10 years later, I found myself at Lehman Brothers, where I was the chief architect of two global programmes. I was there on a contract and it really wasn't my fault. But what I discovered, and I've worked at several investment banks and regulators as a software engineer, and when you ask people how their business works in enough detail to write the software, you very often find they don't really know.  But they certainly don't understand even their own business in great detail, enough detail to write the software. And the idea that they understand the theoretical basis of money is a bit laughable. People just don't. So that gave me the confidence to understand there was really something wrong and the result was the Cobdon Centre. I decided to get myself into politics by some miracle. I got myself elected within three years of setting out to try. So here I am, for some reason, a Conservative MP which certainly took me by surprise and also my Liberal Democrat voting dad. So that's just a little bit of my personal journey. It is all about prosperity, it's all about justice and I think actually that the system of money is now prejudicial to both those things, which is why I'm so delighted to be here. So we've got this massive time of crisis. I just want then to move on to something that Mervyn King said, which I know Ben often quotes, positive money quotes, of all the many ways of organising banking. The worst is the one that we have today. Now positive money chooses to focus on fractional reserve deposit taking for very good reasons indeed. What I'd like to do, and I'll try not to be too technical or too rambling, I'd just like to talk about the sheer scale and scope of what is wrong with the banking system as it is. The first point is this credit creation. The fact that the banking system as a whole is able to just keep creating credit out of thin air, and I'm not going to say much more about that because I know Ben will cover it in detail, but that credit is not backed by anything real. Imagine a tailor makes a suit and that allows you to buy it and pay for it over a year. That credit that he's extended to you, that privilege of paying for your suit, of having it now but paying for it over a year, that is backed by real prior production. And one of the problems with thin air credit creation is that it's not backed by prior production. The second thing is irredeemable money. Now people ask me why I carry a silver coin around with me, and the answer is actually very simple. It's because I can't afford gold. But if just suppose for a moment that like throughout all of human history money was actually a commodity, whether it be silver or gold, which these days is not often talked about, but just imagine that it was. Credit expansion on top of this, if you pyramid up the issue of credit on top of this with say a reserve ratio of 10%, the credit expansion process comes to an end when you've got one of these and 10 claims on it. Now we might not like, there's lots of people don't like, that's lots of people think it's great, but it's just a fact that if you've got commodity money as the basis of credit expansion, the credit expansion comes to a stop when you hit the reserve ratio. But what happened in 1971 is that Nixon closed the gold window and thereby disconnected all money from commodity, a commodity backing and that allowed the banking system to go off and create wild quantities of credit without any real limit. So that's the first point, credit creation and irredeemable money and I think that is probably the most, those two points together are the most important part. The second thing is central banking and interest rates. Apart from the central banker being a lender of last resort, which makes the credit expansion process a risk that companies can bear. They also stomp into the interest rate market and manipulate it. Interest rates are a very, very important signal about people's time preferences for consumption. There's a lot in what I've just said, but it's actually relatively simple. We all value a loaf of bread on the table today more highly than a loaf of bread on the table tomorrow or next year, but by how much? And this time preference, how much more do I value having it today than having it next year? That is the interest rate. So it's a very, very important price signal. It's tied in with real savings, prior production, all that stuff. But it's an important price signal about time. So when the central banks stamp into the interest rate market and deliberately raise and lower the interest rates system and we know that it ripples through the market because if you've got a mortgage and you can remember the day when interest rates used to rise, then you know that your mortgage very quickly went up when interest rates went up. And if you've got a savings account, you know that interest rates very quickly go down when the central banks lower them. So what's happening in central banking there is that they sit down in this planning committee and set an interest rate, and they're deliberately shifting this entire system of price signals about people's preference for consumption in time. So if interest rates are too low for too long, is it any wonder that debt is at historically high levels and savings at historically low levels? So this, honestly, this is the fundamental cause of the boom bus cycle, the deliberate discoordination of the economy through time by the manipulation of interest rates. So that's the second point. Legal tender laws and currency monopoly. Nobody's forced to accept this ounce of silver as money, nor should they be. But it's just the fact that in the UK you can't be sued if you settle a debt in Stirling. And what it does is create an effective monopoly for the government on Stirling. Now, I'm proud of our currency, but it's just a fact that in the UK you've effectively got one money to choose from. Some currency reform proposals include competing monies. I think it's great that we've got Josh here, wherever he's gone, I've missed him, but with the Brixton Pound and so on, it gives me great hope that people are coming up with these competing currencies. We should, for me, have choice in currency rather than government monopoly. I'm afraid a bit of political economy here. For me, generally, I'm averse to government monopolies on anything. I think the government generally doesn't do very well when it has a unique and legally enforced monopoly. So that's another point that's wrong with it. Next one is deposit insurance and limited liability. If you allow this system where bankers in the broadest sense can create money and take huge risks with it, if you then also underwrite their risks with deposit insurance and give them limited liability so if it all goes wrong, they don't lose their house, is it any wonder they make ridiculous decisions and take gigantic risks? Deposit insurance is only necessary on demand accounts because we have fractional reserve deposit taking. Everybody wants it, it's very scary thought to just take it away at the moment, nobody's advocating that. But I'm just saying another massive flaw in the banking system is that we socialise to the huge risks which financial professionals take by having deposit insurance and limited liability laws. There's been extensive and ineffective regulation, just one example, the International Financial Reporting Standard. I introduced a private members bill, which explains through an example of what I called Ruritania, how bankers are able to manufacture profits like 30 years' interest payments, 30 years' payments on a mortgage upfront and pay themselves a bonus out of it now, despite the fact that the payments haven't been made yet. It's an astonishing wheeze and it's being done all the time, this is why derivatives are used. And yet then over the last week or so, I've seen headline after headline in the financial press, particularly Citi AM, explaining that bank profits at the moment are largely attributable to being able to account for loans in certain ways. The accounting system is fundamentally broken, and that matters when, as today, our money and banking system is fundamentally a big accounting game. And that is again a huge problem. So before I come to the final point, I'll just recap. Credit expansion and irredeemable money. Well, the credit expansion is here as positive money and that's why I'm happy to support it. Central banking deliberately discordnates interest rates. We've got legal tender laws and government monopoly on money. We've got deposit insurance and limited liability, and we've got extensive and ineffective, obviously, ineffective regulation. Now, on top of all of that, the whole system's booby-trapped, brilliant. These credit default swaps, it depends who you ask, but Andrea Ledson in her maiden speech used the word quadrillions in terms of talking about the total liabilities around credit default swaps and these derivatives. So the system is also booby-trapped. When somebody defaults, it's possible that will trigger a great wave of credit default swaps. It's so bad, it's almost comical, but this leaves us then with something of a problem. I think that the governor of the Bank of England was absolutely right to say of all the many ways of organising banking, the worst is the one we have today. There is a question, if he knows that now, did he know it 10 years ago and why didn't he do