Well, hello. Good evening, everybody. It's nice to see you here. You made it out in such a cold night. Perhaps you'd like to turn around, shake the hand of the person behind you and say, welcome. Welcome to church this evening, where we're all going to have a great time. It's great to be in the presence of the Lord. We're going to start off with singing, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. We'll all stand to sing. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. ♪ The world behind me ♪ ♪ The world before me ♪ ♪ The world behind me ♪ ♪ The world before me ♪ ♪ The world behind me ♪ ♪ No turning back, no turning back ♪ ♪ Do not go with me till I will follow you ♪ Will you decide now to follow Jesus? You follow Jesus, no turning back. We'll just continue remaining on our feet for the next one. The most important verse on that last one was the last verse, and it says, will you decide now to follow Jesus? I always think that's the big, you can sing away there, but will, you're asking someone else if they want to follow the Lord. OK, this next one. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. And we can't sing about anything else but how good God is to us and how he looks after us every day. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. When we all came together, what a day of rejoicing that will be. ♪ I'll be walkin' till the last day ♪ ♪ I'll swim over the slender sky ♪ ♪ But when cloudy days are over ♪ ♪ God has shackles on his side, friend ♪ Let us stand, be true and faithful, trust in serving every day. Just one glimpse of His glory, we'll learn from the life we've made. ♪ What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪ ♪ When the old Sea Jesus ♪ ♪ Will sing and shout victory ♪ ♪ Onward to the bright day for us to see ♪ When the gates were open, we shouted, streets of gold. When we all came together, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all sing. You can all be seated. You know, that fourth verse, sir, just appeals to me so much. Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day, just one glimpse of him in glory. Will the toils of life repay? Isn't that just great? You know, as well as I do, the toils you go through in your life, but it will be worth it all. Isn't that just brilliant? This next one is going to be our offering hymn so you can remain seated during that and it's Father we love you. One, two, three. We'll just all bow for a moment's prayer. Dear Lord, dear Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord, help us to realize, Lord, just who you are. Help us to realize, Lord, that you are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We sometimes just take you for granted so much, Lord. We just know that you're there and just expect you to be there without thanking you, Lord. Lord, we just thank you now, Lord, for all they've done for us, Lord. We thank you for the greatest gift of all, Lord, the gift of your son who died for our sins. And Lord, we thank you for the gifts you give us every day. the stuff that we just take for granted, Lord. Help us to know, Lord, that every good gift that we have, Lord, comes from you. And Lord, what we give tonight, Lord, is just a small portion of what you have given to us. Lord, we just pray, Lord, that you will indeed take this money, Lord, that you will use it, Lord, that you will use it for the advancement of your kingdom, Lord, in this area. We ask this in and through the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Okay, one more. If I can find it. There it is. Too many pages up here, you see. Yeah. Thank you very much for your singing. It's great to be here in the house of the Lord, giving him praise. Now we're just going to have Dale and his colleagues from Operation Mobilisation just come and have a few chats with us up here. Thank you, Dale. Good evening, everyone. Is anybody else getting deja vu? It doesn't feel like that long ago that I was here doing the same thing. It's a great privilege to be invited back. I'm only going to share a little bit at the beginning and the end because I brought a couple of guests with me who have so much more interesting things to say. We have Lucinda, with us this evening from Mauritius and Rowena from Malaysia. They've enjoyed a week in Northern Ireland, getting used to the temperature. This morning we were in a church in Ballyclare and they searched up the time, 40 minutes, that's good, we can leave at 10 o'clock, came out of where they were staying and they didn't realise that cars could get frozen shut and they'd never seen that before so that was a new experience that Northern Ireland gave to them. And I'm just The worship this morning and the worship this evening, it's just that those words of that song we were singing, what a wondrous day it'll be, when we're all in heaven, what a day, we'll be rejoicing and how many times do we hear it said when we have that grief when someone that we love passes away but we think, that they're in heaven, jumping for joy with the Lord, and that gives us comfort. And I shared a few weeks ago that we have that comfort, but there's so many people that don't. And Rowena and Lucinda have spent the last couple of years serving on our ship, taking the gospel, this good news, so that we can have more people in heaven. Maybe I'll leave here today and I'll maybe never see any of you again but there'll be a day where I will get to see you again when we're together rejoicing the Lord and there can't be any better news than that. I have a short video for us to watch about the ship and then Lucinda is going to come and then Rowena and then I'll finish up. So please enjoy. If I've done this right. MV Logos Hope is most commonly known as the world's largest floating book fair. But this inspiring vessel is so much more. Logos Hope's volunteer crew is dedicated to sharing knowledge, help and hope with people all over the world. Since launching into operation in 2009, Logos Hope has visited more than 100 different ports and welcomed over 9 million visitors up her gangways. The