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It is good to be together as always. 2026 — the years fly by. I was speaking earlier to a guy at the back and he gave me this little picture of life being like a journey from Warsaw to London.
We're all going on that same journey. We've all got the same end of the journey. We live, we're born, and then we die. But from Warsaw to London, some of us will go one way, and some of us will go another. Some will start off on the M5 or the M6. Someone said, "I don't go on the motorway. I'm just going the back roads." But ultimately, we're all going to the same place. Every single one of us in this room will one day breathe our last.
On this journey, some will get there quicker than others. Some will go through certain seasons. Down south the weather's a little better. Up north it's colder and windier — and you want to live up north in the winter when it's snowy, but in the summer you wish you were down south for the beach. Life is like that. It's full of differences. It's full of different paths you can take.
But one thing I believe is for all of us: we're all spiritual people. We were born with a kind of spiritual magnet. There's a void, a gap in every single one of us, and it can only be filled by the one we call Christ.
"He has put eternity in their hearts." — Ecclesiastes 3:11
As we go into the New Testament, we hear the teachings of Christ, and eternity is true. There are two roads — one that leads to Christ and one that leads away. Heaven and hell. Eternity is real.
That's why you hear stories of people saying, "I was just walking past and I was drawn in," or, "I've always believed in God." And I always say at that point: that's great that you believe in God, but don't forget the devil believes in God too.
James says the devil believes and shudders. Belief is a good thing to have. You must have more faith not to believe there's a God — just look around at creation.
Many different religions point in different directions. But Christ says something unique:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." — Jesus
Other religions might say there are many ways. Islam would say there's only one. Christianity says there's only one. But don't be mistaken — when they say there's only one way and we say there's only one way, we're talking about a different God. Jesus is the key in all of this.
God has put eternity in man's heart. So there is a drawing in men and women that says, "There's something missing in my life." What I want to zone in on today is this hunger — that the church would become hungry for God. Every great revival has always started with hungry believers.
Today Aston Villa will play Newcastle at 2:00. At least 3,000 Villa fans will travel from Birmingham to Newcastle. We will get up in the morning. We will be passionate. We might not have slept properly because we'll be thinking, "We've got football in the morning. We're going to get another three points. We're going to get in the Champions League."
We're going to wake up early, get on our coach, our train, our car — do whatever we've got to do. We'll build everything else in life around that day. Helen says, "Aaron, we've got a family meal." "No, sweetheart. I'm traveling to Newcastle." We put everything else on hold.
We've got such passion and hunger for our football team that we'll travel five hours and get stuck with 3,000 people trying to get out of St James's Park. But how many people in this country travel three or five hours to get to church?
Fifty-five thousand Newcastle fans will storm into St James's Park with the same passion, the same desire. They eat football, sleep football, drink football, love football. It's become like a god to them.
Church, when you see the difference between how we are with our sports teams — or our other passions — and then our hunger toward God, there's a big difference.
Our LBC football team got beat up again last week. Does Joe lose heart? No — he goes the next week and plays again. Why? He's got a passion for football.
It's the same with fans. Our team can lose. We travel five hours, spend our money, cancel our duties, turn up, watch Villa put in a pathetic performance, lose 3-0, get gutted, travel back five and a half hours in the rain and traffic — and then we'll do the same thing next week. But when God doesn't turn up for you in the first week, you disappear.
We lose heart in situations many times. When we lose heart with God, we do one. It's like we play "knock door run." That's what some of our prayer lives look like — we knock the door and run before the door gets opened.
We're not called to a knock-door-run prayer life. There is something about persistence.
This is why Paul spoke of Epaphras in Colossians 4:
"He is always praying diligently for you. He's got these fervent prayers."
Paul acknowledges that prayer at times is difficult. It requires persistence. It requires a hunger within. The Christian faith is the same. Warsaw to London — it's going to require persistence and, at times, hard work. We'll go through seasons that aren't good and seasons that are great. But it requires effort.
We will put time and effort into the things we love. I remember being an avid Villa fan. I'd go home, go away, sing songs with Kyle on my shoulders, jumping up and down about "One Paul McGrath," treating those footballers like that was church. I was passionate. If they lost, it affected my week. Everything was centered around it.
Football might not be your thing. But there are other passions you run after and don't lose heart so quickly with. If it doesn't go the way you want, you don't pack your suitcase and say, "I'm out." You persevere. You keep going.
There needs to become a hunger within us — as a church and as individuals. You have to fight for that, because at times the hunger wants to lose heart and disappear. You might be going the long way round. You might be at a standstill in the rain, miles from your destination. But you've got to keep going.
There is something spiritual in each of us. We were born with eternity in our hearts. That's why a great percentage of the world is drawn to religion. But being drawn to religion doesn't save a man or a woman. What saves is Jesus. He's the only one that saves.
