Jesus as the Burden Bearer — an Anzac Sunday sermon at Rivers Apostolic Centre
Andrew Zimmerman delivers a guest sermon at Rivers Apostolic Centre on Anzac Day weekend, weaving together themes of sacrifice, burden-bearing, and the shoulders of Jesus.
Summary
Andrew Zimmerman delivers a guest sermon at Rivers Apostolic Centre on Anzac Day weekend, with Associate Pastor Rory opening the service. The service includes communion, testimonies of healing, and announcements about an upcoming New Zealand mission team visiting in July. Zimmerman's central message draws on Isaiah 9:6 — that the government rests on Jesus's shoulders — to argue that Jesus is the ultimate burden bearer, and that believers are called to be yoked with him rather than carrying the weight of anxiety and worry alone. The service also features a remarkable testimony from congregation member Graham Lee, whose niece Asha in New Zealand was declared cancer-free after prayer, and a report of spontaneous healings during a midweek young adults gathering.
A key visual metaphor used throughout Zimmerman's sermon is the Anzac story of Simpson and his donkey — the man who carried over 300 wounded soldiers to safety at Gallipoli — presented as a picture of Jesus's burden-bearing heart. Extended treatment is also given to the revival fruit of the 2025 Rivers mission trip to the Ōtāngaro marae in New Zealand, where the church grew from roughly 20 to 66 members in three months following the team's visit, with ongoing salvations attributed in part to a vision of Jesus in a harvest field experienced by a first-time visitor.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Opening Worship and Reflection on the Holy Spirit
Rory: There's a principle in God that was established in Genesis, which is the book of all beginnings, the seedbed of the Bible. There had never been rain. The earth was watered by dew. And the first time rain came was at Noah's flood — it was actually God's flood. When we think of it, we think it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, which it did. But the scripture says that before the rain fell, the fountains of the deep broke open. The fountains of the deep.
You know, when we want the Holy Spirit to come and the Holy Spirit comes, what precedes the coming of the Holy Spirit in a corporate body is the breaking open of the fountains of the deep within the people. And I believe that that's what the Lord's been doing — breaking open the fountains of the deep within us — so that when the rain comes and the fountains open up, the earth is flooded with the glory of the Lord. The whole earth is filled with the glory, according to the prophet. Hallelujah. What a beautiful song. Holy Spirit, come.
Honouring Anzac Day
Well, we've just had the most religious day that Australia ever had. I'm sorry to inform you it's not Christmas Day, it's not Easter Sunday — at least not yet. It's Anzac Day, where the whole nation stops and we all stand misty-eyed around the cenotaph with the names written on it of the men who fought. It doesn't matter whether it's at Canberra in their massive display or whether it's at Ogmore with the 26 names from that little town, or the 12 names from another little town. We stop and we honour. And rightly so. We stop and we honour what has been done for us.
One of the reasons that it taps into our national psyche is because there's a redemptive part of our culture. Every culture has a redeeming feature. Whichever country you go to as a missionary, if you can find the redeeming feature, you can actually unlock a key within that nation. Even if it's just a small group, they will respond because you touched the redemption that God has planned. And so for Australia, our redeeming feature is: greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his mates. And they actually fought for their mates together even more so than for the country — but you wouldn't want to say that with a microphone in your hand.
But here's a display of greater love has no man than this. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; peradventure for a good man some might even dare to die. But Christ laid down his life while we were sinners — he gave his life for us. There's a powerful thing that happens this weekend. The Holy Spirit comes and he settles on secular celebrations. We don't recognise it, but the Holy Spirit comes, because the wooing of the honouring of those who have loved greater is a precious thing to the Lord.
So that's not what I was going to say today, but I'm often not prepared. However, I just want to add to that. Recently — and I'll get to this and I won't be long — I was in Rockhampton and my brother-in-law had passed away, and I was there to do the funeral for him a couple of weeks back. And while I was there, the family gave to me a letter, or a card really, that had been written by my father to his parents when he was in the war in Papua New Guinea. And they said, oh, would you be interested in this? And I said, is the Pope a Catholic? So I received that letter from Roy Underwood to his mum and dad.
And I remember my grandmother — I'm allowed to do this, it's Anzac weekend. I remember my grandmother, the mother of my father. When I was a little girl, I said to her, did you worry about my dad when he was in Papua New Guinea as a soldier? And she didn't really answer, but she said, I'll tell you a little poem. And it was this:
Many a mother in Australia, when her busy day is done, sends a prayer to the Almighty for the keeping of her son, asking that an angel guide him and to bring him safely back. Now we see those prayers answered on the Owen Stanley track.
Which is where many of our Aussie mates were.
Before we get into communion today, I just want to continue that honour because the Holy Spirit falls like rain, especially on honour. And I just want to say — I see Andrew had all his grandfather's medals on today. Andrew, where are you? On the drums. You should just have a talk with him later and ask him what they're all about. But I'm just wondering how many here had parents or grandparents — or even for some of the younger ones, great-grandparents — who actually fought in either the First or Second World War. I wonder if you'd just stand.
Let's just stand. And I know that Bob — Bob's out the back — Bob Hellier also was in Vietnam. So if there's any here from Vietnam, or other wars that we've been involved with, just look around the room and see how many people were willing to lay down their life, and you're the descendants of those. And in an amazing way, this is God giving an illustration. He shouts every Anzac Day. He shouts across the nation and says, greater love has no man than this. He shouts across the nation and the Holy Spirit broods over what's happening as we honour those who've gone before, because in a funny and unique way, it points to the one. The one who laid down his life for us.
