Burnt Stones - Regroup & Rebuild Part 2

[Music] when sun balot heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was greatly incensed he ridiculed the jews and in the presence of his associates and the army of samaria he said what are those feeble jews doing will they restore their wall will they offer sacrifices will they finish in a day can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble burned as they are tobia the ammonite who was at his side said what are they building even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones hear us our god for we are despised turn their insults back on their own heads give them over as plunder in a land of captivity do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders so we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height for the people worked with all their heart it's easy to say things are not what they were that happens to everyone and everything eventually and even success can lull us into a false sense of security burnt stones is the second of three future thinking prophetic messages leading us forward into our future as we seek to rebuild church on healthy foundations now when you build a city wall or a castle wall foundations determine the size and the strength you can never build beyond what the foundations themselves can handle you can't build a great work on a weak foundation and this poses many current questions in terms of church building what has diminished and why what is or is not working what has changed and why what has god allowed and why and i think a lot of activity i think we all know does not necessarily mean a lot of productivity we are learning how to be effective for the now so we could be fruitful for the future efficiency is our process the way of doing things but effectiveness is all the right things being done at the same time because there is no auto pilot when it comes to vision fulfillment so i have to ask you when it comes to vision are you called to build something for god at renewal because it's not going to be an individual endeavor it's going to take us all together and furthermore if you are one of those builders for god's kingdom here there will be opposition i have to let you know that there will be obstacles to overcome i have noted that there are three seasons of obstacles which i can fathom there are when things are going well there are when things are not going well but everywhere in between seems to have an obstacle at different points so vision doesn't work unless people do vision won't work unless people work together it builds by grasping in the holy spirit a picture of what could be into its future not what was but what is now to come and those who accomplish vision turn those spirit possibilities into real realities realities that reach people they're not deterred from that work people who build vision are right now people now in the words of nehemiah he said so we rebuilt the wall till all of it had reached half its height for the people worked with all their hearts imagine building a wall like this i want you to prophetically note that it was with burnt stones that were used to rebuild something at renewal this is a rebuilding program when it comes to vision one with a burden for god's house to be built one with a burden to lift up his name and give him all the glory we want to build a house it will need a lot of preparation it will need planning and foundations are fundamental but when it comes to the work of building that when it gets into the actual building of walls it's going to be brick by brick task by task person by person done really well i want to see us build a church that effectively communicates the gospel in our generation helps people come to know jesus one that transforms localities one that and has growing relationships amongst each other one where we are stronger by belonging together one where we're deeper in worship and ministry we're thinking about people coming to know jesus we're thinking about how people grow in jesus take a program like diy or sos there's always this big team but they all know their parts and that's our current endeavor and so the burden that was given to nehemiah was to rebuild now whatever it is that god has called you to be a part of here at renewal don't let anything deter you the more progress and momentum that nehemiah and his team gained the more the opposition grew so what are we to think about that well if i was to think back to nehemiah's context and day there was this remnant of god's people who returned to jerusalem from a time out a captivity to rebuild the house of god the walls of the city these faithful ones had met with continuous opposition and criticism from those all around them and they were even determined by some in their own quarters who had remained in the land now one of the most vehement enemies was somebody called sam balot and he said this following what are these feeble people doing are they going to even restore it just by themselves can they offer a place of worship that would be worth anything can they even finish it with who they've got can they revive this with burnt stones now today at renewal i think the enemy of the work of god can be making the same railing accusations there's a remnant of people who don't want a sense of comfort but want to do something significant for god with a vision of lifting up the name of jesus and restoring a house of god to its glory it takes extraordinary faith to do that and it takes a lot of courage to make those spiritual journeys and when we get there when we start to be rebuilding as the lord intends as his plan has always been from the the very very beginning we can expect that there will be attacks from critics and jealousies and from uh opposition that will be continuous to us at times one of the challenges um is always this question isn't it how can anything be rebuilt with burnt stones in fact the whole of the temple the whole of the walls of the city were used were constructed with those burnt stones from the former temple and city these were the ones that had been through the difficulty of the previous time and now looked as if they could not be used for anything else let alone building something glorious for god are you one of those burnt stones today because i feel a little bit like that have you been through a work that seemed pregnant with potential seem glorious only for it to end in a bit of frustration or some terrible disappointment have you been burned by life or people or just even the last period of time if so you're a prime candidate for being somebody that god wants to use for this new work that the lord is doing in his church and in this church we call renewal so that takes me back to our vision burnt stones may not look good on the outside but when has the lord ever really cared about what it looks like on the outside the burnt stones are those who have been through the fire and have got refined they've endured