Repairers of the Breach

[Music] Before the week is out, you must see this movie. It's for the next five weeks after today. Six weeks including today. You will have no idea what an earth we are going to do. Hopefully, some of the Bible records will be written in the book of St. Louis and some of the books of St. Louis will be written in the book of St. Louis. Behind this will be incredible things to you. But the movie will be a bit of a mystery. So, opening section. [Music] Come on, rock in the shade, Phil Thorne. Oh, here we go. In fact, we've lost this whole thing to the Lord. Because nobody wants to see us. If you want any of those songs, go to Brazile. [Music] Right, well, anyway, let's get on with the next series. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] He wasn't even sitting on the toilet. He was sitting in a window of an upper room on Cleveland Street at the top of St. John, now the record office. He was staring out of the window at the church on St. Giles and he was looking out the window thinking to himself, "God, how can we change the culture of a city? We don't even talk to the church across the road. How can we do this? How can we make a difference?" And God said to him, "Together." That's how you make a difference. The culture of a city, church to church, changing it together. And we even know their names. We have nothing to do with this church and it literally, if we stood in a line, we could hold hands and stand in each other's pit. But we don't even know them. And God said, "Flux capacitor moment. This is your mission if you choose to get it." As we hop to another film reference, if anyone caught it. And there, the vision was, God gave Phil some very significant scriptures. Isaiah 58, Isaiah 40, Joshua 3 and Nehemiah 3. And on those foundations, the church was built. The church that we sit in today, you may have a photograph where you can't see that detail. But let me tell you, it's still here. The church today is in a healthy place. We have a fantastic family around us. We have connection, relationships and vision. But how do you know what it's built on? One of the things that I don't think we see in our church today, and this is not a criticism. This is a reminder to us and a reminder team and a reminder to all of us that what we're doing is how we change the culture of the city. I found an old document and it said, Phil and Jo had all these different leaders and all their different job roles and all of the things they had to do, so and so had to lead kids' church and do this and so and so had to look after the admin. Phil and Jo's responsibility was to make sure, and this is a big responsibility, that we changed the city and that we changed the region and that we had an impact on the nation and we had an impact on the world. Well, like that is a big job and can I tell you, we may not know the difference we made in our life, okay, but we may have also let that picture fade a little bit. And we need to get back to reminding ourselves that we are doing a fantastic job at changing the culture in our wrecked neighbourhood. Who knows that if you live in this direct neighbourhood, isn't it seeing a cultural shift in this neighbourhood? We are seeing relationships and connections and friendships being built in this underlevel that we have witnessed before. Now there is a lot of issues here, but we are seeing this place as a lighthouse, this neighbourhood, which is part of our original dream when we moved into this place. So we are seeing those things, but what we are not seeing is some of the things that we see in relationship to our city. We are called as a body of people to change the culture of this city. Turn to the person next to you and say, "We are called to change the culture of this city." Did you believe the person who just said that? Because it's true. Well, that might be a big mission for you, but you do it like this. You change your doorstep well. You personally do not need to go out and solve homelessness in much way. Apparently, that's already sorted. There's 560,000. There's just been given some knowledge to sort out homelessness. So that's going to solve the problem, obviously. But you don't need to solve that on your own. You need the issue with God's support on your doorstep. You literally need to connect with the relationship that is next to you. You need to build a relationship on your doorstep well. That's what our responsibility is. So let's move on before I get stuck on one point. I'm using Jono's laptop. Actually, no, it's not Jono's laptop. I'm losing a laptop today, so I might get lost. It's Capacitor's original concept, all depended on the process of it being put into place. It didn't on its own. It needed to be set into the right process to work. So point one, save the clock tower. Memorials, not museums, had become a memorial. It was stuck at a certain time in 1955 after it was sweet. It didn't remain that till 1985 when we entered the film. It had become a memorial. We do not want to become a memorial. Phil spoke so briefly. He talked about how the stones were placed as a remembrance of them moving forward. This is a really significant point. When we place stones and when those stones were placed, they weren't placed to remind people that that's where they settled. It says that they were for future generations to remember where you went, not for future you stopped. God wants us to know that we have to remember. The vision that Phil got in 1985 was not for us to know that that's