Live Your Purpose: Take Bold Steps of Faith | Neil Smith | July19, 2026

0:00 I'm so glad you're joining me today. I'm speaking a message from 2 Kings chapter 7 about four lepers, insignificant people that God uses because they take a step of faith. We are called to be people that take great and bold steps. We got a purpose and you got to live within that purpose. So, I hope you enjoy today's message as you're encouraged, inspired to be all who God called you to be. Enjoy watching this today. >> [music] >> Great to be with you. And uh for the next little bit, you're going to have to put up with an Australian accent. Uh great to be with you. And for Pastor

0:46 Peter and Diana, I want to thank you for the invitation to be with you and be with you all. and I've heard so much over the years, met many people from CCF, but it's a great privilege to be with you today. I just want to uh show you my family. My wife couldn't come with me on this trip. She was in Europe with me for 3 weeks. We just got home and I came. But this is my my one wife. Uh I only have one, which is a good thing. And uh 36 years. I know what you're all thinking. I must have got married when I was 5 years of age. So, uh, but actually, uh, Leon is her name. And, uh, and then the next photo is of my one daughter. And yes, that's real hair that isn't coloring. And, uh, she

1:32 works in our ministry and she is single, but if there's any men that are interested, the dowry is large. Uh, so please uh, uh, she's there. And then my next photo is of my other two children. One is my daughter-in-law, Tiana, and she's Romanian. And my son, Ryan, who some of you have met. He came here uh last year. And then my pride and joy is the legacy that is to come. The last photo is of baby Theo James who is just 6 months old. And uh any grandparents here? Lift your hand if you're a grandparent. How good is grandparenting? All care, no responsibility.

2:20 You can put sugar in those children and hand them back. You can It feels like it's uh giving back to what you know those children gave to you over the years. Not I'm joking, of course, but uh it's fantastic to uh be in that phase of our lives. you know, uh uh it's great to have also I just wanted to uh uh to point out there's actually a couple from our church back home, Planet Shakers Church and uh here they are uh Ross and Melinda and they've also got a whole heap of there's a foundation here in your country and I believe that your church is even a part of supporting at the Ruan Foundation and they've brought 36 kids. Uh Ross and Melinda have actually paid for them to go to the Planet Shakers concert last night, have

3:05 accommodation, and now come to church at CCF. Give them a great hand. It's great to have you uh with us. You know, I want to stir you today. Uh unfortunately, I have one style, and that is to challenge you to become all that we're purposed to be. We live in the church world and if we're not careful, we can tick the box of attending church. But remember, we're more than just Christians. We are believers. And in this month of mission, it's important whether you're watching on a satellite locally or you're a satellite church internationally or you're um today watching online, every person needs to understand that we have to be people that live with purpose. We

3:52 got to go beyond where we've ever been before. And today I want to talk to you about the thought of taking bold steps. For each and every one of us in every part of our lives, we live with the the option of fear or faith. But the trading tool of us as believers is actually faith. Faith is being sure of what we do not see, but we're believing for and we know God's going to come through. Cities like Manila need Jesus. We need to understand that as we lift him up and we we we we lift up the name of Jesus, all men will know and come into a knowledge of who Jesus is. So with that in mind, I'm a big believer and and in 2015, I

4:38 was flying home from England and I was with a friend and we were talking specifically about God has been so good to us. And it's important that with privilege comes responsibility. And we were we had great privilege of preaching at at churches all over the world at our band, being involved in things, conferences, and and we'd primarily been to the Western world. So they'd paid for most things. We felt like we need to give back. The Bible says in the book of Matthew that freely you have received so freely you should give. And I started to think on that thought. At the same time I was reading in Psalm about nations and how ask of me and I will give the nations.

5:28 And so put those two thoughts together and I we talked and we said why don't we start giving to a developing nation and asked for nothing. Why don't we freely go in and say we're here to serve. What can we do? So I got four business people together and we sat in a hotel for two days. I didn't get pastors together. Sorry for all the pastors in the room but if I got pastors together they would have all said where can I preach? Which stage can I be on? and I I wanted to impact a nation beyond just preaching. So we sat in this room and we came up with the thought of why don't we write to the prime minister of the country and see whether we can take a team to talk about how we can serve your nation. See

6:13 bold steps often have crazy thoughts but the truth is that when Jesus is on our side we can dare to believe for things that others can't. So we wrote to the prime minister Peter O'Neal of Papa Newu Guinea and he wrote back to our amazement. He actually said to us come and we went on this particular day. Now if you know anything about developing nations they have this thing called vote of no confidence. It happens sort of every few months and the day we arrived happened to be a vote of no confidence in parliament. we got a note to say that we can't see the prime minister and I was in a good Christian way upset. Uh I was like WE'VE JUST BROUGHT ALL THESE PEOPLE TO THE COUNTRY and now we we're not even able to come and talk to you know the

7:00 the prime minister. So I got a call from his chief of staff. They said look you're going to meet the finance minister. And the finance minister I looked into it was maybe fifth or sixth in line. And I'm thinking to myself, I wanted to see the decision maker. And who knows that when you're working and when you're standing on behalf of the Lord, things don't always go according to our plans. So I decided to meet this man. We go into this hotel room and the man arrives and he looks at me and he says, "You've got 15 minutes, sir. Tell me what you want." And I'm thinking my Christian persona is, "Oh, thank you very much for your time." My internal persona is, "You rude man. and I don't even want to meet with you, but I had to. So, I I I calm

