Words Over Our Community
Speaker: Pastor Darin Browne
Spoken of Jerusalem, which was annihilated by Nebucanezzer… (in my quality time)
Jeremiah 33:6-9
Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.
People speak words over individuals and cities and nations, and we are aware of the many negative words people speak over our city of Nambour. People constantly tell us it is a dive, it’s full of down and out people, that all the local government has moved to Maroochydore and that if you live here, you are a bit weird. They tell us that churches don’t thrive here, youth groups don’t prosper and that it is lower socio-economic. Seems Nambour has faded from its former greatness never to rise again.
WHY LISTEN TO GOD’S WORDS?
People speak so many words of our lives, and our community’s life, that it is often confusing, because every opinion demands that we acknowledge they are the truth. Clearly all these conflicting words cannot all be true, despite what they say. Jesus said…
John 8:47
Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
If we are of God, we must open our hearts and listen to what the Lord is saying to us, not government, media, nor public opinion. Why should we listen to the Word of God over all others?
1: GOD’S WORD IS SUPREME
God’s Word, the Bible, is our ultimate authority, and it is upon His Word that we base our lives. What has held our nation together since its inception are the truths of God’s Word.
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
It does not change like worldly wisdom; it does not fade like a government’s power.
2: GOD’S WORD HAS PURPOSE
God does not utter frivolous words. His words have power and purpose. They don’t change every five minutes depending on man’s opinions. God said…
Isaiah 55:11
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
3: GOD’S WORD HAS PROMISE
God’s promises are sure, and do not waver. They do not change; they are not revoked if you sin or changed to be used as a tool to manipulate you. His promises are sure.
Numbers 23:19
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?
I heard about an old guy who got a new hearing aid. After a few weeks the doctor asked what his family thought about the fact he could now hear clearly. He said, “Oh I haven’t told them. But I’ve changed my will three times in the last week!”
4: GOD’S WORD HAS LONGEVITY
God’s Word is unchangeable. It doesn’t bow to fashion, the latest woke trend or some law some government passes. It stays the same and stands forever.
Romans 11:29
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
The Word irrevocable in Greek is A-META-MELITOS, which means without repentance or regret. God does not pronounce words over lives then say, “Gee I wish I hadn’t said that!” He is never wrong, and He does not take His Word back if circumstances change. So, what were the first words spoken over our city?
NAMBOUR’S SPIRITUAL DNA
We all have DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, but we also have a spiritual DNA. Instead of being made up of sequences of nucleotides, it is made up of sequences of words. Words spoken over our lives have power, and because you spell words, they become spells over our lives, for good or for evil. And words spoken over our country and our city have power also, power for good or evil. It is our town’s spiritual DNA.
People think of Nambour as a dead-beat town, a home for crime, breakdown and misery. But we have a spiritual DNA that says otherwise, and this is our true destiny, despite what others might say.
In 2021, Michael Wesley published an article in the Griffith Review outlining the history of our city. Pastor Greg Perren, from one of the original families, shared it with me.
Originally Yandina and Woombye were the larger centres, and Naamba, named after the local flowering tea trees, was just a fertile valley. In 1877 Thomas Howard set up a home, followed by William Perren, George Bury, William Whalley and James Lowe and families in the 1880s and 90s. Each established their own businesses, and in 1894, Whalley and Bury formed the Moreton Sugar Mill to cater for the many local sugar farmers. The train line from Brisbane to Gympie went through in 1891, establishing the town of Nambour.
THE BURGHER COMMUNITY
Long before Maccas came to town, Nambour had the burghers. The Burghers or spiritual leaders of the town were mostly Methodists, who had been persecuted out of southeastern England for their non-conformist faith in Christ. They came to this Valley seeking a new life, new opportunities and a place to practice their Christian faith in holiness. Let me quote from the Griffith Review article…
“These origins and convictions provided an impulse to build a certain type of society, heavily based around the concept of the covenant. Each Methodist saw him or herself as having a covenant with God; and their relations with each other, within families and broader communities, were regulated by a complex web of contracts and commitments.”
In England they had been purposely passed over for all but the most mundane jobs, but here they became the towns aristocracy, and they set about shaping the soul of our town in holiness and decency, based on God’s Word and His promises or covenants. They were covenant families, and God’s promises were reflected in business and civic life.
In the late 1870s the Perrens started a Bible study in their home. In 1881, Thomas Howard offered land on Gympie Road to the Methodist Burghers of Nambour, including the Whalleys, the Burys, the Lowes, and the Perrens who sat in the front pews, later joined by the Lanhams, the Days, and the Grimeses. These puritan families formed the spiritual DNA of our city and built it on Christ and His Word.
Nambour is not a dead beat, down and out city. It was founded on God’s Word and His promises. Nambour is destined to be the shining light of holiness to the entire region.
THE BUILDING OF COMMUNITY
Our community was built and established on God’s promises, and God’s Word is irrevocable. You might see crime and homelessness and family breakup, but God’s Word stands true, and it will not change. Nambour was once the spiritual centre of the Coast, and I declare to you today that it will be again. We were birthed in holiness. In holiness our city will become the centre of the greatest revival this region and this nation has ever seen. It’s our spiritual DNA, it’s our destiny!