anything about it? That perhaps is a question for another day. So is it a conspiracy or a cock-up? The first thing I'll say is ignorance is one of the biggest problems, not ignorance in a way where I'm attacking people, just simply people don't know about monetary theory. On the Conservative benches, there's me and Douglas Carswell who are really read into monetary theory. On the Labour side, I think Michael's been reading some of it and perhaps one or two others. People read economics, they don't often read monetary theory. So the first problem is that people don't understand money. There are large numbers of economists, as I've found in discussion, who are very good economists, but they just take money for granted. And it's half of every exchange transaction in our economy, and yet they don't really study it. Politicians will say it's people have now started sneaking up to me in Parliament saying, I don't really understand economics, where should I begin? Well, okay, great, but we've got big decisions to take and we ought really to understand economics. The second point is intellectualism and ego, and all fourth thinking, obviously I'm standing here because I've thought about this and delighted to share some ideas. But we have to be careful that when we think things through and think we've found an answer, we kind of hold onto those answers a bit provisionally and have some humility and are prepared to think we might be wrong. So I think fractional reserve deposit taking is wrong. I think it's a breach of sound property rights and contract, but I'm also aware of the academics on the other side of the argument who think it's fine so long as you get rid of central banking, deposit insurance and limited liability. But the point is this, we are intellectuals, you're all here because you're interested in ideas. My plea is just that we need to hold on tentatively to our ideas, but people don't of course. People who've worked in the financial system for a very long time believe they know how it works, or even though they haven't studied the theory. So it's a plea really against ego. Ego is one of the big things. If you were to look up Coon and the structure of scientific revolutions, he talks about the paradigm shift, and I'm just aware of time so I'll stop there, but we've ended up that we need a paradigm shift in economics. Political economy comes into it. If you look at Alan Greenspan's essay on gold, he was really clear that the welfare state is incompatible with non-inflationary money, and that's I think a very important thing to think about when we're having this conversation. But political economy comes into it, and also partisanship. If you look at where I stand in the House of Commons to speak, I'm usually at the bottom of the chamber, because when you stand up then you can talk to both sides and make quite consensual speeches, and the result is I'm making friends on this subject on all sides of the house. But if you watch the House of Commons usually, we've just got people shouting at each other and trying to score political points. We're never going to get to the bottom of this problem by just scoring political points or taking the lines we're given. But what it does mean is it entrenches the status quo. We could talk about institutional incompetence, public choice theory, what it means to win an election and then have to pay for the promises you've made, and so on and so on. Bear in mind that the system of money we have evolved out of Bretton Woods. Bretton Woods was deliberately designed at the end of the Second World War. Nixon closed the gold window. That gave us the system of institutional inflationary fiat monies that we currently have. And I believe that that system of money is now in profound difficulty and may in fact be ending. So I think it's about evolution, and it's about convenience. I think it's about politicians finding that currency debasement is a useful way to fund promises which can't be funded through tax. So what I'm saying is if faced with a question conspiracy or cockup, it's a cockup. It's just a cockup. And it's a product of a bunch of institutional factors, not all of which are well understood. And for those few people who really do understand money in banking like the Governor of the Bank of England, there's very little I suggest that he can really do to shift it because the momentum behind it is so large. All of that is just an argument for being here and for talking about these ideas. Thirdly, towards an ideal, it's like the Tower of Babel out there on this subject. What's great about positive money is they've picked a practical proposal that can be taken forward, and they are single-mindedly pushing it. And it's an idea capable of appealing to left and right, to greens, to libertarians. It is an idea that transcends party politics, transcends political economy. It's practical. So I just think it's wonderful that positive money are doing this because it can cut through that Tower of Babel. There's no way positive money will take all the theorists with them, though. Just to talk about some of the ideas towards an ideal. If you talk to Professor Tim Condon or looked at his books, you would find that he views our system as having evolved, which is true, and therefore being broadly right. And his answer would be to privatise the Bank of England. I don't agree. The next one is the argument for 100% paper money, 100% backed in demand accounts, paper money, effectively what Ben is advocating with positive money. That idea, I like to call it constitutionalising money after a guy called James Buchanan, Nobel laureate of public choice theory. His idea for reform is to bring money under constitutional control, and I think that that is the right next step. That idea can obtain support from Keynesians, from monetarists and from Austrian theorists, but it doesn't get support from all of them. But I think it's the best. If you plot the Venn diagram, it's the best centre ground. The next idea is free banking. This is unregulated banking. To be for it to work, it requires commodity money, no limited liability, no central banks, no legal privileges whatsoever, and to just go on and let people take deposits in the form of commodities and maybe have fractional reserve deposit taking at issue notes and demand deposits. Such a system was idealised in Scotland in the last century. It had its crises and its difficulties, but if you talk to say my friend Professor Kevin Dowd, he's a very practical economist, and he would just say the best monetary system the world's seen is the Scottish free banking model. Currency choice, higher, Nobel laureate, actually is best economics in the 30s when he was arguing with Keynes. But he kind of gave up on government-provided money or gave up on really properly fixing, correcting money. And in the 70s he advocated denationalising it, which sounds kind of crazy, except it was Treasury policy in 1989. The Treasury suggested as Hayek did that it would be more practical to let all the currencies of Europe compete with one another in every country than it would be to have this idealised single European currency. Now actually looking back from now at what he wrote, he was probably, I'm sure he was right, he was right. It was more practical, it would have been better to just let drachmas be used in Britain alongside whatever else people wanted to use. That would have allowed currency competition to drive up the value of money and tend to avoid this credit expansion. So that's a quick survey of where people are coming from. If you talked to George Selgin, you would find that he advocates fractional reserve free banking absolutely vehemently. He's brilliant on the history of it, he absolutely rejects 100% reserves on deposits and he sets out to put out an ideal monetary system. But the last time I heard him speak he was absolutely uninterested in a transition plan. So that's great and he's a brilliant theorist, I've got great respect for him, had a nice lunch with him, got on well. Right, but we've got a problem now and we need a transition plan, so I support this. So for me that my proposal is this, I'm just going to come towards a conclusion. Given time, if there's time, I would constitutionalise money through something like positive monies proposals and then I would de-nationalise it because I don't think institutionally you can't trust politicians and officials with the printing press. If there is a sudden crisis, a monetary catastrophe, a total banking collapse or even a hyperinflation, then we need a different plan. I think the best one I've seen is my colleague Anthony Evans two days, two weeks, two months. If you go to Cobden Centre and you search two days, two weeks, two months, you'll quickly find it. But what he's set out is a plan to return to free banking over that period. So it's a sudden crisis response over a weekend. The emergence of free banking over two weeks and then over two months really getting a state out of banking. It does, and it would allow a return to commodity money and there's a variation on it that would make 100% reserve deposit taking the default and allow fractional reserve banking as well. We're currently having internal arguments about which way it should be. Anthony thinks it should be fractional reserve by default and 100% if you want it. But that's another conversation. So that's where I am. Constitutionalise, then