ship has sailed across the globe, from Northern Europe to the Caribbean, across and around the continent of Africa, through the Arabian Peninsula to Asia and right around Latin America. She is the fourth vessel operated by GBA Ships, the good books for all organisation, which started in 1970 with Logos, followed by Dulos and Logos 2. This charitable non-profit endeavour is supported by generous people all around the world who believe in the purpose of Logos Hope, as well as government officials, port authorities and local businesses in each port of call. Logos hopes 400 crew members are all volunteers and represent more than 60 different nations. We come from all walks of life, have different professions, are of different ages and sometimes come as whole families including children who have their own floating school and playground. Crew members receive on-the-job training as they live and serve together in this truly unique environment. Their experiences will stay with them and may shape what they go on to do in life. Each of us has a story to tell of transformation on a personal level that gives us hope and purpose and it is our faith that is the foundation for our service. Our on-board book fair provides access to knowledge by offering over 5,000 different book titles. This may be the first time visitors are able to get quality literature at a fraction of its usual price. The variety of topics ranges from educational and recreational to lifestyle and faith resources, as well as a large children's literature section. After browsing the book fair, visitors can tour The Journey of Life Experience, a compelling living storybook about a young man's journey from riches to poverty and ultimate restoration. Our guests enjoy chatting to crew members in our international cafe and in each port we host a variety of on-board events including conferences, children's activities, theatre and cross-cultural performances. But gangways are not a one-way street. We are visitors too, and are eager to dive into each region we visit, to learn about and experience the fascinating diversity of cultures. We want to be aware of the needs and challenges people face and do what we can to help, from donating boats to libraries, to testing eyesight and providing free reading glasses. We love to lend a hand practically, from clearing up after natural disasters and rebuilding homes, to sharing our skills through sewing and baking initiatives, painting projects, digging wells and providing water filters. We also strive to bring hope to individuals through simply being available and building relationships with them. Visiting hospitals, orphanages or communities in need, we meet people facing difficulties in life. We use each opportunity to come alongside, listen and share hope. At the end of each visit, it's hard to leave the friends we've made and the work we have partnered with. But we have confidence that the connections established in each port will continue long after we leave. It is our desire that many will be impacted through the life-changing work of Logos Hope's crew as we continue sharing knowledge, help and hope with the people of the world. So good evening, everyone. It's an honor and a privilege to be among you today. So I'm Lucinda. I'm from the small island of Mauritius. I grew up in a Christian family and at the age of 17, I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus. So I always knew Jesus came to save us, but he was the savior of the world. But then at 17, I really decided to surrender my life to him and he became my Lord. And I can say that it was really a transformative journey because once I gave my heart to Jesus, that day that I gave my heart to Jesus is a day where I could actually feel the love of the Father for me and such a special love, you know, and that was what made me able to love myself, to love God, and to love others. And as such, I never really dreamed of going somewhere to share about Jesus. I never really knew a lot about missions or the least rich people. But then one day while I was at university, I met with missionaries and one of them told me You know that person sitting next to you in the classroom, they don't know Jesus and one day you will be in heaven and that person is going to be in hell and they'll be like, Lucinda knew about it and she never said anything. And he said, what are you going to do about that? And for me that question was just like a wake up call, you know. I understood, like, okay, I need to be intentional. I realized that my friend, who had been my friend for more than 10 years, was actually a Hindu and didn't know about Jesus, and I didn't do anything about it, you know. I never shared, like, the actual gospel message to her. Then I became more intentional in sharing my faith. And also I thought, OK, I'm going to work really hard, get a good job, and I'm going to support missionaries. But I'm just going to stay home here and support them from far. And then in 2015, the ship actually came to my country. And I went to visit. I went for the book fair. I bought some books. And then I went to a youth conference. And there, the message was. on Luke 9, 23, whoever wants to follow me shall deny themselves, take their cross daily and follow me. And also the speaker spoke about the merchant of pearl who sold everything to buy one pearl. And then he also said there was this rich young man that actually Jesus asked him to sell everything and follow him, but then he couldn't and he went back sad. And at the end, he said, write down on a piece of paper what is it that is holding you from taking your cross daily. And without thinking, I just wrote my career. At that point, I was like an information security consultant working in a big accounting firm. So that was my dream job kind of. And as I look at this paper, it became like a realization to me. God was actually asking me to do more than what I was doing. He was not asking for my money or for me serving him here, but he wanted me to give more of my time and more of myself. So I decided that, OK, I'm