Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E67 | Everyday Eurasia | Shahade Twal
Transcript
- 0:00Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
- 0:04Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
- 0:08with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
- 0:13many different places around the world.
- 0:16Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
- 0:20him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
- 0:24all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
- 0:28day. Through this podcast, you'll
- 0:30hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
- 0:34reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
- 0:43Shahada, 12, is an ordained elder in the Church of the
- 0:46Nazarene and serves at the Eurasia Region coordinating
- 0:49Nazarene Missions teams, Alabaster, and partnership
- 0:52relations. Shahada and his family has
- 0:55served in the Middle East and General to the heart for cross
- 0:59cultural ministry, church planting, discipleship, and
- 1:02helping local churches develop sustainable spaces for worship
- 1:06and ministry. In this miniseries, he shares
- 1:09short devotional messages that connect biblical stories with
- 1:12the purpose and impact of Alabaster.
- 1:15Today, our final devotional in this Alabaster series is from
- 1:20Nehemiah. Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem
- 1:24and finds the wall broken down. The gates are burned, the city
- 1:29is exposed. The work is huge.
- 1:34And Hamaya gathers the people and says, in effect, you see,
- 1:38you see the trouble we're in, come, let us rebuild.
- 1:44And the people respond with courage.
- 1:46They say, let us rise up and build.
- 1:50Then in Hamaya Chapter 3, something beautiful happens.
- 1:54You start seeing name after name, family after family, group
- 1:58after group, each rebuilding and repairing a section of the wall.
- 2:05One person does the gate, another does a section near
- 2:08their home, another group does another section that is farther
- 2:12away. And the miracle is not that one
- 2:17hero rebuilds everything. The miracle is that a community
- 2:23rebuilds together. This is what Alabaster is all
- 2:29about. Alabaster is the global church
- 2:32saying we will rise up and build together, not because buildings
- 2:39are everything, but because ministry needs a base.
- 2:44Because worship needs a gathering place.
- 2:47Because discipleship needs room to grow.
- 2:50Because compassion needs a doorway.
- 2:54Because people need to find Christ.
- 2:57And one of my favorite details in Nehemiah is that many people
- 3:02repair the world, some near their homes, but some farther
- 3:07away from where they are living. Meaning they worked on what they
- 3:12cared about personally. And Alabaster is like that.
- 3:16It becomes personal because you start caring about ministry
- 3:21beyond your own walls. You care that the church has
- 3:25space in hard places. You care that leaders are
- 3:29trained. You care that new believers have
- 3:33a home. You care that Mercy has a base.
- 3:38So here is the final invitation I have for all of us.
- 3:42Find your section of the wall. Maybe your section is giving.
- 3:48Maybe it's prayer. Maybe it's telling the story.
- 3:51Maybe it's teaching children to participate in Alabaster.
- 3:54Maybe it's celebrating what God is doing all over the world.
- 4:01But don't stand on the side and assume that it's somebody else's
- 4:05job to build. It's somebody else's job to
- 4:08give. It's somebody else's job to
- 4:10pray. It is somebody else's job to
- 4:12tell the story. Brothers and sisters, the work
- 4:17is big, but the church is many, and with God, many hands become
- 4:25one testimony. Let us rebuild the wall.
- 4:31Let us pray. God, thank you for the way you
- 4:35build your church through ordinary people.
- 4:39Give us unity. Give us faith and joy.
- 4:43Show each of us our part. And through alabaster would you
- 4:49raise up spaces where your Kingdom advances, where people
- 4:54are saved, where disciples are made, where healing happens,
- 5:00where people are sent. In Jesus Christ we pray.
- 5:04Amen. Thank you for listening to the
- 5:08Everyday Eurasia podcast Inspiring Faith for Everyday.
- 5:12For more Everyday Stories, subscribe on this podcast
- 5:15channel, follow our social Facebook and Instagram or our
- 5:19newsletter snapshots. For our newsletter and further
- 5:22information about the Eurasia region, visit our website,
- 5:26eurasiaregion.org.