de-nationalise. Just to conclude, I mean it's brilliant that this year there was a laugh and a welcome. Thank you very much. It's much better than being jeered. I'm sincerely trying to deal with this in Parliament and it's a great pleasure to work with Ben. I do genuinely believe that everything is at stake. We live in a society based on the division of labour and people take other views and I think they're wrong. If you live in a society based on the division of labour you have to have a means of exchange. That means of exchange is money. Money has to work, it has to hold its value, it has to be under control and reliable rather than being chaotic. So at the moment the pattern of events is actually pretty highly predictable. If you read in my case in the Austrian school there's not very much that's happening at the moment which in general we wouldn't have predicted. It's difficult to say exactly when things will happen because it's very dependent on the actions of big players like politicians in central banks. But in terms of the crisis having got worse since last year, well I did expect that. I did write it down in web articles. So economics needs a paradigm shift and the reason it needs a paradigm shift is to deliver prosperity, peace and justice. If we keep on doing what we're doing we're going to get more chaos and we're going to have more people questioning the fundamental basis of society. Some may say that's right but I'm a conservative in many ways. I don't want a revolution. People get hurt in revolutions. I want evolutionary change. Continuous social progress. Prosperity and peace. So I have got hope and optimism. I've got hope and optimism because you're here because of positive money, because of the Compton Centre and because actually I can see the arguments going our way.


Hey, this morning we're going to do something a little bit different in our infinite wisdom picking up the set list earlier this week. We decided to sing a song about rain. So here we go, hopefully it does not rain and that everyone blames me, but so here's what we're going to do. We're going to sing this song when we're singing rain down. We're going to be taking a posture of faith this morning. Faith to encounter the Lord. When I come into a corporate worship service, my heart isn't just to sing songs to him even though it's part of it. My heart is to encounter him, encounter his heart, encounter his spirit and enter into a place where we're actually dialoguing and being with what his tangible presence is here with us. So as we sing the song rain down, what we're asking for is Lord rain down your presence, rain down your spirit, let us encounter you this morning. Our hearts desire it, we long for it. Sound good? It looks like today the sky is heavy, it feels like the winds are going to change beneath my feet, the earth is ready and I know it's time for heaven's rain, it's going to rain. Holy Spirit, increase our awareness of your presence all across this frame. Just fix our eyes. We want to live lives in our every moment, every season and every circumstance, God. Jesus, we love you Lord. You're worthy of it. Is it a song I sing?  Therefore choose life that you and your offspring may live. Loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life, the length of your days that you may dwell in the land of the Lord who was sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob to give to them. This morning we have the incredible honor and the privilege to actually these two songs that we just sang. We had the honor of putting them together in the place of prayer to stand for life and to see the heart of God move because I don't know if there's anything that moves the heart of God more than life, than his people choosing life. And so today we are going to pray for alternatives, which is a pregnancy center in Kalamazoo and in the Battle Creek area, they provide multiple clinical resources for women in need and they also provide a ton of resources, like tangible resources for women in need. And so we are going to stand for life right now. We are going to choose life that we may live, that our offspring may live. We are going to stand and we are going to pray that the heart of God would continue to move and to set the captives free. And so I want to invite you to pray with me. Don't just listen to me while I pray. Pray with me. Stretch out your hands and let's pray. Jesus we thank you for life. We thank you that you have given us life and life more abundantly. Life is not by accident. Life is given by you Lord. And so Lord we choose to stand with you. We choose to partner with you in the place of prayer and specifically with alternatives Lord. Lord we pray for wisdom and spiritual strength for all of their leaders, for all of their nurses, for all of their advisors and practitioners Lord God. That they would be able Lord God to speak life into these women who need help in this time Lord God. Lord we pray for churches to come alongside them God and to partner with them financially and prayerfully Lord. And Lord that we would see not just an overturning to politics Lord God, but we would see an upheaval of our ways as a nation God. Because you are moving your heart is moving in the land Lord. And Lord we pray for financial prosperity over alternatives Lord. I pray that their $250,000 goal would not just be met but it would be exceeded and they would be able to expand all throughout this region and all throughout this nation in Jesus name. We all say amen. Amen. Amen. It's good to worship you this morning. Do me a favor, greet someone around you and we will be right back. Well good morning radiant church. The faithful on the fourth. I love it. I love it. It's good to see you today. I still hope that you get to go out and have fun. I want to encourage all of us. I don't know if you have had the privilege of going over to the air show that's happening in Battle Creek and seeing just the incredible display that they are putting on. We went on the opening day and saw practices and we were just blown away because I don't know about you but we saw Top Gun and we're going to see it again for the third time. And so when you get to see it in real life, it's pretty awesome. But I don't know if you saw but yesterday there was an accident and a man lost his life and I just want to encourage you not just to feel sorrow which we should but pray for this man's for his family, for his wife and for his kids. They lost their father and their husband. Pray that God would draw near to them and reveal himself to them as we continue to celebrate everything that the Lord is doing in this nation and has done for this nation as we blow stuff up and do what Americans do on 4th of July. I want to encourage us as a church to pray for them, to really, really be praying for them and just to pray for God to comfort them. Amen. Can I ask you that? All right, awesome. Awesome.  It says a guest card or communication card. I want to encourage you. If you have never filled one out, I want you to take that card and fill it out or there's a QR code and you can scan that and you can do it online. But I want to encourage you to do that. And then after servicing, go out those double doors into your right. There's a place called Guest Central.  You could be coming in here for 10 years. But if you have questions about Radiant Church, if you want to know more about Radiant Church, if you want to know how to get connected or know what's going on, hear the vision or how to get involved, we want to help you do that. And so after service, like I said, if you've never filled out one of those cards, we want to encourage you to do so. We have a gift out there that we want to give you. And also we want to have the opportunity to answer those questions as well. Two quick things just to bring to your attention. As we are celebrating the Fourth of July tomorrow, I just want to let you know all of our offices, including the prayer center, will be closed tomorrow in observance of Fourth of July. So please note that, but we will resume prayer first thing Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Okay, so that's awesome. And then also, I don't know if you noticed in the kids wing or the awesome piece of machinery at the end of the parking lot when you first drove in, but part of the Radiant City vision is coming alive right now. And so you're seeing in our kids wing, the world, the world's a wow starting to take place and us starting to break ground for all of the expansion for our kids ministry. And then starting this week as well, the good news about that tractor out there is you will no longer be losing your kids in the potholes anymore because the parking lot is getting fixed. We're going to be improving the traffic direction and the amount of space that we have to make more room for the people that God is bringing to this church and the things that God is doing here. It's awesome. Something to celebrate. It is something cool. I know some of you are like asphalt. Yeah, but think about your kids. They won't, you're no more search and rescue going on. Okay, no more search and rescue. So lots of cool stuff going on here. Right now I want to invite our ushers forward to receive our tithe and our offering. And on behalf of all of the staff and the pastors here, I just want to thank you for your generosity. It is because of your generosity that we are able to do everything that we are doing and reach everyone who we're reaching. Your generosity is truly going to the ends of the earth. