Deuteronomy chapter 26, I just want to look at the last few verses there, started from verse 15.
So Deuteronomy 26 and verse 15, I'm just going to read them again there where it reads,
Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven and bless thy people Israel,
and the lamb which thou hast given us is thou swearst unto our fathers,
a lamb that floweth with milk and honey.
This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments.
Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul.
Thou hast avouch'd the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways,
and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice.
And the Lord hath avouch'd thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he has promised thee,
and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations which he
hath made in praise, and in name, and in honour, and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the
Lord thy God as he hath spoken. And the title of my sermon today is Moving Home God's Way.
Moving Home God's Way. Let's go to the Lord in the word of prayer before we get started. Father,
thank you for your word. Thank you for the many lessons you give us in the Bible. Thank you for
just giving us the Bible, giving us the word of God, the preserved word of God,
that we could trust every word. Help us to understand what you're saying to us today
through your word about how we want to be when we move to this new building.
Help me to preach loudly, boldly, clearly. Fill me with your spirit, please, Lord. Help those
to have attentive ears, attentive hearts, and to want to apply this to their lives,
and ultimately to the church's life as we move forward now. In Jesus' name,
pray all of this. Amen. Okay, so in Deuteronomy, Moses is preparing the children of Israel to
finally enter the promised land. I say finally because it was supposed to happen 40 years earlier,
but they had had to wait. And we as well have had to wait a little bit, haven't we, to move
buildings. We were kind of planning on moving about a year and four months ago, I think, and
that's kind of been dragging on and dragging on. We were only expecting to be in Southend a couple
of months. At the beginning, we thought it was only going to be temporary. We were looking all
over the place, and that dragged on, didn't it? And, but I'll tell you what, it's been,
we've learned a lot in that time, and we've done a lot in that time, and we've made a real impact
in South or on Southend in that time, haven't we? And I was just reading out some of those
salvations, and just thinking about that, I mean, a good, I would say a good half of them plus
have been in the area of Southend. That's a lot of people saved in one town, isn't it?
A lot of people, and you know, we've made a difference. Now we're time to move on from here.
Well, it wasn't 40 years, but 18 months later, and like I said, God's provided us with a new
home against the odds, okay? And it was against the odds, and in case you're sitting there going,
oh, you know, brother Ian, why is it so hard to find a church building? Because basically,
they've changed all these use classes in the UK with commercial buildings, where everything that
used to qualify for what would be a church building, and I'm not going to go too technical,
but there was a category of D1 use, okay? And that covered a whole range of buildings,
and then they changed them, and so many of those D1s became what's called EUs, which you kind of
have a church building in. Church buildings became F1. Now, the sad truth is, is hardly any
buildings out there are F1, and the ones that are, it seems, get snapped up pretty quickly by people
that then rent them out on the hour to a load of false churches, and you don't really want to be
swapping with a load of false churches in the few buildings left, so I couldn't believe it when I
started looking how difficult it actually is to find someone that either has that use class or
is happy to have that use class changed, and it's taken me 18 months of a lot of searching,
and a lot of searching, and a lot of calling, a lot of emailing, and thinking, well, you know,
in that time, God's blessed us. He's blessed us with a home, but now he's given us somewhere,
and it's time to move on. Well, maybe, maybe Wickford will or won't be a land flowing with
milk and honey. I hope it will be. Those of you who might know Wickford are thinking, really? But
I don't know, but either way, I know that it's where God wants us, okay? It's where God wants
us. He's led us to this point now, and we're going to be moving to Wickford. Now, it is likely to be
a permanent home for us, okay? Like I said, I've taken a long-term lease on a place, and if and
when we grow out of it, firstly, we're able to increase the size where we are with an upstairs,
and if we still grow out of it, there are many other bigger buildings in that whole area,
so I think that's where we're going to be. That's going to be our home, and we want to make sure
that we move home God's way, don't we? Yeah? If we're going to move home, we want to make sure
that we do it God's way, and there is a right and a wrong way to move home, isn't there? Anyone here
who's done house moving before, there's a wrong way to move house, and there's a right way, and
as you start to build up kids, and when you build up kids, you build up stuff, when you move,
and unfortunately, we have moved quite a few times, there's a wrong way to do it. There's
a wrong way, like, I don't know, like maybe trying to skimp on removal vans, and think,
yeah, I'll just do it with a couple of runs, and next thing you know, you're on the sixth run,
and you're looking at the time, I've got to get this van back, and everything goes a bit wrong,
and there's a wrong way when you think, don't worry, we'll just pack the last few bits as we're
moving, and suddenly you're throwing in like single items into the back of a van, and you've
run out of boxes, and things like that. There are many wrong ways of doing things. You can move into
a home, anyone ever done this before, where you move in, I'll unpack that box soon. Yeah,
that box is still unpacked, isn't it? Yeah, maybe a couple of things have been taken out of that box,
and then you think, why did I even bring that box a year later, because I don't seem to be using
anything in that box. It is, that's the wrong way of doing it, and then there's a right way,
isn't there? There's a right way of doing it, and being organized, and getting everything right.
