Summary
Pastor Safrit walks through Nehemiah chapter 5, emphasizing the importance of walking in the fear of God. He highlights how Nehemiah confronts the internal strife among the people, urging them to treat each other fairly and to repent for their wrongdoings. The sermon calls for practical applications of faith, such as living with integrity, managing emotions wisely, and prioritizing worship and service to others over personal gain, all rooted in a deep reverence for God.
Welcome and Housekeeping
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Children can be dismissed at this time for Children's Church. And if you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 5. We're going to look at all 19 verses today. Nehemiah chapter 5.
We've been a couple of weeks now in the book of Nehemiah. I appreciate the feedback that you guys have been giving me, just the encouragement as we've been walking through. A difficult book, to say the least.
Nehemiah is not an easy book to preach through, but I felt the Lord leading us here. And so we want to be faithful to where he's leading. And so we want to continue to be very practical today. We've just got five points that we're going to look at through these 19 verses.
And I want it to be really applicable for us today as our church, as we continue to see the Lord move and Lord work in our church.
And so if you found your place there, we're going to stand and read 19 verses today and jump right into the message. Let us stand and let's read the Word of God this morning.
The Bible says, There was widespread outcry from the people and their wives against their Jewish countrymen.
Some were saying, We, our sons and our daughters are numerous. Let us get grain that we can eat and live. Others were saying,
We're mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, our homes, just to get grain during this time of famine. Still others were saying, We have borrowed money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards. And we and our children are just like the countrymen and their children.
Yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery.
Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless because our fields and vineyards belong to others. Nehemiah says, I became extremely angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. After seriously considering this matter, I accused the nobles and the officials, saying to them,
Each of you is charging his countrymen interest. So I called a large assembly against them and I said, Have we not done our best to buy back our Jewish countrymen who were sold to foreigners? But now you are selling your own countrymen and you have to buy them back. They remained silent and they could not say a word.
Then I said, What are you doing? What you are doing isn't right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God and not invite the reproach of our foreign enemies?
Even I, as well as my brothers and my servants, have been lending them money and grain. Please let us stop charging this interest.
Return their fields, vineyards, olive groves, garden groves, and houses to them immediately, along with the percentage of money, grain, new wine, and fresh oil that you have been assessing them.
They responded, We will return these things and require nothing more from them. We will do as you say. So I summoned the priest and made everyone take an oath to do this. And I shook the robes and said, May God likewise shake his house and his property.
Everyone who has kept this promise, may he be shaken out and have nothing.
The whole assembly said, Amen, and they praised the Lord, and the people did as they promised.
Furthermore, from the day from King Arxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year until the 32nd year, 12 years, I had my associates never ate from the food allotted to the
governors. The governors who preceded me and have heavily burdened them, taking them food and wine as well as a pound of silver. Their subordinates also oppressed the people.
But because of the fear of God, I did not do this. Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of the wall, and all of my subordinates were gathered there for the work. We didn't buy any land.
There were 150 Jews and officials, as well as the guests from the surrounding nations at my table. Each day, one ox, six choice sheep, and some fowl were prepared for me.
An abundance of all kinds of wine was prepared every 10 days, but I did not demand the food allotted to the governor because the burden of the people was so heavy. Verse 19, Remember me favorably, my God, for all I have done for this people. Lord, we love you.
Prayer and Scripture Reading
We thank you for what you've done. We thank you for the reading of your word. Pray that you have your hand of blessing upon this service. In your name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.
We get to this portion of chapter 5 where Nehemiah is going through a different sort of challenge that's going on. The first couple of challenges, the Lord blesses. There's opposition.
There's the building that's going on. The opposition comes, as we looked at last week. But then this week, there begins to be a different kind of opposition. The opposition begins to come inwardly.
And we want to use this phrase that continues to pop up all throughout this passage of chapter 5 is the fear of God.
