Sunday Service 15th February 2026 | A Message With Regional Leader Paul Hudson

[Music] So much, amazing. We're not having a great time this morning. What I love about this church, you're ready? What I love about this church is everything is just amazing, isn't it? I mean, the worst, it was full of energy and it was wonderful. And then we have this, and I just check to make sure that I don't put my size eights in it, but they are married. This married couple come and do, where are they? Where are they? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And do these great, these notices and everything's just amazing. I mean, go to some churches and the notices are so boring. I mean, listen, believe me, they're so boring. Like, you know, we just drift off into some other place in the ether, but not here. Like, it's wonderful. Mark, because of the comments you made. I think you're. I think, if you don't mind me saying this, I think you're my favourite person in BCC. [Applause] I just. I'm not embarrassed to say, but I think we've got something going here. You know me, you know. It's like. [Laughs] I just want to say, Mark, nobody has said that before. You know, I've been here quite a few weeks, you know, preaching, but nobody has given me such great accolade like that. They're really, really appreciate it, Mark. Mark, I'll be looking at you during the sermon, and. [Laughter] And I really feel God's got a word for you today, and. [Laughter] I just think he's going to prosper your life. You know, I. I just think that what's ahead of you is greater than what's behind you, you know. It's like, you know. If I get any more words, Mark, if I get any more words during this sermon, I might just turn to you and just say, you know, is that okay? Is that all right? Is that okay? That's great. Do you know. Do you know, Mark? Mark is a great, great person in BCC. Do you know him? It's something to be with you again. I've just come back from Kenya. [Applause] Kenya. [Applause] Does that mean anything to anybody? Not my arm waving, I mean this. Does that mean anything to anybody? Is really Kenyans here? I mean, this is your flag, man. Come on, yay! [Applause] Okay, so I survived Kenya. And this is. This is just a really important moment for me, because I've just loved journeying with BCC, with the elders, with you, as a church, as an incredible church. And I'm excited that next Saturday, we're going to be suited and booted. Come all, Posh. Okay? Come Posh next Saturday for the induction. No, you can wear jeans, but not. No, a hole's in them. You know, I don't understand these young people. What is that all about? What's going on here, you know, with. If you've got holes in your jeans today, come and see me after, which you need prayer. God wants to blake. Mark, you've not got holes, have you? No. So we're going to just have a great time next Saturday, because we inducted. We inducted in Pastor Mike as a senior pastor in the church, and Pastor Becky, she's ordained, and she's going to be working alongside him as one of the pastors in the church. She's just wonderful. And I'm not saying this just because I have to. I'm saying it because I want to, is that. I believe that God has got great. I do believe that God has got great things for you in the future, you individually and corporately. It's my last message before. Did that go out online or right? I don't know if you. Can you guys at the back there, do you know how people are listening really properly at home? Because I don't want that to be missed, you know? Basically, if you're at home listening, like loads of people in here went, "Oh, they were really upset as a few people crying down here." Mark is terrified, he's closed, he's just. He's beyond himself, but it's been a joy. It's been a privilege and a highlight for me. And at the start of the year, I felt the Holy Spirit. He's not done this before, really. I can't remember, but if he did, but at the start of the year, he just told me to go on a journey of preaching and teaching about the altar every time, wherever it's for. Even when I was in Kenya, I was preaching about the altar. And wherever I am this year, I'm going to be preaching about the altar. And so that's what I've been doing this year. And also in preparation for Pastor Mike and Becky coming, I believe that God was challenging me to believe and to invite for a hundred new volunteers to sign up to say, "I want to be used in whatever capacity I want to serve my church that I come to." I remember the first Sunday, I did that. It was the first Sunday of the year. And someone came to me, met me in the car park and said, "I've been here for 19 years and today I've signed up to serve in BCC." You know, you may be in this church for a long period of time, but I appeal to you that please visit the info point after this service gets straight down there and sign up and become involved in this church. Amen. And after this morning's service, we now only need nine people. Nine people. Now, do you want me to wait for a prophetic word over nine people? Shall I point nine people out? But those nine people, so you're here in this, you have to be here in this second service. And I'm going to, you know, like if we get 98 or 99, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. So get yourself down there. We need a hundred people