And yet, through our discussion of this topic, I believe will better understand how to reach our community. I believe we will better understand how to grow as a church and as individuals, and I believe we’ll better understand the God who created us and loves us like crazy.

The topic that I want to discuss today is Facebook.

For those of you who know what Facebook is, you may wonder why it’s our topic of discussion today.

For those of you who have no idea what Facebook is, let me try to give you a summary:

From it’s own description of itself, Facebook is a website that helps you connect and share with the people in your life. But it is not just any old website. It is now the second most visited website in the world – second only to Google – and will likely become the #1 website within a month or so.

Currently it has over 350 million users. That’s how many people use this website. So what exactly do 350 million people use Facebook for? Well, just to give you an example, let’s say I log into Facebook. The first thing I might do is to update my status. Your status is basically meant to be a brief description of what’s going on in your life at the moment. So for my status I write might write “Dave is preaching a sermon about Facebook.” The when my friends log on to facebook, they will see that I’m preaching a sermon about facebook.

So after I update my status, I can read all the statuses of my friends. I might see that Greg just aced his chemistry exam and my mother-in-law is enjoying her time in Arizona. People can also post pictures or videos on facebook. So I might see a picture of my cousins from down in the states or I could watch a video that that my friend from Australia took of his new baby.

Then there are a whole slough of other features. So I might be reminded that my college buddy’s birthday is tomorrow and I might send a message to Grady asking him if he wants to come over for coffee tonight or I might even play a game of risk online with someone.

And that, in a nutshell, is Facebook. In a matter of minutes, I’ve caught up and re-connected with friends and family from around the world.

Now, my purpose this morning is not to promote or discourage Facebook use. Instead I want to use Facebook as an illustration of an increasingly important spiritual reality.

Consider this: Canada currently has a population of 34 million people – over 14 million of those 34 million people use Facebook. That’s nearly half of our population. Nearly 50% of all of Canada is using Facebook. Clearly Facebook is offering something that people want.

You have to realize that Facebook has only existed since 2004 – that means it has grown from 0 to over 350 million people in just six years. That is incredible! Imagine if the church grew at that rate!

Clearly Facebook has found something that people desperately want. So what is it? What is this draw to facebook that seems to have universal appeal? After all – it’s not just college kids using facebook. It’s moms & dads, Grandmas and Grandpas, uncles and aunts, teenagers. And it’s not a North American thing either. Turkey has 17 million users, Indonesia has 14 million, the Philippines has 8 million, Mexico has 6 million, India has 5 million. What is it about facebook that has world-wide appeal to people of all ages? What is Facebook offering that is drawing millions of new users every week?

Believe it or not – Facebook is offering the same thing that the church is offering. Facebook is offering something that each one of us desperately need. It is offering the very thing that we were created to have. Would you like to know what it is? Facebook is offering community. I’ll explain what I mean in a minute.

But first, think about the word community for a minute. In fact, let’s do a little etymology. (That’s the study of words.)

The root word of “Community” is “commune”. This can be broken down into two parts. The first part is the prefix “com” which means “together” or “with”.  Then the second part, for those of you who have played “UNO” or have ridden a “unicycle”, you know that “une” means “one”. So we have “together” or “with” plus “one”

So community is to be “one with” or “one together”.

When we speak of the people who live around us, we talk about our community – we are one group of people living, working, and playing together with each other. That’s our physical community. We are one with them.

When we celebrate communion, we celebrate the fact that we share in the death and resurrection of Christ – being “one with Christ”. That’s a spiritual community.
Now the reason that Facebook has become so fantastically popular is because it offers us community. It offers us the chance to interact with others that would normally be impossible to connect with on a regular basis. And so it creates a new sort of community. We can be one with literally the rest of the world. And that strikes a  real chord with us humans, because community is the very reason God created us.

God created us to be together with Him. The whole theme of the Bible is that God is with us. We talked about this earlier. To Abraham God says – I am with you. To Joshua – I am with you. To Gideon – I am with you. To the nation of Israel God sends Emmanuel – God with us. Before returning to heaven, Jesus declares “I am with you always.” God wants to be with you. He wants us to share life together with Him. He wants us to have community with Him.

Right from the beginning in Genesis when God created the first man, he declared that it was not good for man to be alone. (In Genesis 2:18; 21-24)

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”  21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,? and flesh from my flesh!? She will be called ‘woman,’?  because she was taken from ‘man.’”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

After God created Eve from Adam’s rib, God and Adam and Eve all enjoyed the perfect community, but only for a time. Before long, that perfect community was broken by sin. Remember how Adam & Eve hid from God when He came along looking for them? And then they tried to pass the blame to each other? They were no longer “one with God”. They were separated from him and from each other.

You’ve probably heard the expression that “Everyone is born with a God-shaped hole in their heart.” It’s true, but let me tell you a little bit more about that hole. This hole is the desire for intimacy – the desire to know and be known by another living being. It is the desire for community – to once again be “one with God”. Of course, this hole can only be filled by a personal relationship with God and I should mention that if you’ve never entered into that personal relationship with God, then please see me after the service and I would be happy to talk to you about how you can fix that problem.

You can clearly see this “God-shaped hole” in this generation of kids and young adults today and you can see how they are desperate for community. Their lives are ruled by their cell phone. They can’t bear to miss one call or one text message. The worst thing you could do to a teenager today is take away his cell phone. The second worst thing would be to take away his Facebook. Being in continual contact with their friends gives them a sense of community.

But it’s a shallow community at best. Sure there is constant contact, but it’s hardly intimate. It’s like the small talk you have with the gas pump attendance. It’s communication – but it does nothing to satisfy that deep down inside need to share the real you with someone else.

And the ironic thing is, the very things that people cling to for this shallow community are the very things that are keeping them from authentic community. At youth group this Friday half the kids were playing a game and half the kids were on their cell phones. Instead of playing the game and interacting with each other and sharing their life with each other in that way, their eyes and attention were glued to their cell phones. Ignoring the people that were actually in same room as them, they were lost in their little bubble, texting away on their phones. Their attempts to gain community are actually keeping them from it. Kids spend way more time on Facebook and their cell phones then they do talking with their parents or their siblings, and often even their friends. And in that way,  they become even more starved for authentic community and thus push themselves even farther from it. It’s a vicious cycle.

But what does that have to do with us? Now that we have this information, what do we do with it?

I think this gives us a fantastic look at what the church is going to look like in the near future – what our church needs to look like in order to reach this next generation. This is extremely important because our world is changing faster than we even realize and if we want to be effective, we need to understand our culture.

Many of the things that the church used to do are simply not effective in reaching this generation because things have changed so much so fast.

For example in recent years one of the main tools the church has used has been programs. Programs for kids, programs for young adults, programs for singles, whatever… The problem is that now people are far too busy – the last thing they want is three nights a week of church programs. People want less in their schedule – not more.
Another key tool has been music. You can see that in the popularity of the Hillsong church or the other mega churches where worship is a major production. But today, if people want to listen to that type of music, they’ll just download whatever they like to their iPod and away they go.

We have to stay up to date with our culture so what we can meet them where they are. So knowing that this generation is starving for authentic community gives us a fantastic opportunity to introduce them to Christ and help them restore that authentic community that God create us to have with Him.

But now here’s the hard part – how do we show our physical community that we have the authentic spiritual community that they desperately desire?

Because I’ll be honest with you – they don’t see authentic community in church.
What they see is sitting in a pew for an hour on Sunday morning.
They see more demands of their time and money.
They see frowns at their bad habits.

That’s what they see. No wonder they aren’t flocking to the church. But do you know what would cause them to flock to the church? Let’s take a hint from Facebook – if it can grow from 0 to 350 million by offering a shallow community, what would happen if the church could model authentic community with each other and with our God?

The church would explode! It would be pentecost all over again. Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t you love to see God totally transform our community?

If you do, then let Him start with you. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that if I want God to transform my community, then He has to transform me first. If I want to be a model of authentic community, then I need to have that authentic community first with my God. I can’t be a Sunday morning Christian. I need to get beyond the small talk in my prayers. I need to have an intimate relationship with my God. When I have that, then I can share that with you. And when we have that, we can share that with our community.

Jesus talks about this in John 17 when He prays for his disciples and for all those who would eventually become his disciples (that includes you and me).

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

Jesus is praying that we experience true community. That we would be one with each other and with God. Just as God intended when He created us. And look what will happen when we do – verse 23.

May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

When the world sees authentic community among us – then they will know that the “Good News” is true. That God did sent His Son. That there is forgiveness for sins. That God does love every single person. That we can have a real, deep, intimate relationship with our Creator!

So I challenge you to consider your own relationship with Christ, because we have to have authentic community with our God before we’ll have authentic community with our world. First of all, do you have a relationship with God? Have you accepted God’s gift of Salvation? Have you accepted his forgiveness for your sins? If not, that’s step #1.

Step #2, are you growing in your relationship with Him? Are you taking time to get to know Him through His word and through prayer? Are you letting Him transform you into the person He made you to be? Are you seeking out his will for your life and are you obeying Him as He guides you?