tragic difficulty but they rise up again with the determination to be part of a vision so think of the kind of faith that it took for that remnant to return to the scene of their greatest devastation to start all over again and it takes that kind of vision to endure opposition obstacles and even discourage discouragements that we would all face today and that's surely going to come during during any restoration if you have not been through a testing if you've not been through some disappointments i think you get a little bit idealistic um from the purposes of god everything that the lord is doing in this age is it intended to be a testimony towards the power of redemption a way to witness contrast to the world all around us so burnt stones don't look good on the outside but remember god looks at what's going on on the inside those who have been through a fire those who are ready to be used again those who are saying i will contribute to what god wants to do i think you're probably just in the right place for what god wants to build so how are we going to apply this for renewal you're going to need some vulnerability because it it's going to take some vulnerability and when you're vulnerable that requires some unbelievable strength if i was to say i've been hurt i haven't slept at times i haven't um i've been struggling in in different seasons but the danger is just broadcasting that for self-pity and instead we lose placing our energy in the right places about serving god and loving other people that can become attention seeking if we're not careful but what the spirit wants to get us to focus on is not how tough it's been but what are we doing why are we doing it and how do we all work together and fit in let me give you an illustration from the world of cycling tiny gains is a principle from british cycling they hired dave brailsford to lead them into a new era it was 110 years and no british cyclist had ever won a tournament like the tour de france and the whole principle of tiny games came from if you could break everything you could think of down into riding a bike and then improve it all by one percent the whole collective improvement you'd get significant increase when you put it all together and so they redesigned the bike to make it from different material and the seats to be more comfortable they rubbed alcohol on the tyres for better grip they looked at muscle recovery and sleep patterns they changed the fabrics of the of the suits that riders were wearing they painted everything white so dust particles would show up and in five years after brailsford took over the british cycling team they dominated the road and track and have done ever since in the cycling events at the 2008 olympics in beijing where they took 60 of all the gold medals and then four years later when the olympics came to london the brits raised the bar again they broke world record after world record and that was the same year in which sir bradley wiggins won the tour de france for the for the for the very first time the year after that chris froome won and people have been winning things ever since because once one wins it carries on to others even today at the tokyo olympics jason and laura kenny have become the most successful olympians of all time and it's all by improving little tiny things by one percent i mean that might not be notable it might not even be noticeable but it can be far more meaningful in the long run when we put it all together i think that's what i'm calling you to do for both ezra and nehemiah ultimately they prevailed by getting a focus on the things that they could do so what is your focus on what you could do they refuse to let criticism or obstacles or opposition or hard times deter them they worked with swords in one hand so they were always ready to battle spiritually they learned to have the trowels in the other so that they could rebuild and maybe we have to learn to do the same there'll be times won't there to be working and times to fight for one another but let us always remember that our main job is to complete the work that god has given us to do to be obedient to that and so we gather as a church don't we to see the lord amongst us people we gather to be a witness to let his spirit break out we gather so that the church can take ground and so what tiny gains could you do in lifting up the name of jesus that's our mission and what tiny gains can you contribute to to take the gospel from one to many that's our vision therefore to have the presence of god amongst us is worth anything we might endure um whether we're fighting or resting or looking after one another or whether we're working to rebuild we're supporting mission and vision by all of us placing a contribution so that the whole work can be achieved together that's where the end result can be amazing now nehemiah in chapter 2 he said to people look look at the incredible state of the walls of jerusalem come let us rebuild the walls so that we may not suffer any derision and i said to them that the hand of the lord is upon me and they said all the people together let us rise up and build so they strengthen their hands for the good work that was ahead never forget that our main job even today is to complete the work that god has given us so strengthen your hands more than ever it's going to be important for you to make a tiny gain for you to contribute to something that god has called you to do even as a burnt stone one that has gone through the fire so our challenge to you in our coming season will you rise up and rebuild so from those castle walls to life at renewal and how can each of us play our part to rebuild the mission of the church is that we exist to lift up the name of jesus and each of us when you follow jesus should ask how in your life you can do that and how do we do that together when we particularly when we gather and draw together the vision of the church is to share the gospel from one too many and sometimes we can do that with words by sharing jesus others it's actions and it's our love and it's our connections with all the people who are connected in our world in which we can make a difference to so the first prophetic message was called small beginnings and in that message we looked at the way that we could build those relationships and uh ensure that whether it's mentoring whether it's friendship and prayer pairs whether it's a friendship and a relationship that you're investing in and whether that's something where you get the opportunity to share and witness all about your faith all of those are good and we want to see that happen so many times hence from one to many when it comes to those small beginnings we build through those relationships into our groups and our teams where we can be family we are a family and you get that primarily not because you join a group or a team but because you're part of a group and team where you can support one another pray for one another