signed up. I understand that behind the scenes is all a bit of panic going on and we've got to mobilize these people. And I love that. I love to cause panic. So please sign up. Go to the info point. Right. So back to the altar. We've, I've been, I've preached here about Abraham's three altars. And we're going to look at his fourth altar. It's his final altar. It's, he probably did a lot more altars than the four that's recorded in the Bible. But we're looking at the fourth altar of Abraham. It's the ultimate one. It's the, it's the big one. It's the uncomfortable one. It's the one that causes tough reading. It's challenging. It's like, we have to tread carefully. There's a lot of things about this fourth altar that are confusing. And so we, it's almost like we, we're walking into a territory that we really don't know about, but it challenges us. And the theme of the Bible, if you could put a theme of the Bible, the theme of the Bible is the altar. In the Old Testament, it seems like you just turn a page and there's someone else building an altar. And it's just beautiful, beautiful stories. But it, it heralds, it proclaims, it prophesies of the ultimate altar of all altars. And that's in the New Testament. The, the second part of the Bible where, where we see that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And that God came himself. And where in the first part of the Bible, man was building altars as a place of worship, place of surrender. It was the world that built the altar for God to come. And they wanted to get rid of God. They didn't realize that actually the altar is the supreme, the supreme power of God. They didn't understand that in our weakness we are strong. They didn't, they don't understand the reverse table of the Kingdom of God. And the understanding that actually what looks death, what looks weak, or what looks defeated actually is turns out to be the most victorious act of God that he has ever done in the world. And that it's the cross of Jesus Christ, that man built a cross. And God came and laid upon that cross and sacrificed his life for you and for me. And for the whole world that whoever stands alongside that and aligns themselves with that altar, with that altar of Christ will find freedom, will find life, will find forgiveness of this life, and will move into a new season. Can anybody say amen with me? The altar of God. I wonder this morning, is there anything that you would not give? If I had a word of knowledge, if I had a message that pinpointed something specific about your life that God wanted, would you respond and say, "God, you can have everything, but you can't have that." Because I want to talk to you about this altar that is so demanding, that it's shocking. And sometimes we're so acclimatised to the cross of Christ. We saw familiar with the gospel story, that we lose the shock of that message. Well, we go generations beforehand and we're going to read this story. So join with me in Genesis chapter 22. I'm going to pause at some points and maybe stress some lines, just as I reminded to myself really, so that when I'm speaking, it's a refresher to make sure I turn to that in my thoughts as I'm speaking with you today. This is some time later. Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham, here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, go to the region of Mariah, sacrifice him there, as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you." Early that next morning, Abraham got up, loaded his donkey, he took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. And when he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place that God told him about. And on the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance and he said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you. We're going to worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac and he himself carried the fire in the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father, "Abraham, father, yes my son." The fire in the wood here, Isaac said, "But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" And Abraham answered, "God Himself will provide." God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. The two of them went on together and when they reached the place that God had told him about, "Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it." And then he bound his son Isaac, and he laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and he took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him and said, "Abraham, Abraham, here I am. Do not lay a hand on the boy." He said, "Don't do anything to him. Now I know, now I know that you feel God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns and he went over and he took the ram and he sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide him to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." The angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declare the Lord that because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son. Surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sun on the sea shore and your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies. And through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me." And in Abraham, he returned to his servants and together they set off to go home to