Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.11UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.16UNLIKELY
Joy
0.56LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.69LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.29UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.7LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.74LIKELY
Extraversion
0.21UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.44UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.74LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction: In my house there is a room that is always messy.
It’s the place where when people come over, we throw everything we don’t want anyone to see.
Introduction to the Book of Nehemiah:
In 587 BC, Jerusalem fell and the Jewish monarchy failed from a worldly perspective.
Cyrus sent people to erect the temple in 538 BC (in accordance with prophecy.
()
60 years later, Ezra came to reenact the laws of moses, and the consequences of reenacting the law bring the book to a painful and abrupt conclusion.
But this renewed sense of identity in the Law, made them more distinctly Jewish than at any time of their existence as a sovereign state.
One more thing the nation did not have a problem with was idolatry of foreign gods.
In between Ezra and Nehemiah, the Kings of Persia change, but God’s purposes are still moving forward.
God has always used pagan kings as he saw fit to accomplish His purposes.
God doesn’t need the leader to be a Christian to bend them to His will.
In 445 Nehemiah was appointed governor of Judah and given free hand to build the city of Jerusalem which is the story that we are picking up now.
King of Persia is moved by God to send a leader to Jerusalem
Leader faces opposition in rebuilding
Strange Anti-Climax
God’s people need a new heart.
Now throughout the book of Nehemiah, we’re going to see 3 themes which make up our Big Idea for today’s sermon.
Big Idea: Remember, Restore, Remain.
1. Remember who you are.
(1:1-7:73a)
Explanation: The first thing that needed to happen was for Nehemiah to remember who he was.
You see, exile had been good to the Jewish people.
many of them were highly favored and given high offices in the governments of their captors.
They were wealthy and extremely influential.
So you can stay where you are and live the good life or return to the crumbling degenerate wasteland that is your home.
Would Nehemiah really care about the plight of Jerusalem, a city in a country where he was not born, and a place he has never visited?
But God broke Nehemiah’s heart for his homeland because in his heart of hearts, Nehemiah remembered not just that he was a Jewish man, a child of Abraham, but also an heir of the promises of God.
Illustration: Some of you who come (or whose families come) from other countries know this feeling.
Even if you have never been to the homeland, you have a feeling of affinity with that home.
Nehemiah remembers the promises of God.
In effect, Nehemiah has been reading his Bible.
And this calls to remembrance, God’s greater plan for the Jewish people.
The Messiah would come to Jerusalem, not Persia.
The city needed to be reubuilt in order for the Messiah to come.
nehemiah 1:
And Nehemiah calls on others to remember God.
neh 4
Application: Who are you?
Everything comes down to identity.
At the heart of Nehemiah was a man who found his identity in God.
If at your heart you are your career, you will care most about your career.
If it’s your identity as a parent, you will care most about your kids.
If it’s as american, then your heart will break for your country.
But if you find your identity as a Christian or a child of God, then that changes things, you will care about the things of God.
Your heart will break for the church and for the lost.
Your heart will break for the people around the world being killed for their faith.
Its not that you won’t care about those other things, you’ll just have perspective.
In fact, Nehemiah used his career and position to make a difference in what really mattered to him.
Now remembering led Nehemiah to go to to Jerusalem and together with the people rebuild to wall of Jerusalem.
They did it in 52 days.
It’s pretty amazing.
And for many of us who have read or studied this book, we somehow think this was the point.
The broken wall was a metaphor.
And what was broken goes so much deeper than a rebuilt wall.
2. Restore what was broken.
(7:73b-10:39)
Explanation: In order to realize what was broken, we have to look at Israel’s history.
When they were sent into exile, it was because they refused to submit to God’s word and to His law.
Now from the outside, God’s destroyed the outer trappings of their nation.
The cities the temple, burned their pasturelands and all but destroyed their families lines.
Illustration: When I was in school, they were always trying to warn us of the dangers of smoking.
And I remember this one poster of this really disfigured and discolored girl with a cigarette in her hand.
And the caption read, if what happened on your inside happened on your outside, would you still smoke?
Now the jewish people had an internal problem.
On the outside they looked a nation that was blessed by God.
They had a vibrant religious system full of tradition and ritual.
On the outside they looked healthy.
God made the outside look like the inside so that they could finally see the real problem.
They didn’t need a new city wall or a temple to be rebuilt so they could go back to the way things used to be.
But in the words of Jesus, on the inside, they were whitewashed tombs
They needed a new heart.
And after Nehemiah successfully led the campaign to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem, Ezra began to read the law.
And as soon as he did, the people knew what their real problem was.
nehemiah 9:2
Application: So often we look at the outside and think we’re good.
We go to church, we may even read out Bibles.
We give 10 percent to the church like we’re commanded to.
The outside can give us a false sense that we’re ok.
Remaining is harder than you might think.
(11:1-13:31)
And then we face trials and tribulations and wonder where is God?
Is it possible that God brings these tough times so that we might see what’s really on the inside?
How is your heart?
When you are squeezed, what comes out?
If you squeeze a apple, you get apple juice.
Orange you get orange juice.
lemon, you get lemon juice; add sugar and water and it’s lemonade.
squeeze and alligator, you get gatorade.
If you squeeze a true follower of Jesus, you get love, joy, peace patience, kindess, goodness, faitfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
So I say again, how is your heart?
Because the truth is, like the Jewish people would soon realize, realizing that you need a new heart and committing yourself to doing better is easier than staying that way.
We naturally drift.
3. Remaining is harder than you might think (11:1-13:31)
Explanation: Chapter 11 teaches us that their are leaders who are tasked with keep the peace in the nation.
Chapter 12 teach us that there are spiritual leaders in charge of the spiritual health of the nation.
These have always been seperate in the nation.
The king was never a priest and the priest was never king.
They had to work together.
The leaders of Jerusalem were tasked with keeping the covenant in obedience.
The leaders of Jerusalem were tasked with keeping the covenant in obedience.
The priests were tasked with keep the temple and the word of God as well as leading in proper worship.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9