And I want to challenge us this morning as I open up with our title of walking in the fear of God. And when we truly fear God, when we truly understand who God is and how great He is, I believe that it'll do a couple of things.
It's going to change the way we treat people. It'll change the way we respond to wrong that has been done to us. And it'll challenge us to handle our resources efficiently and effectively for God's glory. The goodness of this wall that the people were building was a great thing.
But it was no good if the people inside the wall couldn't get along.
If all of a sudden the fighting that was happening inside was greater than the fighting that was happening outside, there was no use in even doing this. And so we see the opposition from outside and now we get this internal division that is going up. The wall is going up.
The wall has been built. People are working side by side. And then the infighting begins to happen.
This beginning to fall apart inwardly begins to happen. I came across this quote by a commentary and I want to read it to you.
It says, What good is it to build something great for God if we destroy the people who are building it with us? What good is it to build something great for God if we are destroying the people who are building it with us?
You have to understand the people here were not fighting over preferences or music or personalities.
They were fighting and dealing with real economic hardships and people exploiting their brothers and sisters and family members.
So I think we can really apply to this. I mean, there's not a time in my life I've been alive for 37 years. I can't remember a time in my life where there wasn't inflation.
I haven't remembered a time in my life where I cannot remember my mom and dad sitting at the table and saying, I just don't know how we're going to figure this out. Like money is tight.
Things are tight. Groceries are tight. It's never not been like that for me and my family. And the news media, it always begins to talk through this. And so we have to ask ourselves,
are we fighting over the little things or are we struggling with this economic hardship that these Jewish people are going through? Look at the progression as we walk through this book and we're going to take some time here in a moment. But the people begin to cry out. Nehemiah gets angry.
Nehemiah does something that I think we all should do. He thinks before he acts.
Oftentimes, I'm guilty of this. I act before I think. And so Nehemiah is modeling this for us. He tells us that we should fear God, that we should walk in what God is calling us to do. He calls them to repentance. He explains how he personally lived and how his lifestyle was.
And then in verse 19, he says, God, remember us and your people.
The fear of God is not merely an emotion. Oftentimes, we use this phrase and we say, I'm going to fear God. I'm going to emotionally be in the aspect or the mindset that I'm going to fear God. I believe it goes further than this and it produces a way of living.
When we go to the gas station, when we go to our place of work, when we go to school, we live differently because we fear God.
We live differently and the world should see that we are living a different way because of what God has done on the inside. And so as we walk through this, we're going to walk through some practical steps today.
And the first is this, verses one through five, we should never substitute preferences for doctrine. We should never substitute preferences for doctrine.
Addressing Injustice Among Us
The people here in this place and in this time, they were simply saying, listen, we're poor. God's people are taking advantage of one another. And they weren't just simply saying we should do something different. They were beginning to truly say that this is a famine. We are being taxed. There is pressure.
We're having to mortgage what we've got. We don't have the resources that we can do. And they begin to simply substitute their own preferences for what God had called them to do, to build this wall, to do what God has called them to do.
And this is some of the questions that they were asking this. What can I legally get away with?
And this is the question that oftentimes we'll ask ourselves is how far can I get to the edge of something? There's an old story that goes like this. A rich man was wanting to hire a driver to drive him up to the top of his mountain house where he was at.
And he had multiple men that were coming into the room and, you know, they were talking about how I can drive and I'll be one foot away from the edge. I'm that skilled of a driver. And then another guy came in and said, I can do better than that.
I can do six inches from the edge of the road and I can get you to the top of your mountain perfectly fine.
And then the third guy comes in and he goes, you know, I can drive your chariot to the top of the mountain and I'll have three inches on the side of that cart and I can get you to the top safely.
The fourth guy stand there and he bows his head and he walks out and the guy looks at him and says, what are you doing? He said, why are you leaving?
He said, these guys are better than me. This guy can get a foot away, six inches, three inches. He said, I'm afraid to even drive up there. I'm going to get as close to the mountain as I can get. And the old man says, you're the guy I want to hire.