7:45 myself. We begin to talk. An hour and 45 minutes later, this man and I made a strong relationship. For the next six years, we actually would catch up every few months and we started to do things in Papa Newu Guinea that had never been done before. And so I get a call one day and this man in 2019 had this strange occurrence in parliament where things shifted suddenly and he was asked to become the prime minister of the country. In that time before the four years I'd built relationship. Now he becomes the prime minister of the country. We invite him to an event. We can put up that first photo. And there we are standing on stage at the national stadium just a couple of

8:31 years ago. And I love the fact that dignitaries like my friend, the prime minister of Papa Newu Guinea, James, can wear flip-flops to a big event like that. I I love that. And I had a t-shirt on, so he had his flip-flops on. And that night, we actually stood at the stadium and we began to pray for the nation. You see, I didn't meet the prime minister in my time, but I responded to what God had said to me, and therefore, I was able to to to meet him in God's time. He knew he was going to be the prime minister. He knew he'd help us, but we needed that time of relationship. Here we are. Sorry, that was a youth night. As you can see, they're not torn jeans. They're they're trendy jeans. But

9:18 I was praying for the prime minister and we had our team praying for the prime minister on stage in front of the nation and what God has begun. I want to show you just a short video to help you understand. When you take bold steps, watch what God can do. Can we roll that video? In 2015, God spoke to us about playing a part in discipling [music] the nation of Papa Newu Guinea. He gave us a word, believe. And with that word, we walked into a [music] country we had never been to before. But as God went before us, doors flung wide open in every sphere. And we encountered divine [music] favor, and such incredible influence. This August, we brought almost 300 people to PNG to

10:04 impact the spheres of leadership, education [music] business, health, and the church. We sent teams to three different regions. In Port Moresby, the nation's capital, we ran regional rallies and saw over 5,000 people attend and witnessed 1,500 decisions for Christ. In the region of Lei, over 20,000 [music] people came out to our rallies and over 3,000 people were led to Christ. In Kimbeay, we saw 25,000 people [music] attend across three nights with 8,000 making decisions for Christ. Many were healed and delivered and set [music] free. Throughout those two weeks, our teams also went to primary schools, secondary schools, prisons, hospitals, and halfway houses carrying [music] the love of

10:50 Jesus and the redemptive power of the gospel. Our primary schools team went into 45 schools and [music] were able to speak to 48,600 children. Our teams also visited 28 high schools and ran our program with about 25,000 students. [music] The response to the message was also overwhelming as young people made a stand to change [music] the future of a generation, making a commitment to change the way they spoke to and treated one another. In each region, we visited the [music] prison there and saw almost every prisoner give their life to Jesus. The trip finished with the night celebrations in the national [music] stadium where we saw over 200,000 people attend and over 110,000 [music] respond to the message of the gospel.

11:36 Thousands healed and miracles as we stood with the people of Papa Newu Guinea to lift up [music] the name of Jesus and declare a new chapter for the nation. Hundreds of thousands [music] of lives have been touched by the power of God. Every missionary has returned with a testimony, a story [music] to tell of lives changed. We believe that a nation is turning to Jesus. We believe. You read a scripture a few moments ago from 2 Kings chapter 7 and I want to use that as the formation of what I want to talk to you about today. It's important to understand that the context of this passage of scripture. It was in Samaria at the time and Samaria was a walled city.

12:21 That meant that it was protected, fortified. But if you had something like a disease like leprosy, you couldn't live in the city or otherwise you would infect everybody else. So because of something that you had no control over, you were actually thrown out of the city and you lived on the outside of the city walls. Of course, at this season in Samaria that we're about to read about, it was a time of famine. Now remember, today as we read this scripture, we're looking at a spiritual metaphor. And the spirit spiritual metaphor, yes, it's a story, but it's also a metaphor for us to live our lives by. The principles that we can extract from this, help us to be people that are purposed for greatness. And so, here's these four

13:08 lepers that suddenly were living off the food scraps coming over the walls, but now it's a famine. They've got nothing for them. And so, you need to understand the context as we read this. These men are in desperate times, church. We need to remember that we live in a famine. I'm not talking about an a a famine of the physical. I'm talking about a spiritual famine. We got a world like never before that needs Jesus. And we need to be the church that understands our mission is to present him to all who don't know him. And so it's important that as we read this scripture, we pick up on the desperation. We must also remember that in times of famine in the Bible is where we see God move so

13:53 powerfully. You know Abraham and Isaac, you know, he did that miracle. It was in a time of famine. Famine in the land was when Gideon rose up. It was when Ruth rose up. There was a famine. When Joseph rose up, there was A FAMINE. WHEN ELIJAH ROSE UP, THERE was a famine. SO, WE'VE GOT HISTORY IN THE BIBLE that shows us that this is a significant moment for God to rise up. So now let's look at what seems so insignificant but four lepers. Now there were four lepous men at the entrance of the gate. And they said TO ONE ANOTHER, WHY do we sit here until we die? If we say we'll go into the city, of course that's where they are outcast from. Then the famine

14:40 is in the city and we will die there. If we sit here on the walls of the city, we will die. And if we uh now therefore come, let us go over to the camp of the Armenians, which by the way, the Armenians were their enemy. So it's not like they're just going to a nice friendly camp. They've got leprosy and they're going to their enemy's camp. They're probably going to be rejected again. If they spare us, we live. If they kill us, we die. So here's the options that these guys had. Go back to the city that has rejected us. We die. Stay where we are. There's no food scraps coming anymore. We die. Step into the desert, which is a deserted,