So I just want you to be aware of the honour that's due to those men and women who actually were willing — and some did, but obviously your ancestors did not die or you would not be here.
Father, we thank you. We thank you for our nation. We thank you that greater love has no man than this, and someone would lay down their lives and be willing to lay down their lives for us — parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sisters. I thank you, Lord. I thank you that right throughout the Old Testament, it was not the blood of bulls or goats. And to this day, it was not the blood of our brothers and sisters and fathers and grandfathers that was the masterstroke. It was the blood of Jesus the Christ. It was his blood shed for us that we all rejoice before him. You may be seated. Thank you.
Communion — The Tree of Life
And to legitimise the Anzac thing, it is about that incredible sacrifice that Jesus made on that day. Let's flick for a moment to Adam and Eve in the garden.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and she ate. She took of its fruit and she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve swallowed the lie. They swallowed the lie of Satan and they ingested into themselves the process of sin and death. You all know this. She took and she ate.
Matthew 26 says — the same method by which sin and death entered the body is the same method by which it exits the body. Matthew 26: And as they were eating, Jesus took bread. He blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples. And he said, take and eat, for this is my body. The tree of life, restoring each one of us from having ingested the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And now Jesus uses the same method of take and eat — for this is the tree of life. This is my body which is given for you.
Father, in the kaleidoscope of what's happening in the nation this weekend, in the every-Sunday-ness of us coming together and taking of your body, would you help us? Because we are so slack and we are so slow and we are so lacking in revelation to understand that this great redemption was because greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his mates. And while we were yet sinners — not good, not righteous, not even having heard of Jesus the Christ — he gave his life for us, both before the foundation of the earth and then in actuality 2,000 years ago.
So Lord, today as we take the bread and the wine — the bread that heals, the wine that cleanses — would you impart into us the greatness of your love, that the authentic love of God might be shed abroad in our hearts and that Australia will see the redemptive bit that God has put within this nation. So we give you thanks, Lord, for the powerful bread and wine. And we thank you for those who've gone before who pointed to this. In Jesus' name. Amen.
So come, Dave, would you just come and break this for us? Could we break the bread? Come and partake of the bread and the wine — the grape juice. Jesus turned water into wine; we turn wine into grape juice. But it works. As you take it, recognise that he said, this is my body. This is my blood. As surely as Adam and Eve took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so also do we take of the tree of life every time we do this.
Now that you have ingested from the tree of life and you have partaken of the greater love, maybe this week you could show love to someone you don't like.
Breathing in the Presence
Well, there's just a wonderful presence of the Lord this morning and I just felt we should do something. We all can do this. Just breathe in the presence of the Lord. Everyone just take a deep breath in. Just breathe in. The Spirit of God is here. Let's do that one more time. Just take a deep breath in. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord.
Some of you are looking at me saying, man, I'm glad I showered this morning after doing that — everybody breathing in around me. Hallelujah.
Announcements — Faith Missions Giving and Upcoming Events
Aaron Salisbury: We've got a few things to look at this morning around our time of offering. First of all, I want to kick off with a reminder about Faith Missions Giving. Has anyone not received our two wooden discs in the envelope, which we're going to be using for our Faith Missions Giving for next year? We have two wooden discs. One is for you to write the amount that you feel the Lord is prompting your heart to pledge towards Faith Missions Giving for the coming year. And then the other one has a fridge magnet on it to remind you of what you have pledged. Has anyone not received one of these at all? What I'll do is I'll just leave these up the front, and when you come up for the offering or after the service, please avail yourself of one of those.
Faith Missions Giving is doing very, very well. You can applaud — it's just delightful to see very visibly how generous this church is. And you are a very generous people, and we want to commend you for giving unto the Lord that amount. If you're still wanting to be involved in Faith Missions Giving for this coming year, you've got five days. Everyone say five days. We're expecting and trusting the Lord for that balance. But I want to say at the same time, thank you everyone for your generosity. Thank you for the sacrifices made. Thank you for the pledges and faith that many of you have put towards what we have there in front of us. God is so good.
We've got some exciting things coming up. Rivers is an exciting church — how many believe this is an exciting church? We have a Women's Day event coming up, which is now set for the 20th of June. So Women's Day is now set for 20th of June.
We have our Jubilee coming up as well. Every year as a church, we like to celebrate and give thanks. We keep our gratitude on as a church, and we celebrate every single year our Jubilee and our Thanksgiving. Our Jubilee for this year is the 26th and 27th of September. We're giving you a lot of notice because we invite people nationally and internationally to come and join us for that service. It's a wonderful time, and we're going a bit Jewish this year because we're celebrating on Saturday and Sunday — we want everybody to come and join us regardless of your work situation or whatever's going on for you. We want everyone to celebrate with us this Jubilee, 26th and 27th of September.
The other notice is we're also going to have a Thanksgiving and Christmas party this year, and the weekend for that is the 28th of November. We're going to be celebrating on the 28th and 29th. So we're getting into festivity and celebration — this is the party year. Hallelujah. We're going to be having a Thanksgiving and a Christmas party weekend. That's the 28th and 29th of November. So please put those dates into your diary.
Well, today is an exciting day because we're going to be having a mission fundraising lunch. So if you have plans for lunch, cancel them. James, Levi, and Ezekiel are going to be coming and testifying after the service down the back. After the service, we want to invite you to go down to the back. There is a wonderful lunch that has been prepared — it's a fundraising lunch for the Kahu team, which are coming in the month of July. So we want to put some funds towards them coming, and we invite you to purchase a lunch and then grab a seat down the back because James, Levi, and Ezekiel will be doing a presentation to tell us all about what happened in Papua New Guinea and Port Moresby when they went on a recent missions trip. So it's going to be a wonderful lunch. We encourage you to stick around and have a time with us.