"My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water." — Psalm 63:1
"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." — Psalm 42
There is something inside every one of us that says God is real. He's got to be. We can fight it all we want. But when we accept it, acknowledge it, and go from believing to following — that's when we must get hungry for the things of God.
Don't just be happy with, "I'm part of a Christian fellowship, I do good things, I go to church every so often." There is so much more than that for you.
It's not a case of banging the drum, "Come on guys, go to church." It's that there is so much more. You will be living in the fumes rather than deep in the petrol. You can be in the river drenched, or you can just dabble your toes.
In early church Christianity, there is no dabbling of toes. When I read the book of Acts, Christ was their life. They gave their life to him. We live in a different era, a different context. But the principle and what God calls of his people is still the same — we live for Christ.
Why do I mention football? Because if you're a sports fan — or think of a parallel that is a great desire and passion for you — place that parallel alongside God. Look at them both and ask:
"Do I give God the same hunger and passion that I give that?"
If you don't, something needs to be adjusted. Only you can do that. No one else can do it for you.
And if you say, "I'd say I'm pretty good, pretty much both" — let me put it in perspective: the hobby, the passion, the sports team, whatever it is, is not going to save you. On the day of judgment, when you stand before the living God, it won't be your football team. It won't be your hobby. It will be you and Jesus.
He already knows. It's not a case of scales where the good and bad outweigh each other. If it was, none of us would be going to heaven. It is the grace of God that covers. But when grace is truly accepted, truly desired — when you say, "I choose the grace of God. I choose to follow you" — things start looking different. When the Holy Spirit makes his home inside of you, things change.
The Bible gives us a clear picture:
And now that Spirit within us, connected with the eternity in our hearts that we were already born with — there's a hunger bubbling.
But the world will try to distract you. The enemy will try to distract you. What distracts you from following up on the thing God is calling? Why live at the minimum of what God has for you? Why not live at the maximum? Amen.
You will not find the maximum if all your passion is in your hobby or in something else. You only find the maximum of God when you say, "God, I hunger, and I run after you."
That doesn't mean, "Okay, now I've got a boring life. I can't have a hobby." You can still travel five hours to watch Villa. But take Jesus with you. And don't forget Jesus on the other days.
We kid ourselves at times. We say, "Jesus knows my heart." Let me tell you — the Bible says you judge a tree by its fruit. Jesus knows your heart, yes. But your fruit is speaking what your heart is saying. The problem is, we probably don't even know our own heart.
The Bible says the heart is the most deceitful of all things. So don't rely on your heart. When people say, "Just follow your heart" — no. Follow scripture. The Bible doesn't tell us to compare ourselves to one another. It says compare yourself to scripture.
Jesus is central. There's a desire in each of us from birth. When we make that decision to follow Christ, we now are Christians — followers of the Way, followers of Jesus. But that hunger — you have to feed it. You have to add fuel to it.
Great revivals have started from two or three people just hungry for Jesus, gathering together, praying that God would touch their land and their community. It doesn't need all of us. I hope all of us get on board, but the truth is, it doesn't need all of us.
It just needs one or two to stand up and say, "I'm hungering for God. That other side of my life is not my first love."
We think of losing our first love as some big thing — "I've turned away from God. I've run away. I've left church." That is losing your first love, but it's not the only way.
When Jesus spoke to the churches in Revelation, he said, "This is good in you, and this is good, but this I hold against you." These people were gathered in a church building. To Laodicea he said, "You're neither hot nor cold. I'm about to spew you out of my mouth." To the loveless church he said, "You have lost your first love."
If losing your first love was always dramatic, your Christian friends would notice — "Something's going on. We need to pray for this brother." But the enemy is subtle. Sometimes it is a complete turn away. But other times he draws you out little by little, until people around you don't see it coming until it's too late.
Like a current in the water — you drift. That's what sin is; it means to miss the mark. You're just so slightly off. But a year down the line, week after week, you're all the way over here. You're so far away from God.
That church in Revelation had services. They gathered. They did good things. The outward appearance looked good. They thought they were rich, but they were poor. They thought they were clothed, but they were naked. God said, "Enough is enough. You've lost your first love. Come back."
Some of us may have drifted too far into our passions and hobbies, but we haven't acknowledged it. Every so often we come back to the slot machine like, "Okay, I need God now." If we openly said, "I reject God for six months of the year, but oh, I need you now," we'd give our heads a wobble because we'd know it was wrong. But it happens to us subtly. I can say from experience — I've been that person.
A sermon to encourage, to bless, to teach, to equip the saints — all those are needed. But so is a challenge. And the challenge always comes back to you. It's not about a speaker challenging you. It's about you challenging you.
Ask yourself: "Has my passion taken me too far off? Have I put God to the side?"
Inside of us, eternity has been placed in every heart. And now that the Holy Spirit has made his home in us, those two together must bubble.
In Acts 17, Paul stood at the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I can see you're religious people." They had altars to every god they could think of, because they didn't want to miss. Right in the middle was one to "An Unknown God." Paul said, "That's my way in to tell them the gospel."
