Sermon Tone Analysis

Part II: Re-building the Community of Faith ;

Hinge reconstruction of the wall to reconstruction of the people.

Holiness

Hinge reconstruction of the wall to reconstruction of the people.

Holiness

Reviving Your Spiritual Commitment when Pressured By a God-Forgetting Lifestyle

Reviving Your Spiritual Commitment when Pressured By a God-Forgetting Lifestyle

Imagine you see most hard working construction crew slug forms, pouring concrete, laying re-bar, floor jousts.

Framed up walls.

You’re thinking most magnificent mansion ever built.

Day after day you say - wow if this is just the foundation, imagine what the completed house is going to look like.

But day after day imagine for over a month, they just keep toying around with that foundation, and the framing.

Sanding it and painting it.

Over and over again.

Checking if its 100% square.

Oh no, we just like building the firs stage so much, all we are really good at, doesn’t look finer each day?

Scratch your head and say, I thought the point was there’d be a house, a mansion, with the finest living!

Imagine you see most hard working construction crew slug forms, pouring concrete, laying re-bar, floor jousts.

Framed up walls.

You’re thinking most magnificent mansion ever built.

Day after day you say - wow if this is just the foundation, imagine what the completed house is going to look like.

But day after day imagine for over a month, they just keep toying around with that foundation, and the framing.

Sanding it and painting it.

Over and over again.

Checking if its 100% square.

Oh no, we just like building the firs stage so much, all we are really good at, doesn’t look finer each day?

Scratch your head and say, I thought the point was there’d be a house, a mansion, with the finest living!

So it is with the church of jesus Christ, we can get so fixated on structure, keeping the structure going, maintaining the building, the programs, keeping the status quo going - that we don’t get on with the point of the church - which is lives being rebuilt by Christ for the glory of Christ.

You could compare to Living Small Group ministry.

We could spend forever tweaking the plan, the structure, eventually got to get down to getting in the word, listening and caring for one another, or all the planning is for naught!

This was precisely the point that Nehemiah and God’s people were at in Ch 7.

This the hinge of the book, the wall is completed, but now must swing to the whole reason they built the wall, so that a city, the holy city, the new community of God re-built in His very presence rebuilt by His Holy Word could rise up.

So it is with the church of jesus Christ, we can get so fixated on structure, keeping the structure going, maintaining the building, the programs, keeping the status quo going - that we don’t get on with the point of the church - which is lives being rebuilt by Christ for the glory of Christ.

You could compare to Living Small Group ministry.

We could spend forever tweaking the plan, the structure, eventually got to get down to getting in the word, listening and caring for one another, or all the planning is for naught!

This was precisely the point that Nehemiah and God’s people were at in Ch 7.

This the hinge of the book, the wall is completed, but now must swing to the whole reason they built the wall, so that a city, the holy city, the new community of God re-built in His very presence rebuilt by His Holy Word could rise up.

After Nehemiah rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem, God takes over the rebuilding of the spiritual community of His people.

After Nehemiah rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem, God takes over the rebuilding of the spiritual community of His people.

1. Rebuilding a Spiritual Community Requires Gatekeepers & Guards (v.1,3)

1. Rebuilding a Spiritual Community Requires Gatekeepers & Guards (v.1,3)

To understand this need a bit of context.

Remember at the end of Chapter 6, subtle attack of enemies of God’s people.

6:12 S, Tob, hired prophets old friends of Nehemiah to intimidate, try to get him to sin.

Look at 6:17-18.

Tobiah sending many letters, Sanballat married into the family of priest.

These nobles who also intermarried, trafficking in slaves, charging usury.

While God dealt with these threats in amazing ways, still Nehemiah realized the threats would not go away.

He realized that there was a God-forgetting, a secularizing force - that though the walls were done, would undermine the life of the people of God, if he didn’t do something.

To understand this need a bit of context.

Remember at the end of Chapter 6, subtle attack of enemies of God’s people.

6:12 S, Tob, hired prophets old friends of Nehemiah to intimidate, try to get him to sin.

