Hey YA’s (young adults),

We’ve been talking about THE CHURCH over the past few weeks at Service. This week, Torch will be preaching a powerful message about the Church influencing the world. I hope the message is clear to you - God wants to build His church and He is looking for people who will be a part of it.

More than ever before, Nehemiah’s best selling book on Building & Renovations is a favourite of mine at the moment. (Don’t go lookin’ for it in Bunnings, silly… its in the Bible)

The current phase of our ministry feels very much to me like we are building the modern day Jeruselum Walls. We look around us and so much of what God intends to establish on this earth is still ‘in rubbles’. Will the church see the day when it truly becomes the city on a hill? Will the church ever really the head and not the tail? Because it seems in our current reality, we are anything but!

Despite all these current realities, the Vision of God remains - His church will be built. And it will be a glorious one. It will be a Beautiful one. It will be a Refuge for humanity. And it will last for ever, and ever.

This Vision is my vision. And I’m building God’s house, regardless of who’s going to do it with me. The best way I can extend this invitation to you is with these words from Nehemiah 3::

“You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jeruselum, and we will no longer be in disgrace. (The gracious hand of my God is also upon me and the king my boss has granted me leave from work and resources to do this)” (Words in brackets my paraphrase)

The people replied, “Let us start rebuilding”. So they began this good work.

Ablaze will continue to be faithful to building God’s church until Jesus returns. And as Young Adults, we’re leading the way. Will you be a part of it?

(One of my favourite parts of the book of Nehemiah is Chap 3 - the writer has gone into great lengths to tell us that everyone can do something to build God’s house! Now, who wants the Dung Gate??)

Nehemiah 3 (Builders of the Wall)

1 Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel. 2 The men of Jericho built the adjoining section, and Zaccur son of Imri built next to them.
3 The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. 4 Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baana also made repairs. 5 The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

6 The Jeshanah Gate was repaired by Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. 7 Next to them, repairs were made by men from Gibeon and Mizpah—Melatiah of Gibeon and Jadon of Meronoth—places under the authority of the governor of Trans-Euphrates. 8 Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. 9 Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section. 10 Adjoining this, Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house, and Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs next to him. 11 Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. 12 Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters.

13 The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah. They rebuilt it and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. They also repaired five hundred yards of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

14 The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Recab, ruler of the district of Beth Hakkerem. He rebuilt it and put its doors and bolts and bars in place.

15 The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah. He rebuilt it, roofing it over and putting its doors and bolts and bars in place. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam, by the King’s Garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David. 16 Beyond him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of a half-district of Beth Zur, made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Heroes.

17 Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites under Rehum son of Bani. Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district. 18 Next to him, the repairs were made by their countrymen under Binnui son of Henadad, ruler of the other half-district of Keilah. 19 Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section, from a point facing the ascent to the armory as far as the angle. 20 Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 21 Next to him, Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired another section, from the entrance of Eliashib’s house to the end of it.

22 The repairs next to him were made by the priests from the surrounding region. 23 Beyond them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house; and next to them, Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house. 24 Next to him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from Azariah’s house to the angle and the corner, 25 and Palal son of Uzai worked opposite the angle and the tower projecting from the upper palace near the court of the guard. Next to him, Pedaiah son of Parosh 26 and the temple servants living on the hill of Ophel made repairs up to a point opposite the Water Gate toward the east and the projecting tower. 27 Next to them, the men of Tekoa repaired another section, from the great projecting tower to the wall of Ophel.

28 Above the Horse Gate, the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. 29 Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. Next to him, Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the guard at the East Gate, made repairs. 30 Next to him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. Next to them, Meshullam son of Berekiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. 31 Next to him, Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and as far as the room above the corner; 32 and between the room above the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs.

To all our wonderful young adults,

I hope the past few sermons on God’s church have left an indelible message in your heart as it has mine: God is building His church and He is looking for people to participate in His work. I believe this season is a crucial part of His building work and I also believe that as young adults, we are the essential tools in the hands of God to take this ministry to the next level.

You see - for us young adults - no other point in time in our lives presents a better opportunity to serve God with our best than right now - when we are independent, bold, flexible (with few things attached), tenacious, well-equipped and resourced! This is the prime time of our lives!

As young adults, our role in Ablaze is not to ‘put on a Friday night gig’ to entertain a bunch of highschool kids. Nor is it to make our attendence at Friday night service ‘validated’ solely based on our involvement in service or some leadership position geared towards young people ministry.

