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When we think about new beginnings, the most famous verse that comes to mind is 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new."
This is the greatest new beginning of all. Why? Because greater than any new season, any new start, any new adventure, any new church building—greater than any of those things—is seeing someone become a new creation.
For anyone in the room who isn't a Christian or has never been to church, let me explain what this means in simple terms. When we give our lives to Jesus and say, "Lord, I believe that you are the way, the truth, and the life, and there's no other way. I want to give my life to you," something incredible happens in that moment. The Holy Spirit makes his way inside us.
It's like getting a new conscience. You used to do certain things, but now there's a voice—the Holy Spirit—saying, "Don't do that. This is the way you should go. This is how we should act." Jesus promised he wouldn't leave us as orphans. He sent the Holy Spirit to make his home inside us.
When you give your life to Jesus, you are sealed, and God says, "Welcome to the family. You're adopted into the Father's household. You're an adopted son or an adopted daughter." And our Dad is the King of Kings. That makes you a princess or a prince.
You become a new creation. The old is gone. Old habits start to fall away. Old ways start to disappear.
I'll tell you my own story. I was a drug addict, involved in crime. Then I had an encounter with Jesus. I gave my life to him. I didn't become perfect overnight. But when the Holy Spirit entered me, when God adopted me into his family, suddenly certain things I used to do, I knew weren't right for me. I knew weren't honoring to God. And they started to fall off me.
The moment you give your life to Jesus, you become a new creation—but we're on a journey. The fruit of that new creation increases over time. Don't think if someone gives their life to the Lord today that tomorrow they'll have everything together. If they're an addict today and give their life to Jesus, it doesn't mean they won't struggle and battle against those addictions for the next six months, a year, or two years.
Don't judge everyone by your own high standard. Judge yourself by that high standard. Don't worry about other people's walk. But at the same time, it's important to be brothers and sisters and come alongside those who say they're followers of Jesus. If they're living in a wrong lifestyle, as a good brother or sister, go have a word and say, "Look, brother, this isn't the way. Let me help you through this."
Why? Because this new creation is now a witness for the outside world. Our witness needs to be the right kind of witness. There's a world out there that aren't new creations yet. The Bible says they are lost.
You may have walked into this room today lost, or you may have walked in feeling lost. There's a chance you come out of this room today and you are found. You've become a new creation. But that's between you and God. It's not about being pushed into it or responding through an emotional plea. It's about a moment inside that says, "I need this Jesus. I've been walking in this direction and now my eyes have been opened." It's like scales have fallen off and now my eyes are open. Jesus is Lord. God is real. I want to start my journey.
That's what we do every time we plant a church—we make new creations. All the time. New creations. That's the reason we do it. And to make those new creations become strong and mature so they can then replicate, go out, and help make more new creations. On and on it goes. It's new beginnings.
Look at Isaiah 43:18-19: "Do not remember the former things. Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
Israel is under the Babylonian Empire. For decades, they've been oppressed. They suffer in captivity. They suffer under oppression. And you think, how is this ever going to change?
But right in the middle of it comes this amazing prophecy: "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing."
For decades the Babylonian Empire seemed unmovable. There may be stuff in your life that seems unmovable. There may be situations where you just don't see any hope or any way through. But then the death of King Nebuchadnezzar starts to move things along. King Cyrus comes with an army, takes the Babylonians out, and in the first year of King Cyrus, he makes a decree inviting the Israelites to return to their land and rebuild the temple.
God made a way where there seemed like there was no way.
You may be going through a wilderness right now and it feels like there's no way. I take verses like this and I say, "God, if you did it for them, you can do it for me. If you did it for them, you can do it for us."
He can make a road in the wilderness. He can make rivers in the desert. There's no dry place in your life that God can't water. There's not a crack he cannot fill. There's not a hole that's too big, too deep for him. He's the master builder. He's the great cornerstone. There's nothing in this world that can take God by surprise. There's nothing too big for him. There's nothing too small for him.
What he did throughout the scriptures—the evidence we see on a daily basis, the stories that have been told and passed down—God does something incredible in the word. But he still does incredible things today. Don't see God as a distant God. He's not a distant God.
