NL Sermon 9.24.2022
Scripture: Ezra 1:1; Nehemiah 1:1-3
Title:
“In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:”
——
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
INTRO TO VISION (5min)
We are starting a new series today and I’m super excited.
This is a sermon series through the book of Nehemiah. And so we’ll learn about this book and by the end of the series you should be able to know a lot about Nehemiah.
But if you know anything about the book of Nehemiah it’s all about the people of Israel coming together to build this wall. And I know that sounds strange, but a wall was really equivalent to a kingdom. Without walls you weren’t really a kingdom. You weren’t really a nation, because walls were equivalent to military protection and defense.
And in the same way our mission is to build a kingdom. But not our own Kingdom. God’s kingdom.
In fact our mission statement is “We exist to be a Christ-Centered community that EXPANDS the Kingdom of God by making disciples.” We are called to build and expand God’s kingdom.
And so what I want to do cast a vision to you, but at the same time, my hope is to equip you with very practical tools so that we can accomplish this mission together.
I hope and pray you journey with us. If you’re new Journey with us till the end of November, I hope to make it worth your time. For those of you who call NLF your home church, please make it a point and a priority to listen to these sermons. To come in person first and foremost, but if unable, make sure to go back and listen to the Youtube Recording or our podcast. This series will align our entire church.
[1] AN ATTEMPT AT REVIVAL (11 min)
Illustration: Pastor Thomas Hwang who spoke here a month or so ago, said this, he said in a sermon I was listening to, and I whole-heartedly agree with him. Scripture is sort of like the MCU. The Marvel Cinematic Universe. You can understand the individual films for what they are, but the more and more you understand the whole of the MCU the timeline, the events, the more each movie is going to yield a greater return. In other words, there’s a difference between watching Avengers Endgame as a stand alone, not having watched all the other films. And then there’s watching all the films leading up to and then watching Avengers Endgame. The more movies you watch in the MCU and the more you understand, the more you understand the timeline, and the events, the more each movie is going to make even greater sense.
For example: In Avengers Endgame, I’m going to spoil the movie here so apologies, but Tony Stark/AKA Ironman dies in Endgame. And at his funeral, there’s all these people from his past that come to his funeral and if you’ve watched all the MCU movies you would have known every character and the significance they had in Tony Stark’s life. And yet I didn’t know the MCU as well as I had thought. There was this random guy. And I had no idea who he was. But if you are a super MCU nerd you would have known that that seemingly random guy was a little boy that Tony Stark helped in Ironman 3. And that funeral scene would have made all the more sense and would have been all the more powerful.
And the bible is sort of the same way. You can read say the Gospel of Mark as a stand alone and still be incredibly blessed, but if you know the whole Old Testament, especially the book of Isaiah, whew, man Mark is going just going to blow up in your face because it’s so good. Because Jesus and Mark the gospel writer, references the book of Isaiah quite a bit. And its not even direct references. Sometimes they are just allusions to things that happened in the book of Isaiah, very much the same way the MCU works at times.
And look this is why Jesus says Matthew 13:12 “For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
Jesus here is talking about understanding. And he says the one who has, more will be given. And to the one who has little, even what he has will be taken away. In other words, those who are rich in understanding will get richer in understanding. But those who don’t understand will just keep getting poorer in understanding.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And this happens in the physical world and the spiritual world. In fact this is true of all aspects of life. If your healthy, most likely you have healthy habits that reinforce that healthiness. And you enjoy foods that make you healthy. And therefore you will get even more healthier. But those of us who are unhealthy, we will just continue to get unhealthier, because we have unhealthy habits. And we love unhealthy foods. So we will continue to grow unhealthier and the little bit of health we have will be taken away.
This is just a true maxim of life. Those who
And the same is true of your understanding of scripture.
If you have a little bit of understanding in scripture. You wont want to read the bible because it doesn’t make sense to you. And so you won’t grow healthy habits of reading scripture. And thus that little bit of understanding you have will be taken away. But for those of you who are rich in understanding. You’ll want to read more. Because you understand. And the scriptures will pop for you.
In other words, look if you want to grow, you have to read more bible. The more you understand the greater your understanding will be
The reason why when you read the bible it doesn’t pop out at you is because you don’t understand very much.