15:26 isolated, lonely place. Head towards not anywhere but the enemy's camp. And if they spare us, we live. SO IT'S DIE, DIE, MAYBE LIVE, and if they kill us, we die. Die. So today, I'm here to bring an encouraging word to you. I know it doesn't sound encouraging, but this is the life that we as believers live. WE BELIEVE THAT GOD IS USING US TO TAKE STEPS OF FAITH. WITHOUT FAITH, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD. So church, WE DON'T JUST SHOW UP. WE'VE GOT TO UNDERSTAND in this MONTH OF MISSION, YOU KNOW, FOR THOSE PEOPLE WATCHING ON SATELLITE, RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO TAKE A STEP OF

16:14 FAITH. MAYBE LIVE, maybe die. But the truth is, if we're not living by faith, we're not truly living for the purpose that God has for us. You see, from a very young age, I've always had this sense of I want to do something significant from God. I'm third generation Christian. My grandfather was a coal miner in England and there was an evangelist called Smith's Wigglesworth and he was traveling at the time and my grandfather went to one of his meetings. Smith Wigglesmouth. He had an unauthoriz unorthodox way of praying. If you had a sickness in your stomach, uh my grandfather was there on one occasion and a lady had cancer in her stomach and Smith Wiggleworth didn't lay hands upon her like this. He punched her in the

16:59 stomach. But you know, she then vomited out that cancer and never had cancer again. So my granddad watched this as an unsaved man and he made a decision to be a follower of Jesus. Within a few weeks, he left coal mining and he started to plant churches. My father is the only person in his whole family that didn't go into full-time ministry. He went into business. And so for me watching, I watched all of that, but I had this strong sense of call right from children's church age that I wanted to preach. So when I was seven, every week I started to go to my children's church pastor and ask them, "Can I preach?" And the children's church pastor, I'm a seven-year-old, and say, "Well, you

17:46 know, look, uh, we don't do that." And, uh, but maybe one day, keep keep believing, keep reading your Bible. And and they thought that would get rid of me, but the next week I'd go back. Can I preach? After a number of weeks, they didn't let me preach. So, I decided I would go. It would be like your pastor Peter. I ran through the crowd. I didn't really know our our senior pastor. And I ran up to him and I said, "Excuse me, pastor. Can I preach in church? They won't let me preach in children's church." He's like, and he didn't let me preach. I got in the car to go home and I said to MOM, "MOM, THEY WON'T LET ME PREACH. I FEEL LIKE I'M CALLED TO PREACH." And my mom was quite smart. She said,

18:32 "Well, why don't you set up church at home? Why don't you set up church in your bedroom and you preach there yourself?" And I thought, "What a good idea." So, every Tuesday and Thursday, I used to set up my bedroom after school as a church. I don't know if you can remember, but when I grew up in church, we didn't have these beautiful technology screens. We had a thing called the overhead projector. Anybody remember the overhead projector? Yes. Anybody here? Were you the servant of the overhead projector? You put the slides on. Yes, I was too. And we didn't have good air conditioning in those days. So, if the wind blew, all the slides would fly off this. I know many of you are like, "What is that?" It's like a light box that projects on the

19:17 wall. But I got a cardboard box and a stick and I put it in the in in my room and I pretended it was my projector. I set up like a pulpit like this and I put a few boxes together. Oh, and I forgot to tell you I had about 15 teddy bears and I used to line them up on the back wall. They were my congregation. I want to tell you they were theologically sound after a few years. But I'd preach and of course I wanted to present Jesus. So at the end I'd always do a salvation octacore. AND EVERY WEEK WITHOUT FAIL, SOME OF THOSE TEDDY bears would lift their hands for Jesus. You know why? Because I'd run down and I'd get them and I'd lift their little hand. Oh, I see that hand. Yes. Praise God.

20:04 Then I'd go up to the refrigerator after I'd finished. Often I'd shut the door and I'd say, "I feel the presence of God here. If you as a teddy bear want to stay in the presence of God, the meeting's finished, but you can stay." And I'd go up the corridor and I'd go to the refrigerator after school and I'd my mom would always ask this question. How did you go? Well, she said it in her English accent. Oh, how did you go, love? Was it a good time today? And I would always say, "Oh, mom, three teddy bears got saved. The presence of God was powerful. And the preacher was outstanding." My mom would say, "Oh, that's great, love. That's great." But you know the funny thing is that my mom is now 83 and she still says that

20:51 today I want you to understand that we need people to believe in us. You need to be a part of a droup because you need to be connected to other people who are going to help you to see what's in your heart come reality. If we're going to take bold steps, we can't do it alone. We need people that are going to stand with us and step into what God has purposed for us. You see, God has a plan that is way beyond where you are right now. I want to show you a picture of an empty stadium. Since Papa New Guinea, we've been to Fiji. We're now going to Kenya. And we've now got an education program that runs in Papa Newu Guinea and is in front of 20,000 students every week in uh the

21:39 last four years of high school. But on this particular occasion, I had word on a Wednesday and we were having a large event on the Saturday where the prime minister was invited. And the problem was that it was the FIFA Youth World Cup. And FIFA had taken all stadiums in that region, including that one. You can leave it up there. You can leave it up there. And and and and all those stadiums had been taken. And so they actually told us we couldn't have the stadium with just a few days to go. I had teams there. We'd organized events. And so I was really concerned. I said to the Lord, "What do I do?" You see, taking bold steps doesn't always work out the

22:24 way you expect it to. So I had felt the Lord say to me, "Get people to pray." So I took a photographer with me. And I'd like to say to you that I was very spiritual praying. I had my eyes open. I wasn't very spiritual. I was afraid. I was thinking, "What's going to happen?" In fact, when I got to the stadium, it was locked. I couldn't get in. But PNG is a third world nation. So, me and the photographer actually climbed over the wall to get in for this photo. Don't tell anybody, but that's what happened. And I took this photo and we sent it to the world and said, "Pray." My mom was the first to respond. I'm praying for you, love. It's going to be a great meeting. You know, we prayed and then I run the

