Don’t Settle for Survival | Nehemiah 7-8
Well it’s finally here! Happy Birthday! Happy 10-Year Celebration City Awakening! To everybody onsite and everybody watching this service online, we’re glad you’re joining us for our 10-Year Celebration. At this time we can dismiss our children to our City Kids leaders in the back for children’s church, and if you’re a 1st time guest welcome to our church. My name is Louis, I’m the lead pastor, and you picked a great day to visit our church. We’re celebrating our 10 years of existence as a church, and we’d love for you to be a part of what God’s doing here...
Now today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Nehemiah, and we’re calling this series Rise and Build. It’s a series about God bringing restoration from the rubble, because God uses Nehemiah to restore the broken walls in Jerusalem that were reduced to rubble. The text we’re studying today is perfect for our 10-Year Celebration, because it’s about seeking revival, instead of settling for survival. That’s what we want to do as a church. We want to keep seeking revival, instead of settling for survival. We want to keep seeking revival for our lives, marriages, families, friends, cities, and neighborhoods. We started City Awakening 10 years ago with a team that believed Jesus wanted to transform lives in our city. We believed Jesus wanted to revive or awaken the hearts of skeptics and believers to the good news of the gospel, hence the name City Awakening. So we started out seeking revival, but the danger we face 10 years later—is settling for survival. The danger is letting our faithful past turn into a complacent future. The danger is being grateful for what God’s done, but losing the hunger for what God still wants to do.
Listen I believe this is a pivotal moment for our church, and a pivotal moment for you! I believe your life isn’t an accident, and you aren’t here today by accident. If you look at a painting, it tells you there’s a painter. If you look at a building, it tells you there’s a builder. If you look at a watch, it tells you there’s a watchmaker. If you look at creation, it tells you—there’s a Creator. Just like a painting, building, and watch aren’t created by accident and have a purpose, you weren’t created by accident and have a purpose! God created you and led you here today for a purpose! It’s to hear this message about seeking revival, instead of settling for survival. God led us all here to seek revival for our lives, marriages, families, cities, and neighborhoods. To seek revival in Jesus and his Word, because that’s where the power for revival comes from. Let’s turn to Nehemiah 7 and get into it. If you open the bible to the middle, keep turning left, you’ll find Nehemiah. We’ll be in ch. 7-8. Title of the message is Don’t Settle For Survival, and the big idea is we need to seek revival, instead of settling for survival...We need to seek revival, instead of settling for survival...
Context:
Here’s your context. The book of Nehemiah records a time when God brings restoration to the broken walls and broken lives of people in Jerusalem. They were living in persistent sin, so God allowed them to live in Babylonian exile for roughly 70 years. But when the Persians defeated the Babylonians, they allowed the Jews to return home. In ch.’s 1-6 Nehemiah hears about the broken walls, starts praying, and God gives him a plan to restore the broken walls and broken lives of the people. When Nehemiah and the people start building, they face heavy opposition, but they keep praying and pressing forward. In ch.’s 7-8 they finally finish the wall, but God isn’t finished with their hearts. They revive the wall, but God wants to revive their hearts. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Nehemiah 7:1-5 states, “When the wall had been rebuilt, and I had the doors installed, the gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were appointed. 2 Then I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah, commander of the fortress, because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most. 3 I said to them, ‘Don’t open the gates of Jerusalem until the sun is hot. Let the doors be shut and securely fastened while the guards are on duty. Station the citizens of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts, and some at their homes.’ 4 The city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and no houses had been built yet. 5 Then my God put it into my mind to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be registered by genealogy.” Okay so the wall’s finally been rebuilt, but no houses had been built yet. The wall had to take priority over the houses to give them security from their enemies. But now that the wall’s been rebuilt, they shift their focus to rebuilding their houses and repopulating the city. So in vs. 5-73 Nehemiah creates a record of all the people, livestock, and financial resources they have. It’s a record of roughly 50,000 people, 8,000 animals, and several million dollars in donations. I couldn’t imagine having to record all that! I believe in the importance of administrative faithfulness, but that isn’t my gifting. So I'm very thankful for anyone who has a gift of administration. It's a critical role, even though it's often a behind the scenes role. In Nehemiah ch. 7, we learn about the wall being finished and the importance of administrative faithfulness. As we enter ch. 8, we’ll learn that some of the people start settling in their hometowns, and this is where we’ll see them seeking revival, instead of settling for survival.
Ch. 8:1, “All the people gathered together at the square in front of the Water Gate. They asked the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had given Israel. 2 On the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding. 3 While he was facing the square in front of the Water Gate, he read it from daybreak until noon...All the people listened attentively to the book of the law…6 Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and with their hands lifted all the people said, ‘Amen, Amen!’ Then they knelt low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” This is the 1st of 3 things I want you to notice about the revival they’re experiencing. The 1st thing is...
