Sermon Tone Analysis

*Becoming a Rebuilder: Getting in Touch with God's Purpose for Your Life*

*Combined Family Camp                          August 2-4, 2002*

* *

*Scripture Reading: *Nehemiah 1 & 2

 

*Introduction:*

 

We have come to family camp for a purpose; a spiritual purpose.

It is the reason that such Christian camps exist.

They provide a place, time, and opportunity for that purpose.

Each of you will have different expressions of that purpose in your lives (perhaps just to get out of the house or away from the job, or get a change in scenery), but they will all come down to one general thing.

Question: What is that purpose for which you are here this weekend?

(Wait for answer.)

It is a time to rebuild (refresh, recoup, rejuvenate, set new sights, discover new direction, renew your relationship with God, get new vision for the church).

We live in a world that is fallen.

It fell with the first sin.

It fell with the first human couple.

Ever since, we humans have been trying to regain (or rebuild) what was lost in that fall in the Garden of Eden.

Without rebuilding we are vulnerable to attack.

Without defense we are helpless.

We need opportunity to see our weaknesses and to gain strength.

We are in a real spiritual war for victory in the kingdom of God.

Illus.: Fort George (rebuilt with better design)

 

Each one of us has blind spots that limit our effectiveness.

Each one of us is in a family and in a church that needs our effectiveness if God's kingdom is going to prevail.

And we know from Scripture that it will prevail, but the question is whether we ourselves will have the profound blessing of actively being part of its victory.

The alternative is to squeak in without "decoration."

Your family and your church needs you to be a rebuilder – one who proactively takes part in God's program.

/1 Timothy 4:16  Watch your life and doctrine closely.

Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers./

Perhaps you have heard of the famous rebuilder named Nehemiah in the Old Testament.

He has a book named after him about his life and work written by Ezra.

He and Ezra were important rebuilders after the exile.

That was when God allowed the Babylonians to destroy the temple in Jerusalem and took them into captivity for 70 years because of their disobedience.

The Babylonians also destroyed the city and the city wall.

This was God's discipline toward his people because they had let their lives fall into disrepair.

They needed the lesson of rebuilding.

(Rebuilding, by the way, is a continuing process.

We can never sit back and say the job is done.

The nature of the world and the flesh is a need for constant vigilance.)

They had let their lives slip into idolatry.

They had forgotten God.

Question: Where is your life with God right now?

Does it need rebuilding?

Are there some things in your family or church that need rebuilding?

Do you have some broken down walls in your life that need repair?

A previous group of exiles had been allowed to return to Jerusalem by the hand of God upon the Persian king, Cyrus, to rebuild the temple.

After that was eventually accomplished (the work was stopped for a long time after the foundation was laid and God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to inspire them), Ezra returned with more exiles and called the people to a renewed righteousness (since their spiritual lives needed rebuilding once again).

And then Nehemiah returns with the blessing of God through the Persian king to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.

Walls are important.

They protect the temple within.

We need walls around our families and our churches if we desire the blessings of God.

 

/Isaiah 58:12  Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings./

/13 ¶ "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,/

/14  then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."

The mouth of the LORD has spoken./

There is a certain sense of separation from sin that we must maintain.

We must be in the world but we must not let the world into us.

We can hinge the door in our wall either to the left or to the right.

/“We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown.

What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for?

If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her.

If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.

Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.”

(Song of Solomon 8:8-10 NIVUS)/

 

This verse also gives us the responsibility of wall building.

Walls protect.

Notice that if the girl is not a wall on her own, they will build a wall around her.

We have responsibility for one another, for our church and family.

But also notice that if she makes herself a wall, even though she is evidently quite desirable, she will be honored and bring even more fulfillment and blessing.

There are a number of principles that we can learn from Nehemiah about being a rebuilder as we consider God's purpose for our own lives here at family camp this weekend.

We will concentrate on chapters one and two of Nehemiah.

Please turn there with me in your Bibles.

This message is about "Becoming a Rebuilder: Getting in Touch with God's Purpose for Your Life."

It is about how God can use you in the continuing process of rebuilding the "wall of righteousness."

*Big Question:*

How can I fulfill God's purpose for my life in his kingdom?

*I.

Cycle One: *Do you have an inquiring mind~/spirit?

*          A.

Narrative *(vv.

1:1-2)

Time & space~/ people & place.

*          B.

Implication*

Fulfilling God's purpose begins with wanting to.

It is a deep concern for the things, the people, of God.

In short, his kingdom.

It is an active interest, a soul-search for how to spend yourself for God.

It begins with an inquiring mind.

A rebuilder has a mind to please God.

 

*          C.

Illustration*

VOM Newletter, Aug. 2002, page 5, about Chatra and his spiritual journey.

*          D.

Application*

 

*II.

Cycle Two: *Are you broken over the need?

*          A.

Narrative *(vv.

1:3-4)

 

*          B.

Implication*

Fulfilling God's purpose continues with being able to identify with it, even to the extent of being broken over it.