And before I get started I thought I would take the opportunity um to pray for us and I just want to say to the room the hills room this morning if I don't look around the room today as I normally would and engage with each of your beautiful faces it's because I'm looking more at the camera because we're linked today but that does not mean my heart is not looking at all of you so I just wanted to say that because I'm the Biggest connector so I would love to pray for us as we're linked
today right across Australia um it's a hugest honor it's a very special Sunday we've actually never done a Sunday like this where we focus only uh well since I've been here I'll say that since where we focus only on Australia and what God has for us here in this beautiful Nation so we're going to take a moment and I feel really honored so whatever location you're in today I wonder if you would Lift up your hands and at a Hills location would you lift up your hands to the Lord because he is Lord of all
and we're going to um commit all that we're going to do this coming year to him we're going to commit Our Lives to him we're going to commit where he takes us and father today we thank you for our beautiful Church lord it's your church and Lord there's nothing like it Lord we where we can come and we can gather and we can worship and we can lift up the Name of Jesus and we can pray for one another and laugh together and encourage one another and father today as we put a few words out
there into the atmosphere Lord I pray that you would take them and Lord every single one of them would accomplish what you intend and Lord as a church across Australia this year we would bear great fruit and fruit that will remain fruit beyond what we could even imagine God because you are the god of Ephesians 3:20 The God Who was able To do exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ask think or imagine so Lord we commit this word to you we commit um our day to you we commit our church to you and we commit
our Year to you have your way in and through Us in jesus' name and a faith fill Church set together amen you guys are amazing you can take your seats make sure you're happy with who you are sitting next to and huge thank you to our worship teams here and in all of our Locations well this morning church I'm going to get straight into it because we don't have long and as you know we have a lot to say always but I do want to say it is an incredible um privilege to be able to
link across our Australian church today those of you that don't know we are in 28 locations across Australia so come on how amazing is that and what I wanted to do what I wanted to do this morning I want to give a shout out to every single one of our locations So are you ready 28 locations here we go we are linked this morning and we could not be happier to our Hills location y amen we are linked to our Hills Chinese service that is happening in the chapel huge shout out to you we are
linked this morning to our Northern beaches location we are linked to our mcari location and our Northshore location this morning huge shout out to you and we are linked this morning to Our Bondi location and we are linked to our city location both Alexandria and waterl this morning and we are linked to our inner West location and we are linked to our Central West Sydney location and we are linked to our greater Western Sydney location and we are linked to our Southwest there is a lot of wests in our locations and we are linked this
morning to our Woolen gong location we're linked to our Newcastle Location we're linked to um villawood Detention Center this morning so come on huge shout out to all of you we are linked to Darwin this morning a huge shout out to everyone in Darwin we're linked to Sunshine Coast new and Sunshine Coast South this morning we are linked to our Brisbane Central location we are linked to our Brisbane Downtown location we are linked to our greater Springfield location we are linked to our go co central location we Are linked to Melbourne City Melbourne East Melbourne
West Melbourne greater West what's happened to Melbourne North I think in the future we'll link to Melbourne North then we are linked to jalong and then we are linked to our Hobart location and then last but definitely not least we are linked to everybody in our Hillsong Church in Perth so huge shout out to all of you how amazing is that when you hear the breadth of it you realize um did I Say Hobart I did yes you realize the breadth of what we actually get to be a part of and I just want to
say today we have 28 location pastors right across Australia and we want to honor you today we want to thank you for all the work that you do you guys are amazing and we will pray we will pray for you but we also want to honor our staff our whole staff teams right across Australia our our volunteers our leaders and you know what our very very faithful Church and so we honor you today and you know what yes give everybody a hands amazing I feel like we have a very amazing church and I'm really um
blessed to be a part of it and so today last week we um we joined together for our Global Mission and today we thought how good it would be just to take a moment and to focus and hone in a little bit more on our nation the nation of Australia this beautiful nation that you And I um love with all of our hearts and you and I are committed to this nation and more than us been committed to it God is committed to it so we're going to hone in on Australia and we're going to
speak a little bit around what I believe God is speaking to us our hearts about this great nation of Australia amen um so together we're going to take another step of Faith to impact this great land and I want to start by saying three statements today three statements That I believe with all of my heart church we are called to build a church that is going to build a nation when I was a young girl I felt like God say to me Psalm Psalm chapter 2 I felt like he say l sinder ask of me
and I will give you the Nations and I feel like he's prompting our hearts again not to stop asking and it won't just be our church that impacts I know we're going to be joined and accompanied by a host of incredible churches right across this Land and together as we unify in heart and spirit we are going to build a church that is going to build a nation and you know what he is Lord he is Lord of the whole earth even in my quiet time today in Psalm 97 I read this the Lord is