For today's offering, as we prepare for that this morning, I want to read you the scriptures that are actually on the little wooden coins that are going to be given out. There are three scripture references and I want to read them to you this morning. They contain amazing truths about God's faithfulness. And as we read these scriptures and as we celebrate Anzac weekend, let's remember — lest we forget. And what I love about the Word of God is it's put there lest we forget. That's why we celebrate communion, because we can so easily forget in our busy and frantic lives the goodness of God.
So let's begin with Psalm 65, verses 9 to 11: You visit the earth and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water.
The second one is Amos 9, verse 13: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed. The mountains shall drip with sweet wine and the hills shall overflow with it. How many believe we serve a God of overflow? So often in life we just feel like we're just getting enough. But the God that we serve is a God who is more than enough. That's one of the interpretations of one of God's names — Jehovah El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough.
One more scripture, Deuteronomy 28, verse 12: The Lord will open to you His good treasure, His storehouse, the heavens to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. That word "treasure" is interesting because it can be interpreted "storehouse." We had a prophet recently come — Darrell Crawford Marshall — and he declared over this church that we will be a storehouse to the nations. And as we come and give this morning, we're contributing to that storehouse. Rivers is a storehouse for the nations.
Wonderful promises there in those three passages of Scripture. Hallelujah. Let's stand this morning. We're going to receive our offerings. And remember to pick up some wooden coins if you haven't received these already. If you're a visitor at this church this morning, please don't feel obliged to give anything. If you're visiting from another church, make sure your church is the one that is getting the blessing.
Introduction of Andrew Zimmerman
It's my joy and my privilege to introduce our speaker to you this morning. He's a dear friend, someone who loves the Lord, someone who's powerful in the prophetic, and I know he's been waiting on the Lord for the message this morning. I'm just so looking forward to Andrew as he comes and opens up the riches of God's word. Let's stand and celebrate Andrew Zimmerman.
Andrew Zimmerman Opens
Andrew Zimmerman: Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. What an amazing morning we've had already. Thank you to the team for just leading us into the presence. We're so blessed. Can we just share our appreciation to the worship team for faithfully leading us into the presence of the Lord, and to the sound guys who keep things from going really bad for us — we would know if it was bad. Thank you to Katie and Gary and the team for keeping things going well.
With your Faith Missions Giving, we're looking to tally that all up and have that for everybody by next week. So if you haven't got one and you want to participate, there's still a basket out here. Grant Crawford made these — he's so clever.
Anzac Weekend and the Theme of Sacrifice
So I'm going to share today a little bit into the theme of Anzac Weekend, as Rory has already shared so beautifully this morning about the masterstroke of Jesus. It's so powerful. I brought my Anzac hat today with emu plume, and so that's just here as a little bit of a statement, a memorial, to just honour and thank those who have gone before and laid down their lives.
And I think the thing that I want to draw out today is that what is in our history — His story — is an indicator of what's in our destiny. The Lord is on the move with the mission of His Father. The King is on the move and we want to be ready and willing to be moving with Him. So we're going to talk into that today.
Prayer for the Adelaide Team
But before we do that, we want to pray for the team going to Adelaide. So if you're going to Adelaide this week — Rory, that must be you, you're leading a charge. And I think Marie, Lucy, Kim, and Ruth are also going. We're going to pray and bless these guys. They're off to Adelaide for a conference called the Melchizedek and Daniel Intercessors Conference. There's a very unique story as to how these ones are going, and that may be shared after the event, because I think there's a bit of an assignment, a bit of a Holy Spirit thing going on.
Can I ask if you could stand with me? And I'm going to get our leadership team to come. Come shoulder to shoulder. And we include Ruth today.
Holy Spirit, we thank you that you are the Parakletos. You are the one that comes alongside. You are the Ezer. And today, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we bless these brave warriors, intercessors, prophets, mighty women. We bless them today, Lord, as they go on assignment this week. We thank you that you have something in store for them. May they go into the fullness of what you've prepared for them as they go. Thank you for dreams and visions. Thank you for confirmations. Thank you for the dove that lands. And thank you for the revival fire that hasn't gone out in our nation. I just thank you for Rory, Lord. I thank you for Marie. I thank you for Lucia. I thank you for Ruth. I thank you for Kim and all of the intercessors and all of those who have carried your heart for these years. And we say, yes, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.
It's an SAS team that's going. So good.
Testimony — Graham's Niece Healed of Leukemia
Well, Graham Lee — it's Anzac weekend, and that includes New Zealand. So I want to invite Graham, who is an amazing warrior from New Zealand who's made Australia home. He has got a stunning story of Jesus healing. Graham, are you good to share?
Graham Lee: Yeah, this testimony is one of totally glory to God and heartfelt thanks to the intercessors of this house for praying. My youngest sister in Auckland, New Zealand, has a 19-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia very early this year and has undergone treatment in the hospital for that. But a key thing happened along the way. God showed us that we did have some Freemasonry in our family line, and I shared that with my sister and told her that it's not just a prayer you can just pray to loose from — you have to pray through the 33 levels and get it renounced out of your family line. And so within six hours of me sharing that, someone in her circle had that prayer in their file and she was able to pray it. And within hours, there was a very significant shift in my niece's life, and the doctors were able to identify stuff they hadn't before, amazingly. And so just this last week, she has had to have bone marrow samples taken for blood counts. And the doctors were totally amazed. They were expecting a certain level, but she has been declared totally cancer-free.