I don't want to get as close to the edge as I can get. I want to get as close and as safe as I can possibly get.
And the question we have to ask is not what I can legally get away with, but God, what do you require of me? God, where are you calling me to be at? How close can I be to your godliness?
How close can I be to your holiness? How close can I be so that I fear you and I am walking in your goodness? The distinction is not, can something be legal and still be wrong?
The distinction is not, can it be permittable but still unloving?
We must get to the point by saying, God, am I pleasing you in what I'm doing?
God, am I walking in the statues that you've given me? Am I walking in the doctrine that you've given me? Am I walking in the commands that you have given me? And I want to live at the highest possible standard that I can be. The law says don't steal.
But we as Christians should take it a step further and say, I'm going to live as loving as I possibly can be. And how can I help you? Instead of just simply saying, I'm not going to steal. You know, something can technically be true but be delivered in the wrong way.
As a young child, I don't even think I've shared the story with my wife. But as a young child, I had a great grandmother that I did not enjoy going to see.
This is why I enjoyed not going to see her. I didn't enjoy going to see her. As a young kid, a redhead, I had very pale skin. I still have pale skin. Nothing's changed.
The only thing that's changed, if you look at me as a baby and me now, is I have facial hair. It's really the only thing that's changed.
And I used to go to my great grandmother's house and we would sit around and she would knit and she would sew and she would have these things. And she would always look at me and she would say, you're the prettiest little boy ever.
You would be so pretty if you were a girl.
And I would sit there and I would just get so upset. Like, okay, it may be true. Like, I've got a very good looking little daughter down here. And I'm sure that I would have been a very pretty little girl.
But even though it's true, you don't say those things. And so I am trying to say, I'm trying to understand in my head, okay, yes, it's true. But does this build someone up by saying this?
And all of a sudden, we begin to live this way. Do we tend to say, what can I get away with? Or are we saying, God, what can I do to honor you?
God, I don't want to just look at my preferences and say that I can do this because I can do this. I want to look at your doctor and I'm going to live the right way. I want to do the right thing because this is what you have called me to do.
Number two, verses six and seven, he begins to walk through and he says, be emotional, but never be emotionally driven. I think this is so important for us because emotions are big.
Emotions are vital for us. I don't simply share a lot of emotions.
I think my wife has seen me cry like three times in our 15 years of marriage. I just, emotions are not huge in that area.
I get passionate about what I'm doing. I get passionate about what God has called me to do, leading a church, leading my family, doing these things. I'm very passionate about those things.
But those things are not what is the reason I'm doing these things. And verse six tells us that he became extremely angry when he heard the outcry of the complaints. Now, me and I was angry. And it's important to understand that. Biblical Christianity does not require you to become emotionally numb.
As we go through life, as we go through situations, there are times where you should get upset.
You should understand that because you are believing what you're doing and because of the injustice in the world, because of the sin that is in this world, and because people are mistreating one another, that should make you angry.
Managing Emotions and Anger
But it should not lead us into sin. Look at what it says in verse seven. What does Nehemiah do after he becomes angry? He says, after I seriously considered the matter, he understood that he had emotion that was there.
He had emotion that was driving him, but he did not let his emotion dictate what he was going to do. He controlled his response.
One commentator said like this, his angry became a catalyst for the righteous anger rather than an excuse for a sinful reaction.
We must understand that we can vent and that he pauses and he considers the matter and then he acted decisively.
He did not let his emotions dictate how he was going to live his life. I have been under many different coaches and I have been under many different football teams. But the coach that was the most significant for me was Coach Young in West Rowan.
He was my coach. And there was often times, and I've been there as a coach, where emotions began to drive how you dictate practice. The kids are slacking a little bit.
You begin getting frustrated because they're not given what they need to do. And all of a sudden, emotionally, you get caught up into it and you make them run until they throw up. You make them, you do everything you can because you're trying to dictate your will because emotionally you can't handle it.
