Tag: Nehemiah

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Is It Our Responsibility?

nehemiah-wallSeveral weeks ago I asked our people at New Passion, “Do you see the mission Jesus calls us to as your personal responsibility?”

I love the story of Nehemiah. One of the things that keeps sticking out to me is how everyone worked together for the common vision that God gave Nehemiah. There is no doubt that each person saw this mission from God as their personal responsibility. The Bible says that each person repaired the section of the wall in front of their own home. This mission was very personal.

I love the fact that it points out in one occasion that the people worked with enthusiasm and how Baruch zealously repaired an additional section of the wall. That means he didn’t have tunnel vision – he saw the entire project as his responsibility, not just his piece of the wall…he went above and beyond…Passion will cause you to do that. It’s kind of like the Lays potato chips challenge, “I Bet You Can’t Eat Just One” – When God puts a passion in your heart, you won’t be satisfied with a mundane approach to the mission he calls you to, you’ll want more! The Nobles  and Officials agreed to give back to the poor the interest they had charged them and to require no more payments for their debt to help relieve the financial stress and pressure on the lower class. These people were willing to sacrifice in order to unify under a common vision and a  common mission. They saw it as their responsibility!

So what about you? Do you see the mission Jesus calls His followers to as all of our personal responsibility? I believe when we get to that point, it adds a whole new dimension to the way we live out our faith. I believe it is an essential ingredient needed to change the world with the gospel.

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52 Days

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On Sunday we kicked off our 52 Day Campaign believing that we serve the same God that empowered Nehemiah and his workers to completely rebuild the wall around Jericho in 52 days. As a community of faith, we are learning that Jesus has called us out to be on mission to change the world. I believe if we are going to move with God, we must be willing to take Risks, Sacrifice personally, and Mobilize people to take this journey with us.

Our goal is to see a 52% increase in our overall attendance at church by Easter Sunday. You may ask, “Why are you worried about increasing attendance?” Well, I am happy to answer. By increasing our attendance by 52% that gives us concrete evidence that we are fulfilling one of our goals as a church, to reach people. That’s 52% more people that we have the opportunity of leading to a passionate relationship with Jesus, its 52% more people to partner with us in this movement of God to see the hungry fed, the needy clothed, and the brokenhearted loved. It’s 52% more people who can discover the passions God has placed in their heart in order to serve mankind, locally and globally. 52% may very well be a challenge to us, but it is mere simplicity to God. In New Passion’s first 5 months we’ve seen God grow our community by 100% – I’m trusting Him for an additional 52% by Easter.

Hey New Passion! Are you with me? In the next 52 days, let’s find ways that we can Risk, Sacrifice, and Mobilize in order to fulfill the mission Christ has called us on. Join the Social Media revolution! Grab the main picture (right click & “save picture as”) and place it on your blog or facebook photo albums, or grab the photo below (right click & “save picture as”) and replace your Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace avatar with it. If you are on Twitter, tweet how God is using you to Risk, Sacrifice, and Mobilize and tag it with #52Days, so we can all check out what God is doing in your life!  What can you do to live out Jesus’ mission this week?

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Kislev: Be a Dreamer

girl-dreamingYesterday, at New Passion, we talked about allowing God to use our passions in the midst of his mission.

We looked at Nehemiah’s passion for his people and how that passion led him to be about God’s mission of repairing the wall around Jerusalem. I found two things particularly interesting in my study of Nehemiah. The first was that he received the bad news about Israel’s troubles in the month of Kislev. Nehemiah 1:4-5 shows us that Nehemiah was so passionate about his people that he mourned, fasted, and prayed to God. He began his prayer by delighting in God…this was a process of about 4 months until the month of Nisan, when he was able to make his request to rebuild the wall to the king (Chapter 2).

I find it interesting that Nehemiah spends his time delighting in God during the month of Kislev. This is known as the “Month of Dreams” – During this time, the Jews would study the portion of the Torah that covered all of the dreams of God’s men (I.E. Joseph). Isn’t it interesting when the king asked Nehemiah how he could help him, Nehemiah already had a plan? (2:4-5) I believe that Nehemiah spent this period known as the “Month of Dreams” to delight himself in God in order to dream about what God would have him do to solve the problem. They understood that when they fully trusted God, no dream was too big for him to accomplish. The month of Nisan (when Nehemiah made his request to the  king) is known as the period when the “Barley is ripe” – It is a Spring month, a production month.

I believe Nehemiah had a season where he dreamed big dreams of how God could use him to help Israel, he delighted himself in God, because he knew it was God who would have to provide the resources, the people, and the power to fulfill the dream. However, there came a time where he had to act. He took a risk, even sacrificed personally, in order to fulfill the dream that he was so passionate about. Nehemiah said to the King, “Send Me to Judah.” I believe that God wants us all to be dreamers. He wants us all to recognize that he has filled our hearts with passion and he wants to use that passion to fulfill his  mission. However, we have to come to a place in our life where we are productive. We have to act on the dreams God gives us.

Join the Conversation…What do you dream about? What are you doing about it?