In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the powerful message of God's love and the impact it should have on believers. He highlights that God's love is not just an idea, but a reality that has already been demonstrated through the giving of His Son and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The preacher encourages listeners to believe in this love and to understand that God has provided everything they need to live right and overcome challenges. He also warns against the dangers of withdrawing from the work of God, as seen in the example of the people who stopped working on the building site in the book of Ezra. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the unchangeable and generous nature of God's love, which is available to all who believe.

Well, I want to share something with you, thinking of the Church, and the body of Christ, and the body of believers. I want to read a number of verses from different places in the Bible, and I'd like to begin in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians being one of the greatest, what can I say, greatest words of the whole book on the subject of the Church. The Church being a wonderful place to be, as Nicky has said, a place that is home. Now, I want to just point you to one little thing here, I could have pointed to various verses, but let me just point you to verse 4. And it tells us there that he has chosen us, in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, without blame before him, in love, having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Some very big words there, but we'll leave the biggest ones aside. Just look at that verse 4, he has chosen us, God has chosen us, from before the foundation of the world, he's chosen us. Now, I want to turn you for a moment back into the book of Ezra, and I may have mentioned something about the book of Ezra before, if I've spoken of the Church. The book of Ezra, to me, is a picture of the building of the Church, the building of the Temple. You know that Solomon's great Temple, with all its glory, was destroyed. And then, another was built, and this is the one that was built. Secondly, this also was destroyed, and by the time Jesus came, a third one was in place. Strange, isn't it, that all those things should be true? But here in Ezra, chapter 1, we have this, verse 1. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia. He made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there? Among you, all his people, his God with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. And the point there is quite simply that Cyrus gave the commandment, before the house was built, it was Cyrus. Now Cyrus, you may know one of those little facts of scripture, was a man prophesied by name, by Isaiah and Jeremiah. Quite remarkable. As if a man would say, one day there shall be a man in Russia named Yeltsin, or there'll be a, you know. Quite a few years before it happened, they prophesied this man Cyrus would come and give the commandment to build the house of God. And because of the commandment of Cyrus, they did rise up and they did build. And I haven't got time to go into all the details tonight, but when they began to build in Jerusalem, the building was actually disturbed or interrupted by opposition. And there are opponents, there are people against the work of God in every place. Spirits of darkness, you know that God's focus of power and the focus of his working is in his church. His church is the central place of all his will, in this which we are considering of our age. He loves his church, his church is the bride of his son. This is more than just a detail of God's plan. God's church is central to his great plan. He is building his church. And because of that, it should be no surprise to us that the enemy's chief hatred is against the church. Just as God's great love is for the church, the enemy's great hatred is against the church, and he hates it. And all his fury is against the church. And so there were adversaries, you can read that in chapter 4, adversaries in verse 1, it says the adversaries of Jude and Benjamin. And so they came, and we could look at what they did, but it's not the subject tonight to look at what they did. But a lot of their attacks were verbal. It was God's will through the word, the enemy attacks through word. But then when we come at the end of chapter 4, we read verse 24, Then ceased the work of the house of God which is a Jerusalem. They stopped working. People stopped working. And people stopped engaging themselves in the work of God. And they withdrew from it. And the building site grew silent. And no activity, no growth, no increase, everything stopped. And that can happen in an individual's life, it can happen to a church, and everything can stop. It ceased, it tells us there. Chapter 5, it tells us that the prophets rose up. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah. And when they prophesied, people rose up again. It says there in verse 2 that people rose up in answer to prophecy. And prophecy causes people to rise up. It's vital that we hear the word of prophecy in the church for the building of the church. And they rose up, even though nothing had changed in their circumstances. They rose up and began to build. You know that their enemies were fierce against them, but they just rose up and built again. And there are days when you need to go on in the face of the enemy's activity and simply continue. And be undeterred. And so the work was ended as I said, but then there was all this question of what was a church for anyway and what was the purpose of it, and it wasn't right that it should be built. And then in chapter 6, another king, this is Darius the king, made a decree and search was made in the House of the Rolls, where the treasures were made up in Babylon. And there was found in the palace, that is in the province of the Medes, a roll. And there was a record that was written. And the record was, verse 3, let the house be built. And they kind of did that. So they rummaged around in all this great library. I don't know if you like libraries. I almost used to live in one on one occasion in my life. When I was at university I wanted to live in a library. I used to go and work in the Bodleian library, this great old, 500 year old place. Borrowing the books and looking at things. It was a dry, dusty place. But you don't think of much life coming out of a library, do you? I don't think of much life coming out of a library. I wouldn't like to go back and study old German texts anymore. But you see, here, it's talking about, they rummaged around in the library. And when they found something, they found an old parchment. And these scribes, you can imagine, they rolled this parchment and they read it. And they said, ah, yes. And they found the word of Cyrus. And they said this. Yes, Cyrus did make the commandment. The enemies are wrong. And these people are doing the will. The original will that was declared to Cyrus. And so they sent quick messages back. These librarians could move quickly. I don't know if they could, but they showed their... You know, they sent the message on and it went further. I don't know how fast these things moved in those days. But it went over the miles, right back to Jerusalem. And it confirmed, yes, these people are doing the work of God. They went back to the original command. Which is what we've done tonight when we read in Ephesians chapter 1. It says, He has chosen us. From before the foundation of the world. God has chosen us. That means before the world was created, God chose us. In the past tense. He has chosen us. And we praise God that tonight we can know that He has chosen us. That's very simply the origin of the church. He has chosen us. And the truth is that what God has said, He will do. Quite unchangeably. He will finish and perfect His work in you. He will do it. Let me take you to the New Testament again. Back to Mark's gospel this time. I pray we sit around a bit. So we go now to Mark chapter 4. And there in chapter 4 it tells us that verse 35. Here's an example of a word opposed. Here is verse 35. The same day when the evening was come. He said to them, Let us pass over to the other side. And there's the word. We're going to go to the other side of this lake. We're going to pass over to the other side. Those words are full of meaning. Jesus Christ is going to take us over from one side into another realm. What He has intended to do. And will do. And then when they had sent away the multitude. They took Him even if He was in a ship. And there were also with Him other little ships. But on the way as they were going there arose a great storm of wind. And the waves now beat into the ship so that it was now full. Here's this ship crossing this little lake. And here's this great opposition. But Jesus was in the hinder part of the ship. Asleep on a pillar. Lovely place to be. A big pillar. Not a small one. He hasn't got his head on a pillar. I invite you now to a big pillar. I don't know if it was or not but I like to think of it. Let's keep a big pillar for the moment. A really big pillar. One of these little mattresses that He had got there. He was asleep on a pillar. In the midst of a storm. His sleep was a miracle. In fact it's a wonderful gift. Sometimes sleep is a miracle. There are times when it's quite natural and normal. And some people sleep all the time. Naturally. But this is supernatural sleep. This is wonderful sleep. This is sleep when everybody should be standing up and biting their nails. And crying out for help. But Jesus was asleep. On this big pillar. And eventually as the situation got worse and worse. They woke Him up. I think He took a lot of courage because He looked so peaceful. And said to Him. Master. Don't you care that we perish? I think they must have known He wouldn't die. No matter what happened that pillow would carry Him right over to the other side. Don't you care that we perish? Here's another miracle. Lots of miracles in these miracles. Here's another miracle. That storm was lashing that boat. Have you ever been in a stormy sea? Has anybody been in a storm? You've been in a storm crossing the channel perhaps? In a fishing boat? Oh dear. And I remember going over the channel once and it was a bit stormy. Not very stormy. But it was in a hovercraft. And they are the first to be cancelled. And I know why. We were on the limit. It was only a 35 minute crossing but I couldn't believe that 35 minutes could seem