When in reality, we must understand that this healthy anger should drive us to say, God, I want to not explode.
I don't want to ignore things that are going on, but I want to think and I want to act. And how did James say this in the New Testament? This is one of these counseling verses that I go to often in scripture is James 1, 19 and 20.
And James says this, everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger. When we go through life, oftentimes, this is how it is. We get to the point where we say, you know what? I'm ready.
I'm going to aim and I'm going to fire. I'm going to live this way. I'm going to feel what's going on. I'm going to understand the fire that I'm going to go after. And then once we've done the thing, we regret it.
We step back and we say, man, I really wish I wouldn't have said those things to my kids. I really wish I wouldn't have responded that way in front of my coworkers.
I really wish I would have been able to control my anger and my displeasure and been able to think about it. I tell people often, I wish that there was a speed bump between my brain and my mouth.
To where the things that came into my brain would not immediately come out of my mouth. And there would be a slow moment where I would stop and control my tongue. Because sometimes it would just come out.
Bertie said something last night. I don't even remember what it was, but he made a statement and it was like, I said it before he even finished what he was saying. And Allison laughed and I know it embarrassed him or something. But Allison said, that was a pretty quick response.
And she said, you set yourself up, Brody. You teed him up to give you that rebuke in that moment. Rather, this is Nehemiah's response. He says, I'm going to feel what's going on. I'm going to emotionally understand it.
I'm going to think about it for a moment. And then I'm going to respond. Then I'm going to give this response that's going to be biblical, that's going to be driven based on what God has called me to do.
Oftentimes, we use anger as an excuse. To say something or to do something and then later come back and apologize and say, I was just angry in that response. And sometimes it's a legitimate anger.
You can't handle it and you just have to do it. But would it not be a better thing for us to avoid the necessary confrontation simply because we understand what is going on and we have logically thought through it and we have not allowed our emotions to dictate how we live our life.
As Nehemiah is dealing with these things, he is getting angry and he is trying to figure these things out.
And then he goes to verses 7 through 9 and he lays out sort of this plan for how Nehemiah, how Israel can begin to work back together. He doesn't want them to live in their problems.
He doesn't want them to live in the anger that they're having and the animosity toward one another.
And he becomes them to try to be the mediator. And the first thing he does to them is he tells them, you must treat everyone fairly. In our life, he confronts the nobles first and he says, should you not walk in the fear of our God in verse 9.
This is really the heart of what we're looking at today.
It's where I titled the message out of it today because the fear of God should change how we treat people. The fear of God should change the way we look at people and respond to people when we see someone. We say, you know what, this person is made in the image of God.
In what we call the Imago Dei. This person is made in God's image for God's purpose and I'm going to treat them with honor, dignity and respect.
And all of a sudden, because we see them as a person who belongs to God, now we don't treat them like the way that other people would treat them, but we treat them with kindness and compassion and care
just like you would treat someone else. The nobles were looking at their fellow Jews and they were seeing opportunities. And I can tax this guy, I've got a little bit of money, I can mortgage his payment and I can make some money off of him and all of a sudden, I can begin to get a little bit better.
And Nehemiah comes in and he says, don't ask what you can gain from this person, but ask how you can honor God and how you can treat this person. I believe this principle applies to us everywhere we go, in our businesses, in our churches,
in our families, in our schools, with our employees, with our employers, with our neighbors. Who is around us?
And are we simply just trying to take advantage of those people that are around us? Or are we simply saying, God, I want to live and I want to love the people that are around me so that I can show them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This thought of living with integrity, it goes like this.
Integrity is what you do when you have the power to benefit yourself and no one can stop you.
It's having the power to say, I can do these things because God has put me in this position, but yet you are taking this and you are limiting yourself because you are living in integrity. How are you living this life?
How are you treating people fairly as we go through this life, as we go through this story in the Old Testament of how people are living every single day of their life? We can apply it to our heart as well.