Well, we want to do things the right way, and when we move spiritual homes, we move our church,
we move our home to Wickford. We want God to look down from heaven, like in verse 15,
where it says, look down from thy holy habitation from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the
land which thou has given us as our swearst unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and
honey. Now, we are his people Israel, and we want his blessing, yeah. How do we get it? How do we
get his blessing? Well, he said in verse 16, this day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do
these statutes and judgments, thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all
thy soul. So, first off is a simple concept, yeah, very simple concept, follow his rules, live right,
and we'll be blessed, yeah. Okay, that's a simple concept in scripture there, but here's the thing,
notice how he's talking to the nation as a collective singular, yeah, see that there,
verse 18, he said, and the Lord hath avouch thee, that's singular this day, to be his peculiar
people, that's plural. He's talking to the nation as a whole, as a singular, and there are blessings
and cursings, aren't there, that came on Israel as a nation, and later Judah, based on their behavior
as a nation, yeah. You've seen that in scripture, if you read through the Old Testament, you see
that a lot. Now, turn to Joshua 7 for one of many, many examples, like there are many examples of
this in scripture, but this is probably one of the most famous ones. They've just destroyed Jericho,
they've had an amazing victory, but Achan coveted and stole, he stole first a coat,
didn't he, he saw this good, goodish Babylonian garment, he stole some of the gold and silver that
was meant to be dedicated to the Lord, that was the Lord, so he's just seen it, he's coveted it,
he's stolen it, and look at Joshua chapter 7 and verse 1, and notice the wording here, this is Achan
that did this, Joshua chapter 7 and verse 1 says, but the children of Israel committed a trespass
in the accursed thing, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe
of Judah, took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children
of Israel. So look how God holds the children of Israel responsible here, yeah, look at verse 2,
and Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven on the east side of Bethel,
and spake unto them saying, go up and view the country, and the men went up and viewed Ai,
so they're getting ready to continue the conquest, and Ascopia the next on the list, which is Ai,
and they returned to Joshua and said unto him, let not all the people go up,
but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai, and make not all the people
to labor thither, for they are but few. So maybe there was a pride and arrogance growing among the
people that resulted in Achan stealing, I don't know, because they seem pretty confident here,
they seem maybe overly confident here, and obviously they've just come off the back of
this Jericho victory, this amazing Jericho victory, where the walls are full and flat,
you know, it was an amazing scene, it was amazing thing that happened, God's clearly with them,
maybe that's part of it, verse 4 says, so there went up thither with the people about three
thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai, so they've only sent three thousand men,
and the men of Ai smote them about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate
even to Shebarim, and smote them in the going down, wherefore the hearts of the people melted
and became as well, so they've lost thirty six, the other approximately two thousand nine hundred
and sixty four men have just legged it, I mean it's hardly like they fought to the death is it
either, they've lost thirty six men, the rest of them have just kind of just ran off, yeah,
jump forward to verse 11 where God explains why this happened, so verse 11, Israel have sinned,
and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, for they have even taken of the
accursed thing, and have also stolen and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own
stuff, noticing the wording there, yeah, therefore the children of Israel could not stand before
their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed,
neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed from among you, up sanctify
the people, and say sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
there is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel, thou canst not stand before thine enemies
until you take away the accursed thing from among you, so Achan, if you know the story,
ends up getting rumbled doesn't he, they kind of get to the bottom of it, and he gets put to death,
but you can see from this story, even just away from just the influence of the sin, why Paul
said a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, because here it's not even that well the effects
of that sin then went on to but, no, God looked down and blamed Israel, God looked down and blamed
the people as a collective didn't he for the sin of one man and his family, yeah, so go back to
Deuteronomy 26, you might be sitting there thinking well that's Israel brother Ian, that's the Old
Testament, that's Israel, we're just a small independent church aren't we, yes, and they were
just a big independent church, yeah they were the church in the wilderness weren't they, yeah they
were the church in the wilderness, they were a big independent church, and hopefully we're going to
become a big independent church, but either way it's not based on the size, it works the same way
with us, verse 16, back in Deuteronomy 26 says, this day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to
do these statutes and judgments, thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart
and with all thy soul, again it's a collective command but talking in the singular to them as
a whole, and there's a collective result isn't there, if we want the blessings of God as a church
everyone here, we need to keep and do his statutes and judgments with all our hearts and souls, yeah,
that means that we need to encourage each other to not let the side down, it's a team game, yeah,
and there's no iron team, yeah, okay, we all need to be encouraging, we all need to be doing our best
for the team, for the church, verse 17 says, thou hast a vouch, a vouch is affirmed, maintained,
called into support, agreed, so basically they've made this agreement, the Lord this day to be thy God
and to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and to
hearken unto his voice, and the Lord hath avouch thee this day to be his peculiar people as he
hath promised thee and that thou shouldst keep all his commandments and to make thee high above all
nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honor and that thou mayest be in holy people
unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken, so by going into the land they've avouch, they've affirmed
that God is their God that they will walk in his ways, okay, keep his statutes, his commandments,
his judgments and to hearken unto his voice, what's his voice? The word of God, yeah, to hearken unto
the word of God, to hearken unto the preaching, to hearken unto your Bible reading, to hearken unto
to every time you're hearing the word of God, you're getting convicted of things in the word of God,
God's affirmed that they're his particular people, sorry, his peculiar people and no,
they didn't have silly sideburns, they didn't have funny hats on their heads, they didn't wear
weird top hats with fur around them, that's got to be hot at this time, do they still wear those in
the summer, anyone know? Yeah, a couple of nods there, okay, so they still got the fur on the hat,
wow, okay, that's not what he's talking about, is he? He's not talking about peculiarly dressed,
yeah, he's not talking about, he's not talking about like peculiar weird stuff, like head
banging walls and things like that, that's not what he's talking about here, is it?
He's talking about his peculiar people because of the fact they're going to be holy,
they are unlike everyone else, well he's also affirmed that they should keep all his commandments,
isn't he? Verse 19 says, and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made in praise
and in name and in honor and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God as he
have spoken. So we want to be high above all people when we move, don't we?