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you and we thank you for this day that you have made. Lord, we choose to rejoice and be glad in it, Lord.  Lord, we are bringing to you our first, not reluctantly but joyfully, Lord, with a glad heart. Lord, I pray that you would break it, you bless it, and you would multiply and send it to the ends of the world to reach those who are far from you. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Radiant. My name is Preston, and this is Radiant News. Happy Fourth of July weekend, Radiant Church. We hope you have an amazing weekend with friends and family as we celebrate our nation's freedom. Our offices and prayer room will be closed tomorrow, but we'll be back on Tuesday and look forward to seeing you at a prayer meeting downtown. Have you ever been a part of a Radiant Group? Looking to go a step deeper? We encourage you to sign up to lead your own group and be a part of our new leader training happening this August. This fall semester in Radiant Groups, we have some super exciting things taking place and would love to partner with you in training up Radiant Disciples in the context of community. If you have attended a Radiant Group in the past, I want to encourage you to pray about taking this step in leading a group this upcoming fall. You can learn more and sign up for our training at Radiant.Church Slash weekend.  Do you feel your testimony can serve as a hope and inspiration to others? Let's celebrate all that God is doing during this season. Submit your story today at Radiant.Church Slash weekend. You can find all this information and more at Radiant.Church Slash weekend. That's it for us. Thanks for following along. One of these times, there's going to actually be a sonic boom at the end of that. It's going to freak everyone out because this series is going on for a while still. So I'm just going to give you a heads up. You never know. We may add some TNT at the end. Hey, good morning. Radiant Church, good to be with you. Happy 4th of July weekend. And if you're joining us online, I'm grateful to have you worshiping with us and triple bonus points to everyone who's in the room right now for being in church on first service on 4th of July weekend. I have no idea how you redeem bonus points in heaven, but you're all going to live in a good neighborhood. I can feel it right now. And happy birthday, America. I have this weird vision of like, who is it? John Hancock. Refusing to sign. Decoration of indiv... I like what we're doing here, guys. We're doing anything until you can promise me there will be a crazy Captain Cal's Firework 10 every 500 yards in Kalamazoo. And they were like, we're on it. And he was like, done. Okay, let's go. And I'm just kidding. I am like, wow, there are a lot of those around. So hopefully you go to bed and wake up with 10 fingers. That's our prayer. Hey. Anyways, my name is John. I'm the canvas pastor here in Richland and formally the holiday pastor. So I'm feeling really good about today. And grateful to continue the series in the book of Acts. So if you brought your Bible, you can turn to Acts chapter 13. But before we read, I'm just gonna give us a quick recap. Last week, Pastor Garrett shared a tremendous message out of Acts chapter 11 about how we're called to make disciples. And in there, we're introduced to the church in Antioch. And Barnabas is there. He's helping establish this church. It took root because of the persecution that took place when Stephen was stoned. And so he was killed. And there was a scattering. And they ended up building this church and sowing into it. And Barnabas spent time there building disciples and building leaders in the church. And then he went and got Saul and brought him back. And so that's chapter 11. But then in chapter 12, which we're skipping, but there's some good stuff in there. You should read it. Herod, the king, actually puts James, the brother John, to death by the sword. That's not the good stuff. But he does. And the Jewish leaders are so stoked about it that Herod's like, oh, I'm going to make him happy again. And so he arrests Peter, but it's Passover. And so he can't do anything yet. And so he's going to put him in jail and then he's going to bring him out after Passover. And he puts four squads of guards over the jail to watch over Peter because he's concerned about what could happen. Well, lo and behold, Angel shows up. Shackles fall off of Peter. He's set free from prison. That'll preach right there. And he walks out with the angel. And he doesn't even know what's happening. He thinks he's having a dream. How many of you had dreams where you're like, is this happening? Is this really not happening? The Bible says he got kicked in the ribs. He's like, wow, this is a vivid dream. This angel's waking me up. And so he walks out. Suddenly the angel's gone. And it's just him. And he's like, wow, this really did happen.  And so he knocks on the gate. And in this house are praying for Peter to be set free from prison. The Bible says the church is earnestly praying for the release of Peter. And there's power in prayer. And so he's free. He knocks on the door. This young lady named Rhoda comes out. Here's Peter. Sees him. Freaks out so bad that she doesn't even let him in. She just runs back to the people who are praying. Like, Peter's here. And they were like, no, no, Rhoda, relax. I know we say we believe in prayer, but let's not act like it's going to work, you know, kind of a thing. Like they literally don't believe it's Peter. She's like, get it. So they all go back. And Peter's still knocking. Like, hello. And they let him in. And in that moment, I mean, the faith of the church is revived and miraculous things are happening. Then it ends chapter 12 with Herod killing, unfortunately, the guards who he held responsible for Peter's escape. And then he gives this oritation to the people. And he's in his royal garments and he's sitting on a robe and the people are start chanting. These are the words of a God and not a man. And the Bible says pride fills the heart of Herod to the point where he dies. He's consumed by worms and he falls over dead from an angel. So that's where we are. All right, chapter 13. I told you, like you should read chapter 12. It's crazy. But now in chapter 13, we are again back at the church in Antioch and Barnabas is there. Now Saul, Paul, the apostle is there and they're building the church. They've been there for over a year and this is an incredible move of God. And we're going to pick up the first 12 verses. I'm going to read of chapter 13. But before we even do that, I want to just sow the seed of what we're about to read in these first literally four or five verses changed the world. And that's not hyperbole. That's not pastor talk. That's not an exaggeration. This portion of scripture literally changed the face of Christianity and the mission of God for all of eternity. And the reason is because this is the very first time at the church of Antioch where we see individuals intentionally sent to other places, other nations to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I've called it the power of ascending church. There had been, as I said, persecution that scattered believers and churches ended up in different little pockets. But this in Antioch, in Acts 13, we are about to see an intentional move of God, move of the spirit to send people to where the gospel had not been preached for the very first time. And on the heels of this, 200 years later, from this one church, one act of obedience, one small church at the time created a spark that literally lit a flame for the gospel to spread in 200 years to all of the Roman Empire. And 2,000 years later, we're at a place where almost every single nation has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it all started in this church with their obedience and their active faith. So we're going to read the first 12 verses of Acts chapter 13. It says, now, there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manny and a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. And from there, they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. And when they had gone through the whole island, as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the procounsel, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elimus, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the procounsel away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, You enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the Son for a time. Immediately missed and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the procounsel believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. A lot to cover in those 13, 12 verses, but we're going to get through it. And this is my motto on a holiday weekend for all of you. It's the five B's. The five B's of preaching, be brief, brother, be brief. Those are the five B's. I never usually get them, but that is what they are. So let's pray. We'll dive into Acts 13. Father, we thank you. We've had this opportunity to worship, to create a throne room for you to come, for you to dwell. And God, we ask that the Word of God right now would go forth in power. You said that God, your Word would not return