The first sermon in our series on Nehemiah. It is an introduction and an overview of the book.
Brad teaches Nehemiah 1:1-4 in which Nehemiah is filled with a "Holy Discontent". What discontent is God laying on your heart? What do you think you should do about it?
This week we will focus on the connection that Nehemiah assumes with God's people. He claims that the sins of His people are "His" sins as well. He takes responsibility and repents for the wickedness and hard hearts of Gods people.
Are you willing to risk it all for the Lord? This sermon focuses on Nehemiah's willingness to risk everything in order to see God's will be done. Nehemiah 2:1-3.
Shea talks about the importance of having a plan in place when God calls you to action.
Nehemiah travels to Jerusalem and personally inspects the broken city walls. What is broken in your world, that with God's help, you can begin to heal?
Nehemiah casts a vision for his holy discontent to the people living in Jerusalem.
Opposition will come when you put your holy discontent into action. How will you respond?
Nehemiah encounters sin and division from within the camp. What can we learn from his response?
In chapter 6 Nehemiah faces a direct character assassination from his enemies in an attempt to stop the work on the wall. How would you respond in the same situation?
True revival starts with the faithful communication of God's Word, and an appropriate response by God's people. All too often we become smarter sinners when we read the Bible because we neglect to put into practice what we read. in this message Brad explores the heart of true revival, the Word of God, in Nehemiah chapters 6-8.
True Revival requires that we respond to what God's Word is calling us to do and be. We must become doers of The Word and not merely hearers.
It doesn't take long for the people of God to forget the lessons they just learned from Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Word of God. Instead they choose personal preference over the things of God. How can we guard against doing the same thing in our own lives?
God uses Song of Solomon, an eight-chapter book of poetry tucked in the middle of the Bible, as a guideline to handle the most important relationship we will ever have – and that is – of a husband and a wife. Song of Solomon is wisdom literature found in poetry form. Whether a single love poem or a collection of poems, God captures the uniqueness and distinctiveness of this exclusive relationship between husband and wife. This book will resurrect in us a Godly view of marital love, romance, intimacy and sexuality. God reveals what a relationship ought to be like through a couple living in a way which honors and brings glory to Him – from the beginning of attraction – through engagement, proposal, wedding, and honeymoon night – to deepening. Song of Solomon is an incredible gem, often overlooked, misunderstood and misrepresented.
The Song of Solomon is one of the most raw and passionate books in the entire Bible. The story gives us some snapshots into a love story as it progresses from attraction to marriage. This sermon on "attraction" is the first of a seven week series in the book.
Join us as we dive into Song of Solomon 1:8 - 3:5 this week. This passage provides some great insights into the couple's "dating" relationship.
Song of Solomon, Chapter 3:6-11. Join us as we look at the roles God intended for us in marriage, Godly servant leadership, and Godly respectful submission.
Have you ever wondered why the church doesn't speak more often to the subject of marital intimacy? Join us as we get an inside look at the wedding night of this couple in Song of Solomon. God clearly has a lot to say on this subject. Including the proper context for intimacy, why sex outside of this context is so damaging, and how to kindle the flames of intimacy in your marriage.
This message deals with the profound connection between our theology and our sexuality. It takes a look at how sin, particularly idolatry, has distorted sexuality and led to many dangerous patterns in our lives.
Conflict in a marriage is healthy, necessary, and wonderful when handled with health. The issue truly revolves around learning how to fight clean. We will talk through conflict styles and their implications on the marriage.
Marriage can actually grow better over time, but it does not get better accidentally. It takes intentionality in communication and time to grow together in a marriage relationship. How are you doing at deepening your marriage relationship?
A note to those who have gone through a divorce.
Jonah is often seen as a children's story. But the reality is that it is a true story by a real person, the Israeli prophet Jonah. The history and culture of ancient Israel and Assyria give us clues why Jonah struggled with going to Nineveh to proclaim God's message: "Repent or face God's judgment."
