Sermons on Nehemiah (Page 2)
How To Confess Sin To A Faithful God (Nehemiah 9:16-21)
Learning how to confess sin to a faithful God is as easy as following the example we have in Scripture. The human heart is made to reach out beyond itself and so, as G. K. Chesterton is alleged to have said, when people reject God they do not worship nothing, they worship anything. Murray Capill, The Heart Is the Target That is the history of humanity in a nutshell. God made us for worship, and if He is not the…
How to Praise God for His Actions in the Past (Nehemiah 9:6-15)
Learning how to praise God is not the same as actually doing so. Teaching through this chapter—which contains one long prayer—is almost counter-intuitive. We run the risk of analyzing the passage as a model for prayer, and failing to actually pray it. What do you really want from this sermon? My guess is that you don’t need another tip or technique on prayer. If you do, you can watch this video I gave on “How to Pray to God” a…
How To Give Praise To The Lord Your God With Fellow Believers.
The Levites encouraged the Israelites to give praise. Specifically, they said to “stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting” (Neh 9:5). It was the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month, two days after the Feast of Booths. It was a day with nothing on the calendar. But they gathered, of their own accord, in order to confess “their sins and the iniquities of their fathers” (Neh 9:2). They spent three hours reading from the Law…
The Surprising Need For Every Believer To Learn How To Confess Sin With Others
Learning how to confess sin to other believers is not a concept we enjoy talking about. Most of us would like to remain silent about our struggles. Sharing our sin, even with our closest family and friends makes us feel more vulnerable than we would like. Is authenticity overrated? Authenticity has become all the buzz within the Christian community. It is reflected in our obsession with personality tests and vulnerability. We are deeply interested in knowing and being our true selves. We even see…
The Marvelous Joy of Obeying God’s Law in Every Situation (Neh. 8:13-18)
It may sound paradoxical to find joy in obeying, but that is the encouragement we find in God’s Word time and time again. “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim . . . of human existence.” Aristotle That’s partially true. However, the Bible clarifies that lasting happiness is the result of living according to God’s will (1 Jn 1:3-4). That doesn’t mean we can be free of all suffering as long as we’re obedient to…
How to Receive Gladness For Sorrow in a Worship Service (Nehemiah 8:9-12)
Americans have never been unhappier and the worship service in America has never been emptier. A survey conducted in May of 2020 found that just 14% of American adults considered themselves “very happy”. They have conducted this survey since 1972. In the past 50 years the percentage of people who rated themselves “very happy” had never dropped below 29%. We all experience seasons of unhappiness. Stress can creep into our lives slowly, or broadside us like a freight train. We…
3 Important Aspects of Preaching God’s Word to His People (Nehemiah 8:1-8)
In the 16th Century, Elizabethan England had such a reputation for revering the Bible, and the Preaching of God’s Word, that French author Victor Hugo said, “England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare but the Bible made England.” Regarding the Pilgrims who arrived in North America in 1620, Daniel Webster writes, “The Bible came with them, and it is not to be doubted that to the free and universal reading of the Bible is to be…
Redeeming Genealogies
Most commentaries recognize a transition point here in Nehemiah 7. One scholar even sees it as the climax of the book. I know, personally, I have been excited to preach the next chapter. From my perspective, we’re standing on the precipice of the pinnacle of Nehemiah. We have already seen a list of names in chapter three. Is there really much more that can be said that has not already been mentioned? This particular list—with minor exceptions—appears in Ezra 2. Why bore…
Scare Tactics
I love a good psychological thriller like The Sixth Sense and The Quiet Place. Something that makes my heart race and my palms sweat. For most of these movies the key factor is the slow build up of our anticipation. While many of us find these kind of movies entertaining, we would hate to face them in real life. That’s what the FX show Scare Tactics tried to do. It aired for five seasons between 2003 and 2013. The premise was essentially a smashup of…