I want to say a big welcome to you. If this is your first time at King’s Church. Um we are Reedy Creek. We go also by the name Rowdy Creek or Ready Creek. Um we love this campus.
We have other campuses around too. We have one in Pimpama, one in Logan Village and one all the way out in Saint George and we have people joining us online too which is good. And for Jess and I, this is actually, Jess, do you know this? Today is one year of us being a King’s Church. Yes. It’s pretty good, right? Um we honestly, we love this church and the church of the people, right? It’s not just the building.
We love the people. We love this house and actually to kind of kick off the preaching this morning. I wanted to share a breakthrough testimony that Jess and I had which is something that’s been brewing in our hearts for a year. Um when we first got offered to come here and be the campus pastors at King’s Church. Um one of the things we kind of had to peace with was the fact that we were leaving like a house that we had built in Mackay.
So we built it 2 years. We got to live in it 2 years. It was a brand new house. We loved that house so much. And we knew that we were going to have to sell that house in order to be able to afford to live in the Gold Coast.
Can I get an amen for that? Yes. Cuz I would talk to some of you and say how did you like how did you get your house? You know? And they’d say oh I bought it five years ago when it was like 500 or $400, thousand dollars and now it’s worth 1. 3 million. And I’m like oh God I really wished that you had given me revelation that we were going to buy in the Gold Coast a few years later. We would have bought then.
So what we did was we ended up needing somewhere to live when we moved here. So we swooped in on a contract that had fallen through for a townhouse. And we were like this isn’t ideal for us because there’s no backyard. The a couple of the kids are going to have to share a room which you know as a parent we love when that happens. It’s always so peaceful when that happens.
Um but we knew potentially we may not be able to afford like a house in the Gold Coast. This is a lot of money. Um and we just kind of made peace with that. But all through our time here we thought ah but it’d be really good to have a yard. It would be really good to have a bit more space.
One extra room. That would be amazing if it was possible. And so this year I think it was March. We decided okay if we’re going to do this, we’re just going to step out in faith and we’re going to believe that somehow, someway, we’re going to end up with a house. And so what we had to do though, was we had to sell the townhouse we’re living in, in order to even get a remote chance of buying a good house, right? And so we, originally, Jess and I said, oh, no, this is a idea.
This is a great idea and so we put it up for sale. Someone put an offer on it. We accepted the offer and we were telling people, hey, we’re going to buy a house but in order to do it, we have to sell the one we’re in and people would look at us and go, okay. Okay. yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Because who knows that the Gold Coast market is red hot? Um it, you go to an open home and there are like 30 other people there wanting to buy the house and it’s really tough. The the so we’re deciding to sell the sure thing we’ve got of the one we’re living in for the unknown and the hope of potentially landing something right? Can anyone relate to this? Oh I was beginning to get worried and so I started to wake up. I kid you not.
At three o’clock in the morning and I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep at all because my mind would be racing of worst case scenario. Cuz thankfully the buyers of our townhouse gave us 90 days to find somewhere. They gave us a long settlement. And Jess is like 90 days. That’s great.
90 days. We can find something in that. But I’m like but what if we can’t? What do we do? And so I started to think well, you know, we’re going to have to form a roster at the church or these people are going to take in the Casey’s this week. Um you know, and then, you know, you have the O’Brien say, oh, we had the Casey’s a month ago. We’re not taking them again like.
So, it’s your turn and I’m just thinking of all of these things and I kid you not, I lost my peace during that process. I was so worried. Um where I’m like, have I done a dumb thing here of risking a sure thing to go after something that we may not even be able to get. And so we would go to open homes every single Saturday morning and I’d go to five or six different open homes. I would have to drag the kids along with me who did not enjoy it.
Um open homes are not exciting for them. And so I was going week after week after week. And we put in offers and we get pipped at the post. Someone else would put in a better offer. And so we wouldn’t get it.
And finally finally we came across a house where I was like this. This is our house. This is the one. God has brought it to us. And I put in an offer and there were six offers on it.
