Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Englewood
Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.
Thank you so much for tuning into our podcast.
You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word
about important issues facing your life that can guide you
according to the Bible. Good morning, Englewood.
Good to see everybody take your Bibles.
Turn to Nehemiah Chapter 9. I have a few things I need to
share with you. So let me share a couple of
things and then I'm going to talk about the international
things. So just a word of encouragement.
So the East Coast Men's Bible Conference is coming up the 13th
and 14th. I know many of you have signed
up. Appreciate that.
If you don't know what that is and you're a guest, it's there's
not much of any other thing like it on the East Coast, to be
honest with you. We'll have around 11 to 1200 men
here. This place will be packed out
with men from at least 9 or 10 states.
Right now the numbers are driving me a little crazy and
you'll see why. So right now we're hit.
Last year at this moment, this was Friday, so it's probably
more than this. But as of Friday, we had 1098
men register. But you know, that drives me
nuts. I need at least two more.
I got to have at least two more. So whoever you are, hurry up.
Had 192 Inglewood men, but that drives me nuts too.
So I need 8 more of those. Got to have eight more of those
and then 159 churches. So I'm just going crazy Friday.
Appreciate that everybody. A lot of folks work, a lot of
volunteers into that. Going to be some great preachers
this year as well. You'll enjoy it very much.
Those who can come. Also this week at Southern
Baptist, this begins the week of prayer for North American
missions. Wednesday night, we'll call
special attention to that. Pray for our church plants as
well as what's going on in North American church planning.
You'll hear more about that on Wednesday night.
So come back for a midweek. We're talking about how we abide
in prayer. I will continue that Bible study
talked about why do we pray last week?
We'll talk a whole lot more about what is prayer and how do
we pray this week. It'll be a powerful time.
So you come back for that. And then also just recognize
that we're very aware of what's going on in the world and some
of our mission trips may be impacted by some of this and
we're talking to people on the field.
Don't worry about that. We'll stay in close contact to
give updates on that. We are having a meeting today at
4:00 right in here for everybody who wants to go to Brazil.
And if you haven't signed up for Brazil, come to the meeting
anyway that that trip's not till later in the year.
And so we're going to try to start getting some details
together today about Brazil, but let's talk about what's going on
in the world for a minute. So first of all, our friends in
South Asia. So the judge approved their
ability to to, to get the visa done.
Now they, they're waiting on that order, which they'll
probably get tomorrow. Then they have to go to the visa
people themselves to keep this as simple as possible and get
more approval. And then hopefully they'll be
able to go to get their visa renewed, etcetera.
And so that's good news in the sense of of they're able to make
some progress. For those who've been following
that story, we also certainly want to pray for what's going on
in Iran. And we're going to do that right
here in a minute. So let me give you a couple of
things to think about. First of all, let's pray for the
people in Iran. These are not just fictitious,
nebulous people to me. Some of you know that I'm part
of a ministry that is one of the largest ministries in the world
to Iranians. And so these some of these
people are actually names and faces for us.
You remember Doctor Combis who was here months ago.
And so we're getting word on the ground, the word that they would
share with you today is hope. The fastest growing church in
the Muslim world is the Iranian church.
So they're praying that the result of this hope that the war
would end soon. Obviously they're, they're
praying for people's safety and we should too.
We, you know, people who die in war like this, many of them are
lost spiritually. And so we want this to end.
So that then, but we also want freedom for this church because
if this church could be set free, we believe that hundreds
of thousands of people could come to Christ.
So we, we're really praying for, for that to be the end game
here. As far as the Iranian people,
obviously we want to pray for our military.
We have a grandson who's in the military, and many of you have
people, you know, who are maybe very much involved with this.
And then we want to pray for the people of Israel.
We especially want to lift up Al and Billy missionary partners in
Jerusalem as well. And so and the people there,
obviously people in other countries are being impacted as
well. So let's pray about this for a
moment and then we'll turn to God's Word.
Father, we recognize in your sovereignty that none of what
has happened in the last couple days is surprising to you.
Father, we do understand that that Lord, your sovereignty
reigns over all. And so Father, we pray to you,
Father, for the protection of people in this process.
Lord that that Father, you would protect our military personnel,
that Father, you would guide leaders.
