Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Crema Chaj podcast.
[00:00:08] Awesome. You guys can take a seat. Son of thunder and real estate agent.
[00:00:15] Let me know if you want me to sell your house.
[00:00:19] I charge commission.
[00:00:21] We'll give it all to the building fund, including the sale of your house. But that's in the T's and C's, so don't worry.
[00:00:27] How you all doing?
[00:00:29] Let's go.
[00:00:32] Okay, well. Yep. So my name is Joel. My parents lead this church, which means I'm a pastor's kid. I like to say I'm one of the good ones. I hope. Depends on who you ask.
[00:00:48] I kind of head up some of the worship and creative stuff here, so I get to work with this amazing group. It is my favorite thing. And, yes, I am getting married in a month.
[00:00:58] So, yeah, God works absolute miracles, let me tell you. Praying mother works.
[00:01:09] I proposed, I think, maybe like, under a month ago. So we're going, like, two months to wedding day. If something tells you Christian wedding, that tells you Christian wedding. But, yes. So we are very excited. I would say I'm quite relaxed in the marital process, you know, of organizing a wedding. I don't feel a ton of weight.
[00:01:31] Grace possibly feels a bit more than me.
[00:01:34] We were looking at our two lists. She has this, like, epic list, like, with all these ticks next to it.
[00:01:40] And I have, like, this little list, like, five things with no ticks next to them.
[00:01:46] So pray for grace. Thank you. That it is in her name.
[00:01:51] Okay, we are in the book of Nehemiah. How many of you guys have been here over the last couple of weeks?
[00:01:58] Okay, great. That's good.
[00:02:00] So we're in the Book of Nehemiah for a couple of reasons. I mean, mostly we feel like God has spoken to us about the book of the Nehemiah.
[00:02:06] The. Secondly, because as you watched in that video, we are believing God for a new home, and we are believing God for a home that's not kind of just a home for now, but it is a home for the future and for the generations to come. And it is a home that we believe is a place for revival.
[00:02:25] Not just a building for a local church, but a place for revival going forward. And it has become more and more evident that we cannot stay here. We don't own this building, if you don't know. We rent it. And it is becoming more and more challenging to be here, and we are going to have to move on.
[00:02:45] And as it became more clear that we could not stay here, we sought the Lord and we said, God, where do you want us to go.
[00:02:53] And we looked and we looked and we looked and we really didn't feel him. And then College Court came up and we felt this yes from God and we felt this kind of yes, that we could go for this. But here's the catch. Like, College Court is a very different place to this.
[00:03:08] It's like a campus.
[00:03:10] You saw me trying to sell it to you. There's hotel rooms, there's conference center. It's this huge ground.
[00:03:18] It's a big space for a big vision.
[00:03:22] And you don't buy something like College Court because you're believing God, that we can have nice local church meetings.
[00:03:31] You buy a place at College Court because you are believing that God wants to touch a nation, that you need hotel rooms because we're going to send revivalists all over the world. You need conference spaces because we are going to train up and raise up Levites. You need lots of parking because lots of people are going to come and find Jesus.
[00:03:48] That's why you buy a space like that. That's why you do what you do. Do you know that if 10% of England came to church today, we don't have enough buildings.
[00:03:56] 10% of the country, all across, if they all woke up and said, hey, we want to come to church. We haven't got room.
[00:04:03] How mad is that? You see churches everywhere. We haven't got room. And we are believing that College Court is part of a physical step by us, like physical obedience that's going to bring spiritual release.
[00:04:17] That as we say, yes, God, we believe you for revival. He is going to teach us and lead us in the way of revival.
[00:04:25] Bit like Noah with the ark. He builds an ark, there's no rain. He looked good when the rain came.
[00:04:31] And the Book of Nehemiah, I think, is a revival book.
[00:04:37] It's a book all about revival in Jerusalem, about one man who believed God, who sought God. He said, God, it can't stay the way it is.
[00:04:49] And he sought God. And there were physical things he had to do, physical steps he had to rebuild the wall and it all mattered. Because there are practicalities. We need a building because we can't all fit in this one.