And unfortunately they didn’t pick us. But I was so determined about this house. I was like no no this is the one. So I prayed that the contract would fall through. I remember going to the gym the next day and I’m like, no, not accepting it.
God, nope, nope. This is, this is our house. This is the one. I believe it in faith. I’m going to stir up my faith and so I did laps after the the gym around the block just being like, I’m not going home yet.
I’m just praying and I kid you not. Four days later, that contract fell through. The Asian calls us and says, all the other authors have rescinded. You’re the only offer left. Do you still want it? And I’m like, praise God.
This is so Yes, of course we want it and guess what? We go unconditional on our townhouse which means it’s like lock solid. Um we’ve sold it in a few days. This is perfect and the agent said, yes, great. So, I call our townhouse agent immediately after that conversation and say, hey, guess what? We got the house. The they called us.
This is amazing. This is incredible and he says, hey, just letting you know, you’re not going to go unconditional in a few days. Your buyer has been in a car accident lost a limb. So it’s now going to be two and a half weeks. They’re still buying your place.
It’s still happening. But now it’s going to be longer. Now side note, the hardest person done by in the story is the person who lost a limb, okay? So, let’s not get that wrong, okay? Not pity Shaun. I’m the the victim here. Um but what happened was I called back that agent and I said, sorry.
We thought we were going to be unconditional on Monday. Turns out it’s going to be two and a half weeks but we’re still going to put in the offer and hopefully they’ll love it. We got knocked back in that house disappeared. It got snatched up and I was God. That was the one.
You, I prayed and it it it fell apart and it came back to me with only what, what is going on here? And I was so bummed and so, Jess and I, obviously, leading up to, this was kind of right around where the breakthrough offering time was happening in church and so, of course, and some of you knew this, we were putting in, we were giving towards getting a house and so we we sowed. We’re like, we’re just believing faith that God you are going to provide the right house for us. And so literally the next Saturday after we gave I find this house and it’s the most beautiful house we’ve been to thus far and the biggest house. And I go in it and I’m thinking oh we don’t have a shot of getting this one. Um but I’ll put in an offer.
And so Jess went and saw it and she loved it and there was a bunch of people there at the same time. So I’m like surely one of them are going to get it again and this is going to be a whole thing. Anyway to the Monday, they call us back and say, guess what? They’ve accepted your offer and we were like, this is amazing. How this is great? This is the best house out of the lot and so we asked about what’s the deal with this house and some of you are worried I’m about to say something really bad but there wasn’t a bad thing. It had been on the market since March right around the time that we decided we were going to do this and it had sat on the market for 90 days without a single offer.
And so in, we had building and pest on. I was expecting building and pest to reveal that maybe there is termites or maybe there’s something structural wrong with it, right? And that’s why it’s not worked out. but there wasn’t really anything significant. This was just our house and so we our breakthrough story is we landed the house. Yes.
Huh. With just a month to go. So, we move in August. We gone condition on Tuesday. So, please be praying that this isn’t one of those teaching moments where God’s, something goes wrong and God’s like, I wanted you to have faith or something.
You know, I don’t want that. We’re at the home stretch now. Let’s just enjoy it, right? Amen? Amen. But I do remember a prayer I had to God in the midst of it because I’m one of those people who when things are going a bit wrong, I start to get ahead of myself. Anyone else like this? Where you start to think worst case scenario what what could happen and what you would do.
And so in the midst of all of that I was praying to God and I remember having this revelation of all the times that I thought things would go to the nth degree. I thought things would spiral out of control or the worst case scenario would happen and it didn’t. And so I spent all this time labouring and worrying over something that never came to fruition anyway. And I remember in that prayer I said to him You’re the God who cuts me off at the past. Every time I think I’m going to get down to the end of the street, the end of the road, you seem to meet me here.
And you seem to change it. All the things I was worried about, there was no reason to be worried about it. All the time I was fretting and getting upset. There was no reason for that because you’re the God who always seems to cut me off at the past. And it’s a name that I carried and it was a name that kind of helped me in my circumstances.