We just have to continue to pray for her. She is going through the process of finishing the treatment, which is, if any of you know, quite physically demanding. So we've just got to keep praying for her for a few more weeks. But we give praise to God. Thanks.
Andrew Zimmerman: Just stay for a second. I'm going to ask Graham to pray. What's her first name?
Graham Lee: Asha. A-S-H-A.
Andrew Zimmerman: Same as the Bible — Asher. I'm going to ask Graham to pray. Could we just join our faith together? What I want you to do is take the hand of the person next to you or touch the shoulder of the person next to you, and let's just release faith for the complete work, the absolute complete work. The doctors already called it — she's free. Graham, can you pray?
Graham Lee: Lord, we thank you for your mercies and your great love for us as a people and the power of prayer that you have shown us to join together. And so we join together and pray for Asha across the waters today. Lord, your hand is upon her. And Lord, we just pray for a full revelation of your goodness into her heart and into her spirit. She has a level of faith in you, but Lord, we just say that you'll reveal yourself more to her on a personal level and that she will walk in your ways all the days of her life. In Jesus' name, we thank you, Lord, for the medical people, the doctors, the nurses, the Christian nurses that are there encouraging her. Thank you, Lord, that you've put them there. And so we just thank you for the big picture, Lord, that you have us all in your hand. And we just thank you for the family that can see the blessing and the testimony of the power of prayer in my family today. So I thank you, Lord, for that in Jesus' name. Amen.
Testimony — Healings at Young Adults
Andrew Zimmerman: It's so good. I can see church changing, and I can see that as we get together, we're going to have more and more times where we're going to just have to dedicate times to hearing testimonies. Just on Wednesday night at Young Adults, we had a cool little Holy Spirit interruption. I'm going to ask Michael and Bree to come on up and share quickly what happened and how the Lord spoke to us through this little time. His healing came. So do you want to just share what happened?
Michael: Sure. Yeah, so we all gathered on Wednesday night and Andrew felt in his spirit that a bit of healing needed to be done. So he asked if I could pray, and we did something similar to what we just did then. We all held hands together — it was like a little zigzag thing — and I started praying. And then what happened, Bree?
Bree: I needed healing and I got it. So I had a bit of a headache going on. I was down in the dumps that afternoon, but it was just constant and it would not leave. So once we all held hands — even before Michael started praying — it just vanished.
Michael: So cool. Even though a migraine healing compared to cancer healing is so different, it just shows the power of God. How good is that, that he can heal something small and something big?
Andrew Zimmerman: So the other little part to the story is that Michael's at one end of the line, and the Holy Spirit just said in my heart, I want to heal headaches. So all I heard was, I want to heal headaches. So I just said, who's got a headache? And Bree goes, I've got a headache. And another young lady called Maeda — I don't think she's here today — she said, me too. So I said, let's put our hands on our shoulders. Bree was at the end of the line. Michael was at the front of the line.
Now, I'm not putting Mike down, but he was going in for a long prayer. He was like — this is not day-night cricket. He was going in like a test match style of batting. He was like, Lord, you know that we've been... and he starts to take us on the journey from out of Egypt through the 40 years, through the suffering. He's got context going on. He's such a deep thinker. So I want to make sure there's lots of honour on Mike. But the Holy Spirit was like, I don't need a long prayer right now. As soon as he said, Lord, she has an instant healing. The headache's gone. But he's still going, and then she has to go, I don't want to interrupt or anything, but Michael — your prayer — it's happened. I'm done. Instant.
What's crazy is that as Bree is saying she's free, Maeda checks the lump that was in an egg-sized shape. She'd had a hit on her head and had constant pain. She goes to check the lump and her eyeballs go wide. She's next to me and I'm like, are you okay? And she goes — then she leaps up and goes, it's gone! My egg's gone! And she's jumping for joy all around the circle. And it was very interesting because it took us about 10 minutes to regain focus after that.
What we realise is that what the Holy Spirit wanted to do came through the faith. Michael just said, Lord, and in the hearts of everybody who was in some form of agreement, it accumulated the faith. And Maeda, who was in between, it went through her. So she wasn't even expecting the healing, but she got it because she was in the way.
Thank you, Bree. Did that headache come back? Michael, keep praying powerful prayers, bro. Bless you, bless you, bless you.
So just give testimony to the Lord. We've been in a wilderness with healing, but we're coming in and have come into the promised land of healing. So let me just say, be prepared for the Lord to interrupt your expectation.
Just like it was for Ananias — he's down praying through his prayer list. He's a faithful prayer warrior. Top of the list is the guy who's doing the most persecution to his friends in the church. He's killing the church. So Saul is on the top of the list, and Ananias is down that morning praying. This isn't in your Bible — this is creative interpretation. When you pick on Christians, they're the wrong people to pick on, because they'll begin to pray for you. So here's this guy, Ananias, he's praying for the church. He's a prayer warrior. And his day gets massively interrupted because God heard the prayers of the people. He answered their prayer and this guy's saved and he's at the door. And the guy who's killing his friends shows up and says, hey, bro, Jesus sent me here. Can you teach me what to do? That's a little bit of a Holy Spirit interruption. Would you agree?