[00:05:01] There's practicalities, right? But the actual book is about this moment when the walls built and then they gather and there is revival.
[00:05:09] People turning back to God, this sense of change.
[00:05:15] And what's really interesting, the Book of Nehemiah. So at this point in time, the Israelites before this were.
[00:05:24] They had their kind of years where they followed God, where they loved him and they went in his ways and there was an abundance and there was all this amazing stuff going on. God was faithful.
[00:05:36] And as they slowly turned further and further away from God, things got worse and worse and worse and worse. As they became more impressed with them and less dependent on God, they turned and turned and turned. And eventually they find themselves in captivity in Babylon. And Babylon's invaded, and that becomes kind of. It's invaded by the Persians, I think. And they find themselves in this place where it is like the capital of all sin, all darkness, sexual sin, idolatry, abuse, all this nasty stuff. It's like the hub. And if you read history, people talk about Babylon specifically as like, one of the most crazy places. And it is in this moment that Nehemiah prays and seeks God. And he is sent to rebuild the wall.
[00:06:22] And no one backs him. You know, the king sends him, but his own people don't believe he can do it.
[00:06:29] There's enemies that are hitting him from all sides. And when he gets back there, it's not like he goes, hey, guys, let's build the wall. And they all go, great idea. Let us know. Like, it's hard.
[00:06:39] There is resistance.
[00:06:41] And it is in this moment that revival comes.
[00:06:45] And I see so many parallels to what we are walking out in the modern day.
[00:06:52] Whatever you think politically, we as a nation have gone further and further and further away from God.
[00:06:59] He is openly mocked now. Openly.
[00:07:04] We believe that our ways are better than his.
[00:07:09] Our nation honestly used to be a nation that said the Bible was the founding book.
[00:07:13] But the truth is that I don't know how much we're seeing those principles lived out nowadays. And I wouldn't say we're living in a time of abundance where it's just getting better and better.
[00:07:25] Hope that doesn't offend you.
[00:07:29] And I see all these parallels, and I am so sure that the book of Nehemiah is so important to us because we need revival.
[00:07:39] We need God.
[00:07:41] We have no hope, but for him, it has to be Him.
[00:07:47] We can't do this ourselves.
[00:07:50] And, you know, we as Christians, we can believe him, but realistically, we gotta get on our knees and pray. And if he doesn't show up, we're in trouble, which is actually a really great place to be.
[00:08:07] If the church is just kind of a social gathering, then we can just do things all in our own strength and have a nice time.
[00:08:15] If the church is totally dependent on God, we have to believe him for the impossible.
[00:08:20] We have to believe him for the things we can't do naturally. But God.
[00:08:24] But he turns up and the fullness of him comes.
[00:08:29] Okay? So when I found out. So over the last few months, every night I have an app on my phone that, like, reads me the Bible, okay? It's got, like, a kind of nice, soothing voice, and I can choose the music. It's great.
[00:08:42] So I have this app, and I've been in the Book of Nehemiah, and because we as a church are in the Book of Nehemiah. And the way I see it, we've kind of got a month left to see this miracle, right?
[00:08:52] We need 4,5 million in a month.
[00:08:57] Yeah. Okay. So the way I see it is probably over the next month, my prayer life is going to get more intense, and there could be some prayer and fasting.
[00:09:07] And so I'm in the Book of Nehemiah because I'm like, God, I need you. I need to stay in this place. I've been reading it over and over again. And the other night, I got to Nehemiah 8, and it was like that chapter just jumped out and slapped me. It's like, oh, that's God.
[00:09:25] It's funny, isn't it? When we read the Bible and we're surprised God is in it. But I read the Bible. Oh, my goodness, that's God. That's you. And I didn't fully understand it, or I wasn't like, hey, I know exactly what you're saying. I was just like, I know you're in this. I know this is you. I know this is for now. I know this is for me. I know this is for us.