Lord, that you would protect the people in Israel.
Father, we especially lift up Al and Billy to you.
Father, we also pray for the Iranian people who, Lord, many
of whom are sick and tired of how Islam has failed them and
how their current context has failed them.
And father, they want to be set free.
They want they want a New Hope. And so, Father, I pray that this
is actually the beginning of an incredible revival and spiritual
awakening right in the middle of the Middle East.
And so, Father, we pray for that.
We do pray that the violent part of this would end quickly and
that, Father, you would protect those Lord that need to remain
so that your will can be done. So Father, help us to be
diligent in our intercession. I pray for those church leaders
I know who are hoping and praying for the opportunity to
be able to worship and freedom like we do here today.
And Lord, I pray that we never take this for granted, that we
never take a baptism, a public baptism for granted.
Father, so many people I know could, could just never do this.
And so, Father, thank you for allowing us to be here.
And Lord, help us to see that also as a responsibility.
So Father, guide us as we go to your word.
We pray, Father, that our mission trip experiences will
continue, that they won't be interrupted, that we'll be able
to reach people for you. And so, Father, give us wisdom
about those decisions. Father, thank you.
In Christ's name, Amen. All right, in Nehemiah, chapter
8, for those of you who are guests, we've been walking
through the book of Nehemiah. That's not going to last much
longer, to be honest with you. Some of you might be glad about
that. Some of you might be sad about
that. Just to let you know that we're
going to be moving into the book of Romans after Easter, so it'll
be something completely different and that'll kind of
get us started. Chuck Lawless is speaking at our
252 weekend Doctor Law. Some of you know him well.
Some of you love him well, as I do, and he'll be actually
sharing as a part of that weekend, next Sunday to you.
You won't want to miss that. One of my favorite preachers in
the world. And so you'll look forward to
that. But in the MI 8, the people were
changed. That's the word.
They were changed by the Holy Spirit.
As the Holy Spirit confronted them and convicted them of their
sin, things changed and they were on the verge of
restoration. They were getting there.
It was time and, and, and so they were ready to take those
next steps. Now what now?
What do we do? What happens after this, the
Holy Spirit's move? So now it's time for a new
commitment in order to take the next steps in the power of the
Holy Spirit as he was working in their hearts.
And that's what we want to talk about today as well.
So look at Nehemiah Chapter 9, verse one.
We're actually going to cover both 9:00 and 10:00 today.
And so moving along through the book fairly quickly, But to
recognize in verse one, on the 24th day of this month, the
people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth
and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated
themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their
sin and the iniquities of their fathers.
And they stood up in their place and read from the book of the
law of the Lord their God for 1/4 of the day.
For another quarter of it, they made confession and worshipped
the Lord their God. So what we're going to talk
about, you have an outline on the back of your worship guide
or you can download it. But but one of the things that
we're going to see today is in there are certain things
required for this new commitment.
So the Holy Spirit works. Now what?
What are we going to do next? Here are some requirements.
And one of the things we see is confession and renewed holiness.
And so we recognize they were so impacted.
They were just not the same as the Holy Spirit after the Holy
Spirit worked on them just a few days earlier.
And one of the things they needed to do was to separate
themselves from some of the bad influences in their life,
separate themselves from those who would not help them live for
God. This was part of the reason they
got into exile in the 1st place. So these bad influences could
not be tolerated. They had been through enough of
that. And so this is this is a new
time. It was time for them to be
different. They needed a new holiness.
And so they were confessing this and talking about separating
themselves from the foreigners. And so fasting, excuse me,
feasting turned into fasting and they sought the Lord.
And if you notice they're wearing sackcloth and you'll see
sackcloth in the Bible every now and then.
Sackcloth was a very coarse woven goat or camel haired
garment that was worn as a sign of mourning or a sign of grief.
So if you lost a loved 1 you, you might put on sackcloth for a
while and as a symbol of your grief.
It it was very rough in its texture and, and, and it also
served another purpose of sackcloth was a means of
chastisement or a or for times of repentance.
Think of the most uncomfortable wool you've ever put on, the
most itchy thing you've ever had to wear.
And sackcloth is worse. It was supposed to be itchy.