So what I'm saying is, let's get ready for the unexpected. Let's get ready that God wants to do more than we're wanting to do. He wants to do above and beyond. So we just need to go into that place of faith and expectation rather than with our arms closed, saying, God hasn't been doing anything, therefore he's not doing anything, so I'm not going to do anything. But that's not our position.
I just got a little bit fired up there around healing. Keep praying for Asha. With Graham, he was working at my house and he shared how the Lord touched his heart for his niece. And he says, I'm going to talk to my sister and I'm going to tell her, ask if we can pray. And we're going to hit this stuff. We're going to go after this curse that's on the family. And he just went off a nudge from the Lord. I just want to honour Graham because it took courage — it's one thing to go to a stranger, it's another to go to your family and say, hey, I've got faith for a miracle for you and your daughter. So good.
We're in a season of the unexpected and healing. I loved what Aaron shared a couple of weeks ago — we know that the blood that we have every week is for forgiveness, and we are confident that the blood forgives our sins. But he made a great point, and that is that the bread representing the body, broken for our healing, and that we should have just as much confidence in the body for healing as we have in the blood for forgiving our sins. So just take a Holy Spirit injection of faith and hope. Just close your eyes right now and just say, my hands are supercharged with the healing of Jesus. Oh God, Lord, help me to be like you and be an instrument for your healing. Just put your hand on yourself and just say, we are the body of Christ and we are the extension of his kingdom. We are the administrators of his kingdom. Amen.
The New Zealand Kahu Team and the Story of Mataka
Anzac weekend. Just in the same spirit of Anzac, we have a whole bunch of New Zealanders coming to us in the first week of July. We're going to be hosting at least 22 at the moment, but that's slowly creeping northward. We think it'll be more like around 30. The team that's coming has already been preparing songs and dances for us. One of the men in particular has prepared a haka to honour the Lord in Australia. So that's coming up.
As a part of that, there are some practical ways for you to help. One is we need mattresses for the week that we're hosting them because they're going to be staying here. Just a little window — many of these team members don't even have jobs, but they have been since September fundraising every weekend to get their air ticket to come. So their faith is high. One gentleman works at the butcher, and he was telling his boss that he's coming to Australia on a mission. And he's so excited — he's never been out of the country. And he says, God's moving. We were a part of it. We're going to Australia because they need Jesus. And the butcher boss says, well, hey, I've got a thousand handmade quality sausages that I want to donate to your cause, and you can do with them what you like. So they're going to sell those for probably $2 and make money to help cover costs.
I just wanted to let you in on that — these people are coming with faith, expectation, and sacrifice, all because we laid down a kookaburra feather at the pulpit last year on Anzac Day. Aaron and I went and said to the New Zealanders, hey, why don't you come and help us with revival in Australia and we'll come and help you with the move of God in New Zealand? And together, why don't we do that? So we took a team last year in 2025, and then it's their turn to come this year. Then next year in 2027, we're going to take a team from Australia. I've got three in Canberra — a mum, dad, and daughter — who are already signed up to come on the New Zealand trip next year. They've already saved up for their passports.
Because there is the story of how the word came to New Zealand that is mind-blowing. The Anzac team that were there in September last year got to see the place where Jesus showed up on a mountain in the north of New Zealand 800 years ago, revealed his nature to them, and said to them that his kingdom — the kingdom of God — was one of love and laying down your life. And they began to live what was said from that day forward under an open heaven. They gave up all practices of evil. They stopped evil. They just divinely met with Jesus on a mountain.
It's called Mataka — the place of the eyes of fire. Because when this being revealed himself, his eyes were on fire. And they said when they saw his eyes that were on fire, more brilliant than that was that his heart was full of aroha, full of love for the nations. And they said, please tell us your name so we can worship you. He said, I will share with you my nature. My life was laid down and God rose me up.
Anyway, this is mind-blowing. The gentleman that carries that story, Tūhoe Hāngā, he is the 22nd generation — son, father, son, father — from that original encounter. And he sings the song of Mataka. And you can come — this is an invitation — to New Zealand next year with us on a team. And you can come to that place and you will hear that story firsthand. It's not even publicised. It's just incredible. Absolutely incredible.
So the story of the Lord in New Zealand ties in with Samuel Marsden. Who knows Samuel Marsden? Who knows their history? Samuel Marsden was the first Christian chaplain sent out on the ships from England. He was the chaplain in Sydney with the first settlement. He also was the first prosecutor or judge — so he had to whip guys on before the service and then get up and preach the gospel. It was that level of the wild end of town in Parramatta back in the early 1800s, late 1700s.
But the story with New Zealand connects with Samuel Marsden, and Samuel Marsden ends up coming to that very bay at the bottom of the mountain of Mataka, where 800 years ago, Jesus himself said, one day will come a boat, and on the boat will come a book, and in the book will be my name. And they held on to that. The bay was called "He Is Risen" in Māori. And for many generations, they would say to the leaders and chiefs, why is the bay called "He Is Risen"? They said, the one on the mountain, Mataka, said, in time it will be revealed.
So this prophetic people under an open heaven prepared for the day when something — a waka, a canoe — would come with a book. The other part was that the face of the people would be the same colour as the pāua shell, the white shell. And this all fulfils itself powerfully in the early 1800s on Christmas Day, when Samuel Marsden comes on a boat with a Bible. And guess what he does? He arrives at the bay called "He Is Risen" and his first announcement to them was to preach the gospel and to say, shout, for He is risen from the dead.
