Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning, as I was studying over the last few weeks I have been praying for direction for our Wednesday night Bible studies.

One book has come to me over and over again it is just like the Lord will not let it rest, and it is kind of interesting because I have never done a full study on the book of Nehemiah, and I was kind of intimidated by it.

So the plan was to march through and study the book Nehemiah on Wednesday nights, but the Lord has insisted that I need to study through this book on Sunday morning.

So here we are, I truly feel that studying Nehemiah should be the aim and goal of our services until we are finished with the book.

Nehemiah was a man who wanted to do something great for God.

Have you ever wanted to do something great for God?

Have you ever wished or prayed that God would use you in a mighty way for His kingdom?

That if God would just show you what to do, you would do anything to honor Him?

We as a church like Nehemiah want to do something great for God.

As you examine the life of Nehemiah you see 3 things that just jump off the pages, and once I started to dig into this I discovered when BURDEN, VISION, and COMMITMENT come together,

It forms an unstoppable force when attached to Gods purposes.

This is true for anyone who desires to be used by God God begins by giving them a burden, something is wrong something needs to be fixed, which leads to vision, how would God have me respond to this need, but then once we know the thing that burdens our hearts, and we have prayed and asked God for wisdom, and He grants us a vision of what He would have us do, then we must have the committment and faith to see it through to the end.

its almost like God is looking for men and women who have these 3 things in thier life and then God kind of flexes His muscles and does extraordinary things.

Now Nehemiah had this extraordinary ability that very few people have, he had this ability to think beyond himself, I want you to know something this is really important for us as a church.

This is crucial for us a followers of Christ.

Can we have the mind of Christ?

He was the epitome of thinking beyond Himself was He not?

(the cross)

There is something special, there is something Christlike when a person chooses to look beyond himself.

Which is why the church in America is broken.... we are a self seeking people...

(music, atmosphere, preaching, fellowship,)

(dscipleship issue)

It is truly sad to look at the state of where the church is in our nation, that third world countries are sending missionaries here in hopes to bring revival.

The church is America matters and should matter to all of us, this is the church that will impact our country, or that will not impact our country.

As the church goes so goes our nation, the more they try to push God out of schools, redefine marriage, ....

If there is no one who has a burden who is willing to stand in the gap then the world is bleak for our children and grandchildren.

But we have to have a burden and the thing that bothers and burdens me is that people just arent burdened anymore,,,....

we got financial burdens........

VISION- I believe it should be important to us at UHBC that we would equip and develop fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ both now and for future generations.

This has been a driving force for things I have done, decisions I have made ever since I began here, I have watched as the childrens ministry was born and has done well, I have watched as adults have come into maturity and are being saved and grown in their faith, and as we saw last Sunday our youth is growing into spiritual maturity as well.

That guiding vision to develop fully deovted followers of Jesus Christ has been the center piece of why we do what we do here, whether I have ever said it or not.

I pray God would you be so gracious to help us be a part of your plan to equip and help the people in our community to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ both right now, and for future generations, I really want that to drive everything we try to do here.

God would you bless us in such a way that 40-50-60 years from now nobody knows who Kyle Johnson is, or Amy mcniel is, or Cory Solomon or Jan Taylor.... but they know about UHBC bc we were the ones who laid the foundation, we were the ones who planted the seeds that provide shade for others.

The ability to look beyond yourself God uses that in signifigant ways.

The thing about Nehemiah is you see this in his life time and time again, and it is such a rare quality but it is something God uses in mighty ways.

This ability to look beyond yourself.

I was reading an article Cornell university conducted a survey and they surveyed thousands of senior adults in thier communities and they asked them one question.

LOOKING BACK ON YOUR LIFE WHAT DO YOU REGRET?

Something surprised the researchers…

bc the researchers were thinking things like “i regret the time I did this, or took this type of action” but thats not what these older people were thinking...

When they looked back on their lives from their 60-70’s they said you there was a time in my life where I had the opportunity to do “blank” and they didn’t do it.

they dont regret action, they regret INaction.

When it comes to day to day living we say things like oh I shouldn’t have said that today or done that today, but when you look back over your life it is the inaction you regret.

(MEN’S DISCIPLESHIP GROUP)

(WOMEN’S DISCIPLESHIP GROUP)

Areas of service God may have called you to.....

Nehemiah was a man who refused to let the needs overwhelm him.

Sometimes you develop that heart you have the ability to look beyond yourself and then you realize WOW theres alot of needs out there!

