The Best is Yet to Come - Nicky Gumbel | HTB Live Stream

0:01 Thank you so, so much. Thank you, all of you. Thank you, Angus and Jen. Thank you so, so much. And a very, very warm welcome to everyone here at Brompton Road. I think there are people, and the church is absolutely rammed, not only here, but downstairs, the spring. Welcome to everyone in the spring. Welcome to everyone in the crypt rooms. Welcome to everyone in the marquee outside. And welcome to everyone who couldn't get into the marquee and is staring through there. And also welcome to everyone who is watching this on live stream, including, I've just been sent a picture of three out of our nine grandchildren who are watching it on holiday. So welcome to Brave Freedom and Passion on holiday in Greece. Thank you so much for joining us.

0:53 And thank you for all the others who are joining us right now. It's great to have you with us. I want to talk to you today on this subject. The best is yet to come. And I believe that's true of your lives, every one of you. It's also true of this church, and it's true for all of us. And I want to speak from a passage in Acts, Acts chapter 20, where Paul talks to the church in Ephesus. He spent a long time there. He loved the church. They become his friends. And it was his farewell address to the church. And as you've heard, we've been here 46 years, since 1976, involved in the leadership here.

1:55 And we love all of you. We love this church. We're so grateful for all of you and so many friends here. And so this is our farewell address. And I believe the best is yet to come for you, for the church, for all of us, for three reasons. And here's the first one. All from the passage in Acts 20. The first reason is because of God's power. So, the Apostle Paul says this to the church he loved. He says, Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock, which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, be shepherds of the church of God. God's church, which he bought with his own blood.

3:00 Holy Spirit, God, Jesus, all in the same verse. The whole Trinity is involved. The power of God. The unconditional love of God. He says, verse 32, Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace. One translation of grace could be unconditional love. That's God's love for you. He loves you unconditionally, wholeheartedly, continually. This is not our church. This is God's church. and it's been a succession from John Collins, John Collins, Prebenry John Collins, retired as vicar here in 1985. And 37 years later, he's still going strong. So there's hope for all of us. 37 years. He's 97 and very godly. And he handed over to Sandy Miller, who is still going strong.

4:03 He's 82. It's good to be a vicar of HTB. They live a long time. One lived to 104, I think. Anyway, enough of that. So it was Preventry John Collins, Bishop Sandy Miller, then us, and now Canon Archie Coates. But actually, it's none of our church. It's God's church. and that's how Paul describes it here, the church of God. You have, as Joe O'Sullivan, one who runs the Dalgarno, the church on the Dalgarno site, he said to us when he heard Archie was coming, he said, oh, we've got a new gaffer. That makes me the old gaffer. So whether there's a new gaffer or an old gaffer makes no difference, it's the church of God and it's God's power.

5:00 we've had such fun in the last 17 years as Vicar here. One time we did a conference in the US, and we did several conferences actually, but in a break between conferences, someone lent us a house where we got a bit of a holiday. And they said the condition of lending us this house was that in the garage, there was a sports car, an old sports car, fantastic sports car, but it had to be driven. Otherwise, when they got back, it wouldn't work. So I drove this sports car. I've never driven a sports car before or since, but I loved driving that sports car. We had such fun, but I never thought it was my own. I had fun driving it. And that's what I feel about Alpha. Alpha doesn't belong to me. Lots of people involved before, lots of people involved afterwards. Same with HTB. It's a huge privilege to drive it, but it doesn't belong to us. It belongs to God. And this is the church of God. And not only that, it's the church of the unconditional love of God, but it's bought by the blood of Jesus.

6:31 It says God bought it by his own blood. That's to say, God came in the person of Jesus and he died. If you've never heard this before, I would be remiss not to give anyone here an opportunity today to give their lives to Jesus because Jesus died for you. This church was bought with his own blood. Jesus died on a cross for you. He was raised to life and he's here now. And his last words at the end of Matthew's gospel were, I will be with you always. So, Jesus died for you. None of the previous vicars died for you. Your vicars are not dying for you, but Jesus died for you.

7:32 Nowhere does it say, my son Johnny, who gave his last talk at St. Peter's Brighton, because he's going off to be a vicar in Rio. He gave his last talk and he said, nowhere does it say, the vicar will be with you always. but Jesus said, I will be with you always. And that is far more important. Jesus will be with you always. You have not only the unconditional love of God, but you have also the unwavering presence of Jesus. And then you have the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit with you because the Holy Spirit, he says, has made you overseers. What has happened in this church has been the result of the work of the Spirit. We've seen outpouring after outpouring of the work of the Spirit and the Spirit's power is unlimited.

8:30 So why do I believe? First reason I believe that the best is yet to come for this church, for you, for all of us is because of the unconditional, the power of God, the unconditional love of God, the presence of Jesus always, and the power of the Holy Spirit who will be with you. Second reason that I believe that the best is yet to come for you, for this church, for all of us, is because of God's people. That is you. You are the reason for hope. this is we've traveled all over the world Pippa and I and we always say this is this we there's some amazing churches around the world but we always say you're the best you are the best we just love all of you we are so grateful and what I want to say to you all is thank you thank you thank you for all that you've done, not just in the last 17 years, but for some of you, it's longer than us, but for 36 years on the staff, 46 years involved in the leadership.