so long. I was green. But it was awful. But here's the miracle. He arose. In verse 39. He arose in the ship. He stood up. He stood up in the ship. While it was tossing around. He stood up. It's almost as if the ship was hanging on to him rather than he standing on the ship. Which is the truth. You know he walked on the sea. Everything is held up by him. As if he was holding the earth just there. I don't know what you think of it but. He stood on the ship. He arose. You can see the peace of him. As he stands in the midst of that storm. Absolutely immovable. I don't know if he. I can't imagine him moving. He wasn't staggering or gripping on to something. He stood there in the midst of that storm. Absolutely rock like. Which is his nature. And then he rebuked the wind and said to the sea. Peace be still. The wind ceased. It was a great calm. And he said to them. Gripping the sides of the ship. So they were. And fingernails white with the pressure. He said to them. Why are you so fearful? Can you tell me? Why? How is it that you have no faith? Oh Lord. Now you and I would have preferred it if he said. How is it that you have such little faith? But he said. Why do you have no faith? Very bold isn't he to his apostles. This is how he speaks to his important men. He said. You have no faith. You've got none at all. You're alone. And they feared exceedingly and said one to another. What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? And he's dried up. What I want you to see here. That in verse 35 he said. Let us pass over to the other side. And as soon as the word goes from the lips of Jesus. Let us pass over. He said. Let us pass over to the other side. Now that word was prophetic. It was determining. It was powerful. It was unchangeable. It was as rock like and as sure as God himself is sure. God has exalted his word over his name. What he has said. What goes forth from his lips is unchangeably and powerfully true. It can never be changed. So when he said let us pass over to the other side. Nothing could stop him. There's nothing. The tremendous and most powerful force that when God says something it's done. And once you hear God speak it produces in you a sense of immortality. Because what God says about you is absolutely and unchangeably true. This is why we need to hear what he has said. Because what he has said through every storm, through every opposition will be fulfilled. Everything. There is not one good thing that God has spoken of you that will not be fulfilled. And it's simply that. You need to know the original word of God. And that's what we need to know isn't it? What's the original word of God? Where does the church come from? It comes from an original word. The church goes back deeper than the creation of the world. You know his chosen us. In him. You notice that word there in Ephesians? We read it? This original word of God. You can't, you can't date it in terms of, you know we're coming to the end of the millennium and you think what the year 2000 and so on. A date. But he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. He's done it. Now this is very important. Let me take you now to one of the central verses on this. Let me take you now to John chapter 3. Now these words are so familiar with you. But let me point you to this because it's so important. Verse 16. You don't need to turn it over do you? You know it off by heart. John 3, 16. Everybody in this room knows it I would believe. For God so loved. It's wonderful isn't it? Tremendously simple word that Jesus gave. Now it was Jesus who said it. And he said it late one night to a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus had come in verse 1. You can trace the story. Here's Nicodemus. He'd come to Jesus by night. I'm sure there are many ways of coming to Jesus and one of them is to come to him by night. I'm sure it's not the best way. It's best to come to him by day. But the man came. And Jesus didn't say no come back in the morning. He said come on in. Let's talk. And he had obviously come by night because he did not want anyone to see him. He was a secret comer. One of those people who don't... You know there are secret dancers. Did you know that? There are people who don't dance in the meeting but they'll dance at home. Well they should dance in the meeting too. Oh dear. I'm one of the secret dancers. Well you're caught aren't you? But you see there are those people who like to come to the Lord secretly. Do you understand me a bit? And he came through the streets of Jerusalem late at night hoping that no one would see him. And he eventually came to that house. He'd worked out where he was. He knocked at the door and there he was. Oh this great famous man at the door. And they let him in and showed him into the presence of Jesus. And no doubt Jesus was not alone. I think in those days in that culture it was very hard to be alone. Just as you go to live in Africa or something. It's very hard ever to be alone. And even though you're alone with somebody it's like having a private conversation on the train. You know. Everybody's listening to you. But anyway. There they got into this big, quite a big room. There they all were sleeping. Some sleeping, some talking. And then he was brought to Jesus. It's