On time this time!

10 Jun On time this time!

Yes…this week I’ll get this to you & on the website according to the proper schedule. Apologies for the delay last week…

So…what’s up in the schedule for us now that we’ve had a pretty decent day to celebrate a birthday that isn’t ours…Looks busy from where I’m sitting!

1. Intellect Event @ St Martin’s College/CSU – Tuesday 11^th June 7:00 p.m.
2. Ladies Fellowship – Thursday 13^th June – 43 Willow Tree Place – 10:00 a.m.
3. Zoom Bible Study Catch-up

Friday 14th June 2024 @ 1:00 p.m. (2 Kings 22:1-20)

Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83006349720 — Meeting ID: 830 0634 9720

4. LWF Prayer Morning – 85 Red Hill Rd – 10:00 a.m.
5. Equip Women 2024 – Hope for the Weary: Revelation 1-5

This is the LAST week to register with Living Water. So please get your name & $20 to Leonie. You really don’t want to miss Equip Women.

I’ve been reading 2 Chronicles over the last week or so in my morning devotions…Like I mentioned Sunday, the “badness” of the kings of Israel & Judah can get depressing. It seems they play a game of “Can you top this?” in each succeeding generation…bad to worse & then worse yet again!

So the appearance of a good king now & then is refreshing. 2 Chronicles 29 begins the narrative of one of those good ones; Hezekiah. He clears out the idols & altars to foreign gods from the Temple (yes even inside the Temple) and reinstitutes faithful worship in Judah. By chapter 30, he sends out invitations across the length & breadth of Judah & the surrounding tribal territories inviting everyone who’ll come to a Passover Celebration & covenant renewal worship. Passover hasn’t been properly celebrated in decades but according to 2 Chronicles this is a Passover like none before or since. In fact, the Passover Celebration was so captivating, the people decided to keep at it for 2 weeks instead of just one. And the final verdict: 2 Chr 30:25-27 – The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, including the priests, the Levites, all who came from the land of Israel, the foreigners who came to the festival, and all those who lived in Judah. There was great joy in the city, for Jerusalem had not seen a celebration like this one since the days of Solomon, King David’s son. Then the priests and Levites stood and blessed the people, and God heard their prayer from his holy dwelling in heaven.

But when worship is over, what do you think happens? Home for lunch & a nap? Out for a sightseeing trip to thank the kids for putting up with 2 weeks of worship? Quick side trip to visit some relatives you haven’t seen in a while?

2 Chronicles 31:1 tells us.  When the festival ended, the Israelites who attended went to all the towns of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, and they smashed all the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and removed the pagan shrines and altars. After this, the Israelites returned to their own towns and homes. Nobody went straight home. Every single solitary worshipper made a roadtrip to find an idolatrous pagan worship site & tear it down. They knew worship is meant to translate into faithful action & living that transforms their nation. It simply wasn’t good enough to shake the priest’s hand & say, “Great service mate!” They knew that the covenant God had made with them by freeing them from slavery & renewed daily by his blessing in their lives was intended to shape their lives & the life of their communities…and ultimately their nation. So they put faith into action exactly as God had commanded.

The more I read of the Bible, the more I see that what matters most is not the momentary excitement of a prayer meeting, Bible Study, or a worship service, as critical as those are for the life of God’s people. What is crucial is what happens after. What do we do with what we’ve prayed about, studied, worshipped over, sung about…What do I do when I walk out the door?

Now…I don’t expect you to go burn down a brothel or smash a pokie machine. In fact, that may accomplish nothing more than getting you in trouble with the law. But there’s always someone or something that will come to your mind and it’s that…perhaps God is telling you that person needs you to say or do something for them or that thing needs to get done & you’re the one to do it.

Best New Testament example I can think of…Acts 4…Peter & John have healed a man & the Jewish leaders arrest them but really can’t punish them because the healed guy is standing right there dancing around in circles praising God. So Peter & John get back to the fellowship of Jesus-followers & a prayer meeting breaks out and when it ends, After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Now that’s kinda cool…they pray & God literally rocks the place! But what happens next is even cooler: Then they preached the word of God with boldness. All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

You see…awesome moments are just that: awesome. But if there’s nothing afterwards…that awesome moment just fades into memories of all the other awesome moments. AFTER a Passover like none before or since, they clear their communities of idols & pagan worship relics. AFTER the meeting where the building shakes & God shows up powerfully, they go out & start living on the basis of what they’ve just experienced & lives were changed. Boldness, unity, & overwhelming generosity became the notable character traits of that early Christian community.

So…between Sunday worship, & the next time you gather with the community of disciples be thinking about & listening to God for ways to take the Word from worship & be about the business of living that word in some way that touches & perhaps changes a life forever.

 

I look forward to hearing the stories you’ll be telling of how you’re doing just that!

John