The book of Nehemiah is the same way. The more we understand the Old Testament the more Nehemiah is going to make sense to us and the more its going to jump out of the page to us. The more it’s going to invoke emotions with us. In fact, if we know the book of Jeremiah it will help us tremendously!
And here’s the reason: did you know that Nehemiah is actually Part III of a trilogy?
You see Ezra and Nehemiah are written together. In other words, they are actually one book. Our modern bibles separate them out into two books, but they are one.
And further still the book of Ezra can be broken down into two parts. The book of Ezra follows a character named Zerubbabel in chapters 1-6. And then in the subsequent chapters it follows the character of Ezra.
Part 1 – Zerubbabel (Ezra 1- 6)
Part 2 – Ezra (Ezra 7-10)
Part 3 – Nehemiah
And so lets look at Ezra 1:1 In order to get some context about what the author is trying to do in Nehemiah. ““In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.” Ezra 1:1
And so what the writer of Ezra and Nehemiah is doing is he’s creating a hyperlink or a weblink. You can click it go to the book of Jeremiah and find out what’s happening.
Jeremiah’s ministry is a picture perfect of the entire scriptures. When he’s called look at what God calls him to
“Pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow,” (Jer 1:10b)
But simultaneously he said that this word will “build and to plant” (Jer 1:10b)
And Jeremiah comes to the Israelites and he does just that. he breaks them down. He rebukes them.
In other words, Jeremiah’s ministry is going to be tough because he’s going to rebuke the Israelites of their sins like crazy. And in fact he’s going to pronounce judgment over them, but simultaneously he’s going to give them hope.
(1) The Israelites have turned away from Worshipping God
(2) They are breaking the Law of God (i.e. committing acts of injustice)
(3) And so God strips away their Kingdom (i.e. land, people and king)
And so Jeremiah rebukes and judges the nation of Israel and tells them that Babylon, this great nation will come and destroy them. Exile them from the promised land and burn their temple to the ground.
The Kingdom of Judah was taken from them.
And yet Jeremiah builds them up. And in the book of Jeremiah we see hope and promises that God is not done with Judah. That he will restore them. That there is forgiveness and cleansing waiting for them. That God will restore them.
And there are several promises God makes.
First God will restore the people to the land
God promises at the end of Jeremiah he says this about the great nation of Babylon. That there will come another nation, greater than Babylon and will swallow her up. “For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it both man and beast shall flee away” (Jer 50:3)
“Behold I will stir up the spirit of the destroyer against Babylon” (Jer 51:1)
Secondly, God promises that the people of Israel and the people of Judah will Worship God
Thirdly, God promises that the people of Israel will have the Law of God written on their hearts. Meaning that they will live out this law so well, that the law is not just memorized but now its on their hearts.
And lastly and most importantly God promises the coming Messiah. THE KING who will sit on David’s throne.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause the Righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. (jer 33:14 – 16)
Now look here. Here’s the pay off. So lets go back now and look at Ezra 1:1 ““In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.” Ezra 1:1
If you’re an Israelite reading this you should be getting excited. O my goodness. Jeremiah is coming true!
For 70 years the people lived in exile. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and they were shipped out like cattle. And for 70 years they lived apart from Jerusalem. Apart from the promised land. Without a king. Without a land. That’s like 1950 to now. WWII ended in 1945. That’s almost like WW2 to now. Some of us, in fact most of us weren’t alive during WW2. And like WW2 is just something that happened in history.
And it was similar for these folks. It had happened so long ago that some of them forgot what Jerusalem even looked like. Most of them were born in exile.
Illustration: My parents were born in Korea. But I was born here. My parents didn’t visit Korea for 30 years. They went back. And I went back. But Korea felt almost foreign to me.
And ezra open up with the exiles returning to Jerusalem. Wow 70 years and finally they are coming back. The Great King Cyrus, the great Persian King from the North comes and smashes and decimates Babylon. Who would have thought Babylon falling? They were a superpower for like 400 years. Longer than America. And yet Cyrus wipes them out Cyrus is a different kind of ruler. The Babylonians would exile you from your land and re-educate you.
But the Persians were different.
Rather, they were encouraged to seek the king’s welfare by observing the proper forms of their own religions.
In other words, the Persians saw benefits by allowing these people to pray to their gods for Persia.