There are no magic steps to getting to know God -  no more than there are magic steps to getting to know a friend. It’s just time and effort. Lots of time I wish I could just do A, B, and C, and whammo – I become a super Christian! But it doesn’t work that way. Life is our opportunity to develop and build our personal relationship with our Creator. There are no shortcuts or formulas. Just you desiring to get to know your God.

Do you desire to know your God? Then pray with me this morning…

We can learn a lot of stuff about God just in the very first verse of the Bible.

First of all, we need to know what the word “create” means? To make out of nothing.

Humans can not create things. We can take something and form it into something else. We can build things, compose things, assemble things, shape things – but we cannot create things.

But God creates stuff. Out of nothing. It’s not even hard for Him. He just says the word and BAM it’s there.

Look at this salt. One little grain of salt has about 12(+17 zeros) atoms in it. God made all those atoms out of nothing. If there are that many atoms in one grain of salt imagine how many atoms are in this salt shaker…. In this church building…. In the entire earth. That’s a lot of atoms that God just made out of nothing.

But God didn’t just make the earth – he made the heavens and the earth. Scientist have found a star that is so huge that you could fit 7 quadrillion earths inside it. If earth was the size of a golf ball, this star would be the height of Mt. Everest – about six miles high. And that’s just one star out of trillions. And God just created all that out of nothing.

That kinda puts things in perspective, doesn’t it. God’s amazingly powerful. Do you think a God like that is capable of taking care of you? Do you think a God like that can handle your problems?

Genesis 18:14 – “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

Our toughest problems are a cinch to God. A God that creates planets out of nothing is not intimidated by any obstacle.

So can I make a little suggestion? Let God handle your problems. Now, He might not do things the way you want them done, but you can be assured – God can take care of problems. You can give any situation to God and He is well capable of handling it.

Now you might think, “Well, if God is really that powerful and awesome, what makes you think He would ever care about my problems?”

That’s got to be the most amazing thing about God. Even though He can create monster stars out of nothing like that [snap], He cares about you even more than you care about yourself.

He made you. He made all those stars for you. He died on a cross so that you could be with Him. He loves you like crazy – more than you can ever imagine! He doesn’t care how bad you’ve messed up, he doesn’t care what lousy things you’ve done – He is just waiting for you to trust Him with your life so that He can show you what life is really all about.

To me, that is far more mind-boggling than the fact that God can create stars out of nothing. God loves me. He loves you. He doesn’t just tolerate us. He loves us like crazy! That’s amazing!

Now there are some other lessons we can pull from this verse, but for the sake of time, I want to just focus on one more – but before I do, I just have to share this mini-lesson with you. It will only take a minute.

The word create is the root word for creative. Is God creative?!? Think about how He made elephants and giraffes, and beluga whales and ducks and monkeys. Think about how He came up with the idea of taste and then made lemons and peaches and strawberries. Think about how He made those majestic mountains and waterfalls, and beautiful sunsets and flowers and autumn leaves. That’s creativity!

I have to shake my head at people who think heaven will be boring. Some people thing heaven is just a bunch of people sitting on clouds playing harps? The Bible doesn’t say that. In fact, from what I know about God and his creativity, He’s going be blowing my mind with awesomeness every moment of eternity! Every moment will be the most exciting day of our lives. But that’s just a mini-lesson that I had to share with you.

There is just one more lesson from this verse that I want to share with you. That is, it’s all about God. Who created the Heavens and the Earth? God did. Look at the rest of chapter one of Genesis. How often do you see the word “GOD”? It’s in just about every verse – 30 times in 31 verses. Why is that? It’s all about God. Genesis isn’t the story of creation – it’s the story of God.

In fact, the entire Bible is all about God. It’s not about Moses or Elijah or even the Isrealites. It’s the story about God and what He’s done and who He is and how He wants to be with us. That’s why the Bible starts off with “In the beginning God” – and I could add “In the middle God” and “In the end God”.

And it’s not just the stories in the Bible that are all about God – all of history is about God. Even the story of your life is ultimately about God. Now what do I mean by that? How is the story of your life ultimately about God?

Let me ask you a few questions:

• Who create you to the the unique person that you are? – God
• Who has sovereignly controlled every event of your life? – God
• And one day when you die, who will you stand before and give account to? – God

You see, life is not about getting a good job with a steady paycheck.
It’s not about having a big house and long vacations in exotic places.
It’s not about being someone important like a movie star or big time CEO.
Because at the end of your life here on earth – none of that will matter. The only thing that matters then is your relationship with….. GOD! It’s all about God.

I think of a few prestigious people like Princess Diana or Michael Jackson. They had wealth and fame – all the things the world seems to value. But when they died – none of that mattered. All that matters for them now is their relationship with God.

Now I don’t know where each of you stand today. I don’t know what your relationship with God is like, or if you even have one. But I can tell you this – there is a God who created the heavens and the earth. And He loves you like crazy and wants nothing more than to be with you for eternity.

If you have never trusted in Jesus to forgive your sins and you’ve never entered into that relationship with God, can I encourage you to do that today? You don’t need to be perfect – God’ll help you with that later, but for now He just wants you to take the first step.

And for those of you who already have a relationship with Christ, I have this question for you: What have you been doing with your life?

It’s easy to forget that life is all about God. Life is distracting and we lose focus on God and we work to gain that which has no eternal value. My father-in-law has a saying that I’ve come to appreciate. “It won’t matter in a thousand years.” When tractors break or the crops get hailed out – It won’t matter in a thousand years. Think about that – what have you done this week that will matter in a thousand years?

Think about how you’ve spent your money… How much of your money goes towards nice things for you that are here today – gone tomorrow? How much of your money goes towards things that will have eternal impact?

Or how about your time? What percent of your time is spend getting to know God or helping others get to know God? And what percent of your time is just lost?

Maybe think about your skills, talents, and abilities. How do you use them? Do you put your skills and abilities to use for God? Or are they really just wasted?

Don’t think that I’m preaching against buying nice things or going golfing or anything like that – those things are all fine and good. But just keep in mind that you only get one life to live – and only the things that you do for God will last. I can’t speak for you, but I don’t want to waste my life. I want to live my life to the fullest and have the maximum eternal impact that I can. I want to do lots of things that will matter in a thousand years. I want God to use my time, my money, my talents and abilities however He sees fit so that somehow God’s purposes will be accomplished through me.

So I want to leave you with this question: How will you live your life? Will you live it for yourself – filling your life with stuff that simply won’t matter in a thousand years? Or will you live it for your Creator – the God who creates monster stars out of nothing, and who loves you like crazy? The choice is up to you.

But for today, we are going to look at two verse in chapter 6, verse 15 & 16:
So on October 2nd the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.

From these two verses we can draw four principles that we can learn about God’s work.

#1. God’s Work Is Not Hindered By “Impossible”
Building a wall around the city was no easy task. Not only only did they have to build the wall, they had to first clear away the rubble from the old wall, and they had to stand ready for attack while they were building. Remember how their enemies were threatening to attack them?

Nehemiah 4:16 says “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other”

This was not easy work. It would be difficult with two hands, let alone just one. Even the workers said in chapter 4:10 “We will never be able to rebuild the wall by ourselves.”

But somehow, they got it done in just 52 days. Why? God’s work is not hindered by “impossible”. How many other times in Scripture has God done the impossible? Let me give you just a few examples:

• The Israelites are trapped between the army of Egypt and the Red Sea – what does God do? He cuts a path right through the sea for the people to walk across on dry ground.
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo get thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to worship a statue – what does God do? He protects them from the fire so that they don’t even smell like smoke.
• Jesus is teaching the multitudes out in the countryside and there is only a little boy’s lunch to feed 5,000 people. What does God do? He somehow stretches that food so that everyone is satisfied and there is plenty left over.

And that’s just a sampling. Even today, God does the impossible. How many times has God done seemingly impossible things in your life?

When I was about 12 years old, I was bringing a tractor back home from a field a couple of miles away. I don’t know too much about mechanics and hydraulics and such, but from what I understand, this tractor had a button on the floor that would release the hydraulic pressure in the tractor to make it easier to start the engine or something like that. Of course, when you do that, the hydraulic steering doesn’t function properly until you press the button back in.

Well, I had no idea about any of this, so after my dad or my brother started the tractor, I got in and started driving the tractor without pressing the button in. I started off just driving straight down the road, but I had only gone a short way when the tractor started drifting towards the ditch. Well, I tried to adjust it’s course, but the steering wheel wouldn’t move and the tractor just kept going forward – closer to the ditch all the time.

Had I been a little wiser, I might have popped it out of gear and put on the brakes or even shut off the engine. But being just 12 years old and being gripped with panic, I just continued to fight with that steering wheel all the way down the side of the ditch.

Now here’s where the “God doing the impossible” part comes in. The ditch dropped off very steeply, and as I slowly drove down the side of the ditch, the laws of physics say that the tractor should have rolled. But, somehow it didn’t and the tractor eventually came to a stop as the tractor bucket dug into the bank on the other side and there was no real harm done.

