SUNDAY MORNING
THE CALL TALK SERIES | The Call to fulfil the Great Commission – At Work.
bible references:
📖 –
📖 –
WHO IS JESUS?: “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”. John 10v10. If you’d like to find out more, then visit https://www.thevineyardchurch.co.uk/w…
GET CONNECTED: We want to help you get connected with all that’s happening at church.
Website: https://www.thevineyardchurch.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vineyardsta…
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VineyardStA
GIVING: The Vineyard Church St. Albans has always been, and continues to be, financed through your regular giving. Giving to the church is our primary way of giving back to God for bringing faith, hope, healing and the love of his son Jesus to the world.
To give online, visit:
https://www.thevineyardchurch.co.uk/g…
WHATSON: Find more information on What on page
at:https://www.thevineyardchurch.co.uk/w…
— CHAPTERS —
00:00 Welcome
5:23 Jesus Name Above All Names
11:13 His Name is Jesus
23:24 All Hail King Jesus
27:35 You’re Worthy of My Praise
30:45 Ministry
36:15 Welcome
36:55 Ways to Give
38:09 Turn around and say hello
39:17 Church News with Eduardo, Leidy and Catarina
45:09 Talk
1:24:59 Jesus Name Above All Names
1:28:37 Ministry Time
1:29:29 Words of Knowledge
1:30:42 Blessing
#VineyardStalbans #god #vineyarduk #vineyardchurch #christianity #faith
Hello good morning church how are we all doing on this cold and fresh morning it’s wonderful I was out walking the dog at 6:30 this morning much cudos to me Sharon put her hand up clearly Sharon as well it very dark and there was frost on
The ground can you believe it but uh you know what struck me was it was such a clear morning seeing the Stars they were so bright and uh and I guess that’s just my prayer this morning that we would just behold the glory of God that it
Would be so bright in this place well I just want to welcome you guys online as well it’s great to have you with us whether it’s a Sunday morning you’re watching live or you’re watching catch up it’s great that you’re joining us and uh for those of you who are visiting who
Are new it’s great to have you with us my name is Mark I have the privilege of serving as a senior pastor here and uh you are just so welcome here if you are new please do collect one of these welcome bags which you can get at the
Welcome desk more information about who we are uh there’s a freebies there and there is a uh connect form you can fill in Pop That Into The Welcome team we would love to be able to connect with you well guys we’ve got a wonderful morning this morning we’ve got some
Worship in a moment with lissy and CLA and the band and then we have our very own Bruce McKinnon one of our trustees going to be speaking Yeah we can give them a whoop yeah we love Bruce uh Bruce is going to be speaking on the call series and really excited about what
He’s going to be bringing this morning so with that can I ask you all to stand as I pray thank you Jesus I think it’s fair to say that um with the events of this week and and and the last seven days and of course you know I I spoke about that last
Sunday and we prayed together but you know we have seen images and videos and stories that have probably rocked us and caused us to say Lord where are you in the midst of all this and we continue to pray for the civilians on both sides of this conflict
And we recognize the danger of escalation and in our praying we pray Lord Jesus would you come in our praying we pray would you bring your peace in only the way you can bring peace a supernatural act Lord God where you bring peace into this situation that is
Our prayer and as a people of God maybe we feel confused and we feel vulnerable somehow I want to encourage Us in that place that we cast our eyes and fixed Our Eyes Upon Jesus because Jesus is the truth he is the only way and so let us pray as we
Worship Lord we we come to you as a people this morning seeking your face Lord we look at the horrors of this world all around us and and we cry out Lord God would you break in in only the way you can Lord God and so in this
Moments As We join around the world with others brothers and sisters who are worshiping you would you come and present yourself with us in this place as we fix our eyes on you the author and perfector of our faith amen thank you Jesus good morning I’m
So when Claire and I were discussing the songs this week we um we equally felt that we just wanted to focus on Jesus because we become what we Behold a wise woman preach this week and so this is all about Jesus just fixing our eyes on
Him so the first song we’re going to do it’s called Jesus name above all names it’s quite fast um we did the V bridge a few weeks ago actually but we’re just going to put the bridge lyrics up so that um when we get there you’re not lost um Alex could
You just put on yeah wow thank you so got it goes miracal making City wall shaking prodal chasing Lazarus Rising so yeah we’ll just do that again his uh sorry get into straps it here miracle making City wall shaking prodal chasing Lazarus raise night spit Destiny W history changing
Powerful name of God let’s just sing that all again mirac City W sh prodal chasing Lazarus Rising Destiny awaking history changing powerful name of God okay we got that one so when we get to it I’m expecting you to all sing out loudly and confidently okay we ready to go [Applause] to the
Mountains to the mountains that I face one name that’s higher to the Empire of our age there’s one name that’s greater to the Giants in my way there’s one name that’s higher to the evil that prevails there one name that’s greater one name that’s greater and Jesus you’re the name of above all
Nam over my fear over the S I’m going to sing Jesus is the Lord and Jesus you’re the name of of all Nam here in the night then at the da I’m going to sing Jesus is Lord to the burden of my shame there’s one name that’s
Higher to the battles that still rage there’s one name that’s greater to the doubts that se My Face there’s one name that’s Higher to the idols that ens slay there’s one name that’s greater one name that’s greater and Jesus you’re the name of the all over my fear over the stor I’m going to sing Jesus is Love and Jesus you’re the name above all names here in the night then at the door
I’m going to sing Jesus is the Lord and oh oh Rise the bridge now guys it’s who you are mircle making City wall shaking prodical chasing Lazarus rasing Destiny awaken history changing powerful name of God you’re the miracle making City wall shaking prodical chasing Lazarus raising Destiny waking history changing powerful name of God and Jesus you’re the name above all
Nam over my fear over the stor I’m going to sing Jesus is Lord and Jesus you’re the name of here in the night then at the door I’m going to sing Jesus is Love Miracle making City wall shaking prodical chasing Lazarus raising Destiny waking history changing powerful name of
