Sermon 1-17-10

Great God, Mighty God, Heavenly Father, we come to You this morning and we thank You that we can gather in Your House, that we have a warm, safe place to worship, that You are here, that Your Word is here and You touch our lives this morning. And, Heavenly Father, as we read from the Bible, we ask that you would touch our lives with the Truth, give us wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Scripture Readings –

The Old Testament reading for this morning, the Second Sunday of Epiphany, is from the Book of Nehemiah. There is a lot more to this reading than these few verses. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 of Nehemiah talk about spiritual renewal. The people had just come back to Jerusalem from captivity and it was time for renewal and recommitment and we will talk about those things in our sermon this morning.

Old Testament – Nehemiah 8:1-3 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak to noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women, and others who could understand. And all the people listened intently to the Book of the Law.

This is very interesting when you think about it. In this section of Nehemiah, we learn that the people read God’s Word from daybreak to noon. How great it is that we can go home and say, “We gathered in God’s House today and read from the Book of the Law for about two minutes!” So if anyone ever complains that we spend too much time in church, or too much time in God’s Word, go back and read Nehemiah!

Epistle – 1 Timothy 6:11-12 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Our seventh graders, in preparing for confirmation make a confirmation of faith and many times they wonder why they have to do it. First Timothy tells us why we have to do it. Paul advised Timothy, “Remember your eternal life; remember when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” We are simply following the Bible when we do that for confirmation class, it’s what God’s people do.

Gospel – Luke 4:14-21 (As Jesus was beginning His ministry) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written; “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Sermon –

About a month ago I was at the doctor and he said to me, “Do you want to feel better? Do you want to have more vim, vigor, and vitality?” I said, “Yes! That’s for me!” So he told me to get a glass, fill it with water, drink it and repeat that process several times a day and I would feel better each and every day.

You know what my reaction was? “Oh, I’ve heard that before. What good is that going to do? It’s just water and water is so ordinary!” And then I thought, rather than just plain, ordinary water, certainly it would be better to add something to it. (Pastor pulled out a two-liter bottle of Cola) Let’s put some fizz in it! And some color! And some sugar! And some caffeine! That should make the water much, much better!

Or maybe it would be good to drink something that looks like fruit juice. (Pastor pulled out a 2 liter bottle of fruit punch). This has got to be much better than water. In fact, 5% of this big jug is fruit juice – how great is that! And the main ingredient in this is high fructose corn syrup - plus a lot of stuff I can’t pronounce. Certainly this is better than just plain, ordinary water!

And you know the answer. Water is the best stuff you can drink – and that’s it. But we have problems with that because it just seems so ordinary, so common, we that that it can’t do much. But it’s the best thing for you and it does do something. And there’s a very important principle at work here – the ordinary can do the extraordinary!

And that’s for our physical health. But what about our spiritual health? Would you like to be on fire for the Lord? Would you like to have such a rock-solid faith that no matter what happens to you in 2010 you won’t be plowed under? Would you like to have such rock-solid faith that you are able to face all the events of 2010 in peace, and hope, and joy? Well, today we are going to tell you how to get that rock-solid faith. But be prepared because it’s going to be really ordinary and painfully boring. If you’re sitting next to someone, just elbow them gently once in a while because this is so simple they’ll probably doze off during the sermon. This is so simple, so ordinary, and so plain you will wonder what good it will do But remember, God uses the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary.

And here’s an example of how God uses the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary. During the summer we did a sermon about the “Naamen Problem”, you can read his story in II Kings Chapter five. Naamen’s problem was that he had a skin disease, leprosy, and wanted to be cured. But his real problem is that he did not understand that God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. So Naaman decided to see the prophet Elisha about his problem. In today’s terms we could say that Naaman walked into Elisha’s office, told the receptionist about his problem and the receptionist said, “OK, I will present your problem to Elisha, the prophet.” She went in to Elisha’s office. Elisha sent the receptionist back out who said to Naaman, “Elisha says to wash seven times in the Jordan River.” Well, Naaman had a fit. He said, “Wait a second, wash seven times in that filthy Jordan River? What good is that going to do? Elisha should have come out of his office and told me himself instead of telling the receptionist to tell me. He should of looked up to heaven, said a bunch of Bible verses and prayers, and waved his hand over the diseased spots on my skin – that’s what would help my problem!” So Naaman went off in a snit. But his friends said to him, “Hey, you have leprosy, your skin in falling apart, give it a try.” So Naaman did what the prophet said and was healed. A reminder again that God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

So, do you still want that spiritual renewal? Let’s find out how to get it now that we know that God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. In the Book of Nehemiah, God gives us the Four R’s of Spiritual Renewal. These four R’s will renew your spirit. Your faith will be so strong that you can face anything and everything with peace, hope and joy. Step One of Spiritual Renewal is:

READ

Nehemiah 8:1-3 All the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all where were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of people and read it aloud from daybreak to noon and all the people listened attentively. Now this was not just the Ten Commandments, this was the Book of the Law, the Torah, the first five books of what we know today as the Old Testament. It was, at that time, their Bible. The Book of the Law told them the ways of God and Ezra read aloud about what God does, the promise of a Savior, God’s deliverance, that you can pray to God and He will help and give you answers.

