Pastor Jon Burgess
October 4, 2015 - W1540

As we are launching are Come Together Series, we will be jumping into Nehemiah – but first I would like to talk about the five-percent that Pastor Wayne addresses in his book the Devine Mentor.

Right now my wife Cindy is in San Francisco with her Dad and her sister. As I was taking her to the airport, she had this big smile on her face. Before she left, she had given me a list of things that she did, that enabled me to devote myself to full time ministry. As she was walking way to catch her plane she said, “Honey, you got this?” I replied, “Yah, I got this.” I thought it’s just five days that she will be away….just 5 days – five boys, five services – Lord help me. While I began to whine as I drove away, God said, “John, this is the five-percent that you are supposed to do, because no one else can do this except you. This is what you are called to do. In the Devine Mentor Pastor Wayne says eighty percent of what we can do, anyone can do. Fifteen percent of what we do can be done by someone else with a little training, and five-percent of what we do can only be done by you, because you are called to do it. This five-percent is what determines our legacy.

If you are only doing what you enjoy doing, then you are probably missing out on what God has called you to do, because it takes work, and our heart first, to do what God has called you to do.

If you have been following the Bible Reading Plan, than you have been reading through the book of Ezra. God had brought his people back from seven years of captivity and slavery to Jerusalem to build His temple. The temple had to be built first before the protective wall around the city, because God had to be the center of everything that happened next. Multiple generations came back to Jerusalem; however, when they arrived, the land was in shambles, and not how they had left it with buildings and houses. So they started to build their homes first, but ran out of money. They also were discouraged by the Samaritans that surrounded their city. So the temple got started, but was left unfinished for twelve years. I wonder if some of us are also like this. At one point in your walk, you were full of excitement, then some set-backs got you discouraged. God will often bring a word for a season to get us back to our five-percent. This is where we pick up with the prophecy that is at the top of our notes, as spoken by the prophets Zechariah and Haggai.

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” For who has despised the day of small things?’”(Zechariah 4:6-7, 10)

God was saying that the temple would be built with their hands, but by using His power and by His spirit. The problem was that they were trying to build the temple with their own strength.

Can any of you relate to this? Have any of you tried to get closer to God by your own strength or improve your marriage or work environment by your own strength? It takes a stirring of God’s spirit inside of us to empower us to do or build something that would be impossible to do without Him.

In the book of Nehemiah, first is the building of His temple, and then the building of the wall. This is parallel to what God is calling our church to do. As Pastor Wayne talked about last week, in this season, we are building a parking lot structure and environment that will prepare the way for what God is about to do in the next twenty years.

Tonight, I want to specifically focus on our five-percent here, at New Hope. I want to describe this movement in terms of your home’s dining room, family room, and kitchen, and the movement of discipleship that happens from one room to the next.

Starting with this idea, New Hope Oahu is part of your five-percent which is the dining room.

1. The Dining Room: Connecting with Christ.

This is where everyone connects to Christ. We serve people as we welcome them into our dining room. At New Hope, everything is planned so that everyone feels welcomed. This begins with preparation by everyone who are serving. Starting from the Levites, to the parking, to the shuttles, greeting people, ushering in people, singing of the worship team, people serving our youth, to the children’s ark servants. Many of you were probably introduced to Christ during a weekend service. This is why I have called the weekend service the dining room.

The Bible says, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?’ Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but not one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag of holes.’ Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,’ says the Lord.” (Haggai 1:4-8)

Anytime in scripture, when God repeats Himself, pay extra attention. “Consider your ways”, means to bring your focus back to God. When you contribute your five-percent, something is going to be built that could not have happened without you. Before you walk into the sanctuary there is a wall called God’s wall. If you can match your five-percent with a current need, you will come alive as you have never done before. As I was talking to Pastor Kyle, he brought Randy Chun, an electrician up to me who volunteered his five-percent by giving one day of his time to do electrical work at New Hope, Oahu.

The dining room leads to the Family Room, where we connect to others in the context of community.

1. The Family Room: Connect Through Community.

This is what God was calling His people to do through the prophet Haggai as he continued to speak: “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God…So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel…the spirit of Joshua…the spirit of the all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God…” (Haggai 1:12, 14)

God was saying that everyone had a job to do to contribute, and He was stirring their spirits as they obeyed. Until we obey what God is asking us to do in finding our five-percent, we are not going to experience the blessing that God has in store for us.

Maybe you do not have the time to serve on the weekends, but are able to serve at our Wednesday night services that go deeper into the Word. Last week I had the joy of talking to Rob, Debbie, and Robbie Ostovich who are hosting a Dream Releasers small group at their gym titled, “Jesus is Lord Gym”. This is their five-percent.

Having connected to Christ in the Dining Room, and having connected to the community in the Family Room, God is calling us to the Kitchen, where we connect to the culture.

1. The Kitchen: Connect to the Culture.

As chef’s, God has given each of us a specific recipe to share. He wants you to start cooking, and not wait until you have perfected it. You can’t cook a meal without getting your hands dirty. When I am making meatloaf, I put the egg and seasonings on the hamburger and mix it with my hands. Let’s begin to cook what God has called us to cook, because there are a lot of people out there who are hungry for what you and I can only make; however, some of you are still sitting in the Dining Room and waiting for someone else to feed you.

If we do not get our five-percent secure before the holidays begin, we are going to go through another season of not doing what God has called us to do. The Bible says, “Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you, so do not fear!’ For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake the heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all the nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory…the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former…and in this place I will give peace, ‘says the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:4-7, 9 NKJV)

This is why we have the DCAT Conference. This is why we have the Wall out there. Every one of us is a light in the darkness. Isn’t it getting darker in these last days? So let me ask you, which room are you in?

A couple of years ago, while my family and I were living in Seattle, we hosted Japanese students who attended the local Community College. Every week we held our family devotions, and we would always extend the invitation to whatever student was living with us. One night Erica, a Japanese exchange student accepted this invitation and brought her Japanese/English Bible with her. We were sharing our thoughts about who God is and how we could hear His voice.  Elijah, my oldest boy said “I know Jesus is real – I walk with Him every day.” Aden said, “Jesus speaks to me and shows me when I am about to make a wrong decision – when I listen to Him, it works our really good.” Benjamin said, “I am loved by Jesus – I feel His love.” Justice and Jackson said something like “Jesus lives inside of me and I am never alone.” When it came time for Erica to share, she said, “I want to know Jesus that way (meaning the way the boys had been talking about Jesus), because she did not know Him that way. At that moment, the Holy Spirit filled the room, and Erica asked Jesus into her life. In other words, because we were doing our 5%, Erica found Jesus.

Why is it so important that we come together and find our five-percent? Because God wants to welcome home many from amongst our family, friends, co-workers, and other people who do not know Jesus. Don’t wait for me to do it – it is up to you. God’s spirit is stirring in these last days as never before. Let’s go and find our place.

Questions:

• How do you determine your 5%?

• What can you do with your 5% for this season in the Church, in your home, and in the community?

• How will you overcome obstacles to giving your 5%?