void. When it goes forth, it accomplishes what you have sent it out to do. So God, let your Word go forth in power, stir hearts, encourage, admonish, correct. Do whatever you need to do, Holy Spirit. We are open to it as your people in Jesus' name and everyone said. Amen. Okay, so we're introduced to the church at Antioch. And we see here, as I said, this is the first time in all the New Testament, all the Bible, all the Book of Acts that people are intentionally sent out on mission to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ with the good news that hadn't currently heard it. And so I read this, and again, it's inspiring because this was just one church and one act of obedience. And I see so many parallels to the church of Antioch with Radiant Church. I'm in my 19th year serving at this church and I've seen so many things happen, so many things God has done, so many ways He has been so faithful. And as I read this, I'm just encouraged, like God will use any church, and He is using Radiant Church in many ways to be a sending church, sending of people, sending of finances, sending of resources, sending of prayers to reach people with the good news of Jesus. Like that message and that mission has never changed. And so there's five attributes of the church at Antioch that I want to just pull out briefly this morning, talk about those and apply those and say, this is what we at Radiant Church are aspiring to do as well and what every Bible-believing church should be able and willing to want to do to see a move of God. And so five things out of these scriptures, the first is this, is that the church at Antioch was united around the Word of God. United around the Word of God. Look at that first verse. It says there were in the church prophets and teachers. And then He lists them. And this is a very diverse bunch. Barnabas, we talked about him. He was the encourager, man of faith, came and built the church Simeon, who was called Niger, literally of dark skin, probably from Northern Africa. Lucius of Cyrene, Manny and a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch. He might have been a buddy of Herod. Herod the Tetrarch was the one responsible for beheading John the Baptist. So I'm not exactly sure how their friendship went, but obviously it's changed a little bit. Formerly a persecutor of Christians. So you have all these different dynamics, different backgrounds, different nationalities, ethnicities, all in the church of Antioch. And the thing that unified them, that united them was the Word of God. They were teaching and prophesying the Word of God to the people. And that's what they built the church on. That was the unifying factor. And as we look at the church 2,000 years later, we know this, the Word of God is under assault. It's under attack. Denominations in churches are bending to the ways of culture and saying, no, no, no, we're going to change this. We don't really believe this anymore. In an attempt to sound more loving and in an attempt to make the gospel more desirable or more pulpable or more appealing to the masses, and we cannot doctor water down or change the Word of God as believers. And 2,000 years later, what was true then is true today. And that's what they were united around. That's what they understood is that this gospel, these letters, what Jesus has said, this is truth and let everything else be a lie. And they united their lives around it. And it united the leadership of the church. I love this. Again, all different backgrounds, different ideologies, different nationalities represented in Antioch. It didn't matter because that wasn't what they identified as. That wasn't what they looked to to unify them. They looked to the Word of God. And it wasn't just the leaders, guys. It was also the church. In Acts chapter 11, you see Jews and Gentiles were shipping together, fellow shipping together, breaking bread together that had never happened. That had never taken place before. There was always a massive divide between Jews and Gentiles. Well, how is that possible because they weren't looking to their nationality to unite them. They were looking to the Word of God. And the Jews realized this same promise is true for the Gentiles. Like we're all sinners. We've all fallen short of God's best. We're all in need of a savior. And if you're in this room today, or you're watching online and you're not a Christian, we want to tell you we're not united because we're all the same or because we all agree on everything or our political stances are the same or our ideologies are the same or our backgrounds are how we were raised. All of us are different in those regards, but what unites us and joins us is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word that we build our lives on. That was true in Antioch. Let it be true of radiant church. 2,000 years later, it's what unites us. It unites us.  Please, don't let, you know, again, our social or economic status, that's not what unites us. The Word of God unites us. United in Antioch, united us. That's number one. Number two, attribute of the church there is they were focused on the glory of God. So first, united around the Word of God, focused on the glory of God. Look what they were doing. It says with verse two, while they were worshiping the Lord, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have for them. Worship in the church is what made a way for mission to the world. Worship happening in the church paved the way for mission to the world. The fact that they were passionate about God, passionate about who he was, passionate about what he said as they worshiped. The glory of God became a reality to them. The worthiness of God became a reality to them. God became bigger. God became greater in their eyes. You realize that God is the same, right? He's not changed ever. But David prayed in Psalm 34, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. What does it mean to magnify? It means to make... Oh my word. Fourth of July, you already blew your fireworks out. When you magnify something, you're making it bigger, exactly. You know when you have a magnifying glass and you're using it, what you're putting it on isn't actually getting bigger, right?  But no. When you're looking through it, it's not actually bigger. What is it? It's bigger to you. It looks bigger through your eyes, your perspective changes as you're looking through that lens. And as we look through the lens of worship, God is magnified. God has made bigger. The glory of God becomes a greater reality in our hearts and that's what was happening in the church. At Antioch, witness to the world is born through worship in the church. Witness to the whole world. I want you to think about this. The world was forever changed because of Antioch. Missionaries went out for the first time. Churches were built all throughout the region and beyond because of this church. And where were they focusing on the glory of God? Focusing on worship. Focusing on the worthiness of God. And as they did that, the residue of that led them to be concerned about people around them, people who didn't know Jesus, people who were outside of covenant with God. The worship of God is what inspires us and propels us.  And so you can be here today and you can say, what are you saying, John? Like if I'm not passionate about singing, then I'm not passionate about God. No, yeah, no, no. Listen, I get it. Everybody has a style. Maybe they prefer. Everybody is not as demonstrative. I'm not talking about all of us have to be robotic in our worship. But I will say this, like if you come into an environment where God's being worshiped and for the most part, we're all kind of on the same page in our worship and there's not part of you that's willing to surrender that, give that, grow in that, then I would question like, how do you think you're going to get passion for the lost? How do you think you're going to get passion for other people when you don't really have passion you've stirred up for the Lord? And that happens in the place of worship. Worship isn't just singing. I get that. It's a lifestyle. It's a posture. But it does include singing. It does include declaring to God why he's worthy. And when you do that, you're so filled with God's goodness and God's presence that it's a natural reaction. You should want to go into your workplace. You should want to go into your school, into your neighborhoods and say, hey, my life has been changed and altered and renewed because of the presence and glory of God and now I want to tell you about it. Now I want you to know this God and I don't know if you're aware of this but there are thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of people in Kalamazoo who you work with, go to school with, live around who do not know the glory of Jesus.  