Number four, he begins to walk through and he tells them, as you go through your life, as you begin to walk through these things, you're going to understand what doctrine is.
You're going to live your life, not live driven by emotion, not driven by how you want things to be done your own personal way, but you want to do things biblically and now you're treating everyone fairly.
Repentance and Worship
Then he gets to the point where it's difficult for us because the first part is hard. The second part we have to understand it can sound easy, but it's repent and worship. As you go through life,
Nehemiah doesn't just convict them by telling them what they should do. He looks at them and he says, now you need to repent.
Now you need to do what is right. Now you need to go and you need to say, I am going to make the changes that I've done. Just because you begin to go through things and you feel bad about something and you apologize, but you never change, that's not repenting.
Oftentimes, as a parent, I have to tell my kids, hey, you need to go apologize to your brother and sister for what you've said. And they apologize, but then two seconds later, they do the same thing.
It's like you apologize. You should be changing. You should be repenting. You shouldn't be doing those things. Conviction says that I'm wrong.
Repentance says I've done the wrong thing and I'm going to turn around and go the opposite way. I am repenting and I'm not going to do those things again.
And I'm going to do these things because I know they're wrong and I know that I was wrong and I know that I am doing these things that are wrong. What does Nehemiah tell them?
He tells them to stop charging the interest. He tells them to return their fields, to restore what had been taken. And then he does something huge.
And I think that this is where we miss some things is he tells them to publicly commit to not doing these things again and to publicly tell others that what they've done is wrong.
And I believe this public confession is difficult. We don't do this in today's day and age. And I'm not saying every time you do something wrong, you should get up and say, church, I've done this wrong. But I think there should be this understanding that yes, I've done wrong.
Yes, I'm repenting, holding me accountable for the things that I've done wrong. Real repentance requires action on our hearts.
Real repentance requires us to not just say we did wrong, but to actually act in how we are doing and what we are doing.
Repentance is not simply feeling sorry for something that you did, but it's being willing to do something different because what God had shown you to do. Conviction sets in, repentance sets in, and you simply say,
God, I can't do these things anymore because I need you in my life. And I am repenting and I am walking forward.
And then he goes into verse 13, and he ends with people, this is what we should do.
After you've repented, now let's turn and let's praise the Lord. He says to worship the Lord and to understand that this worship is not just singing to the Lord, but it is a true amount of just turning over your hearts of praise to who he is and what he has done.
Look at the end of verse 13. He says, may God likewise shake his house from his property and may he be shaken and have nothing with it. And I am praising the Lord. The whole assembly said they are praising the Lord for what the people had promised.
True worship is not just singing to God, but it's responding to what God is doing in our life. And it's saying, God, thank you for who you are. Thank you for what you've done.
Surrendering in Worship
Thank you for giving me these things and providing for my needs and providing for the things that you've given me. I want to surrender my life to you in this worship.
Romans 12, 1. I mentioned Romans 12, the end of Romans 12 last week and even this week in Sunday school, but Romans 12, 1, it starts out by saying, dear brothers, present your bodies a living sacrifice
that's holy and acceptable unto the Lord so that you may look and say that this is God's will for my life. Are we presenting ourself in view of God's mercy,
a living sacrifice and saying, God, I want to do what you want me to do.
When you convict me, I want to turn from the things that I've done. When you rebuke me, I want to do things better for what you've called me to do. When you unveil to me that my doctrine has been wrong and I've been living by preference, I want to do those things.
I want to listen and obey for what you have called me to do. Imagine driving down the road
and you don't really know where you're going so you're using your GPS and you are driving and your kids are distracting you or your mind is on something else and you miss your turn and the GPS tells you, rerouting, we're going to make a U-turn.
Imagine that would be your GPS is telling you to make a U-turn and you'd go, you know what, GPS, that's a really good idea. I probably should make a U-turn and then you just keep on going straight.
