ONE pt. 3

Nehemiah part 3

       It’s time. Time for what you ask? It’s time for a spiritual revival. It’s time to bring God back in to the lives of thousands of people. It’s time to step up and step out and be different than the rest of the world. It’s time to deliver the good news. It’s time for us as a group to go out and share the love of God to the souls that don’t know about it. It’s time to be that one person that makes the difference. The best part is though if you look around the room you’re surrounded by people who are willing to do the same. One group can make an impact. We can bring people back to God who have drifted away from him. That’s what Nehemiah did. He turned the heart of the people back to God. He turned a nation that was in ruin, a group of people that were in ruin back to God.

     In Nehemiah chapter 1 we see that he hears of the destruction of Jerusalem and all the walls around the city are destroyed. And he gets this burden to go do something about it. So he goes to Jerusalem and he rallies the people to rebuild the city and rebuild the walls so that God had a place to dwell. But it wasn’t just the physical walls that needed rebuilding it was the spiritual walls of the people that also needed to be redone. With their spiritual walls in ruin it allowed the enemy to come in and destroy their faith. The people’s lives were in ruin and the temple was in ruin. So Nehemiah goes back and rallies the people to rebuild the walls around the city. And if you fast forward to chapter 8  you see that the walls have been built up, and the place for God has been reestablished. In chapter 9 we see them fasting and turning away from their life of sin, and all because of one man who said let’s build this thing let’s do this thing. God’s presence was reestablished in a nation and turned back to God. But it wasn’t just Nehemiah, if you look at chapter 3 because if you look at it, it’s often a chapter we skip over because it’s a chapter with a bunch of names we can’t pronounce. You know where you get to that part of the Bible and you go “oh my word” I can’t even understand what this is saying; they didn’t even teach me that in Bible school. But there is something significant in chapter 3 because it applies to us today.
    In chapter 3 Nehemiah begins to list every person that rebuilt the wall. Every person who rebuilt a gate, look at it “Then Eliashib the high priest and the other priests started to rebuild at the Sheep Gate. (3:1)The Fish Gate was built by the sons of Hassenaah. (3:3) Meremoth son of Uriah and grandson of Hakkoz repaired the next section of wall. (3:4) Shallum son of Hallohesh and his daughters repaired the next section. (3:12)” Why did Nehemiah go through the process of naming every person that was a part of rebuilding the walls around their city? Why did he do that? One simple reason, because everyone was critical to his success. Everyone was important to the walls being built back up. See the walls being built back up symbolizes that there would be life, security, and hope and that the presence of God could come back. We have found the same to be true of us today. When the walls, and the ways of God, the truth of God is built up back in our lives and our families. It allows the presence/power of God to flow through our lives. When those walls are not in place when the things of God are not being lived out in my life, or in your life, then we become weak and vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. And we end up as children of God living so far below what God has intended for us. We don’t experience his presence or his glory and we end up in defeat and destruction. That is not what God has planned for me and that is definitely not what God has planned for you. So were going to rebuild the walls in our life, in our community, in our region. Bring back the ways of God the truth of God. I often wonder what if Hassenaah had not rebuilt the fish gate. Who would have rebuilt it? Or if Shallum and his daughters had not replaced the wall around their house they would have been vulnerable to the enemies attack.
     What God is calling us to do for this movement/transformation in our community, it’s going to take every one of us to build up the ways of God the truth of God in our lives, for us to experience this radical transformation. You and I we have to step up, and build up the things of God. The first thing we have to do is seek God in ways we have never sought before. When I look at Nehemiah the success didn’t come in 52 days, they built the wall in 52 days, but there were months of prayer and fasting that took place after the walls were built. God is calling us to seek his plan; he wants you to discover it. Second we’ve got to continue to continue to get the good news of Christ out. We have a story of hope, a story of life, a story that brings redemption and restoration. And we’ve got to share the gospel of Jesus. It’s what we’re about as Christians. The third thing God has called us to do is to raise an army of men and women, students, who are on fire for Jesus, who are committed and equipped, and ready to spread the good news, ready to share their faith, ready to evangelize. We want to go out and prepare others to do so while also learning how to best do it ourselves. I want you to step up and speak, because what better way to practice telling someone about the love of God then telling it to a room full of Christians. We may not even have our other Christian club next year because nobody is willing to speak. I enjoy speaking but every once in a while it’s nice to hear somebody else speak. These are student lead organizations and we’ve been blessed to be allowed to meet here in our school. to gather here as one group of Christians that can meet before school. 
     So I propose this to you and I’m trying to inspire you guys to step up, and I know some of you will. I propose that if you want to speak that all you have to do is let Mr. Niles or me know and we will do our best to make sure that you receive the chance to. Maybe some of you are scared to speak by yourself in front of a group. Well I also propose this idea. It’s a co-lead idea. If you ever want to speak but feel as though you can’t do it on your own I will be more than happy to assist you. FCA is about training people to go out and become leaders. And that is exactly what I want to see happen. I know that at the beginning of the year the group is fairly large and as the school year goes on the group starts
getting smaller and smaller till a select dedicated few come. I know people are busy with their lives but how busy do we become that we forget what really matters. I know this group can grow, I’ve seen several new faces that have appeared over this school year. I want to encourage you to continue to bring your friends. As a matter of fact I want to challenge you to bring at least one new friend with you in the next few weeks. I also am going to try and bring some of my friends. I know we meet early but I promise that the 30 minutes or so that you might have to wake up early will definitely be worth it. I also want to encourage those of you who have not joined our Facebook group to do so. Just type in K.H.S. Club121/FCA and join. We send out reminders for meetings and I know I try to give a little preview of what were going to talk about. I know that this group can step up and step out, and continue to win souls for God.