where we stayed. It was for us to know that that was where we began, what we moved into. And it's interesting that we see through this film that not everything was solved in 1955. In 1985 when Phil in the first year of that, the whole culture of the city wasn't changed. In fact, with the nine people that he started the church with, the whole culture of the city was changed and the world didn't become a better place. Nothing really dramatic except he set something in motion. It takes a generation to impact a generation and another generation to carry that forward. It's a generational intergeneration that makes a difference. That's why you build a tower of stones. So this generation over here says this is where it started. Look what we've done. This is where it began. And so this series is about saying this is where it's begun. Look what we can do to get it here. And we are all part of that journey. We are all part of that process. You do not need the clock, the pile of stones, the vision, the moment that fills the debt of scriptures and the dream of those churches working together. We don't memorial. We position ourselves and make happenings. That's what we do. We put the vision into action. How exciting is that? Does anyone else find sighting? Brilliance about that is that it does not fill responsibility. I'm going to let that hold for a second. See, what was in 1985 was who was going to be sitting in this room today. What God knew is who He'd birthed into each and every one of us the ability to carry part of that vision. God knew that. God knows that in this room there is strategic people that have a strategic potential to see this strategic vision out work its strategic purpose. That is incredible. Every single one of us has a strategic part to play. Right, you might only be 10 in this room. You might only be 4, 3 in this room. You may be 80, something I won't tell them all, in this room. Every single one of us has a strategic part. You are here for such a time as this. To memorialize the moment, it's to motivate and literally give legs to the original mission. Let me just read that scripture to you. Where am I? I don't understand computers. I don't know how you keep them on the same bit. I touch this pad and it just jumps somewhere else. And Joshua set up Gilgagd and 12 stones they had taken out of the River Jordan. He said, "In the future, when your descendants ask their parents what these stones mean, tell them Israel crossed the Jordan on this ground." Let me say to you, in the future, when your children, when Harry says to you, when baby Mark Rory says to you, how come this city is like different than other places that we go? How come the churches here connect together and work together in this amazing way? You tell them that you sat here in the church today and you talked about your significant part that you played because of the flux capacitor moment, because of the original vision moment, because that is what makes the difference. Point two, hit 88 miles per hour must become participation. Let me read you this from Isaiah. Now the Jordan is at flood stage during the harvest. As the priest who carried out the ark reached Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the waters from stream stopped flowing. Let me just give that picture to you rather than just share. It's like an ordinary-ish-sized looking river, not like this massive big thing that you can't imagine. However, in the harvest season it can be up to over a mile, a mile and a half wide. That's how big it can flood. Now the Israelites are not known for their swimming competitions. They are in the desert. They are not swimmers. This is not something that they grow their children up doing. This is not something that they do as a matter of course. They can't swim. The majority of them would never be in big bodies of water. The water at its point in the harvest is probably about 8 to 10 meters. And that's quite deep. I mean, like, I don't know how tall this is, Jon, but this has got to be like 7, 6, 7 meters. So they're not touching the bottom of this water, you know, wide. And this is a big river. And God does this amazing thing. Not while they are standing at the river banks, but as soon as they get their feet touching the water, God does this incredible miracle. He stops the water in a place called Adam. He literally seals off, and the water starts to build up like it did for their 40 years previously when they crossed with Moses, the Red Sea. Remember that story? All of those people that were barred crossing the river Jordan were a whole new generation. They'd heard the story of what had happened to their parents. None of them had seen it. None of them had actually witnessed the part of the sea and the walking across on dry land. Now was an opportunity before they entered the promise to actually say all of the things that in the last 40 years and been taught in the last 40 years, we could believe them. The miracle that happened, God is now doing again. He parted the river and they were able to walk across on dry land. God made away from them and literally echoed what had already happened to their parents and grandparents. I think that's incredible. Okay, but it did not happen until their feet were touching the water. They had to get their feet wet. How embarrassing if they got their feet wet and had to turn back round. But they didn't. They got their feet wet and God did the miracle. I love the bit in the movie when they are driving the car faster and