And we’re going to read from Genesis sixteen, the story of Hagar who also got cut off at the past by God. And who also had a name for him. And we’re going to read this. If you don’t know the story obviously at this point in the story Abraham has the promise of a son. It has not come to pass yet.
Um they’re getting a bit worried. It’s dragged on. And so now Sariah has had the brilliant idea of taking the servant Hagar and producing an heir that way. And clearly we read in verse five she feels great about it after the fact. So let’s read.
Says and Sarai said to Abraham you are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms and now that she knows she is pregnant she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me. Your slave is in your hands Abraham said. Do with her whatever you think best.
Then Sarai mistreated Hagar so she fled from her. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in desert. It was the spring that is beside the road to sure. And he said, Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai, she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, go back to your mistress and submit to her.
The angel added, I will increase your descendants so much that there will be too numerous to count. The angel of the Lord also said to her, you are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son, you shall name him Ishmael. For the Lord has heard your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him.
And he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her. You are the God who sees me. For she said I have now seen the one who sees me. That is why the well was called Biela High Rohi.
It is still there between Kadesh and Beren. So Hagar bore Abraham a son and Abraham gave the name Ishmael to the son she had born. So, reading this, you do feel a bit sorry for Hagar because she is not at this point up thus far. She’s not the main character of the story. She’s like a side note to it.
The main thrust is the son who was meant to come through the marriage there but she’s like this servant who got wrapped up in it and you would think according to the biblical narrative, once she flees, that it’s almost like she exits stage left and we don’t hear boo from her after that. That that’s the end of her story. But it continues on that this servant who had felt so neglected and overlooked and mistreated was now front and centre with an experience with the angel of the Lord. And in that experience she hears about Ishmael. She hears about his future.
And then she names God. She’s the first one to name God at that point in the Bible. And it’s reserved for someone who seems so insignificant and so overlooked. And yet she says you’re the God who sees me. And Cuz if that something really shifts.
Something really shifts for her. And I want to encourage us this morning. There’s something that God wants to do to shift our seasons. And I believe it starts with a name. It starts with a name.
Some of us find ourselves in places we don’t want to be. We find ourselves in scenarios that we didn’t think we would have to face. But God actually wants to give you a name. And that when he gives us a name we in turn give him a name. And that place becomes sacred.
So this morning I want to talk about what’s in a name. Turn to the person next to you and say what’s in a name. The first thing is when there is a name, there is definition. There is definition. Now, a couple of years back, there was a TV show I watched that it was on SBS.
Nobody really watches SBS but there was a TV show there. Um and what they would do was a social experiment. Um and they would get two people into a room who had some kind of issue with each other, hadn’t spoken to each other in a very long time or needed to confess something to that other person. And they would sit them down in two chairs across from each other and then they would stare at each other for 5 minutes. So they weren’t allowed to speak.
They weren’t allowed to say a word. They would just look each other in the eye for five minutes straight. And then at the end of those five minutes they would leave the room. And then they decide if they want to come back into the room and have a conversation with that person. And they got some really interesting cases to kind of do this experiment.
One was a dad who had basically abandoned his family when they were quite young. And so he was sitting across from his daughter who he hadn’t spoken to in like decades. Another one was a man who was a guard in Sudan. Like he was a Sudanese man who had moved to Australia and when he moved to Australia he discovered that the person that he’d beaten severely as a guard under rebel request lived in Australia and so he had to sit across from that person. Um and those were incredible moments.
Um it’s quite intimate watching people stare at each other strangely. It’s strangely oddly entertaining. Um But what happened was is there’s this hurt on the face of some of them. Tears are flowing. Um there’s something they’re communicating with their eyes and their face that they almost couldn’t communicate well enough with their words.
And so some of them are like a sopping mess and they leave the room and they kind of compose themselves and some of them came back in the room and sat down and began the conversation and began the healing between the two of them that they weren’t able to achieve before. Some of them couldn’t handle it and didn’t return back to the room. But I thought it was really cool this experiment brought something out and to find something. Gave them clarity so they were able to find a common ground to speak again. Cuz for the daughter who felt like the dad abandoned her.