care for one another bear with one another at times but also serve one another and you get to do that together and that's where family works best burnt stones is a call towards our collectiveness where we are a people and when we are a people we belong together we have a sense that god is doing something because we're part of something much bigger than ourselves so when it comes to our organization i've got justin a pastor of pastoral care and leona who leads the director of all our people and projects all our systems and structures and administration and they're going to help us understand where you can play your part towards helping us rebuild throughout the remainder of this year particularly and into our vision steps for the future so leona what can people do to help us rebuild as an organization because that's primarily where your job focuses on most yep we have two things that people can help with at the moment um firstly just a massive thank you to everyone that has been given um through all of the generosity we've given we have been able to sustain um helping hands throughout the whole of the pandemic we have reached out to other organizations to other partnerships charities and really started to build that trust so when the refugee appeal hit the crisis hit they needed help we want one of the first points that they came to um and that is through the giving of everyone that has gave into helping hands and helped to sustain that um we've got an amazing team that have been going into schools um throughout half term we've been starting to build at those partnerships and we want to keep doing that we want to expand through our schools for our borough not just sally hall but stratford and also chansley so keep giving we can keep moving throughout our community secondly is data keep your details up to date whether it's your phone number you've moved address your email address if we don't have those it doesn't matter if we see you we can week out we can't contact you even if you've accidentally clicked and subscribe on our database again it doesn't matter if we know you if um leadership team know you staff team know you volunteers if you're serving we actually don't have the permission to contact you and we want to make sure that we look after everyone's data really well so if you've clicked and subscribe we do not have the permission to contact you so uh thank you for your giving every tiny gain every one percent you know we lost a lot of trade income i think that's clear and transparent over the last 18 months so everything is going to make such a difference and if we can build those consistencies then we're able to respond to the voice of the lord i think to say now we can do something to help a specific crisis such as the refugees and that's what we've been looking to be able to build and consistently deliver on and also we want to communicate to you we delivered six webinars over the last 12 months we're writing letters we're doing things like these prophetic messages so that you catch the heart of the life of leadership in the church the direction we're going and the sustainable steps going forward gatherings are such an important part so again through the ministry model you heard in small beginnings relationships builds to groups and teams groups and teams builds to collectives where we have some focus and stages and we're excited to see them uh take some new form in the in the coming months our gatherings we've started to re-enter come together as the people of god that enables us to collectively worship be a witness set a great example to the world all around us but also belong to something much much bigger than ourselves that their very heart and core is existing to lift up the name of jesus now at renewal sully hall we've been able to gather weakly again um how can people help us rebuild in those gatherings yeah um so at the moment we are still ticketing all of our gatherings um predominantly because we want to keep everyone safe we want to welcome people back no matter what stage you are at so whether that is you are a little bit apprehensive you're still a little bit nervous you would prefer to keep your distance but you want that interaction of being in church and how that feels um we've got an area that people can sit socially distance you can leave before kind of the mass gathering of everyone mingling and grabbing their coffees we can we can look after you really well but on the other side we have um space that if you want to sit with friends if you want to sit with like community people that you know people that you don't know and we also have that available too we've got a coffee van that you can purchase your drinks we are trying to really create that atmosphere now of kind of community and all that that can feel at riddle wonderful so can i sit on my own on a sunday maybe maybe not quite at this moment in time but gatherings are i love the fact that it is all about jesus and those moments but it really is about our people god has drawn us together ages stages generations so we can be part of the body where we need one another each one of us will bring something of the grace gifts of the spirit to add into all that god enables us to celebrate amongst us and that's why we come to locations and towards our vision for locations which are to extend the vision and the geographical reach of renewal um and also to transform local communities because you can't have one size fits all when you're talking about the heart of the nation there's a vast area which we could make progress in um but we're seeing great plans and phases starting to build some momentum tell us where we're up to justin so with our chancellor and stratford locations we're focusing really on three things from here i think till probably till next easter so groups groups groups groups relationships we've got to be in relationships we've got to have strong family relationships that we can invite others into to help them become a part of us so again we would love you to start a group become part of a group support the groups as they grow through our locations particularly chelmsley and stratford then we're also starting to explore okay how do we bring these groups together to reach the local area through our collectives you know the world's not going to come to us on a sunday how do we bring our relationships together and reach out to those around so we're thinking about alpha in some of our locations to our groups we are thinking about snooker night i know someone's got an idea for downing stratfor so we're with you on cube on cuba how good so we're thinking about kind of how we can make our collectives to be missional and and outreach and then our gatherings are sunday gatherings we of course we always want to bring god's people together but of course we've got to be god's people not god's random collection of strangers so that's why the relationships are so important we don't just want to drive