Sunday Morning at James River Assembly

September 23rd, 2012

Nehemiah "Built to Last" Series
Pastor John

"Dedication and Joy"
Nehemiah 12:1-47
Read Nehemiah 12:1-47

• Joy is something God works in our heart as we follow His commandments and serve Him.
• Happiness is based on what happens to us. Joy is exurbarnat and something we have regardless of circumstances.

Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Psalm 4:7
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

1. Joy comes by remembering the people who have helped us.

Philippians 1:3-5
I thank my God in all my rememberance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

• The key to Christian joy is to look beyond the mistakes people make, and look at the good and celebrating the good.
• Key to joy is remembering the people God has put into our lives.

2. Joy is the result of whole heartedly worshipping the Lord.

• Come to church ready to worship God with enthusiam. Come without distractions.
• Have you or are you preparing your heart for the worship service and sermon?
• We were made to worship God.

3. Joy is the result of getting involved in serving the Lord.

• There's joy in being part of something that is bigger then yourself.

Mark 8:34-35
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

4. Joy is the result of giving your resources to the Lord.

Proverbs 11:24 (MSG)
The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

Proverbs 11:24-25 (NKJV)
There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (MSG)
Remember: a stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving. God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than ready to do what needs to be done.

• "There was a man, some called him mad, the more he gave the more he had."

Malachi 3:10-12 (MSG)
Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.

• We cannot imagine what God will do.
• God can only bless the parts that we surrender to Him.
• As we are faithful to God, He will be faithful to us.
• We get in life what we're looking for. If you look for the bad you will find the bad, if you look for the good you will find the good. Look for the good in life.
• The joy of the Lord is our strength!

Encouraging Bible Verses

Psalm 9:9
Psalm 23:4
Psalm 27:14
Psalm 31:24
Psalm 34:8
Psalm 34:19
Psalm 34:22
Psalm 37:4
Psalm 46:1
Psalm 55:22
Psalm 119:114-115
Psalm 120:1
Psalm 121:1-2
Psalm 145:18-19
Proverbs 3:5-6
Proverbs 16:3
Proverbs 18:10
Romans 8:28
Romans 8:31
Romans 8:38-39
Ephesians 6:10-11
Colossians 3:15
2 Timothy 1:7
2 Timothy 4:18
Hebrews 13:5
James 1:2-4
James 1:12-15
Philippians 4:6-8
1 Peter 5:7
Joshua 1:9
Joshua 10:25
Jeremiah 29:11
Isaiah 40:28-31
Isaiah 41:10
Isaish 41:13
Isaiah 58:11
Deuteronomy 31:6
Deuteronomy 31:8
Matthew 6:25-26
Matthew 7:7-8
Matthew 11:28-30
Lamentations 3:25
Nahum 1:7
Zephaniah 3:17
John 16:33
John 14:27
1 Corinthians 10:13
1 Corinthians 16:13
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
2 Corinthians 5:17
1 Peter 5:7
1 John 5:14-15
Revelation 14:12

Sunday Morning at James River Assembly

Nehemiah "Built to Last" Series
Pastor John

"A Covenant Commitment"

Nehemiah 9:38 to 10:39
Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests. 10 “On the seals are the names of Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, Zedekiah, ² Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³ Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁴ Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵ Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶ Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷ Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸ Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests. ⁹ And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; ¹⁰ and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹ Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹² Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³ Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. ¹⁴ The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁵ Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶ Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷ Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸ Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹ Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰ Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹ Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²² Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³ Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴ Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵ Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶ Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷ Malluch, Harim, Baanah. ²⁸ “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, ²⁹ join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. ³⁰ We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. ³¹ And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. ³² “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: ³³ for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. ³⁴ We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. ³⁵ We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; ³⁶ also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; ³⁷ and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. ³⁸ And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. ³⁹ For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”

• A covenant says no to a lot of other things, but yes to one thing which frees us to live a life of impact.
• Nothing remarkable is accomplished without a covenant.
• They don't stop when God does something powerful, when God does something powerful it's setting us up for the next powerful work.
• Changes heart leads to a changed life.
• Make commitments for endless blessings.