9:45 Pippa and I are just so grateful to all of you for what you have done. You are the most amazing, wonderful congregation. And I'm so looking forward to Focus because next weekend, we will have the kind of official handover to Archie and Sam. It's going to be amazing. All the churches, all the church plants coming together, all the different congregations coming together, we're all in one place. There'll be possibly around 10,000 of us there and we will have the most amazing time of celebration. But we just, that will be our last time at Focus and we absolutely love you all and are so, so grateful to all of you. and looking forward, what's happened in this church, everything that's happened in this church is down to all of you.

10:43 And what happens in the future is up to you because you are people, you're God's people. And Paul talks about you being like the overseers. You're the ones, you're all leaders, every one of you here. I know you, you're just such gifted people. You're leaders. And what happens in the future is up to you. Of course, it's up to Archie and Sam, but essentially it's up to you. So please don't say, well, we'll just watch and see how they get on and then we'll decide. No, what does Paul say as he leaves the Ephesian church? He says this, he says, in everything I showed you by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

11:45 So he says to them, he says, first of all, work hard. This is your responsibility. Don't be a consumer, be a contributor. We've asked Archie and Sam, what would you like us to do? And I'll tell you in a moment what he's asked us to do. But I'd love to think that all of you will say to Archie and Sam, what would you like me to do? How can we contribute? How can we help? Don't just be a consumer. Be a contributor. Then he says, help the weak. We must help the weak. I'm so thrilled that, I mean, I'm just so thrilled generally that Archie and Sam are coming here. But one of the things that fills me with joy and excitement is their passion for the weak, for the homeless, for the prisoners, for the refugees. You know, Sam has gone actually into Ukraine in the last few weeks to deliver clothes and food. She gets her hands dirty. She cares passionately about the poor and the weak and the marginalised. They care passionately about racial justice. They care passionately about all these issues. And that's high on God's agenda. And then be blessed in giving. You know, we're in a difficult economic situation. And I know giving is hard for many people. And I've always encouraged you to give.

13:25 And every time I've spoken here about giving in the last, I don't know how many years, 36 years probably I've spoken on this subject. I've always said to you, it's more, because it's the words of Jesus, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And I've always said to you, the main reason I want you to give is so that you will be blessed. But I know some of you have thought, oh yeah, he wants our money. The church needs our money. That's why he's saying that. Well, I'm off. So that can't be my motive anymore. I'm telling you, I want you to be blessed. Try it. Jesus said it. The path to blessing is giving. So wouldn't it be wonderful if when Archie and Sam arrived here. They just get hundreds of people saying, I'm going to up my direct debit to the church. I'm going to start giving to the church. I've never given to the church before, but I'm going to start giving five pounds a month to the church by direct debit. Wouldn't it be amazing? That would say skin in the game. I'm not just going to be a consumer. I'm going to be a contributor. I'm going to give myself to this vision.

14:36 So the second reason I believe the best is yet to come is that he's raised up all of you for such a time as this. You are God's people, and it's you who are gonna make sure that the best is yet to come. Third reason is God's purpose.

15:01 Verse 24, Paul says, My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. Everyone is given a task. Everyone. All of you have a purpose in your lives.

15:27 Paul describes it as a service. That's what we're all called to serve. He calls them bishops, but he calls himself a deacon, and that means a servant. And all of you are called to be servants, to serve. And that is a purpose in life, is to serve. That is one of the reasons we were created, for a relationship with God and to have a calling on our lives. And everyone has a unique calling. and Archie and Sam have felt called here. But not only did they feel called here, everyone who was involved in the decision, whether it was the church wardens or the patrons or the bishop, unanimous that God was calling them. That's his purpose for them.

16:21 I was so happy. I sat in one of our sort of big leaders meetings and it was the first time Archie had kind of led in anticipation of what he's going to do. And as he stood at the front talking, I felt something that I used to feel when Sandy was the vicar here. A total peace that there's someone who I totally trust in control, who's leading this. And I just thought, how amazing. I have a complete sense of peace handing over to Archie and Sam. I know they will be utterly brilliant in what they do.

17:05 And of course, things will change. And I want to encourage you to embrace change. In 2004, because I'd hoped that Sandy would stay forever. You know, I absolutely loved working for Sandy. I had that sense of peace whenever he was in, all is well when Sandy was here. And I didn't want him to leave. And I begged him not to leave. I managed to persuade him for three years not to leave. And eventually he said, I'm going. Whether you take over or not, I'm off. And at that point, we had to decide whether to be willing to be considered to take over. And we went on holiday with, Pippa and I went on holiday with our son, our middle son, our middle child, second son. He was 22, I was 49.