Look at 6:17-18.

Tobiah sending many letters, Sanballat married into the family of priest.

These nobles who also intermarried, trafficking in slaves, charging usury.

While God dealt with these threats in amazing ways, still Nehemiah realized the threats would not go away.

He realized that there was a God-forgetting, a secularizing force - that though the walls were done, would undermine the life of the people of God, if he didn’t do something.

Look at his solution.

He doesn’t wait for the next crisis, but proactively appoints Gatekeepers, in v 1, and in v.3b a local miltia of guards, watchmen who stationed close to their own homes and families!

Listen to how it worked:

Look at his solution.

He doesn’t wait for the next crisis, but proactively appoints Gatekeepers, in v 1, and in v.3b a local miltia of guards, watchmen who stationed close to their own homes and families!

Listen to how it worked: 3a Siesta time high noon shut and barred the doors.

Saw the threat of a day time attack while in the sleepy time of day.

Siesta time high noon shut and barred the doors.

Saw the threat of a day time attack while in the sleepy time of day.

Spiritual truth being taught here.

We also live surrounded by a culture that tends to be God-forgetting, secularizing.

Influences of greed, lust, pride, self-cetnredness whether from media, or business partinoined off from God’s presence, entertainments that stream into our homes - that contribute to a God-forgetting life!

Nehemiah teaches us that we need a firewall.

Never have a computer that just lets in every virus, spyware from the internet into your home.

Kids with cellphone, laptops programs designed to use the camera take video of you while in your home don’t even know it!

Nehemiah sees a similar type of threat and says: need people in our lives who have a guarding influence.

Who are trained to shout out wolf - to examine influences of our lives.

Parents, prayer partner or accountability partner, elders are to gaurd the flock from false teaching, dangerous influences in our lives.

In our we must have time, devoted time where we foster this idea that we are set apart by God to be His holy people, not jsut to be bombarded by all our wants, work, and demands of others.

Does your home have that?

Spiritual truth being taught here.

We also live surrounded by a culture that tends to be God-forgetting, secularizing.

Influences of greed, lust, pride, self-cetnredness whether from media, or business partinoined off from God’s presence, entertainments that stream into our homes - that contribute to a God-forgetting life!

Nehemiah teaches us that we need a firewall.

Never have a computer that just lets in every virus, spyware from the internet into your home.

Kids with cellphone, laptops programs designed to use the camera take video of you while in your home don’t even know it!

Nehemiah sees a similar type of threat and says: need people in our lives who have a guarding influence.

Who are trained to shout out wolf - to examine influences of our lives.

Parents, prayer partner or accountability partner, elders are to gaurd the flock from false teaching, dangerous influences in our lives.

In our we must have time, devoted time where we foster this idea that we are set apart by God to be His holy people, not jsut to be bombarded by all our wants, work, and demands of others.

Does your home have that?

In whole denomination way can be thankful for Office of Social Justice - not always for strategy to solve problems - but to raise awareness of dangerous influences in our society - destructiveness of sex-trade, child abuse, abortion, ethenasia.

Equally need in personal piety and justice, those who see the dangers of abusing alcohol, drugs, local traps in unhealthy friendships - lifestyles - Say, in sales on the road - eating poorly, do we have friends who would speak into this.

What if sexually not sinning yet, but wandering.

Notice.

In whole denomination way can be thankful for Office of Social Justice - not always for strategy to solve problems - but to raise awareness of dangerous influences in our society - destructiveness of sex-trade, child abuse, abortion, ethenasia.

Equally need in personal piety and justice, those who see the dangers of abusing alcohol, drugs, local traps in unhealthy friendships - lifestyles - Say, in sales on the road - eating poorly, do we have friends who would speak into this.

What if sexually not sinning yet, but wandering.

Notice.

The rebuilding of Christian community requires that kind of gatekeeping in our relationships.

And certainly individually - like John Bunyan’s Holy War - ey gate, ear gate, touch gate - realize need self-government.