God sing it again and you’re the miracle make him City wall Shake him prodal chasing Lazarus Rising Destiny awaking history changing powerful name of God and Jesus you’re the name of our name over my feet over the stor I’m going to sing Jesus is Lord and Jesus you’re the name of our
Name here in the night then after I’m going to here in the night yes here in the night then at the door I’m going to sing Jesus is the Lord and here in the night then at the door I’m going the sing Jesus is the Lord and [Applause] Ohus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus There’s only one strong enough to save there only one who overcame the grave there’s only one who’s worthy of a Praise and in his hands the keys of death and hell and in his name a power that can heal and by his blood our sin is washed away his name is Jesus his name is Jesus his name is wonderful counselor the youry god oh Nations kneel and glorify the Lord let all the
Earth tremble for he comes and he will judge the living and the Dead the son of man coming on the clouds with trumpet sound and every knee will bow and tongue cess the name above Nam his name is Jesus his name is Jesus his name is one wonderful celor the almighty God his name is Jesus his name is Jesus his name is wonderful celor your mer Mighty God oh we are King Jesus oh he he is counselor he is counselor he is mighty God he is mighty God he’s the Prince of Peace he’s the Prince of Peace the omnipotent the omnipotent He is wonderful he is wonderful he is Radiance he is radiant the AL mightyy God he is counselor let’s declare this
Morning he is mighty God he isy God he’s the prince of he’s the prince of the omnipotent the omnipotent He is wonderful he is wonderful he is radi let’s sing that brige again he’s counselor he is counselor he is counselor he is mighty God he is mighty
God he’s the Prince of Peace he’s the prin of the omnipotent the omnipotent He is wonderful He is wonderful he is radiant the AL mightyy God his name is Jesus his name is Jesus his name is one wonderful C your might Mighty God his name is Jesus his name is
Jesus his name is wonderful celor your Mighty God his name is Jes Jesus his name is Jesus his name is wonderful celor the almightyy god his name is Jesus his name is Jesus Jesus his name is wonderful Cel the almightyy god you Jesus you’re Jesus oh we worship you Jesus there no like You and we worship you we give our Liv you and we Oh Jesus yes we worship you we give our lives to you fresh today and we fall down on yes we worship you we give our love to you and we fall down on our knees we love you Jesus yes we worship you we give our Liv you and we fall down on our
Knees You Jesus it’s you are Jesus wonderful celor the only Mighty God you are Jesus Jesus wonderful celor the Almightyy God oh Jesus Jesus Jesus the name that is truly above every other name we fix our eyes and you refes Jesus the one who’s highly and exalted and lifted up Jesus Jesus he is king of kings and Lord of lords and The Great I Am and The Sovereign one Jesus we lift you up in
This place this morning Jesus we declare aresh that you’re Sovereign you’re Sovereign of Our Lives you’re Sovereign of the nations of this Earth Jesus the name which all authority and all power and honor and Glory belongs to Jesus we prophesy this morning that every knee will bow and every tongue will
Confess that every strategy of the enemy of darkness in this world every sickness every disease it has has to bow to your name because King Jesus you are victorious you are the Lord of lords and the King of Kings you are the beginning of the story the middle of this story
And the end of this story and Jesus this morning in this room we place our home in you AR fresh we place our home in you AR fresh where you give us hope and fresh faith and so Jesus we open ourselves up to receive your hope this morning we open
Ourselves up to free receive your faith aresh Jesus Jesus be exalted be exalted We Worship You Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus oh he King Jesus Oh H the Lord of Heaven and Earth oh hell King Jesus Oh hell the savior of the world oh Hil King Jesus all hell the Lord of Heaven and Earth all hail King Jesus all hail the savior of the World oh hail King Jesus all H the L of heaven and earth oh hell King Jesus Oh Hil the save let’s sing that again oh hell oh oh hell King Jesus when thrown you Jesus Oh hell the Lord of Heaven and Earth oh hell King Jesus Oh hell the savior of oh hell oh hell King Jesus
Oh hell the Lord of Heaven and Earth oh hell King Jesus Oh hell the savior of the [Applause] World oh Jesus oh Jesus oh oh Jesus we enthrone you oh Jesus oh Jesus oh Jesus we enthrone you oh Jesus oh Jesus Oh Jes let every KNE let every knee come bow before the King of Kings let every Tong confess that his Lord lift up
Your shout let us join with all of heaven singing ohy let every knee let every knee come B before the King of Kings let every tongue confess that he is love lift up your shout and joy with all of heaven singing holyy oh we sing
Oh As We join in with the angels we sing ohy We Sing oh We Praise You Lord hey I will give you all my worship I will give you all my praise you alone I long to worship you alone let’s sing that again Church let’s praise the name of Jesus
And I will give you all my worship I will give you all my praise you alone I long to worship you alone let’s sing that one more time guys let’s rise through and I will give you all my worship I will give you all my praise you alone I long to worship you
Alone are worthy all my Pise worthy of it all worthy of it all we lift you high this morning we lift you High all H King Jesus Oh hell the Lord of Heaven iners oh hell King Jesus Oh H the SA let’s sing that one more time we love you Jesus H King Jesus Oh H the Lord of Heaven and Earth oh H King Jesus Oh hail the savior of Thank you Jesus King Jesus thank you Jesus sh King Jesus King Jesus during the worship time Um I felt Jesus say to me and to all of us who has deceived you into believing that I am not stilling control I think it’s been a really difficult week hasn’t and it’s easy to blame Jesus say where are you Lord and then he reminded me and he
Showed me quite vividly actually as I was on my knees Um the flesh being ripped from his back and he said I’m still in control and then I saw a picture of him having the thorn stuck so violently into his head into his skull and he said I am still in control then I saw his hands and his
Feet being now to the cross and he said Steph I am still in control and then I saw him lifted up high on the cross and he said Steph I’m still in Control and I said yes Jesus you are still in control and he said my ways are higher your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts do not be deceived and he died but what did he do 3 days later he rose and he said I am still in [Applause]