#1 Revival begins with a deep hunger for God’s Word. = Revival begins with a deep hunger for God’s Word. The people ask the scribe, the priest Ezra, to bring the book. The book they’re talking about is the law of Moses, which is most likely the Pentateuch. It’s most likely the first five books of the bible. But what I love about this is the people are hungering for God’s Word, without Ezra and Nehemiah having to do anything! They don't have to convince them to study God’s Word! They don’t have to create a marketing strategy or a catchy name for their sermon series! They don’t even have to worry about the countdown clock; worry about people leaving if they preach too long!...In vs. 3 it says Ezra read scripture from daybreak until noon! That means he read scripture for roughly 6 hours! It’s like a Pentecostal church service that never ends!...One of my best friends is a Puerto Rican Pentecostal, and he says that Puerto Rican Pentecostal combo makes for a very long Sunday. He sometimes texts me for updates on Giants games...The people sat around listening to Ezra read God’s word for 6 hours! I think many of us would’ve quit after the 2nd or 3rd hour, and I’m not sure any of us would’ve been left by the 6th hour. That’s convicting for me, because I’m a pastor and I don’t think I would’ve lasted past the 2nd hour!...How long do you think you would’ve lasted?...How long do you think it would’ve taken for you to walk out on God’s Word?...How long does it take for you to walk out on God’s Word in your daily devotions?..
City Awakening you can’t keep blaming God for your problems, if you aren’t hungering for the God who can help with your problems. You can’t keep blaming God for not reviving your life, if you aren’t hungering for him and his word to revive your life. If you want to experience revival in your life, you need hunger for God and his word like the people in the text. The people aren’t hungering for a fancy church with fog machines for special effects. They aren’t hungering for a church that’ll entertain them. They’re hungering for God and his Word. They say bring us that book! Vs. 6 says it’s that book that caused a revival in their hearts. It caused them to lift their hands, fall on their faces, and start worshiping God. Their revival didn’t start with a strategy; it started with a deep hunger for God and his Word. That’s been our goal for the past 10 years. It hasn’t been to create a flashy church that seeks to entertain people. It’s been to preach God’s Word and point people to Jesus, because that’s where the power to revive and transform lives comes from. What our church needs for the next decade isn’t a new strategy with a new message; it’s the same strategy with the same message. It’s to keep pointing people to Jesus and his Word. It’s to keep hungering for God and God’s Word. It’s like the Dos Equis commercials, “Stay thirsty my friends.” Except in Nehemiah 8 it’s, “Stay hungry my friends...Stay hungry for God and his Word!”
Vs. 7, “The Levites explained the law to the people as they stood in their places. 8 They read out of the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so people could understand what was read. 9 Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God. Don’t mourn or weep.’ For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.” This is the 2nd thing I want you to notice about the revival they’re experiencing. The 2nd thing is...
#2 Revival continues with a deep conviction in our hearts. = Revival begins with a deep hunger for God’s Word, but it also continues with a deep conviction in our hearts when we aren’t following God’s Word. The reason the people were weeping, is because they’re hearing God’s Word and feeling convicted over not following God’s Word. They’re feeling convicted over rejecting God and rejecting his ways. Their worship turns into weeping because they know they don’t deserve God’s love. They know they don’t deserve a revival; they deserve another exile. When was the last time you were genuinely convicted and broken over your sin like that? When was the last time you asked the Holy Spirit to reveal your sin so you can repent? The people are weeping. But Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites don’t let them stay in this place of weeping. It’s the old saying, “It’s okay to not be okay, but it’s not okay to stay that way.” In vs. 9 they tell the people they shouldn’t stay in this place of weeping. It isn’t that their weeping is a bad thing, because it isn’t. It’s a good thing when God’s Word exposes things in our lives and causes a deep conviction in our hearts. But it becomes a bad thing when we sit in that conviction too long. It becomes a bad thing when we let conviction turn into condemnation. So Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites lead the people from a place of deep conviction, to a place of deep joy over their relationship with God.
Vs. 10, “Then Ezra said to them, ‘Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Don’t grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength...’ 12 Then all the people began to eat and drink, send portions, and have a great celebration...17 The Israelites had not celebrated like this from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. And there was tremendous joy…” This is the 3rdand last thing I want you to notice about the revival they’re experiencing. The 3rd and last thing is...
#3 Revival produces a deep joy in our hearts. = Revival begins with a deep hunger, it continues with a deep conviction, and it produces a deep joy in our hearts. Ezra says the reason the people don’t have to sit in deep conviction for long, is because they have the joy of the Lord as their strength. That’s another way of saying the Lord’s on their side. He’s saying they don’t have to sit in deep conviction for long, because the revived wall is evidence of their revived relationship with the Lord. He’s teaching them to shift their focus from their sin to their salvation, and some of you need to hear that today. Some of you have been sitting in your sin for too long, and you need to shift your focus to Jesus so you can rejoice in your salvation. You need to focus more on your Savior than your sin. Their evidence they had that God was on their side was the revived wall, but the evidence we have is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. If you put your faith in Jesus, then shift your focus from your sin to your Savior. Shift your focus from your sin to rejoicing in your salvation. When the people finally listen to Ezra, it says they have a great celebration, and they’re full of tremendous joy! In vs. 13-18 they start celebrating an important holiday that Ezra was reading about in scripture. They start celebrating it as an act of joyful obedience to God’s Word. The point is the people aren’t just hearing God’s Word and doing nothing with it. They’re hearing God’s Word, living it out, and it’s producing joyful fruit in their lives! The text says they're filled with tremendous joy! So ch. 8 teaches revival begins with hungering for God and his Word. It continues with conviction in our hearts as we read God’s Word. It produces joyful fruit in our lives when we obey God’s Word. It’s hunger, conviction, and obedience that produces joyful fruit in our lives! Without hunger, conviction, and obedience, we experience survival, not joyful revival.