But ever since then, my family always jokes that I must have a fat guardian angel who sat on the tractor’s fender, keeping it from rolling over. But really, we believe God intervened and did the impossible.

A few years ago when our girl was just nine months old, she became very pale and had no energy. So we took her to the doctor and he ran some tests. Later that night he called us and told us that her red blood cell count was very low. Well, we took her into the hospital and after they checked her out they very quickly transferred her to the intensive care unit in the children’s hospital.

We had no idea what was going on, and neither did the doctors. In fact, we never did figure out what caused all that to happen. But God knew all about it. Although our little girl was extremely sick and the doctors had no idea what the trouble was, God took care of her and us and He did what seemed impossible and she got better.

Jesus said in… Matthew 19:26 “with God all things are possible.”

It may seem impossible for our little church to change our community. Sure, maybe we can impact two or three families, but to change our whole community… Impossible. But that’s ok. God likes impossible. God’s work is not hindered by “impossible”. In fact, impossible just shows people how great and how mighty and how awesome God really is.

Are there a few impossible situations in your life? Maybe an impossible relationship? Or an impossible financial situation? That’s ok. God likes impossible. And perhaps He’s allowed this impossible situation in your life to show you just how awesome He is. God’s work is not hindered by impossible.

#2. God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.
This is actually the famous motto of Hudson Taylor, who was a missionary to China for over 50 years in the late 1800s and who founded the China Inland Mission. And he knew what He was talking about. Within one year of founding the China Inland Mission, he had 24 missionaries and had raise nearly a quarter million dollars. You can see why he could say “God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.” If you’ve never read the story of Hudson Taylor, I encourage you to do so. His life is a fantastic model of trust in God and zeal for winning the lost.

But lest I get sidetracked, we’re talking about Nehemiah, though I think he shared the same motto.

Remember back when Nehemiah was still in Susa talking to the King about coming to Jerusalem? Nehemiah requested that the king supply him with letters that would ensure him a safe journey, as well as timber for the wall, the fortress, and his house. And why did the king grant his requests?

Nehemiah 2:8
“And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.”

God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.
This should be a great encouragement for us. Whatever projects and activities God directs us to undertake, if we do things His way, we will never lack His supply.

But I should make a couple of clarifications. First of all, it’s got to be God’s Work. Not our work. Not what we think might be God’s work. But God’s work. If He wants something to be done, he will always supply whatever is necessary to get it done.

The second clarification is that it must be done God’s way. Think about Jericho – God wanted them to take the city, but what if they had just laid siege to the city and done things their way? Would God have blessed their efforts? No. It has to be done God’s way.

But when you do God’s work, in God’s way, you will never lack God’s supply.

If our camp needs counselors for this summer, won’t God provide them?
If our worship service needs people with musical abilities, won’t God provide them?
If our church needs dollars to build a facility, won’t God provide them?
If, when we talk to our neighbor about Christ, we need the right words, won’t God provide them?

God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.

#3. God’s Work Makes an Impact.

Nehemiah 6:16
“When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence”

When this wall was completed in just 52 days, things changed. Before this, Jerusalem was a symbol of disgrace. For over 100 years it had laid in ruins. The few exiles that had returned were seen as weak, defeated people. But not anymore. When the surrounding nations saw how quickly they built the wall, despite great opposition, they became afraid and lost confidence. God’s work had made an impact.

And God’s work makes an impact today too. God doesn’t do things for no reason. He doesn’t give us things to do just to fill time and keep us occupied. No. God gives us work to do that will make an impact.

And that might be a good measure of whether or not we are doing God’s work. Is what we’re doing making an impact? As a church, are we making disciples? Are we bring people to Christ? Are we sending out missionaries? Are we building up the body of Christ? Are the things that we are doing making an impact? If not, maybe we’re not doing God’s work. Maybe we’re just doing our work. Because God’s work makes an impact.

I think we really need to constantly evaluate what we are doing as a church to make sure that we’re doing God’s work – not ours. I don’t want to waste my time, my resources, and my efforts doing things that God hasn’t asked me to do. Because those things aren’t going to make an impact. I want to do God’s work, because God’s work makes an impact.

#4. God’s Work Brings God Glory.

Nehemiah 6:16
“When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”

Who gets the glory? Was it Nehemiah? Was it the builders? No. It was God who got the glory. And that’s exactly how it should be.

It’s a hard thing to learn in our world of me, me, me that its not all about me. It’s all about God. Even as Christians we have a hard time remembering that.

I have a book written by a Christian author entitled, “It’s Not About Me”. And what’s funny about this book, is that right under the title on the cover, in great big letters it says “By Max Lucado”.

Have you ever tried going for a certain period of time without saying the words, “I”, “me”, or “my”? It’s just about impossible. I would challenge the youth that from now until the end of our Sunday School class after church to try not to use those three words – I, me, or my. I bet no one can do it.

But it really isn’t about us. It’s about God. History is HIS STORY. We exist to bring glory to God. Our church is here to bring glory to God. You were put on this planet to bring glory to God. And when we realize that, everything changes.

• Imagine if you spent your money, not for you, but for God. How would that change where your money goes?
• Imagine if when you talked to people, you talked not to make yourself look good, but to make God look good. How would that change your conversation?
• Imagine if when you decide how to spend you time, you spent your time not doing things for you, but doing things for God. How would that change your daily schedule?

Psalm 29:2
“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name”

In other words, bring God the glory that He deserves. It’s a tall order, but the challenge for you and for me is to live our lives not for our comfort, not for our pleasure, not for our fulfillment – but to bring glory to God in everything we do.

Because, after all, doesn’t He deserve it? The more I get to know God and the more I see what He’s done, the more I realize just how great and awesome He is and much he deserves all the glory that I can possibly give Him.

Just consider this: The God of the universe who made everything in existence, who lovingly created me, (knit me together in my mother’s womb according to Psalm 139), who, even though I rebelled against Him and insisted on doing things my way, He died on a cross as man – taking my punishment, so that if I just believe and accept what He did, I can have eternal life with Him in Heaven.

That’s the God I serve, and that’s the God that deserves all the glory.

And I’m very excited to share with you the next part of the story. It’s my favorite part and I think the lessons that we learn from it are very applicable to everyone here. So let’s jump right into it.

Nehemiah 4:1-3
Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, 2 saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”

3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”

God put it on Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the wall, God moved the king as to allow Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem, and God put everything into place so that the walls of Jerusalem can be rebuilt for the His glory. So what does Satan do? He tries to stop it. Doesn’t Satan work the same way today? When God is doing something, Satan tries to get in the way. And he uses the same tactics back then as he does today too. So we are going to look at three of Satan’s tactics to stop God’s work. The first tactic he employs is discouragement.

Here he uses Sanballat and Tobiah to mock the Jews, to make fun of them, to laugh at them. Does Satan still use that tactic today? Do Christians get mocked, laughed at, made fun of because they follow Christ? Just ask any Christian teenager.

We shouldn’t be surprised when this happens. Jesus said…

Luke 21:17 - “All men will hate you because of me.”

The Bible never teaches that following Christ makes life easier. In fact, it promises us that we will have trouble – we will be persecuted. We will be mocked, laughed at, and made fun of. Well, what do we when that happens? What did Nehemiah do?

Nehemiah 4:4 – “Then I prayed….”

That’s the answer right there. THEN I PRAYED…. Nehemiah didn’t make any snappy remarks back at them. He didn’t punch them in the head. He didn’t tell their parents what jerks they were being. He simply prayed to His God. After all, isn’t God big enough to handle them? Isn’t He wise enough to know how to deal with them?

After Nehemiah’s prayer, what does it say in verse 6?
At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm.

Prayer foiled Satan’s first attempt to discourage them. But Satan doesn’t give up easy, so he went a little further. Verse 7-8.
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.

If mocking didn’t stop them, then the next step was an all out attack. That oughta discourage them!

And I want to warn you this morning, be ready for Satan’s all out attacks.
1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Satan’s not going to take it easy on anyone for any reason. He is our enemy and he is out to destroy us.

But look at how Nehemiah responded: verse 9.  “But we prayed…”

It seems so simple, doesn’t it? We don’t we do it more often? I think we really underestimate the power of prayer.

James 5:16 - “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

When trouble comes – let’s pray. When discouragement comes – let’s pray. When we want to take on a great project for God – let’s pray! When we are just living our daily life – let’s pray! The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective because we have a God who hears those prayers and HE is very powerful and very effective.

Well, Satan wasn’t done with discouragement yet. If he couldn’t discourage them from the outside, he’d discourage them from the inside. Verse 10.
Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”
Complainers. Satan loves complainers. Nothing saps your strength and motivation like a complainer. That’s why God has commanded us to give thanks in every situation.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Complaining and thankfulness simply can’t co-exist. So Satan brought out the complainers, but that wasn’t all. Verse 11-12.
Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.” The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!”