Control and he said do not be deceived I am still in control so I want encourage all of us this morning to look at Jesus and say yes Jesus you are are still in control and you still have the final word and we will not be deceived by the enemy this
Morning in believing that he has lost control and church we are called to stand in that truth and to walk in that truth and that freedom this morning as we leave this church to bring that truth into people’s lives do not be deceived do not lose
Sight but walk in the truth that he is still in control Jesus we thank you for who you are Lord we thank you for the reminder again this morning Jesus we bless your holy name and we thank you for your presence with us thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you
Jesus and Lord we do come to you in this time a god that is in control and a god that is Sovereign and we beseech you oh God to bring peace not a man-made peace but a peace under Jesus and our hearts break as we see the pictures and the
Video of what’s happening in the Middle East and as we are reminded of other conflicts including Ukraine and Russia and our hearts break but not as much as yours does Lord so Lord we pray right now a people that you would break in and do that which only you can
Do when man tries to find a way Holy Spirit which you come and break in supernaturally and show your people and all people the way the truth and the life we’ve been singing songs enthroning Jesus on high we’ve been singing songs proclaiming there is no other name than
Jesus and so we Proclaim that name of Jesus over these problems over these conflicts Oh Come Jesus do only that which you can do and thank you Lord that we can find comfort and peace in you and so Lord we choose to fix our eyes on you the author and perfector of our
Faith I pray Lord Jesus that as we continue this morning and as we hear your word that our hearts will be as fertile soil to receive your truth and that it would accomplish that that your word would accomplish that which you have set forth for it to do and we thank
You for your presence with us we thank you for your goodness towards us and we thank you for your love that you pour upon us and all his people said amen Church let’s give the Lord a hand in this place bless you Jesus and thank you
Team amazing time of worship I love that new song We sang at the beginning that was great really love that fantastic well hello good morning uh if you’ve joined us since I said hello hello my name is Mark I have the privilege of being the senior pastor here and um my
Wife was just with me but she’s she’s gone to sat down again that is Steph um I am her husband and she leads the rise ministry here at church um can I just extend a very special warm welcome if you are new uh it’s so great to have you
Here do pick up a welcome bag at the welcome desk uh more information about who we are and a connect card in that as well and of course welcome again if you’re online whether it’s a Sunday morning for you or you’re playing catch up through the week uh we pray the Lord
Would really meet with you in this place guys we’re going to continue our worship in our ties and our offerings you know we worship God with all of ourselves our sung worship is an expression of our heart and so at the end of the row you’ll find one of those baskets why
Don’t you just pick that up and pass it along if you’re visiting or new please feel free to pass this by this is for our home team uh this is an opportunity as I said to express our worship to him and also as I keep reminding us it is
Also a prophetic declaration when we give to God that we’re putting our trust in him for our provision and uh and so this is an opportunity for us to do that together let me pray uh for the offering uh before we move on Lord we want to say
Thank you that you are our Jehovah Gyra Gyra that name means provider but the root of that is that you see Lord you see our needs you see our needs and I pray holy spirit that uh for all of those who have given now who have declared that they put their faith and
Their trust in you for their provision that you would bless them richly Lord God and I ask that you would extend this offering as you did with those fish and those loaves for the extension of your kingdom for the work of your kingdom here in this place and so we bless you
And we thank you in your name amen good well why don’t we turn around say hello to someone you’ve never said hello to uh and then I’ll be up shortly after the notices bless you guys spe N hello church family I’m Eduardo I’m lady and this is Cina hello and we have some updates for you a huge welcome to all of you watching online and hello to those in both our hat food and S Alan sites and a very warm welcome if you’re new if you
Are new and watching online why not let us know uh either in the comments or you can drop us an email and let us know you are part of our online church family yes and we’d love to connect with you so register online or hand in a connect and
Collect card to a member of our welcome teams to register and receive a gift bag with more info about us as a church yeah and our connect groups are still our number one place for connection so check them out online or in Atrium 1 our Hatfield site also has a connect group
Which meets every second in fourth Thursday of the month at 700 p.m. in Hatfield yes and this these are the notice for this week’s Church news did you know we have a family fund at V church for members of our church family at both our hot field and Coba SS no not
Really so tell us what is the family fun well there are two parts to it those who Delight to donate donate with and support others within our church family rather like the ax Church and you can do this directly into our bank account with the reference family fund and the second
Part is for members of our church family who find themselves in unexpected financial difficulties and as a church we’d like to share what we have to support members of our family yeah so it’s exactly like the early church who shared everything they had so to apply for this support through family fund if
You are a member of our church family all you need to do is connect either Sally in our church Office Team or Heather and they will um they will send you the form which you need to complete to apply for help and now everyone knows
What it is and you um if you’d like to bless another church family you can donate through your online bank by making it family hun yet in our hfield site on Sunday the 26th of November we have baby dedication so if you have a baby and a
Young child and attend our hot field site or watch online this is this is an opportunity to thank God for the wonderful precious gift your child is for to you please contact our hot field site P hot hot field site pastors chenna or AJ if you’d like to discuss uh this
More yeah awesome so that’s it from this week’s Church news bye-bye byebye God bless and back back to you guys in the building CIA ciao Katarina disappeared though after a few seconds bring Karina back I say uh that wonderful good seeing Edward our worship pastor and his wife lady who is