be a sheba and he stayed there in be a sheba. This is a story which leads me asking a question, "God, why would you do this?" God, if this is a test, it's a horrible one. If this story is true which I believe it is, then surely it's more, there's something else than just. Then just simply, God trying to tell Abraham that I'm not like all the other gods that your culture worships, like the Kerenites who history tells us that they would sacrifice wicked sacrifices of children, the abuse of children. And all in worship of some foreign, some pathetic, some godless god called Molec. The horror of the story is only sanitized because of the presence of God in the story. The horror of your story that you can't work out is only survivable because God is there. Your world, like I'm doing with the text, your world will look at your story and maybe have many questions and be shocked and horrified by the things that were done to you or that you were involved in and you did yourself. All the things that happened in the story of your family that is questioned marked and all you can say is that God was in that story. It's a beautiful thing within the story that talks about the angel of the Lord and we read over it so quickly that the angel of the Lord cried out Abraham. And at the most crucial point, Abraham, Abraham says it twice such as the urgency as Abraham's got the knife in his hand. Here I am. It's the angel of the Lord and throughout the whole of the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord is a theophany, it's a description of the manifestation of the Son of God who comes in form on earth and his description is the angel of the Lord. Isn't that amazing that the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God Christ who would come in the form of Jesus and lay his life down upon the altar is involved in this altar story with Abraham. And I want to tell you my friends, if you are in this place of this final altar where God is asking for your everything and your surrender and all of your life, then he knows what he's asking about. He knows what it involves. He knows it's a tough call. He knows it's going to take courage for you to surrender and give up every part of your life so that God is the God of your life. He knows what he's talking about. He knows the question. He's asking you why because he surrendered himself in the form of Jesus and gave up everything for you and hearing this story. He was there with Abraham, the angel of the Lord, very much involved and God wants to be involved in your story too. Are you with me? We had the announcement about the offering. Church has been taking offerings for years and in the early church there was an offering where there were a couple married couple who didn't make it home. You'll make it home, don't worry. But people were selling homes and there was a massive fundraiser for the ministry and the kingdom of what was happening and people were selling their homes and land and selling things. They would give things, get the proceeds and it's not absolutely clear where there was no expectation I don't believe that they in the selling of homes and land that they had to give everything. There was no expectation on that but there was an expectation that you didn't say you gave everything but didn't. You didn't say, "Well, Sapphire, is this everything?" Yes, it's everything. Are you sure? Yes, it's everything. Do you remember the story? I wonder how many prayers we prayed when we said to God, "God, I surrender all." God, you can have everything. But you and I maybe remember the moments when not that Lord, don't touch that. That's mine. I was reading a story of a missionary, American missionary. In 2004, March 15th, she died. She was one of a team, Southern Baptist, a denomination and they were in Iraq and their vehicle was set upon and she died. She was 38 years of age, never made it back home. But before she left, she wrote in her journal and her pastor read parts of this journal out at her funeral and what she wrote was this. I wasn't called to a place. I was called to a person. Orbedience was my objective. Suffering was my expectation. His glory was my reward and his glory is my reward. She used a poem. She didn't write it. She used a poem. This was read out at her funeral too. The poem goes like this. "Care more than what people think is wise." I'm asking you BCC, if this can be yours, if this can be your declaration. "Care more than what people think is wise." Risk more than what people think is safe. Dream more than what people think is practical. Expect more than what people think is possible. Are you all in today? Are you all in? This story calls for radical availability. What I love about this church is your worship. It's so energetic, it's so alive, it's beautiful, it's wonderful. I wonder how many people still go home after such amazing times with God and they're still carrying things back home with them that actually should have been laid here at the altar. There are altars you see where only you know what's changed, nobody else does, you can convince a lot of people of what's happened but only you know what's changed. Radical availability is this firstly being able to quickly respond with "here I am." It's interesting to me that the words written were simply this, that "sum time later." It means