23:10 sports minister the next day. The sports minister said, "Well, we can't because FIFA has an exclusion zone." I said, "But we paid and booked for it." And FIFA is a long way away. They won't even know that we're in the stadium. And to my amazement, he allowed us. And look what happened in the next photo. The next photo, we filled that stadium. Over two nights, over 200,000 people came. Look at the next photo. The boy who had preached to 13 teddy bears for years in his bedroom was always a preacher. It wasn't about teddy bears. It was about stepping out

23:55 of his comfort zone and doing what the Lord had told him to do. So many of us get paralyzed by fear and we do nothing. But if we're going to be the church of mission that we're called to be at CCF, we need to understand that God wants us to take bold steps and go beyond where we are now. That night I preached. Do you know in that one night I saw more people say yes to Jesus than I'd seen in my whole ministry life 20 years before. Over 60,000 people that night said yes to Jesus. And I remember the first text I got. Yes, you can give the Lord a hand. The first text I got was from my mom. How did you go tonight, love? I said, the preacher was good.

24:41 60,000 saved. And she texts back, "Oh, that's better than three teddy bears." But you see, the truth is, you've got a purpose that God has given you. This whole month has been about purpose. YOUR PURPOSE. YOU'RE NOT BORN BY CHANCE, COINCIDENCE. You're not born into the right or the wrong family. YOU'RE BORN WITH A GOD-GIVEN PURPOSE. And God wants to use you to do significant things. You know, here's these four lepers go back. They die. They stand at the wall and maybe they got shade, but they're going to die because there's no food. So, they got to take a step into the desert. But understand the principle. They didn't focus their faith anywhere. They focused their faith on the enemy's camp. We have

25:29 to do the same today. There are people that are being taken by, you know, the enemy himself and and they're on his side. But I want to tell you, we've got the name of Jesus. And as we present the gospel, we take people back from what the enemy is trying to do. It's the same principle today. So they took a step into the desert. They stepped out from where they were. But they didn't do it alone. You know, satellites, you're not alone. You might be small in comparison to the main center here. You might be in a country that is very difficult to present the gospel. You might be watching online and it's even dangerous to watch online. But I want to tell you today, you don't stand alone. Whether you're in this building or you're somewhere else, the great benefit of a church like CCF is that we are connected

26:16 all over the world and WE STAND TOGETHER. NOT ONLY IN LARGE SETTINGS, but also in small settings, just for men. There's a principle here. They walked together. They didn't know what they were doing. They didn't know whether they'd live or die, but they kept walking just like you do in your D-group. If you're not in a D-group, get in one because it's us standing together. But we learn from this passage that there is power in agreement. The second passage we read is Matthew chapter 18 and verse 18. I TELL YOU THE TRUTH. SORRY, I should read your version. TRULY I SAY TO YOU, WHATEVER YOU BIND on earth shall have been bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree, just turn

27:02 to person next to you. Give them a little nudge. Say, you're the two, you're the other on the other side. Now, if two of you agree on earth about anything and they may ask, it shall be done for them by my father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst. The I am there in the midst is Jesus. And I think as a church at times we've wrongly interpreted that Jesus is there to make us feel comforted. Jesus is there to to give us some warmth and a sense that he's for us. But actually we need to understand the context. The context was at this time in history Romans had an unusual delegated authority. You see in their

27:48 regions if two or three got together and decided that something was required that was of benefit to the individuals and the city they could agree together go to the government of the day and the government of the day couldn't say no to their request they were just responsible for when they would implement their request all they had to do is justify that they were a Roman citizen so now this story is to us as the church. It's not just a nice warm story about two or three coming together. It's actually about the power of AGREEING TOGETHER. THESE FOUR MEN DIDN'T just coincidentally leave the wall. They had power as they were wondering whether God was going to come through. They could encourage, stir each other. Iron

28:34 sharpens iron. AND HERE THEY ARE. But you see, this story is a story of us understanding that we have an unusual delegate authority. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Notice it says here that two or three have gathered together in my name. And and what it's saying is what? That my father in heaven, it shall be done to them by my father in heaven. In fact, in the message Bible, IT ACTUALLY SAYS, "MY FATHER GOES INTO ACTION." I love that because really what we're doing is when two come together and we agree in Jesus' name, it's actually a spiritual principle. Jesus is there. What's he there is? He's like the representative

29:19 for taking the contract, taking the agreement to the governing body. WHAT'S THE GOVERNING BODY? THE GOVERNING BODY IS IN HEAVEN, FATHER, SON, holy spirit. So actually when we come together and we say we're going to win this throne in Jesus' name. We're going to see that person come to Christ. We're going to see people get healed. And two or three agree together, we have an unusual delegated authority that stirs the kingdom of heaven. Jesus comes into the midst and he's waiting to take those agreements back to his father so that they can be done as in heaven on earth. Church, WE NEED TO KNOW, OH, WE'VE GOT A GREAT POWER IN WHO JESUS IS. We're not just serving a God that's just protecting us. We got a a a God who's actually going before us and he's going

30:05 to implement things that he's purposed FOR OUR LIVES. YOU HAVE GREAT PURPOSE. It's time to go beyond and recognize that bold steps are required. But God always requires that we give something. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, not yet seen. Have you given God something lately? Have you taken a bold step? Have you, in this month of mission, in this time of fasting, actually thought to yourself, "I've got to do something. I've got to talk to somebody. I've got to pray for somebody. I got to position myself." Because we are the church of Jesus Christ. You see, when you step out, God