It was supposed to be scratchy. You were not supposed to be
comfortable wearing sackcloth. It was supposed to remind you of
the pain or the sorrow or the sin that was causing you to
grieve. And so that became this great
symbol of that. The earth on their foreheads or
their heads could be dust or it could be ash, and it was placed
on their heads in similar times of distress.
So you just got to imagine this whole scene, thousands of people
wearing sackcloth and, and ash or, or, or dirt on their heads,
visibly displaying their dismay, their recognition, their
confession of their sin. There was no attempt to hide it.
And so they were hearing and, and they were observing the word
of God for the first time in a long time in a brand new way
because of the exile. And now they were being changed.
And so God created a passion within them.
He created a passion for his truth.
He created a passion for holiness.
And so as he convicts us of our sin, he'll do the same thing.
I don't want to do that anymore. The Holy Spirit's telling, I
can't do this anymore. Now I'm going to do this.
And so they study the word of God for hours, if you notice
this passage. And then they're also confessing
for hours in worship and in recognition.
And so we see that time meant nothing to them.
So look at verse 3. And they stood up in their place
and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for
1/4 of the day. For another quarter of it, they
made confession and worshipped the Lord their God.
So they're openly reading the Bible and they're confessing
their sin. But that gave them that released
them to have the freedom to actually worship and for proper
recognition. So look at verse 5.
Then the Levites said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God from
everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name,
which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven
of heavens with all their hosts, the earth and all that is in it,
the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve all of
them and the hosts of heaven worships you.
So these worship leaders, these Levites leading them in worship,
actually lead the people to cry out to God and the and they're
proclaiming your name is glorious.
That word means weighty, it means honored, it means mighty.
Nobody carries the weight, nobody cares the power, nobody
cares the influence of God. He is, he alone is Lord,
literally Yahweh. He is, I am, and so the glorious
I am stands above the glorious I am stands separately.
He stands uniquely. He deserves our honest
recognition of who He really are.
He is and the fact that he is gloriously worthy, AW Tozer
wrote. The essence of idolatry is the
entertaining of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.
The very essence of idolatry is to think less of God, to to to
to demean God, to not give God everything that He deserves.
So what can we say that is actually worthy of Yahweh?
He is the greatest. He is the most glorious.
Put a period right there. Put an exclamation point right
there. Because He's the Creator, He's
the reason. He's the origin.
He's the preserver. We do not exist without Him, and
the heavenly host knows it and actively worships him because of
it. There's no question in heaven
about who God is. And so God deserves our highest
and most focused recognition. We must recognize, recognize as
his people who he really who he really is.
So, so let's do that right now. It's going to be different now.
I'm going to make you do something.
I want everybody to stand up. That's right, stand up, wake up.
It's time to wake up. Stand up.
It'll be all right. You can go back to sleep in a
minute. Stand up, stand up right now and
there's going to come a slide up there and I want you to say this
with me. I want us to honestly give God
the glory so you all start blessed.
I pray you believe that. I pray he receives that in
honesty from you. So as you're being seated,
remember what he's done. Remember who he is.
Recognize who this really is. That why This is why we're here
in order to bring him glory, in order to join him and what he
wants to have happen. Remember how he's forgiven you
when we when you failed, how he's fulfilled promises for us
that we didn't deserve. Well, the commitment continued.
Look at verse 7. You are the Lord, the God who
chose Abram and brought him out of err of the Chaldeans and gave
him the name Abraham. Now the the third thing that we
see here is we see testimony. We're going to see sovereignty
as they continue because in verses 7 through 30, you see the
most complete summary of the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament, if you want to know what somebody who
believes and is being led by the Holy Spirit thinks about the Old
Testament, here's a great passage for you.
They both, they see the hand of God.
They believe in the hand of God all through the history of the
Old Testament, and they shared who this God is and they shared
what God has done. They reminded the people of the
testimony to everything that God had done.
They reminded him of a sovereign Providence throughout their
history. They highlighted creation.
They highlight Abraham, the Exodus, the wilderness, the
conquest of the land, judges, prophets, and even what led them
into the exile. So all the way in verse 31,
then. Nevertheless, after all this
mess, after all we've done, even after the exile, in your great
mercies, you did not make an end of them or forsake them.
For you are a gracious and merciful God.
