Nehemiah 5:1–13 - Walk In Fear
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· 323 viewsFollowers of Jesus should live in a way that unbelievers will not have reason to disrespect Christ.
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05/28/17 AM
Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Video
Welcome
Prayer
Hymn: 634 My Country Tis of Thee
Hymn: 634 My Country Tis of Thee
Message: - Walk In Fear
Choir: Because of Your Love
Main Point: Because of who we are in the Lord we should live in a way that unbelievers will not have reason to disrespect Christ.
Offertory: 644 Count Your Blessings
Special: Kerri Altman
I. Followers of Jesus should not have cause against each other
Message: - Walk In Fear
Main Point: Followers of Jesus should live in a way that unbelievers will not have reason to disrespect Christ.
II. Followers of Jesus should be angered by injustice
I. Followers of Jesus should not have cause against each other
II. Followers of Jesus should be angered by injustice
III. Followers of Jesus should walk in the fear of our Lord
III. Followers of Jesus should walk in the fear of our Lord
Invitation: 295 Near To The Heart of God
Everyone is being asked to volunteer for one hour of prayer a week (you can do more if you want!) in order to meet our goal of having someone praying every second of every minute of every day of the year.
(Have ushers hand out volunteer forms and start passing around sign up sheet)
In order to meet that goal, there will be an opportunity to sign up for a specific hour so that we make sure to cover as much time as possible during the week. There will also be prayer guides available to assist you in meeting the goal of praying for one hour.
On this Memorial Day we honor those who sacrificed their lives for our country. A plaque at the University of Virginia honors students who died in World War I with these words:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them.
Let us also remember the greatest sacrifice of all when Jesus went to the cross to provide us an eternal freedom from our enemy death!
G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1986), 40.
Opening Prayer
Come, Thou Almighty King, help us Thy name to sing; help us to praise: Father, all glorious, o’er all victorious, come and reign over us, Ancient of Days.
Come, Thou Incarnate Word, gird on Thy mighty sword, our prayer attend: Come and Thy people bless, and give Thy word success—Spirit of holiness, in us descend.
Come, Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour: Thou who almighty art, now rule in ev’ry heart, and ne’er from us depart, Spirit of pow’r.
To the great One in Three eternal praises be, hence evermore: His sov’reign majesty, may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore.
Unknown (Possibly Wesley), 1757
Unknown, 1757
Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996), 161.
(Have ushers hand out volunteer forms and start passing around sign up sheet)
As we remember this weekend those that stood on the wall for our country and gave their lives, we are beginning a prayer initiative so that we can stand on the wall spiritually for the well being of our nation, our community, our church, and our families.
Beginning this week we are beginning the Watchman On the Wall Prayer Initiative based on - “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent.”
Everyone is being asked to volunteer for one hour of prayer a week (you can do more if you want!) in order to meet our goal of having someone praying every second of every minute of every day of the year.
The
In order to meet that goal, there will be an opportunity to sign up for a specific hour so that we make sure to cover as much time as possible during the week. There will also be prayer guides available to assist you in meeting the goal of praying for one hour.
In order to meet that goal, there will be an opportunity to sign up for a specific hour so that we make sure to cover as much time as possible during the week. There will also be prayer guides available to assist you in meeting the goal of praying for one hour.
Once we get people signed up in the next couple of weeks we will put out a schedule so everyone who is taking part in this effort will know where they fit in and who prays before and after them. There is also accountability in this effort in that when you get to the end of your hour we ask you to make contact with the next person on the schedule.
- “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent.”
Everyone is being asked to volunteer for one hour of prayer a week (you can do more if you want!) in order to meet our goal of having someone praying every second of every minute of every day of the year.
(Have ushers hand out volunteer forms and start passing around sign up sheet)
In order to meet that goal, there will be an opportunity to sign up for a specific hour so that we make sure to cover as much time as possible during the week. There will also be prayer guides available to assist you in meeting the goal of praying for one hour.
- “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent.”
I. Followers of Jesus should not have cause against each other
I. Followers of Jesus should not have cause against each other
EXPLANATION
Because of the way some of the Jewish people were treating some of their fellow Jews, they began to cry out against them. There were actions being taken against fellow Jews that were unfair and against the laws of God.