In praise, in name and in honor are holy people, now how does that look in 2022 in Wickford Essex,
yeah, how does that look? Well, do we need the tallest building in town then, yeah, do we need
to get planning permission for a steeple, is it a steeple or a spire? Same thing, same thing, yeah,
okay, okay, do we need that, do we need that? The tallest one we can, no, the height above all
nations, above the people is above the false and wishy-washy churches in it, isn't it, yeah,
it's above those other people, those other nations, those other ways, it's to be above them all
in praise, in name and in honor and that's three points that we're going to look at today and the
title is Moving Home God's Way. Number one, we want to tower over Wickford in praise, okay,
we want to tower over Wickford in praise, what does it mean to be made high above all nations
in praise, is that the praise of us? We'll turn over to 1 Peter 2 where Peter is addressing the
churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 1,
1 Peter 2.1 reads, Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and evil speakings, that's a good start there, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto
a living stone, disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious, ye also as lively stones
have built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Right, that's us. Verse 6, Wherefore so it is contained the
scripture, behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. That's Jesus there. Verse 7, unto you therefore which believe he is precious,
but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble
at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. So something to remember
that those disobedient to the gospel stumble at Christ, don't they? They're offended by him,
they stumble at the word, and don't they stumble at the word? Yeah, stumble at the word, you notice
that when you're out soul winning, how often they stumble at the word. We were chatting yesterday,
everyone as usual, as always, when you go out soul winning, especially when you do a marathon,
you get to come back with lots of interesting stories, aren't you? Lots of interesting people
who it doesn't matter how many verses you point out and show them exactly what God says,
they will still just stumble at that word, won't they? They'll stumble at it, they cannot deal with
it, they cannot cope with it. It is something that they stumble at, they just can't seem to
get over whatever their preconceived notion is of you must repent of your sins, you know,
or whatever it is. Well, these people are like that, but we, what about us, the saved? Verse 9
says, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people,
that ye should show forth the praise of him who has called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light. Now, he's talking to what would be known as Gentile believers here,
yeah, verse 10 says, which in time past were not a people, and it applies to all believers,
doesn't it? We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people,
yeah? We've inherited those promises, we've inherited that description, haven't we?
Deuteronomy, you don't have to turn to 26 18, said, and the Lord hath avouched thee this day
to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his
commandments, and to make thee high above all nations, which he hath made in praise,
and in name, and in honour, that thou must be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he
hath spoken. So, like I said, we as a church have taken over from Israel by faith in Christ Jesus,
and in Deuteronomy, we need to be high above all nations in praise, yeah? Now,
I don't believe it's talking about us being praised, I don't think it's us being praised,
as that people, we're told here in verse 9, where you are in 1 Peter, that we should show
forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
I believe that that means that it's in praising him that we want to be towering over Wickford,
okay? It's in the praise of him, it's how we praise him, towering over Wickford in the way
that we praise him, and ultimately it will be towering over Essex and really the whole of the UK,
yeah? Turn to Psalm 69, how do we praise him? How do we praise him? In psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing, making melody in our hearts of the Lord, yeah? Psalm 69, that's the main way that
we praise him, Psalm 69, you're turning to, we're going to look from verse 30. Psalm 69 and verse 30
says, I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. Okay,
so praising him with song often involves thanksgiving, doesn't it, as well? Verse 31
says, this also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
So he prefers praise in song to all of those Old Testament sacrifices and they can be a
sweet smelling savour to the Lord, can't they? But he loves the praise, he loves it when we praise
him. The humble shall see this and be glad and your heart shall live to seek God. Because there's
an effect on those around us to sing and hearing the proper praise of God, isn't there? Yeah,
there's an effect on those around us, effect on those that visit the church, effect on those
that walk past the church to hear the proper praise of God in song. Hearing men and women
make a sweet melody to the Lord week in, week out, yeah? There's an effect that that can have
on people, yeah? Not wondering if it's a pop concert, not walking past wondering what actually
is going on in there just sounds like another pop concert or another worldly bar, pub, club
or something else. Because a lot of the time in some of these churches you can't hear the words,
can you? Not that the words really make much difference anyway a lot of the time,
just sounds like anything else. But a lot of the time all you can hear is the drums, the drums,
the bass, the wailing and everything else. Well, it's not what we want. You have to turn to Romans
12, 2 says, and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And that includes not
hearing some wannabe pop idol soloing some contemporary trash, yeah? I've been at churches
where they do that they've got a special and then someone stands up there and they and you're just
thinking is this just some worldly pop idol thing and they're like this. And they always
sing an American accent don't they as well? In England, in some place, English, young lady just
going yes oh and it's like sort yourself out, yeah? But because really they're not modeling
them because there's nothing to model yourself in the word of God and that is there? No,
they're just modeling themselves on some worldly junk aren't they? They're modeling themselves
and whatever they've been staring at on the box. Well instead we want God's people to be singing
loud and clear doctrine, yeah? Traditional hymns of the faith, yeah? Singing words which
have substance, singing hymns which are not conformed to this world. Verse 33 where you are
says for the Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not his prisoners let the heaven and earth praise
him the seas and everything that moveth therein. He wants everyone praising him and that has to
start at the house of God though doesn't it? It starts at house of God that means open up your
lungs when you're here, yeah? Open up your lungs when you're here and it's going to be when we're
there in Wickford make sure you're singing, yeah? If God's people can't even open up their mouths
and they're just kind of whispering and everything else, well how do we expect everyone else to be
singing praises to the Lord, yeah? We're his people, we've been saved by him, we love him
don't we? Everyone loves the Lord here, we love him and we want to praise him, yeah? Make sure
you're all praising the Lord especially when we're moving there. Turn to Psalm 95, obviously we still
want to make it sound nice, yeah? That doesn't mean shout to the Lord, yeah? When we sing we're
trying to make a joyful noise aren't we? Your turn is Psalm 95 and we're going to look from verse 1.
Psalm 95 and verse 1 says, oh come let us sing unto the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the
rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful
noise unto him with psalms. Now look, you might screech like a cat when you sing,
yeah? You might bellow like some sort of, you know, soy dog or something else when you sing, but
look, just try and make it a joyful noise, yeah? Open up your mouth anyway, yeah? You know, here's
a trick, if you sing in the week and you listen to the Lord and you listen to hymns and you try
and sing along, I reckon you're going to get more in tune, yeah? You will get, look, some people are
a little bit tone deaf, yeah? There are people like that, I'm not saying there's anyone here like that,
I don't think there is, but some people are, sometimes kids it takes them a little while to get it,
yeah? But maybe you practice, yeah? You practice anything, you might be able to at least get the
song, you might be able to get the hymn, yeah? You can practice the hymns here, you can listen to the
hymns, take the hymn sheet home with you, have a little think about what we've sung and maybe
practice it for next time if you thought, man, I was really screeching, yeah? Because we want to make
a joyful noise to the Lord, but we still want to sing. So when you hear, don't, oh well I'm going to,
look, still sing to the Lord, yeah? He wants to hear a noise, yeah? It's better that it's a joyful
noise, but he still wants to hear a noise, yeah? He still wants to hear a noise. Now,
there should be joy in our voices though, shouldn't there? Shouldn't there be joy in our
voices? You ever been in those old quiet churches where the hymn's being sung and it is pretty
embarrassing, isn't it? Old Mrs. Miggins at the back is just like screeching away and everyone
else is kind of whispering and anyone walks into that and they think, what a joyful noise unto the
Lord. They're thinking, what have I just walked into? Pretty bad. It's even worse when it's
acapella as well, isn't it? Oh man, that's bad, isn't it? When you're in those churches like that.