The hurt she saw from the dad in his eyes caused her to come back and sit in the room and they were able to heal and respond. He wasn’t the bad guy anymore. And even the the Sudanese guard he was able to see forgiveness in the eyes of the other men because he was so beat up. He beat himself up so much for that season of his life and what he had to do. And the other person extended forgiveness towards him.
There was something defining about it. You know in the wilderness God asked Hagar a question and he was trying to define for her what she sees. And he asks her where have you come from? And where are you going? And her answer is that she’s fleeing from her mistress Sarai that that journey, this season she’s in where it’s just there’s mistreatment, there’s abuse, it’s awful. This is consuming her. She had to flee to the wilderness while pregnant in the hopes of a better life.
And that is all that is going on with her. It’s not good. But I feel like in that moment God saying to her and speaking to her, no, no, no, that’s not the name. That’s not the name. Your season right now is defined by Sarai, right? Well, I’m actually going to tell you the season you’re in is defined by Ishma there was this whole other thing going on here that you’re not aware of that the sun that you’re worried about actually he’s going to be a wild donkey of a man.
Don’t we love our if our kids were described. Is that right? Uh you pick up your kids from kids church and Shane and Mel are like here’s your wild donkey of a son and you’re like oh. Okay. But it’s saying your son is going to be free. Your son is not going to experience the life you’re experiencing.
There’s something more here. For us in our lives. We can be in a season where we think it’s the Sarai season right? But actually God to us. That’s not the name. That’s not the name.
And I need to define this for you. I need you to see it. That this is actually the Ishmael season. That there is something more at work here if we would just look. Are you with me church? Turn to the person next to you and say that’s not the name.
You know, I even remember a little while ago when Jess and I were campus pastors elsewhere, we had this family come to our church who were this Baptist family and like Baptist through and through, right? And you know who I’m talking about, don’t you Jess? Um they were a family of about nine. So, it was like if their family went on holidays, 10% of the church was missing, right? Um so, we didn’t like them going away. Um but the thing that they really struggled with was they were a very strong baptist church like church family who decided to come along to a Pentecostal Church and all the things that come with the Pentecostal Church. So, you know, the speaking in tongues, people falling over after being prayed for all these kind of things and I remember they really, really struggled with it because they loved the church and they felt called to be in the church but they’re like, why? Oh, why are we here? We have, you guys have to change what you’re doing and so there would be some like issues there, some a little bit of biff, spiritual biff, where they just pushed back a lot on those things and it was who sat with Patty. She sat with her and said, hey, I’m from a Baptist background too.
I grew up with that. And what Jess identified quite well with her is she said, I know that this is difficult for you and and you struggle with it. But is it that you struggle with the theology of it really? Or is it that you actually struggle with control? Because at the end of the day, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is going to minister however the Holy Spirit wants to minister. Um sometimes he he’s a respecter of our preferences. Sometimes, he takes it further and pushes us into new territory that sometimes we feel uncomfortable and unsure about.
and so we have to let up our control to allow the Holy Spirit to do what he needs to do. And I felt in that moment there was a softening with her where she still wasn’t 100% on board. But she actually leaned in a little bit more to it because she understood. Oh. Maybe have some control issues when it comes to God where I want things my way.
And it needed to be clearly defined for her that actually maybe this is what God is doing in this season. Are you with me church? You know I don’t know what your journey is right now. What you’re stepping through and walking through. But may I encourage you if you feel like it’s a Sarai season. We need to actually allow God to name our season not ourselves.
There are labels we put on what we’re walking through. And it’s almost like we brand them. That they’re permanent but God wants to come across us and he wants to name it and speak life and vision and hope and that there’s actually more in this than you think. There’s more in this than you think. You know, I am so glad what we walked through.
I was like, oh man, like again and again and again, we keep missing out on a house but I’m so glad we’ve ended up with the house that we’ve ended up with. It’s the best one out of the lot but I wouldn’t have known that in May. I wouldn’t have known that in April or March but I had to walk through it And God divine actually you’re leading up to this. This is what this is all about. It’s not about the one you missed out on, it’s about this one.