[00:09:43] And then I found out that I was preaching today, and I said, dad, have we done Nehemiah 8? And he said, we haven't. And I said, great, I want it.
[00:09:52] And then I got home and I was like, I don't know what to say about it, God. I just know that you're in it.
[00:10:00] So I prayed and I sought the Lord, and I felt the Lord say, this chapter is a blueprint for revival.
[00:10:08] And if you know any of our story as Chromer Church, over the last 10 years, we have been on this journey with the Holy Spirit, where all the things we knew about building good church and leading good church and doing things really well and all that, you know, all the good stuff, we kind of threw a lot of it out the window and said, holy Spirit, this is your church. If you want to do something different, you do something different.
[00:10:32] If it's hard, we'll follow you, but we have to have you. That's the condition we have to have you.
[00:10:39] And it's really interesting that over that time, it's like God has given us this blueprint for being a people of revival. He's given us these little things that are like, I want you to do this and I want you to do that. Not that they would become, like, mechanic and like, we always do certain things, but this sense of just obedience to the Holy Spirit. This is what he's asked us to do. We're going to do these. And I was really stunned as I was reading this chapter in Nehemiah. I was like, God, you told us to do that.
[00:11:07] Oh, that. You told us to do that as well. I'm kind of pleased it's in the Bible and you told us to do that.
[00:11:13] This, like, kind of joy started to stir up in me. I was like, lord, you've said to do this, so would you guys stand?
[00:11:20] How many of you have your Bible physically with you?
[00:11:25] Go. Come on. All right, Nehemiah, eight.
[00:11:32] And we're going to be. Verse four, I believe.
[00:11:37] Cool. Are you guys all there?
[00:11:39] Okay, you got to stay with me as I read these names and just no giggling.
[00:11:45] It's irreverent.
[00:11:47] Okay.
[00:11:48] Verse 4. So Ezra the scribe, stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose.
[00:11:56] And beside him, at his right hand stood Mattiah, Shemaiah, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Messiah. And at his left hand, Padaiah, Mishael, Malchiah, Hashem, Hashbaddam, Zechariah, and Melshalam, and Ezra. I thought we agreed on no giggling.
[00:12:17] And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up.
[00:12:28] When he opened the book, the people stood up.
[00:12:32] And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, amen, Amen, whilst lifting their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground also.
[00:12:45] Okay, Jeshua, Bani, Sheridan, but Jamin, Akub, Shab, Hodjah, Messiah, Keltiah, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Peliah, and the Levites. Praise. The Lord helped the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place.
[00:13:09] So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading.
[00:13:17] And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra, the priest and the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Lord.
[00:13:35] Then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared for. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, be still for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions, and rejoice greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them.
[00:14:05] Amen.
[00:14:07] You take a seat.
[00:14:13] So let me set the scene. This is like the wall has been built. They've achieved. Nehemiah has achieved what he set out to do in the physical.
[00:14:22] And they basically gather the people for what is basically a seven day Bible conference.
[00:14:28] Okay. And at this point, it's very unlikely the people have really ever heard the Word of the Lord. They've been away, they've come out of this place, Babylon. They don't know the word of the Lord. And the word of the Lord is this book, right?
[00:14:41] And so what happens is they gather all the people and they say, we're gonna do this big kind of seven day conference. And they get them all and they set a stage up and a bunch of them get on stage and they begin to read the Word of the Lord and the people begin to worship and repent. And people are weeping, like people everywhere are kind of crying. And you've got kind of the Levites. I kind of picture it as like the Levites and some of those guys I tried to name, like crawling through and talking to people and explaining the law and praying for them. And people are worshiping and they're on their feet and there's just this mass revival as people turn back to God.
[00:15:17] They hear the word of the Lord and they're like, oh, my goodness, how have I lived the way I lived?
[00:15:24] How have I not known?
[00:15:26] Why didn't no one tell me?
[00:15:31] And Israel has this revival, and that's what this whole chapter is about.