It is phenomenal. It was said that the crowd listening at that Christmas Day service was stunned. He was actually trying to read the crowd, as a good British-Australian would have. And it said that the mood was sober and that there were quiet talkings amongst themselves, because they were saying things like this — similar to what it was in the times of Jesus: that's the fulfilment of prophecy right there. This is the fulfilment of prophecy. That guy's got a white face. He brought a book. He declared the name. He came on a waka. This is all lining up.
It said within a few more years, the Māori Bible was translated. Actually, the Māori language was translated into English and Māori was written for the first time. And the first thing that was done by the missionaries with the language was to write the Māori Bible. And within a matter of years, two-thirds of the nation is saved. By 1860 — from 1830 to 1860, there's a period of time — it's called the Great Awakening.
Anyway, Australia had something to do with that. And Samuel Marsden wasn't doing very well in Sydney. He was actually doing very poorly with the Aboriginal people. It says that he just didn't get connection. He didn't have traction. He was writing letters back to England saying, the mission isn't working like I thought it would work. But the Lord was on the move. And he was instrumental, Samuel Marsden, in fulfilling and bringing the word of the Lord.
And next year, we're going to go to that place. There's a big cross called Marsden's Cross. Who's been there? Who's been up to Marsden's Cross? Anzac team. Right. So much more cheaper than going to Israel and saying, well, that's the mountain that Jesus descended from. You can go to New Zealand and see the mountain that he appeared on. I'm doing Christian tourism right now. But it's exciting to know that God has been at work in New Zealand and Australia for a lot longer than we would think.
So anyway, the team is coming in July and we need some mattresses. We've got a little flyer. Aaron's been doing an amazing job. We're putting out the request for spare mattresses. I think we already have about five, but we're going to need to get that up around 22 and possibly 30. The request is quality mattresses with no stains or stinkiness. Don't pull something out from the attic that hasn't been slept on for 100 years. Something that you would sleep on yourself — maybe that's the issue. So quality, quality, quality.
The other thing is we're looking for some volunteers. We have a sign-up here. This one is the volunteer sign-up. If you could be available for hosting, we're going to send that around and we'll keep you up to date. There's also a lending of mattresses — you can put your name down here.
Also, what we're going to be doing in the midst of the week of the Kahu team coming — heads up, Kahu is their name, and ours is Kookaburra. Everybody say Kookaburra. Everyone say Kahu. It's the New Zealand hawk, and we're learning that Kiwi is not the name that they associate with, so you can adopt this. Kahu. Everyone say Kahu.
So we're going to look at taking that team out from here. We're going to look at doing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and possibly Thursday of that week — four days. We're going to do a mini outreach from here. We don't know where we're going, but it could look like within two hours' drive. And we're going to look at the Lord leading us with some contacts with Aboriginal elders, with Aboriginal community. And we're going to get our kookaburras and kahus together — the Anzac Alliance. So if you are interested in being a part of that, I would say to all the youth and young adults, you're on holidays. It's school holidays. If you can make time to be a part of that, we have an expression of interest form available.
We're looking for volunteers from the 2nd to the 15th of July — for set-up while they're here and then clean-up. We're feeding Māoris for a week. And they have said, give us a job to do. We will paint the church. We will clean anything. And the reason for that was because we blessed the marae in Ōtāngaro when we went. And since we went — not to brag on the team — but they said when the Anzac team came from here to there on mission in September, we cleaned their marae. We weeded, we cleaned the edges, we washed the windows, all the mould off the building. The community — it caused such a stir. They've had an explosion in their church, three times growth within three months. They were around 20; it's gone to 66. Salvations are happening every week.
After the Sunday that we left, a guy walked into the building. As he walked into the building, he had a vision of Jesus walking through a harvest field with his hands over golden fields. The man watched him moving through the fields. He said, that is Jesus. And he said in his heart, how can I help you, Jesus? Jesus turned to him and looked at him and said, come follow me. They'd been inviting that guy to church for 12 months. That was his first Sunday, the week after we left. And they said revival broke out after he got up and shared that testimony. And they're just seeing nonstop salvation, healing, and deliverance happening in Ōtāngaro, the poorest of the poor. So just giving glory to the Lord and just helping you have context that we're a part of this beautiful work. Everyone just say praise the Lord.
Accessing the Rivers Podcast
So in keeping with the Anzacs today — and what an amazing Sunday we had last week — I want to say what a word we had from Brother Hans on the Holy Spirit. Just a quick shout out: if you don't know how to access the podcast from Rivers, I'm going to ask — does anybody not know how to listen to a podcast? Right now, you could open up a podcast and you could listen to a Rivers message. Get Spotify. Everyone say Spotify. Download it. And then once you download Spotify, type Rivers Apostolic Centre and you'll be listening in no time. Amen. Listen to that. If you heard it, listen again. Wasn't it amazing? Just so grateful for Hans and the word of the Lord that he's been releasing here. And we bless this new endeavour that God is excitingly unfolding for the both of you. Daunting and exciting. Awesome.
The Sermon — Jesus, the Burden Bearer
All right, let's turn in the Word. I've got 20 minutes to just bring something from the heart of the Lord. I'm excited about this. Isaiah 9, verse 6.
What I want to talk about for just a few minutes is Jesus, the burden bearer. And I want to tie it into the Anzac heart, to the story of Australia, the story of New Zealand. And I want to talk about the shoulders of Jesus. I want to talk about shoulders today.
Isaiah 9 — and this is a famous passage of Scripture. Let's read it out together. I'll read from verse 2:
The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation. You shall increase their gladness.