And so the book of Ezra begins with them exiles returning.
Its happening the promises of Jeremiah are coming true. (1) The PEOPLE are reunited with the LAND.
Remember I said Nehemiah is part III of a trilogy. And in part I, it follows a character named Zerubbabel. And he was assigned the task of rebuilding the temple and the altar of the LORD and (2) Reinstituting the WORSHIP of God. The promises of Jeremiah are coming true.
In Part II, Ezra (3) reinstituted the LAW. And teaches the people the law of God. Hoping to write it on their hearts. The promises of Jeremiah coming true.
Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. All three successfully completed their missions despite opposition, and for all three the completion of their tasks was marked by a great assembly
And so we think. Wow here It comes. The Temple (worship), Law, the wall (or the Kingdom) being restored. And yet…it’s anti climactic. No messiah.
The book of Nehemiah if all the promises of Jeremiah come true should end with the coming of the Messiah. And yet it doesn’t.
The messiah doesn’t show up.
In fact along the way there are some strange anti-climatic moments.
For example with Zerubbabel. They rebuild the alter and the temple. And yet the temple isn’t as grand as the first and it kind of sucks. In addition. At the end of the building of the Temple. There are basically some Jews who were never exiled but continued to live in the land of Jerusalem who wish to help the exiles rebuild the temple. And yet they are told “You have no part in the temple”. And yet the prophets did not envision them doing this. The prophets envisioned the people of God coming together to worship YHWH together.
With Ezra. He brings the law and the teaches the law. And we see a glimmer of hope in the Promises of Jeremiah. That the law will be written on their hearts. And yet on another hand, another anti-climactic ending. We learn that the Exiles who returned are marrying with those who Israelites and non-Israelites who had been living in the land all along. And he appeals to the Torah and tells them that Israelites need to be holy and set apart. And says that these people are as bad as the Canaanites. All these marriages should be annulled and the women and children should be sent away. And then the decree is only partially carried out and we are given a list of some of the men who divorce their wives and sent them away. First of all God never commanded. It was the leaders of Jerusalem. Second the contemporary prophet Malachi says they should care about purity, but he also says that God is opposed to divorce.
And finally as we’ll see in the book of Nehemiah the book just ends on a low note. Sure the people come together to build the temple and alter, sure the people respond to the teaching of Ezra, and sure the people come together to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but at the end of Nehemiah
“Nehemiah tours around the city and he finds that the people have not been fulfilling their covenant vows. So Zerubbabel’s work is undone as he finds the temple being neglected and staffed by all these unqualified people. He also finds Ezra’s work being undone. He finds everyone violating the Torah, people are working on the Sabbath. And even his own work on the walls are involved because people are setting up markets around the walls of Jerusalem and working on the Sabbath. So Nehemiah goes on a rampage. He’s beating people up, he’s pulling out their hairs and he’s yelling, ‘Obey the commands of the Torah.’ In his final words, are a prayer that God would remember him, that at least, he tried and the book ends.” – Tim Mackie, Bible Project
In other words, Tim Mackie of the Bible Project and Professor at Western Seminary would say something like this, “Nehemiah is a failed attempt at revival” – Tim Mackie
God’s promises of hope and redemption and restoration are sort of coming true. But not fully realized. And they are primarily not fully realized because the people don’t respond to God’s call of obedience.
Transition: And I wonder I wonder if something similar is happening here today.
I wonder if God wants to start a revival. But I wonder if we will respond in obedience?
(16:00)
[2] EDUCATION ON REVIVALS (10 min)
There have been revivals all throughout church history. Not the revivals we see on television, with televangelists, but a real movement of the Spirit of God, where people’s hearts are revived and there are millions of conversions. One of those historical documented revivals is a Revival called the “Korean Pentecost”. A while back I read a book called The Korean Pentecost and the Sufferings which Followed” written by Bruce Hunt and William Blair.
And I’m talking about this not to talk about Korean history and culture, though that might be interesting to those of us who come from that background. But I talk about this to talk about the nature of revivals. They have a chapter in the book called “Korea’s Preparation for the Gospel”. In other words, there were things happening on a broad cultural scale that began the preparation for this revival. And one of them was the fact that there was a growing distate for the predominant religion of the day. Monks were hoarding. Temple money was being spent solely on the Monks. Temples were in shambles.