ILLUSTRATION
“In the world they made for themselves, Siamese twins Margaret and Mary Gibb were not only accustomed to their affliction. They came to prefer it. As adults they refused even to discuss the possibility of separation. To them, such a move would have seemed no less than amputation of a major limb. As the twins aged, Margaret began to suffer health problems. She underwent two operations, one in 1946 to remove a bladder stone and another in 1953 to remove a fibroid tumor. Throughout they refused even to discuss the possibility of separation. In 1966, Margaret was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder. Over the next year, it spread to her lungs, but the sisters still adamantly refused separation. By 1967, the cancer had also spread to Mary. The twins succumbed to the illness at age 55 within minutes of one another. As per their request, they were not separated even after death; they were interred in a custom coffin together. (bio by: Iola)
ARGUMENTATION
Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 760–761.As the twins aged, Margaret began to suffer health problems. She underwent two operations, one in 1946 to remove a bladder stone and another in 1953 to remove a fibroid tumor. Throughout they refused even to discuss the possibility of separation. In 1966, Margaret was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder. Over the next year, it spread to her lungs, but the sisters still adamantly refused separation. By 1967, the cancer had also spread to Mary. The twins succumbed to the illness at age 55 within minutes of one another. As per their request, they were not separated even after death; they were interred in a custom coffin together. (bio by: Iola)
ARGUMENTATION
- “Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.”
There was abuse against fellow Jews who had to borrow money to pay taxes.
- 3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
Violated the Laws put forth in Leviticus that they were not to treat one another as slaves but as hired workers. There was also an option for the person in debt to be released from his obligation at a certain point.
This was not happening like it was supposed to.
APPLICATION
How do we treat one another?
We should treat each other like we are all joined at the hip, connected by more than just flesh. We are connected through our adoption in Jesus Christ.
How we treat one another speaks to our view of our Lord.
When we believe His word to be true it should impact the way we treat one another, from how we talk to each other, how we talk about each other, and how we treat one another.
When we are involved in serious, ongoing, corporate prayer we are less likely to do the things that divide saints.
No Gossip
Forgiveness
Praying for one another - Part of the Watchmen
II. Followers of Jesus should be angered by injustice
II. Followers of Jesus should be angered by injustice
EXPLANATION
What angers you?
The outcry against their fellow Jews was based on the injustice found in their society. People were taking advantage of others weaknesses or situation.
ILLUSTRATION
H. W. Beecher - “A man that does not know how to be angry does not know how to be good. A man that does not know how to be shaken to his heart’s core with indignation over things evil is either a fungus or a wicked man”
Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 20.
ARGUMENTATION
- 6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them 8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. 9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good.
Nehemiah was angered by the injustice he found out about
Nehemiah was angered by the injustice he found out about
Nehemiah started with himself then brought the matter before the leaders.
APPLICATION
Make sure you are not guilty of this sin
Make sure you are not guilty of this sin
Hold others accountable
Do we get rightly angry at how believers treat one another? Not enough because we keep doing it.
Do we get angry about other injustices? Racism, abortion, pornography, hunger, etc.
Not calling us to live lives of anger but we should also not become so callous as to ignore what we see.
III. Followers of Jesus should walk in the fear of our Lord
III. Followers of Jesus should walk in the fear of our Lord
EXPLANATION
Nehemiah called on the people of Israel to abandon their sin and do what was right.
ILLUSTRATION
1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Restitution
New York—A 31-year-old accountant repaid the $40 he stole 15 years ago from an amusement park—and added $286 interest to atone for his previous theft. Jeff Street was a 16-year-old parking lot attendant at the amusement park in 1969. Recently, he said, “I was praying at my desk and reading the Word, and it just came to me. It wasn’t the Lord’s voice, but it came from within me—I had to pay back the money,” Street said. [Cited in Dallas Morning News, November 11, 1984.]1131
An accountant repaid the $40 he stole 15 years ago from an amusement park—and added $286 interest to atone for his previous theft. Jeff Street was a 16-year-old parking lot attendant at the amusement park in 1969. Recently, he said, “I was praying at my desk and reading the Word, and it just came to me. It wasn’t the Lord’s voice, but it came from within me—I had to pay back the money,” Street said.
[Cited in Dallas Morning News, November 11, 1984.]
ARGUMENTATION
Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 302–303.
ARGUMENTATION
- 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” 12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
The people recognized their sin and decided to not only begin doing right and following God’s commands, but they also went back and made up for the wrong they had caused others.
They followed through on their promise and were held accountable for what they had promised.
APPLICATION
If you’ve been doing wrong, repent - turn away from what you are doing
Make restitution to those you may have wronged - regardless if it is monetarily, emotionally, etc.
Hold fast to your promise to do right - as the Lord has kept His promises to us, so we must also keep ours
For those who pledge to be watchmen on the wall, there will be some accountability - for those who do not hear from the person before them, find out why or bring it to our attention so we can ask