faster and two places in the first place. This one is in the car park when they've been chased by Libyans and they're driving the car and literally there's Doc standing there and Doc keeps bringing Marty in closer because Marty's got the camera and Marty's like moving away and Doc brings him back in closer and Marty keeps moving away and Doc keeps bringing him back in the delorean that is driving or being driven by the remote control with the poor dog in it. At 88 miles an hour towards them so as soon as it hits 88 it flies off into time and disappears. Sometimes we are facing things that seem impossible. How do we change the nations of the world, Phil? It's impossible. How do we affect the culture of a city? It's impossible. We do it, firstly, by standing on the promise that God has given us, standing bravely face to face with the promise, however scary it may look, and we do it together, just like, not just here in this room, but you saw with the church across the road, we do it together. And we are brave enough to either our feet wet or to stand and face what is coming on at a very big speed against us. You know what, whose Christians are pathetic and use churches as a crutch? They have not met this fearless bunch, because actually we are fearless. Because we have the power of God, the lion roar with us. We are a fearless bunch and we want to change the culture of our city. And so, full on, I want to set full on forward into the mission that God has set before us. Tell me, I don't want to miss this last point and I'm going to just jump forward to it because this is really, really important. The third point is two hill valleys. There was two versions in the film. The opening scene of the film, a car bashed up and broken, rolls onto the driveway, pulls on actually, on a transporter. And Marty is like, "Oh no, I was going to take a girl out on a date in that car. How are we going to drive out now in a date on the car that's smashed up?" And he goes in and his dad's kind of at the table with his family and his mum is having a glass of vodka and the scene is quite depressing. And the family just look a little bit in crisis and in Biff. And Biff reminds me of a character out of the Bino. He like walks in with all his attitude. I can't do that in an American attitude. I can't do that accent that won't work for me. But he walks in with banging the dad on the head with his fist. "Hello, George." I don't know if he calls him, I can't remember. He's banging him on the head and he's, "McFly, thank you very much. I'm so glad we got some film gigs in here." "McFly, McFly." And poor George, not his dad, McFly, says to him, "Well, what happened to the car bib?" And he said, "That's your responsibility. I had a blind spot in the car." He said, "Well, it never had a blind spot when I drove." He said, "Well, it had a blind spot today." And he said, "But your insurance is going to cover it." He said, "It's your car, it's your problem." And then, fifth goes off after this interchange and he sits down and he's got the telly and he's laughing in a... laughing and I sit in there at the table and Marty's standing there saying, "Why did you not stand up to him?" This whole scene is playing out and then the mum looks and says, "When I met your dad under the sea ball and I looked across the ball and I saw him and I fell in love with him instantly and I thought, 'This is my life.'" And there's this sicking feeling that for the rest of her life she is committed to this man. So then you go right to the end of the movie and in the end of the movie, Marty wakes up in bed, he gets up and he's in his house and his brother is... and he's off to work in the office and his sister is looking great and sitting around eating at the table and in walks mum and dad and dad a smart suit with his shades on looking super cool and Marty says to mum, "Mum, mum, you're looking so slim!" and she looks amazing and he looks out the window and there's Biff polishing a car and the scene has changed and Marty's dad George says to him, "Biff, make sure you put two coats of polish!" Everything has changed. The whole scene has changed because of what happened when Marty had gone back to the future well and interfered a little with the process of time their whole story had changed. There was two hill valleys and there is two versions of how this plays out We can go with the vision that God has given us and we can run with the vision that God has given us and we can see our city and the culture of our city changed or we can slip darkly into this night and do nothing and that scares me because God is not making us do anything There is a divine suggestion when a room in 1985 and look out of the window and say, "Surely the church across the road and our church could walk together and work together and see change together and shape this city together. Surely there is a chance that together we could do more." Surely there is a part that I could play. That is a divine suggestion. It only becomes a possibility when one young man picks it up and says, "I'll stand in front of a DeLorean. I'll face it down. I'll let it charge at me at 80 miles an hour or 88 miles an hour and see what happens." And I want to say to us today, it takes bravery, it takes courage, it takes persistence and consistency, but together we could change. The city will always change. It will change at an exponential rate, but if we do not become the change-makers that God has called us to be, it will drift further away from