Currently up in our broadcast suite dirting at the moment so uh wonderful um can I just say before I in uh uh welcome up our speaker the family fund just want to reiterate that this is a a fund that we have uh created uh for those within
Our family that are in need unexpected Financial need um if you are in that position we want to be able to support you so do reach out to the church office officethe Vineyard church. co.uk and they’ll be able to give you more information or as Eduardo said um you
Can find Heather our compassion and Justice Pastor she will be able to assist you with that as well and if you feel so LED that you want to give into the family fund then when you give uh via online banking just Mark the reference family fund and then that
Would be allocated for that particular fund great um well it gives me great pleasure in a moment to interview introduce our speaker this morning I’ve absolutely loved being in the call series and it’s just been so wonderful speaking to so many of you about that and the journey as a church we’ve been
Taken in going deeper and I had scheduled for our wonderful guest speaker to come um thinking that by that point we would uh be finished in the call series but as it transpires it’s the perfect talk for the call series as our speaker is going to unpack an aspect
Of the call for us now many of you will know this wonderful gentleman it’s Mr Bruce McKinnon um Bruce is one of our Trustees of our church uh Bruce and his family have been members of our church for a very very long time Bruce um is a best-selling
Author he is an in demand speaker and I am blessed to count him as one of my friends as well can we welcome Bruce McKinnon to the stage awardwinning I apologize good morning good morning I don’t know have you ever heard of this uh this notion of impostor
Syndrome yeah yeah I assure you I don’t feel quite like an impostor now but it’s what it is it’s the inability to believe that your success is deserved um you it’s kind of like this irrational fear that you shouldn’t be where you are you shouldn’t be there and as soon
As you open your mouth you’re going to get found out you know whether whether it’s um you know a promotion at work whether it’s a new job whether you’ve joined a team whether you’re starting University whatever it is you have this irrational fear that people will think
What is that person doing there get him out get her out this is how I felt a few years ago I was standing at an open door to a dining room and the dining room was labeled speakers dining room and uh I had been asked to come and
Do a talk um at a conference in Philadelphia uh called business as Mission and it was a fascinating subject it was looking at the intersection between faith and work and it was full of academics pastors is highflying business people and me and so I there I
Am um uh I don’t know if anyone remembers the series Star Trek I’m quite old so uh but they always put the baddies in a room and it would have a force field no door there be a couldn’t get I felt like I was a baddy in Star
Trek I couldn’t I couldn’t get through into the dining room because I had this fear I had this fear that as soon as I stepped through into the into that dining room everybody would stop eating there would be silence everybody look at me and who the who is this
Fell anyway I managed to in the end um go through the doorway and um I went up and got some food from the buffet and I turn around and of course the next challenge where to sit you know and there’s people all the successful people there all the
Confident people the people who should be there they’re chatting away and having a wonderful time and then there were there’s Empty Tables there’s no way I’m going to sit on an empty table anyway I spot a half full table and I think to myself that’s the
One to go for so um off I go and I sit down and uh I sort of say hello and would you believe every single person around that table was from harpenden and what God was telling me was your home Bruce your home because home is where God
Is and um whether we’re with family whether we’re on holiday whether we’re on a bicycle whether we’re gardening whatever and whether we are at work God is with us and um you know I found it a challenge and maybe you have too to to deal with this idea of faith and
Work how to square that how to manage that um that that Dynamic and um the problem that that I have is that about 40% of of of on average of of a working working person’s life is at work so let me say that again about 40% of our time
Is spent working as adults so it’s super important that we kind of get our head round this so why is it a problem you know you know I found myself uh almost metaphorically checking in my faith in reception of the of the office and then with the end of the day I pick
It up again so so why do we find it a challenge well fear of rejection being seen as as different upsetting the cultural norms of the office perhaps it’s feel it’s appropriate or professional to be able to demonstrate your faith in the workplace perhaps you feel that you might be
Upsetting people or getting into an argument there may even be a company policy that doesn’t allow you to do so so it’s a challenge it’s a challenge for us but of course it’s it’s not a challenge for God is it because he doesn’t distinguish the me at work the
Me at home the me on a bicycle the me in the garden it’s all the same it’s all the same to God isn’t it we’re still a child of God whatever we’re doing in fact he has a word for it and that word is avoda um and it’s a Hebrew word uh and
It’s it’s a kind of cool word because it means to work to worship and to serve it’s this picture of integrated Faith um Alex thank my friend so six days you shall work a voder but on the seventh day you shall rest that’s Exodus but as for me and my household we
Will serve a Voda the Lord this is what the Lord says let my people go so that I may worship a voder you so over the last few weeks we’ve been in a boat haven’t we we in a boat Mark’s talked about um Jesus in a boat
Uh Luke 5 and uh the first uh the first session was around our call to be with Jesus this idea that you know um is that everything comes from being in that place of being that place of being with Jesus and then there was the call to
Holiness you know the call to be separate from the world and to be consecrated to him and then we’ve spent the last few weeks looking at the L the Great Commission um and um and today we’re going to look at um our walk of faith in the
Workplace what I want to do what I hope to do uh is to reframe how we see work I want us to relax about it yeah I want us for it not to be a burden U and to get closer to Jesus in how we approach work