Are you with me church? That’s the name. The second thing is, when there is a name, it brings life. It brings life. Let’s read Matthew sixteen verse thirteen. It says, when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea, Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the son of man is? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
But what about you here asked, who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
So here’s another instance of naming in the Bible but this one is a little bit more prompted right? And Jesus asks who do people say I am? And they answer oh you know some sage John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets. And you know John the Baptist I could get it you know. Uh he really pushes for salvation. Elijah I get it. The miracles at work.
You know the one of the prophets I get it. There’s prophetic stuff happening. But it’s complementary but it doesn’t hit the spot of who Jesus is. And I’m so that the disciples did not miss what he was trying to do there or say because you know he’s saying who do who do people say I am and who who do you say I am? and the the disciples could have been like, okay, Jesus. Hey, you’re doing a great job.
You’re a really great leader. No, no, don’t feel bad about yourself. I know people are saying you, John the Baptist, but you’re you, you’re your own person. Hey, and we’re right behind you, Jesus. No, that wasn’t the answer.
It. The answer was you were the son of the living God. You were the Messiah. And I’ve honed in on that word living. Because when this was being proclaimed this was in an area which was spiritually dead.
That was operating with ah it was basically the hub of all this idol worship. These lifeless idols. Um you know they had pen, Zeus, all of these sacrifices going on. There was no life there and the proclamation is you are the son of the living God. There is life in you.
That is what you carry and I want to encourage us as Christians that we need to name God and I don’t mean this in a blaspheming way, okay? But we need to name God that he is the God who? He is the God that and that name has such life to it that we can walk back into our circumstances with our head held high. You know, I normally wouldn’t ascribe to people that if they were in an abusive environment to walk back into it but here in this instance, God is saying, you can walk back into this because of Ishmael and she says, you are El Rohi, you are the God who sees and because you see me, because you see me so greatly, I know I can walk in that because I am going to walk through things where I will feel overlooked again, I’ll feel mistreated again, I’ll feel insignificant again, but you know what carries me through is the fact that you see me, you see me, God. So had the strength to go back and walk through it. Are you with me church? He is the living God. Let me ask you this morning.
When is the last time you have named God? What would you call God today with what you’re going through? Could be good, could be bad. What do you name God right now? For me, he was the God who cuts me off at the past. What does he mean for you? Maybe he’s the God who heals. The God who’s going to deliver. The God who saves.
The God who comes through even at the last moment. Who is he you today. Cuz I tell you what, if we give him a name, if we declare something about God that is a truth, a biblical truth, then we are able to walk through anything because we know we are seen. We know he sees us and he carries us through. Are you with me church? Because guess what? And this is not going to get a very good amen.
We are going to walk through hardships. It says, count it all joy. When there’s trials and tribulations and all those kind of things. Count it joy. We are to face those things but we can face those things when we have the God who or the God that.
Amen? Amen. And it’s almost like from what she experienced out in that wilderness. She took all of that and she was able to articulate this truth that could carry her back into that season. That although she would not be pumped about walking into it she knew that there was more. I want to remind you that we have a God who is far beyond and above what we can possibly imagine or understand and so that means that you will always find a new definition for him.
There’ll always be some fresh exciting thing he’s going to reveal about himself to you. And whatever you’re facing right now, let him be the God who, the God that. Let’s declare that over our world. Let’s find that unique description that we have that’s between us. Have you ever met someone and there’s like they’re best friends with someone and there’s like in jokes and little nicknames for each other and it brings up a history and you have no idea what they’re talking about and they’re so annoying.
Don look at anyone right now, okay? But those nicknames, there’s a history, there’s a joy there, right? God wants you to give him name. God wants you to speak with affinity and a closeness and a uniqueness from your experience with him to carry into the next thing. Are you with me? The final thing is, when there is a name, it brings a well. It brings a well. There’s one last name we read in Genesis sixteen and it’s actually not given to a person but it’s given to the location.