that things have happened in Abraham's life, that's not being recorded, some of the things were recorded, but not everything's recorded. One time later I came to Christ when I was eight years of age, then throughout my teens I kept coming back to Christ as I understood what sin was and understood the temptations of the world. Then I got into my 20s and I had to come back to the altar to respond to the call of God in my life and then I got into my 30s and I had to come back to the altar for my family and my children and my situation which I'll talk about in a moment if I remember. And in my fourth decade, in my fourth decade I had to come back to the altar because God called me to the nations of the world and in my fifth decade I hit that many question marks over the last 10 years of my life in so many ways I've had to come back to the altar, and sometime later throughout all those decades and now you're thinking, "Well, I thought he was only 40." Hold on, did you just say, "I know what you're thinking, I'm looking very young." And it's the moisturiser, I can recommend a nivier, some of this message is sponsored by nivier. Some of you may could do with it, to be honest, they're not you mark your God, you'll be fine. So I'm not interested in what's happened in your life with God and maybe when you were a teenager you were in church and you were giving your life to God or maybe in your 20s and 30s. I want to know where you are right now, the age that you're in right now, sometime later, can God call your name? Can God call your name and what will be your response? Will it be as quick as it's ever been? Will it be here I am? I'm ready, I'm available, take me, use me, I surrender my life to you. Or will you say, "Well God, thank you for calling on me, but listen, I've got a few things I need to just do first." I just complicate it and you know, and thank you for suggesting that I may lay my life down before you, but I'd rather not. Or is it like, I'll give you one hand raised, I'll partially surrender. Sometime later Abraham was ready. I don't know how you, I don't know how that applies to you, but sometime later Abraham said, "Here I am." And then the three powerful words that you can say when it's sunny, can you say it when it's rainy? You can say it when nothing's been axed of you, but you can say it when you're in the place of deep confusion at the place where life and death, the place where your prayers may not be answered, the place where there's confusion. Here I am. I remember the times in my life when I, there was an old song, there's an old song called "Here I am." And I sang that and I've been really, it's been beautifully, it's been wonderful moments, but then there's been moments when I've been really, really confused and to say, "Here I am, at that moment, am I available when it's so confusing?" And in this story we're seeing, not only is he's radical availability, but we see that Abraham, it seems to be confident through it all. He's confident that he's going to return with Isaac. He's confident that God will provide, even as he puts the wood together, maybe looking out for where is this ram, but I'm putting the wood together, and he takes all the vise because he's been obedient, you see. Because that's what God said to him, even though he's confusing, even though he doesn't make sense at all, he takes all the vise that don't worry, I think it's okay. I'm believing that God's going to provide, just go with it. I'm trusting God. I'm laying you on the fire, what you're doing, I'm putting you on the altar, don't like the fire. Okay, okay, I'm laying you on the wood, I'm laying you on the wood right now. I don't want to get off, I want to get off, no, no, no, what I'm going to do, son, I'm going to tie you. Why are you tying me? Why are you tying me, Father? Well, God's going to provide, don't worry, don't worry. God's going to provide, I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking, and they still know, and they're still confusion. And so he has to go to the last minute of the 11th hour, he's going to be obedient, but surely God's going to step in. Surely, and he picks up the knife. And then there's a sound. There's a sound from heaven. Why? Because sometime previous, sometime previous, in the whole of his life, he's trained himself to listen to the voice of God. He said, "Here I am on a number of occasions. You don't know what situation you're going to be in when you hear a sound from heaven that calls your name, and you're going to have to respond very quickly. Abraham, here I am." Don't do it. Few. See that ram? Oh, last minute, that was close. That was close. Now I know. Now I know. I know you fear me. God, I don't understand why I went through all of that. But now I know. You know. See, the greatest altars are the ones where you build, when you're confused. The easiest altars are the ones that you build when everything's great. It's perfect. Couldn't get any better. But when you don't know what's going on in your life and your questioning, and you're trying to be obedient, and you're trying to do the right thing, but things have gone the way that you never thought they were going to go, and you really, really are confused what's happening. God, I thought this was a promise, and I thought when I was in Bible College, when I was in my 20s, I