So now we have complaining on the inside and threats of attack from the outside. What does Nehemiah do? Verse 13-14.
So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows.

Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “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!”

He took the necessary precautions and address the people. He said “Don’t be afraid. Remember the Lord.”

Those are great instructions for us too in whatever situation we are in. “Don’t be afraid. Remember the Lord.” How can we be afraid when we remember the Lord? If God is for us, who can be against us?! After all, our God has unlimited power. Our God has unlimited wisdom. And as our heavenly Father, He loves us more than anything. If we can remember that when we go through times of discouragement, Satan won’t be able to keep us down or keep us from accomplishing God’s purposes.

Well, after discouragement didn’t stop God’s work, Satan tried the next tactic. Jump over to chapter 6:1-4
Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained—though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates. So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to harm me, so I replied by sending this message to them: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”
Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.

Did you notice the tactic here? Distraction. Nehemiah, come over here and have a meeting with us. We want to talk to you for a while.

I am convinced that Satan uses this tactic big time today. How many sports events are held on Sundays? How many kids hockey practices are on Sunday morning? Or perhaps a little more subtle, how many dads put more time and energy into their cars than they do into their kids? How many Christian people don’t participate in church life because of all the other things they fill their lives with? The list could go on. Our lives are filled with distractions. And it’s not necessarily bad things either – but they are things that keep us from focusing on God and on what He would have us do.

Jesus talks about distractions when he tells the parable of the sower and seed. You remember how the seed fell on four types of soil (hard soil, shallow soil, thorny soil, and good soil).

Mark 4:18 explains
The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.

I think that sums up many church-goers in North America. They hear the word of God, but it’s quickly crowed out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. That’s not how I want to be. I want to be like Nehemiah.

Look how Nehemiah responds to his distraction: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”

We need to learn to say this more often to the distractions around us. We may not be building a great city wall, but we are engaged in a great work… Everyday we should be growing closer to God and doing our part to expand the kingdom of God. When Satan sends things to distract us from that work, we need to say “No, I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”. (Incidentally, did you notice that the name of place where they wanted Nehemiah to come was “Ono”? That’s how we need to respond to distractions. Oh No!)

Are there things in your life that are keeping you from doing God’s work? Are there distractions that are keeping you preoccupied with the wrong things – perhaps not bad things, but not the right things. Do the cares of this life take up so much of your time and energy that you have nothing left to give to God? Perhaps it’s time to start saying no to the plains of Ono!

Well, ol’ Satan wasn’t done yet. He’d tried discouragement. He’d tried distractions. There was one more tactic to try. Let’s read about it in

Nehemiah 6:10-13
Later I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home. He said, “Let us meet together inside the Temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.”

But I replied, “Should someone in my position run from danger? Should someone in my position enter the Temple to save his life? No, I won’t do it!” I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.

No one but the priests were permitted by God to enter the temple, so for Nehemiah to hide out in the temple like Shemaiah suggested would have been sin. That’s the third of Satan’s tactics to disrupt our work for the Lord. He’ll discourage you, he’ll distract you, and he’ll tempt you to down right sin.

This tactic is effective because the consequences of sin are sure.
Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

I think every so often we need to be reminded of the seriousness of sin. As a solemn reminder this morning, I want to give you a list of some of the consequences of sin.
#1. Sin grieves God.
#2. Sin harms your relationship with God.
#3. Sin gives Satan an opening in your life for further sin.
#4. Sin is punished by God.
#5. Sin hurts others.
#6. Sin harms your witness for Christ.
#7. Sin makes you settle for less than God’s best.
#8. Sin has natural consequences.
#9. Sin results in guilt and misery.

You can see why sin is such an effective tactic of the enemy. It is extremely destructive. And although God is always ready to forgive us, the consequences of sin remain. As Christians, when Satan tempts us to sin, we need to respond exactly like Nehemiah in verse 11. “No, I won’t do it!”  That’s how we are to deal with temptation. No. I won’t do it.

James 4:7
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Submit to God. Resist the devil. That’s how Nehemiah did it. Satan tried to discourage him, to distract him, and to cause him to down-right sin. But each time, Nehemiah submitted to God and resisted Satan. We need to follow the exact same pattern.

When discouragements come – pray. When distractions get in the way – say no. And when temptation comes, submit yourself to God and resist the devil.

They seem like very simple responses – pray, say no, submit to God, resist the devil – but they are very powerful and effective in thwarting Satan’s tactics. As I mentioned before, we are not building a great city wall, but we are engaged in a great work – that is to please and serve our Heavenly Father. Satan will do all that He can to defeat us and to make us ineffective. But we know his tactics, and more importantly, we know that our God is way more powerful than the enemy and has in fact, already defeated Satan.

Isn’t that an encouraging? Though we will fight against Satan as long as we are on this earth, we are fighting on the winning side in a battle that has already been won!

As we’ve been talking about Nehemiah wanting to build the walls of Jerusalem, we’ve been applying those principles to us wanting to build the church.

Now Nehemiah is in Jerusalem, so let’s read what happens.
Nehemiah 2:11-16
11 So I arrived in Jerusalem. Three days later, 12 I slipped out during the night, taking only a few others with me. I had not told anyone about the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem. We took no pack animals with us except the donkey I was riding. 13 After dark I went out through the Valley Gate, past the Jackal’s Well, and over to the Dung Gate to inspect the broken walls and burned gates. 14 Then I went to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but my donkey couldn’t get through the rubble. 15 So, though it was still dark, I went up the Kidron Valley instead, inspecting the wall before I turned back and entered again at the Valley Gate.

Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, takes three days to rest from his long journey, and then goes out at night with a handful of people to inspect the walls.

Why does he do this? Primarily, he wanted to know what he was up against. He wanted to know what it would take to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Rebuilding the walls was a major undertaking. Nehemiah did not want to jump into it without knowing all the details, without being prepared, without having a plan. So he did his homework.

Now if this were a three point sermon, this would be point #1. Nehemiah did his homework.

This is what our building committee is doing right now. They’re doing their homework. They’re looking at floor plans, investigating building codes, researching what other churches have done, pricing out materials, and working out all the details that we need to know BEFORE any actual building takes place. And that is essential.

We would be foolish to start pouring cement and nailing 2×4s before we’ve answered all these questions. You have to do your homework.

And the same thing applies to the spiritual building the church. When my wife & I first arrived in September, we determined not to make any major changes in the church until at least Christmas. We wanted to do our homework first. We wanted to get to know all of you. We wanted to see how things worked. We wanted to know what the church’s strengths were – what it’s weak areas were. We would have been foolish to come in on the first Sunday that we were here and presented you with a whole new set of programs that we wanted to start doing.

As a church, we need to do our homework if we want to win our community for Christ. How can we reach them? What are their needs? How can we successfully communicate our message to them?

We can’t just run programs because it seems like a good idea or some other church did it or we did it 20 years ago. We need to do our homework to see what will help us win souls for Christ here in 2009.

So on that note, I’m going to give you a homework assignment this morning. Your homework for this week is to do some research and come up with a few ways that you think would be effective methods of reaching our community for Christ.

Now you may be asking, “Well, what kind of research do I do?” Pay attention to people. What are their needs? What do they like to do? What do they not like to do? How do they communicate? What issues are they dealing with? Study the people in your sphere of influence.

Then write down what you learn and hand in your assignment to me. I’d love to see what you come up with and then together we can make plan that will be effective reaching our community.

Point #1. Nehemiah did his homework.

Nehemiah 2:16-18
16 The city officials did not know I had been out there or what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans. I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders—the priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration. 17 But now I said to them, “You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace!” 18 Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me, and about my conversation with the king.

They replied at once, “Yes, let’s rebuild the wall!” So they began the good work.

Did you notice that up until after Nehemiah did his inspection of the walls, no one knew anything about his plans?

Verse 16

He didn’t send messengers ahead of him to Jerusalem when he traveled from Susa to announce what he was going to do. He didn’t tell people about his plans as soon as he got to Jerusalem. He waited until the time was right.

How important is it to wait for the proper time? Or more specifically, how important is it to wait for God’s timing?

Think about King David – he was anointed king by Samuel when he was a youth, but it was years later before he actually became king.
How about Joseph? He had that dream about the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him when he was a youth – but how many years did it take (and how much did Joseph have to go through) before that became reality?

And consider even Jesus.

Romans 5:6 (New International Version)
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

At just the right time… That’s how God does things. How long was the church looking for someone to come help out at the church? How long has the church been looking to build a new building?

And I’m sure that many times along the road, you’ve wondered… “God, why aren’t you answering our prayers? Why is this taking so long?”

But God does things at just the right time. I know many of you could tell me the name of someone that you’ve prayed for for many years. There are friends and family members that we’ve told about Christ, we’ve prayed for them, we’ve invited them to church, or to other Christian events in hopes that they would accept Christ as their personal Savior. But so far, our prayers seem unanswered.

Don’t lose hope. Don’t be discouraged. And don’t stop praying. God does things at just the right time.

So that’s point #2: God does things at just the right time.