King let the Earth Rejoice the Lord is King let the Earth Rejoice so church I just want to make that statement to us today that we are going to build a church that is going to build a nation if the second statement I Want to say is if we are going to build a church that is going to build a nation I believe we need to be 100% committed to impacting the cities and the communities where God has planted us and that is what we're doing in 28 different locations today we're doing our very best
to impact the city and the community where God has put us and the third statement I would like to say this is we believe that a nation and a city are transformed when the people Are transformed and do you know Phil spoke about this last week it's about who we are becoming and do you know what as you and I are transformed then we can transform others and so the journey looks a little bit like this there is a picture going to come up on the screen behind me but do you know if we impact
Australia if we impact the nation of Australia I believe our cities and our communities are going to be impacted and Then in turn the people are going to be transformed but do know what church could go the other way if we impact the people and people are transformed and people's lives are truly transformed with the goodness of God then I believe that we actually change a city and a nation and so it can go either way Nation City people people city nation it doesn't matter which way you take it we're believing that this year we're
going to build a church that is going to Build a nation and we're committed to the transformation Journey do you know what every single day I go from glory to glory I am not um I am not I have not arrived yet and you know what I'm glad because you also haven't arrived and so you know what we do we do this journey together we build a church to build a nation and we transform and we see God transform our lives together so we're believing in 2025 it will be a transformational year In our lives
and in the lives of those around us here and in all of our locations and so before this morning we share some of our Pathways and some of our Focus areas I want to share a short word with you which I actually feel I actually feel is it okay to say I feel God gave me this word I felt like God gave it to me and he gave it to me like I wasn't I wasn't even planning this word I wasn't sitting down to go I'm planning now for this Sunday it was a Few weeks
ago and I felt like God dropped this into my heart for our church and it's simple but I believe it's profound it's simple but I believe it's hard to live but hey we're all up for that so all of us have a part to play every single one of us has a part to play in this great build a church to build a nation story all of us have a big big part to play in building a church that's going to um build a nation I said that all of us have a part to Play
in this transformation journey and so the scripture I would love to read to us today is in Romans 12: 1 and 2 I have two verses today it's a miracle Romans 121 and two and it says there this therefore is everybody listening it's amazing therefore I urge you Hillsong church right across Australia I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy And pleasing to to God this is our true and our proper worship do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind and then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good his pleasing and his perfect will and everybody said amen if you can put that scripture up on my monitor at verse one because what I want to say to church today look me in the eyes Romans 12 was written after Romans 1:11 so because of Romans 1:11 they write Romans 12 and Romans 1:11 is this big and this amazing story and it's a big and amazing story of this it's a big and amazing story
about our sin but it's a big and amazing story about God's grace and it's a big and amazing story about Christ's sacrifice and it's a big And an amazing story about the spirit's power so Romans 1-11 it's a it it's about this it's about our sin it's about God's grace it's about his sacrifice and it's about the spirit's power did you hear that our sin God's grace his sacrifice the spirit's power and then he writes Romans 12 and he says in light of all that he says Therefore I urge you Church to present your bodies
as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable in some versions your reasonable act of worship your proper act of worship not being transformed to this world but being transformed by not conformed but transformed by the renewing of our mind and so three things I would love to um or I actually want to say this church I want to say this therefore because of all of this he Teaches us how we should live and I want to put on the screen this qu this passage today from Romans chapter 12 Ro about
Romans Romans isn't just about getting to heaven but Romans is about being transformed in the here and now living in the fullness of God's Will and reflecting his glory to the world around us and that is what you and I are called to this coming year in jesus' name so number one what would I like to Say about this number one is I believe to take another step to see a nation transformed to take another step for transformation in us to see transformation in others I believe it's number one about sacrifice just put it big
and bold in your notes it's about sacrifice I believe um it is about sacrifice and I remember when I first got my driver's license and many many of you may have heard me share this story where do you Go when you get your driver's license the shopping center that's right no I did get my driver's license and I did go to the shopping center but after the shopping center I came back and I went to a lookout and I remember sitting at this Lookout and I felt like the Lord whispered to me this Lucinda will
you give me everything and I remember saying back to the Lord yes Lord I'll give you everything and I felt he him ask me Again no listen will you give me everything and as I stopped and pondered that question would I give him everything I realized that he was asking me would I prep be prepared to sacrifice anything to follow him and do you know what as he asked me that when I was 18 I believe he's asking me at again today and I believe he's asking you again today will you give him everything because
I believe church that it is Sacrifice that actually will make the difference in the world around us and in Matthew 16: 24-2 it says this and then Jesus says to his disciples if any of you wants to be a follower um you must give up your own way and take up your cross and follow me if you try to hang on to your life you'll lose it but if you give up your life for my sake or If you deny your If you deny yourself you will save it and you know the word deny there