Okay so I’m going to pray and then we’ll get stuck in Lord Jesus I just want to thank you for this wonderful privilege of being up here sharing uh your message today uh pray Lord that um the points that you have encourage me to develop will
Land that we will get a real sense of the joy you have in being with us and your desire to be with us all the time whether we’re at work or where where you’re at play pray Lord that you would open our hearts to receive you today amen okay next slide please
Alex oops all right it’s true to say that um we’re limited by the resources that we have available to us yeah we’ve got to work within those limitations that might be your wages salary that might be the Turner of the company that you either work for or the
Company that you run maybe that’s there’s a budget that you have to plan to yeah we work within limitations even uh um Elon Musk has limitations yes he has 175 billion yeah it’s quite a large sum but he doesn’t have 176 billion so even he is limited yeah we
Work with within limitations but we know as Christians don’t we that God is our Father God is our provider he is our provider so if we acknowledge that all we have is from God next slide please Alex my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in
Christ Jesus phans 4:19 we acknowledge that we have all all we have is from God that provides for us and what you could say in fact actually is the workplace is his it’s his workplace yeah the Earth and everything in it the world and its inhabitants belong to the
Lord so you could say we work for God yeah God’s the boss we work work for God and God’s resources are Limitless God’s resources are liit we work for a boss whose resources are Limitless yeah that’s pretty cool and God is able to bless you abundantly so that you in
All things and at all times having all that you need will abound in every good work abundantly he wants to bless you abundant abundantly so that in all things and at all times having all that you need you will abound in every good work that’s pretty that’s a pretty
Strong indictment of a limitless God isn’t it that he’s saying listen I want you to have my Limitless resources I want you to tap into these Limitless resources and um that changes I think I think it change certainly changed my perspective on on work it changes my perspective on
My own business that I’m actually working for God so if it’s God’s business if it’s God’s career if he’s the boss then then then what are we well we’re his stewards next slide please we’re his stewards H so what is a steward we are familiar with the notion of of
Being a steward from the New Testament but I thought I’d just check in with Google um and uh SE is an individual who’s responsible for managing and caring for something valuable on behalf of someone else okay and um we know don’t we that Jesus spent a lot of time
Talking about our role as steward words next slide please Alex each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others it’s faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms and of course he taught a lot didn’t he about beinged of course the probably the most famous one is the
Parable of the talents and that Parable is about using God’s Resources with respect and wisdom and the Big Challenge and you’ve heard this many many times from this stage the Big Challenge we have is to understand as stewards we cannot be independent from God yeah as stewards we
Cannot be independent from joob we cannot be independent from the resource that we are drawing on yeah so we need to ensure that we are dependent on God’s resources yeah and um if a steward is not dependent on the resources that he or she is stewarding then something tricky
Happens a and what happens is you start to think that you’re the owner of those resources yeah you start to think actually this success It’s My Success yeah I’ve created this opportunity I’ve created I’ve built this this this Kingdom if you like and that’s when the trouble starts
Doesn’t it uh when we as stewards forget our role yeah and instead of drawing on God’s Limitless resources we start to draw on our own limited resources and uh Jesus Nails it with the um the story of the vine and the branches he knows this he knows this
Challenge he knows we’re going to slip up up so he he told us a story didn’t he told us a story about a Vineyard and uh that the key verse for me is verse five it’s in John isn’t it I am the vine you are the branches if you remain in
Me and I in you you will bear much fruit I am the Vine I am the resource you are the branches you are the stewards yeah so if you keep drawing on that resource if you keep remaining in me and I in you you will bear much
Fruit and um to Bear much fruit to be a good Steward the most important facet that you need the biggest skill you need is to be a good listener next slide please Alex yeah we need to listen we need to listen to him yeah why well you could say that actually the
Problems and the challenges that you have at work are actually not yours they’re actually not your problems they’re God’s problems yeah there’s no reason why you can’t then walk into God’s metaphorical office which by the way he opens has an open door policy and say to God listen you’ve
Got a problem you have got a problem God what do you want me to do about it you see the difference I’ve got a problem help me God you’ve got a problem with this resource that you’ve asked me the steward so how are you going to help
Me what are you going to how do I deal with it how do I deal with it dependency yeah whether it’s problem with Team Dynamics in the office it’s perhaps you’ve got a line manager that doesn’t support you perhaps you know you’re looking for a new role you know the business isn’t
Making the money that it used to make whatever it may be whatever the problem is it’s not too big or too small that God does not want to be engaged with you in that yeah but it’s not a choice is it it’s not an option it’s a prerequisite for
The relationship that God wants to have with you and that relationship is a relationship of dependency yeah um however what we can’t do and what I do quite often is March into his office so you’ve got a problem with X Y and Z and then March straight out
Again uh We’ve um you know we we’ve got to we’ve got to hang around yeah we’ve got to hang around as office um and um we have to spend time with him don’t we we have to spend time in his company and uh and the biggest problem with that
Is spending time with him because we want to get on yeah we want to get on we got to get moving you know and um It’s a Wonderful uh uh um it’s a message translation of Proverbs 3 Listen for God’s voice in everything you do everywhere you go he’s the one who will
Keep you on track and um so one of the biggest challenges I’ve had and it may well be that you’re cool with this is just waiting yeah because because our provider God our resource our limit Limitless resource you know has his own timing and it’s not our
