I had the choice to either grow up and find God in the situation or become bitter. I chose to find God. And I experienced freedom like I never knew before. --- Heather Mercer - Christian Aid Worker who was imprisoned in Afghanistan, 2001.
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Sundays Sermon Podcast

Calvary Chapel Kampala
  • 1 Peter 1 "Our Living Hope"
    "We all remember Peter, that disciple that opened his mouth too much with Jesus. Peter later, however, because one of the chief pillars of the early church. Peter and Paul were the two major apostles in bringing the gospel to the Jews (Peter) and Gentiles (Paul). The themes are hope, holiness, and suffering. This letter was mainly to bring encouragement and renewed motivation to live in Godliness no matter what the circumstances"
  • Nehemiah 13 "Cleaning House"
    "When you clean your house do you only have to do it once and then it remains clean? No. There is dirt around here and messy people. It takes a continual maintenance and cleaning. When you take a bath do you only have to do it the first time and then you don't have to bathe anymore? No, we get dirty living in this world. We need to keep on cleaning or we stink and become grotesque. The people had made many promises in chapter 10 of what they were going to do for God and how they were going to live. Unfortunately, when Nehemiah went back to report to the King the people had turned quickly back to the sin and impurity that they had said they would not do. Through God's Word, and spiritual leadership, God's people were going to clean house again. This chapter is about cleaning that which was rebuilt. It is a maintenance process to examine your life, family, church, and leadership to make sure they are according to the standard of purity that God has shown us in His Word. "
  • Nehemiah 11-12 "Rebuilding Together"
    "The work of rebuilding is not something we can do alone. We need God obviously, but we also need one another. There are a few lasting lessons that we can take with us about rebuilding our lives. We are given a reminder of those lessons in these final chapters. The people were now right with God, and together they continued in the day-to-day decisions that made this rebuilding last. Let us be reminded that: Rebuilding Together Needs People. Rebuilding Together Needs Praise. Rebuilding Together Needs Provisions."
Nehemiah 1-3

Nehemiah Chapters 1-3 “A Big Job to Do”

 

The Book of Nehemiah begins 15 years after the Book of Ezra ends; almost 100 years after the first captives came back to the Promised Land; and some 150 years after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. After this long time, the walls of the city of Jerusalem were still in rubble.

 

This book gives us many practical insights into how to get the work of the Lord accomplished. It also provides many valuable lessons on leadership.

 

  1. I) Start With Prayer (Chapter 1)

A) We must see the need (Verses 1-3)

  1. Though he lived in Persia, his heart was in Jerusalem

& Psalms 137:5-6 “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill!   If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth — If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.”

  1. He was deeply affected by this problem
    1. “Any great work of God begins with God doing a great work in somebody.” –D. Guzik

 

  1. B) We must come to the only One who can meet the need (Verses 4-6a)

  1. How big is your God in prayer?

 

  1. Prayer is essential for a job this big
    1. Prayer is essential to leadership. If your vision is so big that only God can accomplish it, then you obviously must pray. If prayer isn’t absolutely necessary to accomplish your vision, your goal isn’t big enough.
  • Nehemiah prayed for four months, but the building only took 52 days.

 

  1. C) We must confess our weakness and sin (Verses 6b-11)

  1. Be honest and humble before God. Admit your many failures and weakness’

 

  1. Relying on His mercy and grace, not our merit or worth.
  • Nehemiah fell on the mercy of God. He knew that  if the people returned to the Lord that He would lead them to victory.

 

  1. II) Then Take a Step of Faith (Chapter 2:1-10)

A) God will open doors and give you opportunities to do something about it. (Verses 1-4)

  1. God is actually causing His will to come to pass. He provides Nehemiah with an opportunity to speak to the king.
  • Perhaps Nehemiah was afraid to bring up the subject.

& Psalms 37:5 “Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.”

  1. B) The “step” (Verses 5-10)

  1. There comes a decision that must be made, a step that must be taken…in faith!
  • A step of faith means that you don’t see how it can possibly happen unless the Lord is doing it.
  1. …let go of the branch and I’ll grab you…help, is there anyone else there?

 

  1. When God is involved it will all work out. He will give you the favor that you need.

 

  1. Not everyone will be happy about what you have done
  • And most of the it is because of jealousy.
  1. There is a fable of an eagle which could outfly another, and the other didn’t like it. The latter saw a sportsman one day, and said to him: “I wish you would bring down that eagle.”The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. he arrow was shot, but didn’t quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high. The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling them out until he lost so many that he couldn’t fly, and then the sportsman turned around and killed him.”

 

  1. III) Don’t Get Discouraged (Chapter 2:11-20)

A) Get a good evaluation of the situation (Verses 11-16)

  1. Find out everything you can—know your challenge
  • Faith isn’t pretending that everything is okay. Faith sees the difficulties, but also sees that God is bigger.

 

  1. B) This job is bigger than we thought…we had better get to work! (Verses 17-18)

  1. See this great attitude. He didn’t say that the job was bigger than we thought…we had better go home and give up.

 

  1. C) People can be big source of discouragement (Verses 19-20)

  1. There are always negative people who want to bring you down.

 

  1. IV) There are No Spectators (Chapter 3)

A) Everyone had a part of the wall to build. (Verses 1-27)

  1. It was like preparing for chogm…

 

  1. Could Nehemiah have done it alone?

 

 

  1. B) They built in front of their own house first (Verses 28-32)

  1. Our homes must first be stable to be effective in helping others build theirs.