[00:15:35] And I want to show you three things that I felt as I went through this, that I feel are important parts of this blueprint for revival. If we're going to stay in this place of dependence of God, of love, of the Holy Spirit, and to see the more of him, I think there's three things we need to focus on. You still with me?
[00:15:55] Okay, here's number one. The corporate gathering is God's way.
[00:16:03] Some people aren't going to like this, but God likes Big gatherings.
[00:16:08] Okay, I want to throw a couple of things out to you. They gather all the people, they build a stage and they get leaders, and the leaders stand on the stage.
[00:16:21] There's some stuff going around church at the moment that's like, stages are evil. Leadership's evil. Just do it your own way.
[00:16:30] Do it in small groups. The corporate gathering's wrong. It's all not God's way. God's way is that if you just go and you have a little small group and actually don't even worry about that. Maybe just do it just you. In fact, don't worry about that. Actually, maybe just go up into your bedroom and maybe sometimes pray a little bit maybe, but. But even then, you could probably have Netflix on in the background. And so, like, watch a little bit of something and just, let's just all be good Christians and when God returns or revival comes, we'll be ready.
[00:16:59] Do you know Jesus had 12 disciples?
[00:17:02] They spent the most time with him. They followed him everywhere. He trained them in all the things that were dear and near to his heart. Do you know what they did when Jesus went to be with the Father and the Holy Spirit came? Do you know what they did? They went and built the church.
[00:17:16] They went and built the church. And yes, they had to do small gatherings because when they did larger gatherings, they were all killed. Let me ask you, why is the devil trying to stop large gatherings if he doesn't care?
[00:17:28] Do you know Jesus gathered crowd upon crowd upon crowd, thousands and thousands of them. Now, it's true he went and spent time alone with the Lord, but what we seem to have done as the church is go the time alone with the Lord. We like. It's the bit with people, we don't.
[00:17:43] You can't have one without the other. Jesus did both the corporate gathering matters, and they gathered all of this group together. They built a stage. They had leaders on the stage.
[00:17:56] For Ezra was standing above all the people. Why was he standing above all the people? Because he needed to see.
[00:18:03] They worshiped.
[00:18:05] Then all the people answered amen, Amen whilst lifting their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
[00:18:14] Okay, they worshipped, but they didn't do this.
[00:18:17] Goodbye yesterday. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. I got resurrection in my place.
[00:18:28] They worshiped and they bowed, arms in the air, head to the ground.
[00:18:33] There was a response to God, I just want to say to you, there's all this stuff that's like, hey, you worship your way. That's nonsense.
[00:18:44] Do what God said, do what the book said. When you come before the king of all heaven, there has to be a response. Has to might be before the wrong person if there's not discipleship. The Levites helped the people to understand the law. So they. So as they're reading the book of the law, you see, this is how I picture it. Maybe this is just my way of. But I picture it as those people, they're reading the book of the law and they're going, you know, don't do naughty things. So the Levites coming out and going, did you hear that?
[00:19:15] That was for you.
[00:19:16] Do you know what I'm saying? And people are starting to disciple each other. They're explaining things they didn't understand. And you know what matters about the corporate gathering? It matters that there are people in front of you that know more about God, that have more history with the Lord, that have spent more time with him, that have been faithful, that have walked through things that you haven't walked through.
[00:19:36] And it matters actually that there are people on the other side who look to you and go, oh, you're a little bit ahead of me in this. It matters that the people in front of you help you. It matters that you help the people behind you.
[00:19:49] That's how we're going to grow. That's what the church looks like.
[00:19:52] Which does all mean we have to gather.
[00:19:56] We're not doing that over Instagram. I don't care what anyone says.
[00:20:00] It's got to happen in the physical, and there's got to be people in front of you and behind you.
[00:20:07] Generosity, giving in abundance, go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those whom nothing is prepared for. This day is holy to the Lord. Okay, if you're going to go eat the fat and drink the sweet, you've got to have some abundance.
[00:20:23] So there were people with abundance and there were people that gave to those who didn't have.
[00:20:29] You can't separate it.