going to join the ship. It was really exciting. But then when I said it to people around me, they were like, no, no, no, no, no. Especially my parents. They said, we sent you to university. So now you can't just go somewhere where you don't get paid. you need to support us and support the family. So I was midway through the application. And then I got another job as a teacher. And my dad said, oh, so if you're a teacher, you have time to serve the Lord here. You don't need to go. And I was like torn. But then I said, OK, maybe I should just stay. And yeah, so I stayed. But inside of me, I knew that God wanted me to do something more. So I became a teacher for a year, and then I went back into consulting. I worked for like around seven years, but inside of me there was this feeling of restlessness, you know. And I finally decided to apply again, and I came on the ship, and I didn't want to ask for support, so I actually saved my money. to go for a year. And as I was doing the application, they asked me to pray for two years. And I prayed. I had peace about it, but I didn't have the financial support, you know. So I sold my car, and I had like one and a half years. And the six remaining months, I was like, OK, God, this is in your hands. And I also asked him, if you really want me to go, you have to tell my parents. You have to tell them that that's the right thing for me to do. And so I prayed. One day I was praying with my mom and God just convicted her that that was the thing that I should do and God just made everything so smooth and straight for me as from that point. I went on the ship and without me fundraising or anything on the first month that I was on the ship, actually people started giving to me and they gave me like two months of support and the next month they gave me another two months and within one year they had actually covered my whole two years in the ship and that was really missing how God was providing and how He said like, when I ask you to go you just need to obey, you don't need to figure out all these things, I'm going to equip you, I'm going to provide for you. And so I ended up on the ship and I was in the Middle East. And yeah, what I can say is I've been in the Middle East, I've been in Africa and then in the Caribbean and I can really say God is a God that is at work and God is a God. Yeah, that even sometimes we are ignorant, we don't know, but he's at work everywhere. And in the Middle East was kind of a very, different region and different culture where we couldn't really share the gospel directly, but we could really saw the thirst of people, you know. So we would, for example, wait that they would ask us questions about our faith to share, or if they ask about our story, then we were able to share our testimony. And I can tell you that people are really, really thirsty. They kept asking questions. I found myself in Iraq, and I saw lines of 9,000 people lining up to come to this Christianship, and it was just the Holy Spirit attracting them. Yeah, and also maybe I share just a little story, and then I'll end there. While we were there in the Middle East, so we were in one of those countries, and so we say that we share knowledge, help, and hope. And knowledge is easy to measure, right? So we sold that amount of books, or we donated that amount of books. And then help, you can see on the left top picture, I'm doing what we call eyeglass ministry. So we would go, for example, to a prison, and then do free eye tests, and then give away reading glasses. So help, we can measure. that amount of reading glasses or give away an amount of water filters. But hope is really, really hard to measure. And one time where I felt we shared hope was when we were in that Middle Eastern country. And we had port volunteers because everyone speak Arabic. So they would help us translating. And on our last day, there was this one guy who stood up. We had like a small farewell party for them. He stood up and if you know the culture in the Middle East, a man would never cry in public, you know, let alone let someone see them cry. And that guy was with tears in his eyes and he said, Growing up, my dream was that there would be no war, that there would be peace, that countries would live side by side. And when I saw you guys, like 350 people from 70 different countries, and you are living together, you're working together, and I can see that you love each other, and I can see that you are not pretending." He said, that is part of my dream becoming true. And that was for me, oh wow, we really do bring hope. And not because of who we are, but really because of the love of God in us. And I think that is one thing that Jesus said, that people will know that you actually belong to me when you genuinely love each other. And I think we can testify about him in various ways, through our words, our actions, and wherever we are. Maybe to the ends of the earth, but also maybe to our neighbors. And that's my encouragement to you. And maybe Rowena, if you can. Thank you, Lucinda. My name is Rowena, and I come from Malaysia. So this is just a map to show where exactly Malaysia is, quite far away from Northern Ireland. And we're consisting of two little islands of the east and of the west. And I am from the east island called Sabah, or more of the larger congregation called Borneo. And so I just want to share just a little bit about where I'm from. Quite different from the UK. We are quite multinational, quite multiracial. So on your right side, you would see that yeah, we have the Aboriginals in their costumes. We have the Malays and then I'm a Chinese and then also we have Indians and the majority of Malaysia is made of the Malays, which is on this side top. They're the Muslims, so about 67%. And then the middle pictures are actually of the capital city in the West side but on the east side where I'm from is very much like an island at the coastal regions and I grew up actually as a Buddhist so I would go to the temple with my family. We worship many gods carving idols and burn incense