Jonah was called of God to be the voice to a dying world. He had a purpose, a calling, a divine assignment. Instead of obedience, Jonah chose the road of preference, comfort, and disobedience. Because of that, he rejected his calling... We too have a divine calling. God has created us in His image to proclaim His glory. We are called to demonstrate love for God and others. We are called to Be and Make Disciples. We are called to be salt and light in our world. We are called to always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks us to give an account of the hope that is within us. Yet we do not... Why? Because "I am Jonah."
We have all come to the crossroads of major decisions in life. You may entertain the idea of running away from your calling or choose to fulfill it. Jonah could not fathom an evil pagan nation receiving the grace of God, so he fled to Tarshish. He ran from God and tried to hide. But he soon found out that you can run, but you can't hide from God. Sin will cost you greatly, affect the world around you, and lead you into chaos. Aren't you grateful for a God who still passionately pursues us even in our flights from Him?
Our disobedience always hurts other people and always comes at great personal cost. Yet even in our disobedience, God will accomplish his will. God’s calling transcends our personal preference. You can’t hide from God.
God demands all our attention and all our focus. He is a loving, gracious, gentle and jealous God. There are consequences when you turn your back on God and reject Him, and those consequences are eternal. Judgment is real. Hell is real. But there is also hope. God has made Himself known to all people and we have been given the opportunity to place our faith in Christ and follow Him.
Jonah gets a second chance, preaches a message, and the people repent. From the greatest to the least, true revival breaks out in Nineveh. God shows that He cares for the crown jewel of His creation: people. God never changes in His character, but He can change His actions toward people based on their actions.
God is gracious, compassionate and slow to anger. He gave the people of Nineveh a second chance and Jonah was angry that God used him to do it. God grew a tree for Jonah that made Jonah happy. When a worm destroyed the tree, Jonah was very upset. God described His extreme love for the people He created and told Jonah he had no right to be angry that his little tree died. The book ends there. Did Jonah get it? Do you get it? What are you doing to live out your calling? What will you change in your life to follow Him?
Spiritual maturity is an elusive thing. It can be subjective and sometimes completely misunderstood. One sign of spiritual immaturity is only listening to the word from our favorites. This subtle shift causes us to connect to a person rather than to the Lord. Although we all have preferences, there should be a receptivity to connect and learn from whoever handles the word of God. A spiritually mature person looks for the content, regardless of who is speaking or the style in which it is communicated.
The Parable of the Sower is the first parable Jesus tells in Matthew. The seeds we sow can produce a harvest of 30, 60 or 100-fold. We are called to share the Gospel with our words and actions, but the harvest is not up to us. Not everyone will be prepared to hear the message, and God is the one who determines the level of influence we will have in the kingdom. What is the fruit of your life?
The key to building a life that will last is a foundation in Christ. It takes faith to build on the words of God even when there is no immediate reward, or it goes against your feelings or what other people may advise. Storms will come, and if you have built your life on Jesus, you will withstand them. But if your foundation is built on other things, you will not be able to withstand the immediate storms or the eternal storm of death.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. But who is your neighbor? Jesus answers this question with a parable we are all familiar with: The Good Samaritan. Our faith should lead us to action. This is not always comfortable and can sometimes be messy. Having pity on someone in need is easy. But the Samaritan had compassion on the man at the side of the road. He went out of his way to help, and took the time to show him mercy. Do you have that kind of compassion for the people you encounter each day?
Jesus used the Parable of the Widow and the Judge to show his disciples the importance of being persistent in their prayers. The unjust judge is compared to the just and loving God who gives us what we need, although it may not look the way we originally prayed for or wanted. Persistent prayer leads to faith in a just God. When God delays answering our prayers, He has a purpose for us. We need to pray persistently and never lose heart.
When we understand the true cost of our sin, the forgiveness God gives us increases in value. The parable of two debtors compares two people who were forgiven of "little" and "much." The one who was forgiven much should in turn be more grateful. The truth is, we have all been forgiven much, so our understanding, worship, and adoration of Jesus should be extravagant, like the woman. Sadly, most of us, just like the Pharisees, say we have been forgiven of much, but our lives show that we believe our sin is actually small and insignificant.