"And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." — Acts 17:26–27
God desires and hopes that you seek after him. His will is that no one should perish. We know that many have rejected him and walked away. But we can make a difference for those still breathing today. And we can make a difference in our own personal lives.
Remember the woman who bled for 12 years — she just grabbed the hem of Jesus's garment and was healed. She knew who to touch.
When the blind man heard a commotion and was told, "It's Jesus," he cried out, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" People said, "Shut up." He said, "No." Jesus asked, "What can I do for you?" He said, "Touch me. Make me see." They knew where to go.
You knew where to go. You've been drawn to God. Every one of you who calls yourself a follower of Jesus knew why eternity was in your heart. There came a time when that eternity came to the forefront and you said, "There's got to be a God."
Paul said God is not far from you. Some think of God as distant, but Jesus is Emmanuel — God with us. The Holy Spirit makes his home inside of us. This is a personal God. This is a relationship. This is the only one who can truly say that he is love.
How can any other god be love? Our God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — in the beginning, the three were loving on one another. If there was just God the Father alone, how could he be love? He'd have no one to love. But that's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's the God we follow.
The Trinity can be difficult. Some come up with great illustrations. I tried one in the early days — I said the Trinity was like a Mach 3 razor: three blades, one shave. It doesn't do it. But if you could understand the whole of God, he's not a very big God.
Can I teach you the Trinity from the Bible? Yes. But you'll still go, "Well…" Someone will say, "1 plus 1 plus 1 makes three, not one." Yes — but that's because you're trying to think of God with your human brain.
Remember the picture of the cup: the cup represents your brain, and the Atlantic Ocean represents God. Put the cup in the Atlantic. You've got God in the cup. But you'll never get the whole Atlantic Ocean into that cup. You'll never fully grasp the greatness of God.
Anyone who claims they know everything is breaking one of God's commandments — "Thou shalt not lie." Not one of us knows everything. But I know enough to say this: Jesus is eternity. This Jesus saved me. The God of the Bible is the one I choose to follow.
That's why we were given the parable of the persistent widow.
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." — Jeremiah 29:13
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." — Matthew 5:6
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." — Matthew 6:33
Prayer can be very natural and easy — and prayer can be very difficult and alien. But distractions come to all of us.
If prayer was powerless, it would be easy to do. There'd be no resistance. It would become part of my hobbies. But prayer is not powerless. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like you and me. He prayed and God stopped the rain. He prayed again and God sent the rain. Why? Because prayer is powerful.
Why? Because they know prayer is crucial. We talk about the engine room. Is it difficult at times? Yes. Do you want to do it all the time? No. Villa is going up to Newcastle — I want to watch Villa right now. But God calls you to prayer in that hour. What do you do? Does your hobby take it? Or do you say, "I know the battle. I know what God gave for me"?
This kind of Christianity is not just for a few of us — it's for all of us. What God expects from one isn't necessarily what he expects from the next.
We're all individuals. We've all got our own walk. You can't say, "Aaron prays x amount of times a day. I've got to do that." That might not be your thing. But don't compare yourself to a man or a woman — compare yourself to scripture. Go to the book of Acts, see what the early church were like, and follow their lead.
Their life for Christ meant their life for Christ — even to death. We're not suffering that. You can be a Christian in this country without your life being taken or being thrown in prison. There might come a time when that happens. It wouldn't surprise me. But if you can't stand for Jesus now, if you allow distractions to take your time away so that you're drifting — how on earth will you stand when it really gets difficult?
We go to the gym to get physically strong. You don't go to the gym to watch the trainer lift the weights. Just like you don't come to church to watch me lift the spiritual weights, or to watch the worship team lift things in worship. You come to be a participant — to listen but also to give.
We don't go to the gym as perfect fit people. We get fit while we're there. In the same way, we don't come to church perfect and spiritually strong. We come flabby, all over the place spiritually — and we toughen up and move forward.
But the truth always comes back to this: only you can decide. No one can do it for you. Don't listen to a message today and say, "I was challenged," and then not do anything about it, because you'll just continue to drift. Don't just stop your drifting today. Make a decision: "I'm coming against the tide. I'm going back against it."
"Then he spoke a parable to them, that men ought always to pray and not lose heart." — Luke 18:1
Not lose heart. We lose heart so easily, so quickly. Jesus knows that. He's saying, "Look guys, don't lose heart. I know it's going to be difficult. But keep going."
"There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'"
This judge is unjust. He's not a good judge. But God is fair. This judge has no desire for this woman, but God does have a desire for you. This judge answers for selfish reasons; God answers because he wants to bless his people. The Bible says God works for the good of all those who love him.
This parable wasn't Jesus saying, "You've got to keep knocking so God will change his mind." It shows the opposite. God isn't like the unjust judge. God is fair. How much more, if an unjust judge would answer, will God answer his people?
"And shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?"