It was the love of the Father that held Jesus on the cross. It was the love he had for the people that he went to the cross to bear our sin, to die for us. It was the power of God that rose him from the dead and defeated death. That's the God that we serve. The grave couldn't contain him. Death couldn't hold him.
So if you're going through a dry season in your life right now, if you're going through a season where you feel like you're stuck in the wilderness, he did it for Israel. He can do it for you. If he did it for Moses, he can do it for you.
Let's jump to Genesis 12. Take Abraham. The Lord said to Abraham, "Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you."
There's a new beginning about to happen. And you need to understand that sometimes God will call us to do something. And what happens? Anxiety, fear, and worry come upon us. And that's real. There's no point me trying to say, "Oh, ignore it. Bat it away. It doesn't matter." No, it's real. You've got to learn to handle it. You've got to learn to walk even with that bit of anxiety, even with that fear.
The Bible says, "Cast all your anxiety onto me. Cast all your fear onto me. Perfect love casts out all fear." We don't just walk with it. We deal with it. How do we deal with it? We keep taking it to the foot of the cross. We keep our eyes focused on Christ and we keep putting it there every day if we have to.
When we moved into King's Standing, there were days when I was filled with anxieties and worries. I'd think, "Lord, we've got no one to send there. I've got no pastor. I've got no congregation. And I'm moving into a building and straight away I've got to pay bills."
There were two buildings. The electricity had been cut off. The first bill I saw was just the standing charge—£96 for one building, £98 for the other. That's £200 with no electricity actually being used. And I don't have a congregation. My fears and worries started to come.
But then I found that pocket of peace where I said, "No, God, I prayed and said, 'Shut that door if you don't want it.' So if you're giving it to us, it's because you've got a way. You've got a purpose. You know what's happening. I don't even know what the gas bill is. I just don't want to know."
Our shield of faith—we don't need to protect our shield of faith. Our shield of faith protects us. Put your shield of faith up and stand on the word of God.
God says to Abraham, "I will bless. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great." Notice that God says, "I will."
It's like when Moses says in Exodus, "God, I can't do it. I'm a stutterer. I can't go before Pharaoh." And God says, "You're looking at the wrong person. It's not about you. It's I will speak for you. I will deliver you. I will heal you. It's all the great I AM."
We make the mistake when we put ourselves in there. When the King Standing building came up and I found out I had to do this and I had to do that, I was already making a mistake because I was saying "I." But no—God over to you.
I found my pocket of peace and currently I'm still in that peace. I haven't dipped into the anxieties and the fears. Why? I just kept laying it at God's feet. I kept laying it at the cross. Every time it came up, I'd put it down and say, "Lord, take these from me. If you give us the building, it's because you are calling us to plant."
And then I remember Birmingham. And I say, "If you gave us Birmingham, it's because you are calling us to plant. Why give us this size building? Why give us these facilities? Because we're going to fill them. Because we're going to use them. Because we're going to grow and we're going to grow and we're going to grow. Not because of us, but because of him."
Jesus said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." He will build his church.
Whatever your situation, whatever your new beginning, whatever your new season, whatever life you find yourself in right now—get out of the driving seat and say, 'God, drive us.' Because when he drives, you drive to the right destination.
Sometimes he just gives us a place on the map, but he doesn't give us the whole map. We want the whole map. We want to plan our route from here to there and then to there. But God just says, "Go" or He says, "Warsaw" or "King Standing." He doesn't give us anymore.
But the moment you know "I trust God," it doesn't matter. I'm trusting in God. I take myself out of it and I put the great I AM in the space. You find the pocket of peace.
I know some of you want me to stand here and declare that Christians can never be sick. But the reality is different for many.
Does God heal today? Yes, he does. But do bad things happen? Yes, they do. Don't live in a bubble because when that bubble gets burst, your faith hits the ground and you're like, "I never expected this. I never thought this would ever happen."
I cannot preach that under the power of God you shall never be sick. History shows me—theology shows me—that at times Christians get ill. Reinhard Bonnke was an amazing evangelist who healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, healed blind eyes, and opened people's ears. And yet he died of cancer.
I'm not preaching or prophesying sickness on anyone. I've come the opposite of that. But some people believe that you can't be ill if you're a Christian. Yet those same people will wear glasses. Make it make sense.