When we humble ourselves before God, becoming passionate about our walk with Him, He blesses us and equips us to be all He wants us to be. The kingdom of heaven was created for us to be with Him, but we must surrender everything we have and everything we are, to receive it.
How do we live for the kingdom of God, becoming content with where we are and what we have? How do we worship God with our wealth instead of worshiping our wealth? We must learn to refocus our hearts, repent of our selfishness, and take practical steps to be generous toward God and others.
How valuable are we to God! He cares about each and every person on this earth. When we are lost, He pursues us. When we wander, He pursues us. When we run, He pursues us. And He and all the angels rejoice when even one person comes to Christ.
Much is said about the nature of the Kingdom of God. Is it spiritual, physical, already in place, or still forthcoming? Regardless, our preparedness is essential. Christ will return and Matthew clearly communicates what our response should be in light of this reality. What is our response to the coming “not yet” Kingdom and how should we then live in the interim?
After 430 years immersed in the paganism of Egypt, the people of God were finally delivered from their bondage. It was relatively easy getting the people out of Egypt; the hard work would be getting Egypt out of the people. For nearly four decades they wandered through the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula, circling, walking, waiting and learning the hard lessons of obedience. Day after painful day they learned to trust God. Then under the leadership of Joshua these freed slaves entered the Promised Land and were confronted by the fertility cults there. They fought to remove this influence from the land, but to no avail. As they fought, obedience became an afterthought, and they stumbled into their second failure: the breakdown of the family. Their disobedience and family breakdown triggered a cycle of chaos that repeats throughout the book of Judges. Tempted by disobedience and witnessing the unraveling of the family, we find tremendous similarities to our modern era. If we're not careful to learn the lessons from the past, we too are plunged into chaos.
Othniel, whose name means “Lion of God,” was the only Judge with no inherent flaws spoken about him, and he was at least 60 years old when God raised him up to be a Judge. Though he was an unlikely Judge due to his age, he had seen God’s faithfulness over the years. Through his short story, we learn that you are never too old to be used by God and your best days spiritually should never be behind you. So take what you’ve learned and pass it on. There should always be new stories of faith in action. What’s yours?
Ehud was a judge who was "left-handed." The Hebrew phrase for this is "weak or restricted in the right hand," which seems to communicate what Ehud couldn't do well rather than what God was able to do with him. He was physically different than most people and possibly disabled. This week we take a look at how God uses people in spite of their physical weaknesses or restrictions, or even uses people because of those weaknesses. Every restriction we have allows the world to see how unrestricted God is in using us.
Jephthah was the illegitimate son of a prostitute mother and adulterous father. He was despised and rejected by his half-brothers, stripped from his rightful inheritance, and forced out of his home and onto the streets, where he would eventually join a gang and commit to a life of crime and rebellion from God. Sadly, his life would forever be marked by a tragic vow that would cost him everything. He was unlikely in every way to have a life of significance, let alone be used by God as a hero and deliverer for his nation. Yet his is a story of redemption. This is a story that reminds us that none of us are beyond God's power to save, and none of us are beyond God's grace to restore.
Driven by his flesh and motivated by his passions Samson is a true Unlikely. Taught for years in Sunday School classes as a hero of the faith, he is immortalized in the text as a man of unbridled lust. Though exposed to the things of God, Samson’s life is defined by poor decisions, rash judgments and carnal desires. Yet through all of the compromise and moral failure God used him in a powerful way, and we will take a peek into the life of Samson to reveal the Samson in us.
We continue our series with a look at an unlikely trio (a prophet, a military leader, and a foreigner's housewife) that God used in tandem to deliver Israel. Of these three, the most unlikely is Jael, and yet she is the heroine. In her, we see someone who didn't allow a lack of training, experience, resources or status stop her from taking the opportunity to serve God and His people. It is unlikely people like Jael who continue to be the heroes in the church today.