[00:20:32] Giving, generosity, and abundance are all a part of us gathering and doing church together. John Wimber used to say, you can't get up and worship and go, God, I give you my whole heart, my whole life, and your wallet not be included.
[00:20:48] The two can't be separate. Can't we, God? You can have anything except this.
[00:20:54] Are we okay?
[00:20:57] Kathryn Kuhlman said, I've seen God do things corporately in moments that took years in the secret place.
[00:21:03] When we gather corporately, we take ground and we mobilize God's people. You understand that God's plan For the world is the church, God's plan for the redemption of the world, for revival.
[00:21:16] Everything that is going on in this world, he. It's his church, it's his bride. You are his plan as part of the church, not on your own.
[00:21:29] Okay, here's my second point.
[00:21:31] There must be repentance. This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to the Lord.
[00:21:49] As we go in our lives and we get closer and closer to God. You see, my prayer is not that I get everything right today. My prayer is that each day I am closer and closer to God. That as each day I step towards him and I get closer to him, more and more in me is shone back as like, oh my goodness, this can't stay.
[00:22:10] Like, the closer I get to him, I can't stay the same. Reinhard Bonnke had this prayer that I love. He said, lord, I pray that you would help me get right at the start the things that matter most at the end.
[00:22:24] And here's the deal. Like, as we go on this journey with the Holy Spirit, if God is here, there are going to be things in our lives that show up that don't, that aren't good.
[00:22:33] It's going to be sin. It's going to be just changes of habits. You see, if he gets our whole life, he gets an opinion on everything.
[00:22:40] And it's opinion that we say yes to.
[00:22:44] And God is going to show us things that need to change.
[00:22:48] If he's not, I would argue maybe you're not as close to him as you think. Some of the most godly men I know are constantly changing. They're constantly going, oh my God, I shouldn't have done that. And it's holiness, it's glory. To glory.
[00:23:03] It really matters. Do you know, we as a church, this is a funny one. When we first started our journey with the Holy Spirit, and we did a couple of years, and we hadn't had any guest speakers for a long time. And we had this guy come in, his name was Ben Fitzgerald, and we'd sent him an email and we didn't think he would come. So when he said yes, we were like, yes, we got one. Like, someone's gonna come. And he had more than like 10 Instagram followers. So we were like, no way. You know, we were like, so excited and so he's coming. And we made these flyers for the event.
[00:23:35] And on the flyer, it said, finding God in, like, small.
[00:23:39] And it said, ben Fitzgerald with this big picture of Ben.
[00:23:45] We made these flyers. And the thing was, we'd always done it like that. We didn't think anything of it. We just thought, that's how everyone does flyers. That's what we've always done it. We didn't think anything of it.
[00:23:56] And then when Ben came, I just remember we, as a team, as the Lord came, we were like, oh, my goodness, God.
[00:24:03] When did we get to a place where finding God was small and the speaker was bigger?
[00:24:09] When did we get to a place where we didn't say, God is here and Ben Fitzgerald's coming as well?
[00:24:17] And it wasn't this, like, sense of we'd been purposefully doing something. It was just. As God began to blow in this house, we became more aware of the things that needed to change.
[00:24:27] It was good.
[00:24:28] It was holy.
[00:24:33] Here's my last point. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
[00:24:43] Isn't it so interesting that they have this moment where they read the book of the law and people are encountering God and there is this mourning of weeping, and people are crying, and it's, oh, my goodness, God.
[00:24:58] And you know what they say? They say, stop it. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Do not weep, do not mourn, for he is good. How many of you guys have come down the front in our environment, you know, and you encounter God, you're, like, crying, and God's meeting your heart, and then you hear, like, down, and you're like. And it feels like the most inappropriate thing on the planet, right? Like, you're, like, kneeling before the sub and your whole body starts shaking. It's not God. It's like the drum kit. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, you're like, oh, my goodness. Right?
[00:25:33] And sometimes. And look, as a worship leader, sometimes that feels.
[00:25:37] Trust me, it's as awkward for me as it is for you.
