Sermon Tone Analysis

No minister studied the rapidly unfolding events against scriptural teachings more closely than did Concord's 32-year-old minister, William Emerson (grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson).

For a long time, his world had been dominated by local concerns and salvation preaching.

But all of this changed in March and April 1775, when all the members of his congregation were propelled into what he termed "the greatest events taking place in the present age."

By March, Emerson and other Concord patriots knew that British spies had infiltrated their town and informed General Thomas Gage of a hidden armory and munitions supplies stocked by the local "Sons of Liberty" (a secret society of radicals).

Many believed Gage was planning a preemptive strike on these supplies, and they feared for their lives.

At a muster of the Concord militia on March 13, Emerson preached a sermon on 2 Chronicles 13:12: "And behold, God himself is with us for our captain.

… O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper" (KJV).

Never would he deliver a more momentous sermon.

He had it within his means to promote or discourage an almost certainly violent call to arms.

What was he to say?

What was God's will for his American people?

With obvious agitation, Emerson began his sermon with the somber note that recent intelligence warned of "an approaching storm of war and bloodshed."

Many in attendance would soon be called upon for "real service."

Were they ready?

Real readiness, Emerson explained, depended not only on martial skill and weaponry but also on moral and spiritual resolve.

To be successful, soldiers must believe in what they were fighting for, and they must trust in God's power to uphold them.

Otherwise they would scatter in fear before the superior British redcoats.

What were the men of Concord fighting for?

In strident political terms that coupled the roles of prophet and statesman, Emerson argued for colonial resistance.

For standing by their liberties and trusting only in God, the American people were "cruelly charged with rebellion and sedition."

That charge, Emerson cried, was a lie put forward by plotters against American liberty.

With all of the integrity of his sacred office behind him, Emerson took his stand before the Concord militia:

The road ahead would be difficult, Emerson cautioned, but the outcome was one preordained from the beginning of time.

Accordingly, the soldiers could go forth to war assured that "the Lord will cover your head in the day of battle and carry you on from victory to victory."

In the end, he concluded, the whole world would know "that there is a God" in America.

On April 19, the mounting apprehensions became fact as 800 British troops marched on Lexington and Concord to destroy the patriot munitions.

At Lexington, Gage's troops were met by a small "army of observation," who were fired upon and sustained 17 casualties.

From there the British troops marched to Concord.

Before their arrival, the alarm had been sounded by patriot silversmith Paul Revere, and militiamen rushed to the common.

William Emerson arrived first, and he was soon joined by "minutemen" from nearby towns.

Again a shot was fired—the famed "shot heard 'round the world"—and in the ensuing exchange, three Americans and twelve British soldiers were killed or wounded.

America's colonial war for independence had begun.

Words like Emerson's continued to sound for the next eight years, goading, consoling, and impelling colonists forward in the cause of independence.

The pulpit served as the single most powerful voice to inspire the colonists.

For most American ministers and many in their congregations, the religious dimension of the war was precisely the point of revolution.

With backs against the wall, and precious little to take confidence in, words like those of Emerson's were their only hope.

\\ *Nehemiah 1:1-1:11*

What is it that is broken in your life - something that needs to be rebuilt?

The most hopeless people in the world are people who recognize that they have a problem, but have no vision from God about how to solve with that problem.

Where there is no vision, the people perish…Proverbs 29:18

Everybody ends up somewhere in life.

A few people end up somewhere on purpose.

Those are the ones with vision.

The advantage of vision is it sets a direction for our lives.

Vision provides the push through the problems.

Vision provides the energy for the effort.

Without vision our passion leaks, our production falls, and our people scatter.

In the pages of the OT is the journal of a man who stands tall as person with vision who rebuilt what was broken.

His name is Nehemiah.

The name means “the Lord’s comfort.”

Nehemiah’s visionary efforts brought comfort to God’s people in a time of great need.

Nehemiah’s hope-filled visionary leadership is a powerful example – no matter what your position in life.

Coaches, supervisors, parents, student leaders, executives, and spiritual leaders can all learn from this great man.

The setting is about 500 years before the time of Christ.

God’s people had lived in Israel for centuries before.

God had told them: “Obey Me and you’ll live in the land for a long time.

Disobey Me and you’ll be carried off into captivity.”

That’s what happened.

The Babylonians came and conquered God’s people and took the leading citizens 1,000 miles away.

But the discipline was ending.

Several years before, some of God’s people were given permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild a broken down temple and a broken down city.

But the attempts to rebuild the protective wall around the city (destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC) had been frustrated by some ‘the enemies of Judah’ (Ezra 4:1,7-16).

As a result very few people lived in the capital city (Neh.

11:1).

Jerusalem was a city of ruins.

Nehemiah lived in the royal city of Susa, the winter residence of Artaxerxes, the Persian king.

Judah, the homeland of Nehemiah, was a thousand miles away.

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king.

He was more than a “butler”.

A cupbearer held a position of great responsibility.

At each meal, he tested the king’s wine and food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned.

Of he died, then the king wouldn’t.

Doesn’t sound like a great job.

But think.

A man who stood that close to the king in public had to be handsome, cultured, knowledgeable, and able to advise the king when asked.

Because he had access to the king, the cupbearer was a man of great influence.

The cupbearer was rather like a prime minister and master of ceremonies rolled into one.

Nehemiah was the right man in the right place for God to use.

He had vision – vision to see a problem… and its solution.

And because he had vision, he had hope.

I.      A person with vision…sees the need.

vv.

1-3

Bad news came from Jerusalem: walls flattened, gates burned, morale low.

But Nehemiah cared about the glory of God and the good of the people in Jerusalem.

Now he hears that the Jerusalem Jews were living in desperate days.

Ruin, and instead of a magnificent city, Jerusalem was in shambles; and where there had once been great glory, there was now nothing but great reproach.

God was being dishonored as long as Jerusalem lay waste.

This was the place where the reality of God’s presence would be experienced in love and mercy by those who sought Him.

It wasn’t happening, so Nehemiah was concerned.

A God-ordained vision will begin as a concern.

Something will bother you about the way things are or the way things are headed.

There are far more needs in the church and the world than any of us has time or energy to meet, and no one is required to try to relieve them all.

But God’s call to serve will be a call to meet some human need.

As you start, by the grace of God, to rebuild the walls, you must first of all see the ruin in which they lie.

Vision is a reflection of what God wants to through us to impact the world.

It is not about maintaining the status quo.

Living where we live, we can become comfortable.

We can lose sight of the need.

Do you see the needs that are around you?

This is a hemorrhaging and hurting world.

There are broken hearts, fractured families & lives.