Faithless and doubting. These terms describe the next unlikely, Gideon, a man who was terrified by circumstances and doubted God’s ability to deliver. Test after test ensued as Gideon tried to ensure that God was with him. Even in faithless duty God used Gideon and delivered the people of God from their oppression. However, at the pinnacle of his influence, Gideon finds himself initiating an egregious act of idolatry that becomes a snare to those he had so reluctantly delivered. Gideon serves as an example of how God continues to use unlikely leaders to serve His purposes and also cautions us that our greatest times of weakness often occur during our moments of greatest victory.
In this series we have studied unlikely people and how God used them in unlikely ways to bring about deliverance for the nation of Israel. Hopefully we have also been able to see ourselves in these stories as unlikely individuals who God can redeem, restore and use for His glory. But more than stories about unlikely people, this series has really been about an unlikely God – a God who is full of grace and mercy, and serves as the true hero and deliverer in our lives. This week’s message will seek to point us all toward full surrender and trust in this unlikely God.
The book of Romans seeks to answer every essential question pertaining to God, man, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, salvation and newness of the Christian life. It is all about the gospel and the ability of God to redeem a broken and fallen world by providing the one thing people need the most: the righteousness of God. This week we'll begin our study by exploring the incredible power of the gospel and how we are saved.
As you consider sharing the gospel with someone you love, where do you begin? Many people naturally go to "God loves you" or "God has a wonderful plan for your life." Though certainly true, Romans begins the explanation of the gospel at the heart of depravity. Paul draws attention to what a society that rejects God and is given over to the lusts of their flesh, degrading passions and depraved minds looks like. This realization of personal moral darkness brings an even greater degree of value to the gospel. The beauty of the message of salvation is that despite our moral inability, God calls us out of darkness through the finished work of Jesus. Join us this week for a candid look at total depravity and the various forms this takes in our world.
Apart from faith in Jesus, nothing can make us right in God's sight. We have all sinned and there is nothing we can do to fix the problem we have. No law, not even God's Law, can change our flawed hearts. No good deed can make up for the sin in our lives. Nothing about us is right. Nothing. The question we ask this week is whether or not we are finally done trying, and ready to start trusting.
After three-and-a-half chapters of walking us through the doctrine of total depravity, and proving man's inability to make himself righteous before a holy God and escape the condemnation we fully deserve, the Apostle Paul shows us exactly how it is God saves us. This portion of Scripture is the epicenter of your entire Bible. It is the good news: the gospel. What we'll study this week has the power to bring us from death to life, if we'll only believe.
Justification by faith is a crucial theological truth packed full of real life implications. Based on the finished work of Jesus Christ we are declared righteous. And this is all accomplished by faith. But what is faith? Scripture reminds us, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). This week we dig into the mystery of faith and show that faith is moving beyond a belief about Christ to a solid conviction in Christ. Faith is our connection to Christ apart from good deeds, despite our poor moral performance and without religious assistance. Faith is our personal conviction placed in Jesus Christ and Him alone.
The first several chapters of Romans remind us that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. It ruthlessly points out the depth of our depravity and steadily reminds us that without faith in Jesus Christ we have no hope for salvation. But as the book continues, the hope in the gospel unfolds. This week’s message deals with the benefits of justification by faith and the privilege we have in Christ. Due to the finished work of Christ we are invited into participation in four key elements: let us enjoy peace with God, let us exult in the hope of the glory of God, let us exult in our tribulations and let us exult in God through Christ. The gospel not only grants us a positional peace with God but also offers us a tremendous invitation to enjoy the benefits of the gospel.
How can we who died to sin still live in it? In this passage, Paul is not speaking to the influence or presence of sin but rather the mastery and obligation to sin. The beauty of the gospel is that it both saves and sanctifies. We are brought to faith in Christ by the power of the gospel in our lives. Our union with Christ breaks the mastery and obligation to sin and we are therefore set free to walk in a newness of life. Our new pattern of life with Christ is not defined by a repeated cycle of struggle, shame and regret, but instead our identification with Christ sets us free. Our process of knowing what Christ has done for us, of considering ourselves dead to sin but alive to God, and the ongoing process of presenting ourselves to God redefines our spiritual journey. No longer trapped in an endless cycle, we are now set free to pursue Jesus and submit to His authority in our life.