That final part — "When God comes, will he find faith on the earth?" We need him to find faith in us. When Jesus returns, will he find faith?
Lord, rend the heavens and come down. When you move by your Spirit, when you bring revival, when you come at the second coming — look on us and see that there is faith. That we can be part of the move. That you can trust us not to be all the way over here in our other passions, but over here with you first.
It's not that we can't do those other things. It's just that they don't control us. If we do certain things weekly, it's a habit — nothing wrong with that; it's part of your lifestyle. Just make sure the passion you have for that isn't more passionate than what you have for God.
On this journey from Warsaw to London, we'll have many different routes. But when we get there, we're going to hear one of two things:
"Come in, my good and faithful servant,"
or
"Depart from me, I do not know you."
That's between you and God. But on our journey there — the only way being through Christ — we want other people to hear those words too: "Come in, my good and faithful servant." And that bit is on us.
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There are so many people out there ready to hear. Our generation — we're responsible for our generation. We must tell them about Jesus. It's not on us to save them; Christ is the only one who saves. But it is on us to tell them. We are ambassadors of Jesus.
Spurgeon said, "Prayer can never be in excess." Let's be a praying church always. This hunger we speak of will go out if you don't add fuel to it. You have to. If you don't, you will drift, or you will plateau. You'll look over years of your life and say, "Just flat. Nothing happened."
Why have the minimal when you can have the maximum? Christ came that you may have life and have it in abundance — not that you just get through. We are forcefully advancing the kingdom of God.
God is real. Amen. Inside each one of us, eternity has been placed. There's a void until Christ fills it. We try to fill it with many things. But until our spiritual eyes are opened and we say, "Wow, I can see clearly" — there's a veil.
People may have religion. They may follow gods and idols. But if they don't know Christ as Lord and Savior — black and white, the truth is — they're lost. And Jesus came for the lost. "It's the sick that need the doctor. The healthy don't need one."
That's why church needs to be a hospital. It needs to be full of sick people. That's what we want — this place full of sick people. Spiritually sick. Their eyes just haven't been opened. That's not offensive — it's the wording Christ used. When their eyes are opened, there's such rejoicing:
Heaven rejoices. The church rejoices. That's our purpose here on earth — to lead as many people to Christ as possible.
If you've got a friend who always nags you, "Come to church, come to church" — it's not because they're a religious nut. It's not because they think they're holier than thou. It's because they've received the gospel. They know the truth. And they are desperate for their loved ones to know Jesus also. They know there's a final destination for every one of us.
That's why it's important that we as Christians add fuel to our fire — add fuel to that hunger. Because if we don't, our hunger goes down, we drift, and that has a knock-on effect for those who don't know Christ. It makes it harder for them.
When they come into church and the hunger isn't burning, isn't passionate — think back to when you first came to church. What got you? Many say, "It was the people. I looked at them and thought — well, they really believe. They were really passionate."
Why do many follow Donald Trump, or others who split a room 50/50? They speak real. There's charisma. It makes you want to follow. The enemy can do that too — understand that. But you're more likely to follow someone who really believes, someone you can see it oozing out of, than someone who makes you ask, "Do you even believe?"
So when the outside world comes in and sees us worshiping, what will they see? "Wow, they really believe" — or "Do they even believe?" Only you can ask that question. Only you can do something about it.
As we go into worship now, one of the things I challenge myself with is the fear of God. When we step into God's presence, just think for a moment: God is right there, and I am standing before him.
How do we worship? Do we just stand there, head down, half-hearted? No — if a king or queen came into the room, the ladies would curtsy. The lads would bow. And that's not even a little bit of what we give to God at times.
I don't want to tell you how to worship, but I do want to challenge you. Other religions bow down five times a day. You can freely bow the knee. No fear. You're not made to — it's a freedom. Some have to. You don't. Christians here on earth don't have to physically bow the knee to worship.
But wouldn't it be great if we were a church where — not because we were made to, but because we wanted to — half the church bowed the knee to Christ, just there worshiping? Ask yourself: do I take these moments for what they are — the realness, the genuineness of our faith?
As a football fan, I know how I celebrate when Villa score. Would I celebrate Jesus in the same way? You have to ask yourself these questions.
If there's anyone here today who doesn't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, and today you say, "I need to know this Jesus you speak about" — the Bible says:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Nobody came to God knowing everything. Nobody had it all together. But there was something that said, "I believe that Jesus is Lord." It started there.
The journey we go on is a marathon, not a sprint. But today, if there's anyone who says, "I've never given my life to Christ, but today I want to put my foot on the start line" — it's not about a one-time prayer, but there's always a starting point.
There's a word called repentance. Repentance means not just saying sorry, but "I'm going to turn. I was walking in that direction, but I'm going to turn into this direction."
If there's anyone here today who says, "I believe in Jesus and I repent" — while every head is bowed and every eye closed, would you just raise your hand? It's between you and God. It's not between anyone else.
Bless you, my brother. Hallelujah.