it actually means give up Your own interests for the interest of something that is greater and I feel like that is what we're doing as a church this year we're giving up some of our own interests so that we can follow the interests of Eternity and I do believe that the key way we do this is through sacrifice if you look in the Bible so many of these incredible Legends of Faith were all about sacrifice you think about Abraham Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son But God intervened which was amazing but because of his
willingness he actually became know as a father of faith and his faith his willingness and his faith his sacrifice has changed the world for all time and then it says now that all the nations of the world are blessed because of him and then you have the um Legend Moses and Moses was willing to sacrifice his excuses and because he sacrificed his excuses he was able to lead Millions to Deliverance and then you have the story of Ruth and Ruth was willing to um sacrifice she was willing to sacrifice her own future to follow her
mother-in-law and because of that she received back more than she could even imagine and then you have the beautiful Widow the Widow which is known as a Widow's might and she was willing to sacrifice everything that she had and because of it her generosity is been Preached about all around the world for the rest of her life and then you have the sacrifice of Mary Mary sacrificed her reputation Mary sacrificed her own plan and Mary sacrificed her convenience and what did she carry she carried salvation to the Earth and then church we have Jesus Christ
Our ultimate sacrifice and because Jesus gave his life for you and for me do you know what today we can know forgiveness we can know Salvation We can walk in the light we can find Freedom and answers and truth and hope and deliverance and eternal life because of one man's sacrifice and so my question to us today Hillsong Church Australia what would you be willing to sacrifice this year in order to take another step it's just a question to put in your notes and Ponder in the week because I feel like God is going to
stir every heart in the room And every room that we're in today and maybe you got a sacrifice to get up a little bit earlier this year so you can commit to some time in quiet before the Lord or maybe you're going to sacrifice a little bit extra time in the word of God this year or maybe you're going to sacrifice a little bit you've prayed for 10 15 minutes you're going to go a little bit longer this year or maybe you're going to sacrifice and you're going to step up in church and start to
Serve and get involved I'm sure there's over 30 to 40 areas between midweek and weekend that everybody can serve in but I wonder what God is going to prompt in your heart maybe you're going to sew a seed that you've never sewn this year but I feel like together if it's this corporate God I'm committed to sacrifice for you I believe something very special will happen in jesus' name number two he says I want us to be a Living Sacrifice and then he says holy And pleasing unto God everyone say holy H you know that
word actually means this it means to be set apart set apart and do you know I remember when I was in grade 12 when I was heading to um our schoolies week back in the day many many years ago I'm getting the bus up to school this week and I remember God prompting me saying will you um live different to the others this week and I remember thinking oh I'm going to make My school friends so M because they're going to go clubbing every night and they're going to do different things like this and I'm
going to say I'm not going to be a part of it but you know I remember back in the day saying that guys I'm just not going to come out with you at night but I'm going to have the best time in the day and we're going to hang out and go to the beach it's going to be amazing but I remember it was a beginning for me of a defining moment to Say what whatever it takes wherever I am and whoever I'm with I'm set apart and do you know what's set apart it means
like you're exclusively here is you don't belong to anyone else but you belong to him and I just feel to say to our church WIll you in 2025 will you not conform but will you be transformed will you not blend in but will you commit to standing out we are Never going to be a perfect sacrifice or perfectly set apart but we can be a pleasing sacrifice and pleasingly set apart and church I recently went to the bush and um very very rare to find this but we found a chameleon it's going to come up
on the screen very hard to find as you can imagine it looks big on his arm but it's small but can you look at the grass behind it the minute the ranger puts this Cameleon back in the grass what's it going to Do it's going to blend in and nobody's going to know it's there and you won't be able to see it and do you know what I want to say to us that is not what you're called to every person in this room you're not called to conform you're called to transform you're not called
to blend in you're called to stand out you're called to be a city on a hill a light that cannot be hidden and so church I wonder if we could become exclusively his this year And it says in 1 Peter 2:9 says but you church are a chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation God's special possession that you may declare his praises the Praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light your chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation set apart unto God I wonder church this year if
we will say God I'm prepared to be set apart I'm prepared to be exclusively his this coming year so my question is will You be exclusively his will you set your life apart for one person and one person only this year and his name is Jesus so Church number one we're going to I believe to take another step to transform a nation I believe number one it's about sacrifice and number two it's about setting your life apart and number three and my final point this morning it is about spirit-led thinking he says the beautiful scripture
Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind what is that that is Spirit Le thinking and just a handful of weeks ago our Hills location Jesse Murray shared an incredible word and he said this we've got to come out of worldly thinking and into Kingdom thinking he said we've got to come out from the opinions of others and we've got to live for the audience of one and then he said we've got to Come out of thinking small and we've got to start dreaming big again