Thanks for reading even though you may not be part of my FCA group I still want you to go out and make a difference because I know you can.

~Remember there is only 1Way2Life and thats for Christ!~

It's Been a While

Hey guys! I know its been a while since I posted. Little update about my life at the moment. Our conflict about denominations has been resolved. WHICH IS GREAT! I haven't posted anymore sermons because I haven't had to speak for the last two meetings. The next one which will wrap up Nehemiah is coming shortly. Look for it around Sunday night. I am also busy with our church's Youth Sunday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what that is. It's where the youth plan and execute the services on a certain Sunday. Ours happens to be on March 6th. So I've been busy with that getting my speech around and all. I found a great thing to give a talk on and its sure to WOW the congregation in a good way. I can't tell you what it is in this particular post only to say that its going to be awesome. More on that to come. Our church is also going to undergo a change (I hope). Our youth group has the problem of not making guests feel welcomed. This has been going on since last summer when it was first brought up. Since then I have tried to make people feel welcomed but one man simply can't do it on his own. I recently had a talk with one of our guests on how they thought we could be more "welcoming". She then explained to me how her church had a welcoming team that was responsible for introducing people. I thought it was a brilliant idea and so I approached my youth leader. We have wanted to start one since the problem started and I actually got a group of friends to do it but it quickly died off within 3 weeks. Tomorrow were having a Leaders meeting to discuss it. Pray that it goes well, it's a serious problem that needs fixing.