It is good to be together as always. 2026 — the years fly by. I was speaking earlier to a guy at the back and he gave me this little picture of life being like a journey from Warsaw to London.
We're all going on that same journey. We've all got the same end of the journey. We live, we're born, and then we die. But from Warsaw to London, some of us will go one way, and some of us will go another. Some will start off on the M5 or the M6. Someone said, "I don't go on the motorway. I'm just going the back roads." But ultimately, we're all going to the same place. Every single one of us in this room will one day breathe our last.
On this journey, some will get there quicker than others. Some will go through certain seasons. Down south the weather's a little better. Up north it's colder and windier — and you want to live up north in the winter when it's snowy, but in the summer you wish you were down south for the beach. Life is like that. It's full of differences. It's full of different paths you can take.
But one thing I believe is for all of us: we're all spiritual people. We were born with a kind of spiritual magnet. There's a void, a gap in every single one of us, and it can only be filled by the one we call Christ.
"He has put eternity in their hearts." — Ecclesiastes 3:11
As we go into the New Testament, we hear the teachings of Christ, and eternity is true. There are two roads — one that leads to Christ and one that leads away. Heaven and hell. Eternity is real.
That's why you hear stories of people saying, "I was just walking past and I was drawn in," or, "I've always believed in God." And I always say at that point: that's great that you believe in God, but don't forget the devil believes in God too.
James says the devil believes and shudders. Belief is a good thing to have. You must have more faith not to believe there's a God — just look around at creation.
Many different religions point in different directions. But Christ says something unique:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." — Jesus
Other religions might say there are many ways. Islam would say there's only one. Christianity says there's only one. But don't be mistaken — when they say there's only one way and we say there's only one way, we're talking about a different God. Jesus is the key in all of this.
God has put eternity in man's heart. So there is a drawing in men and women that says, "There's something missing in my life." What I want to zone in on today is this hunger — that the church would become hungry for God. Every great revival has always started with hungry believers.
Today Aston Villa will play Newcastle at 2:00. At least 3,000 Villa fans will travel from Birmingham to Newcastle. We will get up in the morning. We will be passionate. We might not have slept properly because we'll be thinking, "We've got football in the morning. We're going to get another three points. We're going to get in the Champions League."
We're going to wake up early, get on our coach, our train, our car — do whatever we've got to do. We'll build everything else in life around that day. Helen says, "Aaron, we've got a family meal." "No, sweetheart. I'm traveling to Newcastle." We put everything else on hold.
We've got such passion and hunger for our football team that we'll travel five hours and get stuck with 3,000 people trying to get out of St James's Park. But how many people in this country travel three or five hours to get to church?
Fifty-five thousand Newcastle fans will storm into St James's Park with the same passion, the same desire. They eat football, sleep football, drink football, love football. It's become like a god to them.
Church, when you see the difference between how we are with our sports teams — or our other passions — and then our hunger toward God, there's a big difference.
Our LBC football team got beat up again last week. Does Joe lose heart? No — he goes the next week and plays again. Why? He's got a passion for football.
It's the same with fans. Our team can lose. We travel five hours, spend our money, cancel our duties, turn up, watch Villa put in a pathetic performance, lose 3-0, get gutted, travel back five and a half hours in the rain and traffic — and then we'll do the same thing next week. But when God doesn't turn up for you in the first week, you disappear.
We lose heart in situations many times. When we lose heart with God, we do one. It's like we play "knock door run." That's what some of our prayer lives look like — we knock the door and run before the door gets opened.
We're not called to a knock-door-run prayer life. There is something about persistence.
This is why Paul spoke of Epaphras in Colossians 4:
"He is always praying diligently for you. He's got these fervent prayers."
Paul acknowledges that prayer at times is difficult. It requires persistence. It requires a hunger within. The Christian faith is the same. Warsaw to London — it's going to require persistence and, at times, hard work. We'll go through seasons that aren't good and seasons that are great. But it requires effort.
We will put time and effort into the things we love. I remember being an avid Villa fan. I'd go home, go away, sing songs with Kyle on my shoulders, jumping up and down about "One Paul McGrath," treating those footballers like that was church. I was passionate. If they lost, it affected my week. Everything was centered around it.
Football might not be your thing. But there are other passions you run after and don't lose heart so quickly with. If it doesn't go the way you want, you don't pack your suitcase and say, "I'm out." You persevere. You keep going.
There needs to become a hunger within us — as a church and as individuals. You have to fight for that, because at times the hunger wants to lose heart and disappear. You might be going the long way round. You might be at a standstill in the rain, miles from your destination. But you've got to keep going.
There is something spiritual in each of us. We were born with eternity in our hearts. That's why a great percentage of the world is drawn to religion. But being drawn to religion doesn't save a man or a woman. What saves is Jesus. He's the only one that saves.