If you believe for some reason, if you've bought into some idea
that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New
Testament are somehow different, you're just not reading the
Bible. Grace has been from the
beginning. In Genesis 1 it says Elohim
Barad, God created. That's grace.
He didn't have to do that creation itself.
Totally undeserved when he gave us life, totally undeserved when
he didn't just destroy Adam and Eve and forget about humanity.
Grace throughout his experience, they sin, he forgives.
They sin, He forgives. They sin, He forgives, He
restores, He restores, He restores.
It's because of grace in his absolute sovereignty.
God is gracious and God is forgiving, but he also guides
and he also disciplines along the way.
And that's the part that we don't like sometimes because God
is not only the Creator, but he's also the shaper of history.
Remember what that word is, His story, His story.
What do you think of where he comes from?
It's his story. It's not your story.
It's not even my story. This isn't the story of
Inglewood. This is the story of Yahweh and
what he's doing, and he sees all this story at once.
CS Lewis calls it God's unbounded.
Now, I've described this to you before.
It describes predestination and election.
I can do it in 10 seconds. Where we are, we're living on a
line. Turn a line on its end.
It's a point. That's how God sees time.
God transcends time. Time's a part of the creation.
God's not part of time. He's beyond time.
He sees it all at once. He already knows the outcome.
He not only shapes history, he knows how it's going to end.
He's sovereign over time, He's orchestrating, he's guiding
life, and he providentially provides both blessing and
discipline. He graced the Hebrews with
opportunities, but they still sinned and and they wouldn't
listen or obey. One of those verses in that 7
through 30 is says they shrugged their shoulders and stiffened
their necks. I know people right now like
that who just refuse. They refuse.
You know, people are like dogs sometimes.
Now don't get mad at me. I didn't even call you a dog,
but but people are like dogs sometimes.
Think about this. I mean, you probably heard this
before. Think about this.
You take your dog and you go up to it and you're playing with it
and being offering and you're blowing that dog's ear and he
didn't like that. He's going to get irritated
about that, you blowing a dog's ear.
He's going to snap at you eventually.
But the first thing that dog does when you put him in your
truck is he sticks his head out the window with his tongue
hanging out, just loving the the breeze blowing all over him.
They don't even know what they want sometimes.
We're a lot like that, aren't we?
So the people of God forgot. They forgot what was best for
them, and they forgot that what was best for them was what God
desired for them. They got it all mixed up.
And sometimes we do that too. So he seeks to redeem.
And, and hear me, God never forgets his promises.
God cannot forget his promises. It isn't just that he's really
that cool and he's doing it, although that's part of it.
He can't forget his promises. That's who he is.
It's part of his nature. He does not.
He cannot forget that and he won't.
His mercy and grace are truly amazing.
And as long as time exists in the creation that we're part of,
it's never too late. It's never too late.
But don't forget the lessons, because God still wants us to
learn some things. Look at verse 33.
Yet you've been righteous, and all that has come upon us, for
you have dealt faithfully, and we have acted wickedly.
You see that formula? We're wicked.
You're faithful. And then look at verse 38.
Because of all this, we make a firm covenant in writing.
On the sealed document are the names of our Princess, our
Levites, and our priests. So the fourth thing I just want
you to say, I want you to see the lessons and the commitment
that are required to take those next steps.
They move from confessing their sinful past to committing to a
new future with God. That's the way our lives work
too. The the challenges weren't over.
They were still going to face challenges.
They're going to be problems along the way, but they knew God
was giving them another chance. Listen, God's given you another
chance. If you're listening to this
message, you're getting another chance.
Don't blow it. So they made a new covenant.
Interestingly, they cut a new, that's what the word means.
Covenant means to cut an agreement.
They cut a new agreement to keep the old covenants.
So they made a new agreement to keep all the old agreements.
And so they're, they're renewing, they're recommitting
to the old agreements that word firm or sure, depending upon
your translation is actually related to the word Amen, which
just means so be it. So this was a firm, so be it
Amen kind of document. It was a committed commitment to
the commitments they were committed, and this was their
contract for their potential. This is who we can be.
This is who we're supposed to be.
So learn the lessons from the past.
You got to learn them. You got to follow them properly,
but then commit to a new present covenant.