18:01 And I'll never forget this walk I went on with him. He said, well, you know, what are your doubts about taking it on? And I said, well, first one is age. I said, although I'm 49, in many ways I feel too young. I look at Sandy and his wisdom and his experience, and I feel too young. but also I look at the average age of the congregation and 27 year old average coming on alpha and I feel too old so I feel both too young and too old he said well does that suggest you might be the right age And I said, secondly, he said, I don't feel ready to take over. And he said, well, C.S. Lewis, in his book, Narnia book, when Aslan, representing Jesus, asked Prince Caspian, do you feel ready to rule the kingdom of Narnia?

19:06 Prince Caspian said, no, I don't feel ready. and as Anne replied, if you said you were ready, you wouldn't have been ready. It's only because you don't feel ready that you are ready. So that was too darned. So I said, but Johnny, the other thing is change. I said, if I don't change things, there'll be no progress. But if I do change things, it looks like an implied criticism of Sandy and I would never want to do anything that looked like a criticism of what Sandy had done before me. And Johnny said, well, GK Chesterton said, in order to stay the same, you have to change. And he said, HDB needs to stay the same, but in order to do that, it has to change.

20:01 Think about it. If you have a room or a flat or a whatever, a house, and you never decorate it, you never do anything to have it, you never change it, it won't stay the same. It will deteriorate. If you want to keep something the same, you have to keep changing. And if this church is to stay the same, the DNA of HTB is to stay the same, it will have to change. So embrace change. Don't, if you see them doing things here, if Archie and Sam are doing things, oh, it's not like the old days, didn't do that, you know, back in the day. No, say, great, they want this to stay the same. That's why they're making all these changes.

20:51 So change is here to stay. So the best is yet to come, I believe, for all of us. and the verse that strikes me, this verse strikes me in terms of what Archie's asked us to do. So Archie's asked us to visit. We'll be working for him. That's our new role, working for Archie and Sam. And he's asked us to visit the church plants to encourage all the plants that have come out of here. I think there are 127 or something churches, many of whom we've never visited. So we're going to start that in September or whether we've got a plan to visit, go around the different churches. And also he's asked us to continue to head up Alpha, continue to be chair of Alpha and so on, and continue with Alpha under his leadership. And so, you know, I was not a Christian.

21:50 I was an atheist. I encountered Jesus in 1974, and it radically changed my life. and all that time I've been looking for ways to communicate that. As Paul says, my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. It's like Jesus has given each of us a task, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. That's what I've been trying to do since 1974. And I've never found a better way of doing that than Alpha. If I find a better way, I'm not attached to Alpha. If we find a better way than Alpha, we'll drop Alpha and do the better way. But right now, we've done 96 Alpha courses in a row, and we still haven't found a better way. This is our last, the group ended on Wednesday. This is our 96th Alpha small group. They are just, We love them so, so much.

22:48 And it's just amazing to hear their stories. By the way, you'll hear them at Focus because all of them are coming to Focus. Isn't that amazing? They just came on a course and they're gonna come to Focus. And look, let's just hone in on Kay. Kay was an atheist, total atheist. And what happened was last year, his mother died. and he was feeling very low. This is what he said. I was really low. I got to the point where I wasn't happy in life. Didn't want to be here. Didn't want to be here any longer. I went to my mum's grave just to say bye to her. I'll see you soon. That's a pretty low point. And as he was walking away from the grave, he saw not as much as it is. a bank card, a Barclays debit card. And he picked it up and it belonged to someone he hadn't seen for 25 years. An old friend of his called Nana, whose younger brother had also died last year and who was buried very close to Kay's mum.

24:06 And so he contacted Nana on Facebook and Nana was a Christian and he said, look, I'm also coping with grief. What you need is to do Alpha. I'm booking you in for the first two weeks and I'll come with you. And they came. He was only going to stay for two weeks, but he loved it. and his life began to change. And on the Saturday, on the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked completely different. That photograph, you wouldn't have recognised him if you'd seen a picture of him before.

24:52 And he started telling all his friends. Some friend offered him a job one time. He said, you can get this for cash. He said, I'm sorry, I can't go. I'm going to church. His friend said, sorry. He said, am I talking to Kay? He said, yeah, this is Kay. He said, I'm going to church. He said, church? It's not Sunday. It's Wednesday. He says, yeah, I'm doing Alpha. And his friends have got interested in what he's doing. And he said to me at the end of, last Sunday, by the way, it's the first time he'd ever been in a church building in his entire life. Apart from one wedding, which he just thought they'd rented a church as it was a convenient building. But apart from that, he'd never been in a church. And he said to me by the doors there, the end of Wednesday night, about 10.30 as we're leaving, he said, would you baptise me at Focus? So at Focus, we're going to baptise Kay.

25:57 And Herman, I'm going to get him up, but just another guy who's in the group, who I just seen, he's sitting here, he was at the 9.30 and he's here again. But I'm going to show a clip, I'm going to show a clip, Herman, before you come up. So Herman, this is what Herman said. so I got the whole small group up on stage at Alpha and this is what Herman said there