I'm having to say, honey, you can't be everybody's best friend anymore. You now have to choose. The ones that you want to line up with and you want to go with and you want to be with because you can't sustain the everybody thing.

But younger, it was perfect. So another one I got right. And so there you go. Maybe you've had to confront someone with an offense. I'm so tired. I get so sick of hearing people. I left that church or I left that business. Why? Because someone offended me. Whoop dee doo. I always say to people when they're coming into the life of our church, Hang around.

I'm a serial offender. I'll get to you sooner or later. Don't feel left out. It'll happen. Because if you're going to teach the truth of the gospel, and you're going to be people that love Jesus, and you're going to follow what He says and the way He teaches, that is a little offensive when people don't want to do what they're supposed to do.

I understood, I didn't understand at the time, and we lost some great friends out of the decision to bring Anita in. But I thought about it afterwards. Most of this is really nothing to do with us. It was to do with what God was saying to them what's the matter with you? Why can't you risk? Why couldn't you do that for someone?

And it's and there were many people. Because we weren't flush. I had an extremely bad back. It was a part time kind of thing that was going on for work. We didn't have a lot of funds. But the one thing I've discovered is the people that have more tend to share less. They tend, the more you get, the less you want to risk.

But when you've got nothing, it's easy. Invite people in your home, you've got nothing anyway. Here, take it anyway. Whatever, we'll get some more nothings and we'll send it out again afterwards. So you've got to learn. And that's what this journey has been all about. The actual series hasn't gone the way I thought the Lord was going to lead it.

When he first shared it with me, he said, I thought it's going to be about mainly learning to risk, to go out and do mission kind of stuff and risking it all, which I still think it's about, but he seems to have shifted and gone on the front foot of it. Say first, you've got to learn to risk within the one and others of your world, because there are some relationships that are not in good place and they're not healthy.

And you've got to risk and love enough to lean into that because unless you get the relationships and the one and others worked out, you won't be able to risk what you need to risk in order to put it all out there for Jesus to do something. So Pauline kicked it off and she just helped us understand that, that the ability to risk and the courage to come from that is not from a what, but from a who, it's in Jesus.

I picked it up on the second one and said, Hey, this is what it's about. Not risking to get more out of this world. We don't need any more out of this world. This world, Jesus said, is passing away. It is dying. If only the extinctionist people would read that a little, they'd be a lot less stressed. It's dying.

We don't need any more out of this world. What we need to do is learn to risk all we've got in this world to fulfil what's on God's heart and all God cares about is people that are going to a Christless eternity. And he says, this is why you're here. I've given you stuff so that you can help and you can serve others.

And then Ruth and Tyler just helped us understand about standing up. You got to stand up, but when you stand up, you're never standing alone. So all I want to do this morning is just go through three, just talk about three little scenarios, accounts from the scriptures. And I believe that as I share these, the Holy Spirit will speak to you about what it means.

to be a risk taker. Because I can't teach directly into it because it's a different thing for every person. But the Holy Spirit might speak to you just some out of these scenarios. So the first one I want to talk about is that of Acts chapter 4. Now the book of Acts, if you don't think about the Bible, it's one of the books, a bunch of ancient manuscripts contained within this thing called the Bible.

It's under the new covenant, that's the Christian part of the Bible, and then you've got the old covenant the front which is for the Jewish people. That's the Hebrew part of the Bible. And Luke is a doctor. And so he's a fairly well educated man, and he basically said to everyone else, I know you're all writing accounts of what Jesus has done, and it's very admirable, but I'm going to write an orderly one.

Because obviously yours is not very good. So that's the reason why Luke wrote it, because he realised that the upper echelon of leadership were not going to be able to grapple with this unless it was laid out well. So he did a really great job. So in Acts chapter 4, What's happened is that Peter and John have been doing exactly what they're supposed to do.

Go make disciples. So they're going in there, sharing with people about Jesus, and telling them that Jesus is the only way. He is the resurrection of the life. You get eternal life through a relationship with Jesus. Anyway, this is going well. It's the thousands of people are unhitching from Moses, the old covenant, and hitching on to Jesus.