Through your worship. As God becomes bigger, as he's magnified, the natural reaction is I want to take this to my neighborhood. I want to take this to my sphere of influence and ultimately I want to take it wherever God asks me to go. Mission. Mission was birth in the place of worship. That's what we see at Antioch. Worship is so key. It's so important. It's such a part of who we are when we declare the goodness of God. So we've got these amazing songwriters. We've got Caleb and Rachel and I and we sing all blessing and honor and glory and power from our heart to yours. Worthy are you Jesus? Well, the whole world needs to hear that. The whole world needs to know that. And so why do we sing it here? Because we're all coming together to declare the greatness of God. But then where do we bring it? Out to our neighborhoods. Out to our places of work. Out to our schools. Out to where we have influence. And then we also bring it to... We don't stop there. We bring it to the nations of the world. Why is it important to go to the nations? Why do we partner with one heart in Africa to see Bible's transit? Do you want to know why? Because there's 3,000 animistic tribes in Africa right now that are praying to spirits and that are praying to other gods that are not worthy of praise, glory and honor. Only Jesus is worthy of that. Why do we partner with Brother Abraham in places like India and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh? Why? Because there are 950 million Hindus that are worshiping more gods than you can count. But none of them are worthy of all glory and honor and blessing and power. Only Jesus is. And they need to hear.  Vietnam, why? Because they've grown up and atheistic in societies. And they've grown up in cultures where they've been told God isn't real, God doesn't exist, there is no God. And we go there and we say, no, there is a God. His name is Jesus.  And a passionate people about declaring God's goodness will become passionate about declaring who God is to the nations. Why does Pastor Joel send teams to the Middle East to dangerous areas? Why? Because right now there's 1.5 billion Muslims who are fasting, giving alms, praying five times a day to a God who is not worthy of glory and honor and praise. Only Jesus is worthy. And we many times guys, and myself included, sit here as Americans in our churches where we've heard the gospel a million times and we're not moved for the people who haven't heard it once. One time. And if we believe the Bible and the reality is people are dying and they're plunging into an eternity apart from God and the world needs to hear and worship is what birthed a mission movement and we're focused on the glory of God. Number three, they were postured to hear the voice of God. What it says. It says while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting they heard the Holy Spirit speak. I love this. This is the posture of the church. They were worshiping, praying and fasting and in that environment as they postured themselves God spoke and God moved and God did what only God can do and that is true then it's true of the church and it should be true of each of us as followers of Jesus. People say well I don't hear God I don't hear. Well are you posturing yourself to hear from the Lord? Are you worshiping, praying and fasting? I'm just going to tell you guys and this may come as a shock I am a terrible faster. I'm the worst. I usually go like 10 minutes and then I'm like surely the Lord hears my heart and I cry. By now I try to intermittent fasting once and it was like you know what I am an intermittent fast from like 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. I'm not going to eat a thing it's going to change my whole life change my whole diet and I'm grateful that they don't say how long they were fasting they just say they were I'm assuming it was a meal or maybe a snack and I'm just kidding but they were posturing themselves to hear from the Lord and in that environment God spoke, God moved God confirmed God gave them the ability to know what to do next and I love that it wasn't a program it doesn't say hey they were frantically trying to get something else started frantically trying to build this other ministry frantically trying to get this thing going no they were in a place of prayer worship and fasting and it was in that environment and listen I'm not against ministries we have an amazing children's ministry I'm so grateful for we have groups that are an expression of who we are that are so important for discipleship and fellowship but I'm just going to tell you guys and if this is you don't raise your hand but many times people will be like you know what we need pastor and immediately I'm like I'm going to go out on a limb and say we don't need this but yes go ahead please we need this we need a men's this and women we need a singles but ready to mingles group is what we need and I'm like look I'm not opposed to groups but I will say this what is important to radiant churches what you see is five times 15 times a week for five days three times a day we're in a place of prayer a place of worship and a place of intercession because we believe that's the environment where God moves that's the environment where God speaks and we are grateful for groups and we're grateful for events and we're grateful for the ministries that we have and they're important but at the end of the day when you posture yourself in a place of prayer and worship God will speak to you God will speak to the church God will give direction to the church that's why I'm so grateful for pastor Lee because he is a man of prayer he is a man who is not this ministry is not built on pastor Lee Cummings it's not built on John's honor anybody's name it's built on the presence of God the word of God worship and prayer and when you build it on that it can't be shaken it can't be moved it can't I'm telling you I mentioned these other churches and denominations and I'm not trying to throw stones as much as say they think it's gonna help it's not gonna help they're losing all their power they're losing all their influence and they will not have the Holy Spirit's blessing because they're not in a posture to hear from him they're not in a posture like they were in Antioch where they were saying God we want the nations to know we want to be true to your word and so speak to us God we're praying we're worshiping we're fasting we want to hear your voice they were in a posture to hear from the Lord and I wasn't planning to say this but I'll just say it we had prophetic presbytery a couple weeks ago which I love so grateful for but I just want to tell you especially those of you who maybe didn't get a word or were disappointed that you didn't get a word God has 789,000 words that he wants to speak over your heart over your life over your family and over your future well I'm grateful for prophets and pastors and those that are in the 5 fold ministry the spirit of God will minister to you in a way that no human being ever can and if you'll put yourself in a posture so many too many Christians are like well God doesn't ever speak to me hold on let me get the dust off this because I've never read it and I'm just going to tell you like this is how the Lord speaks to you this is how he will give you direction this is how he will confirm what he's saying this is how your identity will be shaped you're not who the world says you are you're not your feelings you're not any of those things you are what the word of God says that you are and he determines your identity because he created you so he's the only one allowed to so put yourself in a posture a posture where you can hear from God or he can speak to you like they did in Antioch so they were united around the word of God focused on the glory of God postured to hear the voice of God but number 4 in this position they're praying they're worshiping they're fasting and they hear the Lord say set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them and again you got to put yourself in the position of someone who's attending the church in Antioch Barnabas and Saul were a big deal like maybe they were like are you sure they said that maybe they said Sam and Tichicus you know like Sam's great but he's not Saul and we need Paul and no they they heard from the Lord and they didn't argue they didn't try to negotiate with the Holy Spirit they laid hands on them and they sent them to do what God had called them to do they were obedient to the voice of God they're obedient to go where God told them to go what God was speaking they were hearing and then they were putting into action and at the end of the day obedience is what really sets apart those who are walking after God sometimes you can hear God sometimes you can delay it sometimes you know I was that really God but when you take a step of faith and when you take a step when you don't know where the next step is going to be or where the next things are going to come from or how this is ever going to work out those are the moments where God moves in power where God moves in glory and the church in Antioch was like look these are our best leaders they've been here building disciples they've been here like doing everything that we need to have done but we're not going to hang on to them we're not going to have this closed fist like oh no please don't go anywhere what God's doing and another thing I appreciate so much about Pastor Lee is when we have people who come people who serve and then people who go we're not like you know whether they're leaders or whether they're on staff or whatever like we want you to be where God wants you to be we had Cory Asbury amazing and then he leaves and we're like oh no the church is going to sink you know no one will know what reckless love is but we do actually and it's okay and God brings other people and God has other plans and so again when you're obedient to that and the church needs to be obedient to that and then individuals