30:50 always makes a way. He is attracted by our faith. He's attracted by our bold steps. We all want the story, but so many of us stay held back and not taking a step. But we've got to be people, whether it's 13 teddy bears or it's a nation to be one. Neither is any more insignificant. But both of them when we stand with others attracts the attention of heaven. God makes a way on our behalf. Look at this. Yeah. Come on, give her a great hand to the Lord today. 2 Kings 7 and verse 5. At dusk they got up and they went, oops, I'm reading my VERSION AGAIN. THEY AROSE AT twilight to go to the camp of the Armenians. When they came to the

31:35 outskirts of the camp of the Armenians, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Armenians to hear the sound of chariots and sound of horses and even the sound of a great army. So they said to one another, I just want stop there. Pause. Do you notice there wasn't a great army? It was the sound of a great army. Do you understand that God cared so much about four rejected people, four insignificant lepers that he actually created a sound so loud that it sounded like an army? Now understand that the Armenians could have been as many as a 100,000 people. So to have a big army that scared them, it must have been a very loud noise. God

32:21 did that because they stepped out of their comfort zone. They got out of what you know was awkward and they walked into the desert. They're focusing on the enemy's camp and it automated Jesus coming into the presence. Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us, the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to COME UPON US. THEREFORE, THEY AROSE AND THEY fled in the twilight and they left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and they ate and drunk. And they carried away from from their silver, gold, and clothes, and they went and hid them. And they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also. And they went and hid them

33:08 also. So two things have taken place here. GOD IS MAKING A WAY. THEY'RE STILL WALKING. You got to remember they're still walking. WHEN THE SOUND OF THE ARMY IS COMING, THEY'RE STILL THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN TALKING TO EACH OTHER. Have you ever been in a situation where you're starting to doubt and they're talking, oh uh is God going to come through for us? Maybe we shouldn't HAVE TAKEN THIS STEP. WHY DIDN'T WE DO THIS? GOD, CAN YOU HELP? OH, and there's problems in the way we've set things up. And but we got to remember that God is making a way where there is no way. So often in your situation, maybe there's a challenge in your marriage right now. I want to tell you, if you bring it before God and you start to pray and believe, I I tell you, God is making a way where there is no way. Maybe your son, your daughter away from the Lord. I want to

33:53 remind you today that his promises are yes and amen. And as you believe and you put it before him, he's making a way over your situation. Maybe there's a financial challenge in your business today. Well, don't do it alone. Come together with your Dgroup. Come together with your your your satellite. make a decision that you're going to bring it before God. Cuz I tell you, he can make a way where there is no way over your circumstance. But you see, that's the first principle that we learn. He's doing something that they didn't necessarily deserve, but he chose to give them. God always will make a way. But the challenge for many of us is soon as we see a problem, we start operating in fear.

34:42 But actually we must remember that our trading tool is not fear but it's faith. And so it's so important that we recognize that the enemy uses the counterfeit which is fear. But we must not res react, but we must respond by faith. Problems are more often than not in the kingdom just possibilities. Challenges are just opportunities for God to do something in and through you. So rather than see it as a problem, see it as a possibility. See what God can do in and through you. see how he can position you and how he can prepare you for what he has planned for your life. I

35:30 went on my first mission trip as it's mission week actually in 1997 and we went to Bangkok, Thailand. It's great to have some missionaries here today from Indonesia which is fantastic and Papua I just heard as well which is fantastic. you know, people that have dedicated their life to mission, we should always honor because it's not easy. And so, we thank you for what you've done for 17 years in that country. It's fantastic. But, you know, I went to Bangkok, Thailand, and we arrived and I don't know what it was. You know, Australians I thought were good-looking people, but the ties decided that they would cancel

36:16 the whole event when the 80 Australians arrived. I don't know if they didn't like the look of us or they were scared by us or but we were supposed to be doing eight days of events in schools and stadiums and churches and they canceled it all. I was only young back then and the leader there was 80 of our missionaries with us and there was uh five leaders and I went into this leadership meeting and the leader said they've canled the program. I'm not sure what we do. Now my nature has always been well that's just a problem. That's that's our opportunity. GOD, WHAT CAN WE DO? And before I thought about it, I started to speak. I encourage you, don't, as I've got older, I've learned, don't always speak what you're thinking. It's not always good. And I said, WELL,

37:02 ACROSS THE ROAD IS THE LARGEST university in the whole of the southern hemisphere. It's called the Ram Keny Hing Hong. I don't know the name. It's a long name anyway, but but I I was like, okay, LET LET'S GO IN THERE. and let's take a team of musicians and see if we can get a crowd. So the leader looked at me, very wise leader, and he said, "That's a great idea." He said, "If we get a crowd, you can preach." And I'm thinking, "Oh, no." I wasn't thinking, "Oh, preaching. Oh, I've never spoken to an interpreter on the streets in Thailand. Is it even legal?" And so now I'm starting to pray, "Lord, don't bring a crowd. Lord, don't bring a crowd.