"My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water." — Psalm 63:1
"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." — Psalm 42
There is something inside every one of us that says God is real. He's got to be. We can fight it all we want. But when we accept it, acknowledge it, and go from believing to following — that's when we must get hungry for the things of God.
Don't just be happy with, "I'm part of a Christian fellowship, I do good things, I go to church every so often." There is so much more than that for you.
It's not a case of banging the drum, "Come on guys, go to church." It's that there is so much more. You will be living in the fumes rather than deep in the petrol. You can be in the river drenched, or you can just dabble your toes.
In early church Christianity, there is no dabbling of toes. When I read the book of Acts, Christ was their life. They gave their life to him. We live in a different era, a different context. But the principle and what God calls of his people is still the same — we live for Christ.
Why do I mention football? Because if you're a sports fan — or think of a parallel that is a great desire and passion for you — place that parallel alongside God. Look at them both and ask:
"Do I give God the same hunger and passion that I give that?"
If you don't, something needs to be adjusted. Only you can do that. No one else can do it for you.
And if you say, "I'd say I'm pretty good, pretty much both" — let me put it in perspective: the hobby, the passion, the sports team, whatever it is, is not going to save you. On the day of judgment, when you stand before the living God, it won't be your football team. It won't be your hobby. It will be you and Jesus.
He already knows. It's not a case of scales where the good and bad outweigh each other. If it was, none of us would be going to heaven. It is the grace of God that covers. But when grace is truly accepted, truly desired — when you say, "I choose the grace of God. I choose to follow you" — things start looking different. When the Holy Spirit makes his home inside of you, things change.
The Bible gives us a clear picture:
And now that Spirit within us, connected with the eternity in our hearts that we were already born with — there's a hunger bubbling.
But the world will try to distract you. The enemy will try to distract you. What distracts you from following up on the thing God is calling? Why live at the minimum of what God has for you? Why not live at the maximum? Amen.
You will not find the maximum if all your passion is in your hobby or in something else. You only find the maximum of God when you say, "God, I hunger, and I run after you."
That doesn't mean, "Okay, now I've got a boring life. I can't have a hobby." You can still travel five hours to watch Villa. But take Jesus with you. And don't forget Jesus on the other days.
We kid ourselves at times. We say, "Jesus knows my heart." Let me tell you — the Bible says you judge a tree by its fruit. Jesus knows your heart, yes. But your fruit is speaking what your heart is saying. The problem is, we probably don't even know our own heart.
The Bible says the heart is the most deceitful of all things. So don't rely on your heart. When people say, "Just follow your heart" — no. Follow scripture. The Bible doesn't tell us to compare ourselves to one another. It says compare yourself to scripture.
Jesus is central. There's a desire in each of us from birth. When we make that decision to follow Christ, we now are Christians — followers of the Way, followers of Jesus. But that hunger — you have to feed it. You have to add fuel to it.
Great revivals have started from two or three people just hungry for Jesus, gathering together, praying that God would touch their land and their community. It doesn't need all of us. I hope all of us get on board, but the truth is, it doesn't need all of us.
It just needs one or two to stand up and say, "I'm hungering for God. That other side of my life is not my first love."
We think of losing our first love as some big thing — "I've turned away from God. I've run away. I've left church." That is losing your first love, but it's not the only way.
When Jesus spoke to the churches in Revelation, he said, "This is good in you, and this is good, but this I hold against you." These people were gathered in a church building. To Laodicea he said, "You're neither hot nor cold. I'm about to spew you out of my mouth." To the loveless church he said, "You have lost your first love."
If losing your first love was always dramatic, your Christian friends would notice — "Something's going on. We need to pray for this brother." But the enemy is subtle. Sometimes it is a complete turn away. But other times he draws you out little by little, until people around you don't see it coming until it's too late.
Like a current in the water — you drift. That's what sin is; it means to miss the mark. You're just so slightly off. But a year down the line, week after week, you're all the way over here. You're so far away from God.
That church in Revelation had services. They gathered. They did good things. The outward appearance looked good. They thought they were rich, but they were poor. They thought they were clothed, but they were naked. God said, "Enough is enough. You've lost your first love. Come back."
Some of us may have drifted too far into our passions and hobbies, but we haven't acknowledged it. Every so often we come back to the slot machine like, "Okay, I need God now." If we openly said, "I reject God for six months of the year, but oh, I need you now," we'd give our heads a wobble because we'd know it was wrong. But it happens to us subtly. I can say from experience — I've been that person.
A sermon to encourage, to bless, to teach, to equip the saints — all those are needed. But so is a challenge. And the challenge always comes back to you. It's not about a speaker challenging you. It's about you challenging you.
Ask yourself: "Has my passion taken me too far off? Have I put God to the side?"
Inside of us, eternity has been placed in every heart. And now that the Holy Spirit has made his home in us, those two together must bubble.
In Acts 17, Paul stood at the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I can see you're religious people." They had altars to every god they could think of, because they didn't want to miss. Right in the middle was one to "An Unknown God." Paul said, "That's my way in to tell them the gospel."