like what is the Lord asking you to do how is the Lord stretching your faith what is the Lord wanting you to lay down what comfort what thing what is it that he's speaking to you and if you're in a posture where you can hear him God will ask you to do something to reach the nation something to reach people something to reach either you're Jerusalem Judea, Samaria or the ends of the earth and so I want to take a moment and I told him I was going to do something to just honor Pastor Joel and Amy Dorlag and their children are here and you may not know who he is although his handsome face has been on a couple of videos lately so he's kind of getting a big head about all of this Richland fame he can't even go to Meyer anymore it's crazy but I have known Joel and Amy for a very long time and I remember clearly we carpooled our kids went to the same school and he came and he said the Lord's calling me to Haiti to take my family and to go to Haiti and I was like what what the carpool come on I'm just kidding I didn't say that that's terrible and I remember we baptized Mark Forward that night together he was he worked as a manager of like a landscaping Joel did and he was like I'm leaving and he did and he took his family and he obeyed the voice of the Lord and he served there he served children of the promise a beautiful ministry and learned the language and just was so incredibly faithful and then he came back and Pastor Lee was like I want Joel to be the mission's pastor here and many of you don't know this but he has and their family has sacrificed much has relied on nothing but the word of God that was given to them to take teams to take people to initiate relationships with our missionaries all over the world and they have sown their lives into the kingdom of God and now we are reaping the benefits of that as a church you may or may not know this but many of the relationships we have many of the things that are happening in India and other parts of the world are obviously the grace of God but also because of the faithfulness of Joel and Amy Dorlag and I just want to honor them for who they are and what they've done they're amazing they're amazing when I could name others Rachel Sims a young lady who was in my youth group she's in Portage today she was just his next level just bleeds the great commission when you cut her open it's just love for the lost it's so incredible and we have others in our church you know I could I could talk about the clines and the bosses and ministries and me and Maher and other places the Mark digraphs who go and serve at the mission here's the thing is when you open yourself up to say God I want the glory that you placed in me to be seen by others and I want other people to know who you really are God will use you he used one church at one time in Antioch 2,000 years ago and he's using radiant church and you are radiant church this is not a building it's not a walls it's not a structure it is the people of God hearing the voice of God and then saying God where do you want me to go what do you want me to do how do you want me to sacrifice and give and that's what they did in Antioch and the last thing number five they were obedient to the direction of God and number five they were empowered by the spirit of God none of this happened in their own strength when I talked to Pastor Joel at staff on Tuesday he was like bro in my mind I'm just a simple mechanic and I have no idea how this all happened he's in like you know the homes of dignitaries and other countries he's rubbing shoulders like it's this crazy and I'll tell you what it is it's the power of God and it's the power of the Holy Spirit and it happened to Saul and Barnabas I just read it you might have glossed over it but they send him out they pray they lay hands they say go so they go and they end up in Cyprus on this island and they end up in front of the pro council which would be like the governor the whole leader of the island is like hey I want to meet with you guys and I want to hear what you're talking about I want to hear more about this Jesus so like Paul and Barnabas like what? we're just two dudes from a little church in Antioch and all of a sudden we're sitting with the governor it's amazing he wants to hear about what we're talking he wants to hear about Jesus so they start but then it says David Blaine shows up apparently sorry David if you know the Lord but a magician and a false prophet Emilius and he tries to distract them he tries to get him to not have faith on what they're saying and Paul it says gives them a stern look like your mom gives you when you're talking in church or whatever like and Paul did not hold back he said you son of the devil how long are you going to make crooked the straight paths of the Lord and he says you know you you know deceitful and he goes off you know what the hand of the Lord's and you're going to go blind from this moment on and then there's like a miss that happens and he's like I can't say and then Paul turns to the governor and he's like what were you saying what were we talking about in that gospel let me just tell you and he's in front of people that he never would be in front of he has an audience with people he'd never have an audience with why because the Lord's with him and because he said yes and because he went where God told him to go but look at this scripture right before he rebukes Alimus it says but Saul so he was seeking to turn the procounsel the governor away from the faith verse 9 but Saul who was also called Paul the Holy Spirit looked intently at him and said you son now listen I'm not saying we go out and we call people that or we attack people but I will say it was the power of the Holy Spirit that enabled Paul to do what he needed to do and the same Holy Spirit lives inside of you the exact same spirit that Paul had 2,000 years ago the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead if you were a Christian is alive inside of you and listen to me church the more that we give of ourselves to the nations the more that we decide we're going to have influence for Jesus in our city in our region and in the nations the not easier it's going to get the harder it's going to get there are going to be Alimuses there are going to be those who tried to turn people away we've already seen that in downtown we've already seen people that are not real happy that were there that are not on our side if you will at this moment and so if you came to Christianity thinking this is going to be easy and this is going to be great and this is going to be comfortable and God's going to make it all work out like that's not always the case following Jesus was never supposed to be easy but it's always worth it and pouring your life into something that matters will never return void I talk to my children I talk to my son I tell him what is the ultimate goal of every single human being and he'll answer to know God and to make him known that's it simple not trying to you know do theology I'm not trying to get him to understand revelation I'm saying to him son this is your call girls this is what it means be a Christian to know God and then to make him known simple call for every single Christian and it's the power of the Holy Spirit you don't know where God may want to take you you don't know how God may want to use you but the power of the false prophet magicians in our land has caused us to be apathetic has caused us to not care cause us to be indifferent and cold-hearted towards a loss and to only focus on ourselves and so we have an entire generation that's coming up that thinks well what really matters is my status and my followers and how much money I have and how many things I can get and how many degrees or letters I have after my name and at the end of the day everything will burn up except for knowing God and making him known that's what it means to follow Jesus that's what we need in our world that's what it means to focus on the glory of God to be a worshipper is to say God everything else will not matter it just won't matter and so I put my focus on you we sing the words God all my life belongs to you all I have belongs to you well this is what it means is to say yes to the call to be a follower of Jesus not just a fan not just say I'm a Christian but what does God ask me to do and where does God want me to go a church at Antioch one yes one act of obedience from one church change the course of history forever and that's how God works it's amazing how many of you know God could snap his fingers if he wanted to I guess and everybody would be a Christian but he doesn't do that Jesus said the kingdom of God is like leaven a little bit gets in the yeast and it grows and it spreads and the beauty of the kingdom of God is he uses broken people like us to do it I want you to just pray with me for a minute I'm gonna invite us I have a missions card here kingdom builders that's what Pastor Joel is overseeing that's where our trips come from that's how we designate finances to Brother Abraham and others that we support it's all through kingdom builders and this church is insanely generous and committed it's unbelievable we raised three quarters of a million dollars to reach people in India the poorest and the most unreached that Brother Abraham is spending his life reaching and it's beautiful but I sensed coming into this weekend that there would be