“In Korea it is not so. The temples are there, but they are falling and in ruins. There are holes in the tiled roofs where the bats make their homes, where the rainy season floods come through and rot the wooden pillars. The people despise the few shaven-headed priests who remain. The fact is, Confucianism killed Buddhism in Korea. After the first enthusiasm had passed away and the Buddhist church had become rich and powerful, the priests grew corrupt and arrogant. They're lazy, immoral lives disgusted the Korean people…Most of the temple lands were taken away and the priests forbidden to enter the capital city. Today they point a finger of scorn at the Buddhist priest, calling him a ‘nom,’ a ‘low-down scoundrel’.” – William Blair and Bruce Hunt, the Korean Pentecost and the Sufferings which followed.
They were discontent with the predominant religion
Although there are many Christians in America and one could make an argument that Christianity still has tremendous power in this nation, I would say that the ruling religion if you would is atheism, (And yes I would catecorize atheism as a religion, because I would argue that you need faith to be an atheist. And just like relgions they have a worldview about the purpose of life, our eternal destination and the creation of the world and all of those are faith positions).
That’s the default religion of today. Our government, schools and workplaces don’t default to God and prayer, they default to the fact and what is normative is atheism.
And yet I wonder if people are growing tired of it.
Illustration: When I went to Orange County. For missions conference. I met a pastor who lived in OC and he is planting church here in Seattle. And he asked me what ministering in seattle is like. And to be honest, I didn’t know. It was one of those times, when I just started rambling. But I think the Holy Spirit guided my mind and my mouth. And this might sound arrogant, but I learned something from hearing myself talk, but I attribute it to the fact that I think the Holy Spirit was actually teaching me in that moment.
And I said this, I think people in Seattle are rich and content. In other words, in Los Angeles, people move there to acquire their dreams. And so people in LA area are hungry. They are starving artists and hungry entrepreneurs. But here in Seattle, people come here because all their dreams and wishes have come true. Most, not everyone, here is working their dream job. They got that high paying tech job. They got that job they studied their whole lives to acquire and they are making more money than they could have ever imagined.
In other words, we chased the idols of success and we are realizing that this god doesn’t satisfy.
There’s an atheist comedian named Bill Maher. And listen to what he says, “we’re just looking to kill time till we die. That’s all life is. There is no man in the sky. And this is one of the ways I’ve chosen to kill time [speaking of watching football].” – Bill Maher
Eat, drink and be merry that motto of life is turning sour.
And the priests of Atheism are the rich elites such as Bill Maher Who have no need for justice. Who have no need for a God who punishes sin.
Talk to those who are oppressed and under injustice in the underground churches in China. Or those churches in Africa that are exploding with converts. Go to South or Central America where they worship God with all their hearts minds and souls. Go to Ukraine where the war against Russia still rages on. And the Ukrainian people will never find justice, tell those families that there is no god. And that the goal of life is to just kill tiem before we die.
Atheism in my opinion is a religion that is for those who are privileged. Who are affluent. It is a religion for the elites.
The book of Ecclesiastes is one of the few books written to elite rich people. And it’s the only book in the bible that assumes God isn’t there.
This is just my experience, but its sort of interesting because when I hear atheists talk they point to evil and injustice in the world for why they don’t believe in God.
And yet it is precisely those people who are under oppression and tyranny and evil that cry out for God. Who yearn for God.
Think about it like this, who wouldn’t want God to exist? It’s people who believe they are god. Who hold their power and control. God threatens their power and control. Of course they don’t want God.
But who would want a God? People who are weak and powerless. People who desire saving. People who are under the hand of the rich elites who are oppressing them.
Illustration: its like referees. The perpetrator always hates the ref. But the one who the ref is saving to them is a hero.
Elites don’t want a god to exist.
The oppressed and powerless do.
And now the elites are telling us. Don’t believe in God. Believe in yourself
And look at where that has left us. More depressed. More anxious. More suicidal. Just work harder they say. Pursue your dreams.
Why?
Because we are trying to do what only God can do. Control everything.
Illustration: You ever watch Bruce Almighty? With Jim Carey? What happens when he tries to do God’s job. He gets stressed. And angry.