Um it’s the where it’s called which means the well of him who lives and sees me. The well of him who lives and sees me. So this overlooked, mistreated, insignificant, servant girl, has this experience with God. This incredible experience with God. Um and she goes back to her circumstances and because of what happened in that moment that area becomes immortalised.
That even you know this is written about hundreds of years later as Bia Laha that that moment carried, that they know about it, that the people surrounding that area knew about it and they immortalized and people come and drink from there. We as Christians have a responsibility to actually break through. We have a responsibility to push through because it becomes a watering hole, a spring, a place where people can come and draw from and replenish. You know, the other week, we had Pastor Shirley come up and share who’s the King’s Community Care Pastor and she shared about Alana, her daughter, who needed a special kind of medication and it was going to cost about $1, 300 a month for her to have it. And she thought it was far beyond what she could afford.
But by the time she got to the pharmacist to pay for it it managed to be $7 a month. And it was this wonderful story who remembers hearing that? And I remember sitting and hearing that. And that story ministered to me at that point. Because Jess and I had not yet received the house. In fact, I think we put in an offer on that house the day before and we were waiting to hear back from the real estate.
We were waiting and waiting and waiting and praying and as I heard Cheryl share that story about Alana, it just ministered to me and it’s almost like I heard God say, hey, I love you like that. I love you like that. And it just made me go, oh, this worry about the house, this worry about where are we going to live, which I thought, at points, I’m like, am I, have I made a rod for my own back here. Have I given up a good thing in order to go for a greater thing and it was a dumb thing to do and I’m going to learn my lesson here. But it was almost like God saying, no, no, no.
What you care about, I care about that too. But you care about, I care about that too. He fulfills the desires of our hearts too. And so that story actually ministered to me and it’s a shame Alana’s not here this morning because I thank her for that. Cuz the next day, then I walked into that hearing that we got the house and I was like, praise God that you answer prayer.
Praise God that you hear me my needs and my wants as well. You know we need to be Christians who we push through and we take steps forward and we put ourselves out there sometimes and we risk some things. Because you know what? Those breakthroughs become those watering holes. And the people who go through similar things who are struggling in themselves or have lost sight of the fact that there is a good God who is ministering around them. They know that they can draw from that well.
That they can replenished and refreshed. Cuz I know it’s possible. Amen? Amen. Don’t underestimate the significance of what you are walking through right now. She felt so insignificant.
She felt so overlooked but it turned out to be something that rippled for generations. We need to have the understanding that there is a generational thing to our well. That what you’re going through, your testimony, it’s important and that’s why I really encourage you with our breakthrough testimonies. We want to hear them not because we just want to go, oh yeah, it actually worked. It was good.
No, we want to declare the winds of God, of what God did. So, if you have had something happen over the past month, where you were giving to the breakthrough testimony, we want to hear those stories because we want to share those stories because who knows who that is going to impact in here. In ways you cannot believe or comprehend. Let’s be wells, amen? Amen. Let’s close our eyes and bow our heads.
There’s just a couple of things I want to pray for this morning As we’re kind of bringing this service to a close One is if in this place you have never made the decision to be a Christian. That that’s something you’ve never embarked on and I don’t know how you ended up here this morning. Maybe a friend brought you maybe a family member brought you. Maybe you came with your own accord. And I want to encourage you for doing that.
Maybe you’re someone who’s coming to this place and you have had a relationship with God. And if you were to name your relationship with God right now it wouldn’t be a good one. It wouldn’t be a strong one. It wouldn’t even be a living name. It would feel like a name that is dead.
Because it feels like our relationship with God has just drifted over time. So if that’s you, if you’ve never made the decision to be a Christian before, or you have and you feel like drifted away from God but you want to make kind of a public declaration this morning that you know what I want to get things back on track. I want to follow you today. If that’s you and you want to make that decision, all I ask is you slip up your hand and put it down again and we’ll pray together. Does anyone need to make that decision this morning? God wants to give you a new name today.