those that the Lord is saying I want you to take another step I want you to step outside of your comfort zone I want to use you to reach people maybe locally but maybe in the nations that's what we do here not everybody is necessarily a Pastor Joel who's called to go to Haiti and live there but everybody can go on a short term mission strip and see how other people live and see what the gospel of Jesus Christ is doing around the world and I want to encourage you to pray about that to ask the Lord what does that look like I'm leading a team the shameless plug to the Philippines I'm so excited about it I'm gonna be hooking up with Paula Marci Babor who are literally heroes of mine she was in my youth group now she has children and now she's literally just spent her life reaching they'll probably do 330 days of ministry this year with 30 days off and when I say ministry I mean in the heart of the Philippine all over tribes, villages and so the end of September 24th through October 2nd or 3rd that's where I'll be if you want to come with me and see the power of God on display I'd love to have you come but whatever that looks like there's other trips there's other opportunities there's things that we're doing with alternatives things we're doing at the columns of gospel mission but I'm gonna pray for us and if you sense that from the Lord like hey this is my time this is God kind of tapping me on the shoulder I want you to come up here our prayer partners are gonna have these you can scan them you can take them home but rather than just say hey go home and check out the Kingdom Builders website which you can do radiant dot church slash Kingdom Builders but then everybody's kind of go oh wait I gotta get Captain Jack fireworks or whatever we get distracted but you can do it now and you can come forward and you can just grab one of those and really act on what the Lord might be speaking to you so I'm gonna ask you if you would to just stand with me and I'm gonna pray I'm gonna have our prayer team if they would to come forward and I want to just close all of us just again asking God to make us ascending church and ascending people that the nations need to hear so Father we come and we posture ourselves just as the church in Antioch did with prayer and fasting and worship and God we ask you to speak to each one of our hearts God we believe this church is here because of the grace of God and the power of God alone God it is your grace that has enabled us to have any of the impact and influence that we have but we ask for more God we ask for more more people more resources more hearts that burn to see the gospel of Jesus Christ reach the loss and the hurting and our city and our Jerusalem and our Samaria and our ends of the earth God we pray for that and I pray right now that Lord if I just sense there's some in this room young ladies at least one who knows there's supposed to be a full-time missionary who knows that the Lord has called you the Lord has put the nations on your heart and it's been trepidatious and it's been hard and I'm not saying you've even been fighting it but it's just been this like block or this fear and I just feel the Lord is releasing releasing strength and grace and faith into your heart and into all of our hearts so God we surrender we surrender to you we surrender to you what would you have us do God what would you have us do to know you and to make you known in the ends of the earth fill us enable us give us the Holy Spirit's power in Jesus name Amen Amen Hey if you need ministry prayer or if you want to learn more about Kingdom Builders mission trips our impact trips whatever that is come forward love and opportunity to talk with you pray with you put information in your hands give Pastor Joel a hug tell him he's a hero otherwise God bless you you're dismissed have an awesome 4th of July


As you can imagine, previous studies looking at how people change around natural disasters for quite obvious reasons are rare simply because there isn't many studies out there following people over time with a disaster in between. It's not something we plan for, it's not something we look for, it just happens as life does. Now New Zealand Energy's Invalid study is one of the very very few studies in the world that is uniquely positioned to answer these sort of questions, particularly around the Christchurch earthquake, because the study started in 2009 and has followed through from before to after the earthquakes, giving us a unique opportunity to look at change from before and after, rather than just what happens after. There are a couple of reasons these questions are very important. Firstly, and perhaps most practically, they answer the questions about what happens to people in terms of who they are and how they see themselves, when a dramatic, quite a dramatic life event occurs, such as an earthquake. It is important for Kintebrians, it is important for New Zealanders overall, and it is important for survivors of natural disasters in general across the world. Secondly, it is very important theoretically in terms of our understanding of personality as a kind of fundamental dimensions of who we are and how we develop, how our environment impacts us and how we grow or not. When we talk about personality within psychology and psychological research, we usually look at it in a matter of a couple of key dimensions along which people differ. So, for instance, we have the dimension of extraversion, which relates to people's sociability, how sociable people are, how much they interact with new people versus how quiet they are, how much they feel they keep to the background. We have a dimension of agreeableness, which relates to people's politeness or how much they kind of follow others. Then we have a dimension of conscientiousness, which generally relates to how much people like order, they like getting their chores done in time, versus disorderliness or some would say laziness. Then we have a dimension of openness to experience, which in very simple term if you think of a person's CD collection, the one with the more variable CD collection is the one who's more open. These are people who are open to new experiences, abstract ideas. Then we have a dimension of neuroticism, sometimes referred to as emotional stability, which relates to people's reactivity to their environment, how much they feel that they are moody, that they have mood swings, that they feel down sometimes. Finally, and this is kind of a newer model, we have a sixth dimension of honesty-humility, which relates to people's sense of entitlement. Do they wish that they had expensive luxury goods or not? This is not important to them. As you can imagine, a negative life event such as a Christchurch earthquake, for instance, for the survivors would be associated largely with changes in things that relate to your reactivity to stress, which then relates to our dimension of emotional stability or neuroticism. The question is, do the other dimensions change? And of course, the big question is, does this emotional stability dimension change at all? We don't have, until recently, research to show this. So we went into this research, into this study, with the expectation that given that personality is a stable thing, we are talking about people's traits and these are adults or you are adults that we are looking at, we expected not much in the way of change, but we did expect to see some specific change to emotional stability. That is, we would have expected a negative life event to be associated with a decrease in emotional stability with people feeling a bit more moody, a bit more stressed out. To get to the actual findings of our study, the stuff people want to know about, what we found was pretty much what we expected. We found that there was very, very little in the way of change in personality from before to after the Christchurch earthquakes, as we would have expected, because personality is a stable construct. We are talking about personality traits, things that people carry across the lifespan. However, we did find that slight decrease in emotional stability, the one that we were talking about in terms of people's reactivity to stress, people feeling a bit more stressed out, a bit more moody. We found that people's emotional stability decreases by a very tiny fraction for those who were affected by the earthquakes, compared to those who were not. What these findings mean is actually quite important, both for Kentabrians and for personality research all around. Firstly, we know quite comfortably, I guess, that people don't change dramatically when they experience something quite dramatic as the Christchurch earthquakes. It doesn't necessarily affect the core of who you are in terms of how you see yourself. We did, however, find that slight decrease in emotional stability, which we'll have to follow this up, might dispose people to a certain vulnerability to anxiety and stress, as a lower level of emotional stability tends to. In terms of what this means for research and for personality theory altogether, it means that changes in personality are not necessarily associated with these dramatic, unexpected life events. Now, we know that personality changes somewhat for adults. The question is what are the life events that actually relate to them, to those changes, if they're not these dramatic natural disasters, so to speak.