and everybody said amen and church I believe that with all of my heart I believe God God is calling us to dream big again he's calling us to come out and have an audience of one and he's calling us to not have worldly thinking but of Kingdom thinking in Isaiah 55 it says my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways cuz my thoughts Are way higher and my thoughts are way bigger and so Church my question to us today is this would you align yourself to his word this year would
you align yourself to the encouragement of each other in the faith this year would you align yourself to listening to the spirit would you align yourself to elevating your thinking this year because church I believe with all of my heart if we are going to build a church to build a nation if we're going to be Transformed and see others transformed I believe it's going to take sacrifice I believe it's going to take the people of God who will set their life apart and I believe it's going to be people who are committed to spirit-led
thinking and I wonder church if you would do that with me this coming year because I believe as we do we'll continue to build a church to build a nation and everybody said amen amen that is my word for today sacrifice set apart and spirit-led Thinking I'm going to invite some of our key support team now we have a whole key support team but obviously for the sake of time it would not be possible to hear from everybody but today I want to as they come we're going to put a couple of stools up here
give them a hand as they come I will introduce them just now I will introduce them in one moment but church just as they take their seats um you can look at me I want to remind Us of our vision as a church we are a healthy Church changing lives through Christ and I love that it's simple and yet it is profound we want to be healthy not perfect but healthy we're all about changing lives and it's all going to happen through Jesus Christ that is our vision but we actually have three Mission pillars that
we are 100% committed to and our three Mission pillars are these we want to keep developing purpose-filled Jesus Followers followers who know their purpose and getting to know Jesus better we actually want to be all about building healthy Church communities right across Australia and the third thing third mission pillar is we are all about um social significant social impact right across our country and so we're going to take a moment and talk about four areas they all fit into these Mission pillars and I hope they're going to encourage you today so I'm going to Hand
over now to our head of discipleship and her name is Katie Shrek Katie is such a profound it is a privilege to work with you you're a profound and you're a very Mighty woman and I'm grateful to do the journey with you so over to Katie thank you why don't we actually give lucenda a a round of applause and thank her for that word that was definitely profound Lucinda and thank you for sharing the heart of God honestly all right church it's amazing To be with you today and uh as lucenda shared I'll be focusing
around purpose filled Jesus followers and I want to start by sharing something that I learned uh last year and that was actually in 2023 the World Health Organization uh declared a new epidemic oo it's actually reaching the entire Globe um every part of the earth is actually facing this right now and it's an epidemic of loneliness now in 2025 we have more Access and tools to create community and connection we have technology we have all these different formats and different ways of bringing people together yet uh we can sense around us that people are feeling
more disconnected than ever before they're looking for artificial Harmony artificial uh connection and for me that goes that's a a opposing thing for us to think about it's scary for us to think about what that actually Looks like in Acts 2 we learn all about the early church and what it looked like for Community for them and they would Gather in homes they would come together they would share everything they were generous towards each other and they were authentic with each other they showed vulnerability with each other what I love is when we read in
Acts 2 it actually is the most beautiful picture of our three Mission pillars that's now I want us to think about what would it Look like in our community in our world if each of us were committed to becoming more like these acts 2 people what could it look like our our community they're longing for real connection with Jesus being at the very center of who we are and what we are about we actually can bring connection we can help people who are feeling isolated lonely and connected and and disconnected and actually help them find
their place so in 2025 we want to Continue to build these uh spaces of belonging through our connect groups discipleship to Jesus is at its most beautiful in community and connect groups has been and will continue to be something that is vital to who we are as a church it's a great way for every single person to gather together to grow and then to go into all of their different spheres of life whether that's in their workplace or their Community their school um a great way for us to Ultimately fulfill the Great Commission and so
this year we have faith for more connect groups to start in every location across Australia yes we're also believing for more people to raise their hand when it comes comes to either hosting or leading a connect group uh many people are still searching for a group and so we're really praying and believing that our church will be able to uh take another step when it comes to Leading or hosting a connect Group in their home the goal is not just for uh content to be delivered but for deep connection to take place for this transformation
that Lucinda is talking about to happen in every single individual and and so for you I want you to think about that for you what is maybe your next step when it comes to connect groups maybe it is joining a group or maybe it is you just exploring what it looks like to lead or host we actually all can have a Place to belong and we all can have another seat at the table for someone to join in all right the second thing I want to share today and I'm really excited about this one is
that today we are launching what is uh I'm going to call it Hill song Australia says discipleship Essentials and um I'm very excited about this one why don't we turn our eyes to the screen for a short little [Music] Video our desire is that what you he won't just be informational but it'll be transformational we want to say to you let's follow Jesus together hi we're going to be your host for this six-part conversation around discipleship let's look at the subject growing in Holiness to follow Jesus then requires a heart response we are called to