You may ask what good reading the Bible does. For my physical renewal, I have my water and I can put a straw in it to get the water into my body. And the Bible just like a straw - they do the exact same thing. The Bible is the means by which the Holy Spirit flows into your life, just as water flows into your body through the straw. The more you read, the more the Holy Spirit flows into your life and the more the Holy Spirit flows, the stronger your faith will be and the more spiritual renewal you will have. Romans 10:17says, “Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Read God’s word and the Holy Spirit will flow into your life.

The second R of Spiritual Renewal is:

REPENT

Nehemiah 9:1-3 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in te places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.

God’s people gathered together like you are doing this morning. They didn’t stay at home hiding out, they assembled as God’s people, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and having dust on their heads which were signs of confession of sins. We, in this church, put dust on our heads on Ash Wednesday. They confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers and read the Book of the Law for a quarter of the day and spent another quarter of the day in confession of sin and in worshiping the Lord God.

Repent means you turn toward the Lord and worship Him; you accept God’s invitation to be part of His life, you confess sin, and you look to Jesus as the payment for those sins. All those things the people did. You have to read the word and repent. You might be thinking that you’ve heard this many times before. This is so common, so ordinary, so painfully boring, you might be wondering what good it will do. But remember, God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

The third R of Spiritual Renewal is:

RECALL

Nehemiah 9:9-12 You saw the suffering of our forefathers in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea. You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all this officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.

This section of Nehemiah recalls a lot of history. In this passage, the people were recalling the suffering in Egypt, and God’s deliverance. Recall what the Lord has done for you; recall that He called you, recall that He sent you a Savior in Jesus Christ, recall that Christ paid for your sins, recall that He rose from the dead, recall that He gave you the Holy Spirit to bring you to faith, recall that He says to come to Him in prayer, recall that He says He will never leave you or forsake you. Recall what He has done yesterday, the day before, and this week. Use the “My Problem” cards; they’re in all the Bibles here. Just jot down the date of your problem, pray about it and when God answers, jot down how he answered. Take the card and put it someplace where you can get to it so that you can recall what He has done.If you’re not using the “My Problem” cards, keep a prayer journal or even use your calendar to remember that difficult situation you prayed about. Make sure you look at it and recall how you prayed about it and that God did something, recall what the Lord has done.

And that’s why over there in the corner we keep the Prayer Board, so that we remember what we prayed about and what the Lord has done. Last February we had a week of prayer and wrote forty-eight items on the prayer board that we prayed about. Behind each of them we wrote “doing” or “done”; God was either doing something or it was already done and finished it off. We put it away for Christmas and after we undecorated, I wasn’t in any hurry to go back into the coat room and pull it out, but I should have because it helps us recall. We had looked at it for almost a year and I thought, “What good is that doing?” But I shouldn’t have, I got stuck in the Naaman Problem. I thought, “What good is that doing, it’s so common so ordinary”. But remember, God uses the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary.

We need to have the Prayer Board in here so when come in on Sundays and Wednesdays night’s we can remember what God is doing in our lives. It helps us recall and that’s why the Prayer Board sits there in the corner so we can do what Nehemiah tells us to do and recall what the Lord has done.

The Fourth R of Spiritual Renewal is:

RECOMMIT

Nehemiah 10:39 We will not neglect the house of our God.

The people did not neglect God’s house, they did not neglect worship, they did not neglect assembling, they did not neglect prayer time, they did not neglect confessing their sins, and they did not neglect the house of God. As you read on in Nehemiah, they also gave their tithes and offerings to rebuild the house of God, to keep it running, to get it back in shape after years of captivity and through that they experienced God working, providing for their families.

They did not neglect the house of God because they served in the house of the Lord whether it was in the altar guild, ushering, or teaching a Bible study. They didn’t neglect it, they served in the house of the Lord and as you serve in the house of the Lord, as you do not neglect the house of the Lord, as you join God in his work, you will see God working. You will experience God’s power and you see those things that God is doing as you join God in his work. It’s incredible. And when you see it, spiritual renewal takes place.

The Four R’s of Spiritual Renewal are

READ

REPENT

RECALL

RECOMMIT

Practice them and God will give you the faith to see you through anything because He uses the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary. Amen.

Prayer -

Heavenly Father, we thank You for those things You’ve taught us this morning through the book of Nehemiah. It worked in Biblical times and thank You Lord that it still works when we do it today. Thank You Lord for all You are about to do for us as we do the four R’s. And we pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen

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