The last few verses that we want to look at is the whole 3rd chapter. There are 32 verses in this chapter, but we only need to look at the first four right now. I’ll let you read the rest on your own perhaps when you get home.

Nehemiah 3
1 Then Eliashib the high priest and the other priests started to rebuild at the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set up its doors, building the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and the Tower of Hananel. 2 People from the town of Jericho worked next to them, and beyond them was Zaccur son of Imri.

3 The Fish Gate was built by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid the beams, set up its doors, and installed its bolts and bars. 4 Meremoth son of Uriah and grandson of Hakkoz repaired the next section of wall. Beside him were Meshullam son of Berekiah and grandson of Meshezabel, and then Zadok son of Baana.

The rest of the chapter reads just like this and I encourage you to take the time later to read through it.

To summarize the chapter, it’s different people doing different tasks to accomplish one goal.

Nehemiah didn’t go out and build the whole thing himself. And he didn’t hire a work crew from Susa to come with him. The people living in Jerusalem build the walls of Jerusalem – in fact, as you read the rest of the chapter, you’ll find that most of them worked on the section of wall that was nearest their house. This was a project of personal importance to these people, and so they were all personally involved.

And that’s a good reminder for us today of just how personal this whole “being a Christian” thing is.

So today I want to end with five “personal” reminders.

Reminder #1. Personal Saviour
Everyone one of us on this planet was born with a sinful nature – our natural tendency is to rebel against God. And because this, we are born separated from God.

Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death…” And that death is eternal separation from God, existing in torment forever.

We need a personal Saviour. Thankfully God, in His great love for us, sent His Son Jesus, to live a sinless life and die on a cross in our place, so that we can be forgiven and accepted by God.

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Reminder #2. Personal Choice
God doesn’t want robots that are forced to love Him – He wants us to choose to love Him. So He give each one of us the choice. I can’t choose on your behalf. You mother or father can’t choose on your behalf. Your wife or husband can’t choose on your behalf. It’s a personal choice. Only you can choose to accept God’s free gift of Salvation.

We read the first half of Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death…” But the rest of that verse goes on to say “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But we don’t have that gift until we reach out and take it for ourselves.

And to do that is as simple as confessing your sin to God, inviting Him to be the Lord of your life, and determining in your heart to follow Him for the rest of your days. But it’s your personal choice.

Reminder #3. Personal Growth
Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

When we accept Christ as our Saviour, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, and He brings about this fruit in our lives. Do you see that fruit growing in your life? Are you becoming more patient? More gentle? More self-controlled? That’s the evidence that God is working in your life.

If you don’t see those things, or if you see the opposite fruit growing, you’d better take a look at your life. We always have the choice to do what is right or what is wrong. Don’t allow your old, sinful nature get in the way of what God wants to do. It happens to all of us. We’ll fight with our old nature until we get to heaven. But if right now you’re allowing some of the bad fruit to grow in your life, (things like hatred, jealousy, foul language, rage, wrong habits) then confess that to God and allow Him to start growing some of that good stuff in your life again.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

It’s never too late to make a fresh start with God. Pursue personal growth.

#4. Personal Involvement
We talked last week a little bit about how we are all part of the body of Christ. Every one of us has gifts and abilities that God intends for use to us to build each other up and grow His church. I won’t go into that all over again, but I’ll ask you this question: What is your personal involvement in the body of Christ?

#5. Personal Evangelism
I don’t know everyone’s background on how they became a Christian, but I’m guessing that most of you didn’t accept Christ because you watched a Billy Graham special on tv. And I’m also guessing that most of you didn’t become Christians because, one day out of the blue you decided to go to church and you heard the gospel. Those are both possibilities and God can bring people to Himself in whatever way He pleases. But from what I’ve observed, most people come to know Christ because someone who knows them and cares about them – told them about Christ.

That’s called personal evangelism, and I believe primarily, that’s how God grows his church. It’s you talking to the people in your sphere of influence about God. You can’t leave it to the tv preachers, your pastors, or your elders, your parents, or your children. Evangelism is a personal responsibility. It’s your job.

So those are the five personal reminders. Personal Saviour, personal choice, personal growth, personal involvement, and personal evangelism. Put that together with our previous two points, that Nehemiah did his homework, and that God does things at just the right time, and that’s a lot to absorb for one morning. But I trust that God tugged on your heart at least once or twice and that He’ll help you to apply those things to your life this week.

We also talked about our countrymen, right here in our community, living in the ruins so to speak – living lives apart from God. And I trust that God has, and will continue to fill your heart with compassion and concern for the lost in our community, because until we feel the same way God does about our friends and neighbors, (that is with great love and compassion) things aren’t going to change for them. They’re going to stay living in the ruins.

But today as we continue to look at the life of Nehemiah, we’re going to see how he begins to take action. And through that, hopefully we can learn a few principles for us to follow in reaching our community for Christ.

Nehemiah 1:5-11 & 2:1-9

The first thing I want you to notice is the time of year. If you remember from last week, it was late autumn when Nehemiah got the report about the broken walls, but when is it when he talks to the king about going back to Jerusalem? Early spring. What did he do all winter?

Let’s back up to verse 4 of chapter 1.

“for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.”

How long do you suppose “for days” is? Not 4 days, for days! The prayer in chapter one is certainly not the only prayer that Nehemiah prayed. It’s merely a sampling. Nehemiah spend the winter praying to God, confessing his sins and the sins of his family, seeking God’s guidance and direction, and asking God to go before him when he would talk to the king.

This is a key principle, not only in rebuilding city walls or reaching our community for Christ, but in just living the Christian life.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray continually.”

You might remember when we were studying the church we read Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”.

Did you notice in chapter 2, verse 4 when the king asked him what he wanted, it says “With a prayer to the God in heaven, I replied…”?

He prayed. Right there in front of the king. He may not have got on his knees and folded his hands and recited a long prayer, but he prayed. Probably something like … “Help me God”. Nehemiah was devoted to prayer. I’m sure he spend time talking with God every day. Before he took on a great project like rebuilding the wall, he spent the winter in prayer about it.

And that’s exactly what we need to do as well. We need to pray. Not just when we are planing to build a new church. Not just when we are planing to reach out to our community. But every day. It should be part of our lives.

Our prayers don’t have to be eloquent and beautiful. In fact, Jesus said that God doesn’t much care for eloquence.
Matthew 6:5-8
5″And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Just simply talk to him. The real you talking to the real God. That’s the kind of prayers that God likes.

So here’s Nehemiah, a man who “prays continually” and has prayed specifically for what God has laid on his heart for the past four months, standing in front of the king. The king asks him, “What can I do for you?” One more prayer goes out and Nehemiah responds in verse 5 of chapter 2.

I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.”

There are two words I want you to notice in that verse. Any guesses which two they are? “SEND ME”

Did Nehemiah want the king to send someone else to rebuild the walls? Someone who was more qualified? Someone who had more education? Someone who was younger? Someone who was older? Someone who had more free time?

No! He said “Send me! God’s put this on my heart. Send me to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls!”

This sounds a lot like another person from the Bible you’re probably familiar with.

Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

And then there is the other end of the spectrum.

Exodus 4:12-13
Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

Which one of those sounds like you? When God puts something on your heart, and asks you to do something, how do you respond? Send me or please send someone else?

As members of the body of Christ, God has given each one of us certain gifts and abilities and he’s also given each of us a unique job to do. In fact, throughout our lives, God will give us many jobs. For some of us, one of those jobs might be to serve in India for 40 years. For some, a job might be to clean the church bathrooms. For some a job might be to invite your neighbor over for supper. For some, it might be to share the Gospel with your fishing buddy. For some, one job may be to run the powerpoint or read the morning’s Scripture.

What job does God have for you this week? Or more importantly, how will you respond when He asks you? Will it be… Send me to India… Send me to the church bathrooms… Send me to the kitchen… Send me behind the pulpit…

Or do we say, “Lord, please send someone else.”

Nehemiah said “Send me to Jerusalem!”

Well, the king agreed to Nehemiah’s request to send Him to Jerusalem. So Nehemiah had a second request.

Nehemiah 2:7-9
7 I also said to the king, “If it please the king, let me have letters addressed to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, instructing them to let me travel safely through their territories on my way to Judah. 8 And please give me a letter addressed to Asaph, the manager of the king’s forest, instructing him to give me timber. I will need it to make beams for the gates of the Temple fortress, for the city walls, and for a house for myself.” And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.
9 When I came to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, I delivered the king’s letters to them. The king, I should add, had sent along army officers and horsemen to protect me.

Why did the king grant Nehemiah these requests? Because he had been such a loyal cup bearer over the years? Because he relentlessly petitioned the king?

Nehemiah 2:8
“And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.”

Why did the king grant all of Nehemiah’s requests? Because of God. If this wasn’t God’s doing, would Nehemiah have ever been allowed to go to Jerusalem? No way – it was all because of God.

Proverbs 21:1
The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Is God sovereign? Absolutely. If he wants something to happen, can anyone or anything stop Him? No way.