was 24. I went to a pastor's church on the South Coast. I did that. I was there for about 10 days. Something happened to me. That was really, really strange. During that time, I stayed in the pastor's house, and this pastor had twin girls. And one morning, I remember having this real deep sense. Just like one of those. I didn't hear an audible voice, but I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew that although there was no twins in my family, no twins in my phone. All the way down, generations. And there was no twins in my wife's family, all the way through the generations. No twins. I just had this really strong impression that God was promising me that, Paul, you're going to have twins. So I fought my wife because I thought she better know. I said, darling, great news. We're going to have twins. Well, actually, you're going to have twins. I'm going to play a part. And she said, what? I said, yeah, it's going to be great. It's going to be awesome. It's a promise. I'm holding on to it. Well, we've got no twins in our family. I know, I know. And there's no twins in your family. I know, I know, but I believe. So get ready. I'm coming home. Oh, just for a moment there, I thought it was a men's conference. But our ladies president, really in. If my wife was here, she'd be, she'd be looking at me saying, calm, Paul, calm. So I held on to that promise. And we've got two children that both pastors and we're blessed. And I actually thought, well, actually, I wanted them to go on and learn loads of money. But that's that's for another message. And so, you know, my wife, she miscarried on on the first baby and then Daniel was born. No twins. And then we miscarried. She miscarried again. Who knows that when we miss when when when when why is Miss Carrie and when we miss Carrie, we know that our babies are in heaven, Amen. Amen. Is anybody knows this? Yeah, Amen. And but still not twins and and then Greeda fell again and was pregnant again and and she was having some difficulties. So we went back to the doctors and took a scan and everything and and then a few weeks later eventually we go back to doctors and the doctor said, good news. And some bad news and the good news is remember I'm holding on to the promise God has given me and the good news is that you've got a lovely baby that's very very healthy. And the bad news is that there's another baby that's died and and we came out of that came out of that season. And that's when I learned about building an altar when it doesn't make sense. God why would God tease me like that? Why would God test me like that? Why I'd rather you not have told me why would you do that God? Are you just a horrible God? Why would you do that? I had to learn that there are lots of things in your life in my life. There's a lot of things that happen in life that eternity will tell you. And you look back from eternity and you go, God that was a grace. Thank you. Things are difficult to understand but the call is to build an altar even when you've got tears in your eyes. And even when you've got question marks. Knowing that God is still God knowing that he is still on the throne knowing that my confidence is in him even though I don't know what's going on here. But I will be obedient and I will keep going and I will do what God calls me to do even and despite what may happen. And I don't know what you're going through and I don't know what's been part of your life and what your situation is. But there is a call for your everything. There is a call to surrender all that you have who you are so that you won't hold anything back but you will bring even the promises that maybe perhaps you think are not fulfilled. Even things that are question marks on your experiences but you will bring and you'll surrender everything to God. There is something about Mount Mariah, there is something about this altar that comes out of a surrendered heart where nothing is held back. Even your anger, even your disappointment, you lay that down also. Everything that you don't understand God. I lay that down also. I build an altar and I'm worried and I'm anxious and I'm concerned about what's taking place. But God, I surrender all. I give my all to you because you are God. I'm not God. You're the great I am. I'm just here. I am. You understand and know all things. I don't know anything right now. But I do know one thing is that what I can do is that I can kneel down and I can surrender my life to you. I can do this. I can do this. Some of you this morning the Holy Spirit is calling you to do that. And then what happens is that we just see that they just get up and they just return to the servants. They just return. They just return home. They just go home. There's no dialogue. There's no conversation that we know of. There must have been but there's nothing recorded. And you see there's some altars where you come away from church and you just go home. You just go back to your job tomorrow. You just go back into the routine of your life. And it's difficult to know what happened to church today. I'm struggling to put into words. What's God doing in your life? You're going to the altar and you've surrendered everything and you find it hard to put into words what you just experienced. The words are not flowing but what has changed is you. Abraham was never the