Doesn’t that sound like our current culture? Angry and stressed?
The atheists in Hollywood, sit on their mountain of cash, and comfort and elitism and tell us that there is no god.
And yet the poor and oppressed around the globe are screaming out and crying out and telling us God is alive and well.
Who will you believe?
The elite priests of atheism who seem to get richer and richer?
The people who have everything to lose if God exists?
Or the people who have nothing to lose?
I wonder if God is starting something new. I think people are hungry for more. People are becoming less religious but yet more spiritual. Meditation and mindfulness are coming back into secular imagination. And yet there are many Christian Historians who would say meditation and mindfulness are not Buddhist inventions but actually Christian ones.
I think people are realizing this can’t be it.
And I wonder if God is sowing the seeds of revival. I just wonder?
(26:00)
[3] FAILED REVIVAL (10Min)
The book of Nehemiah tells us that God was starting something new. The promises of Jeremiah were coming true, and that the revival of the nation of Israel was at hand, BUT throughout the narrative, revival is not fully realized. Why? And here’s the summary of the entire book: Disobedience
For some reason throughout history, revivals of course require the spirit of God to work miracles in people’s hearts. But God has also in his sovereignty chosen to work through people’s obedience.
Let me ask you, Do you want God’s kingdom to expand? Do you want justice to expand on earth? Do you want healing for all those in need? Do you want mercy for those who need mercy? Do you want the hungry fed? The naked Clothed? The orphan adopted? Do you want people to worship Christ? This is the kingdom of God. These are things that consist of God’s kingdom? Do you want it?
Do you want revival? Because if you do, it will require obedience. And obedience will cause discomfort.
In Mark 6:5 Jesus goes back to his hometown of Nazareth. And something interesting happens. Jesus is rejected. Look at verse 5 of chatper 6 of the Gospel of Mark “And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.” (Mark 6:5)And verse 6 “And he marveled because of their unbelief.” (Mark 6:6)
I meditated on this verse and Its sort of interesting why Jesus couldn’t do a miracle there. He couldn’t heal anyone.
But here’s why Jesus couldn’t heal anyone. It’s not because Jesus was somehow sucked dry of his powers because people didn’t have faith. No. It’s because people didn’t want healing. Crazy right? In other words, they didn’t want God’s Kingdom.
In other words, let me put it like this, imagine if pastor Kenny came into church one day and said “I have free donuts!” And he’s giving away donuts. And one of the donuts is called the Kingdom of God Donut. And you say “I don’t want the Kingdom of God”
Do you know why it says that Jesus could do no mighty work there. It’s not because their faith drained Jesus of his powers. It’s simple. Its because they didn’t want it. They didn’t want healing. They didn’t want his kingdom.
And you might be thinking why not?
Let me put it like this. Imagine with me Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk one day all got together to create a super company. And it was going to be called Tech Empire. And they started working on this 5 years ago and the media just got wind of it and all this reporting came out about this super mega tech company that was going to come out. And one day you get a phone call and its from all four of them. And they say, “I want you to come and participate in our new company. I want to hire you to participate in our new company.” You will work and get a share of the company. We promise you, this company will IPO and it will make trillions of dollars.” If you work for us we will give you 10% stake in the company. But it won’t be worth anything unless we IPO. How many of you would reject this offer?
I’ll tell you who would reject this offer. Only those of you who don’t have faith in Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk you will reject their offer.
But if you have faith that they can create this kind of company you will receive it. You will receive their offer.
But what does it mean to receive it?
Just believe?
No, you have to work. You have to go into the office. You have to actually accept the position and begin to work. You actually have to put your life into it. You have to sacrifice your breaths, your hours, your energies into building this new company.
Receiving is not just believing and having faith. It has to accompany with works.
And similarly, this is how Christianity works.
The God of the universe came to you and me and said, “I’m starting up a new kingdom. The old one was just a shadow of the new. The new will be a fuller expression of the old covenant. I want to extend an offer to you to work for me and my kingdom. I want to give you my kingdom.”
And so let me ask you, do you have faith in Jesus?
That he can build this new kingdom
And this new kingdom is going to be so amazing?
Do you have faith?
But here’s a second question, do you want what Jesus is selling?
In the example with Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg, they are offering money. And riches.