work together as the body of Christ to bring transformation he is a God who desires to be known by us so let's talk about This idea of bringing Heaven to Earth a little bit more [Music] here we [Applause] [Music] go so Hill song discipleship Essentials it is a six-part conversation to really uh help our church when it comes to understanding what is discipleship uh in these videos it is talking through the different questions that we may have Around what is discipleship uh what does it look like for you and me why does it matter and
specifically what does it look like for us here in Hillsong church and you know this is actually just another tool in the toolbox when it comes to following Jesus together uh Hillsong discipleship Essentials is for every single person in our church um and we're really believing that connect groups will be able to take this on board over the next few months and be Able to have a time of discussion with each other the goal isn't just again content or it's not even a course it really is an invitation to conversation conversation connection and a great
place for us to explore what it means to be a purpose purp fill Jesus follower and so for us I want to put out the challenge uh if you are in a connect group maybe this is something that you can take on board um if you are not in a connect group that's okay grab a group Of friends and do this together um it's a great way you can pull everyone together have a great conversation whether that's in someone's Lounge room a park um a cafe it's designed in a way where anyone can pick it
up and run with it and um it's for those who are new to Faith but also those who have been walking with Jesus for decades we believe this is going to bless you as well all right one final thing I want to share today and that is uh actually I Want to celebrate a win from 2024 and that is the launch of our good news guide book which was amazing now we were able to launch this in our locations at the end of last year and it has been such an incredible journey to see the
response of our church and the good news guide book was designed for those who are making a decision to follow Jesus and our heart was not that we would um just say congratulations and off you go we Actually felt uh compelled as a church to help every individual who made that decision it's the best decision that someone can make actually help them understand what that decision is and set them up for their lifelong journey with Jesus and so it's incredible to see the response but we actually want to take it to the whole another level
and um we're looking at what that next phase is and ultimately what we want to do is mobilize our church for those who Actually feel uh called or prompted to help those who are on their uh initial stages of following Jesus um those who actually feel like it's something inside of them that want to Journey alongside those who have made a decision and so our goal is to mobilize those of you who are passionate about discipleship and in essence be like a guide to these people helping them Journey these uh first initial steps of following
Jesus and that could look like saving them a seat In church or grabbing a coffee after the service or it could even look like going with them to attend alpha or one of our night School courses or it could even look like going through the good news guide book with them discipleship is at its most beautiful in community and we are not called to do this alone so we really want to make sure that people have that ability to connect with someone on their Journey so oh that's good thank You we will um we'll be
working out what this looks like in every location this year but if that is something that God is prompting you to I encourage you to check out the good news guide book stand in your foyer um and maybe have a conversation and pray and just keep your ears out for how this is going to be rolled out across all of our locations so those three things real quickly we're believing for more connect groups and connect group leaders we're um excited About the discipleship Essentials praying that's going to bless our church and number three um really
coming alongside those who are new to Faith and helping them on their discipleship Journey I'm going to hand it back over to Lucinda amen come on give Katie a hand Katie that was amazing how awesome is that church the second area we're just giving it to you at church today because it's so good to know what some of the things are that are happening um The second area that we're entirely passionate about is our significant social impact and do you know what we believe this is not just an idea as a church we believe this
of course is the heart of God and even in my time this morning I did read this I feel like this morning was a a great morning in opening up the word but I did read um in the word today that righteousness and Justice are the foundation of his throne how amazing is that so significant Impact this is the foundation of God's throne and we want to give people a hand out but we also want to give people a hand up and we're believing in 2025 that this area of our church social impact and I
know I say it but we are believing it's going to get a lot of momentum a lot of traction and it is going to go to another level because I believe all of us can make a difference in the life of someone else as a church in Australia we've had three areas with social impact We've had our national um initiatives which you and I have been able to contribute to um education and Child Development and feeding hungry children in India how amazing is that and then we've also been able to contribute to our Hillsong Africa
foundation and like we saw last week The Innovation H Hub which is educating and giving um a whole generation of young Africans the um skills to step up and be empowered to go to another level in their life and then As a church and I'm very excited about this we've been able to support a program that I believe in with all of my heart it's called 180tc in our own backyard and this is a program that helps young men yeah you can give them a hand it helps young men find Freedom in Jesus Christ and
du this coming year we're also going to adopt a new partnership and we're going to be letting you know what that is it's in going to be in our own country of Australia and we're going to be outworking that with our church in the next few months but nationally we're committed to continuing to seow beyond our four walls and beyond our nation and also in our Nation amen the second arm of our social impact is actually our local and we are trusting in 2025 that every one of our 28 locations is going to take on