You're not listening to the thing that's trying to help you to get you to your destination and the only way that you're going to get to that destination is if you make the U-turn, if you do the thing that the thing is telling you to do, you turn,
you repent, you understand that you made a mistake and you go back and you have to reroute a little bit. This is what God's calling us to do. He's saying, you are in the wrong direction. I'm convicting your heart.
I'm trying to help you understand where you're at. I'm trying to tell you that you made the wrong turn but you need to turn and you need to convict your heart. You need to convince your heart that what I am convicting you of, it needs to be changed.
I want you to ask yourself, is there something that God has been convicting you about maybe this morning, maybe over this past week where you have not acknowledged that you need to change and you need to change? He's telling us this morning, church,
we have to be a people who are driven by what God has called us to do.
And then he, as the leader, lives by the example. He doesn't stand up and say, y'all do all these things
and I'm gonna still stand over here and do my own thing. No, he says, this is where the rubber meets the road. He says, I am going to tell everyone what to do and that I'm gonna show them by my example how they're to live. The people are struggling.
The nobles are taking advantage of everyone and Nehemiah had every reason to say,
listen, I've been put in charge for 12 years. He says here, in the 20th year of my Lord, I've been serving here for 12 years and my associates, as I've lived here for 12 years, he said, I am gonna show you how I'm going to live. I'm not gonna take advantage of anyone.
I don't deserve any special privileges. He says, I am going to live this way because of the fear of God.
Living by Example
I'm not gonna do this. There's the theme again, comes up in verse 15. The fear of God is compelling him to live a certain way.
Are we that same way? Are we living an example to others because we fear the Lord?
We may have every right to do it, but God is saying that I am going to live, God is calling Nehemiah to live a certain way. He said, I'm not gonna demand any special privileges. I'm not gonna enrich myself.
I'm not gonna buy any land during this time. I'm gonna stay focused on the work that God has given me. I'm gonna be generous. I'm gonna practice hospitality.
I'm gonna do the things that God's called me to do. And he ultimately begins to put other people in front of himself. And he said, I'm gonna seek God over everything that I do rather than man's approval,
rather than man's applaud. I'm gonna serve God in what I do. You see, when adversity comes in and tests our faith, success begins to come in and test our character. The people were doing well.
Adversity comes in and the success of what Nehemiah was gonna do when he was gonna remain faithful, when life got hard,
when he was gonna try to figure out what was gonna go on in his own life and his own personal life and the people of Israel, how he was gonna live was all being put to the test in this moment.
Nehemiah said, I could have taken advantage of my position. I could have taken advantage of what I've done, but I am going to serve the people. There's a picture illustration that you can find it. I probably should have pulled it up, but it just came to my mind
of the difference between a boss and a leader. The boss is the guy standing back and he's demanding everyone to do everything and no one's really doing anything. But the leader says,
hey, this is what we're gonna do and I'm gonna be the first to pick up the brick. I'm gonna be the first to pick up the trowel. I'm gonna be the first to hit my knees and I'm gonna be the first to pray. I'm gonna be the first to serve.
I'm gonna be the guy that's gonna follow, that's gonna lead by example, that's gonna say, hey, I want you to do these things, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty as well. And this is how we have to live our lives.
We have to live our lives by saying, you know what, I'll go first, Pastor James. You need me to do something, I'll be there.
You need me to help out here, I'll be there. You need me to change a diaper, I'll be there. I'll be the person that's gonna make the sacrifice that no one else is willing to do. Because Jesus gives us that ultimate example in Mark chapter 10.
He said, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus is telling us that I am coming to serve, not to be served.
And oftentimes, we are more concerned about our names and how people look at us than to simply get down on our hands and knees and serve someone and help someone. The fear of God should change everything we do. As Terry comes and plays, I wanna wind this down.
I want you to think about verse 9 and verse 15. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of God?
In verse 15, he says, because of the fear of God.