So they're doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. And then in the middle of it God does this miracle at the same time and this cripple of 40 years starts walking again, and that's really It's really upsetting the leaders because the religious leaders are insanely jealous. He's getting far more popularity.

If they don't do something about him, they've got to get rid of him. So this is where the context that is going on. And then they pull Peter and John and they put them in prison. Then they put them before the high priest, get everyone, get the big guys in there too. And everyone's going to have a shot and they have a go at them and find out what are you, why are you doing this?

What's going on? We told you shouldn't do this. And then they challenge Peter and then Peter challenges back and basically says, Hey, listen, to obey God or not obey God, you decide, but as far as I'm going concerned and John and I concerned, we're going to obey God. So they're looking at them and then this is where I want to pick it up.

This is when they saw the courage of Peter and John. So all that backstory is going on and they look and they seen the courage of Peter and John, which means. This risk was able to be seen. It was noticeable. They knew there was something going on. So when you look at our family now, and I showed you the photo, the evidence of our risks paid, the price paid is in Dexter and India and Chris and Anita.

There's evidence that is saying when they saw their courage, when they saw it, they saw this risk. And then I love the next one. And they realized that they were. unschooled and ordinary men. They were unschooled. They had not gone through the classes they should have gone through in Bible college. They didn't go through Gamaliel's class and the school of the prophets because Jesus didn't want any of that so he unhitched off that.

He said no I'm gonna work through a few fishermen. They're ordinary. And he's finding the ordinary people. So they looked ordinary. But hey, there's something going on. We can see evidence of courage, but they're just ordinary. But then it goes on and says, And they were, I love this word. What?

They're astonished. They're astonished. And they took note that these guys have been with Jesus. So they're ordinary But they got a bit of extraordinary going on in there as well. And it's a bit supernatural. And whatever's going on, because of the risks that they're taking, they're able to see this. They don't understand it, but they're able to see it.

They're seeing their boldness. They're seeing their courage. And they recognize, man, they have been with Jesus. But it was able to be seen. It was noticeable. Let's go to another story. Out of the book of Matthew. Matthew was one of the eyewitness disciples. He wrote an account too. So once again, it's in your new covenant.

It's in the new covenant. It's in the, it's in the Christian portion of the Bible. And anyway, here's the backstory leading up to what we're going to share here. Jesus has just heard that John the Baptist has been murdered. He's had his head chopped off. And so he's trying to get away somewhere private, somewhere quiet, solitude, so he can process that kind of grief.

And, but the trouble is everywhere he goes, crowds follow and the crowds have followed him. And they're there and it's massive. It's, this crowd is like 10, 000 and they're following and he's teaching them. And then it gets to the point where they've got to feed them because they can't stand them. I'm hungry.

And all I've got is five loaves and two fish. Now, I'm not brilliant at maths, but I know that doesn't really add up, and they're probably thinking the same thing. Five loaves, two fish. And he goes, no, it's okay. Just tell them we'll sit down and I'll just ask God to bless it and they'll all be fed.

And it's amazing. And this amazing miracle happens where all these people are fed, about 10, 000 of them and there's stuff left over. And you know what Jesus does at the end of this? This is just the backstory. Then he says, I want you to go get in the boat. and go to the other side of the lake because we're going over there.

I don't know why Jesus didn't go. I don't know. Maybe he booked an Uber for later. I don't know. But he didn't go. He stayed there. And I think he did that because he wanted to get that space with his heavenly father about John. So he has that space. So they set off and they're on, they're heading out across the lake and everything's, It's quite normal, like it's this thing, but then suddenly a storm turns up and it's a ferocious storm in the boat and this is going on.

And then this is where you pick up the text shortly before dawn, Jesus walks out to them on the water. So this is no longer a normal storm because normally when there's storms, people aren't walking on water. So this is not a normal storm. When the disciples Saw him walking on the lake. They were terrified.

Now that's a pretty normal kind of response, isn't it? They're terrified. Yeah, we're out there. It's a ghost. They are absolutely terrified. Now that is an absolutely normal response. If you're in a storm and someone starts walking on the water, that is quite normal. Jesus starts to talk to them and immediately speaks to them and says, Hey, take courage.