But people, we want people to come in here and go, wow, yeah? And just go, wow, what, like,
what a joyful noise people are making to the Lord. Look at, everyone in here is just singing with
their hearts. They're not ashamed of singing to the Lord. They're not wondering who's listening,
who's in front of me, who's behind, they're just singing to the Lord. Singing to the Lord,
they're making a joyful noise to the rock of their salvation, yeah? That's what we want, don't we?
That's what we want. That's how we want to do it when we move in. We want to make sure that when
people walk past they can hear us singing to the Lord, yeah? Week in, week out. Not to be like those
other churches, not to be like those alternative churches, and on the flip side we don't want to be
like those churches where it's just some sort of rock party either. Goes without saying. But to show
forth the praises of him, to tower over Wickford in praise, you need to be here in the first place,
don't you? You need to be here in the first place. That should go without saying, shouldn't it?
You have to turn to Psalm 35 18 says, I will give thanks in the great congregation. I will praise
you among much people. Much people. So if you're not at church, well again we're not towering over
Wickford in praise. If the numbers start getting quieter and quieter and people just aren't really
turning up, well I've got something a bit more important today. Well I don't know, I don't
really fancy it today. Look, it is a good rule for you in life. Church comes first. Make church
come first and plan everything else around it. Yeah, church is a constant. Church is a must.
Church is something you do no matter what, barring illness, yeah? And then the rest of it gets planned
around it. As soon as you start making church, well I'm not sure because I've got that invite,
well today, I don't know, I am a little bit tired because I didn't get to bed till late last night.
I think a lion comes first this morning or whatever it is. Believe me, church will start
going further and further and further down that list, yeah? Church comes first because if we want
to tower above Wickford in praise the Lord, we need people here praising the Lord. Now,
but as well, if you're here, if you're here in church, if you're there in church, when we move
in here, I'm just talking about the church, our church, yeah? Where you are when you're with our
church, you need to make sure that you're ready to sing as well, yeah? Make sure that you're ready
to sing. If that passerby walks by during verse one of hymn number one on a Sunday morning,
is he more likely to hear the slurping of the coffee addicts, yeah? Is he more likely to instead
hear the quick get this down before we get in while everyone else is singing and you're trying
to rush in or the footsteps of everyone trying to get in there because they didn't quite get their
coffee or tea fix in the morning. Is he more likely to maybe hear the screeching of breaks
of the late arrivals, you know, handbraking around the corner to get here in time,
yeah? Rather than hearing the singing the praise of the Lord, yeah? We want to make sure we're here,
yeah? That first hymn's just important, isn't it? That might be when that passerby walks by
and they walk by and they can hardly hear a thing because all they can hear is, you know, people
trying to get in there, they've missed the first, that first verse is important, isn't it? Yeah,
we want to be here ready to sing, ready to sing to the Lord. Turn back to 1 Peter 2.
Turn back to 1 Peter 2. So we want to make sure when we move, and obviously, you know,
that's next week, we want to make sure that from day one we are high above Wickford in the praise
of the Lord, yeah? High above Wickford, high above Essex, high above the UK. Deuteronomy 26
19 said, and to make thee high above all nations which he had made in praise and in name and in
honour and at thy mercy be and holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken. Okay, so the
title is Moving Home God's Way. We want to tower over Wickford in praise, we want to tower over
Wickford in name, don't we? We want to tower over Wickford in name. What does that mean? Well,
look at verse, sorry, are you in 1 Peter 2, yeah? Yes, so you are, yeah. Okay, look at verse 10,
which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy
but now have obtained mercy. We are the people of God, yeah? Everyone here, you're saved,
you're the people of God. We're Christians because we obtained mercy, didn't we? Yeah, we obtained
mercy through the shed blood, the death, burial, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
saved and we can boast of that, can't we? Is that okay? Is it okay to boast? It is when you're
boasting of the Lord. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Well, I read 2 Corinthians 10 17 which says,
But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Yeah, if you want to glory in something,
don't glory in yourself, don't glory in your wife, your children, your best friend, your,
look, glory in the Lord, yeah? That's glory in the Lord. We are high above the nations in name
because we name the name of Christ, yeah? And that name is above all names, isn't it?
Philippians 2 and verse 9 says,
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Coming soon. But that name is above every name and we need to name that name
and be not ashamed of naming it, yeah? Make sure you name the name of Christ, make sure you're not
ashamed of the name of Christ. But how do we do that? Because there are so many, in inverted
commas, Christians, aren't there? There are so many Christians around. So how do we really name
the name of Christ? I tell you, we do that. We do that by being, by glorying in the Lord and by
naming the name that we are new independent fundamental Baptists, okay? We're not ashamed
of that, are we? I hope no one here is ashamed of being a new independent fundamental Baptist because
by naming that name, by saying yeah, I'm a new independent fundamental Baptist, our church is
a new independent fundamental Baptist church is saying that we believe every word of God. That's
what we're saying. We're naming the name of Christ, we're naming his word, we're saying we believe
every word of God, yeah? We looked at Matthew 4 and verse 4 where Jesus said, thou shalt not live
by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. And that's what we're
saying. We live by every word of God, don't we? We believe every word of God. We don't pick and
choose. We don't just select the bits that we think maybe will go down well with the rest of
the world. No, by being new independent fundamental Baptist, by being high above the nations in name,
in name, we're naming the name of Christ, we're saying no, we believe every word, every word of
God, yeah? And that includes the preservation part, doesn't it? Yeah, I believe, I even believe
that bit where he said he preserved his word, fancy that. I even believe that bit where through
the psalmist he said, my words are pure words, there's silver tried in the furnace of earth,
purified seven times, thou shalt keep them, my Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation
forever. I believe that, yeah? Fancy that, I believe that and I believe that I have that in the King James
Bible, yeah? I have the word of God preserved, I have it in my hand, yeah? And a real church,
a real church says, yeah, we live by every word of this book, don't we? Yeah, we live by, and we're
not ashamed of that, are we? I hope no one's ashamed of every word of this book, not ashamed
of the bits that don't go down well in this wicked world, this sinful and adulterous generation that
we live in. How can we be ashamed of that? Turn to Mark chapter 8, where in fact he says exactly that,
because we're not ashamed of him or his word, are we? Mark 8 and verse 36, we're going to look at.