where God wants it to be and what God sees it being. We have to embrace the difference. We have to, if the mission, we have to choose the version of what Hill County, what Hill Valley could look like. I know where I want to be and it's scared a little bit because you know what? It's much easier that I just come to where I am. Now am I asking anyone to go out tomorrow and come up with a city vision strategy north of County Council or Norwich City Council? Well maybe if you've got them give me afterwards. However, this is how you can, one of the scriptures that God gave Phil and we're going to close with these. The story in Nehemiah, Nehemiah 3. The walls of Jerusalem had been completely decimated and they needed to build the walls up of the city quickly. And this is how they did it. The walls in sections, each family responsible for their own section. Now we are talking about big walls here. They were very thick, again, meters. They were like seven meters thick. They were like 10 meters high. These were big sections of wall and again, around about a mile, miles of wall around the city. It was a city wall that they had to build. And they had 51 days, which is incredible. 41 units of groupings of families accomplished building this wall in 51 days. And they did it in sections to think, decided to cement on Amazon and leave in their basket. Most of those that were in action were sleeping with the trowel in their hand and the cement in front of them or mortar or whatever it was that they used to build the wall in front of them. They were on a mission. They were not asked, not one family was asked how they were going to strategize to build the whole wall. Every person, each had their little piece that they were responsible for and that's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. That's how we changed the culture of a city. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and the malicious finger, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of rest, then your will rise in the darkness, and it will become like noonday. The Lord will guide you always and he will satisfy your needs in the sun scorched land. Strengthen your frame. You will have well watered garden like springs whose waters never fall. Your peak will rebuild the ancient ruins, will raise up the age old foundations, will be called eras of broken walls, restorers of streets with dwellings. That's in Isaiah 58, verse 9 to 12. One of the key scriptures that this church has built on. We are risks of the breach. We are repairers of the walls. That's who we are. You didn't know that when you can hear today, did you? But that's who you are. We are risks of people's lives. We will spend our lives taking care of the needy. We will give lives to the lost. And because of that, not because we ask of God for this, but because of that, God will keep us well watered. He will let the well springs of life flow through us so that we don't dry up water good. We will become a never ending resource for people's lives because out of no desire to build ourselves up, we want to give. And let me, as a couple, as a family, as a leadership and as a church, that's who we are. So let's stand together and pray. Father God, sometimes, even when I preach, it feels like overwhelming for me to hear myself. It feels like we have a big mission ahead and can feel like, how can I play my part? And how can I do the things that you have planned for us? And Father, it can be big for us that I pray in this moment that in each and every one of our hearts, you will reaffirm us. You will surround us with your ever loving arms, Lord God, and you will let us know we are created to care for those that are in need. We are born to be your hands and feet. We are here to be change makers. We are here to make a difference. If our lives have to be spent by serving you and to see the change that that makes, then Father, I surrender my life to you. Father, I pray less of me and more of you, Lord God, less of me and more of you. Father, place in my hand a trowel place in my hands, the mortar to build the wall that placed in front of me. Father, help me, the world that is just outside my doorstep, Father God. May day by day to see the need and make the difference, Lord God. Father, for every single one of us, Lord God, I pray, Lord, that even now you will put in our hearts the name of an individual who has a to help and support. Father, the name of either a poor neighbor, Father God, Father, the name of a street that you want us to walk up and down over, Father. The name of the school, Father God, where our children go, that you want us to pray, Father God. Wherever it might be, in our locality, Father God, I just pray that you will highlight all of our minds right now, Father God. Somewhere that you want us to light, somewhere that you want us to build a wall, somewhere, Father God, that you want us to make a difference, Father God. Make it personal, Lord God, make it personal to me, make it personal to everybody who's in this space, Father God, right now. Father, as we hold on to those names and carry them this week and we start to pray for them, we pray over the next five weeks, Father God, that you will inspire us and you will drive us and you will show us and you will equip us and you will make us ready, Father God, to make the change into our hearts right now, Father God. Here I am, use me, use me, Father God. As for me, my family are part and we will make this city great, Father God. In Jesus' name, amen.