in on a sunday and drive out we've got to be a community in that area so we would love to increase the frequency of our sunday gatherings uh to help us with that we've been able to appoint a renewal kids workers to work part-time alongside dean so we can give more support to our locations with children's ministry of course that comes alongside joel who's supporting with youth and community and our location leaders who we've been able to put some part-time hours to to help so we're beginning to resource the locations uh so that we can increase the frequency of our sunday gatherings but we're not going to rush that frequency at the expense of community and outreach or the expense of those who are slogging their guts out to make it happen we want to build missionally and sustainably through our ministry model and that's fantastic i love the idea of snooker night but um i'm colour blind so snooker is not my game i i i don't think at all i love the sense that we're not just sunday focused and sunday centered with this apex hour or two hours in a week where everything rises and falls it is about a devoted community serving one another and taking the gospel out to serve others um and that feels really exciting and also just that sense we've made good on those ministry model promises are putting resource into those locations so the people resourcing kids and youth and location leadership that's begun how long may we see that thrive and get ready for future locations we're also committed to our online work because 898 people individuals on the last count have gathered through those uh different gatherings and over 400 each week are still connecting with us online we know that god is doing so much amongst the many and is there anything else done for the future because we've got this eye on the next step but we also still want to just stretch a little bit further to prepare for what god wants us to make a difference in yep we have got baptisms coming up we've got dedications coming up and we've got toy offering coming up um so this year naomi is our community lead she will be um taking toy offering not just from sorry hall this year but into stratford and chelmsley and we will be supporting communities around we're gonna need an immense team a very immense and organized team to help with that everything from picking toys packing toys setting up pop-up shops if that's how people choose that they want to collect um we're going to need some manpower to help that alongside our staff team but we can't wait to take that not just from saudi hall but really stretch now into our locations it's a fantastic missional opportunity isn't it and each and every year i always hear of a story of somebody's life that has been changed or a family that has been impacted and i'm sure there's many that we don't hear or i don't specifically hear about and baptism so i might be dusting off my swimming shorts and going have a test it feels so long since we've done those kind of things and we're also leading towards christmas what a great time i think after the last two years to say that god is with us and god has come to change people's story um i think we're gonna have a great christmas ahead what else could uh people help us rebuild with because people are important and every individual can play their part absolutely i mean one of the key areas we'd love people to get involved is our real kids team yes we're holding the capacity on that to make sure we've got good ratio add-ons to children we want that to be a fun experience for the children and an enjoyable experience for the team um so you know maybe you would like to get involved with our in your kids team but but i think that that burnt stones message johnny really lept in in kind of me and the rest of the team when you shared it initially because you know we've all been through something have you we've got strength to rebuild of course we have but you know people are still carrying scars so some people are still burning um coronavirus is still a thing i think more of us are coming closer uh to it now than perhaps we were last year either ourselves or people that we know and for our healthcare workers this is still a real reality for them so i think we rebuild with great hope but also great empathy and compassion for one another so you know be nice to each other in your groups support one another stay in touch look out for one another of course on top of that we've got our listening service team our well-being through faith groups are we starting a contemplative prayer group for those who just want us kind of sit and experience some peace so we've got a big questions group for those who want to wrestle through the theology of everything yeah we've been through loads of other different ways through groups you know bereavement groups the business support groups so relationships with one another really is where we support each other uh but then again as i said we've got listening service therapy service our prayer teams our pastoral teams here to help you know us as a community as we recover um but it's not just us recovering is it it's the whole world out there and yeah we need to have compassion for ourselves but really a heart for those who are trying to recover without jesus so how can we reach them how can we invite a friend or a work colleague to alpha like you said in the beginning how can we go from one to many and share the good news of jesus with those who are you know coming out of this without that hope that's got to be our biggest focus and justin if we believe these are times that are very important the last days as many people will coin it then that just increases the sense of urgency towards we have got something we can do now and make a difference um i hope you're not saying we're well drilled for lockdown 4.0 by now as well you know if that comes then hopefully i think we would handle though whatever comes our way why because primarily god is with us we're a movement and we're for each other and we're building that sense that we can do this together yeah um our third prophetic message is going to be called living sacrifices and and i think there is something of the prayer of prayer and the prophetic that's going to start to flow through that but again we go back let's build our family let's build our people and then let's see the movement of renewal grow into the decades to come so again the challenge thank you so much leona and justin for leading and for also helping people know their parts that they can play will you rise up and rebuild we hope whether you're a burnt stone somebody's been through the test or that you're still feeling um that there is so much all around you god has such a part for you to be able to play and as you fit with others we will rebuild the walls god bless

Channel: Renewal

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Length: 31min 55sec (1915 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021