And yet Jesus Christ offers is not earthly riches, but he offers, love, peace, justice, mercy, healing, redemption. This is what his kingdom is made up of. Not money.
And so do you want what Jesus is selling?
Illustration: Hypothetical. What if I told you, guaranteed. If you sold your home and moved into a smaller home. You sold your car and traded it in for a lesser car. You took your salary and you cut it in half. And you gave 50% of it away. And all the comforts and pleasures you had were cut in half. In other words, you lived a life of less comfort and more sacrifice, but man you would be able to expand God’s kingdom. And God guaranteed you that 1 person would come to know the love of Christ and convert to Christianity. 1 person would be healed inside and outside. Spiritually and physically. Would you do it?
Do you want what Jesus is selling?
You and I don’t obey because we don’t have Faith and we don’t want what Jesus is selling.
We still desire the things of this earth.
If I’m honest I don’t want it. Bc revival will mean my discomfort
And here’s the question are we doomed to the same fate as the Israelites in the Book of Nehemiah? Failed attempt at revival?
(36:00)
[4] IS REVIVAL POSSIBLE? (5min)
Here’s the good news.
God brought about the greatest revival through the obedience of one person his name is Jesus Christ. God worked through the obedience of one man. His son Jesus. This is why Jesus had to be fully God and fully man. He lived the life of obedience that we should have lived.
Its interesting because if you study the book of Nehemiah closely, Nehemiah is presented as a new kind of Joshua. IN fact his prayer in chapter one is ripped straight out of Joshua’s prayer book.
And what did Joshua do?
He led the people into the promised land and uhered in God’s kingdom
He brought the people back to the promised land and ushered in the kingdom of God.
And did you know that Jesus' name in Hebrew was “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua.
And Jesus did the same, he ushered in God’s Kingdom He ushered in the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts. And we have the love of Christ, we have the grace of Christ. And because of his death on the cross we have access to the Holy of Holies. We have full access to God himself. We don’t need the promised land because we can worship God anywhere and at anytime. We don’t need animal sacrifices. We don’t need the blood of lambs and goats, We have access to God just as Moses had access to the Father!
And because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, obedience is made available to us. And this is why our first move is to the act communion with Christ, before obedience.
We haven’t touched Nehemiah chapter 1. I promise we’ll get to it next week. But look at Nehemiah 1. What does Nehemiah do first? Does he move towards obedience?
He moves towards prayer and fasting
He fasts and prays.
He doesn’t do anything. He goes to God first.
And in the same way, if we want to be a people who are obedient we first must go to Christ. This is why our spiritual practices or what others might call devotional life or Quiet times are so important.
Because our spiritual practices not only connect us to Christ but they help us practice obedience.
Did you know you have to practice obedience?
Just like you practice the guitar?
Obedience takes practice
And our spiritual practices will help us to practice obedience
How can you sacrifice your life and be a martyr for Jesus when you can’t even sacrifice 10 minutes of your day to the LORD and creator of the universe?
I’ll make this even more practical
“Men invent means and methods of coming at God's love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God's presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?” Brother Lawrence (The Dishwashing Saint)
“Pray remember what I have recommended to you, which is, to think often on GOD, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you: leave Him not alone. You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you: why then must GOD be neglected? Do not then forget Him, but think on Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian. In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it, we must learn it.” – Brother Lawrence
Deuteronomy 6 will put it like this
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut 6:4 – 9)
Psalm 139 will put it like this
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. (Psalm 139:7-10)
And 1 Thessalonians 5 will put it like this
17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18)
Just this alone will take a life time friends
This is the hardest most difficult spiritual task
And if you can recenter and refocus your minds upon Christ when you are coding. When you are designing. When you are on that zoom call. When you are teaching those students. When you are performing surgeries. Or talking to co-workers. When you are building and constructing that home. When you are washing the dishes. When you are putting your kids to sleep. When you are rising up. When you are laying down. When you are watching TV. When you are on social media. When you are having a nice cold brew sky with your buddy’s. Or when you are praying for those in your CGs. When you are doing your homework. Or eating lunch with freidns. When you are taking a test. Or playing baseball or soccer. Lets center our minds back to Christ.
I want to really challenge you to this and talk about it in your CGs. And lets begin practicing our faith together!