It's me. And now I would have thought from here, Paul would just stay with the whole terrified kind of thing. And he'd have said something like this. He should have said, Jesus, man. You're out there on the water in the storm. Mate, could you come in here? Get back in the boat because I've got a nice little chilly bin in here with a few beers and maybe we can have a little chat.

And I can fill you in on how walking on water affects us. It's not good. It distresses us. So can we come? I would have thought he'd done something like that. But no, he doesn't. The funny thing about Peter is that Peter doesn't know his limits. Until he hits them. He's just walking into walls all the time.

And all of a sudden he goes, Lord, if it is you. Next slide. Maybe. There is. Lord, if it is you, so Peter's still not really sold that it is. Lord, if it's you, tell me to come out to you on the water. Now, if you were the other disciple in the boats, you'd be looking like going, Oh, what an idiot. He's done it again.

He's such a tool. He's just such a tool. Peter, tell me to come. And I don't know what happened here. Maybe Peter didn't think that Jesus would take him up on it. And then Jesus goes, come. Okay. Okay. Alright. So we're doing this thing. We're getting out of the boat. Yeah. Okay. No worries. Okay. So then Peter gets down out of the boat.

He walks on the water towards Jesus. There's no going back now. He's a risk taker. He's out there. He's on the water. But then. Ah dear. Then he saw the wind, and he was afraid, and he began to sink, and he cried out to the Lord, Save me. And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him and said, You of little faith, why did you doubt?

Why did you doubt? A risk taker. Why was Peter able to get out of the boat and even have a go? I got all the sympathy in the world for Peter. People go, Oh, that's such a stupid thing to get out of the boat. I don't know. He walked on water, you didn't. No one else got out of the boat, he had to go.

And that was the side of Peter that was so impulsive. He just didn't know his limits, and he was just forever just bumping into things, but he was like a risk taker. He was willing. So when you can hear the voice of God, hear the voice of God, when you can hear it, and you keep your eyes on him, you can get out of the boat.

You can take the risk. Circumstances will never look right. If you're going to be a risk taker, the circumstances will never look right. The lady in the video at the start, she's lost a kid, she's lost a husband. That doesn't look right as a starting point to actually do something significant that becomes, she becomes so ingrained in her village that people are looking to her.

That is the, you wouldn't start with that. That doesn't look right. Surely, we need someone like Gravecrow Shell before we can start with that. No, your circumstances are not to be the dictator of whether you get out of the boat. You get out of the boat because you hear God speak and you keep your eyes upon Him.

One more story. Remember, you're trying to listen to the Holy Spirit, what he's saying to you about being a risk taker and what this might look like. This one I'm going back into the Hebrew portion of the Bible, out to the book of Daniel. And it's about three guys called Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

They have been transported into Babylon with Daniel and they're pretty good. So it's been noticed, King Nebuchadnezzar noticed that they're pretty good. So they've been elevated and they've got some status. And that's naturally ticking off the locals, coming and taking their jobs. So they're not very happy about it.

But I don't know what happens with King Nebuchadnezzar. He suddenly has some sort of midlife crisis or something like that. And he feels, I need, what I need to do is I need to build a big statue of me. So that's a good idea. Okay. How big are we going to build? 25 meters tall. It's going to be three meters across.

And so he says, yeah, I'm going to build this statue of me. Okay. And then he really loses it. It's and now whenever the band plays. Everybody must fall down and worship my statue. Worship me. And if you don't do that's it. Throw you in the furnace. I'll literally burn you. That's where it came from.

Okay, so They start, band starts playing, everyone's bowing down and worshipping. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, eh, bow down there, no we're not doing that. Perfect opportunity then for the disgruntled employees with the ones coming in taking their jobs. Hey, king, have you heard about what's going on down there?

Those Jews you brought in, they won't bow down and worship. And the kid, king is furious. And so he gets down there. He gets down there and he says, listen, Shadrach, you gotta bow down and worship this thing. You have to man. Band's going to play any minute, it's coming up. Five minutes. Here they go, band's playing.