On a side note, Mia and I went to Norway in 2004. We went on a boat that went up a river through fjords. And we found on the side of a mountain a house that was built that never sees sun. And we said to the guy, why would you build this tiny little house on the side of a fjord that would never, ever see sun? And he couldn't answer me. We were there at minus two, freezing. I had every piece of clothing on. And I saw this house and I'm like, surely that is not godly. Surely that person would have had a hard life. If you could choose to live, would you not choose to live in the sun? Speaking to Aussies who live in the sun. So light is so important to health. We need light to function. There are only a few creatures that he made to function in utter darkness. And even there, there is still light — which is another thing altogether.
Verse 4: For you shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders. Everybody highlight that. For you shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as in the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult and cloak rolled in blood will be burning fuel for the fire.
Verse 6: For a child will be born to us. A son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders. Everybody say, rest on his shoulders. And his name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace. I think we should meditate on that ten times a day. Wouldn't that be a good verse just to read over and over? There will be no end to the increase of his government, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
God is so full of zeal and so full of passion that He will fulfil this.
Zephaniah 3 — The Zeal of the Lord
Let's jump to Zephaniah 3, verse 8. We're just going to tie in the zeal of Jesus. The zeal of the Lord for His house. And that on the shoulders of Jesus is the government, is the kingdom. And there is peace that is increasing and will never end. Never-ending peace on the shoulders of our Jesus.
Everybody got Zephaniah 3, verse 8:
Therefore, wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise up as a witness — some versions say a swift witness. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger. For in the fire of my zeal all the earth shall be consumed.
The fire of His zeal. New Zealand. New Zeal. What a great name. Who loves the New Zealand National Anthem? It is so good. At your feet. In the bonds of peace.
Verse 9: For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord.
I haven't got time to go into this today, but just to say that before Jesus, you couldn't just call on the name of the Lord because you were of a people with unclean lips. If you remember Isaiah — woe to me, I live amongst the people of unclean lips. But because of Jesus, He cleanses the lips so that all can call on the name of the Lord. Everyone point to your lips. He will cleanse the lips so that as we call on the name of the Lord, the ears of the Lord will hear our cry. Isn't that powerful?
So here we see a prophetic statement about fire and zeal. In this context, it talks about his anger and judgment on sin — because it's his fire and it's his zeal that cleanses us so that we have clean lips. And the outworking is that we will serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
Galatians 6 — Bearing One Another's Burdens
Okay, how does this connect? Galatians 6, verse 1. A part of the ministry of Christ is to bear burdens. Everybody say, bear burdens. Central to the heart of Jesus is that His shoulders are big. His shoulders are awesome. Shoulders represent that which takes responsibility. Leadership. Government.
I love that Rory taught us over 20 years ago, and has continued to teach us as leaders: leaders are those who carry weight. Leaders are people who stand up under a weight and know how to hold up a responsibility. That's what makes a leader a leader. Parents in the home — what makes you a leader and a parent is what you carry on your shoulders. Responsibility.
So Jesus is fully aware of burdens and bearing because this is who he is. He is the fulfilment as the Son to carry the full weight and the responsibility of all of the burdens of mankind brought through sin. And we know what the cross represents.
Galatians 6, verse 1: Brothers and sisters, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. Everybody say gentleness. Each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted.
Verse 2: Bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.
This is key because the law of Christ is that we should love one another. Love your enemy. Love the person you don't like. That is the spirit of Christ — to love those who aren't loving you. When someone persecutes you, to choose to have Christ's heart for that one. We see that with Saul and Paul. Imagine the community that's now embracing him and bringing him in after persecuting the church, because of the revelation of Christ.
So as Jesus is going to the cross, we see that he is burdened with this wooden crucifix. As he is walking to Golgotha, it is too heavy for him to bear with his earthly strength. He's chosen to bear this with his earthly strength. He is carrying the weight of the cross and it's too much to bear. Even in that moment, the Lord provides for him — Simon of Cyrene — to carry the weight of the cross. And it's a prophetic picture of fulfilling the law of Christ, that as brothers and sisters, we would come alongside to even assist the Lord in carrying our burden. Isn't that incredible? So in the midst of it, here is Simon carrying the burden of the cross for Jesus, maybe aware or not aware that Jesus was carrying his burden of sin upon his own shoulders. Amazing.
In Exodus 28 — I won't go there, but it talks about the Lord saying to the priests to inscribe on two stones the names of the sons of Israel and to place them on the shoulders of the high priest. And it says, so that when he comes before the presence of the Lord, he will bear up the names of the children. Isn't that powerful? I'd never heard of that. I knew of the breastplate, and the ephod had the 12 stones. But it describes there on the left and the right shoulder, the names.
Hebrews talks about Jesus being our intercessor — He ever lives to make intercession for us. On his shoulders, intercession. The kingdom and his government are on his shoulders, and it is one of peace. So if he is ever living to make intercession, a part of intercession we call burden bearing. The role of the intercessor is to take on the burden, to bear a load, to hold a load. Where do we carry the load? On the shoulders.
Matthew 11 — Come Unto Me
Let's turn to Matthew. And we see this invitation that Jesus, who carries perfect peace on His shoulders, says that there is rest. Rest. Everybody say rest. There's something on the shoulders of Jesus and it's rest. It's where the Holy Spirit lands when he's getting water baptised. There's something about the shoulders of Jesus. He is not stressed. He's not anxious. He is rightly carrying the full weight of the kingdom on his shoulders.