at least one social um impact project at least one social impact project that would mean at the minimum We're doing 28 which I actually think we're already doing this so I'm saying at least because I know there's going to be more but if you think about it that's already 28 um abilities to impact our cities and communities where God has planted us so nationally we're giving locally we're going to be continuing to develop and then we have our city care arm and our city care arm has um been doing incredible programs right across Australia in
places we wouldn't even Know about and even last year as a church we were able to partner with over 40 communities at Easter time and give out over 4,000 essential packs to people that are in need how amazing is that church and at Christmas we were able to partner with over 194 different Partnerships and give out over 7,000 um toys and food hampers to those that are challenged at Christmas time I think that's pretty Awesome and a local story that I heard and I have to give a shout out to Greater Springfield today because a
local story um City care has been running what we call Safe places and um greatest Springfield location has been going into local shopping centers setting up this is how simple it is setting up food drink and music and what that's enabled them to do is connect with young people who come in because who knows every young person wants food Drink and music and then they can connect with them but now the shopping center has said hey this is incredible this has actually seen crime diminish in the area and now the police have asked the church
if they would help with Pastor care needs in the city so I feel like these simple things are making a massive [Applause] difference and so Church my question to all of us is how can we love our Neighbor greater this coming year what can we do to reach out to those in need even like Courtney said last week at Global she's challenged not just to run a church that does social impact but to reach her neighbor and I pray that that would be all of our hearts and so we're committed to social impact in the
year ahead and everybody said amen amen and the third area and I'm going to hand over to Andrew midson in just one moment but you know at the beginning of the Year I felt like God um promp my heart with the scripture in Isaiah and it says sing Oh Baron um you who have never born a child burst into song and then it goes on and I believe this year we're committed to more beautiful songs than ever before songs that are going to connect people to the heart of God so we're 100% committed to that
and then it goes on in verse two and it says um it says enlarge the place of your tent and stretch out The T curtains wide do not hold back lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes and so church I'm announcing to our church in Australia Today we're talking now about healthy Church communities we've gone on to the third one I forgot about that purposeful Jesus followers significant sustainable social impact now purpose filled um now now he healthy church locations so I'm announcing to our church right across Australia we're calling it five in five Can
everyone say five in five we're believing in the next 5 years that we're going to launch five new locations across Australia come on Church we're going to continue as a church to take territory and I believe that is our mission I believe that is our mandate five in five five new locations in five years and I could not be more excited about that and um maybe we're going to do 10 in five who knows but the goal is five in five and I believe that God is With with us in this so I'm going to
hand over to Andrew he is head of one of our head of Campus support awesome thanks Linder uh I guess I stand up here on behalf of all of our campus pastors and uh our four heads of Campus just to talk for a moment about um Lucinda's phrase building a church that builds a nation and how that out works you know we believe that the church is God's mouthpiece through each cities and Communities around it it was God's plan in Matthew 16 it continues to be God's plan for us today I love in Ephesians how
it says this and this is not uh I'll read it from here it says this at the time at the center of it all all of this Christ rules the church the church you see is not peripheral to the world the world is peripheral to the church and the church is God's body in which he speaks and acts and uh you got to know this you're maybe in a Hills location But we've got a whole heap of other places positioned in cities that are saying God do remarkable things across the cities that they are in
and we want to share just a couple of stories today of things that are happening to stir our faith uh we're seeing some of our locations have experienced unbelievable growth across last year I think of our Southwest location that we literally have a challenge with the facility at the moment uh because it's full all the Services are full so we're actively planning around Innovative and strategic ways on how we can keep uh seeing our Southwest location move forward we've had uh number of our locations launch new Services I think of Northern beaches that's launched a
new service in the last few weeks and uh just honestly seeing God breathe upon that location in a unique way uh we spent a lot of time thinking strategically about where our locations were positioned and uh last Year we made a big move that's been official this year which is to move our Maryland's location into the wonderful uh area of Smithfield just a great pocket where we believe it is strategically positioned to reach that area uh We've named that campus now as a result Sydney Central West Jay wanted to call it Cumberland but we thought
that was too uh too much like a breakfast sausage um we've also seeing a number of Building projects that people have Faithfully given to our I think of our Hillsong City location that has gone through a foyer renovation uh which looks amazing but like Lucinda said as heads of Campus our focus is really on two key areas and that is facilities and church planting um you know permanent spaces they're actually so much more than just about having a building it's actually a way for us to things like youth programs Drop in spaces to reach our
