Jesus Lifehouse Conference Part II

Day 2 – Morning Session

Thursday morning was just as hyped as Wednesday night had been! When I woke up that morning, I was hyped and ready to go! My friend Janet and I had spent the night at the New Sanno U.S. Military hotel near Roppongi, enjoying a delicious Japanese room service breakfast, before I donned my bright pink volunteer T-shirt and we headed off to the Shinjuku Bunka Center to meet all the other volunteers who were waiting outside the building when we got there.

Maya and Kishi, who had coordinated all of the volunteer teams for the whole conference, spearheaded the rally and Lewis led us in a few exercises to get the blood pumping before we all broke off into our individual teams. The only problem was that since Janet wasn’t volunteering, she didn’t have anything to do during the two hours or so that I was busy getting things set up for video and media team, and the hall wasn’t open so she didn’t have anywhere to put her bag, so I ran up to the volunteer room and put both our bags in there before we got started.

After another totally awesome praise and worship session by the JLH band, Pastor Steve gave a message that was mostly based on the story from Daniel about the son of King Nebuchadnezzar, and the writing on the wall.

The following passage is Daniel 5:1-17 (Message translation):

1-4 King Belshazzar held a great feast for his one thousand nobles. The wine flowed freely. Belshazzar, heady with the wine, ordered that the gold and silver chalices his father Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from God's Temple of Jerusalem be brought in so that he and his nobles, his wives and concubines, could drink from them. When the gold and silver chalices were brought in, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank wine from them. They drank the wine and drunkenly praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
5-7 At that very moment, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the lamp-illumined, whitewashed wall of the palace. When the king saw the disembodied hand writing away, he went white as a ghost, scared out of his wits. His legs went limp and his knees knocked. He yelled out for the enchanters, the fortunetellers, and the diviners to come. He told these Babylonian magi, "Anyone who can read this writing on the wall and tell me what it means will be famous and rich—purple robe, the great gold chain—and be third-in-command in the kingdom."

8-9 One after the other they tried, but could make no sense of it. They could neither read what was written nor interpret it to the king. So now the king was really frightened. All the blood drained from his face. The nobles were in a panic.

10-12 The queen heard of the hysteria among the king and his nobles and came to the banquet hall. She said, "Long live the king! Don't be upset. Don't sit around looking like ghosts. There is a man in your kingdom who is full of the divine Holy Spirit. During your father's time he was well known for his intellectual brilliance and spiritual wisdom. He was so good that your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him the head of all the magicians, enchanters, fortunetellers, and diviners. There was no one quite like him. He could do anything—interpret dreams, solve mysteries, explain puzzles. His name is Daniel, but he was renamed Belteshazzar by the king. Have Daniel called in. He'll tell you what is going on here."
13-16 So Daniel was called in. The king asked him, "Are you the Daniel who was one of the Jewish exiles my father brought here from Judah? I've heard about you—that you're full of the Holy Spirit, that you've got a brilliant mind, that you are incredibly wise. The wise men and enchanters were brought in here to read this writing on the wall and interpret it for me. They couldn't figure it out—not a word, not a syllable. But I've heard that you interpret dreams and solve mysteries. So—if you can read the writing and interpret it for me, you'll be rich and famous—a purple robe, the great gold chain around your neck—and third-in-command in the kingdom."
17 Daniel answered the king, "You can keep your gifts, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

Pastor Steve asked us, “Can you see the writing on the wall in your life, in your church, etc.?” and gave several key points on the subject.

1. If you’re doing everything yourself, the writing’s on the wall.
2. If the people in key leadership is older than you, the writing’s on the wall, unless you happen to only be in your 20’s yourself! (This w as mostly focused on the pastors and other senior leaders.)
3. If the songs your church is singing are too old, YOUR CHURCH IS OLD, and the writing’s on the wall.
*The Bible says “Sing unto the Lord a new song,” and sometimes I think God looks at some of the old-fashioned churches and says “PLEASE SING A NEW SONG!!!”
*On a personal note, I grew up on songs from the Mormon hymnals, and some of the songs are so dry, old-fashioned, and out-dated that most people never understand why they were written! Granted, many of them hold a special meaning to me because of life experiences, the songs I’ve learned from modern Christian artists like Hillsong, Casting Crowns, Amy Grant, and Switchfoot, are so much easier to remember and get stuck in my head.
4. If you are not open to changes and challenges, the writing is on the wall.
Pastor Steve told a story about a woman who wrote to him, complaining that she hated his preaching, saying that she never came to church if she found out that he was preaching, and asking for a guarantee from the Senior Pastor that her tithing money never be used for his salary because he was “a waste of a wage.” He said that not only did he want to shame the woman’s name by showing the letter to his friends, he wanted to write back to her spitefully “Dear Sister, bless you with a brick. I’d like to invite you into the office so I can ‘lay hands on you.’”

Instead, he wrote back “Dear Sister, thank you for letter. Thank you for challenging me to improve my preaching skills. I hope that one day, you will hear that my preaching has improved and you’ll come to church and enjoy it. Yours Truly, Steve Kelly”

The rest of the morning, I was busy, so I didn’t get to take any notes on what was preached. Next time I post, I’ll be posting about Kingdom Builders Lunch. See you then!