Psalm 115:3 says “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”

God wanted Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, so God makes it happen. God has absolute control over every event and every person, including kings, presidents, and prime ministers.

I think about our own building project. If God wants us to build a new facility, who or what is going to stop him? Will a lack of funds? Will a lack of workers? Will permits and red tape?

Romans 8:31 says “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

There is nothing in this world that is outside the sovereign control of our God.

It kinda makes it hard to worry about things then, doesn’t it? If God is in control, won’t he provide my needs? Provide a roof over my head? Keep me through times of hardships or even recession?

And going back to what we talked about earlier, won’t He help me do the job that He’s asked me to do? Absolutely. It doesn’t matter how difficult it seems or how unqualified we feel or what obstacles stand in our way – God is sovereign. There is no problem too big or too complicated for Him to handle with ease.

And that’s one of the reasons why it’s so great to be a child of God. We are in such a privileged position to have a Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can imagine and has all the power and authority in the world to take care of us. What a joy to be a child of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

I don’t know what this next week holds for you and there are probably some things that you don’t even know about yet either. But you can be assured that nothing will happen this week that is outside of the sovereign control of your Heavenly Father.

After the time of Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The northern part with 10 of the 12 tribes kept the name Israel. The southern part with 2 of the 12 tribes was known as Judah. Jerusalem, the capital and the location of the Solomon’s temple, was part of the kingdom of Judah.

All of the kings of Israel were evil. Because of their continued sinfulness, God allowed the Assyrians to invade and defeated Israel. The people were deported and scattered over the face of the earth – never to return.

Judah had some good kings, but the majority were evil. Because of their continued sinfulness, God allowed the Babylonians to attack and defeat Judah. They destroyed Jerusalem, including the temple, and deported many of the people to Babylon. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were among those who were deported.

Seventy years later, the king of Persia (who had since conquered the Babylonians), allowed several groups of Jews to return to Judah to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

The story of Nehemiah picks up about 95 years after the Jews are allowed to return to Jerusalem. The temple has been rebuilt, but the rest of Jerusalem is not in good shape.

Nehemiah 1:1-4

So things are not well for those who have returned to Jerusalem. The walls have been destroyed and the gates have been burned. And Nehemiah weeps.

When I first read through this passage, I had a hard time understanding why Nehemiah was so worked up about the broken walls of a city nearly 1,000 miles away. I don’t think Nehemiah had ever been to Jerusalem before – so why does he spend days mourning over it’s broken walls?

I did a little searching on the internet and I found some pictures that really helped me understand what’s going on here. I did a search for pictures of ruins and I found these pictures:

Warsaw, Poland after WW2
Nuremberg, Germany also after WW2
China, after last August’s giant earthquake
Gaza, after Israel’s attack just weeks ago

It’s devastating, isn’t it? Just looking at those picture saddens your heart, doesn’t it? No wonder Hanani reported to Nehemiah, the people were in deep trouble and disgrace. Things were not going well for those who had returned to Jerusalem. They were surrounded by and living in ruins.

But my focus today isn’t on the ruins. I want to focus on how Nehemiah reacted.

Nehemiah 1:4

He wept. He mourned. Tears rolled down his face as he considered the terrible state of his relatives and countrymen. And not just for a few minutes… It says he mourned, fasted, and prayed for some days. He didn’t just shrug and say “Boy, that’s too bad.” No, he wept and mourned for his countrymen living in the ruins.

So what’s the lesson here for us nearly 2500 years later? This morning I simply want to draw a parallel between us and them.

Do you realize that our community is in ruins? I’m not talking about the condition of our buildings or our lack of city walls. I’m talking about the condition of the people. How many broken homes are there? How many people are there that have no hope for the future? How many people are living ruined lives? Lives without meaning, lives without joy, lives without Christ?

Those pictures that we saw earlier were devastating. But how much worse is the thought of your friends and your neighbors going into eternity without knowing Christ?

We, like Nehemiah, should weep. We should mourn. But do we? Do we weep for the lost? Are we filled with such concern and compassion for people who don’t know Christ that we are moved to tears on their behalf? Or are our hearts so hard and so cold that our eyes stay dry, never shedding a tear for the lost?

This has been something God has been convicting me of over the past six months. It’s easy to care about other Christians and show them love and concern. But to weep over those who hurt us, who tell lies about us, who could care less about us… That’s something else.

As we look further at the life of Nehemiah in the weeks to come, we’ll see how he takes action on behalf of the people and how he gets the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. But none of that would have happened if he hadn’t had a heart full of concern and compassion for those living in the ruins.

In the same way, over the next few weeks I want to look at how we can take action on behalf of the lost right here in our community, but nothing is going to happen unless our hearts are full of concern and compassion for those living in the ruins.

You know, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.” That’s how much God cares. That’s how deep his concern and compassion is for the lost. And aren’t you glad? You and I were once lost too. Aren’t you glad God cares about the lost?

2 Peter 3:9 says “[The Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

That’s why He sent His Son Jesus to earth, to live a perfect life, and to die on a cross in our place, (taking our punishment upon Himself), and then three days later to rise from dead, so that anyone who believes and accepts God free gift, will not perish, but have eternal life with Him in heaven.
There is a song by Keith Green called “My Eyes Are Dry” and the lyrics fit right in with what we’re talking about today. The words are…

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to you and dead to me

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is you, your spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of your blood

Even physics say that change is difficult. Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states that an object in motion tends to remain in motion, unless an external force is applied to it. When a train is barreling down the track in this direction, it is very difficult to change it’s direction to go the other way. Change is difficult.

As our church moves forward in the direction God is leading us, there’s bound to be some changes. Some may be minor, some may be major, but all changes will come with some degree of difficulty.

So to help us through the process a little bit, this morning I want to look at some of the major changes that happened in the early church.

The first change that we want to look at is a changed way of coming to God.

Around 1500 BC, at Mount Sinai, God gave the Israelites the law. There were three aspects of the law. There was the moral law of right and wrong – which still applies to us today. (Things like Thou shall not steal or Thou shall not kill) There was the national law – which applies to how Israel was to govern itself as a nation. (Things like you’re allowed to charge interest on a loan to a foreigner, but you’re not allowed to charge interest on a loan to a fellow Israelite.)

Then there was the ceremonial law. These laws were basically how God told them to do church – how they were to approach to God. These are the “weird” laws – that seem totally strange and foreign to us – like…

“Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then sprinkle blood against the altar on all sides.”

God laid out a very detailed system of how He wanted them to “do church”. Basically the whole book of Leviticus is God’s instructions for church, as well as the later part of Exodus and much of Numbers. I certainly don’t have time to give you all the details on how God said things should work, but I’ll try to give you a summary in a nutshell.

Basically there were three major elements. The temple, the priests, and the sacrifices. The Israelites could be right with God when the priest at the temple offered a sacrifice to God on their behalf. And all the who, where, what, and how were very specifically laid out. This was the system of coming to God for about 1500 years. (And some of you think our church is a little stuck in tradition!)

But when Jesus Christ died on the cross, all of that changed. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, he is now our high priest in heaven, and the Holy Spirit lives within every believer so our bodies have become the temple.

What a fantastic change! I am so glad that I don’t need to travel to a temple to have a priest sacrifice one of my sheep so that I can be right with God.

Romans 10:9 says “if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

No lambs, no priests, no temples. But what a change for the Israelites who had been doing it this way for 1500 years!  You can see why so many Jews were upset when Peter and Paul and the other apostles started preaching the Good News! Claiming that there was a new way to come to God – that’s the reason they caused uproars where ever they went. That’s the reason they were beaten, imprisoned, and put to death.

Now I have to be careful on how I apply this to our church situation. I’m not suggesting that you’re going to form a mob and chase me out of the church if I suggest some changes. (At least I hope not.) And I’m also not suggesting that God has revealed to me a brand new system of coming to God.

The point that I want to make is simply, “Change is difficult, but God is good.” If God brings about a change, you can be certain that it is for the better. I think every one of us here are very thankful that God changed the way that people can come to Him. But those Israelites sure didn’t see it that way. We might not understand it, we might not even like it… but God is good. He knows what He’s doing.

Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.

The second change in the early church that we see is a changed mission field.

Ever since the time of Abraham, the Israelites were God’s chosen people, and as such, they felt they had an exclusive right to God. God was for the Jews only. Anyone who wasn’t a Jew was basically treated like dirt. Gentiles (or anyone who wasn’t a Jew) weren’t allowed in the temple. Jews wouldn’t eat with Gentiles or even go into their home.

Even back in Jonah’s time, we can see the Israelites’ distain for Gentiles. Jonah, an Israelite, did his best to avoid preaching to the Ninevites (who were gentiles). Then after his whole ordeal in the great fish and he went and he preached like God told Him to and the people repented and God spared their lives, look at how Jonah reacted.

Jonah 4:1-2 “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

Jonah was very angry that God would spare the Ninevites and allow them to repent. To the Jews, Gentiles were the enemy. And even in the earliest days of the church, this way of thinking continued and the Good News was only preached to fellow Jews.

