Awe of Nehemiah

This Sunday I will conclude a series of sermons on the book of Nehemiah that I started back at the first of the year. It has been interrupted by other sermons here or there and one Sunday we didn't have church, but it has been a wonderful book to study.

Too many books on Nehemiah focus of the leadership aspects of the book. Nehemiah is a wonderful book about leadership, but that is not the only focus on the book. I think I could preach this book three or four times in the next few years and concentrate on several different aspects or themes.

The theme that I felt God leading me to weave through the study of this book was the idea of passion for God. When you read the book you see the lack of passion on the part of the people of Jerusalem and you see Nehemiah's passion to do something great for God by rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. You see Nehemiah lead the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the wall and return them to passion for the things of God and in chapter 13 you see them return to the things that kept them from having passion for God and Nehemiah having to step in again and make some changes to keep their passion going.

Passion for God is always in balance and their are things that can come in and steal that passion and there are many things that Christ followers need to do in order for their Passion for God to stay strong.

For me it has been a book of returning to my first love and encouraging the the people of God that He has entrusted me with to run back to their first love.

My favorite verse in Nehemiah comes in 13:25 which says, "And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves."

You know that is what I want to do to some people when they are not following God the way they should.

For the most part Christ followers are complacent people who live in comfortable happiness with our lot in life. We don't take chances and we have allowed to many things to go unchecked in our own lives that that we need to either repent of or lay at the alter of God. It is time for our passion for God to be renewed and rekindled and take back the things of God and live for Him the way He desires us to live.

I invite you to live with the passion for the God who has sought you and brought you into relationship with Him. If you are not passionate for God, start seeking those things that you need to do in order to become the passionate Christ follower He desires you to be.