Now here’s what this means for our church today. As we look forward to the next decade, we shouldn’t settle for survival. We shouldn’t allow our faithful past, turn into a complacent future. See the first 10 years in church planting is usually about surviving. In fact I saw a recent stat that said roughly 50% of church plants in the U.S. don’t survive past 5 years, and it’s even worse in Orlando. According to researcher Ed Stetzer, Orlando is such a difficult place to plant a church—that it’s called a church-planting graveyard! Well isn’t that encouraging?...So the odds are 50% in 5 years or a graveyard! But here we are 10 years later still standing, still alive, still beating the odds, still far from a graveyard, and I’m not planning for a funeral; I’m praying for a revival!...I’m praying we’d live out our name City Awakening with a deep hunger for Jesus, and a deep hunger for others to know Jesus! In fact we’re a part of a much bigger revival plan that started with a man named Sam James. In 1962 he helped start a church in Durham, NC, called Homestead Heights Baptist Church. He preached 1 sermon on their launch day, then went to serve as a missionary in Vietnam. But in that 1 sermon, he shared a vision that they’d become a church-planting church that’d reach the nations. In 2002, 40 years later, they relaunched as The Summit Church. In 2009 they started a movement to plant 1,000 churches in a generation, and in 2016 City Awakening launched as a part of that movement. We were the first church plant in Florida, but now there are 10 churches in Florida, 70 churches domestically, and over 600 churches globally. The reason I’m sharing this is because we’re a part of a much greater story than a 10 year survival story. We’re a part of a much greater story, a much greater revival plan that started way before City Awakening!
Our part in this greater story includes 10 years of baptisms! 10 years of marriages restored! 10 years of prodigals returning home! 10 years of people finding community, hearing the gospel, having their lives saved and transformed by Jesus! It’s been 10 years of us fulfilling the mission statement God gave us in 2016, to reach people and reach the world with the life-transforming message of Jesus! In our 10 years we’ve been reaching people not just in our city, but also in other cities around the world. We’ve been supporting church plants in other cities such as:
· Grace Alive in Ocoee
· One Family in Apopka
· New City in Tampa
· 10:02 in Orlando
· King’s Cross in Orlando
· New City Fellowship in Orlando
· Harbor City in Charleston, SC
· Gateway Church in Waynesville, NC
· Mercy Church in Nairobi, Kenya
We’ve helped support 9 new churches in 10 years with our time, talent, and treasures. But we’ve also sent teams to serve in other parts of the world such as Ethiopia, Peru, Cameroon, and the Dominican Republic where we’ve built 3 chapels for churches in partnership with the school we’re meeting in ICS. And we’re about to build a 4th chapel in the Dominican Republic next year in a place called Duquesa, where the people are living on a literal landfill. There’s a picture on the screen of them receiving the check we sent to purchase the land there. They literally received that check this week, and in a few weeks we’ll share a video update they sent to thank us. My point is 10 years ago God gave us the mission to reach people and reach the world with the life-transforming message of Jesus, and God’s been faithful in helping us to fulfill that mission! But we’re just getting started! So I’m not planning for a funeral; I’m praying for a GREATER revival!
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is we need to seek revival, instead of settling for survival...We need to seek revival, instead of settling for survival...Ch. 8 begins with a revived wall, but it ends with a revived people. The wall protected them, but God’s Word transformed them. The wall led to their survival, but God’s Word led to their revival. We need to remember this for our lives today, and for our church over the next decade. We need to remember that even though we’re 10 years in, our greatest need is still a deeper hunger for God and his Word. Our greatest need isn’t a new building, a new strategy, a new 10 steps to a better you message! Our greatest need will always be a deep hunger for Jesus and his Word. It’ll always be to keep seeking revival in the Savior, instead of settling for survival. So let’s do that. Let’s respond to God’s Word like the people did. Let’s respond by either praying or praising. Let’s respond by either falling on our knees in prayer, or by lifting our hands in worship and praise. I want to open the front of the stage area for prayer. Don’t hesitate, don’t let fear stop you; just come to the front of the stage surrendering your life, your sin, your burdens to Jesus. Pray for him to revive your life, your family, your friends, our city, our church. Pray for revival, instead of settling for survival. Let’s respond by coming to the front of the stage right now to pray, or by standing to lift our hands in worship and praise...