important. Possibly everybody stops and quietly listens to what they've said. I know that John was there. He had his notebook out. But I don't know whether he did. But he certainly had his ears open. And he listened. And he listened to the story. And to the account of the conversation. How Jesus spoke to Nicodemus. And they talked and they talked. And then he heard Jesus say this. Verse 16. He heard him speak to Nicodemus. Jesus said. For God. He said the reason for this is because. Because God so loved the world. That he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believes in him. Should not perish. But have everlasting life. And here's the word again. It's the tense again. He didn't say. God loves the world. Did you notice that? He didn't say God so loves the world. He said God so loved the world. And then he said. That he gave. His only begotten son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish. And you could then have said. Wait a moment. You've not been given yet. You've got the cross ahead of you. But Jesus stood here. Three years before the cross. Three and a half years before the cross. And he said to Nicodemus. God loved. God gave his son. Why did Jesus say these things? Is it an accident? Is it important? It is vitally important. It's one of the central things we understand. That God has chosen us. God so loved you. God has loved every one of us in this room. You know there was a day. When I met different people. And there was a day when I met Nicodemus. That was the first day I met him. So long ago. I can't remember. Maybe I met him in a meeting. And we didn't really meet. To talk. But we meet people. And we remember. Oh that's the day you begin to love somebody. You meet them. And my wife often says of herself. She says I'm glad we didn't meet. She says because before we did. Because if we had met before we did. You wouldn't have loved me. And we wouldn't have married. That's what she says. And I say. I say the same. I'm glad we didn't meet. Because you would never have loved me. And you would not have married me. If you had known me in my past state. You would not have loved me. And you would not have married me. But this is what God said. God so loved the world. God did not begin to love the world. When he met somebody. Or when you churched him. Or when you did something nice. Or something right. God didn't say I love you now. There's nothing you did ever. That made you love. That made God love you. There's nothing you've ever done. That's made God love you. And there's nothing you've ever done. That's stopped him loving you. Nothing. There is nothing you've ever done. That's stopped him loving you. It says that God so loved. It didn't say God loves. It said God so. That word should be about two hours long. God so. He so loved the world. From the beginning. Knowing all about you. Knowing everything that was about you before you were his. The truth is that God had to declare to us that his love was original. It is not conditional. What do I mean by that? God's plan and purpose is not something he's changing every day. Let's have a go at this now and a go at that. Let's have a go at this. God's love is original to him. He has loved you with an everlasting love. Again that's what he said in the Old Testament. I have loved you with an everlasting love and with a loving kindness that I draw near. God has loved you with an everlasting love and this is what moves in his heart. It's an everlasting love that is the same now as it ever has been and ever will be. God so loved you. That he loves you. He so loved you that he loves you. That's why he loves you now. It's because he loved you from the beginning. And remember that nothing about God will ever change. God changes not. You and I we change. Praise God we change. Because we are brought back to him. But God does not, cannot change. God so loved you and it's because he so loved you that he loves you now. It's because he's like, he cannot diminish. He cannot stop it. He cannot cease for a second. Loving you the measure of his love is already set. He has loved you with an everlasting love. God so loved the world. He also tells me here in this little verse that God so loved the world that he gave and the person speaking it had not yet fully outworked all his givenness but it was as good as done. Jesus Christ was given the moment he was born as he was on Calvary. Jesus was never less given. God in Calvary is not a moment of unusual effort. It indicates God's real life and heart. God loves us. That's what he's like from the beginning. He loved us and he gave himself for us and he's never ever once varied from that whim of the cross. The cross is not a moment. It is the bedrock. It is the mark of what he's like from the beginning. It is him. When you see the cross you're not seeing God in a passing moment. What you are getting a glimpse of is God in his real depth as he is and ever shall be. God so loved that he gave. Is that done? And this is the original command that goes back. This is the search in the scriptures. This is the word you need to get to. This is the purpose of the church. The church has one origin. It is the love of God. The church is born in the everlasting love of God. When you want to understand the church