"And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." — Acts 17:26–27
God desires and hopes that you seek after him. His will is that no one should perish. We know that many have rejected him and walked away. But we can make a difference for those still breathing today. And we can make a difference in our own personal lives.
Remember the woman who bled for 12 years — she just grabbed the hem of Jesus's garment and was healed. She knew who to touch.
When the blind man heard a commotion and was told, "It's Jesus," he cried out, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" People said, "Shut up." He said, "No." Jesus asked, "What can I do for you?" He said, "Touch me. Make me see." They knew where to go.
You knew where to go. You've been drawn to God. Every one of you who calls yourself a follower of Jesus knew why eternity was in your heart. There came a time when that eternity came to the forefront and you said, "There's got to be a God."
Paul said God is not far from you. Some think of God as distant, but Jesus is Emmanuel — God with us. The Holy Spirit makes his home inside of us. This is a personal God. This is a relationship. This is the only one who can truly say that he is love.
How can any other god be love? Our God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — in the beginning, the three were loving on one another. If there was just God the Father alone, how could he be love? He'd have no one to love. But that's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's the God we follow.
The Trinity can be difficult. Some come up with great illustrations. I tried one in the early days — I said the Trinity was like a Mach 3 razor: three blades, one shave. It doesn't do it. But if you could understand the whole of God, he's not a very big God.
Can I teach you the Trinity from the Bible? Yes. But you'll still go, "Well…" Someone will say, "1 plus 1 plus 1 makes three, not one." Yes — but that's because you're trying to think of God with your human brain.
Remember the picture of the cup: the cup represents your brain, and the Atlantic Ocean represents God. Put the cup in the Atlantic. You've got God in the cup. But you'll never get the whole Atlantic Ocean into that cup. You'll never fully grasp the greatness of God.
Anyone who claims they know everything is breaking one of God's commandments — "Thou shalt not lie." Not one of us knows everything. But I know enough to say this: Jesus is eternity. This Jesus saved me. The God of the Bible is the one I choose to follow.
That's why we were given the parable of the persistent widow.
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." — Jeremiah 29:13
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." — Matthew 5:6
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." — Matthew 6:33
Prayer can be very natural and easy — and prayer can be very difficult and alien. But distractions come to all of us.
If prayer was powerless, it would be easy to do. There'd be no resistance. It would become part of my hobbies. But prayer is not powerless. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like you and me. He prayed and God stopped the rain. He prayed again and God sent the rain. Why? Because prayer is powerful.
Why? Because they know prayer is crucial. We talk about the engine room. Is it difficult at times? Yes. Do you want to do it all the time? No. Villa is going up to Newcastle — I want to watch Villa right now. But God calls you to prayer in that hour. What do you do? Does your hobby take it? Or do you say, "I know the battle. I know what God gave for me"?
This kind of Christianity is not just for a few of us — it's for all of us. What God expects from one isn't necessarily what he expects from the next.
We're all individuals. We've all got our own walk. You can't say, "Aaron prays x amount of times a day. I've got to do that." That might not be your thing. But don't compare yourself to a man or a woman — compare yourself to scripture. Go to the book of Acts, see what the early church were like, and follow their lead.
Their life for Christ meant their life for Christ — even to death. We're not suffering that. You can be a Christian in this country without your life being taken or being thrown in prison. There might come a time when that happens. It wouldn't surprise me. But if you can't stand for Jesus now, if you allow distractions to take your time away so that you're drifting — how on earth will you stand when it really gets difficult?
We go to the gym to get physically strong. You don't go to the gym to watch the trainer lift the weights. Just like you don't come to church to watch me lift the spiritual weights, or to watch the worship team lift things in worship. You come to be a participant — to listen but also to give.
We don't go to the gym as perfect fit people. We get fit while we're there. In the same way, we don't come to church perfect and spiritually strong. We come flabby, all over the place spiritually — and we toughen up and move forward.
But the truth always comes back to this: only you can decide. No one can do it for you. Don't listen to a message today and say, "I was challenged," and then not do anything about it, because you'll just continue to drift. Don't just stop your drifting today. Make a decision: "I'm coming against the tide. I'm going back against it."
"Then he spoke a parable to them, that men ought always to pray and not lose heart." — Luke 18:1
Not lose heart. We lose heart so easily, so quickly. Jesus knows that. He's saying, "Look guys, don't lose heart. I know it's going to be difficult. But keep going."
"There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'"
This judge is unjust. He's not a good judge. But God is fair. This judge has no desire for this woman, but God does have a desire for you. This judge answers for selfish reasons; God answers because he wants to bless his people. The Bible says God works for the good of all those who love him.
This parable wasn't Jesus saying, "You've got to keep knocking so God will change his mind." It shows the opposite. God isn't like the unjust judge. God is fair. How much more, if an unjust judge would answer, will God answer his people?
"And shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?"