God has called us to a far bigger vocation than that. That is, to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ who:

* live for God - people who have an authentic relationship with God; people who make Kingdom-centric decisions when it comes to everything from life priorities to life partners!

* serve in community - people who make God’s business their own; people who resource God’s work with their time, talent and treasure

* influence their world - how can you keep burning flame under wraps? A life ablaze with God will inevitably shine at home and in the marketplace.

Here’s the thing - having relevant young adults programs or having yound adults needs met are peripheral to the main thing. What is the main thing? It’s our right-living with God. We get this right as a community of young adults, and we hit the bulls-eye.

This is our prime time!

For some, its time to get our lives right with God. There are some serious attitudes and junk in us that need to go (I’m talking to myself too!)

For some, its time to step up to the plate. You know you’re ripe and ready. its time to go for gold!

For some, its time to put what’s behind behind you, and perceive what God is doing now and in your future.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

This is your prime time. How are you going to use it?

This Easter weekend just passed was the most significant Easter I’ve ever had. It has nothing to do with chocolates and marshmallow bunnies, or even the long weekend, or the fact that I was in Melbourne (and I just have to say for the record…I did not eat a single easter egg. Hard to believe, I know… but I gave away ALL of my easter eggs. If that’s not a miracle I don’t know what is!)

It was significant because from the start of worship at the Easter service during the Oceania Convention, I received a deeply heart-felt revelation that God loves His church. He LOVES her! He’s crazy about her! She’s the only think He thinks about all day long (if he has days). He can’t get her out of his magnificent, multi-tasking mind! He is totally obsessed with her. He cherishes her, holds in a high place, he makes T-shirts of her and parades them around for the world to see (if he wears T-shirts). Words just can’t do his love for her justice….

… so for the entire worship, I just wept.
I wept tears of endearment as I caught a glimpse of His passion for His church.
I wept as I thought about how exactly 2009 years ago, it was His love for His church drove Him to give His best for her - sending his son Jesus Christ to die for her. To see her grow. To see her purified. To see her become the light of the world. To unleash her fullest potential to be a city on a hill.
I wept as I repented for the times I’ve been frustrated by the flaws of the church. By people in it. By the programs. By the politics. By the culture. By the systems (or there lack of).
I wept as I thought about the holy discontent in me to see the church get better.
I wept as my grace and love for the flawed people around me were renewed as I got a revelation of His grace and love for us.
I wept as the Holy Spirit etched in my heart a passion to nurture the church, His bride. It is such an honour to be commissioned by the Most High to nurture His bride, to make her ready for His return.
I wept as I responded to the Holy Spirit. That I will be whole-heartedly committed to loving His church. To fight for her, to build her up, to nurture her, to hold her highly, to give everything I have with my one life to see her flourish on Planet Earth.

I love the church of Jesus Christ.

This is one of my favourite writings about the church. Isn’t she amazing?

I’m glad I work in a place where I get to rub shoulders with people who care about climate change, how human decisions impact on the most disadvantages in the world, who uphold and stand by human rights, who think twice about the environment before printing unnecesarily or mindlessly contributing to landfill.

As peripheral and non-essential these issues may seem to the average, busy consumer, I happen to identify a lot with these values. Working in this environment helps me to keep the right perspective about life.

Almost daily, I am reminded that some hundred thousand of my fellow Australians sleep on park benches or under bridges. This makes my second-hand single bed the most comfortable thing in the world.

Every now and then, I am reminded that hundreds of individuals in Australia lie awake at night wondering how on earth they are going to feed the family for the week with $19.50 left in their bank account. This sort of despair puts my complaint about a disastrous hair cut right into perspective.
Our society is a breeding ground for complaints. The air conditioner is too hot / cold / hot / cold. The bread at the cafe was too crusty. My chair is too squeaky. My internet is soooooo slow.

The next time you and I are tempted to open our mouths to complain about something, think about your counterpart in less fortunate place in society, and I’m sure we’ll be reminded that they are just first world issues.

One of the things that bugs me the most is Christians who complain a lot when we are already so well off in so many ways. Perhaps the most powerful praise we can bring to God is not in the songs we sing at church, but in our gratitude from moment-to-moment in our lives. I happen to think that our attitude has a lot to do with our worship (or lack of) to Jehovah Jireh, our Provider.

I love the perspective that Louis CK brings about our spoilt consumerism generation. Good on you Chris for posting it too.