Mark chapter 8 and verse 36 says, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son
of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And when you
look at it like that, being ashamed of the Lord and his words in this sinful and adulterous
generation, like that's pitiful, isn't it? Isn't that pitiful? When you look outside this morning
and someone just lies down on the street, right across, we looked out the window of the kitchen
and there's, I don't even know if it was a lady or a man, you couldn't even tell,
yeah? Cracked out, probably drunk, lying down in the street opposite our church,
yeah? And you go out there in a little while, in not long probably, and you're going to see people
that have gone their way to that across the road in that pub. You're going to see people walking
past dressed like they're basically professional women of the night. You're going to see men out
there dressed like they're as queer as you like. You're going to see people just acting in vile
ways. You're going to see blatant open sodomites out there. You're going to see all sorts of filth.
You're going to sometimes see people, men dressed as women out there. You're going to see women
dressed as men. And by the way, because we talk about that a lot, don't we? The vile men dressed
as women. How many women have been dressed as men for a long time now? Yeah, and I'm not just
talking about just the clothing. I'm talking about the way they do their hair, the way they walk,
the way they hold themselves, all these bald dikes walking. It's disgusting. Isn't it disgusting?
What an adulterous and sinful generation we live in. Yet how many Christians are still ashamed of
the word of God? Ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, ashamed of his standards, ashamed of his morals,
ashamed of his commands. How many are like that? How many, sadly, people in here have had times
and will still have times when they're a little bit embarrassed, a little bit ashamed to call
themselves a New Independent Fundamental Baptist? Because is there anything about being a New
Independent Fundamental Baptist which is outside the word of God? I hope not, because if there is,
then that's not what we want to follow. But I don't see that. I see men and women who just want
to follow the word of God, who just believe every word of God. Who believed the Lord when he said,
man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out the mouth of God. We want
to live by every word, don't we? We're not picking and choosing. We're not going, well, yeah,
but Schofield said something else. Larkin said something else. We're not going, yeah, but the
world now says something else. We're definitely not saying, yeah, but the Pope says something
else, are we? Because I don't care what that dress-wearing weirdo in Rome says about God.
It's got nothing to do with what the word of God says. What the word of God says is what we care
about, isn't it? Again, we should be ashamed of that, because I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of
me. Do you want Jesus to be embarrassed of you? Do you want Jesus to be a little bit ashamed,
a little bit... No, that guy, that girl, that lady, that kid. Sometimes for kids it can be
hard as well, can't it? Be hard going to a school, being around the world, being around other kids
and being different, yeah? Being that one who believes something else, being that one who
acts differently, being that one that maybe dresses differently, being that one that maybe
talks differently, being that one that doesn't watch the junk on TV, being that one that doesn't
listen to the worldly music, being that one that doesn't maybe have a lot in common with the other
kids. But do you really want to be ashamed of that, kids? Are you ashamed of that? Are you going
there and ashamed in front of your friends, your worldly friends, the worldly kids around to be
dressed differently, to be acting differently? Well, I hope not, because that means Jesus is going to be
ashamed of you and we don't want Jesus ashamed of us. No, it's got nothing to do with salvation like
the wicked false prophets like to preach, but we want Jesus to be able to stand there and go,
thou good and faithful servant, yeah? Turn back to 1 Peter 2.
To tower over Wickford in name is in time, people will know that that's where you go.
People know in Essex, people already know in the UK that that's where you go if you want to hear
the whole Bible preached, yeah? That's where you go if you want to hear the real Jesus preached.
Way above the steeples, the watchtowers, the bell towers or whatever other tall so-called
religious buildings is Shaw Foundation Baptist Church UK, yeah? That's a name that's lifted up
that's above all. Turn to 1 Peter 2. Deuteronomy 26 19 said, and to make thee high above all nations
which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou mayest be in holy people unto
the Lord thy God as he hath spoken. So the title is Moving Home God's Way. Number one, we want to
tower above Wickford in praise. We want to tower over Wickford in name. Number three, we want to
tower over Wickford in honour, yeah? We want to tower over Wickford in honour. Verse 11 where you
are says, dearly beloved I beseech you, I beseech you, yeah? He's pleading as strangers and pilgrims
abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the
Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works which they
shall behold glorify God in a day of visitation. So to be high above all nations in honour is in
how we behave, yeah? In our honesty, in our reputation. How are we going to be known by
those surrounding our new building? Anyone wonder that now? How are we going to be known by those
surrounding our new building? Firstly we should be abstaining from fleshly lust shouldn't we,
yeah? We should be now there's the obvious things that people think about but turn to 2 Corinthians
5. That means we don't want to be getting all carnal when we're out soul winning, yeah? That
means you don't want to be going out soul winning and getting all carnal on the door with people,
okay? And I'm talking to everyone here with this. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 20,
2 Corinthians 5, 20 says, now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech
you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. You're an ambassador for Christ,
yeah? Everyone here if you're saved you're an ambassador for Christ. Ambassadors are diplomatic.