Timing um I tell you a story um I’ve been running my business for uh 15 years and um I had a six-month period few years back where I earned exactly nil I earned not a bean not a penny um you know I would do proposals and normally I’d write a proposal or
Tender for for a piece of work and about one every three or one every four I’d win and that was that was a good ratio I think I did about 21 proposals every single time it was a no and what had happened was that God was teaching me God was teaching me
Something not in a bad way in a tender way he was teaching me that my understanding my intellectual understanding of trust that he is my provider needed to make the journey from my head to my heart and when that Journey happened took me six months he turned the tap on
Again I’m now a millionaire no that’s a joke um my wife’s in in the audience so she can attest the fact that that’s a complete untruth but uh and of course um The Fringe benefit of uh waiting The Fringe benefit of being in his office is of course that we
Spend time with God we spend time with Jesus and that’s what he loves and going back to to uh to Peter you know he modeled this beautifully for us Peter in the boat yeah he was with the boat he was in the boat yeah he was in the boat and so when when
Jesus said cast your net over the other side Peter said well spent all night doing this but okay I’m the steward you’re the resource over the over the net went and you will bear much fruit or you will bear much fish in this occasion but anyhow so spending time with Jesus means
That you’ll see the fruit of doing his will and I want to tell you a story uh from a friend of mine called Bill who was at the conference um that I that I broke into and uh uh he he runs a very successful business in China and um he
Manufactures stained glass products uh sort Home home decor kind of products uh for example tiffany lamps you know those sort of lamps that have the stained glass and um he’s a brilliant brilliant man fantastic Christian uh amazing relationship with God and um he is always looking at becoming more
Efficient in his processes he has an incredible process to take scrap materials and make them into these beautiful um artworks Etc it’s a very successful business he’s always looking to innovate he’s kind of like this um efficiency kind of person you know he always wants to make the thing
As as a machine and process as efficient as possible and one day God woke him up with a uh with a plan for a new process and uh so uh Bill listened and spent the day drawing up the blueprints for this new this new machine that that would
Deliver this this this process and uh day two God works wakes him up again and says actually I got a better idea and so Bill spends the day working on this new this you know this new better process day three God wakes him up got a better
Idea so off he goes Bill and he he do his blueprint for this new anyway this goes on for week day eight God wakes him up bill says whoa whoa whoa time out time out look you look you know I’m a I’m a kind of efficiency guy I’m an efficiency
Guy this is not efficient process why don’t you just tell me the best bit the best one now and not and God simply said to him Bill I just love spending time with you and and so the good news is that when you’re in that office that metaphorical office you can
Chill you know have a coffee spend time with God because that’s where he wants you to be and all this is going to help you with the the point of the sermon yeah this notion of getting out there the Great Commission at work so it’s going to help you what I call
Activate your touch points Alex is still with us there he is fantastic thanks Alex so um making connections to share the gospel this idea of being out there and modeling faith and Jesus did it for us yeah all through the New Testament there are there’s story after story after Story Of Jesus
Modeling the idea of activating touch points of demonstrating Faith you know whether it’s you know walking through capernium and uh and his his literally his His Garment his cloak was touched and the woman who touched his cloak was was healed or at the pool of bethesa you
Know where that man couldn’t get to the pool in time to to to when the pool bubbled and so Jesus kind of knelt down beside him and said do you want to get well or the conversation that Jesus had with the the woman in Samaria at the
Well he asked her for drink of water and the conversation went on and and and she and her community were saved so so Jesus knows all about this idea of of touch points yeah and of of of getting out there and making an making an impression and
We as people who are work who work have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of opportunities to demonstrate our faith yeah so there’s a few slides here Alex I’ll let you run Riot just just just so you know just think about it just think about um you you you may well
Go to the office um in London so you’ll get out of your house maybe you’ll walk the train station maybe you buy coffee from that nice van Barista van um and you’ll sit down and you so you have a chat with the Barista then you’ll go through maybe say hi to the ticket
Person then you sit down in the in the train literally the train isn’t the chattiest of places still um and then you’ll get off of whatever station you’re off you’ll get a tube whatever then and you’ll walk past you know say hi to the receptionist if you’re in an
Office or whatever it may be and um and the list is endless so you know salespeople um uh directors neighbors board directors it support desks people accounts departments canteen staff um assembly line into interviewers um sandwich makers storekeepers Warehouse staff it the list is endless is it not
And all these are opportunities for you to exercise that Great Commission yeah okay however what I’m what I’m not suggesting is you march them all down to the river there to get them baptized although wouldn’t be a problem but it’s but what what I am saying is listen um it it’s
It’s straight out of s Fran a c’s uh book of how to live preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words yeah so what I’m talking about here is this idea of modeling Faith H in terms of how you behave yeah how your actions how you
Um you know how you behave how you speak what you do because as a Christian you you have a different perspective do you not to those the world out there and this this is wonderful U and again uh Jesus nailed it um with the story of the
King um I think it’ll come up the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed to be uh by my father take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world for I was hungry and he gave
Me something to eat I was thirsty you gave me something to drink I was a stranger you invited me in I needed clothes and you clothed me I was sick and you looked after me I was in prison and you came to visit me and the righteous will answer him Lord when