They go, listen, King, we're not going to bow down. We are not going to bow down. We worship the creator of the heavens and the earth. The king of kings, the lord of lords. We worship him. And he's more than able to save us. But even if he doesn't, we Just want you to know we ain't bound down to your idol. And he is so mad.

He's been humiliated by these three little punks. So therefore, he says, let's heat up the furnace seven times hotter. Now, I don't know why you'd need seven times hotter. Apparently everybody that died when you put it into where it was fine. But they want to burn them seven times. I don't know. It's so hot that he throws them in and the poor guys that are coming to try and put them in, they all die.

And so they're stuck in the fire. They, they throw it in this furnace and everyone's going, Yeah, King's going to look at me. I've got it all worked out here. Yeah. And you don't bow down. You don't bow down to me. This is going to happen to you too. And then the King looks in the furnace and goes, one, two, three, four.

How many did we put in there? Three, one, two, three. That's a problem, isn't it? And the fourth one looks a little bit like the son of the gods.

King has a change of heart. Pulls them out. Get out here Abednego. And they come out. And then he says, Anybody that doesn't worship their God gets thrown in the fire. Here's the thought I'm wanting to throw about this risk taker thing. I wonder if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that were in the fire I wonder if they could actually see the Lord in there with them, or whether they just experienced it in the circumstances.

Because the scriptures tell us under the Hebrew portion of the Bible, nobody can see the Lord face to face and live. He is so holy, so pure. So I'm wondering, was it just the King that was able to see in there? Did they actually see the Lord in there or was the only evidence they had? This is really neat.

Look, we're not we're not burning up. And it says when they come out, they don't even have a hint of smoke on them. I wonder how many times we're afraid to risk and to step into a circumstance and do something because we're waiting to see the Lord in there first. But the Lord's only there once you get in there.

And you're likely to not be able to see him in there, just experience his presence and his power in there. And it's other people looking in, they'll be able to say, Whoa, God is doing something really neat in there.

See for the risk taker, for the risk taker, once again, it's not about what it's about who. Who is with you in the risk? If you're doing it on your own, I'm telling you, it ain't going to end well. But if you're doing it in the Lord, everything changes. Now this was such an anomaly to them in the, when you go think about these guys in the, that are walking with Jesus and that, it's cause they're going, they're hearing him say things like I have to return back to my father in heaven.

And I've got to wait there. Until the time comes and then I'll be sent back, not a savior, I'll come back as judge and I'll bring the angels and we're going to sort out the mixture in the kingdom, all the injustices. And then we're going to actually renew all things, new heavens and a new earth. But I'm going to remain with the father until that point in time, which is okay.

All right, fair enough. But then it gets a little confusing when you go to his last statement where he says all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go make disciples. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And surely, I am with you always. Hang on. How are you going to pull that off?

You're supposed to be sitting there with the Father, getting ready for the big action at the end, so how are you going to pull this off? John had the same questions. It's geez, you're talking some really weird stuff here. What's going on? And he says to John, listen. Listen, I have to go, but I'll ask the father and he's going to send you another one.

The advocate, the comforter, the spirit of truth. And the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you will know him. And how will you know him? For he lives with you and will be in you.

And that's how I'm going to stay with the Father until the time comes for the judgment and the renewal of all things. But at the same time, my spirit We'll be with you always, because Jesus could only be in one place at one time. By the Holy Spirit, He can be in all of us, all of the time. The very first story I talked about the guys where they were astonished at Peter and John, I left a portion out of it, deliberately.

Because I wanted to sneak it in on the back end. They said, we're astonished, man. This is amazing. They're ordinary. They're unschooled. But man, we can tell they've been with Jesus. Before Peter goes and talks to them and challenges them, this is what it says. Then Peter,

filled with the Holy Spirit. Risk takers are filled with the Holy Spirit. And they have to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Our Soap Devotion Program is not just about words on a page. It's to slow you down so the Spirit of God can fill you with God's truth every day. It's how you remain filled with the Holy Spirit.

If you don't have a mechanism, if you don't want to do that's fine. Find another mechanism. Because if you don't, you are like a bucket with a hole in it. You can be so on fire one minute, two things happen, your whole world comes apart and you forget about risk taking, I don't even want to get out of bed.