Ever notice that? They're diplomatic. We're representing Christ and we're representing
his church, yeah? Okay if our name if we're shown that we're clearly following the word of God that
we we represent the real Jesus Christ in this church we represent the preserved inspired word
of God we represent how we believe God wants his church then I hope that you're going to be
representing God's church properly when you're out soul winning, yeah? Because it can be tempting
sometimes to get carnal, can't it? It can be tempting to for the little put down on the door.
It can be tempting with that person who's a bit rude to you to be a little bit rude back,
can't it? It can, look. I'm not saying everyone raise your hands now, yeah? Every week brother
Ian, yeah? I let them have it, man. You should see around Southend they hate us, yeah? No, look,
it can be tempting, can't it? But we shouldn't want to do that, should we? Yeah, we should,
look, sometimes it can be fun, I know, yeah? Okay but that is carnal, isn't it? That is carnal,
yeah? We're ambassadors for Christ. We represent the Lord Jesus Christ because something to
consider is this, yeah? Unlike here and look we still we're still ambassadors for Christ
of Southend and we're still today ambassadors for Christ of Southend but unlike here we're
planning to be there for a long time, yeah? We're planning to be there for many years.
My plan is to knock every door near the church within a year and then to go back the next year,
okay? You might be knocking that same door that a year earlier you just had to be a bit rude to
them. You got in a row at the door because you just couldn't resist but who's to say that person
that was rude that year might have been softened the next year, yeah? Who's to say that maybe in
two years time that person that was a bit hard-hearted something happened in their life
and they were softened and then they see you it's that same church, it's that same guy, it's that
same, in fact, forget them, wait for the witnesses to come instead, yeah? They'll be out again soon,
won't they? Still kind of seem to be blaming Covid but they do, don't they? Have you seen any
witnesses about? I haven't seen any witnesses about, we're two years later, aren't we? Something
like that but look when we knock on the door we want to be leaving them with a good impression
as much as possible. It might be that you have to bite your tongue, it might be that you have
to turn the other cheek, it might be that you just have to go, okay well I'm not here for a debate,
it can be tempted to get in a debate, can't it? For me, look, if they say, one of the first things
I'll ask them when they start to give me that feel that they just ever, if I showed you from
the word of God, is there anything I'll show you from the word of God that convinced you? Nope,
see you later. That's it, like what else do you need to say to them? If they don't want to hear
the, if they just want to have a debate and show you how they're right, like it's a waste of time
and then, like I say, that person might soften, that person might retire. Well we're told to
abstain from the fleshly lusts, aren't we? And look, that is a fleshly lust, debate, yeah? Debate
on the door, rows, arguments, feeling good about yourself, making them look really small because
your knowledge of the bible's better. Look, we're there to get them saved, yeah? We're ambassadors
for Christ. He said in verse 12, having your conversation honest among the gentiles that
whereas they speak against you as evildoers that they may by your good works which they shall
behold glorify God in the day of visitation. We want our conversation our behaviour to be honest.
Look, that includes when we're soul winning as well. When you go to preach the gospel to someone,
okay, it's, you're not trying to just force them to listen to you and I'll say it again,
I'm going to keep saying it as well because there is, people can have that temptation,
some people are good at that. By just making someone, they feel a bit intimidated, they don't
really know what to say so they just listen and they listen and then a lot of the time they'll
just agree, okay? That's not having your conversation honest. You're not there to try and force someone
to hear you, okay? You're there to give them the choice. Do you want to hear the word of God?
If someone says no, move on, yeah? But don't say it in a way that you do want to hear, don't you?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Look, waste of time. Waste of time and you'll often get
full salvations like that as well because people get intimidated and then they just say what you
want to hear, okay? You want to give them the option. Do you want to hear, okay? Sometimes even,
okay, you sure you want me to go? I'd like, obviously you're not trying to put them off
but look, sometimes you get that feel, don't you? And halfway through I might stop and say to
someone, would you like me to carry on? And if they say, look, if they want to hear, they want
to hear the gospel, they're going to say yes, okay? You don't have to force someone and if you're
forcing people, you're going to get full salvations, okay? Don't bully people. Don't
make people listen to you. Don't get offended with someone when halfway through they go, well,
hello, don't you want to know how to get saved? Like, look, they start asking you that sort of
stuff. It's like, look, I can move on, okay? Because it's a waste of time. It's a waste of
time. We want our conversation behaviour to be honest because that is dishonest really because
really you're just forcing someone to agree, forcing someone to tick the box, forcing someone
because they don't really know how to say no to you and it's very easy to do that, especially
with teenagers and kids, isn't it? Yeah, we want to make sure they want to hear, not just
some intimidated that they're just frozen and going, okay, yes, no, sir, yes, okay, yep, done.
Okay, some will speak against us as evildoers, won't they? Yeah. Many will speak against us as
evildoers but they still may, by your good works, glorify God in that day when maybe they do hear
it, yeah? Well, maybe they do hear the word of God and maybe they do want to hear it. So, like I
said, that means be polite, yeah? Be kind to our neighbours, be helpful, yeah? Look, we're moving
in, we're representing the Lord Jesus Christ, yeah? We're new independent fundamental Baptists,
yeah? They're not going to like what we preach, yeah? They're not going to like what we stand for
but let's hope that they like everything else about us. They might deny that they do but don't
give them anything else, yeah? So, make sure when they're, look, and that means that we don't need
to harass people. We don't need to harass people outside the building. We don't, look, offer some
of the Gospel, by all means. You feel to do that, yeah? Offer someone a Gospel. They don't want to
hear it, they don't want to hear it, yeah? Okay, we don't need to be, you know, basically rude to
people or off with, look, you can turn up at our new church building, be nice to the neighbours,
yeah? Be nice to everyone else, be polite, be respectful, okay? It's not just soul winning,
though, either is it? It's not just soul winning. It includes in the church, too, we're going to have
visitors to the church, okay? We are going to have, we've already had visitors to this church,
I'd imagine with time we're going to have more visitors to the church. Okay, that means not
everyone flocks around them to give them the Gospel, okay? Just to make that clear, just in case
everyone's a bit unsure how it works at our church, okay? We don't want queues of people
checking their salvation, okay? That's not how it works, yeah? And, well, I don't know, I better
just check, yeah? Because then people are like, I don't want to go to that church because all they
do is ask me if I'm, what's going to happen when I die, yeah? This happens, okay, at churches and
I hope it's not going to happen at our church, okay? Look, the ushers and myself are aware
of who's new, either myself or I'll ask someone if I want them to give someone the Gospel,
okay? We don't need, like, everyone just, oh, well, they're new, I better ask them as well,
I better ask them as well, okay? That's weird, okay? We don't need that, just wait, if I
ask you to, go ahead and do it, yeah? Otherwise, look, just wait, we're not going to let someone
just leave, I'm not going to, oh, well, never mind, oh, no, five people didn't intersect them on their way out,
ah, never mind, next time, guys, you better, you know, make sure you're at the door a bit earlier, yeah?
