Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
Alright.
Well good morning.
With a show of hands, how many of you already went through your entire supply of sour patch kids?
Fantastic.
I’m sure those cabin leaders were loving you for that.
How many of you stayed up well past your usual bed time?
Oh awesome.
Well, there will be no napping today.
Because if you nap today, then that would classify you as old.
Just saying.
Scripture Slide
Turn to Nehemiah, chapter 4.
That’s where we’re going to spend our time this morning.
The book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament and the character of Nehemiah… He is a reformer God raises up to help go restore what has been broken for God’s people.
God does an amazing work, and we get to glean a ton of wisdom just seeing how God moves through one of these reformers in the reformation or rebuilding of a people and of a city.
What we’ve seen so far is a few things.
Discontent - Chapter 1
Slide
In chapter 1, the first thing we looked at was the passion of Nehemiah, where word comes to Nehemiah about how his former city, Jerusalem, is broken down.
It crushes him on behalf of the city, on behalf of the people, his people.
You see in that moment of brokenness, God births out of Nehemiah this holy discontent or awareness.
You have a holy discontent when you recognize, “There is something that’s not right.
This should not be.
This ought and should not be, and something needs to be done about it.”
God does that with Nehemiah, breaks his heart for the city and for the people.
Prayer - Chapter 1
Slide
The second thing we see in Nehemiah, chapter 1, is the prayer of Nehemiah and the proper response of someone who is having a holy discontent birthed within them,
the natural response to do when something is bigger than you yourself can even go after, that you yourself can ever accomplish.
That is to fall to your knees and ask for the One who can help to intercede, to go before God Almighty.
In his prayer we see Nehemiah own the sin of the nation.
He includes himself in that in confession, recognizing the reason this city is in ruins is because of the sin of the people and God’s judgment.
He repents openly in his prayer, asking God to honor God’s faithfulness to restore what has been broken and to do what only God can do.
Plan - Chapter 2
Slide
Then when we get to chapter 2 of Nehemiah, we look at the plan of Nehemiah.
We see what it is God burdens Nehemiah’s heart to do.
You know this as well as I do.
Those moments where you’re in the midst of prayer, and you’re praying, “God, would you raise up somebody to fix this problem?”
What does God do?
“Well what about you?
How about we use you to fix this thing?”
Nehemiah’s Vision
Slide
Sure enough, God burdens Nehemiah’s heart, and he gives Nehemiah a vision.
So Nehemiah steps in the gap in faith.
He asks permission from this pagan king to go and help restore what has been broken.
He puts before the king this very clear and articulate plan of how this is going to play out and the role he sees himself playing in this as a reformer.
God does what only God can do.
He touches the king’s heart, and the king not only grants permission, but grants him a full arsenal of resources to go help rebuild this city and rebuild this wall.
Preparation - End Chapter 2
Slide
Nehemiah moves on, and at the end of chapter 2, when we see Nehemiah arrive on the scene, we then get a snapshot of the preparation of Nehemiah, how he goes around and inspects the wall.
Then he rallies together the people and convinces them this thing is worth dying for.
The rebuilding of the city is worth every ounce of their energy and effort.
So you see the preparation of Nehemiah.
People - Chapter 3
Slide
Then in chapter 3…
We didn’t get to look at this last night but you see in chapter 3 a list of names.
Most of us in our daily devotional readings just skip right over this chapter.
These are the people of Nehemiah.
This is a list of 50 names of Jews who came from all over, with various backgrounds, various trades, various skills, but who all came together as one to unite for the building of this wall;
fifty names that to you and me are faceless but to God are the faithful, not insignificant, enough that God would etch their names in chapter 3 of Nehemiah in your Bible forever.
So far, in these three chapters, we’ve looked at the passion, and the prayer, and the plans, and the preparation, and the people of Nehemiah.
Persecution
Slide
This brings us into .
Another P enters the story.
Persecution.
No matter what happens in life, there is always persecution.
This thing called persecution or known also as opposition or difficulty.
When God places something on your heart and you start to own it and take action, what usually comes next is persecution.
Have you been in those moments when you’re so fired up and excited about that dream and somebody just comes in and pours water on it?
“It’ll never happen.
Why are you wasting your time?”
We will see how Nehemiah responds to persecution.
Check this out, I found this interesting.
When it comes to Nehemiah’s passion, we get one verse on it.
When it comes to Nehemiah’s prayer, we get six verses on it.
When it comes to Nehemiah’s plan, we get eight verses on it.
When it comes to his preparation, we get eleven verses on it.
When it comes to the persecution, we’re going to get three straight chapters.
Starting in Chapter 4 all the way through chapter 6, we will see Nehemiah take on opposition, difficulty, you name it.
He takes it all head on.
It’s almost like God is trying to teach us how to deal with persecution.
Persecution Scripture
Persecution is not an if but when.
Here is some scripture to help you over come it.
Scripture Slide
Jesus said,
6:
Slide
Peter touches on this as well in ,
1 peter 4:12
Slide
Paul also talked about persecution to Timothy who was a young pastor at the time.
A young Timothy in ,
2 Timothy 3:
There is an Enemy lurking around the corner who wants nothing else than to come in and break your dreams and your passions, crush them and pour water on them and put out that flame.
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