Wesley WSCS

1. Wesley WSCS ReFRESHReBUILDReCHARGE 2012 Spiritual Retreat Mona Lee Chia

2. What does ‘re’ mean? Background Ezra means ‘help’ or ‘helper’. Book is a historical account of the return of some of God’s people to Jerusalem. It can help us answer questions such as: • How can we be revived or refreshed spiritually? • How do we build up the temple of God? • How can we continue to keep our calling strong? 43,000 people responded to the call to follow Zerubabbel, first to set up an altar, before building a place of worship, building their own homes or rebuilding the city walls. In the New Oxford American Dictionary, it means: 1 once more; afresh; anew : reaccustom | reactivate. • with return to a previous state : restore | revert. Prayer: Lord, thank you for your wonderful grace which has brought each one here today. This is no accident but a divine appointment. We believe You are in our midst, to guide us and show us a better way to live as the spiritual Israel in world of apathy, opposition and darkness. May we rise to your call of your eternal kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

3. Father Rose up • Alpha and Omega “behold I will make all things new... I am Alpha and Omega, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of life without payment... I will be his god and he will be my son.” Revelation 1:8 and 21:5-7 • He created all things and all things have their being and purpose through Him, even secular kings such as Cyrus (prophesied in Isaiah 44:28 • “Who among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem…and build the house of the Lord.? Who will answer this call today to build up the house of God? • Those whose spirits were raised up (v5) and those who did not assited them with material help. Sounds like the way we organise church today. Those who are called to lead and shepherd God’s people are only able to do so with the helps and support of the brethren.

4. Earth Spirit • The work we do here can have eternal consequences so choose wisely or prioritise what we must do while we wait for our final departure to our promised land, Heaven. • Do we give excuses? After 70 years in exile, some of the Jews would have become quite comfortable and will have become ‘Babylonised” • Which draws us more? Heaven or earth? • It is God who stirs the hearts of men, the heads of the households to leave their comfort of their expatriate life to go back to their roots. • God often stirs our hearts to do what is risky, irrational, stupid in the eyes of the world to show His power, His glory and His plan to save us, not harm us. • 6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LordAlmighty. Zechariah4:6

5. House Are we willing to give up our small ambitions? Maybe small dreams, big plans, big strategy to get on ahead in life? We are the house of God Himself after Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for us. For the Jews in Ezra’s time, they had to build the temple because it was there God comes to dwell with men. We, however, the new Jerusalem no longer need to build altars, make offerings and sacrifices at a building. God had made a dwelling with us through His Spirit living in us. We are His House, His temple and His instruments of grace and mercy through Jesus.

6. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 There is only one mediator between God and Man, Jesus Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying “Abba! Father! 1 Cor 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your won for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

7. ReBUILD Guided reflections Opposing forces at work Self-reflection

8. Bind Unity • The covenant binds God with His people. He keeps His word. Do we keep ours? • "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18 • Ezra 4 shows how opposition comes in legal, sustained and subtle ways. • After the cross, we know Satan’s power is limited but we are often weak and fearful. • The people were united but unable to fight the enemies for sometime. But their hearts had become discouraged or fearful. • Prophets like Haggai and Zecariah had to intervene to remind them of their purpose and the plan. • New Testament passages such as Ephesians 4:3 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ... Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ... “ • Eph 4:13 Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

9. Intentional Love • Unless we are intentional about unity to attain the fullness of Christ, the Devil wins. • “Work hard then on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman. The Enemy allows disappointment to occur on the threshold of every human endeavour... In every department in life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.” The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis • The antidote to fear and disappointment. Perfect love casts out fear. Forgiveness moves us forward from disappointment. • If the love of God did not motivate Cyrus, Zerubabble, Ezra, haggai, Zehariah and the people, the temple would not have been finished. • Our churches to day are weak because we are concerned only about our own comfort. “The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfooting, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

10. Dedication • Do not be impatient to move on. Savour the finished work or project. Give to God to what belongs to Him. • Does praise and worship characterise our lives? Is thankfulness on our lips and in our hearts? • Do we read His word, hear his voice, obeying His commandments, pray to Him about everything? • Are we open to the discipline he may have allowed through our suffering? A right response, with joy and giving thanks for everything even the king of Assyria. 6:16,22

11. Recharge A bull in a China shop Rechargeable batteries

12. Covenant Holiness • The temple was completed in Ezra Chapters 5 and 6 because the people stood firm about God’s mandate and the earthly king’s authority given to them. • “For Iamnotashamedofthegospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Romans 1:16 • Ezra with the authorization, funding, tax exemption and judicail power still went with fear because there was no armed defence so he had to trust God. • Ezra made them stop at Ahava (8:15) before proceeding to Jerusalem to look for Levites, people who are to look afte the house of God. Then he made them fast and pray to confess their sins before they embarked on their journey. • He took pains to maintain holiness and purity in all areas, weighing out the gold and silver, measuring all the articles and recorded them. • Maybe we would do so because we have been entrusted with the equivalent of $10 billion.

13. Alien Repent • Ezra’s disappointment and devastation upon arrival was the sin of intermarriage (Deut 7:1-6) between the graced people and Canaanite women. • It was the lack of obedience that to God that gave them courage to pursue what was convenient and available. • Instead of living as aliens in the promised land, they became like the people of the lands. • “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ...“ 1 Pet 2:11 • Instead of asking God to punish them, Ezra confesses their sins on their behalf. He uses ‘we’, not ‘they’ • The result is repentance form those around him and they renew their covenant before God. • Where there is confession of failure, there is hope, then followed by action. • A sad ending to a book on revival or a realistic depiction of the human condition?

14. Guilt Examine • Ezra’s recording of this ending suggests that Christianity is real. It does not gloss over the sins and failures of men. • Guilt is not handled probably ends up in death as with Judas Iscariot. If handled properly as shown by a good leader, the whole community benefits. • Let’s pray for our shepherds and teachers of God’s word to be such examples of ‘repenters’ • May God deal with all our “holier than thou” inclinations • So a recharged life is an examined life • Live the present with the end in mind • Preparing for our funeral • What has God allowed in my life as a stumbling block or thorn in the flesh? • How can I use the example shown by Ezra to ensure success for God, not the Devil? • Anna’s example.

15. Question and AnswersPrayer