Okay, look, this church has to be run in the right way. Now, with that as well, okay,
it's the same with new converts, new converts, if someone invites someone to church, yeah, if you've
got someone saved, or maybe you haven't got them saved, yeah, look, if you haven't got them saved,
talk to me, yeah, and we'll work out who you think maybe they might respond to, maybe someone's going,
well, I'll bring you something, but I know they might be a bit, there might be more respect,
they might respect you more, but, you know, maybe they won't, maybe they'll be like, that guy's shouting
at the church, I don't even want to hear him, maybe they're going to be intimidated, or something else,
maybe they want to hear, maybe it's a kid and they think they might respond better to, maybe
someone a bit younger doing it, whatever it is, we're going to work that out, don't just bulldoze
the people when they come in. Now, with new converts who it seems have got saved, okay, it's not everyone's
job in the church to disciple them, okay, remember that, okay, it's not everyone's job to disciple
them, when a new convert comes in, it's that person that's brought them in, okay, that's got them saved,
then between them and myself, being leader of the church, it's our job to disciple them,
so please do not be going up to new converts and then trying to tell them how they need to go out
soul, when they need to do this, they need, look, they've literally just got saved, yeah, they've just
got saved, okay, they've, look, if they just got saved, they've just come into a church,
fairly new, they're with that person who's their spiritual father or mother, yeah, okay, they can
look after them, then they can decide between them and myself how we think the best way is with those
who, so please don't just be beelining new converts to start trying to disciple them yourself, okay,
and that includes especially kids in the church, okay, you should not be going up to any kids in
the church and questioning their salvation, okay, if you're doing that, you're well out of line,
okay, that's their parents responsibility, okay, and by the way, I ain't going to baptise anyone
unless they've said to me they've professed faith in Christ, so you don't need to be checking with
them afterwards either, okay, because if they're not, look, there'll be people that get baptised
that aren't saved, that will happen, but if that happens, then look, ultimately it's going to come
out eventually, yeah, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, you're not going
to, well, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to be the hero here or whatever or the exposer or
something, yeah, look, we're not here to do that, okay, they know clearly, we preach the gospel
clearly and we will with anyone that we're unsure preach the gospel to, and before they say they
have to make sure I do the best I can for them to say they're saved, okay, it's no one's job
here to be questioning kids and going up to kids and trying to, what are they really saved, okay,
that's weird, okay, okay, and like I said, it's not the job obviously of everyone in the
church, we check each other's salvation either, okay, because I've had, I had someone come to the
church who was like, I can't preach the gospel every week, I was wondering if I'm like getting
re-saved or something, you know, it's because it was weird because they were saved but and sometimes
people won't always give the answers that you think, yeah, and sometimes people won't exactly
answer like you do when you give your gospel presentation, okay, so just bear that in mind
as well, okay, so first Corinthians 14 40, you don't have to turn, it says let all things be
done decently and in order, that's how we want things done in our church, okay, decently and
in order and that goes for everything in the church, everything we do here will be a reflection
of our church as we move, yeah, so for example, how the kids behave, yeah, how you kids behave is
going to be a reflection of us and the church, yeah, whether or not, you know, we're being up
here in honour or whether we're down here because people who come in and visitors come into the
church see the kids just tearing the place up or maybe and look, we don't have kids that do that
here in case you're thinking, you know, we look, we've got some great behaved kids here and look,
what a testimony they are, all these kids sitting here quietly listening to the,
listening to the preaching, you're not going to see that in pretty much any church around this
country, yeah, and look, we're proud of you guys here, yeah, it's amazing, it's great, it's great to
see that, okay, but obviously when we come out of the church as well, okay, kids, you know, don't like,
we're outside the church now, it's time to start, you know, boxing each other outside the church or
whatever else, yeah, look, kids will be kids, okay, at the end of the day but we want to be a testimony,
don't we, we want to be, and with the way our family integrated church runs as well,
so if no one's following the rules of that and going, I refuse to leave the church,
no way, it doesn't matter if the kid's screaming and crying, I am not leaving because my kid's
going to sit in the church from zero, from one week old until they leave my home, yeah,
you're a bad testimony, okay, okay, if your child is making all this stuff, just go outside,
yeah, simple, then people will come and go and they won't go, that family integrated model is a
bit weird because they're literally like a chorus of kids moaning, crying, screaming,
kicking off and everything else and they refuse to go, okay, so we want to follow it, we want to
follow the rules of church, let all things be done decently and in order and it also goes for
how we come and go too, adults, okay, so remember that as well, even driving, oh I know, this is a
dodgy one, yeah, yeah, don't give them something to criticise us for because they'll be looking
for something, won't they, yeah, because look, whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
yeah, they want anything to criticise us for, verse 13 says submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king of supreme or unto governors as unto them
that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do
well for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men, so speeding down the road to and from church, parking illegally, all that stuff is a bad
testimony, isn't it, littering, what about road rage, yeah, you come out, someone from one of the
neighbouring places gets in your way, you're like shouting out the window and stuff, that's a bad
testimony, isn't it, and again it can be tempting, some people drive like idiots, don't they, in fact
they've got there, they've got, because it's like in this industrial area, they've got this, this
road narrowing, like you know those stupid like metal bollards which destroy cars, yeah, and always
just covered in paint, yeah, scraped up, scratched up, and they're pretty narrow, the ones that go in
there from one side when you come in there, okay, just to warn you ladies, Joe, just to warn you guys,
okay, just to warn you guys out there, okay, they have some narrowing like bollard things as you