communities around them uh beyond that I believe Matthew puts it so beautifully when it says the church is like a city on a hill and this gives us an opportunity just to plant stakes in the ground in communities it's not about buildings for buildings sake but it's about buildings helping us see cities uh being reach and transformed uh we've got a brave audacious goal as heads of Campus there are currently seven venues in Australia That are Sunday only venues that means the team arrive at 5 or 6 in the morning they bump into that location
and then then at the end of the Sunday they will pack the location down uh we're believing to see all of those venues in permanent spaces uh in this time uh Phil talked about if I could be so brave for a moment uh we got our faith Mission partner um Sunday's coming up uh sorry Gatherings coming up soon these are going to be an important and intrinsic Part of how we do that together uh we've actually got two buildings at the moment that we're currently working on one is in the Sydney greater west region with
Christina jury and uh we are in the stages of securing a DA for this facility so we genuinely love your prayers it's like the final step before you can begin in there and we're really believing it'll be a way for us to continue to take our church forward the second location we have a building Project at the moment is in our greater West in melbour uh under Peter and Sheridan there and we're actually expanding into the space next door and you've got to know this like the opening cannot come soon enough we are literally the
morning services are overflowing there uh but God's really doing amazing things growing in that space uh I remember a quote that I believe it's attributed to Phil that he originated and came up with which is this Society Goes great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in a Greek philosopher tried to take it off him but ladies and gentlemen we want to give credit where credit is due and it does lead me to think of many of the Great Cathedrals built throughout history there's a cathedral in England called The
Winchester Cathedral and The Story Goes that uh that the the architects who designed it the builders Who began it those who arranged the finances for it began a project knowing they would never see its finish and uh and believed it was for the generations yet to come I want to promise you on this we will hop up up our job as heads of campus and campus pastors is to hop up here every Sunday and tell you or every Mission Sunday we need more facilities because we will never have enough facilities because we will always be
seeing God's Church continue to move Forward which brings us to our second Focus which is church planting uh we do believe that there are cities where our church is not in yet that require us to go to and other churches as well uh but to see people transformed in those spaces we've been hard at work behind the scenes we've got a new campus Pastor development track that's for new campus passes coming through that we're rolling out this year we've got our College hubs in several locations we've got our College as well we've we've worked on
a plan behind the scenes that builds some of the learnings from our Rich history as a church but also uh just just believing what God's breathing upon us uh fresh today and we when we make a declaration of 5 in five you may think have they got a great plan well we've got a plan but beyond that we actually trust God and believe that he is going to by his Spirit continue to take us forward I think of Matthew 9:38 when Jesus says this the Harvest is plentiful the labor is a few I was praying
this morning thinking of John chapter 4 when Jesus said you have a saying it's four months until Harvest but I say lift up your eyes and see that the the fields are ripe for Harvest and I if I can say one thing for a moment there has never been a greater faith in all of our campus pastors to believe that God is on the move and we believing for Revival in our cities and I think that's our Challenge across Australia Today is simply that to lift up our eyes and believe you know what the Harvest
is plentiful and and you know maybe we have our timing in our agenda but God also when he breathes upon his church he is in the business of seeing remarkable and wonderful things happen in his name so we'd love for you to continue to join your faith with us keep praying uh keep being generous like we have been keep volunteering in church and uh and keep Believing that God wants to move across this wonderful Nation again I'm going to hand back over to Linda amen um our worship team can come and join us how amazing
was that church do you feel inspired I feel inspired and I'm sitting in this all the time and I'm ready to keep taking new Steps of Faith and you know the final um point I want to highlight today and um really could not be more excited about this and I'm It's the Next Generation and we're believing that the next generation is continuing going to continue to go from strength to strength and that is our kids ministry our kids church and that is our youth and that is our young adults come [Applause] on and I rang
our kids I rang our national kids leader this week and I said give me one thing that you're trusting God for and do you know what She said she said this is what we're believing God for this year we're believing to raise up young leaders 8 to 12 year olds who are going to have a heart develop a heart that knows how to serve and how to preach and how to sing and how to care and how to deeply love Jesus do you know when you send your kids to a kids church they're not just
hearing a clever little word they're actually having an investment that I believe is going to change them for the Rest of their life amen we couldn't be proud more proud of our kids teams and then we have our our youth team I could not be more proud yes all the young people said amen but you know what I rang our national kids oversight Sam green who's sitting down here and I said give me one thing that you're doing this year he said well we're in 44 we have 44 prayer rallies that are happening at high
schools and we're Believing by the end Of the year there's going to be 100 prayer rallies that are happening at high schools how amazing is that and then he said this and another amazing initiative is there is for 26 students in church in the Young leaders Academy that is from our church but then get this there's another 28 students who are not from our church who are in the young leaders Academy that makes it a total of 54 students that are getting trained up to Be leaders of the future and I'm believing that in 2025
that is going to continue to grow because we are committed to the youth and the um youth of this nation in jesus' name and the final one is our young adults and you know what any young adults in the room I just want to say we have a personal personal commitment to see the young adults get so on fire to be to be committed to sacrifice to be set apart and to um have spirit-led Thinking that I believe is going to set up and change the world and our young adults um they've had their summer