to appease the gods. And that was sort of the practice that I grew up in. And because in my country, all around me, there are so many different beliefs of Muslim, claiming they are the real God, and then the Hindus, and then the Buddhists, and then even the natives with the worship of the spirits. So I had a Question to God. I had a question to ask, what is the purpose of life? Why do we live? Why do we go through every day? At that time I was studying as a student. And then the end result after that was to be able to work in a good career. And then we die. And I question, okay, all of them say they're the same God, but God, if you're real, you can show yourself to me because you're God. You can do anything. Yeah, but if you're not real, then the life that I live and everybody would be meaningless and purposeless. The end result is death. And even from that young age, the enemy has sown in darkness in my mind to even have suicidal thoughts because if the end result is death, why not die first and reach the finish line first? But it was amazing that my friend at a young age of 12 invited me to a youth camp. They talk all about Jesus as if he's real. And they take this book of stories and they think that book is real. And I thought everyone's a little bit off their minds. But I kept going because they seemed to be so happy. They played games, they sing songs, and they're so joyous. And at one session of singing, they started to share why they sing. They say they're worshiping God, that He's present, that He's real. And so then I had, at that moment, started to cry, and I saw vision, bright vision, Something like this. I could not see his face, but I saw white robes, bare feet, and I started trembling and crying, and I knew in my heart this was Jesus showing himself to me, that he is real. And just like in Isaiah 6, verse 1 to 8, when the prophet Isaiah had the vision of God sitting on the throne, and his temple, and the train of his robe is filled, it fills the temple with his glory, and he could only bow down and be reminded of how sinful he is. And I could only respond in that way. And from then onwards, I said to God, my life is yours to use. And exactly also with Prophet Isaiah, the angel had to cleanse his lips. And then the next step is that God said, whom shall I send? And then began my journey of just knowing who this God is, who is this Jesus, what is this Bible? And learning that throughout the whole Bible, if you read from the first page to the end, there's a common theme of God just wanting people to be drawn back to a relationship with him. There was Noah's Ark where he destroys everybody, but it's really because they were far from him, and he wants the people that he created to be close to him, to be back to him. And that's why he said, whom shall I send? And Isaiah's response is, here I am, send me. And that is to draw people back to Him. And so I end up going through the years trying to be a good Christian, but with so much longing in my heart. And after that, God led me to go into medical school. I became a doctor, and I have been working for eight years then, and I asked God for What do you want me to do? Surely there's more to life than just going every day to work and coming back, and I wanted to do more for God. He then showed me Lagos Hope. It was from a sermon that my pastor had preached about, that the world teaches you to live I mean, enjoy yourself as much as possible. But the Word of God says, love your God with all your heart, all your strength, all your soul and your mind. And she just said that this is ship, and it goes around doing missions, and if you're a professional worker or you have skills to contribute, you can go on a steership. So, God gave me a lot of signs before I could have the courage to go on board. It was then in Africa, in Kenya, and I never dreamed and never thought about going to Africa, being so far away. in Asia, but he made it possible, and there I was for six months. It was completely volunteer basis. I left my job and left all the comforts in Malaysia, and we love our food. I told God that I did ask you what you want me to do, and I told you that my life is yours to use. So I hopped on. And so these are just snippets of things that we do on board. That's a drill. He's not really sick or anything. We just have to practice safety on board. And just like what Lucinda shared, there are 65 different nationalities on board, and everyone we met was from a different culture, different background, different upbringing, and yet you can hear these stories of how God transformed their lives and called them to come and serve. And it just showed me also how alive our God is and how at work he is. And so for five days a week in the ship, we have different roles to play. Maybe for Lucinda was in the book fair, for me was in the clinic and there are engineers. the galley team in the kitchen. And yeah, the angels, we call them, they do housekeeping. And yeah, so that's part of what the ship is. And I'll just share snippets of when we do Connect Day, when we go out for ministry. And I'll zoom into when our ship was in Angola, a part in Africa. So this is Angola. They speak mainly Portuguese. So this is the road that we had to walk for almost 20 minutes to church. In that road, you could see already children begging for food, brokenness, yeah, just poverty, and we reached this church, and we found out that it was actually, that day they gathered three different churches together to be, yeah, we were planning to do a Bible study, And we then found out that in that whole three churches together, maybe 30 people, there was only four Bibles, Portuguese Bibles. So everyone had to gather around like this to share one Bible. And they were so hungry, and there was such a big need for God's word, yeah, in this land. And part of what OM does is, after that, we found out that Lawrence, someone who works with OM, had managed to raise up money to be able to purchase some Bibles in Portuguese and give them. But this is part of what we do when we partner with