And for us, that covenant is certainly based upon this entire
complete word of God. Here's a covenant for you, the
Word of God. This is our guide.
So humbly engage the Bible and say to God, Amen.
So be it in my life. Look at chapter 10, verse one on
the seals are the names of Nehemiah the governor.
Now as we commit to him as a church, we must also have
several things that are committed and you see sub points
on the outline. The first thing you see is
committed leadership. In verses one through 2784,
religious and political leaders signed the new covenant.
Nehemiah was the first in line both by position and I think by
conviction. So he's first, but as a as a
leader, he's trying to demonstrate here's his own new
commitment. But we also see priests and
Levites and heads of families and tribes standing together
proclaiming that this is our proper future.
And and leaders affirming new commitment unanimously was no
small thing for these people. You got to remember their
history. They fought like cats and dogs.
Sometimes they split kingdoms, tribe versus tribe.
They committed war against one another in the past.
They, the kings, would kill kings.
And so this unity was a major part of their life.
So coming together unanimously, putting their seal on a
document, it was a serious thing in those days.
This was an oath before God and it was punishable by the law if
you violated. This was no small deal.
This is not just saying, yeah, OK, this is a big deal.
Look at verse 28, the rest of the people, the priests, the
Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants,
and all who had have separated themselves from the peoples of
the lands to the law of God. Their wives, their sons, their
daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding,
join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter to a curse and
an oath to walk in God's law that was given by Moses, the
servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of
the Lord, our Lord and His rules and His statutes.
See, it wasn't just the leaders. We don't just need committed
leadership, we also must have secondly, committed
discipleship. We've all got to do this
together. The leader signed the actual
document, but all the people affirm it and bind themselves to
it. And so they took an oath of
obedience to all of God's law and placed themselves under the
curse if they should ever violate it.
So it's more than a proclamation.
This was a commitment to a whole new way of living.
This is a whole new version of discipleship in the Old
Testament, for sure. And so the people were asked to
commit to return wholeheartedly to God and to obey all of his
word. Now, for us here at Inglewood,
we've prayed and worked hard to to biblically come up with some
ideas. And a great start for us would
be a united pursuit of what we refer to as the seven essentials
of discipleship that we've established in your worship
guide. There was an insert.
Oh yeah, I'm pulling this out. If you didn't get a worship
guide, there are extra ones on the tables in the back in the
welcome center. You need one.
Let us know, We'll get you one. This is what is called the
Englewood Baptist Church Membership Covenant.
You might not even know one of these exists.
For several of you, more than 100 of you who've joined in the
last few months, you all work through Discover Englewood.
You talked about this. You actually signed one of
these. Whenever I do new member
presentation, I refer to it, but this is what the new members are
signing now. Some of you older members might
need to take a look. I was going to have you sign it
and turning into the offering plate, but I'll be nicer than
that today, depending upon how many times you Amen before this
sermon's over. Thank you very much.
Appreciate you. Seriously, this is who we are at
Inglewood. This is who we are.
This is what it means to be a member here.
This is what it means to be a growing disciple in this church,
which is really important to us. That's the whole purpose we're
trying to make disciples and, and what it means to be like
Jesus. And so we need to all stand
together as members and agree to this if we're going to be
healthy moving forward. What percentage do you think I'm
looking for? And so my prayers that 100% of
you would pledge to pursue God's mission, the church's vision,
and pursue these essential seven things of discipleship as well
as God's will. Now, for those of those who
aren't, who aren't members, this is a great thing for you to
study. This is what it means here at
Inglewood to be a part of this. This is what it looks like to.
And I pray that you join us in this commitment and serve
alongside of us. I mean, in life, you make all
kinds of commitments. You make a commitment to go to
work. Well, I hope you do.
You make a commitment to your marriage.
I pray you do you make a commitment to your family.
I I really pray you do. And you even make commitments to
other things like social clubs and teams and and other things
where you serve and you're part of and and and great.
Keep these commitments well, but if you've been saved, first of
all, that'd be your first commitment.
If you haven't going to be hard for you to do anything else
until that happens. But if you've been saved, you
also made a commitment to Jesus Christ as your Lord, your
curious, your boss, and your Savior.
How you doing in that commitment?
How's your commitment to the body, the church?
We want you to stand with us in discipleship.