Did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink when did we see you sick or in prison and go and visit you the king will reply truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you
Did for me so it’s a golden opportunity to model your faith through your actions through your behaviors through your attitudes and make no mistake you are being watched I’m not talking about oh I’m talking about you’re being watched by the community that you are in your work Community yeah you’re being
Watched I um had a long-standing relationship with um with a company and um we were working for a client and the client was exasperating and um extremely exasperating and um and I’ve been working with this company for many many years and knew knew the the sort of head of the company very well
And after one very very um frustrating interaction I’m ashamed to say I said a bad word luckily um the chair of Trustees is not here Tim he’s here oh gosh anyhow I said a bad word and he turned to me and said you know Bruce in all the years
We’ve worked together I’ve never once heard you swear we”re been watched yeah so and why I want us to relax about it is I’m just saying this whole thing is around being yourself in the workplace being yourself is being a Christian yeah that’s the way we’re built so understanding that God is our
Provider is his workplace next slide please Alex it’s his workplace and we have at our disposal Limitless resources yeah that we are stewards we work for him we draw on his resources that we need to listen we need to spend time with him as stewards of his provision and that’s going to allow
Us to activate our touch points to model our faith easy no so I think personally I found it daunting to bring my faith into the workplace um and so um I’m going to introduce you to something that’s helped me um and and quite a few others over
The last few years to to do that to meet that challenge to start to work on that Great Commission that call all that God has given us so I’d like to introduce you to Business Club it’s working the slides is thank you Alex so um Business Club what is
Business Club well it didn’t used to be called Business Club it used to be called Breakfast Club and uh which is a much nicer name and um and um so I met with Tim Winfield I don’t know if you’ve heard of him he’s a big deal here big
Deal um and 15 years ago or so and I had an idea for a new business startup and uh so I wrote a business plan and spent ages on it and um over breakfast I kind of shared my ideas with Tim and gave him a copy of the business plan and
Uh no no don’t do it so um I didn’t I did something else which has worked very well uh for the last 15 years or so so but we can continue to meet we continue to have breakfast and someone else would join us and someone else and anyway after a while we
Realized um that we weren’t having breakfast anymore so I had to Rebrand uh Breakfast Club to Business Club and so we’re a connect group we’ve been going as I say for about 15 years numbers go up and down but we have around about 20
25 people U and and a I guess about a dozen people uh come pretty much every Monday 8:00 p.m. to 900 p.m. on on Zoom okay just one hour and so many people come along to Business Club and also belong to another connect group totally
Cool I don’t by the way I’m lazy um but um the point here is that what we what we do is we start to unpack these challenges and we start to unpack how do we do this how do we live out our faith in the workplace you know it’s all very
Well Bruce standing on stage and you know but in the in in in the workplace you know it’s a different it’s you know there’s a great deal of pressure about it you know you want to to live out your faith in the workplace but there are
Challenges so we we we look at the scripture we look at how we can take scripture and use it in the workplace we we give each other advice both um kind of scriptural advice and Theological advice but also work advice we pray with each other we have a
WhatsApp group that’s awesome uh and it’s busier than than the group we we is all always messages going on in and out of WhatsApp it may well be you know I’ve got a big presentation coming up can you just you know pray for me or I’ve got to
You know do I go for this job application or do I not what do you think and it’s a very active very supportive uh group so um and we even have a Creed um we didn’t make it up uh it’s it’s from the Bible um and um but I do
Call it the steward’s Creed and I’m it’ll be on the the um chart there it’s fantastic and I made everyone to learn it by heart um but I can’t remember it now so I’m going to have to read it it said um Let the Peace of Christ rule in
Your hearts Let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms hymns and songs from the
Spirit singing to God with gratitude in your hearts and whatever you do whether in word or deed do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him amen hallelujah yes so anyhow um no but it’s an awesome Creed um and um yeah says pretty much
Everything really that that we want as Christians um so however it gets bigger it gets bigger because um prompted by prayer and through discussions and prayer with Mark and his team um we want to make BC Business Club bigger so I’m introducing you today today to BC [Applause] XL
So extra large Business Club extra large so what we want to do is we want to create more Business Clubs yeah we’ve got one we want a lot more we God’s telling us you come on this is an awesome group you’ve got but we just
Need to get it out there we need more people representing the kingdom in the workplace yeah so um we we’ve got these wonderful I have a lanyard you see the lanyard there will be members of Business Club um with lanard not as nice as this because you know mine has to be
The nicest um no there’s people they’re going to be in the atum and they’ll answer any questions you have about business Club the connect group but we’re also going to be doing a quarterly get together where we will have breakfast um and the first one is on the
4th of November at 800 a.m. and it’s going to be absolutely awesome we’ve got a fantastic speaker coming along one of our own um and um she’s going to be talking about um the challenges and how she’s met those challenges uh in the workplace we’re going to have a time of
Prayer networking it’s going to be fantastic and we’ll be doing these every quarter so the message here is we’re going to be doing uh we we’re asking you to consider joining a business Club connect group um 1 hour on a Monday 8 till 9: and it is 1 hour yeah
Um and um and then come along to one of our quarterly meetings so and I want to finish uh with a call to prayer um and uh I’ve got a big writing Here Pink can I call the band up please so um I promised I’d get back to
You about that conference I mentioned the conference I was an impostor at and then Bill spoke at that conference uh my friend bill and I want to tell you what he talked about briefly um and then we’re going to end with a prayer that
