Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week I presented unto you the theme that will dominate our church this year.

I believe 2023 to be a pivotal year for our church.

I believe it will be a year that defines us moving forward.

I believe this time next year our church will look different

It will be a year that we will look back and either bless God for the building that He’s done in our lives and our church, OR we’ll look back and lament our hard-heartedness that prevented the moving & blessing of the Holy Ghost of God

This is not a year to be stagnant.

Not a year to ‘tread-water’.

But a year to build!

That’s the vision!

That’s what we’re aspiring for this year.

But as I stressed last week, it can’t be only me that has that vision.

I can’t be the only one with that aspiration.

WE must all embrace the vision to RISE UP AND BUILD our CHURCH!

Today’s subject is where it all starts - in the mind.

Henry Ford made a statement many years ago that I believe holds a lot of truth for the Christian.

He said “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

We as Christians know that God is Omnipotent - THE All powerful God right?

We Christians believe the Bible, right?

Php.

4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

This church can be the catalyst for revival - not only in our community, but in our country!

We will never accomplish great things for God unless we have a great Godly mindset.

We will never be the Godly example that our spouse, children, family, community need without the right mindset.

I believe that what we see in Nehemiah in the first chapter of the book gives us an example of a Godly mindset.

A mindset that is the precursor needed to accomplish Great Godly things.

Church, you will never carry out God’s Will without God’s mind

You will never accomplish Godly things with a Carnal mind

That being said, we must cultivate the right mindset BEFORE we carry out God’s Will

So Nehemiah begins during the 20th year of Artaxerxes King of Persia’s reign.

By this point in time, the COI had been back in the land for apx.

80 years; Ezra about 13.

And we see at the beginning of the book, one of Nehemiah’s brethren named Hanani had information regarding those that had made the journey to go and resettle the land that God had given them.

With that, we’ll begin this message by noticing first Nehemiah’s regard

I. Nehemiah’s Regard

The Inquiry (v2)

The first thing that we see is Nehemiah’s Inquiry.

He asked about the state of his brethren and that of God’s Holy city.

This I think says a lot about Nehemiah’s character, and certainly a trait that we need to adopt.

That is Nehemiah cared enough to ask.

He cared enough to enquire what was going on.

We live in a world where everyone is enamored with themselves.

Everyone is concerned about themselves, and for many that’s where their concern ends.

This truth has not only effected the lost, but the church as well.

We are more concerned with our comfort, our cares, our thoughts, our desires, our end - and we have little to no care about others.

Do you know why I say that?

Because if most Christians cared about the lost, they’d tell them about Jesus

If most Christians cared about the lost, they’d invest time in knocking on doors & sharing the Gospel

If most Christians cared about the lost, they’d be more careful with their testimony

If more Christians cared about their brethren, they’d spend more time at the House of God instead of the house of self

Jesus was asked a question in Mat.

22:36-40 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Nehemiah inquired about the state of God’s People and God’s Holy City because he regarded it.

He cared.

If we’re going to do great things for God this year, we need to get our minds off ourselves and get it on others.

We see Nehemiah’s Inquiry

The Information (v3)

So Nehemiah speaks unto Hanani & those men of Judah, asks them about the promised land and their brethren, and what he hears is unexpected and earth shaking.

They tell him that his brethren are in great affliction and reproach

They tell him that the wall of Jerusalem has been broken down & the gates are burned with fire

I say that this was unexpected news because the first thing that Nehemiah did when he heard it was he sat down.

The new literally took him off his feet.

He was STUNNED at the state of his homeland and his people

As we look upon our country today, what do you see?

I see a country that is so lost, they don’t know which way is up

I see a country that is so confused, they don’t what the definition of gender is

I see a country that is so corrupt that killing a child within the womb is acceptable, but capital punishment for a murderer is not

I see a country so divided that it’s falling apart at the seams

I see a country so morally bankrupt that we have drag queens not only reading library books to children they are performing to children in libraries

I see a country so void of understanding that we are applauded for encouraging children to change their gender and castigated for telling them not to

I see a country that is so unwell that we are in essence sacrificing our children at the altar of political correctness!

I see a country church, that is on the verge of the Judgment - and rightly so - by a Holy and Just God!

That’s what I see church, what about you?

As we look upon the church today, what do you see?

I see a church that has forgotten it’s purpose

I see a church that has given into fleshly desires

I see a church that is shuns holiness and embraces worldliness

I see a church ‘tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men’

I see a church that can’t draw division between what is of God and what is not

I see a church that is more concerned with living how THEY want instead of how Jesus wants

I see a church that even the majority of those who have not been seduced by contemporary ways are themselves lukewarm and stench in the nostrils of God instead of a sweet savour

I see the church today that fulfills Paul’s words 2,000 years ago in 2Tim.

4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

I see the church much like Jesus saw the multitudes in Mat.

9:36 “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”

The majority of prominent ‘Christian’ leaders are leading people astray!

In these two entities, we see what troubled Nehemiah so in that day.

The people were in great affliction and the walls were tore down.

The people is our country and the walls are the church!

The church is supposed to bring safety, stability and sustainability unto our country, but the walls have been torn down and the people perish!

This is what I see church, what about you?

What do you see? Do you not see what I see?

If you don’t, which one of us is right?

Are you blinded or am I?

So we see the Information

The Impression (v4)