WHAT WE NEED TO DO
That’s our history, and anyone can see that we have lost our way. But God is not done with Nambour yet. However, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we will get what we’ve always got. Destiny does not just automatically happen. Decisions determine destiny. Bad decisions disqualify your destiny. Good decisions discover destiny. Moses challenged the people…
Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
Our decisions here and now shape the destiny of future generations. We can float along, content with a nice church, have a nice, prosperous life and nothing really changes. Or we can take a chance, just like the Burghers of old, and step out and decide to pursue holiness. So, let’s get practical; what must we do?
1: GET PRAYING
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
We must commit to praying for our city. There are satanic forces at work here, and if you look at the streets, you’d say they are winning. A huge setback was when they took the local government infrastructure to the Coast, but in God, a set back is just a set up for a come back! We must pray and break the spiritual evil spells spoken over our city.
Recently I saw a vision of the sun rising over the Coast. The land was in shadow, but as the sun rose higher, the shadows lessened. We don’t have to keep praying against the shadows. The more we lift the son, the more the shadows decrease.
2: GET INVOLVED
Christianity cannot be a spectator sport. We don’t need you in the stands, we need you in the field. The old idea that the pastor does it all, and we just turn up and tithe is finished. Country club Christianity will not see revival in our city.
1 Peter 4:10
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: (how are you stewarding the gifts God has given you?)
Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I’m not asking you to do things you are uncomfortable with, but I am asking you to commit to involving yourself in the coming revival. Our decisions determine our destiny. God is already preparing a destiny, and we want you to be a part of it.
OUR CHURCH COMMUNITY
Next year we are going to relaunch Connect Groups in a new and exciting way, a way that every one of us can be involved with. We are going to build community like never before and we are going to intertwine our connect groups and discipleship, weaving it all together with the Sunday messages. We are going to target bringing people to Christ and maturing them as quickly as possible. I am prepared to put it all on the line to win our city for Christ, and I’m asking you to join me. We are called to be real people in a real community serving a real God. That’s not just a slogan; it’s a prophetic word over our church.
If you have never won someone to Jesus or walked the road with them right through to maturity and holiness, then 2026 is going to be the year you can start.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
What will you say? How will you give account? Will you say to Jesus, sorry I just couldn’t be bothered. I was busy doing other things, things that are not eternal. Wouldn’t it be great to hear Jesus say, well done, good and faithful servant?
Commit to getting involved, because I believe 2026 will see an explosive growth of the gospel in this city and across this region.
3: GET INTO UNITY
Unity is one of the most powerful weapons we have, and the enemy is always trying to attack it. He trying to separate husbands and wives, close friends, church members and especially leadership, because he knows that if we are unified nothing is impossible for us. We must guard unity, and to do that, each one of us must love unity more than our opinions and pet doctrines. Don’t think is is spiritual to be so passionate you drive a wedge into unity, because it’s not spiritual at all, no matter how clever your language, it is sin.
1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
4: GET PREPARING
Hosea 10:12
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
We have but a few months to prepare for next year. In this time, I am calling you to break up the fallow ground of your lives. Fallow ground is good soil that someone has left alone for a time. It is soil that gets hard and crusty on top. Some of us here are a bit hard and crusty. We love God, but we are set in our ways. We have a richness and depth, but we have reduced ourselves to just going through the motions each Sunday. We’ve grown stale and crusty, but as we prepare for what God has destined for us next year…
We must break up the fallow ground. You cannot plant fresh seed on a crusty surface, because it will not grow. We have to break up the crusty top to reveal the quality, fertile, life-giving soil beneath. This takes time, effort and sometimes even discomfort.
How do we do this? Commit to coming to church every week, reading God’s Word every day. We also must cultivate relationships, with each other and with those without Christ.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Will you join us? Will you step up and get involved? If we all do this together, we will see God’s great provision for our church community, and for a revival across our city.
Some might say, well, I don’t want to go to church that often, or, I don’t go out at night, or, I just don’t have time. I promise you, you cannot out give God, and if you draw near to God, He will draw near to you. Don’t miss the chance to be part of history. God is not asking too much of you.
Psalms 37:25
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.
In all my years I have never seen anyone who has invested anything, money, time, effort, or faith, in God where God has let them down. Never.
COME, STAND WITH US
So will you commit to this community, this city, and to this Great Southland of the Holy Spirit, which is one of God’s irrevocable, unchangeable promises to our nation? Will you join us? Will you stay connected, will you invest some time and effort into seeing this community fulfil its destiny in Christ? Let not just talk about it, dream about it or long for it. Let’s stand committed, shoulder to shoulder for our people and our city.
Ezekiel 22:30
And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
Will you join us to stand in the gap for your people in the city of Nambour? Today I am calling you to greatness, calling you to destiny. I’m sounding the trumpet call of God.