37:47 Fear started to emerge. We're walking across. We start playing the guitars. Within just a few moments, three or 400 people in the middle of the university gathered around us. I should be full of excitement. I was full of fear. Oh God, what am I going to preach? I've never preached to a crowd like this. It's always been in churches. And as a young man, as I was about to start preaching, you hear this noise. Um um um and I turn around thinking, "What's that?" And right behind us is 80 Buddhist monks walking towards us with incense sticks. And I'm like, "What are these guys doing?" Um

38:34 um we had stopped right in front of the Buddhist shrine and they were coming to light their incense with their incense sticks and I'm thinking is this have we broken the law? Are we supposed to be doing this? And so I asked interpreter he said no no it's a free country we're allowed to they do their thing. So I start preaching with you know it's like one of your bands but it was a different rhythm. And it was um um first time preaching with an interpreter. It's great to be in Thailand here. We are so thankful that you've invited us to come go to the interpreter. He goes and and that's it. I'm like I said so much and you just said that. So then I thought I'm going

39:20 to say a lot. I sorry I I s I'm going to say a little. I'm just going to say hello. Great to be with you. God bless you. and he goes, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, he's going to preach whatever he wants anyway." But the good news is we preached and of those 400 people, we asked, "Would a country that didn't really understand, would you like to know more about Jesus? If you would, why don't you lift your hand?" In that crowd, 14 or 15 people's hands went up. And at that moment, the interpreter looks at me, goes, "We never see this. We never see this." Then another man runs over and tells us,

40:05 "We're going to put the events back on again. This is very good. Very good." But you see, the point being is we so want to see God come through. We we impacted many on that trip and now there's churches all over Thailand that we've been working with for years because of that moment. But it comes to are you going to take a bold step IN YOUR WORKPLACE? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A CONVERSATION WITH someone about Jesus IN YOUR SATELLITE IN THAT REGION YOU'RE IN? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU ACTUALLY stepped out and felt Holy Spirit saying, "Pray for somebody?" When was the last time you were generous just to represent who Jesus is in your situation? We got to take bold steps. We got to be people that understand God is making a

40:52 way. But the second part of this scripture is so important because IT ACTUALLY SAYS WHEN THEY ARRIVED THERE WAS NOBODY THERE. THAT'S a miracle in itself. The whole army ran away because they heard a noise. Because the lepers had lived in trial their whole life, lived in poverty, had lived on the outside of the walls, had nothing. WHEN THEY SAW SILVER AND GOLD AND FOOD, THEY WERE GRABBING it and going and hiding it. The Bible says, why is it that so often in the Bible do we see persecuted people that Jesus uses? Why? Because he wants to use broken people. Stop looking at people on a stage and saying, "Well, he wants to use them." No, he wants to use all men, but he wants to use people who recognize that in their weakness, he

41:38 is made strong. So, we need to be people that step out with bold steps. What is it that God is asking you to do? Because you see, he always rewards faith. We live in a very hedonistic environment where people are self- consumed. They're caught up on what label, what brand, what car they drive, what job they have, how much money, which holiday they go on. And I'm not against wealth. I'm not against money. But I want you to understand that if you step OUT IN FAITH, GOD WILL ALWAYS REWARD YOU. HERE'S FOUR LEPERS WHO HAVE NOTHING. NOW THEY HAVE THE TREASURES OF AN ARMY STORED UP FOR THEM.

42:24 If you just take a step, seek first the kingdom of God, and these things will be added unto you. He'll give them into your lap. We don't need to chase stuff. We need to chase him, and he takes care of the rest. When Leon and I started our first church, I was 27 years of age. And the truth is that I was a pastor. And if I'm honest, I had no idea what I was doing. So at the start, I made this big statement on the very first Sunday. I'm not going to draw any form of wage or salary or cost for the first 12 months. I didn't have a job because I'd been itinerating and I just wanted to focus for the first year on building the church. The church rapidly grew. There

43:09 was money in the account and after 3 months I'm thinking that was not the right thing to say because now my integrity I can't say I'll take some money but how am I going to live? I was the leader of a youth movement in our nation and and I was speaking at a camp. There was a family in our church that owned a holiday house and they said to us, "Why don't you take it for a few days?" But the truth is, between you and me, we only had $50 left in our account. And I remember saying to Leon, "Well, we're going to have a little break, three days, but we're not going to have a lot of money. We'll have to cook it in this house and just but it'll be good to get away." So, she goes to the holiday house. I go to speak at the camp. Here I

43:56 am as a young leader leading young people and they take up an offering for the event and and and then then the I'm sitting there and they're singing a worship song and I feel the Holy Spirit say to me, "Teach the young people how to give. Take your $50 note and make it into two 20s and a 10 and give the three principles of giving." And I remember sitting in my chair as worship's happening. I know sometimes you look at past and you think we're very spiritual, but we can sometimes have other thoughts. And I thought to myself, that can't be God. That must be you. Get out of my main enemy. Get away from me. You don't want my last $50. And I sat there and then I felt God say it again.

44:42 I'm like, God, but I'm I I'm have a healthy fear of the Lord. You, God, but I also have a healthy fear of my wife. What would I tell her if I gave away the $50? Oh, my love, I feel like Lord is calling us to a fasting holiday. I didn't know what I WAS GOING TO SAY. SO, I'M CONFLICTED. Isn't it true in our lives that sometimes the natural is more pulling than God himself? The circumstance of our life. But, as I always do, I ended up saying, "Okay, I got the two 20s and a 10." I walk up to this first young man. The Bible says that we should give into good soil. So, I give it to this young man and this young man I knew and he was a good young guy and he's smiling as he takes the money. I'll be honest, I was holding on to that note very tight and

45:30 he takes the money and he's sort of wow that's so good and I'm thinking yeah good for you but I got to tell MY WIFE I GAVE THAT AWAY but I didn't say that. Yes, bless the Lord. The second one was sometimes we've got to give. The Bible says because the Lord tells us to. There's a sense that Holy Spirit is told. So I give it to this girl and she doesn't laugh. She starts to cry. Now you might think, "Wow, it's incredible. She started to cry." I'm thinking she shouldn't be crying. I should be. I just gave you my $20. But she's crying because she brought four girls in a car to the camp and she had no fuel left and she had to get a 2-hour drive back with no fuel. And when I gave her the 20, it was going to fill her car, WHICH IS A GREAT

