On Sunday, July 28, 2024, at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on Nehemiah 1:1-11.  This message was part 4 in the “roundtrip” sermon series.  Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.  You will also find audio and video of the message to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Read Nehemiah 1:1-11
3. How does our behavior typically reveal to others what we believe about God?  Think of as many examples as you can come up with.
4. Had you ever considered before God’s plan for His work with Israel: to display against the canvas of that small nation His greatness, so that all the people of the earth would ultimately know of His greatness?  If you need to review some of the key passages covered today here is a list: Deuteronomy 7:7-9, Genesis 12:1-3, Exodus 9:13-16; 15:11-14; 18:1, 9-12; 19:3-6; 1 Kings 10:1-9; Numbers 14:13-21, 2 Kings 18:33-35.
5. Based on our study of the fame name of God, in your own words, why was Nehemiah experiencing “shame” because Jerusalem lay in ruins?
6. In what ways has God’s reputation (His fame name) been lifted high by the Church (at large) in your lifetime?  In what ways has the Church (at large) profaned God’s reputation in your lifetime? 
7. In what ways has your lifestyle magnified God to the world?  In what way has your lifestyle profaned God’s name in the world? 
8. Spend time confessing your sin before the LORD and apologizing for how in any way our actions have defamed His great name.
9. How might God be leading you to make any changes in your lifestyle based on our study of the importance of His great name?
10. What is one particular application you took away from this message?

To access these questions in pdf format click here.

 

To listen to message offline, click the link:

roundtrip #4 7.28.24

 

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Some moments never leave you.

Take November 23, 1984, for instance. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I can still vividly remember sitting at my Grandma’s kitchen table in Southwest City, Missouri while she prepared some delicious lunch for my dad and I. I don’t remember what we ate (probably brown beans and cooked apples, but I’m just playing the odds), or what we talked about (I was an 11 year old boy so small town news and notes had little interest to me), BUT I do remember distinctly what was on television.

On this day, Boston College was playing a football game against the University of Miami … and it was turning into a classic. I was seated in the one chair with a clean view of the television, and I watched as it seemed certain that Miami would pull out the hard fought victory. But, on the last play of the game, BC quarterback Doug Flutie threw a 48 yard prayer to a sliding Gerard Phalen in the end zone. TOUCHDOWN … and a BC 47-45 victory!

Some of you might be rolling your eyes right now, wondering why the one thing I remember from Thanksgiving 1984 is a FOOTBALL game (and one that did not even involve the Sooners!) However, that play was way more consequential than you probably know. Did you realize that enrollment at Boston College increased a whopping 30% after that season?!?! The increase in enrollment due to on the field success became known as the “Flutie Effect,” and it has proven true at many other universities around the country.

Want another example a bit closer to home? How about Boise State. Before you google if Boise is really closer to Norman than Boston, I am not talking about closer to home geographically. I am talking about an on field victory that led to classroom enrollments. After Boise State beat our Sooners in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, enrollment surged from just over 18,000 to just over 24,000 students in Idaho’s capital city!!!!

On behalf of Sooner Nation, “you’re welcome, Boise State.”

The “Flutie Effect” seems to have some legs.

Now, I am writing this today, not just to bring up glimpses of gridiron glory. I write this to show how certain things impact people’s perception, even if they have nothing to do with one another.

Boise State’s winning percentage in football has very little to do with how good their business school is, but people’s experience with the brand on the field, impacts what they think about the school at large.

Now, let me transition from 21st century football to Jerusalem in 444 BC. After many years in exile, the nation of Judah was returning from Babylon/Persia to the area surrounding Jerusalem. Under the leadership of Ezra, Haggai, and others, the people had come home to worship their God again after 70 years of punishment due to disobedience. A remnant of the people had settled in the area, and the Temple had been rebuilt … but the city of Jerusalem itself was still a mess. In 586 BC, the city had been sacked, the wall around the city had been torn down, and most of the prominent homes had been burned. When the Jewish exiles returned home beginning in 536 BC, the city was still a mess – and it remained a mess until 444 BC when Nehemiah (who was still living in the Persian city of Susa) learned of its sad state, and its walls that were still rubble.

Upon learning of his dilapidated city, Nehemiah makes it his aim to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. But why did he do so? To protect his people? Yes. But not JUST for that reason. He also wanted the wall rebuilt to address something else – SHAME. BUT, and this is super critical to see, not just SHAME that businesses might not want to move into a town with a broken down wall, but SHAME for something far more consequential … an interrupted WITNESS to the surrounding people about their God. In a sense, there was a “Flutie Effect” at play between the appearance of the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding nations view of the God of Abraham. Nehemiah was interested not just in a wall, but in his nation’s witness about their God.

This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 worship service, we will dive into Nehemiah 1:1-11 in our fourth and final part of our “roundtrip” sermon series as we see true believers concern with their witness to the reality of their God to a watching world. As we have seen in this series already, people who once were close to God and now have walked away from Him, CAN SPIRITUALLY GO HOME AGAIN and reconcile with their Heavenly Father .. . And the life truly turned to Him will not only exhibit a priority of WORSHIP, and a life that comes under the WORD (things we saw the past two Sundays) … but also a concern to be His WITNESS to a watching world (our topic for Sunday). Make plans to join us Sunday as we conclude this series together! See you there … and bring friends!!!