ministries on land, and we go to them. Another story was in Zimbabwe. I had the privilege to go there for a land mission for three weeks. And here, this is Clara. She's from Germany. And we were preparing food. That's sadza, or pup. They're cornflour, makes it sort of like their bread every day that they eat. So it was us preparing food for the homeless, but we also got to prepare a special little interactive thing with them, and then also share testimony. So they're another. A friend, his name is John, shared the word of God. I shared my testimony as well, like what I shared here. And all these men, yeah, they were homeless. They probably had their lives destroyed by drug addiction and things like that. And on that day, all of them stood up to receive Jesus into their hearts, and so sealed their eternity. And even after that, there was a lady that came later. She had struggled with drug addiction and alcohol, and I got to have a personal time to just minister and talk to her. and just, yeah, pray over her. And that's sort of the beautiful thing that we get to be a part of when we go around with the ship. And what a privilege, yeah, that God had called me to be part of this because then later on, I had got it called me to just step aside from the medical work and focus more on the ministry. And so that is sort of what we were doing on board. And thank you so much for listening. And yeah, I know that you are actively involved to help in OM. And we really appreciate prayers as we go around doing this. And I'll just pass my time to Dale now. Yeah. Thank you. And Rowena and Lucinda won't be rushing off this evening. They'll be joining for tea and coffee. Please chat away to them, ask them questions. They've enjoyed the hospitality of Northern Ireland for the last week. They've been well fed. They're going back home with a wheat and bread and tail cheese and onion crisps, so they're well prepped. with the good food. And yeah, I just want to quickly add, one thing I wanted to add was, since starting in OM, the amount of people that you hear their story, the amount of the people working throughout the world, and even myself, I didn't grow up in a Christian home, and it all started with one invite. One person said, come to a youth event, come to a prayer meeting, come to church on Sunday, come to the nativity, come to, It didn't start with sharing the gospel, it started with a simple invite. And that's all it takes sometimes. So as a church, I know you'll have events this Christmas. Maybe there's somebody you've been trying to reach for a very, very long time. And maybe they're just expert at closing the door and keeping you from being able to share. Maybe they know all the tricks in the book to make sure they don't have to hear the gospel. Maybe saying the words, do you want to come see the kids do the nativity? Do you want to come to church on Christmas morning? You never know what's going to happen. And you know what? The likelihood is somebody might, out of politeness, go, OK. You've been on at me for enough years, I'll come along, why not this time? Just quickly then before I read, obviously with the ship visit coming to the UK next year, that is of great expense. We are a charity, we run off donations and we've launched this new scheme of, could you buy us a cup of coffee? once a month. So not once a week, just once a month. Just buy us a cup of coffee at five pound. I thought that was quite expensive for a cup of coffee. I only drink black coffee. And I said to my wife, that's quite expensive. And I learned that her coffee is actually six pound. I was like, for a cup of coffee? So we don't go for coffee as much anymore. But that's £5 a month, £60 a year, and you should be surprised how far that will go in getting the ship here and being able to put on loads of different events throughout the weeks and months ahead. Just helping us as an office get that ship here and facilitate it moving forward. If that's something you'd like to do, there should be a QR code. There you go, we're very modern these days, we've got the QR codes, scan away or you can ask us at the end, we can give you a contact card for somebody to reach out. But the big announcement, I did announce it last time and I have to apologise because the date's changed. We have confirmed these dates will not change, it's absolutely confirmed 100%. that the Logos Hope will be in Belfast for three weeks next year, starting on the 1st of October and running to the 21st, and we want to see you on board, come along, spend time on it, get involved. If you want to volunteer, brilliant, that would be fantastic, give some of your time to be involved in some of the ministries that go on. If you just want to come and see what's happening and take that tour and that journey, have a cup of coffee, spend time in the bookstore, or if you've got four or five friends that you think, you know what, I can't get them to come to church but taking them aboard a ship, that might sound like something different to try, invite them along. But please come and spend time. We want everybody to come and experience it. There's going to be loads of activities on board. Every Sunday there'll be different services, there'll be cultural days, there'll be so many events on and we can't wait to have so many people from Northern Ireland come on board, see what we're doing. Either to get you to come and serve with us or to bring people off the ship to come and serve in your community or whatever it is, but we want you to come along and see. And do you know what, when we leave tonight and it's minus two, maybe the idea of serving the ship for two years in Africa and the Caribbean doesn't sound like a bad one. So as much as maybe the people from the ship are praying for lovely, good summer weather in October next year, I'm hoping it rains and it snows every day. So when you're on the ship, you go, yeah, where are you going next? You might come aboard and serve as well. So if you'd like to turn with your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 40, I'm going to read tonight's passage just before Rodney comes and preaches. And just while you're turning, I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you for having us again back, and thank you for the lunch this afternoon from the Oars. And we look forward to chatting to you afterwards. We'll not be in a rush to head off. Rowena and Nascinder are staying with the Oars, so if you want them here until 11 o'clock at night, Please, you can keep them as long as you want. Rodney just gave me a dirty look there, so we'll make it half ten. We'll make it half ten. So let's turn to the Word of God. I'm reading from Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 18. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness will you compare to him? The workman molds an image, the goldsmith spreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution, choose a tree that will not rot. seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth. And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretch out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stalk take root in the earth, when he will also bow on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble. To whom then will you liken me, or to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things. Who brings out their host by number? He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power. Not one is missing. Who do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by God. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, never faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young shall not utter fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not be faint. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. It's so good to hear of the ship. It's good to hear stories and I will encourage each one of you to bombard them with questions. Oh yes. We like questions. In the time we have left, I just want to just bring out a few thoughts on this passage. It's a very well-known passage, and truth is told, while it's one of my favorite passages, it's one I've wrestled over, thinking, do I really have to preach this one? because it's one everybody knows. I'm sure you can think of many different sermons, but it's right. And if you've heard everything that's been said, even all the stuff that's been sung, this should speak very clear to each and every one of us. But let us just pray. Lord, we just ask that you would open up our hearts and open up our ears that we may hear you tonight. We thank you for all that's been said. We wanna thank you for all that you have demonstrated to us, how you can take people from all walks, all backgrounds, change their lives and bring them into your kingdom and bring them into your service. And we just wanna pray that you'll continue to speak to us and challenge us, bring us deeper and closer to you. So just open up this word, we pray, amen. The interesting thing is, this is one of the passages I was gonna talk on in one of our up-and-coming series, because you know me and series, I like series, and I was gonna look at the questions in Scripture. And while this is Isaiah, this would have probably got us through to summer or something if we started in January. There's a lot of questions, but this is one of them in this passage. And just very quickly, I want us to think about the question is this, in verse 18, to whom will you compare God. To whom will you compare God? Now, the interesting thing about this passage is it's such a simple, clear passage. There's God and there's idols. That's it, in this passage. That's the comparison, God or idols. It talks about if you're poor and you don't have any idols, you pick a tree that won't rot, you cut it down, you bring it to a craftsman, he'll craft it into an idol. Sometimes they talk about putting silver or gold over it, and then that's your God. You see this all throughout the Old Testament. And so here in this passage is a very simple comparison, God or idol. say what the idol is, it doesn't necessarily give a name of a particular Old Testament deity, it just says idol. Which I find is fascinating, because the question then comes to me is, is there anything in my life that is an idol? Now, you're probably assuming or waiting for that question, but that is very, that's just a very simple equation, to whom will you compare God? God or an idol? Who do you think, in whatever way your life is working out, has more sway? The God of the Bible or the idol that you've placed over your life? The interesting thing here is, and I had a quick look at this this afternoon, is this. There's two Hebrew words for the word compare. When it says, to whom will you compare me, or to compare God, there's two Hebrew words that are being used. And I think it's very important, and especially when we've heard about missions, we're challenged about the ship coming, we just heard about lives being changed, and I'm sure if you're a follower of Christ, you too have a testimony of how your life has been changed. But the two Hebrew words about compare mean this, is that something is of equal or more value than God. That's one aspect. So in your life, when it says, to whom will you compare God? What this scripture is actually asking is in your life, in my life, is there something of equal or more value than God? In fact, that's the question that God asks. Is there something in your life that's of equal value or more value than him? Who has more sway in your life? What has more pull in your life? What bias do you have? What is of equal value or more value than God? What brings a deeper purpose and fulfillment What brings that deeper purpose and fulfillment? Some of the things in my life, you know me, I'm very simple in some ways. I have two simple joys in life beyond my family, and that is drinking coffee and telling people about Jesus. So I'm really happy, you know what I mean? Especially over the past couple of weeks, being stuck on a boat with 2,499 people. I had a fantastic time. What brings you purpose in life? What brings you fulfillment in life? Is it