That final part — "When God comes, will he find faith on the earth?" We need him to find faith in us. When Jesus returns, will he find faith?
Lord, rend the heavens and come down. When you move by your Spirit, when you bring revival, when you come at the second coming — look on us and see that there is faith. That we can be part of the move. That you can trust us not to be all the way over here in our other passions, but over here with you first.
It's not that we can't do those other things. It's just that they don't control us. If we do certain things weekly, it's a habit — nothing wrong with that; it's part of your lifestyle. Just make sure the passion you have for that isn't more passionate than what you have for God.
On this journey from Warsaw to London, we'll have many different routes. But when we get there, we're going to hear one of two things:
"Come in, my good and faithful servant,"
or
"Depart from me, I do not know you."
That's between you and God. But on our journey there — the only way being through Christ — we want other people to hear those words too: "Come in, my good and faithful servant." And that bit is on us.
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There are so many people out there ready to hear. Our generation — we're responsible for our generation. We must tell them about Jesus. It's not on us to save them; Christ is the only one who saves. But it is on us to tell them. We are ambassadors of Jesus.
Spurgeon said, "Prayer can never be in excess." Let's be a praying church always. This hunger we speak of will go out if you don't add fuel to it. You have to. If you don't, you will drift, or you will plateau. You'll look over years of your life and say, "Just flat. Nothing happened."
Why have the minimal when you can have the maximum? Christ came that you may have life and have it in abundance — not that you just get through. We are forcefully advancing the kingdom of God.
God is real. Amen. Inside each one of us, eternity has been placed. There's a void until Christ fills it. We try to fill it with many things. But until our spiritual eyes are opened and we say, "Wow, I can see clearly" — there's a veil.
People may have religion. They may follow gods and idols. But if they don't know Christ as Lord and Savior — black and white, the truth is — they're lost. And Jesus came for the lost. "It's the sick that need the doctor. The healthy don't need one."
That's why church needs to be a hospital. It needs to be full of sick people. That's what we want — this place full of sick people. Spiritually sick. Their eyes just haven't been opened. That's not offensive — it's the wording Christ used. When their eyes are opened, there's such rejoicing:
Heaven rejoices. The church rejoices. That's our purpose here on earth — to lead as many people to Christ as possible.
If you've got a friend who always nags you, "Come to church, come to church" — it's not because they're a religious nut. It's not because they think they're holier than thou. It's because they've received the gospel. They know the truth. And they are desperate for their loved ones to know Jesus also. They know there's a final destination for every one of us.
That's why it's important that we as Christians add fuel to our fire — add fuel to that hunger. Because if we don't, our hunger goes down, we drift, and that has a knock-on effect for those who don't know Christ. It makes it harder for them.
When they come into church and the hunger isn't burning, isn't passionate — think back to when you first came to church. What got you? Many say, "It was the people. I looked at them and thought — well, they really believe. They were really passionate."
Why do many follow Donald Trump, or others who split a room 50/50? They speak real. There's charisma. It makes you want to follow. The enemy can do that too — understand that. But you're more likely to follow someone who really believes, someone you can see it oozing out of, than someone who makes you ask, "Do you even believe?"
So when the outside world comes in and sees us worshiping, what will they see? "Wow, they really believe" — or "Do they even believe?" Only you can ask that question. Only you can do something about it.
As we go into worship now, one of the things I challenge myself with is the fear of God. When we step into God's presence, just think for a moment: God is right there, and I am standing before him.
How do we worship? Do we just stand there, head down, half-hearted? No — if a king or queen came into the room, the ladies would curtsy. The lads would bow. And that's not even a little bit of what we give to God at times.
I don't want to tell you how to worship, but I do want to challenge you. Other religions bow down five times a day. You can freely bow the knee. No fear. You're not made to — it's a freedom. Some have to. You don't. Christians here on earth don't have to physically bow the knee to worship.
But wouldn't it be great if we were a church where — not because we were made to, but because we wanted to — half the church bowed the knee to Christ, just there worshiping? Ask yourself: do I take these moments for what they are — the realness, the genuineness of our faith?
As a football fan, I know how I celebrate when Villa score. Would I celebrate Jesus in the same way? You have to ask yourself these questions.
If there's anyone here today who doesn't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, and today you say, "I need to know this Jesus you speak about" — the Bible says:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Nobody came to God knowing everything. Nobody had it all together. But there was something that said, "I believe that Jesus is Lord." It started there.
The journey we go on is a marathon, not a sprint. But today, if there's anyone who says, "I've never given my life to Christ, but today I want to put my foot on the start line" — it's not about a one-time prayer, but there's always a starting point.
There's a word called repentance. Repentance means not just saying sorry, but "I'm going to turn. I was walking in that direction, but I'm going to turn into this direction."
If there's anyone here today who says, "I believe in Jesus and I repent" — while every head is bowed and every eye closed, would you just raise your hand? It's between you and God. It's not between anyone else.
Bless you, my brother. Hallelujah.