Look at verse 30. It gets more specific.
We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or
take the daughters for our sons. And if the peoples of the land
bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sale, we will
not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day.
And we will forgo the crops of the 7th year and the exaction of
every debt. More specifically, we're also
going to live for Him through committed relationships.
This is interesting because they were to commit their life
relationships to God. This wasn't just spiritual, this
was practical. So their family relationships,
their business relationships, their day-to-day life
relationships were to be committed for them because they
were struggling in some of these areas, especially the Sabbath
and money and things. And so So what we're going to
see for them, them for them specifically, they needed to
maintain the purity of the community by not intermarrying
with the people of the land. Now this was very contextual and
specific because marriage in those days wasn't necessarily
based on romance. And, and you might say to me, as
long as I've been married, neither is mine, but we're going
to talk about that some other day.
But marriage in those days were arranged by the heads of
households and were very often used to service to to create or
to see what alliances and relationships between two
families between 2 tribes for wealth, for prestige and for
position. They were as much political as
they were romantic. And so this practice
historically in the Old Testament led the people of
Israel into Pagan and ungodly relationships and alliances and
all kinds of trouble. This is part of the reason they
went into exile. Some of you in small group have
been talking about Malachi and you know that.
And so they got in trouble because of this.
So they were not to arrange marriages with non Jewish
households according to the law. Now the New Testament continues
with this idea in kind of a different way.
Paul writes about this in in the new relationship we have in the
church and with one another. And we're told that believers
should not marry unbelievers. Look at 2nd Corinthians 6.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership
has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship
has light with darkness? And see, the reason this is true
is marriage is an image of the relationship of Christ in the
church and and you got to make that connection.
And so we need to preserve the sanctity, the proper biblical
definitions of marriage. And we all know that in today's
world that has become increasingly confused.
And so here at Inglewood, we believe in Christian marriage
and the only kind of weddings we're going to be a part of are
between two believers, a man and a woman per the word of God.
And so they also struggled not only in their family
relationships, but they were struggling in their money and
business relationships. They were violating the Sabbath.
And so they were to observe the Sabbath properly because keeping
the Sabbath is a faith relationship with God.
To believe it's OK for me to rest.
It's good for me to rest, but also to believe that God's going
to take care of me on that day. I don't work and I don't get
paid. And so you got to understand in
that kind of culture, you know, daily pay was a part of their
life. And so believing God will take
care for of us for that day when we take time dedicated to focus
upon Him. So even our work relationships,
or perhaps more accurately our relationship to work, need to
belong to Him. So resting and taking time to
focus upon Him brings in glory and it's also the best for us.
And so they had abused it in the exile, and, and they abused,
they abused not only the day of the Sabbath, but their
sabbatical years in the law. And they were to keep God's
word, even if it meant perceived personal financial loss for
them. And that took faith.
It took faith to believe that God would take care of them.
And so to wipe the slate clean every seven years for the law
meant I believed God's promise that he would cause the harvest
in the sixth year to be enough for three years.
In fact, the law says in Leviticus 25, I will command my
blessing on you in the sixth year so that it will produce a
crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year,
you will be eating some of the old crop.
You shall eat the old until the 9th year when its crops arise,
arrives. So people, do you have enough
faith? Do you have enough commitment to
trust, to rest, to find peace, to find hope in your
relationship with God and for us, we would say it in God the
Son, Jesus Christ. Will you trust him with you
relate with family, in marriage, in business?
Will you trust him with your money And related to this, look
at verse 32. We also take a note, take on
ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel
for the service of the House of our God.
Then skip to verse 35. We obligate ourselves to bring
the first fruits of of our ground and the first fruits of
all fruit of every tree year by year to the House of the Lord.
Also to bring to the House of the Lord, to the priests who
minister in the House of our God the first born of our sons and
our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the first born of
our herds and our flocks. And to bring the first of our
our dough and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the
wine and the oil, to the priest, to the chambers of the House of
our God. And to bring to the Levites the
tithes from our ground. For for it is the Levites who
collect the tithes and all our towns where we labour.
And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites
when the Levites receive the tithes.
And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithe to the
House of our God, to the Chamber of the storehouse for the people
of Israel. And the sons of Levi shall bring
the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers where
the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who
minister and the gatekeepers and the singers.