46:17 TESTIMONY, BUT IT DOESN'T HELP ME CUZ I GOT no money. And then I take the $10 and the Bible says give into being generous. Just be generous. So I give it to this young boy. And at that stage I've lost it. It's all gone. on and I preach the message. I'm thinking, I don't know what I'm going to tell Leone. Given all the money away, she knows I'm a man of faith, but we got no money. And we have a time where we commission all these young people. So, we're praying for them. And I'm standing praying for this young man. And as I'm praying for him, I feel a hand go in my pocket. Now, it wasn't my hand. And I don't know about you, when your eyes are closed and someone else's hand in your pocket, it's not a good feeling. And so I look down and there's this young man pointing and

47:02 I'm like, "Yes, get your hand out of my pocket." And he says, "No, pastor. Have a look." And I look down and he's put $50 in my w pocket. And he said, "WHILE YOU WERE DOING THAT TALK, I FELT GOD TELL ME I SHOULD GIVE YOU $50." AND I'M LIKE, "YES, I KNEW God had come through." You know, I couldn't wait to tell my wife, "Wow, you're so lucky you married a man of great faith. >> [laughter] >> I go to my car. The committee comes up. Pastor, we took such a good offering. We paid for everything. We felt we should bless you. I didn't say it, but I thought it. I think you should bless me as well. They gave me an envelope and as I they went away. I ripped the envelope open.

47:47 There was 300. My 50 that I gave away to zero became 350. And me and my wife had some money for our three days. The story I tell you is very simple because it's not about what you have or don't have. It's about obedience when it comes to bold steps. Recognizing that he will always make a way, but he'll always bless those who take steps. But the whole purpose of why we exist is really for my last point and that is this that he is the good news. He is good news. Look what it says in verse 9 in this chapter here. It says

48:34 this then they said to one another, "WE'RE NOT DOING RIGHT." Remember these guys had had nothing for years. They'd been outcast. Why would they care about everybody else? This day is a day of good news. Interesting because we read of good news many times in the New Testament, but this is only on two occasions is it mentioned in the Old Testament. This is the only time it's mentioned in the Old Testament. It means the same as the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. IT'S HOPE. THIS DAY IS A DAY OF HOPE, OF GOOD NEWS. But we are keeping it silent, CHURCH. WE CAN'T KEEP THE GOOD NEWS OF Jesus silent. IF WE WAIT UNTIL MORNING LIGHT,

49:21 PUNISHMENT WILL OVERTAKE US. NOW THEREFORE, COME, let us go and tell the king's household. You got to understand, they would have had to walk back into the city, back through the walls, into the king's palace. They've still got leprosy, but the people that have been afflicted, the people that have feel like they've been left out, the people that have been rejected became the people that God used to save a whole city. I want to tell you, he wants to do the same through you. You may look and say, "I'm not like that person. I DON'T HAVE those opportunities." You may look and say, "Well, I've gone through a very difficult season in MY BUSINESS. MY FAMILY SITUATION HAS BEEN TOUGH." BUT I WANT to remind you today that we are people that are purposed beyond our self. Your purpose is not about what you

50:07 get. It's about how you're positioned to take bold steps for what God has purposed for you. Mission is about us recognizing our life is not our own. It belongs to him and therefore we should stand according to his purpose. bold steps. If you're on a satellite, the greatest way that we can express mission is to take bold steps. If you're going to live your purpose, you're going to go beyond. It's not just a catchy theme for the church. But it's actually the heart and soul of what CCF is all about. Whether it's here, whether it's in another country, whether it's in a satellite or you're just watching in

50:52 isolation online today, you need to understand that God is looking for those who will take bold steps. Would you do me a favor? Whether you're in this room or you're watching on satellite or even you're at home watching in your lounge room, would you all just stand to your feet before I pray? Would everybody just stand to your feet in this room? For the last 28 years, I've been a part of the leadership of a church in Australia called Planet Shakers. Most of you know us because of our music. In fact, these three nights in in in your country, in your city, we've actually had concerts that have been played. We sung a song today called Here I Am.

51:40 That's a Planet Shaker song. You might not know it, but it's one that we have sung over and over, and it was great to sing it with you today. But at the end of last year, I felt God saying to me, "You've been on staff for 18 years of this church. I'm like Pastor Jim or one of the senior team members in the church that really plays a critical right-hand man role of our senior leader." But God started to stir me to say, "Your season is up on staff at the church." And I'm like, "LORD, I'M 55 AND MY PENSION fund will go backwards if I don't keep earning the money I'm earning." The Lord speaks to me. It's no different to when he spoke to me to give the $50 away. No different to me when he said, "Go and

52:26 meet this man even though you don't know him." But God, I don't want TO DO IT. I'M OLDER NOW. CAN'T THE YOUNG PEOPLE TAKE A STEP OF FAITH? CAN'T THEY DO BOLD THINGS? I DON'T WANT TO DO BOLD THINGS. SO, at the beginning of this year, I came off the staff of Planet Shakers. I'm still a part of the board. It's still my home church, but now I'm positioned to help churches like yours be stirred to GO AND DO WHAT YOU'RE CALLED to do. But it meant that I had to come off salary. And if I go back, I COULD DIE. IF I STAY HERE AT Planet Sacres Church on a good salary, I COULD DIE. NOW I GOT TO TAKE A STEP. AND I LIKE to say it like this. It's like faith IS LIKE

53:11 HAPPY. WOO. IT'S SO GOOD STEPPING OUT FOR THE LORD. SCARED. WHY DID I DO THAT? AND IT'S LIKE HAVING both emotions at the same time. Why? Because God needs to be in control of your life. God needs you to position yourself to be in control. So here I am THREE MONTHS LATER LIVING BY FAITH AND I'M STILL ALIVE. I say that only to inspire you to say what is it that God's speaking to you about making a bold step off. You see a Christian life is like going from one to 10. You grow, you develop, you get to 10.