[00:25:40] I'm looking at someone weeping. I have been in rooms where, like, the front row is, like, bawling, like.
[00:25:46] And my dad's like, let's go. And I'm like, you don't want to, like, transition or we can land this one. It's like, no, no. I'm just like.
[00:25:55] Let me tell you, my eyes are always shut. They're like.
[00:25:58] I'm like, I can't look someone in the eye whilst they're weeping. And we're doing this thing right, and why do we do it?
[00:26:07] See, look, an encounter with God really matters. And as we face a holy God, there is a sense of, oh, my goodness, God.
[00:26:16] Like, I don't measure up and I need you. That's so real. But there is also the truth that Jesus saved and paid for everything, that his blood covered it all, and he died for your full and total restoration, which is actually an extremely joyful, positive thing.
[00:26:41] That I was lost, but now I'm found.
[00:26:45] And in the church so often, it's like, I was lost now and found, but I'm actually still sad because I'm lost.
[00:26:52] It's like, no, no. I was lost, but now I am found. And the joy of the Lord is my strength.
[00:27:01] See, why did Paul, the Apostle Paul, you know, he's being whipped and beaten and imprisoned, and he can continually give thanks. Have you thought about that? All of the kind of disciples, they went through some of the most awful things possible. But it's because the joy was not just like a happy feeling. It wasn't like, hey, let me just hit you over the head and just kind of perk up. Come on.
[00:27:22] It was the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord. And what I would say to you is, if you read. I mean, I love books like God's Generals. You read all of these revivals. A lot of the revivalists who burnt out early, and whatever your opinion is of that, a lot of them, there was an intensity that kind of meant they got a little bit in a mess because it was just so intense. And the truth is, we need men and women who will be radical and intense for God. I don't look at that and go, oh, we just need more balance.
[00:27:57] I'm like, no, no, we need that.
[00:28:00] But we need the joy of the Lord, that when we weep and when there is sorrow and mourning, that the joy of the Lord is where we start, it's where we finish, and it's where we go. It will sustain us.
[00:28:14] You know, we've honestly. So we put these tissue boxes at the front. I think they used, like, 10% for tears and 90% for dancing.
[00:28:23] I remember we did the dance, like, David thing, and everyone's like, you know, Ed starts going, I'm gonna dance like David dance. I'm like, oh, that's cool. And then I look and I'm like, why is everyone running to the tissue boxes? And everyone's running and, like, swinging these things in the air. And I just thought, flip it, heck. This is Crazy, but I'm here for it.
[00:28:42] And there is something for us. We've got to be radical for God.
[00:28:46] Have to.
[00:28:47] Have to be radical for God. And we need the joy of the Lord to keep going.
[00:28:52] So I've got three things to say to you. The corporate gathering matters. We have to do this, and we need you to come and worship and love people and be part of this. Come to the prayer meetings, come to all of it. Be a part of this community. I know there's always a balance. I'm not asking you to do. I'm just saying let's. Let's fully go after God corporately, because as we do that, he will mobilize us for the sake of a nation.
[00:29:21] We must repent as we come together. There must be things in our lives that we see and go, this has got to change. It's got to move. It needs to change. And sometimes other people are going to tell you about it and we have to be like, okay, I hear you. I want God. I want some things in my life. I want to move. I don't want to be the same man I was five years ago, ten years ago.
[00:29:45] God, as I get closer to you, I want the things that used to feel okay to not feel okay, because I am closer to you.
[00:29:53] And the third thing is that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
[00:29:58] That if we're going to go this course, this journey, if we're going to go after a revival, we must stay in a place of joy. We must love him, and we must continue to be a joyful house. And I would say to you, this is a house where God has put joy upon us.
[00:30:13] He has blessed us with it. And I don't know about you, but I am grateful.
[00:30:18] What a great thing for the Lord to give us the joy of the Lord.
[00:30:24] What a gift.
[00:30:26] Would you guys stand.
[00:30:31] Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge podcast. If you enjoy. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Croma Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