Can God heal the sick? Yes. Does he? Yes. Does he still today? Yes. But don't think if you've not been healed, it's because you don't have enough faith. I think that's a dangerous teaching.
I've heard it preached that if you're not healed, it's because you lack faith. But let's not be ignorant. I've seen people throw away walkers and tablets in the belief that if they have it, it's because they lack faith. If God speaks into a situation and says, "Get rid of those tablets," listen to him. But if you don't feel God has called you in that direction, don't just throw it away because you heard a faith healer say you don't have enough faith. It's dangerous. It makes people feel like they're not strong enough Christians. You are. You're a princess. You're a prince. You're a daughter of a king. You're a son of a king.
Think about you as an earthly parent. You wouldn't want your child to be ill. Do you think God is any different when he looks down at his children? He doesn't want us to suffer. So don't think there's no way out. We live in a corrupt world, a decaying world where sin entered and bad things do happen. But we have a God that can create new beginnings even out of the most horrific circumstances.
Look at Ruth and Naomi. Their story of tragedy and loss. Yet we see how they navigated life through loyalty, hard work, and an unexpected redemption. God made something beautiful out of a very difficult situation.
We have a perishable body. I was canoeing yesterday and got blisters on my fingers. My back was hurting this morning. My elbows were hurting. Ten years ago my elbows wouldn't have hurt. That's life. That's truth. That's reality.
But the encouragement is we serve a God who can deliver you. Who can say cancer be gone? Who can say blind eyes open, deaf ears open. And let me tell you, we have a God that still does that today.
We don't live forever in this body. But I can't wait to get my new body. Why? Because then I will walk in the fullness of everything that God did. At the moment, we walk in limited glory. But there's a day coming when we will walk in the fullness of his glory.
Unbelief stops a lot of the miraculous happening. When Jesus casts out a demon that the disciples couldn't, he goes to them and says, "You unbelieving generation, how much longer do I need to be with you for? This only comes out by prayer and fasting."
What does fasting do? Fasting doesn't change God's mind. Fasting changes you.
We've got this word: unbelief. "You unbelieving generation. This only comes out by prayer and fasting." These three words are connected: unbelief, prayer, and fasting. Prayer and fasting changes us, which deals with the unbelief. Move the unbelief out of the way and the miraculous starts to take place.
This is why you see the miraculous take place in places like Africa, where 90% of Kenya believe in God. 90% of Kenyans are Christians. 90% would say Jesus is Lord.
Not 6% of English people—6% of the UK go to church. No wonder there's a cloud of unbelief over our nation. No wonder in the West we don't see the miraculous on a daily basis like other parts of the world. Why? Because we live under a cloud of unbelief. We have so many doubts.
The father of the young boy says, "Help me overcome my unbelief." Church, it's okay to pray, 'God, help me overcome my unbelief.'
What we need to do as a church is make this place a place ready for the miraculous. A place where the expectation is so high. A place where we just believe. We know it can happen. It's going to happen.
Our expectation, our tour, everything changes. We're not hoping. We're not wishful thinking. We believe. We know. God is going to open blind eyes in this place. God is going to raise the dead in this place. God is going to save.
There was a day that I stood up and said, "From here to the coast, into Europe, and into the world." There was a room full of unbelief at that moment. Not because they weren't supportive of me or believing in me, but probably 90% of them—maybe one or two in there went, "Yeah, I believe it."
I wonder about some of them. They probably didn't think it was going to happen. But there was somebody in me that knew it's going to take why? There was a word—a rhema word. We need a rhema word from God into situations at times.
A rhema word is a spoken time word, a word in season, a word right now. You may be going through a season in your life and you need a rhema word. You may be going through an illness and sickness. Let not what I've said today take away any faith. No, let it increase your faith.
I pray for a rhema word into your situation. All we need to hear is God say "Now." And when God says "Now," everything changes.
Remember those who came against God's people and they spoke and spoke. They came against Moses and said, "Why are you leading us? We're good enough to lead. We could all be the leader. We don't need you, Moses." And they bicker. They moan. They speak so much.
And then God says, "Moses, step away from the tent. Everyone move away." And the ground opens up. There's a moment in seasons where God says, "Now let me have a word. Now let me step in."
