Sermon Central
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It Ain't Over 'til It's Over
Contributed by Jay Patton on Aug 25, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: A look at a calling of God’s people back to godly ways.
Introduction: Names illustration
Background: Security established, responsibility delegated, daily schedule delegated.
Purpose Statement: If you are a child of God then…
I. Get Organized for God (vs. 5-60, 66-69)
A. Nehemiah performing triage
1. Explaining triage illustration
2. Walls were just the symptom
3. Everybody seemed to have a bad case of apathy
B. We need to handle our own life that way
1. Attack the big problems first
2. Get the ruble cleared away
3. Living for Jesus Hymn
C. We need to handle the Church that way
1. My intended method as I came here almost 1 year ago
2. There are too many Laodiceans in the Body (Rev. 3:14-16)
3. J. Vernon McGee Quote
II. Get Right With God (vs. 5-60; 61-65)
A. He is reminding the people who they are
1. Purpose of the census – remind them; assign them
2. priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers
3. The Urim and Thummim (v. 65)
B. He is calling them back to right priorities
1. What takes first place in your life
2. Priorities in Prayer Illustration
3. You are not you best to anyone if you’re not right with God
C. If you’re not a child of God (61-65)
1. These people could not prove they were God’s
2. Where are you today?
III. Get Giving to God (vs. 66-72)
A. Giving to God brings true joy
1. Like Hudson Taylor said, no one knows what one person can accomplish…
2. Why Give Illustration
B. Only two people know whether you’re giving faithfully or not
1. You’re robbing yourself and God
C. There is more than enough when we all give
1. It started with the leadership
2. Look at how much Nehemiah was able to raise – over 100 million
IV. Get Living for God (v. 73)
A. Once you know your role get to it!
1. Stop the country club mentality; this ain’t the Love Boat
2. But I don’t know what God wants me to do
B. Faith is evidenced by its works
1. What are you doing for God?
2. Don’t be no fruitless tree – remember what Jesus did?
C. Plan to be in it for the long haul
1. Don’t tell me you’re tired or you’ve done your part
2. Don’t let discouragement set in
3. Rescue swimmers Illustration
Conclusion: You’re either in the book or your not, if you are then live like it.
NEW AGE NAMES
When the 1960s ended, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district reverted to high rent, and many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, too, though in no particular sequence. But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with little Time Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school.
That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply nametags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
“Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?” they offered. And later, “Fruit Stand, how about a snack?” He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s. At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. “Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?” He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their nametags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word “Anthony.”
Luanne Oleas in Salinas, Calif., Reader’s Digest
TRIAGE ILLUSTRATION
Triage in the simplest term is the sorting or prioritizing of items (clients, patients, tasks…). It comes from the French word ’trier’. Some form of triaging has been in place, formally or informally since emergency medicine came to existence.
GOALS OF TRIAGE
To rapidly identify patients with urgent, life threatening conditions.
To determine the most appropriate treatment area for patients.
To decrease confusion and wastes of time and efforts.
1. Dead or dying
2. Life-threatening - correctable but needs to be seen immediately
3. Urgent - treated within 1 - 2 hours
4. Delayed - came in walking or is non-urgent
5. No injury - no treatment needed
LIVING FOR JESUS – C. HAROLD LOWDEN & THOMAS OBEDIAH CHISHOLM