But one day, God sent Peter to a man named Cornelius, who was a Gentile, a Roman officer. Peter shared the Good News with him and He and everyone with him believed.

Then look at how the Jews reacted:
Acts 11:2-3 (NLT) “But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

Well, Peter explained what happened and verse 18 continues:

“When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

What a great example of accepting change! When the Jews saw what God was doing, they embraced the change. They no longer objected, but they praised God and went out and started preaching to the Gentiles – and a large number of them turned to the Lord.

We’ve got to do the exact same thing. If God asks us to make some changes in our life or in our church, let’s stop our objections, praise God for what He’s doing, and then go out and do what God wants us to do.

The third change that happened in the early church is changed lives.

There are many that we could look at, but I think perhaps one of the lives that had changed the greatest is the life of Saul – or as we better know him, Paul.

Saul was one of those Jews who held very tightly to the old “ceremonial law” way to God – priests, sacrifices & temples. He was also very much a “God for the Jews only” kind of guy. Being a Pharisee, he was dedicated to preserving that system and those beliefs. He writes in…

Philippians 3:5-6 “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.”

When Christians began to preach a new way of becoming right with God, Saul was infuriated! He went from city to city to hunt down these Christians and throw them in prison. He was a part of the first Christian martyr.

Acts 9:1 says he was ‘breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.’

But one day, everything changed for Saul. He met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, and he was never again the same.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away, behold, the new has come.”

That was Saul. He was a new creation. No longer did He persecute the church, but instead he became one of the world’s greatest church planters. He stopped breathing out murderous threats and instead penned a large part of the New Testament. God completely changed his life.

God’s still in the business of changing lives. Take a minute to look around right here in this room. God changes lives.

No matter what changes we make in our program or to our facility or to our organization – those changes will seem completely insignificant compared to the changes that God will bring about in the lives of the people around us. Yes, I am excited for the changes that are happening in our church, but I’m so thrilled I can hardly stand it – waiting to see how God is going to change the lives of the people around us.

Can you imagine it? Picture your friends and neighbors, having lived their life lost and apart from God – CHANGED! Granted eternal life. Filled with joy of the Lord. Living their life for God and praising Him for all His goodness!

Could it really happen? Sure it can! Changing lives is what God does best! Look what He’s done with me. Look what He’s done with all of you. And just imagine what He’s going to do yet. God changes lives.

Aren’t you glad you serve a God like that? Aren’t you excited for what He’s done and what He’s going to do? I know I sure am. Let’s praise and thank Him right now.

Now I’ll admit that the church that we are going to look at is nearly two thousand years old, but the characteristics we see in this church have allowed it to plant hundreds of thousands of new churches and see millions come to know and love Jesus Christ. That church is the first church in Jerusalem.

Acts chapter two will be the focus of our study this morning. Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The first characteristic of this church that I noticed is that they were devoted.
“42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

As Christians in the church (and I noticed this especially at camp) we talk about doing devotions a lot. We tell new Christians that they should start doing devotions. Our accountability partner might ask us how our devotions have been recently. We might have family devotions. But the way we use the term “devotions” is a far cry from what this word “devoted” means.

The word “devoted” is defined as “to give all or most of one’s time or resources to.”

Many of you have heard the name “Michael Phelps” – He is an olympic swimmer and he is very good at what he does. He has won 14 olympic gold medals and holds 7 world records for swimming. He trains for 5 hours every day, 365 days a year. Michael Phelps is devoted to swimming.

Now let’s go back at read verse 42 again.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

That verse doesn’t say they did devotions! They were devoted! In the same way Michael Phelps is devoted to swimming, this church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. No wonder verse 47 says the church was increasing in number daily!

Can you imagine what would happen if our church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer? What an impact we would have! What amazing things could God do with us! 15 minute devotionals are not going to change our community. But being devoted to God, being 5 hours a day 365 days a year kind of devoted to God will change Mirror like we’ve never imagined!

But it’s hard. In our busy and distracting world, it’s difficult enough to find time to spend 20 minutes in our Bibles and in prayer each day. And it’s absolutely harder when we lose sight of the prize.

Michael Phelps trains for 5 hours every day because he knows that’s what it takes to win the gold medal. That’s the prize he works for. Now, I’m not very competitive when it comes to sports, so in my mind, all that work for a little gold medallion and a couple years of fame are completely not worth it.

But is that our attitude when it comes to being devoted to God? Is all our work and effort and sacrifice worth it? Is it worth it to hear Jesus say “Well done, good and faithful servant”?

And of course we say “Yes, it is worth it!” But we’re Christians. Of course we’re going to say that. But in my life anyway, my actions speak louder than my words. The way I live my daily life show me that I am less devoted to Christ & His kingdom than some athlete is to winning a little gold medal.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Don’t lose sight of the prize. Remember why you’re on this planet. We’re not here to become wealthy. We’re not here to become popular. We’re not here to get promoted or gain fame and fortune. We’re here to love God, be loved by Him, and let Him use us in whatever way He wants. But like Paul and like the first church in Jerusalem, we need to be devoted.

The second characteristic of the church in Acts 2 is that they were united.

44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

Look at the unity in this church.
They were together
They had everything in common.
Those who had lots gave to those who had little.
They met together every day.
They shared meals together.
These guys did everything together. They were like a big family. They were united. Anytime I think about people being united, I always think of the tower of babel.

Genesis 11:1-6 (NLT)
At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”

But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.

Did you notice what God said about these people? “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!” Wow! That’s quite a statement from God – that nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them.

So what does God do? He gives them different languages. The people are divided – the unity is gone and the work stops.

I think Satan employs this tactic in the church. If God says that nothing would be impossible for a bunch of proud, rebellious men who were united, how much more would nothing be impossible for the church, empowered and directed by God, if the church is united? Satan realizes this and so he divides us. We start thinking only about ourselves, putting us first, being stingy with what we have, and following our own agenda. And when the unity is gone – the work stops.

But on the flip side, when there is unity, when all the believers are together and have everything in common, when believers sell their possessions and goods to give to anyone who is in need, when believers meet together each day in the temple courts or the local church, when believers break bread and eat together in each other’s homes – that’s when the Lord is going to add to their fellowship daily those who are being saved.
That’s what happened to the church in Acts, and that’s what can happen in our church as well.

The old King James Version puts it like this in Psalm 133:1.
”Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

What a powerful witness to our community to have seniors and teenagers, middle aged and young parents, people from all varieties of backgrounds all working, fellowshiping, worshiping together in unity! What a statement that would make about our God!

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of group like that? Those who have more give to those who have less, wrongs are forgiven and grudges are forgotten, there are no petty arguments over things that don’t really matter anyway, people get along and they even like each other! That’s almost a foreign concept in our world, isn’t it? It’s hard to find a marriage with that kind of unity, let alone a diverse group of 50 or 100 people!

So how do we get such unity in our church? I really think it flows from having the first characteristic that we talked about – being devoted. I think when we are devoted to the Scriptures, to the fellowship of believers, to the breaking of bread and to prayer – unity will be a natural by-product.

But we’ve talked about that already, so let’s move on to the third and final characteristic of the church in Acts that we are going to talk about today, and that is that the church was helpless.

Look at the end of verse 47:
“And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Notice that it doesn’t say “And the CHURCH added to their number daily those who were being saved.” It doesn’t even say “And the APOSTLES added to their number daily those who were being saved.” It was the LORD who added to their number.

The church was helpless. They couldn’t save a single soul. If anyone was going to be saved, it was all the doing of the Lord. Our church is no different. We are helpless. We can’t bring single person to Christ. If God wants someone to be saved, He’s going to have to bring them to himself.

But wait a minute! Aren’t we suppose to bring people to Christ? After all, didn’t Jesus say “Go into all the world and make disciples”? Well, there are two principles at work here and sometimes they seem, in our human minds to conflict each other. But they don’t – they make perfect sense to God.

The first principle is that everyone who was, is, and will be a Christian has already been chosen by God before creation.

Ephesians 1:4-5
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”

God isn’t in heaven wondering who will and who won’t accept Him as their Saviour. He has already chosen who will. Jesus says in John 6:44 says
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

This should be a great relief for us. Our evangelistic efforts (no matter how strong or how weak they may be) do not determine someone else’s eternal destination. This is God’s doing.

The Bible talks about people who don’t know Christ as being spiritually dead. Dead people don’t respond to anything we do or say. They can only respond to the touch of Jesus Christ.

So where does that leave us? What are we suppose to do? If the church is helpless, why should we send missionaries to India? Why do we tell our neighbors about Christ? Why do we pray for our friends to accept the Good News?

It is true that God does not need us. God can do his will without us. God can do his will in spite of us. But He chooses to do his will through us. I don’t know why, but God has given us the privilege of being used by Him to do his will. That’s the second principle – God chooses to use the church to do His work.

Think of the church as a shovel. A shovel is completely helpless. It can’t do anything on it’s own. But although it may be helpless, it’s not useless. If it’s in the right hands, a shovel can  be very useful.