Don't give up praying for that moment. Whatever season you're in, don't give up praying. Why? Because we've got a God who can. And we've got a God who does.
This church needs to be a place where we believe the miraculous can take place. This place needs to be a place where we pray, "God, help us with our unbelief." This place needs to be an environment ready for the miraculous.
There was a word given to LBC in the early days: "You and your household shall be saved." And we have seen that happen on so many occasions throughout the years. We've actually become quite known for it. When one person in the family gives their life to the Lord, we're pretty sure, and we're very excited. We get expectant and it's like, "I wonder what member of the family they're bringing next week." And that's how it goes. One member of the family gets saved, then another.
Why are we so confident in that? Because of a rhema word that was spoken—a word to us at that moment: "You and your household shall be saved." That's the word I'm putting over this ministry. That's what we believe God said to us in those early days, and we have seen it coming to pass.
Let the expectations, let the desires grow in this place, church. Let's not just say we want to see people come to faith. Let's start praying it in. Let's start thanking God for those lost souls that are going to get saved every Sunday. Let's start moving out in faith again.
We used to have baptisms every single month. Salvations every single week. There was a lot of traffic in, a lot of traffic out. It was a messy time. We need that here in Birmingham. We cannot just go on being a nice happy church. I love this church. I think it's amazing and great. But I cannot be satisfied and I cannot be content. Neither should you.
We want more. I'm not speaking to the people to get them to work more. I'm speaking to you, Lord, and I'm saying, "I need more. I want more. There are people out there that don't know you. And this place is a city of refuge. This place needs to be used. And we want to be a people that hear the call, step forward, put one foot in front of the other, and say, 'God, use us.'"
Let this place be a place that is full of the miraculous. Let it be an environment that is just ready for miracles. Let it be a place where blind eyes do open. Let it be a place where hearts are ripped open for the first time for the glory of God. Let us never be the same again.
I don't want to just keep drifting through life. I want more. I need more. I can't settle. Why? Because there are too many lost people and they need you.
We need that same hunger, that same desire, that same fire that has burned in us before. And we need it to burn again, but burn brighter and burn more.
If any of us don't cry for the lost, if any of us don't weep for lost souls, ask God to break your heart. Ask God, "Break my heart, Lord, for what breaks yours."
It's at that moment. It's at that moment when we go from individuals with broken hearts for the lost to a congregation brokenhearted for the lost. It's at that moment that this environment changes into something different. It's at that moment that the doors fly wide open and the people come in—not because of us, but because of the great I AM. Because he stepped in and he took the driving place.
Every great move of God, any great work of God, has always required a praying people—hearts that are just crying, "Lord, we're desperate for the lost."
Remember Scotland. One man said, "Give me Scotland else I die." Rachel said, "Give me children else I die." Our prayer has been, "Give us souls else we die. Let's not lose that, church. Let's never lose it. Let's get hungrier and hungrier again for souls. Let's never forget.
It's not a new beginning. It's just reawakening what is already within us. It's already within us.
Maybe you're part of this church and you've never experienced the mess that I'm speaking about. You've never experienced baptisms every month and people just coming to the Lord. Maybe you grew up in a family church, you know the pastor—he marries one, he buries one—a family member comes and visits every Christmas, but it's the same 30, 40, 50 people. Nothing wrong with that. There's a place for those churches. But maybe that's not your experience.
We're a church on a mission. We rescue the lost. We drag people that are drowning in the ocean and pull them on our boat. That's who we are. That's the DNA of our church. And that's who we need to be.
And that will require all of us going to prayer—not just prayer night, although that would be very helpful. But it requires our hearts going, "God, I can't settle. I want more. I need more." And it's not for you. It's for them. They need us to fight for them.
If I walk into his gates with thanks and praise, he inhabits those moments. God loves to enter into a place where his name is lifted high, where he's welcomed, where we just say, "Do what you want to do, Lord. This is a house of prayer and worship."
Back to basics. Why? Because we're not going to as LBC Birmingham just cheer on everyone else and be satisfied. We're going to lead the way. That's who we are. We're the church that leads the way in LBC. We're the church that sets the spiritual temperature. We're the church that is going to be an example.
Not because we're in competition, but because the vision is fire inside of us. Our desire to see people saved is going to be second to none.
Lord, we love you so much.