53:57 And then it's like the Lord just takes you back to one. What do you mean? Well, you don't go backwards. You go to 11. 11 is just one at a higher level. Our whole LIFE IS JUST GROWING TO A NEW LEVEL. Then we go back and we got to go through the same principle again. And the same. Why? Because God needs to be in control. We don't always love it when God's in control. We don't love THE FACT THAT WHY ARE WE WAITING? IS GOD REALLY MAKING A WAY? And what I've learned is God is old. Old people move slowly. They don't move at the pace we want them to move at. God doesn't do what you want

54:43 to do. You do what he's purposed you to do. In this time of mission, you got to go beyond. You got to recognize that you live with a purpose. You were born with a purpose. So now the only way to express who we are is to take bold [music] steps. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. But the good news is we don't do it alone. There's power in partnership. Where two or three are gathered, he is with you. Today I'm going to pray a prayer and I want you to have the courage to even in your mind with your mouth make a declaration of a bold step you're

55:29 about to take. Maybe this week I'm going to ring that family member I'm going to present Jesus to. Maybe I'm going to give a gift of generosity to a friend that I know Holy Spirit's been speaking to me about. Maybe you're going to go and pray for somebody in hospital that you know God could heal them, but you're just scared. WHAT IF HE DOESN'T? What if he does mission? Our mission is to make disciples. But you know, the greatest way to lead someone in disciplehip is to show them the way. And the primary way of being who we are in Christ is taking bold steps because it attracts [music] the attention of heaven. And I can sense there's people

56:15 in this room that are already thinking, I don't want to just keep existing. I want to do something significant for the Lord. So here's what I'm going to do. I don't know if you do this in your church, but I want to do it today. Going to get you to lift your hands just like this, like you're ready to receive something. Somebody's about to give you something. I want you to close your eyes for a moment and allow yourself to hear him speak to you. Cuz I tell you, my God trades in bold steps. Why? Because he isn't going to leave you alone. He's not going to position you so you're going to fail. He's going to make a way where there is no way. He's going to bless you beyond what you need. But his primary objective is to bring good news.

57:01 his name into people's lives, redemption salvation. But for that to happen and you to be used, you've got to give him something. So in those satellites, come on, in your spirit, give him something. Remember, hope is the substance. It's not something tangible. The substance of things hoped for. Those kids coming back to the Lord. Oh yes, yes, yes. Those colleagues knowing Jesus. Yes. Yes. Yes. that business exploding so that you can be a resource to the house. Yes. Yes. Yes. Healing coming into those bodies, things that we can't do, but when we partner with him [music] by taking bold steps, we can see him come through. So I

57:47 pray right now that everything we've seen and everything we've heard today [music] would be the source of inspiration. Not that I'm better than anybody else, but that I just simply keep finding myself taking bold steps, positioning for what you have purposed. God, would you do something in people's lives as they give something, make a way where there is no way this week? And Lord, I pray that their friends and their family would discover who Jesus [music] is. Happy missions month CCF family. Welcome to Sunday Fastrack where you ask real life questions and we give you biblical

58:34 truths. I'm Edward Paharilio, the regional coordinator for CCFUSA East Coast and Midwest. And we're here today with our special speaker, Pastor Neil Smith from the Global Reach Ministries to answer some of your questions. Good day, Pastor Neil. Happy missions month. It's great to be here, Edward. Great to be with you all. >> Thank you for your very compelling message to share Jesus to others. Are you ready to answer our questions? >> I don't know if I'm ever going to be ready, but I'll do my best. >> All right. So, for our first question, the lepers took a step of faith before they knew what would happen. For someone who feels stuck, afraid, or uncertain about what's next, what does taking a step of faith actually look like? Well, look, faith is the substance of things

59:20 hoped for is what it says in the Bible in Hebrews 11. So, we must understand that we're not really Christians or believers unless we take a step. So, as fearful the enemy's plan is fear, God's plan is faith. So, take a step of faith. And I tell you, if you take the test, God will always come through for you. >> Wow. So for our second question, maybe someone listening has been disappointed by life, by unanswered prayers, or even by other Christians. If they're hesitant to trust God again, what's one simple step they can take today? >> Look, I think it's important to understand that we trade in the natural. We live our lives most of the time. So the enemy uses the natural, people, church, life to actually bring

1:00:06 disappointment. But remember, it's in our weakness the Bible says we are made strong. And so if you're watching and you're going through a tough situation, take a step again because I tell you, you don't understand truly what life is until you've taken a step of faith. So be careful that you don't allow the enemy to trap you in disappointment, hurt, and trouble. The way out is take a step of faith. However big or small, do something where God can come and intervene and show himself to be real again. >> Wow. So do not be paralyzed. And now for our last question. If following Jesus doesn't mean life will be easier, then why is he still worth following or trusting? >> Well, the truth is that my life isn't

1:00:51 easy. But it's a great adventure. And the truth for me is living by myself, doing my thing, creating my opportunity has a certain level. But when I partner with God, I've done things that I never would have dreamed could happen. And so, you know, there's challenges, there's issues, it's sometimes scary to do what we do, but wow, what an adventure. And at the end of the day, people pay money to go on adventures. >> We don't need to pay money. We just need to partner with God and watch what Jesus will do in and through our lives. So I encourage you as my message today, take big steps, bold steps of faith and watch him work on your behalf. >> Wow. So God will really take you for the adventure of a lifetime. Thank you, Pastor Neil, for answering our question.

1:01:38 And that's it for our Sunday FastTrack. Happy missions month and God bless. >> [music]