This is sort of what you consider if you like to look at books, the bookend of the two. Should you not do this because of the fear of God? And then he says, I'm going to do this because of the fear of the Lord.
The fear of God is something that it should terrify each and every one of us that should bring us into this all of who he is and what he has done for us with living with such a high view of who God is that his approval
matters more than any approval that we get here on earth. That the approval of what God has done, that it goes, it should, if it goes against my preferences, I'm gonna follow God.
If it goes against my emotions, I'm gonna follow God. If it goes against my rights, my money, my reputation, if it goes against any of those things,
The Ultimate Sacrifice
I'm gonna keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. Because ultimately, each and every one of us in here, we owe a debt we cannot pay. The sin that is incurred in our life is something that we cannot pay. I love how a pastor friend of mine said it.
He said, if you took all the money, all the gold, all the silver, every single bit of money and wealth in the world, and you put it together in one bank account, and you wrote a check, and you said, God, I'm gonna buy one second in heaven with this money.
It would not be enough money to earn one single second in heaven.
But it's only because of Christ who came into our lives, who surrendered his rights for us. As Philippians 2, 5 through 8 says, it says that he had every right to be esteemed in the glory.
And it says he took the position of a servant, and he humbled himself to the point of death. Why did he humble himself to the point of death, even to the cross? For you're in our sin.
So that he could pay our sins so that we could be bought with his blood, because it's the only way that we can have this right relationship stored back with God. We don't walk in fear of God because we think we need to.
We walk in the fear of God because God says, I've purchased your life with my son's blood. And it humbles us to say, God, I'm gonna walk in the fear of you because I've received your grace. I've received your mercy.
And there's nothing that I can do in and of myself, and I'm gonna trust in you. Would we be a people this morning that would say, God, I wanna walk in your fear.
I wanna walk into who you are, not because of what I have done, not because of who I am, not because of who my parents or my grandparents are, but because of who you are. And I'm gonna trust in you, and I'm gonna fear you because I need
this holy fear in my life. There's a book by A.W. Tozer called The Holiness of God. If you've never read it, I challenge you to read it, to put your mind in the proper perspective of who God is. We often have a small view of God.
God is this God who loves us, who cares about us, who is so much bigger than we can ever think. And when we truly get an appreciation for that, it should change who we are. A couple of questions as we close. If you truly fear God, what needs to change
about the way you treat people? What emotions need to come under the authority of Scripture?
Maybe it's a relationship in here that needs to be made right. Maybe it's a broken home or a broken mom or a dad or a brother or sister that you need to say, God, I'm gonna surrender this to you
because I fear you and I want you to make it right. I may not be able to make it right in myself, but God, I'm trusting in you to restore this relationship. What sins in your life need to be repented of? What right might God be asking me to surrender to him?
What is God calling you and telling you right now? James, you've been holding on to this for too long. You've been holding on to these areas of your life and I need you to surrender them to me.
And what am I willing to live in a way that my example might match the message that I preach on a daily basis? Where you say, God, I preach that I'm a Christian. I preach that I'm living toward you. Would my coworkers know that?
Would the people that I interact every single day of my life, would they know that the example that I'm living by the words that I say would match the feet that I'm walking? And are you walking in this fear? Church, this is how
Nehemiah is bigger than just building a wall. It's bigger than just each and every one of us doing our part. It's coming together and saying, God,
I've done these things that are wrong. I've not trusted in you as my Savior and I want you to come and I want you to rebuild my life so that it will make a difference for you.
Closing Prayer and Encouragement
Church, may we be a people who are more consumed about building up others
than we are building our own selves so that we would fear God in all that we do. Lord, we love you.
We thank you for what you've done. Help us this morning as we go into our time of invitation that your name would be lifted high, your glory would be lifted high.
Help us to have a fear of who you are in all that we do. Thank you again for taking your time to listen to the sermon audio of Pleasant Grove. Please subscribe to get our latest sermons each week. territory water
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