Locusts and Wild Honey

Preaching Nehemiah

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 | General

I recently finished preaching through the Book of Nehemiah on Sunday mornings at Lakeshore Baptist Church.

In 586 BC Nebuchadrezzar’s forces punched through the protective walls of Jerusalem and flooded the city with destruction. The Babylonian army demolished the temple, devastated the landscape, tore down homes, killed a good percentage of the inhabitants, and drug most of the residence off into captivity into a land they didn’t recognize. Nearly a century and a half later, Nehemiah learned that the walls of his ancestral city still laid in ruins. God placed a great task in the heart of Nehemiah. The strong leader sought to rebuild the devastated city under the wide canopy of God’s providence upon the sure foundation of God’s word.

The six month study led us to think about Nehemiah’s doctrine of God, his passion for scripture, his experience of prayer, and his example of leadership. No one could miss the parallels to our situation in post-Katrina Lakeshore as teams of volunteer construction workers seek to rebuild our community to the glory of God. Although we must be careful not to make illegitimate anachronistic analogies - Lakeshore is not Old Testament Jerusalem, and I am no Nehemiah - we do serve the same sovereign, omnipotent, supremely righteous, pervasively holy, humbly merciful, biblically vocal, covenant keeping God.

3 Comments to Preaching Nehemiah

Jeff T
3/8/2007

Did you have a sword in one hand with a hammer in another?

Jeff

Bobby Cohoon
3/13/2007

Good thoughts Don. The prayer that begins Nehemiah has been something I always liked.

Bobby

Paula
4/27/2007

I especially enjoyed your preaching, Pastor Don, when we were there @ Thanksgiving. You were on the 8th chapter of Nehemiah then and spoke of needing to prepare our hearts for Sunday’s Word and being humble in Worship.
We ARE to give it all to Him, from our own personal brokenness to the brokenness of our homes. You encouraged us ALL that day ~~~ Lakeshore + the surrounding communities ARE being rebuilt by the Glory of God in our mist, just as in Ezra’s day. We celebrate with you and will share our Joy with others.

Leave a comment