the follow God, serve God, or this other thing that is an idol? Again, remember, I'm not saying what it is, because Scripture doesn't necessarily say which deity it is, it just says an idol. So to whom do you compare God? Who is of equal or more value in your life or in my life than God? Another word that can be used is to liken or compare. Who are you trying to say is like God? Who do you say, you know, that's very similar to God? And you try and bring a comparison, like or compare. We need to understand that God is very simply saying here, very simply saying, there's no one like me. There's no one like the living God. If you have been coming to the Bible studies or you've been listening to them online, we've just gone through Daniel chapter two where Daniel says, no one can do what the king is asking, but there is a God in heaven. There is a God in heaven who can reveal mysteries. There's no one like God. You can't compare Him to anything else. He has no equal. He can't be compared. And so I think the reality of this passage is very, very simple. To whom will you compare God? Who are you gonna try and liken Him to? Who are you gonna try and compare Him to? Is there something of equal worth or value to Him in your life that you think is bringing you purpose or meaning? That's what this passage asks. So what idol compares to God? And I love his answer, it's very, very simple. His evidence is so simple. God, he goes, okay, you wanna compare me to this idol? Okay, quick question, who created everything? Was it them or me? And you have to go, well, God, you did. So then they're not like me then. See how simple it is? Another question, for us who have been through the New Testament, we've met Christ face to face, we have that living relationship with him, we can say, God could say, who else has led down their life, conquered death and walked out alive? What other God? You have to say, no other God, only you. So the answer comes back to who will you compare me? Who else has done what God has done, created everything out of nothing? Who has formed everything, given everything purpose and meaning? Who, when things have gone astray, he broke into time and space, he led down his life for them, and he walked out of the tomb alive, physically alive. What other God has said he's coming back again? And so I think this is a wonderful picture here when God says, to whom will you compare me? Who is of equal worth or value? And we have to say, given the evidence that God gives, given the fact that in this hyper-religious setting, and while it may be a bit different to this time, while it may be a bit different to the 8th century BC, It's still a very religious time that we live in. Everybody's worshiping something. Everybody's following something or someone. Everybody's obeying someone or something. Everybody is following the morals or ethics of someone or something. And God says, if it's not me, you're not following right. God is truth. God is light. God is love. To whom will you compare God? Who is His equal? And we have to say, no one. That's why, you know, when I was looking at that, I was thinking of the Philippines, the mission trip in the Philippines. Looking at that, I think of all the years on OM, and I think of my friends who still serve in missions. I think of all the outreaches that go on. If it wasn't for God, why do we do what we do? Because there's nothing like Him, and everybody needs to hear about a God who can forgive. Forgive to the uttermost. So who would you compare him to? Who is of equal value? And we have to say no one. No one's of equal value. Only God is God. And I love verse 21. He says, do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? So three things here. Do you not know? Do you not know? Do you not know about God? Do you not know that God is the creator? Do you not know that God came and died? He broke into time and space, walked this earth, he died, he rose again. Do you not know that he's coming back again? If you're saying to me no, please come and speak to me afterwards. I've got a Bible I want to give you because it's in that book. It's there. for all to read and all to see and all to study and to know. Do you not know? Do you not engage your thought process and go, you know, this makes sense, I can see how this works. Please, love the Lord your God with all your mind. To be a Christian does not mean we disconnect our brains on the way into church. God wants us to think things through. Do you not know? Do you not have that personal experience with God? Do you not know? Another way he goes on, he says, have you not heard? Have you not heard? The problem with our world is we're too We're too isolated, we're too individualistic. We want to keep everybody at a distance unless it's something that we want to talk about and then we might talk to one person. Have you not heard? Have you not come into contact? In this day and age we have more options than any other generation on the face of this planet to hear the good news. You just have to switch on social media, you can get it if you want. Have you not heard? Do you not spend time talking with people about God, about the kingdom, about the things of scripture? Have you not heard? God is a God who loves to communicate, and he will communicate through all manner of ways, dreams, visions, the word of God, the person next to you. Take a look at the person next to you, on your right or on your left. Go on, have a quick look. Because that could be the person that God could use to speak to you right now. Because God still communicates, and he uses people, and he uses dreams, and he uses visions, and he uses his word. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? That's an interesting phrase, but what it means is, has the whole story not been told to you? to you, how a God creates, and even before He creates, He's got the redemption plan in place, how God creates, how man sinned, how God has worked, and how God has redeemed through His Son, Jesus Christ. Has it not been told you from the beginning? So, to whom will you compare God? Who is His equal? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? The gospel. right from the beginning, have you not heard? Then he repeats it very quick. He says, to whom will you compare me or who is my equal, says the Holy One. And I love the way he says, Holy One. There's no one holy except God, and no one is his equal. I don't wanna spend a lot of time on this, but again, he goes back on to verse 28, and he says, Do you not know? He comes back to this phrase, do you not know? And part of knowing is not just a mental thing, and this is where I wanna develop this thought a bit more. It's not just knowing as in a head knowledge, knowing as in life knowledge. Do you not know? What is your experience of God, your life experience of God? What is your daily experience of God? Is there stuff in your life that you come up against and you think, oh, I don't know if God can? Well, when you find out that God can, you should know a bit more. Do you not know? Head knowledge, life knowledge, our experience where we talk about God in a real vibrant personal sense, do you not know? And so this wonderful passage is a great, great declaration of the greatness of our God, the goodness of our God, the separation, if you want to put it, that there's none like him. He is God above all gods. Other gods pale in the insignificance when you meet the real God. Do you not know? Have you not heard? And here's, again, verse 28, says, he will not grow tired or get weary. He will not grow tired or weary. Youths do. I can remember when I was a youth, just about. Boy, I still remember I could get tired when I was young. Who can get tired now? Anybody get tired now? Here's the reality. God won't get tired. He won't get weary. And not just physically weary, but emotionally weary, heavy laden. God won't be like that. God is God. He is the one who will help us. He is the one that can help. We will soar on wings like eagles if we trust in this God, this God above all gods. As I come to an end, I want to point out three things very quick, and notice it. Notice what they say. They shall soar. They shall run. They shall walk. Not that they might, or they hope they will, but they shall. There's a definite. And here is the greatest thing, and we've had this picture before, and with this I want to close. The picture here of soaring on wings like eagles. Eagles don't fight when they fly. I don't know if you've ever seen eagles fly. They ride the air currents. They're majestic birds. They don't flap and flap and flap. They're not like some wild seagull trying to fly. They soar majestic on the wind current. And it says, those who trust in the Lord will soar. They will soar. We're not to flap about aimlessly, but if we trust in the Lord, if we rest in Him, the one who is incomparable, who can't be compared to anything, who can't be of, there's no value equal to Him. He is the most. Then we trust in Him, we will soar on wings like eagles. He will lift us up and we will soar effortlessly. We will run. We shall run and not grow weary. We will walk and not faint. We will keep going no matter what the situation. We will persevere no matter what the situation because our God is the one true God. So as I finish, the question is this, to whom will you compare God? Who is his equal for you? To whom in your life, if there's anything else, if there's anyone else that you think is of equal value or worth compared to God, then perhaps you need to repent of that. Anything or anyone, because there's no one like our God. No one, and I speak to myself on this, if anything is creeping into the place of God, then that thing or that person is an idol. Christ says, follow me, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And we become fishers of men, not because we're great at speaking, or great at apologetics, or great at preaching, we become fishers of men because people look at you and me and they go, you have something I want. Because we know, we have heard, we've heard it from the beginning, and we hold fast to our God being the one true God. and we will follow him no matter what the situation. So as we close, I want you to think about this. Please consider the question, to whom will you compare me and who is my equal? Says the Lord. Answer it for yourself. Is God God in your life? Or is there something else you're trying to squeeze in? Only when God is King, is Lord, will we know true freedom. Will we know what it is to be able to soar. Even in the midst of difficulties, we will soar. Because God will, He will hold us up. He will raise us up. He will help us. because God is not an idol, God is creator and redeemer. Amen. We're gonna finish with our final hymn, which is, have you any room for Jesus? ♪ Pray for Jesus, even for that lowly slave ♪ ♪ As he knocks at last the gate of heaven's gate ♪ ♪ Look for Jesus' name of glory ♪ ♪ Face to mouth His word obey ♪ ♪ Change your heart so I may obey ♪ ♪ Lift it and turn it by His way ♪ God, a place that he can call home. ♪ Face Him now, His word obey ♪ ♪ Slay no hostile by the oath ♪ ♪ Give Him answer while you may ♪ ♪ Have you any life for Jesus ♪ Oh, today it's time and said. Tomorrow you may fall in pain. Room for Jesus, King of glory. Why do they do as I'm not here to see? Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Let us just pray. Lord, we want to thank you that we worship you, the one who is incomparable. Lord, you know our hearts, you know our minds. We may hide them from people around us, but we can never hide them from you. And that question, looms large over each and every one of us. To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal? Lord, thank you for all that we've heard this evening about missions, Lord, the testimonies and how you've changed lives. Lord, that challenge about how you can take anyone from any background, no matter what profession as well, and you can bring them into your kingdom to share your gospel. Lord, may all that has been shared this evening bear fruit within our lives for your glory and for your honor. Amen.