there's only one source of the church. It's love. There's only one foundation for everything God's doing for you. It's love. There's one thing God wants you to know in the depth of your being. It's love. Now remember that the enemy is fiercely opposed because it is the power of God. It is that which will cause all God's will to be fulfilled despite every malice of Satan. Because love is as strong as death. Love is strong and has proved itself stronger than every opposition of sin and Satan has persevered in the teeth of the utmost opposition from man and devil and has overcome. God so loved that he gave. You could almost have the word he so loved that he so gave. Put them together. It's quite permissible. God so loved the world that he so gave. All the world. And that's why he would so give to you. God will so give to you now because he so loved you. And the church faltered because it lost its contact with the original command. Churches falter when they lose individuals, people falter. Things go wrong when they lose their contact with this bedrock that God has chosen us. God has loved us. God has set his eye, his heart on you from the foundation of the world. He's done it. And it's like I said with that when they were crossing over that lake. Jesus said let's cross over to the side. When Jesus said something it was done. You've got to see this. You've got... that what God has said will come to pass. He said this quite casually and calmly. I don't think it came over as casual. But he said this, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevent it. He said it. He knew what he was saying. He knew the opposition he was facing. He knew everything. He said I will build my church. Now let me show you another thing that he said. He says many things. Here, look at Matthew chapter 20. Because this is one of those utmost calm around Jesus Christ. There's no panic, there's no... Jesus Christ cannot fear. He cannot panic. Because what he says is what is. No matter what anybody else says. Even if the whole world united against him tonight in a boat of no confidence it wouldn't trouble him one bit. He'd be very sad about it. But he wouldn't say, oh dear, I'm not getting in a good boat tonight. My opinion polls are low. If he was shocked he'd say, well that's their problem. You understand what I'm saying. He wouldn't be indifferent to it. But he would say, well it doesn't affect me, it affects them. It doesn't change my plan, it doesn't change my will, it doesn't change me. It's a burden to them. He wouldn't say it with indifference. Let God be true, for every man alive. And that's what it is. God is true. And every man has partaken of life. And of life. Here it is in verse, chapter 20 of Matthew, he says, these people came to him praying for a special place in heaven. Very nice prayer. I thought they were praying for a special place in heaven. I think just to be there is the greatest reward you could ever imagine. But they wanted a special place in heaven. Jesus said, well you don't know what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. These good boys. I don't know how old they were. Maybe in their twenties or something. These boys said, are you able to drink the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. They said, we are able. Tremendous statement, isn't it? We are able. He says to them, you shall. And you say, here's Jesus. You shall. You shall indeed drink of my cup and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized. You see when he said it, I don't know what it did to them. But it was prophetic. You shall be. Once he said it, it was done. You have to remember that he wasn't just saying casually, you know, you shall be. He was, it wasn't a slip of the tongue. As soon as it was out of his lips, it was absolutely and unstoppably true. These men were immortal until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. It was done. All a man or woman needs to do to come into the fearless power of God is to hear what God has said. What God has said. Maybe you want to know what God is saying. What's God saying to us today? What's God saying? Of course it's all true. We all do want to know what God is saying to us today. But everything that God is saying to you today is built on what He has already said. God so loved you. He didn't say it. He wasn't bringing a new word. He said God so loved. But He gave. He so loved, but He gave. One of the things you need to hear is what He has said. He has said, for example, I've already quoted it, I will build my church. Here He said to these men, you shall be baptized with my baptism. I think they would have shuddered if they realized that He meant His cross. Because they wouldn't have understood that they weren't to be crucified. Not physically. But they were to be those who were planted with Him. You shall be It's powerful. Let me take you to another word. It's something that God has said. It's in Hebrews chapter 10. It is more than mind can understand. But it's here. Verse 12. Sorry. Verse 14. By one offering, He has perfected forever those that are made holy. Do you see this? This incredible power to say something that is beyond our imaginations. He doesn't deal with us according to our human Can I cut this? We all have to