Our church is God’s shovel. We are helpless without Him, but can be useful to Him. Our job is simply to be available and to obey Him. If He says, “Go preach the Gospel” then let’s go preach the Gospel to the best of our ability and let Him worry about the results. If He says “Go spend your life in India” – then we’d better spend our life in India and let Him worry about the results.

God does not expect our church to bring anyone to Christ. He just expects us to be available and obedient to Him. And when we do that, that’s when he uses us, and through his good and sovereign will, brings people to Himself.

Each of us here are evidence of that fact. None of us would be here unless God had chosen us and drawn us to Himself. And most likely, each of us can think of someone  who was available and obedient whom God used to help us along in our journey.

So be encouraged this morning! God doesn’t expect you to win your friends and neighbors to Christ! But He does expect you to be available and obedient. And when you are, He’ll bring about the results.

Prayer of devotion

We determined that you and I are the church, our purpose is to love God and be loved by Him, and we fulfill our purpose by surrendering everything to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we want to look at a fourth question,and that question is: What are the expressions of the church?

Before we explore the answer, let’s make sure we understand the question. What are the expressions of the church?

You may remember back two weeks ago when we were looking at the purpose of the church, I told you about how I had written up these five “purposes” of the church. They were worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry & evangelism. But then we clarified our understanding and said actually, our purpose is to love God and be loved by Him. So if that’s our real purpose, what are those five things that I listed as purposes earlier? I think they are best described as expressions, and here’s why.

The word ‘expression’ comes from a Latin word that means ‘to press out’. Think about facial expressions for a minute. When we are experiencing deep sadness or grief, that feeling of sadness wells up within us, is pressed out upon our face. Tears flow and our face involuntarily distorts itself to express that feeling. Or when someone tells us something funny, that feeling of laughter wells up within us, and presses itself out on our face and we smile and laugh. We don’t try to laugh, it just comes out. It’s our feelings pressed out on our face. It’s a natural reaction.

And these five things – worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry & evangelism – work the same way. When we are living in a growing, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, surrendering our whole life to Him, these five things will just flow out of our lives. They are the natural expressions of the Christian life.

So this morning I want to look at these five things, not so much as a list of things we should be doing, but rather as expressions of our relationship with Christ.

So let’s begin by looking at the first expression of the church – Worship.

First of all, what is worship? I think most of us immediately think of singing when we think of worship. We might listen to a worship CD, or go to a worship service.

We read in Psalm 100:2 – “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”

But you know, you can worship without singing. And you can certainly sing without worshiping.

Worship is our expression of reverence and adoration for God. It can be through song, and it can be through prayer. It can be through participating in communion, it can be through the act of Baptism.

We looked at Hebrews 12:1 last week. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Anything we do out of reverence and adoration for God is worship. As we surrender our bodies as living sacrifices and daily live our lives to please God, anything that we do can become an act of worship. Washing the dishes, if done out of reverence and adoration for God, can be an act of worship. Fixing the lawn mower can be an act of worship. Taking out the garbage can be an act of worship. Doing your homework can be an act of worship. Did you know that, _______? Doing your homework can be an act of worship!

For people who are growing in an intimate relationship with Christ, worship happens, not just on Sunday morning, but all throughout the week and all throughout the day. As we experience God’s love and get to know Him more and more, reverence and adoration well up within us, and we burst out in worship, where ever we are, and whatever we’re doing.

Can I challenge you then, that if you find yourself only worshiping God at church, only expressing your reverence and adoration for God on Sunday morning, perhaps you need to examine your relationship with God. If worship doesn’t naturally flow out of your life, maybe its a sign that something is missing.

So that’s the first expression of the church – Worship.

The second expression of the church is fellowship. God did not design man to be alone. Right from the beginning, God said in Genesis 2:18 “It is not good for the man to be alone.” And so God provided a family.

And not only does God provide us a physical family when we are born to help us survive from infancy to adulthood, but He also provides us with a spiritual family when we are born again and become a Christian. This family is called the church and fellowship is when we spend time with our family.

Sadly, in a day when many physical families are torn apart and broken, likewise many Christians fail to see the importance of their spiritual family.

Hebrews 12:12 says “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.”
Hebrews 10:24-25 says “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Each of us are a unique part of the body of Christ – each of us has a unique role to play in our spiritual family, the church. We depend on others in our family to build us up and to encourage us, and they depend on us in the same way.

When Christians choose not to fellowship with other believers, it’s like an eye choosing not to be a part of the body. The eye can’t do much without a body, and the body is severely limited without an eye. God has given each of us different gifts and abilities that God intends for us to use for the building up of His church.

Are you fulfilling your role as a part of the body of Christ? I can see that you’re here on Sunday morning, (and that’s certainly an important step) but are you using your gifts and abilities to build up the church? Fellowship, this belonging to the family of God and using the gifts and abilities that God has given you to encourage and build each other up, is a natural expression of an intimate relationship with God.

And it works hand in hand with the third expression of the church – and that is discipleship. Fellowship and discipleship are so closely related that I considered combining the into one, but they are still distinctly different.

Where fellowship is belonging to the family and fulfilling your role in it, discipleship is helping those in your family to mature into the likeness of Christ.

As we personally grow deeper in love with Jesus Christ, we become more like Him. And as we become more like Him, we begin to have the same desires as Him. One of Christ’s desires is to make disciples.

Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

As we mature in Christ, we too, will want to help others mature in Christ. The first step in this is, of course, evangelism (Helping others begin a relationship Christ in the first place – and we’ll talk about that in a few moments.) But after they become a part of the family of God, they need to grow up.

I surely hope my kids don’t stay little children forever. I hope they grow up and mature. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. My job, as their dad is to help them grow up – disciple them, if you will.

As Christians, we too have the responsibility of helping each other grow up. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how long you’ve been a Christian – we are all at different stages in growing up to become like Christ. Everyone should be discipled and everyone should be a discipler.

Does discipleship flow out of your life? Do you yearn to be more like Christ and seek out people who will help you do that? Do you make yourself available to help others become like Christ or even pursue them?

That’s the third expression of the church – discipleship.

The fourth expression is ministry.

This one, I think, is really important to God. When you become like Christ, and you start loving people the way He loves people – ministry is just going to gush out of your life.

Look at what Jesus did. Everywhere he went, he ministered to people needs. If you were blind, He’d make you see. If you were hungry, he’d feed you. If you were an outcast, he’d welcome you. And if you were a sinner, He’d save you.

You can tell it’s important because Jesus said that loving others was the second most important thing you could do – with loving God being the most important.

Matthew 22:37-39 “Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

You and I may not be able to do miracles like Jesus did, but there are so many ways we can love our neighbor. Shovel their walk, remember their kid’s birthday, be friendly, invite them out for coffee, pay for their groceries – the list is endless.

Does ministry flow out of your life? Do you love your neighbors like Jesus would love them?

Because if we do, the next expression of the church will happen right behind it. And that’s evangelism. Nothing paves the way to people accepting Christ as their Saviour like someone pouring out Christ’s love for them.

It all comes back to our purpose – to love God and be loved by Him. That’s the purpose of everyone – they just don’t know it. Our job is to tell them, to show them, how much God loves them and pray that they too will accept God’s love. That’s evangelism.

Too often people think evangelism is going door-to-door with Bible tracks or preaching on the street corner. God may use those methods, but that’s not His expectation for you and me. We don’t have the be an ordained minister, we don’t have to go to Bible college – all of us are qualified and expected to be evangelists.

1 Peter 3:15 “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

Our responsibility is to love our neighbors and then be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have. That’s evangelism.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but each one of these expressions works together with the others in a kind of continuous cycle that God designed to build His church. Let me try to walk you through it.

When we become a Christian, we surrender our whole life to God (which is our spiritual act of worship). And when we do that, we find ourself adopted into God’s family and can enjoy the fellowship of other believers. As we enjoy that fellowship, we are discipled by other Christians so that we grow up into maturity in Christ – becoming more like Him each day. As we become like Christ, His love flows through us and we minister to the needs of others around us. When they experience Christ’s love through our ministry, they start asking questions about this God we love so much and we can share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ. Then, when they accept God’s love and surrender their life to Him, the cycle begins again and the church grows.

That’s God’s plan for the church. That’s God’s plan for our church.

So where are you in this picture? Does your relationship with Christ cause these five things to get pressed out of your life? Is worship as natural for you as eating lunch? Do you love the fellowship of the church and pour your life into it? Are there people in your life that disciple you and do you disciple others? Do you continually minister to the needs of others because of how much you love them? Do you find yourself eager to share the good news of Jesus Christ with anyone who may listen?

Because all of these expressions are evidence of a healthy, growing relationship with Christ. Just as our facial expressions are evidence of how we feel, these five things are evidence of our relationship with God. Do we see these things in our life? Do we see these things in our church? If we don’t – if these things are not evident, then something’s a matter and we need to examine our relationship with Christ. But when these things are evident and they do flow out of our lives – that’s when our church, that’s when God’s church will flourish.