Who Or What Is Important To God? Series

No Limits

building beyond ourselves

SERMON SERIES– Book of Nehemiah, Chapter 7

Priority

NOTES

“Priority”

Who or What Is Important to God?

WORSHIP - is important to God Vs. 1

After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. Nehemiah 1:1 (NIV)

WORSHIP

· Anything that honors God

· Refocuses my heart and my feet

To align my heart with the heart of God

MAKE WORSHIP A DAILY PRIORITY

INTEGRITY - is important to God Vs. 2-3

2 I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. 3 I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.” Nehemiah 1:2-3 (NIV)

INTEGRITY

· being honest & sincere

· genuine true character

To align my heart with the heart of God

MAKE HONESTY AND SINCERITY A PRIORITY

PEOPLE – are important to God Vs. 4-73

Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. 5 So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there: 6 These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, 7 in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah): Nehemiah 7:4-7 (NIV)

PEOPLE

· The object of God’s love

· The reflection of God’s character

To align my heart with the heart of God

MAKE HONORING PEOPLE A PRIORITY

PURPOSE - God’s purpose is important to God Vs. 6-73

Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 bowls and 530 garments for priests. 71 Some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. 72 The total given by the rest of the people was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver and 67 garments for priests. 73 The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the temple servants, along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. Nehemiah 7:70-73 (NIV)

PURPOSE

· A people and a place

· Sacrifice and service

To align my heart with the heart of God

MAKE THE PURPOSES OF GOD A PRIORITY

Next steps:

Right now, I’ll align my heart with the heart of God by, _________________

MANUSCRIPT

Who or What Is Important to God?

Aligning My Heart with God’s priorities.

Good morning and welcome to Celebration Church, my name is Tom Bartlett and I am a part of the Community Tower team, and one of the pastors here.

Now, about 5 years ago, my family was in a very bad accident that caused our family vehicle to flip 3-4 times. We wound up upside down and by the time I came to, I was disoriented and thought I’d lost my left eye. Blood was streaming into that eye and I couldn’t see. Within a few days I saw a picture of my face and while some may have thought it to be an improvement, my nose was double its normal size. I obviously had a concussion.

The result was an impaired memory for quite some time. I say this to say to you, if I forget your name, don’t take it personally, (lol).

But there’s something I realized at an early age, I think by observation mostly, I really liked people who could use my name when talking to me and more important remember my name. Somehow, I translated that to a sense of care and I made a concerted effort to remember people’s names because people are important and remembering their name is a gift.

Now, please don’t quiz me about names as I’m still getting my ability to recall back.

I think we all want to know that we have some value and that the people around us care. That’s the part of the church that matters most to new people, to know that people know their name and actually care about them. It’s always been the dream of this church to have that sense of value for every person. And even though we may not do that perfectly, we all can rest assured that God knows our names and loves us more than we could ever imagine.