We live in a crazy, chaotic and confusing world. I mean, if you were God, how would you keep a track of it all? Would you even bother? And when it comes to the little problems, even the big problems, in the lives of people like you and me, well, where would you find the time and the energy to deal with those? I'm so excited to be with you again today. Here we are at the end of another week. I don't know about your week but mine's been pretty busy. In fact you look around at all of the things that are going on in our own lives, the kind of wider community and globally; six and a half billion people, and it just seems like utter chaos. I was in India just one year ago (where a billion of those people live) and the crowds and the poverty and the chaos, they were kind of sad and exciting and mind-blowing all at the same time. I mean if you were God how would you cope with all of that? You and I can't because we're not God. We're flat out coping with our little corner of the world, right? We see the high-profile prominent people in the world, and somehow we get this idea, well, God would notice them but not me, not in all this chaos and noise. God would notice Billy Graham or the Pope, or George Bush or Bono, but not me. What do you think? When you ask people a question like that you discover that there are two ways of knowing the answer. One is in our head. One means that we can recite the answer; one means that we can even argue it. Maybe I can quote the scripture verse that say no, no, that's not true, God notices all of us. I can know that in my head. The other way of knowing it, is in our hearts. If you know it in your heart you live by it. If you know it in your heart it makes a difference to the way you see the world. Well what about you? If I asked you, does God notice and care about and help little people like you and me, what would you answer? Would you know it in your head or would you know it in your heart? There's plenty of people who know the answer in their heads but far fewer who know it in their hearts. Well if God is God, of course He notices each individual, of course He cares, that's one way of knowing it. But do you know in your heart that it's true of God and you? When fear comes your way, when adversity comes your way, when uncertainty comes your way, when disappointment comes your way, does something in your heart go, "It's okay because God is in this place with me?" Is there a quiet, beautiful voice breathing into your spirit saying, "I love you, don't be afraid, I love you, don't be afraid?" If so, you know it in your heart, if not, you don't. Jesus knew but we need to know in our hearts that God knows what's going on in our lives, that God cares about what's going on in our lives, that God can cope with what's going on in our lives, that God is not surprised with what is going on in our lives. Jesus knew we needed to know that stuff. He was talking to some of his followers and He was saying, "Listen don't be afraid. When I go, things are going to get tough. People are going to try and kill you and they might harm you. Don't be afraid of those people". And I'm sure the people He was talking to said to themselves, "Well Jesus that's easy for you to say, you seem to be able to do all these amazing miracles. It's really easy for you to say but what about us?" I wonder what those same people thought when they saw Jesus hanging on the cross? And He said: Look think of it this way, look at these two sparrows, what are they worth? What do you reckon, a penny, that's what they sell in the market for, right? Yet not even one, not one of them will fall to the ground without God knowing about it, and without God being in control, not a one. 'So', said Jesus, 'in God's eyes what are you worth? More than these two sparrows you think?' Well, people answered, of course we're worth more than that. Jesus said, 'Absolutely you are. He even knows how many hairs you have on your head. Even the hairs you have on your head are counted by God, so stop worrying.' (Matthew 10: 26-31) Now this is more than a metaphor. Do you know how many hairs you have on your head? I got to tell you, I don't. Maybe you're lucky and you're bald and you can tell exactly how many hairs you've got on you head. But I'm not and I wouldn't have a clue. God does though. God knows every detail of your life and mine – how many hairs we have on our head, the things were good at, the things were not, the things were scared of, the things inside of us that need healing, the challenges, the fears, the hopes, the dreams, the adversity. God knows each one and He knows it better than we do. Isn't that exciting? Doesn't that make your heart go, nothing in my life is hidden from God. God doesn't miss a thing. God has an eye for detail that we cannot begin to imagine. I love how Jesus talks in pictures. I love it when He talks about these two sparrows, and you look at two sparrows and you know if God is God, I have to be worth to God than two sparrows. And then He says: If these two sparrows drop from the sky, if just one of them dropped, God would be in control, God would notice, God wouldn't miss a thing. How much more are you worth to God? Don't be afraid. God just doesn't hang around with superstars, God hangs around with you. Whenever it's tough, whenever it's scary, whenever people come against you, whenever there's a battle, God sees that. God is in that place, in the middle of that. God knows who we are and what we need better than we do. Jesus said of Himself, "If you want to know what God's like look at me because I'm Him." So when you read in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and those four gospel accounts, the historical records of Jesus, and you see Him touching the leper, you see Him standing up for the prostitute, you see Him protecting the woman caught in adultery, you see Him healing the sick. You know what He's saying when He's loving those little people? "This is what I'm like; this is how I care for little people." He didn't hang around with the religious leaders. He didn't hang around with the political leaders, He hung around with the little people. Have you ever read one of those gospels beginning to end? Matthew or Mark or Luke or John? I dare you. It's about a two to three-hour read to read one of them from beginning to end, and I dare you to read about Him. And when you see Him doing that stuff He's saying to you and me, here and now two thousand years on, on the other side of the world: This is what God's like. This is what I'm like. Come to me because you are worth so much more than the sparrows, than the mountains, than the oceans, than the seas and the whole plant and the whole galaxy. You're worth more than all of the stars in the universe to me. I know what's going on in your life, I care, I want to be a part of that with you. I believe God wants us to know that in our hearts today. You, today, here and now, do you know, have you heard? Have you heard him whisper in your life, "I love you so much?" No matter who you are, what you've done, what life has done to you, how good, how bad, how happy, how sad, how wonderful, how horrible you are and your life is, today – here and now, God wants you to know something in your heart. Not only does He love you, not only did He send Jesus to die for you, He knows everything happening in your life and mine. He wants to be a player. He wants to help. He wants to love. He wants to heal. He wants us to have peace when we have no right to have peace. He wants us to have hope when we have no right to have hope. He wants us to have joy when we have no right to have joy. He wants you and me to know that in our heart. And my prayer for you is that right now God's Holy Spirit will drop that truth into your heart for ever and ever and ever.

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