Haiti

You see what they are going through and you think oh my what can i do.... there’s not much I can do…

Remember when you feel like your not making much of a difference or when you are overwhelmed with the task in front of you, that little boy who was walking along the seashore and along the beach thousands and thousands of starfish had washed up.

Remember when you feel like your not making much of a difference or when you are overwhelmed with the task in front of you, that little boy who was walking along the seashore and along the beach thousands and thousands of starfish had washed up.

They are laying there struggling since they are out of the water and this boy can be seen bending down and picking them up one by one and he walks up and he tosses one out there and this older gentleman walks by and he says young man what do you think your doing, you are wasting your time.

youre never gonna be able to save all of em

what difference is it gonna make?

The little boy reaches down and picks up the star fish and he says it makes a difference to this one… and he tosses it into the sea.

What your going to see in the life of Nehemiah is this man who sees what could be this overwhelming insurmountable burden and he isn’t paralyzed by it.

The reason why he isn’t paralyzed by it is bc he believes in a mighty God.

He believes in a God who can do anything, I really believe that when burden is forged with passion, and vision and it matches commitment it becomes an unstoppable force in accomplishing God’s purposes.

So heres our guy Nehemiah and he is living in a crazy time in the life of God’s people the nation of Israel, bc it is a time of exile, a time of captivity, they are desperately in need for God to restore them.

Now you say how did they get there?

the nation of Israel was scattered all over you gotta go back to 1,000 bc.

The kingdom of Israel they aren’t getting along real well.

Their 12 tribes they are split there is a division.

10 tribes go up north and become the northern kingdom.

2 stay to the south that’s the southern kingdom, they are known as the kingdom of Judah.

By the way JEW comes from the title Judah when they became the kingdom of Judah they became known as the Jews.

The Northern kingdom they were known as Israelites.

So heres how it went down:

IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE:

As you read through the OT it jumps off the page at you:

The Northern kingdom had a series of bad kings to the point where they were worshipping man made idols.

Heres how it works with God.

God does not bless disobedience, God refuses to bless disobedience.

You might be here tonight and your kinda like I don’t feel like I am on the best terms with God, God does not bless disobedience.

How many of you have children?

Do you celebrate their rebelliousness?

Do you applaud their disobedience?

of course not,the same is true for our Father God He does not reward disobedience.

TRUST AND OBEY FOR THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO BE HAPPY IN JESUS, THAN TO TRUST AND OBEY...

So the problem is the Northern kingdom b/c they had these bad kings they lead the people to start worshipping these false gods God says “my favor is no longer with you” that’s a bad place to be in life.

REMEMBER THIS: YOU WILL NEVER LOSE GOD’S SALVATION, BUT YOU CAN FALL OUT OF FAVOR WITH GOD.

YOU CAN GREIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THE POINT WHERE HE REMOVES HIS HAND OF BLESSING OFF OF YOUR LIFE.

(old friends, drinking, and the trouble which ensued)

This is on a smaller scale exactly what happened to the children of Israel.

722 BC the Assyrians roll up to the Northern kingdom and they take it.

The Assyrians were an interesting group because they brought with them a new form of domination called “exile” and we learn about this through ancient pictographs and the pictures show men with chains around their wrists and around their ankles and they are being lead away from their homeland, with their wives and children behind them, with only what they can carry on their backs.

You were in your bed one night, the Assyrians rolled in and the next day you left everything behind your never gonna see it again.

The Assyrians moved into your town.

The Northern kingdom was exiled,lead away into captivity.

The Southern kingdom held fast for a long time, in fact 50 years later the bloodthirsty king from Assyria Sennacharib tried to take the Southern kingdom.

But the southern kingdom had this dude named Hezekiah as their king and he was a good king.

While everything went ary in the northern kingdom, and God’s hand of blessing left them and they were carried off into captivity, the Southern kingdom who sought to obey God had His hand of protection.

He feared God everything was tight in the Southern kingdom God’s protection was with them.

One night Sennacharib surrounds the city of Jerusalem and then what happens next is remarkable.

What happened?

IN one night as they surrounded Jerusalem an angel came and killed 180,000 Assyrian soldiers.

The text says the Assyrian King Sennacharib wakes up the next morning, rolls out of his tent… and there is dead bodies everywhere.

God had His favor upon the Southern Kingdom because, they walked in obedience before Him.

Unfortunately they failed over time and they fell into disobedience, and God does not reward disobedience the Babylonians roll into town and 589 BC they devastated the Southern Kingdom.