1. We will honor and obey the Word of God.

• Our commitment to do the things of the Word is how we really serve God and live for God.
• Do people see evidence of the Word in your life?
• God's Word should be the foundation of your life.
• Personally and practically do you believe the Word in it's entirety?
• Spirituality means nothing.

2. We will lead our families spiritually.

• We should not marry or flirt or date a nonbeliever.

2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

• We (as believers) have nothing in common with unbelievers at the most basic level.
• Can't have a rationale conversation once passion is raging.

3. Worshipping God will be a priority for us.

• Worshipping God will become a priority.
• The 7th day is not a day to do as we will, it's a day to get a renewal and enjoy the presence of God. A day fully involved in worship.

Hebrews 4

• One day a week rest in the Lord allowing Him to renew and recreate you.
• Orient life around worship with God.
• Don't give God your time leftovers!!!

4. We will make it a priority to use our resources to honor the Lord.

Leviticus 27:30
Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord.

Malachi 3:7-10
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ ⁸ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

• The blessing of God will take me further then we can take ourselves.
• As we give, God will bless us.
• As we honor God, He will honor us!

Sunday Morning at James River Assembly

Nehemiah "Built to Last" Series
Pastor John

"Prayer and Repentance"

Nehemiah 9:1-37
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. ² And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³ And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. ⁴ On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵ Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶ “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. ⁷ You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. ⁸ You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous. ⁹ “And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, ¹⁰ and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. ¹¹ And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. ¹² By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. ¹³ You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, ¹⁴ and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. ¹⁵ You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them. ¹⁶ “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. ¹⁷ They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. ¹⁸ Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, ¹⁹ you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. ²⁰ You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. ²¹ Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. ²² “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. ²³ You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. ²⁴ So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. ²⁵ And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. ²⁶ “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. ²⁷ Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. ²⁸ But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. ²⁹ And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. ³⁰ Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. ³¹ Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. ³² “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. ³³ Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. ³⁴ Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. ³⁵ Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. ³⁶ Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. ³⁷ And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

• When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said "repent" He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
• They wore sackcloth:
• For the purpose of getting right with God.
• Didn't care what anyone else thought.
• Church is about worshipping God, but first you have to repent.
• You can fool everyone else but you can't fool God.
• What God thinks is more important than anything else.
• The way we serve God affects everyone around us. (and the way we don't serve God affects everyone around us).
• Should not just be confessing our sin, but the sins of the nation.
• When it comes to repentance, excuses have to go.
• If your heart is cold towards God just block out a day and spend large quantities of time in God's Word, allowing the Word to wash over you.
• The more we know of the Word, the more we know of God and who He is.

1 Peter 1:15-16
But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

• Be an imitation of God.
• Repentance is about being brokenhearted for your sin.

1. God should be the focus of prayer.

• Use this prayer (in Nehemiah) as an example.
• If we don't know how to pray it's because we haven't been in the Word enough.
• If we don't know how to pray, make your prayers Biblically based.
• Prayer should not be self-centered. Prayer should be all about God and not at all about us.

2. God's goodness should be the theme of prayer.

3. It is the recognition of God's goodness that brings people to repentance.

Romans 2:4
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

• Meeting our needs should not be the bulk of what our prayer is about.
• The more we give thanks the more thankful we become.
• Begin to think of the goodness of God and all He's done.
• What is enslaving you?
• We can serve God and He will be our master or we can serve sin and it will be our Master.

1. Repentance begins with recognizing who God is.

• God is worthy of everything we could give to Him.

2. Repentance is repenting to God and to those you have wronged.

3. Repentance involves reversing the course of your life.

4. Repentance is resting in God's forgiveness.

Psalm 32:1-2
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.