So when he invites us and says, come unto me, this is to all — come unto me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And you take on my yoke. Now, what's interesting about a yoke? Michael, come up here. If I was to be an older oxen and Michael a younger oxen, and we would be yoked — the key word here is that we would be yoked together. And whether he liked it or not, he would have to put up with my bad breath and my stinky underarm because we would be yoked together. Yoking is about together. Everybody say together. Thank you, brother.
So tying this all together — we don't have to carry all the burdens. They're all on his shoulders. And he's in a place of rest. And the Bible says he is easy and meek and humble. He is humbly carrying the heaviest of all of our burdens. That's a lot of weight. And yet he is at a place of rest, even peace. Shalom.
Interesting side note — when he declared on the cross, it is finished, tetelestai. The Aramaic word that he would have said is mashalam. Mashalam. And it's connected to the word shalom. And it can be interpreted this way: when a donkey would arrive after a long journey, heavy laden, and its burden was released, the word would be mashalam — the burden is released off the shoulders of the donkey who'd been carrying the heavy burden. Isn't that amazing? When Jesus declares it is finished, he deals with the burden of sin to bring us into the yoke of his kingdom, which is light and easy. That's why joy is so important for us.
The Throne, the Shoulders, and Our Calling
So here is this beautiful picture of the Lord seated on the throne — righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne — and on His shoulders He is ever interceding before the Father. It is only right that once we have had our lips cleansed, that we step up to carry our part of the body of Christ, to shoulder a small part of his heart, to pray, to stand in the gap, to go to the poor, to bear up each other's burdens, because we fulfil the law of Christ. If he is the head, we are the body. So we fulfil it. It's important. It's our commissioning — that we fulfil the law of Christ to carry and to bear up each other's burdens.
Last week, we heard a great message on the Holy Spirit and the word Ezer. Who remembers the word Ezer? What does it mean? The helper, the comforter. The Greek word for comforter is Parakletos. Para — to come alongside. Kletos — to help, to serve, to strengthen. This is the name given to the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside to lift up the burden, to lift up and to bring strength.
Simpson and His Donkey — A Picture of Burden Bearing
I'm going to put up on the screen an Anzac picture. This is a picture of Simpson and his donkey at Anzac Cove. The story goes that he took over 300 men who were shot down in enemy lines. With his donkey, he would go and get them, pop them on the donkey, and walk them back through heavy gunfire to the safety of the cove. He didn't just do this once, but he did this 300 times over a period of a couple of days, from the 25th of April until he was taken out. He kept going. This guy's not even Aussie or Kiwi — that's a Turk. So he was out picking up the wounded, literally putting them on the donkey and bringing them back to safety. 300.
It's a picture that in our Australian culture is immortalised at the War Memorial in Canberra — Simpson's donkey. And it's only apt for us today as we consider the Anzac heart. It spoke to compassion in the midst of great distress and suffering. The bravery of this man. And it inspired — after he died, the donkey survived. He died, but others came and took on the work. He inspired bravery by his life and by his actions. What a beautiful picture that we have today of our Lord and his heart.
Closing — Aligning Our Shoulders to the Kingdom
The burden-bearing heart of our Jesus. Let's stand together today. I liked what Rory said today, that the heart for mateship in Australia runs deep. And there's something about mateship — that we stand together, shoulder to shoulder. When we stand shoulder to shoulder, we can bear more of a burden and carry more of a weight than if we did it on our own.
One of the things that's important about burden bearing is proximity. And this is where I felt the Lord say and speak to me. He said, Andrew, we have to break the proximity with stress and worry, which becomes heavy, and we need to move into the proximity of being yoked with Jesus, whose government has no end, whose peace has no end, and it's increasing. You are yoked to Jesus, the head intercessor, ever living to carry burdens.
Proximity is important, and I felt the Lord say today that He wanted to rightly align your shoulders to carry only what He wants you to carry and to let go of every other thing that would appear or have in its essence heaviness, heavy-ladenness, worry, anxiety. All of these things are not in the job description of your burden bearing. But with joy, you would carry the weight of his glory.
I want you to put your hand on the shoulder of the person next to you. The Israelites were commanded to carry the kabod — the Ark of the Presence — on the shoulders. Your shoulders are uniquely designed near your head. Your shoulders are uniquely aligned through your neck to your head. Where does Jesus pick up the little one that was lost? Where does Jesus put the notorious lost sheep? He places them on his shoulders.
I just want us to encounter the shoulders of Jesus in a whole new way as we celebrate Anzac weekend.
Thank you, Lord. Holy Spirit, you are the anointing. Jesus is the anointed one. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and upon your shoulders the anointing rests. And the Bible says that His anointing will break the yoke. Holy Spirit, let's pray this together. Break the yoke of heaviness that is not from you. Bring me out from anxiety. Shift me away from worry. And I receive today the joy of being yoked to you, that we would learn from you, because your burden is easy. Just have a little giggle. Your burden is easy. Just say it again until you get convinced. Your burden is easy, and your yoke is light.
If you'd like to respond today, we're just going to sing a song. Might just move the pulpit out of here. And we just let the Lord realign shoulders to come into a place of greater government. For the intercessors going to Adelaide. For Rory as she goes to Adelaide. Father, align our shoulders even more to that of the kingdom, to heaven.
If you are an intercessor and you know that's your assignment — it's actually all of us, but if you feel that lightness on you — we want to pray for you today. So I want to ask the intercessors to come forward. And we just want to declare the end of praying on your own, coming into the yoking of the kingdom. Yes, Lord. Shoulder to shoulder. Father, would you break aloneness in the body of Christ? Shoulder to shoulder.