We will not neglect the House of our God.
And so we have to understand and add to this, that in order to
move forward, we need committed stewardship.
This isn't just about money. It's not just about earthly
resources, but it includes that temple service gave them.
You understand how big a deal this was for them to renew the
temple activity for them to, they've rebuilt this.
Now it's time to get this whole thing cranked up again to get
the sacrificial system going at like they're supposed to
according to the law at that time, in order to get the temple
service going gave them a new opportunity to worship God and
also to seek his forgiveness. They needed that second part as
much as they needed the first part.
How do we make atonement? How do we get redemption from
God? And so they recognized that this
was not some sense of drudgery, but that this was also a this
was a way for them to find joy, the way for them to find freedom
in God's redemption through the proper sacrifices.
So they paid their ties and also gave their offerings and, and,
and the agreement here was interesting because it actually
calls for less than the law required, which is a testimony
to their level of poverty. They didn't have a whole lot.
These weren't rich people who were doing this.
It wasn't just the rich people doing this.
This was everybody doing this. And so they started where they
were and they could, they start, they could grow that way.
And so they were in this together, committed, each giving
regularly as much as they could to support the work.
And the first fruits and the first born are given because
they represent the whole, the whole crop, the whole herd
belongs to God. That's what good stewardship
recognizes. So 110th of all the crops were
to be given as gifts of God, tithing or giving, that 10% of
all you have and worship recognizes that God has total
ownership of your entire life. It's all tied together.
And so these, these Old Testament worship principles and
giving principles were never dumbed down in the New
Testament. They were never dumbed down.
In fact, Jesus often elevated principles of the Old Testament
in the New Testament. So giving joyfully and
graciously became an issue. And for us, it's an issue of a
grateful and and and saved heart and not just a command of the
law. It's out of grace.
Now be gracious givers. And for us, practically, that
means to support our general budget, support the workers,
support the core ministries of our church week by week as we
seek to make disciples here. But it's more than that.
Warren Wearsby writes the great commentator.
He says when there is true revival, it will reveal itself
in the way we support God's work beginning in our own local
church. And so general, generous
stewardship needs to be a normal part of our discipleship.
But it's not just money, It's time, it's energy, it's focus,
it's effort in service and in ministry to one another.
It's not just the offering plate.
We're going to pass the offering plate later.
But that's not what it's about. I'm not just here to get your
money. And guess if you're here, I
don't want your money. You just give us your your
Connect card, your Next steps card.
And we'd love to have that record of you.
But Winston Churchill, who by the way is not a great
theologian, once said, we make a living by what we make a living
by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
The people were bound together in this new covenant.
This is who we're going to be. This is who we are.
This is how we're going to serve.
This is how we're going to support.
This is how we're going to live with one another together in
community, bound together by oath, worshiping and working
together to bring God great glory, to bring him and to join
him and redeeming the nations by making disciples who love him
and love others and join that mission.
That's what Englewood's all about.
You know, it's like an Olympic team.
I, I, I was watching the Olympics.
Teresa will tell you, I, I don't know why this sport of all the
sports I've been, I've become fascinated with curling.
I mean, shuffleboard on ice. How cool is this?
You got people with Swiffer mops out there and a big and a big
rock trying to land in a circle. I mean, it really is pretty
impressive. I don't know if you know what
curling is at all, but but, but I, I, I didn't know a whole lot
about, I watched curling. I don't know anything about it,
but I, I said so, so who are all these people?
So I researched and there's all kinds of different parts of a
curling team. Now I know you want to know
this. I appreciate you.
Stay seated. It'll be OK, just for a minute.
I know you're anxious to know this.
So, so you, you have these different positions.
The lead throws the 1st 2 stones.
If you don't know anything about it, they got these big rocks and
they slide them on ice, try to land in a circle and they try to
bump each other's out of there, right?
That's curling. And you got people with these
little Swiffer mops going down there.
They got one slick shoe and one sticky shoe.
It's amazing. I don't even know.
I can't even walk on ice. They're just sliding down there.
So the second, that's what that's what they're called those
the the 3rd and 4th stone. The third also called the vice
skip because I knew you really wanted to know that throws the
5th and 6th though, and then the skips is the team captain.