fests that they've had their camps this week this um year already and God has already done amazing things but um when I spoke to some of the leaders they said we're believe beling this year exactly what Andrew said we're going to run neighborhood nights and we're believing that young people are going to come um from all around different neighborhoods And we're going to start to see a harvest in the year ahead and so church I just want to declare the next generation is what we are committed to and I want to say this you might
think but I'm not that person well neither am I neither am I I'm way out of any of these age groups but I'm telling you I'm committed to it and you know how I can be committed to it is I can um show my faithfulness every week in our church you know your faithfulness is raising up A generation your faithfulness is leaving a legacy your faithfulness is bringing strength that you don't even know you're bringing your faithfulness is bringing belief in the generations to come and I just want to say what could you do you
could pray for them you can encourage them you could Mentor them you could just pour strength into them every time you see them maybe you could step up and become a leader in this age groups but I know together we're going To continue to be all about the next Generations for the Lord Jesus Christ and everybody set together amen I wonder Church while we're still link this morning I wonder if I could ask you that question would you in your heart today say to the Lord Jesus and committed in 2025 to whatever sacrifice is required
I wonder if you would say that I wonder if you'd say today I'm willing to be set apart this year to be Exclusively his not conforming but TR transforming and I wonder if this year you'd say I'm actually committed Lord to having spirit-led thinking not down here thinking crazy wild God thoughts I wonder if you'd say that church if you would do me a favor and lift your hand if that's you you you're saying it to the Lord and committed to this the sacrifice all in all of our locations the Sacrifice the set apart for
God I'm exclusively his that means some things have to like Robert said at the anointing service a Yes to God is a no to some things that might be a no to some things this year but it's all worth it I promise no regrets sacrifice set apart spirit-led thinking lift your hands all across our church every location father God you see us today and Lord I my hands are lifted and I commit father to honor you as best I can and to sacrifice to set my life apart for you and to have spirit-led thinking and
I pray that your great spirit of Grace would enable us for this that you would Empower us your church in Australia to go where we've never gone before and do what we've never done before and father I pray that the fruit that we bear this year will live on for all of eternity in the mighty name of Jesus and everybody said Together amen and amen Well church happy Mission Sunday Australia I'm going to hand back to all of our locations and they're going to talk to you about your faith journey and what you believe and
um so thank you for joining us this morning we love you and can't wait to see you soon and one final um prayer in this room I'd just love to talk to your own heart and if you say Lind if I'm honest I've come to church today and I'm really glad that I have Because this is a great room isn't it amazing bu I've come to church today but if I'm honest I'm not following god well do you know I think that's your next step that's your your step today or maybe you're here today and
if you're honest and I promise you you're amongst family everyone here believes in you everyone here is cheering you on in your walk forward but if you're honest maybe you say listend at one point I was following God but I've lost my way well you know what today is your day and this is your next step and so I'd love to pray for people like that if you s Cinder I want to open my heart to Jesus or I want to come back into a real relationship with him I'd love to pray for you today
and I wonder if you could close your eyes across this room and just take a moment and think about your own life and if you say listen to that me I want to open my Heart to Jesus or I want to come back into a real relationship with him would you lift your hand wherever you're standing I'm going to acknowledge it beautiful beautiful here and over there who else do pray for me up there that's amazing over here that's awesome who else does pray for me include me in that prayer I want to open my
heart to Jesus or come back into true relationship with him amen this is beautiful church just kind Of wave at me so I don't miss you awesome Amen over there that's amazing who else says pray for me include me in this prayer beautiful well done well done over there that's awesome it seems like such a simple thing thing to lift your hand but I believe it's significant this is beautiful church can we do something can we give every person who lifted up their hand a huge Ovation Amen and church what I would love to do
I'd love to lead us in a prayer it's a simple prayer but I believe it is a profound prayer and um I believe this prayer will change the rest of your life forever so let us say this together dear Lord jesuses today is my day today is my day of salvation of I open up my heart big and wide open up my heart wide and I ask you to come in I ask you to forgive everything in the past everything I ask you to wash me Clean today and I ask you to help me walk
forward with you I want to be a follower of Christ I want to be a Christian I want to follow you all the days of my life and I want to get to know you in a real and personal way I give you my life today Jesus now and always in jesus' name I pray amen amen come on can we give everybody who lifted up their hand a huge Ovation and as Katie as Katie's already spoken to us but on your way out there'll be some of our team and they'll be wearing this yellow lanyard
and they'll be holding up this um Good News Guide book it's a 21-day devotional because I believe that prayer is not the end it's the beginning of a whole new adventure of serving the lord and so I wonder if you could receive this and have a chat to them and they want to help you get started um in walking your Faith journey together um your they would love to help you get started in walking out your faith journey in Jesus name and everybody said amen