water down everything and make it all approachable. God is unashamedly saying, I have perfected. I've made you perfect forever. I've done it. I'm not going to say, I will do it. I've done it. And this is why when Jesus said, It's finished. It is something that is settled once and for all for all time forever. It is done. I love the appearance there of the word forever. That's verse 12. It comes again in this chapter. But this word forever. You know that God has saved you forever. He has saved you. It is something that has to dawn on us that because He said it and done it it's forever. It's not temporary. It's not partial. It's pretty simple. A man has to go into that upper room write John and take notes. Listen to what God says in Nicodemus. God so loved you. He didn't say Nicodemus. God so loved you. He said the world. Nicodemus knew it wasn't it. God so loved you. He so loved you. In Gary's words, He's only begotten son. Whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God so loved Nicodemus. But here he says, God has perfected forever. God has saved. Now notice, in this powerful salvation God has saved. God has sanctified. Verse 10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. By one offering, verse 14, He has perfected forever then that is sanctified. The church is moving from a great salvation. God has saved. God has sanctified. Verse 10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. By one offering, verse 14, He has perfected forever then that is sanctified. The church is moving from a great finished work. It is done. It's not, I'm going to planet this and I'm going to planet that. No church is ever being birthed by the plan of man. Never! Where shall we plant a church next? Well, it may start like that but I think it doesn't pay very well. Every work of God is emerging from something that God has said. Go back to the original command. Now the original command in which everything is birthed is this God so the tense is impossible to get. You could say like that God so loved. But that would be terrible if it was just God so loved. It's the love of God there in time past if you like. But if you notice, it's not just time's past, it's time eternal. God so loved in eternity that He loves. Mysterious but it's true. He loves you with an unchangeable love. And this is what's coming to us right now at this very moment. The streams of all God so loved that He loved. God so loved that He gave. Given. Done. And when He says this imagine you think of this would say by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. You would say well where do I where do I stand in this? What can I do for this? Look what Jesus said again. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son but only a few. It's this plan of God. Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. It's this absolute nature of His words. Whosoever everlasting life He's so generous. He's He's birthed Him with the everlasting freshness and power of life. It's what we have right at the heart and center of the church. There's one who speaks. You know that when the church gathers it go now to Matthew 18 we'll come here again about as soon as we can. Let's go to chapter 18 of Matthew. And here it says something Jesus didn't speak often of the church. And on this occasion it seems almost as if He's going into some detail because He talks about a disagreement in the church two brothers. And we're going to agree but here's verse 19 Jairus I say to you in the context of the church if two of you shall agree on earth touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. So there's a place where you can come together and say something and because you've said it it's already done. It's a moment. How is that? And we would all have to confess that the greatest need and mystery of hearts the greatest need for us to enter into is to enter into that place where Jesus said whatsoever you shall ask it shall be given to you. Whatsoever you shall ask it shall be given to you. Who could say that? As soon as it's gone from your lips it's done. You know what Luther once said? This is the boldness of a man I suppose who's close to God. Luther once said Lord I'm coming to ask this not according to your will but according to mine. Not because you want it but because I want it. Is that blasphemy? Could be. Could be. He was saying I want a nice shining Rolls Royce please. Give me that. I want this. I want a million pounds by tomorrow. I want it. I don't care what you want God that would be blasphemy. But if you say Lord I'm in your presence and I don't know where it is but I want it. Agreed. Two of you. Two of you. In agreement. Touching anything they shall ask it is done for my Father which is in heaven. It's so powerful. He said See it. Therefore it's done. For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them. The fountain of life of the church is Jesus Christ. It's the everlasting word of the everlasting one. It's the everlasting love of the everlasting lover. The one who's loved us from everlasting to everlasting. And you know the power of that word coming to this verse 20 where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them. He didn't say I will come to them. I am in the midst of them. The power of the church