There's a strategist responsible for calling the shots and
directing the sweeping because they all get out there and they
sweep in front of it to help the stone go in the right direction.
Now, it was pretty amazing to me because those folks, first of
all, I could never squat down as low as they get, but it's pretty
amazing to me. That they can be all the way
down there and then put that rock right in the middle of that
circle. Now they don't do that on their
own. They're spinning it, It's
curling into position, and then you got people sweeping real
hard on the ice to make it go in certain directions.
I was pretty impressed with that.
Didn't take much, but I got to thinking about the understanding
of the fact that everybody's position had a responsibility.
And even though you might think the most important person is
that person sliding the stone, if you watch really carefully,
the people who are doing the sweeping are directing that
stone into place. And then you got somebody down
there calling the shot to tell them where to put the stone in
the 1st place. Everybody matters.
All the pieces matter, all the responsibilities, all the
positions come together, and every one of them is essential
for effective teamwork. I want you to take this
membership covenant in all seriousness with you, and I want
you to use it as a prayer guide, but also as an assessment tool.
How am I doing in my discipleship?
How am I doing in my membership? What?
What's the strongest part of my life?
What's the weaker part of my life?
What can I do, Lord, to be more obedient to you and to help the
body to join the team to take up my part of the responsibility?
What do I need to do to covenant with you, Lord?
What do I need to do to cut a new firm?
Sure commitment to declare. Amen.
So be it. Last couple of weeks I've been
drawn to Psalm 42. It's a familiar passage.
Many of you could quote it Psalm 42 verses 1 and 2 as a deer
pants for flowing streams. Soul pants my soul for you, oh
God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
Well, when Indeed, Right here, right now for some of you.
Do you thirst for God's presence?
Do you thirst for God's power in your life?
Does something need to change? You need to make a new
commitment? Father, I don't know where
everybody's hearts are this morning.
Father, I've, I've, I've tried perhaps as poorly as I have, but
I've tried, Father, to tell them what I thought you wanted me to
tell them. I don't really know what else to
do except ask you to work. Father, I pray that you'll work
in each heart here. There's some Father that need to
make a new commitment with you, and that's a commitment of
salvation. Father, I pray right now that
you just Pierce their heart and soul to where they could not
deny your reality. And Father, I pray that they
would understand that we couldn't pay the price for our
shortcomings, that in your Holiness you have to hold us
accountable for those. And so, Father, Jesus died on
the cross perfectly, the only one who could to sacrifice
himself so that we might be forgiven.
And Father, I pray that they'll believe that right now, that
you'll help them to believe that right now, Father, and that they
might pray right now and to recognize that, and maybe they'd
say something like this to you. I Lord, I know I'm a Sinner.
I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn for my sin.
I trust in Jesus to be my Savior.
I trust in Jesus to be my Lord. And I want to live for him, for
his glory. I want to serve for the church,
something like that, Father, guide us, help us.
Father, others recognize that they need to be baptized too.
We have others who are already planning on that.
I'm thankful for that. I pray, Father, we don't grow
used to that. I pray, Father, we don't grow
apathetic toward people being baptized.
I worry sometimes that because it's become so frequent, Lord,
that we take it for granted. And I pray we never, ever, ever
do that, Lord, or you'll stop it.
You'll stop it. And so, Father, I pray, Lord,
for those who need to be baptized, others need to join
the church. Maybe others just need to come
and pray. They need to kneel at these
steps as an altar of prayer before you, Father.
Or they need to go to our next steps room and have a counselor
just pray with them privately and discreetly about what you're
doing in their life. So, Father, whatever we need to
do, even as we take up an offering, Father, even as we
offer ourselves to you completely all of our life, the
Father, you would help us and give us the strength to be
obedient. Bless us now as we surrender in
Christ's name, Amen. Well, stand with me.
Our worship team's going to lead us.
There'll be some pastors here. You can come and pray here.
The Next Steps Room will be open with people who just love to
pray with you, counsel with you, talk to you about whatever God's
saying to your heart, whatever you need to do.
As we sing, you come, Don't hesitate, just come and respond.
Thank you so much for listening today.
And I also hope that you'll go to
ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com as well as our app and find many
other resources that will bless you and your families.
Thank you once again.