I have been reading some books lately (I KNOW A SHOCKER). They are all good ones so I figured I would share with you. Several of them are by John Maxwell. In my opinion he is a great author and a great speaker. The first book I read was by him  it was called "The Difference Maker". He pointed out in this book that "Attitude is not everything, but it is the difference maker." It grabbed my attention from the very beginning. After reading that book I became interested in several of his other books and I am currently reading one called "Today Matters". Its a book in which he points out that successful people create and manage goals daily, he also goes into the importance on attitude and several other key points that make a good teacher, a great teacher. His book "Winning with People" is like it sounds. Its a book about how different people work and operate. It also has its key points, my personal favorite so far is how he points out that people generally enjoy and flock to happy people and not pessimistic people. Switching authors now brings me to the book that has drawn the most attention from me. It's called "The Next Christians; The Good News About the End of Christian America." Its a book by Gave Lyons. At first I thought this was going ot be some funny atheist book that I could just laugh at and enjoy reading. Don't get the title wrong though this is a diehard book about inspiring people to become restorers of the Christian religion. It's ment to bring people back to the baisis of their faith. The way he explains the different ways Christians act and how he catorgorizes them into three groups; Separtists, Cultural, and Restorers. He goes into detail about each and then dives into the Restorers branch because that is where the action is happening. As I read his discription of each group I found myself closly relating to the Restorer group. This thrilled me because it will make the rest of the reading semi easy (plus it means I didn't waste my money, which is always a good thing). I have deemed this one as a must read and I'm not even finished with it yet. John Maxwell will; have to come in second this time, unless I find one of his books better than this. Well thats what is happening in my life at the moment. Its also golf season so now my time will have to be rationed even more. No official word yet on the military. It appears I have changed to simply the National Gaurd now which I am fine with. It does mean though I will not be attending my church camp this year. :( It's ok though this is way bigger. I think thats it other than I attended WinterJam and I highly recommend that if the chance arrises for you to attend the concert to do so. It was amazing! Well that is most definitly it. Thanks for reading!

~Remember there is only 1Way2Live and that's for Christ~

ONE pt. 2

       We’re talking this week about a fight that is worth fighting. Do you remember the first fight you were in? Remember it? Was it out on the playground? Some big bully pushing you around and your just tired of it, but their just twice your size, and your just flailing your arms at them. Was that it? Maybe your first fight was long before that, especially if you have siblings. Unless you live in the perfect family it’s almost a requirement to fight with your siblings. All you had to do was wait till mom and dad looked the other way and then it was like let the rumble begin! I don’t know why he’s crying dad. I’ve never personally done that *cough* but we all fight. We all have a little fight in us. Even the most passive aggressive person around us has a little fight. You start messing with their child and the passive parts gone. The gloves come off, their like “OH NO YOU DIDN’T!” They’re going to attack their going to fight back. We fight over all sorts of things. So if we’re going to fight let’s make sure it’s a fight worth fighting. Let’s make sure what we’re fighting about really matters.

            Now we’re studying the book of Nehemiah and the life of Nehemiah and what we see is that Nehemiah had a fight on his hands. He had a battle. Last week when we launched this study, we realized that for Nehemiah to be everything that God called him to be; he had to step up and step out to grab hold of his destiny. He had to leave his comfort zone.  We have to do the same so that we can answer the call, and do what God wants us to do. So Nehemiah goes to the city of Jerusalem where the walls of the city have been torn down and lay in ruins. This really symbolizes peoples’ lives being in ruin and constantly being under attack from the enemy. Because the walls of the city were in ruin and the people constantly under attack the temple could not function the way it was supposed to function, enemies would constantly come in and ransack the temple. Without walls there was no place for God to dwell amongst his people. We learned last week for our own lives we have to build up the things of God in our life, the walls that need to be build up, of Gods truth and Gods ways and walking in those ways. Then we’re also to help others to follow those ways; our friends, and our families. As we do that we begin to experience the power of God in our lives like never before. You see people all around us whose lives are in destruction and despair. Their lives lay in ruin, they grew up with no knowledge of God and don’t follow his ways, or they’ve turned away from it and now you see marriages being ripped apart and lives being hurt, families being torn apart. People living so far below what God has intended for them that it just makes you sad. The good news is though we have been anointed by God and appointed, to open up spiritually blinded eyes, to set captives free, to rebuild those things in our lives and in the lives of others.