You that I’d love you to pray so um um what I do I’m a brand strategist nobody knows what I do me particularly but um apparently one person does thanks Sally no but what I do is I help companies to to basically better Define what makes
Them who they are and then to be able to communicate that to their team and to their customers and their audiences and what that delivers is growth it delivers a much more effective and efficient way of using resources and I’ve been doing this uh since that breakfast meeting with Tim
For 15 years or so and I’ve been all over the world and I work for it companies AI companies software businesses but more importantly I also work for mission-based businesses and faith-based organizations and it’s about using the resources that God’s given us as efficiently and as effectively as
Possible so I’m I’m a big believer in what I do and um and about five years ago I thought you know I should write a book about this then I can get that I can get what I what I think is important what I think God’s telling me to do into
The hands of many I soon learned it’s quite difficult writing books um and so I didn’t um and there I was at this conference and um and Bill was speaking and he was I’m I’m nied quite a lot of his material but don’t let him know that but the point
Here is that he was saying we need to spend time listening so he said I’m going to say a prayer and if you want to say it after me then please do this was Bill at the conference in Philadelphia so the prayer was simply this God what is it you want to tell
Me and as soon as those words came out of my mouth three words came right back into my head feed my sheep boom I’m not a feed my sheep kind of guy that’s not a language I use this was from God and what God was telling me was Bruce write the book
Okay and it is difficult writing a book but when it’s not your book it’s God God’s book when you’re stewarding for God he’s graciously he graciously allowed me to ghost write his book if you like yes it’s tough yes there are challenges but the pressure had gone because I was
Being obedient I was a being obedient Steward to God’s provision um and as Mark incorrectly said at the beginning of this talk it’s not a best-selling book it’s an award-winning book um and uh oh thank you very much um but joking apart um what it did it it did transform my
Business cuz God’s in the business of transformation so um I’m going to uh as the band start to play uh meditative quiet music I’m I’m I’m put I’m guessing there I’m guessing um I’m going to say that say that prayer again and if you feel moved to to say
It um fantastic you don’t have to come up to the front you don’t have to do anything um but just allow yourself to be open to what God wants to tell you because he does obviously want to talk to us he wants to be with us so
God what is it you want to tell me do people want to take a a stand up take a stand up [Applause] To the mountains that I face this one name that’s highest to the empires of our age there’s one name that’s greater to the Giants in my way there’s one name that’s Higher to the evil that prevails there one name that’s greater one name that’s greater Jesus you’re the name above above all names over my fear over the stor I’m going to sing Jesus is Lord and Jesus you’re the name above all names here in the night then after the
Dawn I’m going to sing Jesus is Lord to the burden of my shame there’s one name that’s higher to the battles that still rage there’s one name that’s greater to the doubts to the doubts that steal my face there’s one name that’s higher to the idols that enslave there’s
One name that’s greater one name that’s greater and Jesus you’re the name of the all Nam over my fear over the storm I’m going to sing Jesus is the Lord and Jesus you’re the name of the name here in the night then at the door I’m going to sing Jesus is Lord and
Oh here he is he’s the miracle making the miracle making City wall shaking prodical chasing Lazarus Rising Destiny waken history changing powerful name of God Miracle you’re the miracle making City wall shaking prodical chasing Lazarus rasing Destiny awaken history changing powerful name of God and Jesus you’re the name above all name Over my fear over the stor I’m going to sing Jesus is Lord oh thank you Jesus what a word from Bruce let’s just give him some encouragement give him a hand thank you [Applause] Bruce such a gifted speaker bringing such an anointed word thank you so much what a challenge for all of us as we live out our faith in the
Workplace and I hope you listened but that call to prayer is a call to listen isn’t it and it’s not something we do just here in this place it’s something we do continually and out there and I want to encourage you if you were stirred by BC by Business Club um then
Do grab either Bruth Bruth Bruce I didn’t put my teeth in properly this morning Bruce or one of the guys of the lanyards and they’ be able to help you and give you some more information and really excited about the BC XLS that uh we’re launching they’re really
Exciting um I got some words of knowledge that I want to read out here if any of these resonate with you uh you know the drill my right your left get some prayer and if you’re online you can email us prayer at The Vineyard Church c
K and the team have got these words from the Lord here and I just want to say at this point don’t let cynicism stop you from getting prayer we see people responding to these words every week and and receiving healing so do get prayer someone with a a broken heart a problem
With left side of their chest some with the tenius a woman with shooting pain in the right wrist there’s a man suffering with depression that’s has been unable to share about it you know what the first step is sharing about that and get some prayer someone struggling with
Debt someone suffering with anguish at work a man who has injured the back of his leg at the top of his thigh very specific location someone with insomnia a man with stiffness and pain in his left elbow and slow to heal wound following a recent operation if any of
Those or anything else you need to get prayer for get some prayer my right your left the team are ready and waiting to go already bless you guys I’m going to pray a blessing upon us and then we’ll leave this place to enjoy many donuts
And coffee and tea Lord we want to say thank you for this wonderful morning a morning Lord where we get to declare your name the name that is above every other name and a morning that we get encouraged and we get equipped to go out
Of these four walls and to live out our faith and so may the Lord bless you and keep you with his face shine upon you would he be gracious towards you would his countenance be towards you and would you know his perfect peace and the whole church gave a
Resounding amen bless you church have a great week see you next Sunday God [Applause] bless