same again after that and you are never the same again because you have given your everything at that moment in this time of your life when you are however old you are. I come to you God and I surrender my everything. And it's not about your talk. It's about your walk. It's about how you're going to walk back to your job and your home. It's about how you live your life with your friends and neighbors. You think changes because today, this moment in time, in your life at the age that you're at, you have said to God, I surrender all. I give you everything. And if you want this, if you want my promise, you can have my promise. If I have to trust you for everything, then I trust you for everything. And I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet right now and I'm going to ask you to come to the front and kneel down or stand. This becomes holy ground. Holy Spirit, this is more than a room. This is more than a carpet. This, this, Lord God, you can change this place. You can change this atmosphere. This can be Mount Mariah. This can be Calvary. This can be a moment of deep surrender. As I call the people of BCC in my last call as the preacher here this year, the God that you will bring them to the front to build an altar, to lay their life down, to surrender all to you. Nothing held back. Nothing held back. Even give you the question marks and the confusion of wondering why did this happen? What was taking place? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. But one thing I know is that God, you are the provider of my life. Come, come, don't start playing games with your own mind. Come and join these people here at the front. I'm going to give you another moment, an opportunity to don't think about the person you're standing with. Don't think about, well, I came to the front a few months ago, a few weeks ago. I'm calling you right now. I'm appealing to you right now that the Holy Spirit is calling you by name. He knows you. He knows you and he wants you and he wants you to build an altar of surrender, of a willingness to sacrifice your life, to lay your life down for Jesus Christ and He will take you and He will lift you and He will bless you and He will open the door for you and He will open a pathway for you. Heaven will open over your life just as He did for Abraham and His descendants so He will be for you and your family as you come. So come now, come now, come now, come now. Even as I'm speaking, you're thinking shall I come? Yes, God, there's room for you here. There is an altar being built here. There's a place for you here right now as men and women. Men and women are gathered here at the front and I'm asking you here at the front where you start to pray. Here I am. Here I am. Just start to pray. Three powerful words. Here I come, come, come. You need to come, come. You want to come, come. If you're hearing, if you're hearing the call that's residing in your heart, don't wait any longer, don't wait any longer. This is, this is the moment. This is your time. This is the building of this final altar of surrender before this church moves into a new season and a new chapter. And today, today is your day with God. Come. So many here. There's so many at the front here. There's so many here. She tore out of it. Thank you, Jesus. Here I am. Here I am. We're just going to give time for these people at the front. There's things, there's conversation that they're having with God is giving over. Giving over. God is taking you. Holy Spirit, reshape, refashion. Don't let them walk away from here unchanged. Do a deep, deep, deep, deep work in their heart and their life. Lord, they're emptying themselves. They're emptying. They're letting go. They're releasing every experience. There are people. There are names that are being released to you right now. Burden's have been laid down. Families have been laid down. So just continue. We're going to sing that song, the rest of the church. Just while people are still, don't move. Don't need to move. Just have your time with God at this altar place. We're going to invite everybody to sing these words. All to Jesus, I surrender. They'll come up on the screen. If you don't know, it's a very, very old hymn. Don't rush. Don't rush this moment. All to Jesus, I surrender all to Him I freely in. I will never love and trust in me His presence daily. I surrender all to Him I bless and save and I surrender all. All to Jesus, I surrender all the adieu's we tie by. Worldly pleasures all forsaken, take me Jesus, take me now. I say this prayer with me just as we come to this end of this service. Say this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, the one who gave everything for me, the one who led on the ultimate altar for me. I now come to you. I bring everything, myself, family, my promises that you've given me. I bring my health and my sickness. I bring my wealth and my wants. I let go. In obedience, I let go. At this time of my life, I let go. You have it all. And I'm going to walk from this place, free, lighter. I may not have the words, but you've changed me. I carry the altar in my heart. This quietness in my heart is an experience that I've had with you. And it is the strength of my life. And I go into my day and into this week. I have changed. Let people see Jesus in me. And bring glory to your name. Amen.