is in the power of the everlasting one who birthed it. The power of the church is in the in this incredible source unchangeable immovable He said it in chapter 16. On this rock I will go my child. I will go. It's this unchangeable realm whatever change there is I will build my church and it will not change. That word is finished. It's gone. It doesn't matter what anybody does. That word is absolutely unchangeable immutable forever I have done it. I will build you into my people. What God will do is because of what he has done. So what does God want to do now because of what he has done? Well turn now to another scripture. Let's turn to Acts chapter 1 Here is this unchangeable powerful word Verse 5. John truly baptized with water Here is the future You shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost in a few days time. This powerful word spoken in the midst of God's people. You shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Something so spontaneous and powerful when God speaks like that because something happens. You know when you see somebody who has just been transformed by a moment But how did it happen? Did it happen because we struggled or we tried or because he said it. Here is verse 8. You shall receive power. It's future but it's prophetic and utterly unchanged. You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria to the uttermost part of the earth. This powerful spring of everything he is doing is from what he has done. He has chosen it. So what will he do? He will pour life on you. Love. Power. The Spirit of God. He will pour these things on you. Why? Because he's got an idea that he might do that? No because he has already done it. Settled it. Fixed it. All bringing everything back into life with one word. God so. And the church is a decoration of what? Those three words. God so. That's what your life will be a decoration of. God so. Let's pray shall we? Offer in our lives that those who have God so loved you that he gave his only begotten Son that he has given you the Holy Ghost that he has given you everything you need to live right that he has given you everything you need to overcome God so loved you that he has given you everything. All you need to do is believe him. Believe him. Believe him. That's always his invitation. Believe me. Believe me. Simply believe. Only believe. Lord Lord I praise you. Lord Jesus I praise you for what you have done. Lord we come to our meetings wanting you to work. It's our prayer so often Lord that you shall work and you shall do many things in lives and people be released. People filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord it's still our prayer tonight but because we understand that you have loved every person in this room. When we were far in sin you loved us. When we were in rebellion when our voices were raised against you in mockery you loved us. You didn't start loving us at some point in time. And you've never stopped loving us at any point in time. Praise your name that nothing we have done has ever decreased your love for us. There is nothing we have ever done that has ever increased it for us. Lord you've loved us with everlasting love that cannot be buried. And I praise you Lord and I come to believe the love that God has for me. The everlasting love and I pray Lord that every person now here shall believe it. It's unchangeableness. It's greatness. It's power. It's unchangeable unstoppable quality. Lord move through on every life here by your Spirit through your unchanging love persuading conquering winning Lord Jesus glorifying that precious name by which we are saved. Praise you Jesus. You can sing that one night I accept it. I'm forgiven. I am fathered by the true and living God. I'm accepted. No condemnation. I am loved by the true and living God. It's done. There is no guilt or fear that I draw near to the Saviour and Creator of the world. There is joy and peace as I release my worship to you O Lord my Spirit myself. If I've never worshipped Him before I can release myself to that love and hand my self over to that love that has moved unto this hour and will heaven move in that same way. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise you Jesus. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Receive love then. It's streamed from eternity it shall not stop tonight. It's not grown late through the years. It's streaming tonight with always original quality. It's streaming on you. Don't block it off with any doubt or fear. Let it flow over you. He's loved you with everlasting love. He's given Himself. That's the measure of it. And it's the same tonight. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Be changed by Him. Be changed by the love of God. Be loosened in your very thinking, in your heart by the love of God. Hallelujah. There's no entry. All we know is but a beginning of it. But it's there. Death is there now. Everlasting death is there now. Love. Love beyond all understanding. Love that planned. Love that gave. Hallelujah. In the beginning God loved. Hallelujah. I'm accepted. I'm forgiven. I'm honored by the truth I'm living on. I'm accepted. No condemnation. I am loved by the truth I'm living on. I'm accepted. I'm forgiven. I'm honored by the truth I'm living on.