I. EXORDIUM:
Are you blessed in every way?
II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:
Believers
III. OBJECTIVES:
To show that our blessings needed to be brought before the King of kings for our protection from worldliness.
IV. TEXT:
Nehemiah 9:25-26 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Our ancestors captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took over houses full of good things, with cisterns already dug and vineyards and olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate until they were full and grew fat and enjoyed themselves in all your blessings.
“But despite all this, they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They turned their backs on your Law, they killed your prophets who warned them to return to you, and they committed terrible blasphemies.
V. THESIS:
Our blessings needed to be brought before the King of kings for our protection from worldliness.
VI. TITLE:
Blessed in every way and yet disobedient and rebellious
VII. EXPLICATION:
A. Author: uncertain. Autobiography of Nehemiah
B. Date written: 445 B.C. to 430 B.C.
C. Purpose: To document the political restoration of Judah, under Nehemiah's leadership
D. To whom written: Restored remnant in Jerusalem and future generations
E. Main themes:
Rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem
Rehearsal of certain divine laws
Restoration of ancient ordinances
F. Keyword: wall
G. Key verses:
Nehemiah 6:3 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
so I replied by sending this message to them: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”
Nehemiah 6:15-16 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun.
When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.
VIII. MAIN BODY:
A. Blessed in every way
"Our ancestors captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took over houses full of good things, with cisterns already dug and vineyards and olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate until they were full and grew fat and enjoyed themselves in all your blessings."
1. Blessings enumerated:
a. Captured fortified cities and fertile land
b. Took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things and wells already dug
c. Vineyards
d. Olive groves
e. Abundant fruit trees
f. Ate to the full
g. Enjoyed all GOD's blessings
2. Warnings against worldly fulness
Deuteronomy 32:15 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
“But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation.
Matthew 6:25 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?
Revelation 3:17 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
3. Perils of prosperity:
Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
“The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build.
The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land,
be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.
Proverbs 30:9 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
a. Prosperity of the righteous:
Psalms 1:3 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
Psalms 37:4 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Psalms 37:4 (Amplified Bible)
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.
B. They were disobedient and rebellious
"But despite all this, they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They turned their backs on your Law, they killed your prophets who warned them to return to you, and they committed terrible blasphemies."
1. Worldly riches will try to replace GOD in your life, so avoid worldly riches. Bring the worldly riches to the One who can handle the splendor and glory of it, bring the worldly riches to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, as Head of the Church, you can bring it to His Body -- the Church. (the storehouse)
Examples:
a. Parable of the rich fool
Luke 12:20-21 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
b. Prodigal son
Luke 15:12 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
c. Ingratitude hearts
Deuteronomy 32:6 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?
Luke 17:17-18 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?
Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
Romans 1:21 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
d. Secret: be content
Proverbs 19:23 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm.
Ecclesiastes 4:8 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, “Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?” It is all so meaningless and depressing.
Philippians 4:11-13 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.
After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.
So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.
But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Hebrews 13:5 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
Matthew 6:19-21 (New Living Translation, Second Edition)
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
IX. CONCLUSION:
Be careful with where you store your riches, wealth, treasure if you store it in this world, your love will be on this world, but if you store it in the LORD JESUS CHRIST by means of storing it in His Body, the Church, then you're ok because your heart (whole being, middle) will follow your treasure and you're guaranteeing that your whole being will always follow the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
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