The key is the Holy Spirit. Relationship with the Holy Spirit. He reveals the truth. He's the one that empowers you to be a risk taker. Enables you to take a leap out in the middle and nowhere in the water. Enables you to be bold and confident, face the fire. People that have the Holy Spirit and they're filled with the Holy Spirit, that is what people say when they go, I can see you have been with Jesus.

And when they say, you seem to hear God's voice and because you can hear it, you can step out into the unknown. He is the who behind all that we do. I love Jesus. Jesus inaugurated our covenant. The apostles wrote about it to help us understand how this thing works. But it is the Holy Spirit. Grace and truth is the dispensation age of the Holy Spirit.

He is the one that dwells with us always. He is the one that teaches us. He is the one that empowers us. And until you receive Him, you'll never be able to take risks. The disciples were freaking out again in the book of Acts. And they were saying, when's this going to happen? When's that going to happen?

And they said, he said, when's this date going to take place? And this is what Jesus said to him. He said, it's not for you to know the times or the dates about any of this stuff, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You will receive power. Holy Spirit gives us the power.

That's what they see when they say, I can see something different here. You look ordinary, but there's something extraordinary about you as well. How are you able to take that risk and walk into that situation when others will not take the risk? It's because you've cultivated that time with the Holy Spirit.

Sam and Pauline shared about this in the beginning, back at the start of the series, when they went and joined Alabaster Box, went and toured around telling kids about Jesus. Why? It's because of the Holy Spirit prompted them. Our little family has turned into what it is, simply because we took a risk, not having any idea how it would end.

And I still don't know how it's going to end. And I still have those things that people spoke of. She's going to take you for everything. Maybe she will. I don't know. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't take the risk. The risk is, hey, we've loved her and loved her husband for long enough. Maybe they'll look after us when we get older.

But if they don't, that's cool. God will look after us. So you've got to be able to step through that. And what's it going to be if you, I'm not saying that you have to go and adopt someone into your family and do what we did. He might do that for you. And I'll tell you what, it will be the most thrilling, adventurous, terrifying process if you do.

But what you will learn from God out of it. Maybe I'll ask you to just, maybe something you would say take a risk, start a missional village, start one for your community. Just wanting the community around. I heard someone recently and I haven't followed it up, but they said, Oh, we've had our village for so long.

And it's very nice. We get together and talk, but I just realized I got 20 dog people living around me. I think I'm going to go and start a village for dog walkers. How exciting. They must think it's exciting. Jesus loves dog lovers. Doesn't he? I know he doesn't love cat lovers, but dogs, he loves dog lovers, doesn't he?

It doesn't have to be what it's always been. Oh we give our love to Christ, we come to a church, we go and sit in a small group and we just love each other until we die. That's not what it was about. It's like you discover this body of believers that love Jesus, that want to go on a mission. Man, I can go and start something in my gym or I can go and start something in my business.

Whatever. Whatever. Take a part. It could be simple as talking to someone. Say, Hey, listen, let's have a coffee. I'd love to hear your story. You're just weird. And I'd like to know how you got to be so weird. People love talking about themselves. They seriously do. Maybe it's serving a mission.

Now this could be a tough one. Maybe someone might give you a, an opportunity or an idea on how to deal with Halloween.

I think it's one of the missed opportunities. And I know we always in churches, let's do something, we'll do a feature of light or something like that. What other time in your life do you get people walking around the street, happy, carrying a beard, dressed up as an idiot, wanting some knocking on your door, wanting some candy.

Maybe you could take advantage of that. Oh, but it's the devil's thing. No, it's not. Halloween was a church instituted thing. What you've got to remember is this. When the, when Jesus came, he was the fulfillment of the Judea, Judaism. He fulfilled that. He replaced paganism. Most of us are in the paganism camp.

And the thing about pagans is that they love parties. They love celebrations. They love this kind of stuff. So they came into faith in Christ and then they had all these pagan celebrations that they still wanted to have. So the church retrofitted them into the church. In the third century, around there, that's where December 25th came from.

That was a pagan festival. As was Easter. In the 8th century, they retrofitted something called All Saints Day. And the night before was All Hallows. It was instituted that people could go around, and it was usually, it started with the poor. So the poor would go around and they would knock on your door and they would try and encourage you and pray a blessing.

