Who Am I

Who Am I

Nehemiah 7:17 Monte T. Brown

June 8, 2008 Sunday Morning

Heart O’ the Hills

Prelude

In this confusing world, that we live in it seems that everyone is searching for who they are.

Not sure what they are suppose to be.

Don’t know if they are to be a man or be a woman, questioning their purpose in life, accusing God of making a mistake, all because they refuse to accept the fact that there is someone smarter and greater than they are.

We have those that do not know what they are to be, changing professions, like changing socks.

We have people confessing that they are Christians, those confessing that they believe in many ways to God, confessing that it does not matter what you call God, because God is in you and God is different to each person.

In reality, they really do not know who they are and why they are here on this place, we call earth. Notes form, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee

Illustration

The French Revolution was not a crusade for religious freedom but an effort to replace religion with reason and rationalism.

France, boasting the largest population in Europe, had trouble feeding its masses. Multitudes, including local clergy, lived in direst poverty while royalty and high church officials—cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and abbots—lived richly.

On June 8, 1794, a disciple of Rousseau named Robespierre and the French National Convention formally inaugurated a new religion.

It was a form of deism. The belief that there is a God who having created the universe more or less disappeared.

The Convention ordered people to recognize the existence of a supreme being and the immortality of the soul, but to reject the “superstition” of Christianity.

The seven-day Christian week was exchanged for a ten-day week, and new holidays were commissioned celebrating the great events of the Revolution.

Saints were replaced with political heroes. Churches were designated Temples of Reason.

A statue called the Goddess of Reason was erected in Notre Dame.

The salaries of Catholic clergy were stopped, and priests were forbidden to teach. June 8 became France’s Holy Day, the Festival of the Supreme Being.

The revolutionaries vowed to replace the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost with a new trinity—Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

It did not work. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity deteriorated into fear, bloodshed, and the guillotine. The weeks following June 8, 1794 saw the heads of 1,400 people fall like slates from a roof.

Chaos paved the way for Napoleon Bonaparte who, on May 18, 1804, recognized the church once again. He planned to be consecrated by Pope Pius VII.

But at the last moment, the little dictator took the crown from the pope and set it on his own head. Pius excommunicated Napoleon, and Napoleon imprisoned Pius.

Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity proved inadequate gods, as did Rousseau, Robespierre, and the Revolution—and Napoleon himself. In the end, they offered only misery.

Morgan, R. J. (2000, c1997). On this day: 265 amazing and inspiring stories about saints, martyrs & heroes (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Is this not what is happening today?

There are those that feel a need to change the way we worship God.

Change the way we believe and offer up what they call an alternative to worship.

A new way to look at God.

To embrace Mother Nature and look within.

Let’s look at the Word of God and see if we can find the answer to Who Am I?

Scripture

The sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two; Nehemiah 7:17

Prayer

Introduction

Who in the world was Azgad?

He was a man who was carried away into Babylonian.

During the seventy years plus or minus a few, his family had multiplied.

Now there were 2,322 descendents and each one of them could say, I am related to Azgad.

This was important because and Israelite could be challenged to prove their heritage.

That person could say, Azgad was my great-great-great grandfather. I know who I am.

1. Who Am I? (Admit)

There are people today who say, Well, I think I am a child of God. I think am saved. I hope that I am saved.

In Nehemiah’s time there where 31,089 people in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 7:8-62)

I was important to know who you where.

Knowing who you where assured you of your inheritance.

Knowing who you where assured your right to be in Jerusalem.

Sin drives us to the place where most people are.

A place where they feel comfortable:

• Lying

• Stealing

• Being disobedient

• Full of pride

• Cheating

• Neglecting God

So what can a person do?

How can you get out of this place?

How can you get better?

Can I give God something nice to make Him forget my sins?