As believers, we are no longer slaves of sin. But knowing and even believing that will do us no good until or unless we come to a place in our lives where we don't want to live a life of sin anymore. We no longer sin because we have to, but some of us continue to sin because, if we are honest, we want to. We see some sort of benefit to sin, at least from time to time. But this is a lie. We need to open our eyes to the devastation that all sin brings. We will never have victory over sin if we still see ourselves as slaves of sin. And we will never have victory over sin until we believe that sin – any and every sin – brings us death. Do you really believe that?
If we are "good" Christians, we try hard to not sin. We try to find out what God wants us to do, and then we try really hard to follow His laws. And yet so many of us, no matter how determined, continue to fail. What's wrong? Are we missing something? The answer is probably yes, but it may surprise you to find out what it is. It doesn't matter how many of God's laws you love and memorize. It doesn't matter how much willpower you have to follow them. Sin will always result as long as we continue to try with our own power and strength (what the Bible calls our flesh). Sin is too powerful and our flesh is too weak. But the good news is that God never left us to do it alone.
Our salvation was originated by God. Our sanctification is divinely produced as well. Yet too many Christians are trying to live their lives by human effort and self-motivation. Unfortunately these are ineffective agents for life change. Thankfully, upon placing our faith in Jesus Christ we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. God dwells among us and faithfully completes the work He started. He calls and we must respond. Divine initiative meets human response as we walk day by day, moment by moment, thought by thought, by the Spirit.
Throughout our study of Romans we've seen how the gospel has saved us from the penalty of sin and how it's currently saving us from the power of sin. But what about the very presence of sin that so easily entangles us and has brought about much suffering in this world? Is there a day coming when the very presence of sin will be done away with? In this passage, the Apostle Paul shows us how suffering is a divine requirement for the follower of Christ, yet in our suffering God has provided both a hope for a future day and a divine help for our present circumstances that helps us to persevere and hold on until the end. In God's sovereignty, He can use even the worst of trials to bring about our good and His glory.
Did God choose you or did you choose God? The answer is a frustrating yes. The Bible seems to teach both sides of this conundrum and does not apologize for the perceived contradiction. Depending on the text of Scripture we explore, the issue can be articulated from both sides. Our responsibility as people of the Book is to accurately explain each passage we encounter with a faithfulness to the text. Romans 9 has caused a stir in the faith community for centuries. In these verses Paul explains the concept of God’s sovereign electing purposes and clearly communicates Gods initiative in our salvation. Though our personal decision is certainly a part of the process, it is a much smaller part than we may have once believed. In fact our personal responsibility is shadowed by the sovereign electing purposes of God. This chapter expands our view of God and brings to our attention His initiative on our behalf from before the foundations of the world.
On the heels of Romans 9, where the Apostle Paul showed us an exalted view of the sovereign mercy of God in our salvation, Paul now shifts gears in chapter 10 to our responsibility as God's chosen instruments for delivering the message of that salvation to the world around us. In doing so, Paul also shows us some of the reasons why much of the Jewish nation currently rejects the message of Christ and why it's essential we continue to preach the gospel boldly, even amidst that rejection.
In the early pages of the Bible God promises to Abraham and his descendants that He would give them land, seed and blessing. In this promise hangs the faithfulness of God. If God is truly a promise-keeping God then we must anticipate a fulfillment of these things one day. Yet the church is a profoundly Gentile gathering and the nation of Israel today does not enjoy the peace God has ultimately promised. Thankfully Romans 11 shows us the eventual restoration of the nation of Israel and the complete fulfillment of these ancient promises. These verses remind us that God’s promises, His Word and His intention can be trusted. After three very difficult chapters of theological truth Paul ends this section with an incredible call to worship God for His wisdom, knowledge and judgments, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