come in that destroy cars, yeah, and they are pretty narrow, I went to go there the other day
and I was waiting behind a guy, yeah, behind a guy who was readjusting on his back and up and
trying to straighten up, I was like come on man, just drive through it, I could be like that because
my van's quite narrow anyway, so I was all right, but yeah, so look, you don't want to be behind there
beeping the horn, come on man, what are you doing, you can't even drive, yeah, and everything else,
yeah, we just want to be, we want to be a good testimony, don't we, because otherwise without
that well-doing we're just giving the haters more justification for their hate, aren't we,
yeah, more justification, they're trying to find anything, go back to 1st Peter 1 from verse 14,
but you're in first, oh no, sorry, 1st Peter 1, just go back, go back to the first chapter there,
verse 14 says, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the
former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy
in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy,
okay, that's all manner of behaviour, everything we do, everything you do, yeah, you want to be
saying to yourselves, look, am I representing God properly here, am I representing Christ properly
here, and look, we're going to get stuff wrong, yeah, okay, I'm not saying you're all going to
suddenly just, you know, be perfect and walk on water, you know, spiritually speaking, everything
else, no, but we want to try and be holy, shouldn't we, yeah, because we're representing God,
we're going to a new place now, we're going to a new town, yeah, we're going to make some waves
there eventually, aren't we, okay, but we want to do that for the right reasons, don't we,
yeah, we don't want it to be because of our own issues, our own problems, and remember,
it's a collective thing, okay, so you can have the whole church, yeah, the whole church are just
respectful, polite, when they're soul winning, they're polite and respectful to their neighbours,
everything's nice, they're just respecting the rules, they're respecting the laws of the
land and everything else, and then you have one person in the church, one Aiken, one Aiken,
and everyone else is going to suffer, aren't they, yeah, everyone else is going to suffer,
it's a collective thing, and look, we want to, we want to make sure, want to encourage each other,
and go back to Deuteronomy 26, go back to Deuteronomy 26, so we're just going to look
at that verse for those two verses for the last time, last two verses, so Deuteronomy 26 where
we started, okay, Deuteronomy 26 and from verse 18 says, and the Lord hath avouched thee this day
to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldst keep all his
commandments, and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made in praise,
and in name, and in honour, and that thou mayest be in holy people unto the Lord thy God,
as he hath spoken, so I want to make one last point there, he said to be an holy people,
not an holier than thou people, okay, let's remember that, he said to be a holy people,
not a holier than thou people, and you have to remember God says that these are a smoke in my
nose, a fire that burneth all the day, yeah, we want to be holier, we don't want to be holier than
now, okay, because God hates those people, and when people come into our church we don't want
them to sit there and go, yeah, but they're a bit like, they come across really judgmental,
now people will come out with that excuse anyway, don't they, oh it's so good, yeah, I don't go to
church because everyone's so judgmental, it's like, really, what church is that, but look,
maybe there are church thought though, aren't there, yeah, I've been in churches which are
like that, we don't want to be like that, do we, okay, we don't want to be holier than now,
because God says there are smoke in his nose, a fire that burneth all the day,
okay, and the ways people do that is they find a thing that they're doing all right in, and then
that becomes their whole sort of, you know, that hill to die on, everyone has to be right in this
way, but forget everything else in your life, yeah, okay, and then they're preaching it and
trying to lift themselves up and make out like, you know, look how holy I am, and it can be subtle
that as well, and what we don't want is people to come here and start to feel insecure around
some of the people of this church, because they're constantly making them feel a little bit insecure
about whatever it is, yeah, about whatever it is with their parenting, whatever it is with the way
they do this or do that, look, I'll preach the word of God from the pulpit, the rest of the time
we want to be welcoming to people, we want to be loving to people, we don't want to be trying to
lift ourselves up, appear to be these great holy people, you know, nose up in the air because I am
holier than now, you know, just be nice people, be normal, don't try and make people feel rubbish
about themselves, don't try to lift yourself up with whatever it is that you think you've got
sorted against other people, you know, just, we just want to be, we want to try and be holy,
but not holier than now, yeah, so the title is Moving Home God's Way, we want to
tower over Wickford in praise, we want to tower over Wickford in name, and we want to tower over
Wickford in honour, and really we want to tower over Essex, we want to tower over the UK, don't we,
we want to be a shining light, yeah, and we want to be set upon a hilltop, we want to make
sure that people know, look, that's where they are, that's where you go if you want to hear the real
word of God preached, yeah, on that, let's pray. Father, I thank you, I thank you for your word,
I thank you for, you know, a great chapter in the Bible there, the Deuteronomy chapter 26 there,
just that second half, especially just showing, showing us there, you know, how you want your
people lifted up, how you want them to be, to be recognised, to be, you know, high in praise, to be
high in name and high in honour, and we pray that you'll help us to be that as we move buildings
now, as we move to another town, as we go to another area, as we go to conquer another area,
we go to make, you know, a massive impact on that area now, and to go on and not just obviously
concentrate on that area, but to spread out and just to keep preaching the Gospel, going further
filled in this nation, we pray that you'll help us as well with that in the future, to be planting
other churches around this nation as well, we pray that you just help us to just fulfil your
will in our lives and in our collective lives as a church, and help us to maintain those blessings
that we've received so many so far from you, help us to continue to be a church that you want to
bless, and we pray that you help us starting this afternoon with that, to want to go out now and
preach the Gospel, to be an ambassador here in Southend still, to be, to know that we're
representing you, we're representing your church, we're representing a real church,
help us to do that properly, help us to do that, you know, as you'd want us to do that,
help us to get many people saved and return back for this evening's service,
in Jesus' name we pray all of this, Amen.