Over you and your loved ones that have passed. That's where it started. And then of course, in the fifties, the whole trick or treat and all that kind of stuff gets weirder. And I'm pretty sure Michael Jackson's thriller, Put the icing on the cake. You've got some weird things running around. Listen, we're children of life.

You don't have to fear that. I've heard some people do some amazing things. And I'm thinking, that's so cool. But then, I've also been in the camp where it's like. Turn the lights off and pretend we're not home. Have they gone? No, there's still some there.

They're just people. They're people, they're lost people, they're broken people. Finding some fun. Take advantage of it. See if you can get it. This might be a risk you take. It might be beyond you and I don't want to violate your conscience. If you really feel like it's the devil on Oris that, then don't do it.

Because you'll violate your conscience. But Maybe. Or maybe you just need to confront someone in love. Maybe ask the question. I'm doing this right now with someone that's got very unwell and they refuse to acknowledge God. And I say okay, so what's your plan for beyond death? The two things we know is death and taxes.

What's your plan? I don't have a plan. I'll work it out when I get there. What if that plan doesn't work? You gotta love enough, not be arrogant and things like that, but you gotta love enough. Listen, I just want to finish off with this. You are so incredibly valuable. And you know why? Because you're a container.

President of the United States, he flies around this thing called Air Force One. I might have a picture of it up there somewhere, I'm not sure. Cool. It's this big honkin plane, like it's massive. Massive thing. Massive plane. Anyway, it's called Air Force One because it's such a big shiny plane with lots of fingers.

No, it's called Air Force One because the President is in it. If the President gets out of that and jumps in a little two seater Cessna, the Cessna becomes Air Force One. It's not about the container. We are extremely valuable because we're just a container to actually house the Holy Spirit. And when it comes to being a risk taker, you just gotta get to the point where you gotta say, Lord, I want more of you and less of me.

And if you can do more of Him and less of you, then you can take more risks. That's the way it goes. Because you realize that the Holy Spirit is the who behind the whole thing. He's the one that enables you to be seen. It's His evidence that's there. When you hear His voice, you step out, man. People listen.

They go, what is going on there? How is it you're in the middle of that circumstances and you're still calm? That's What's going on? There's someone else walking with me that you can't see, but he'll never leave me and he'll never forsake me. And that's what it means to be a risk taker. If we all could get this, that we became people filled with the Holy Spirit, always allowing him to move in and through us to love people the way that God loves them.

It would change our families. It would change our workplaces. It would change everything. Change the world. Amen. We've just got to be willing to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. And out of that love, our neighbour. And it has to be in that order. Which is why risk taker ended up starting in the relationships this way first.

But now we're finishing it with the reason for that there is for this. Because there's a great mission. There are people out there that need Jesus. And we just need to risk. And have something written about us maybe down the track. Be so cool to have someone write in about 10 years, those weirdos down there in Burley, man.

They were weird people. They did stuff. They risked stuff. They went out and did the most outrageous things. They were loving broken people, taking them in. They were doing all this. It was amazing. I don't theologically agree with everything they do, but man, the way they love one another, the way they care for the community, that is unbelievable.

That would be awesome. And who knows, maybe they will write about it. It's not about getting more out of this world. It's about risking all in this world that God might use us more effectively for fulfilling kingdom. Let's pray together. Father, I just thank you that I thank you that this didn't go the way I thought it was going to go.

I, I knew when you spoke to me about it, that it was about risking all in this world to actually do mission for you and to be about what needs to be done because time is shorter than we realize But I didn't anticipate that you needed to do some things on the front end. And I'm so grateful that you've done that.

And because if we can't, if the gospel doesn't work between one another, if we can't work this out between one another, it doesn't work full stop. But I know it does work. As long as hearts are willing to love you, and then out of that loving you with everything, then love one another. May we be people that are.

Very ordinary, but look somehow extraordinary that you can be seen in and through us, that you can, they can see the risks and the willingness to do it all based on love. Holy Spirit, you are the one that we need more of. And we ask that you would just fill us afresh right now.