            In Nehemiah chapter 2 we see him making his way down to Jerusalem. He begins to rally the people to start building the walls. First around their own homes and then they connect to each other and so that’s how the wall begins to form around the city. Right in the beginning at the start of chapter 2 Nehemiah is met with opposition. There are people who don’t want these walls being built. See the enemies of the Israelites were constantly ransacking and taunting them. They were used to it and they were upset that these walls were being built. So they plotted an attack against the people. The people of Israel are getting scared, anxious and nervous. Our key verse is Nehemiah’s response to the people of Israel. In Nehemiah 4:14 "Don't be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!" This is a fight worth fighting for. Here is what we can learn today from Nehemiah, as you and I step up and lay hold of the things that God has destined us to be a part of. As we step out to build up our lives and the lives of our families, and our friends. Lesson #1 EXPECT a fight. Expect a battle. Expect resistance. There is a reason why the walls have been in ruin. The enemy keeps knocking them down, and every time they tried to build the walls they would just come back and knock them down. Enemies were trying to destroy it. The same idea goes with our lives. We have a real enemy that doesn’t want us to build up those walls and building our lives up on the principle of God’s word.  He sure doesn’t want those things built up in your life but he also doesn’t want them built up in your family members lives either. So he is constantly going to come in and keep attacking us. He knows that if he can keep our hearts slightly away from God that we are no longer a threat. Whenever God wants to use you he is right there to try and stop you. Anytime you and I are going to try and step up and step out, expect a battle, expect a fight.

The second thing we learn from Nehemiah is take up your ARMOR. Nehemiah says in verses 16-18 “But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah who were building the wall. The laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm.” Now they were ready for an attack they were alert and they had their armor on and their swords at their side. Now the true is same for us. Don’t you think that since we have a real enemy out there that we should be equipped and ready for battle when he comes? Now some of you are thinking “God I know I have a real enemy…I’m here with them, or I live with them, or I work with them, my boss he’s the devil, or I go to school with this girl she’s the devil right. Everybody knows that “Goody Proctor is the devil”* Now Paul in Ephesians points out that this is not a flesh and blood battle, and many of us think it is. Our fight, our battle is super natural. Paul is the one that says “Put on the full armor of God.” No one can put it on for you. Every day you have to suit up on your own. Put on; the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit. Since there are strategies out there to make me fall I have to put on my armor and so do you. Which piece of that armor would you say is lying on the ground because you haven’t picked it up and put it on yet? Which piece today do you need to pick up and put on? Just think about that for a moment.

The third thing that we learn today from this story in Nehemiah is really important. I struggle with this, heck I struggled with this last night while I was typing this thing. Don’t get OFF TRACK. Don’t forget what you’re fighting for, don’t forget what really matters. Don’t give into the ways of the world. Stay focused. Look at what Nehemiah says in verses 21-23 “We worked early and late, from sunrise to sunset. And half the men were always on guard. I also told everyone living outside the walls to stay in Jerusalem. That way they and their servants could help with guard duty at night and work during the day. During this time, none of us—not I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who were with me—ever took off our clothes. We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water.*” I think it’s easy for us at times to have spiritual ADD. God speaks to us and we’re like yeah good idea I like it. Then by lunch time we’re like what? What was that sermon about? What did you say Lord? It’s easy to get distracted in life. We have to remember to focus though. How do we do it though? Three quick ways and then we’ll close. 1.) We have to RESIST the enemy. If we don’t resist then the devil wins. So resist build up those walls. 2.) STAND FIRM. Stand firm in the truth of God. Stand firm in what we know is true. Know that God doesn’t tempt us to sin, but he is there to help us resist. 3.) Keep FIGHTING. Everyday just keep going. Look at Nehemiah he kept fighting and in 52 days he rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem. It’s time to start rebuilding our lives. Not just our lives though; we need to rebuild our families, we need to rebuild faith in our schools, and in our community. Here is the last thing I’m going to say. When you step up and step out you are all ready destined to win, because God is on our side.

Thanks for reading. Remember there is only 1Way2Live and that's for Christ!