Life In The Midst Of Rubble Series

Reviving the Stones series

Title:

LIFE IN THE MIDST OF RUBBLE

"How to Become a Catalyst for Revival”

Another Word for Catalyst is to be a means, a channel, or a vehicle

Opening Scripture: Nehemiah 1: 1-3

Introduction:

A man one day went to see his doctor to follow up on a test he took two days ago. WHen he walked in and saw the doctor, the doctor saw the man and told him to pleas sit down. Doctor told the man, " Well sir, I have some ban news and some really bad news to tell you, so which one do you want to hear first? The man looked at the doctor and could not believe what he heard he said " you are telling me you have bad news and really bad news for me? Doctor replied,"yes"! So which one do you want to hear 1st? The man said,"well doc i guess tell me the bad news 1st". Doctor told the man, Well the bad news is you have 24 hrs to live. Man looked at the Doctor and said "That is the bad news?" What is the REALLY BAD NEWS? Doctor looked at the man and said well the REALLY BAD NEWS IS.... " I forgot to tell you yesturday".

Talk about some bad news right?

Well, let me ask you this…

Do you have the courage to face the truth?

Sometimes, we don’t like what we hear or see.

We don’t want it to be true.

We may even try to ignore it, but it doesn’t make it go away.

This is something that happened to Nehemiah.

He had to face the truth and the question is, what was he going to do about it?

Today we are faced with the same thing. We see so many things happening in our communities and are families, Walls have been torn down, and even in the church there is death, and all we are left are the Rubbles of destruction. And what are we going to do about it. Because as I see it, all though things may look bad: I am going to tell you this: “There is Life in the midst of Ruble”, and today we are being faced with the same question Nehemiah was faced with: Who will “REVIVE THE STONES?”

I read one time this quote that caught my attention:

“Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it”

The HISTORY of the people of Israel was given to us SO THAT we could learn the lessons and avoid repeating their mistakes.

Now something interesting is happening to Nehemiah. Nehemiah receives some bad news from his brother about his people : the Jews. About Jerusalem and the walls.

1.) Nehemiah has genuine concern for his people- (verses 1 and 2)

2.) His understanding of the importance of Walls, to his people in their worship.

Question: Do I have a genuine concern for what people around me are going through?

2.) Nehemiah hears a report that breaks his heart- (Verse 3 and first half of 4)

Important to read:

America has become a nation whose walls are broken down...and for the most part, we didn’t have an enemy come in and take them down by force— WE dismantled the walls so that we could be “free”. The freedom to do WHAT “I” want to do WHEN “I” want to do it has destroyed the walls of MARRIAGE and FAMILY and SELF-CONTROL and ABSTAINANCE and everyone is in DANGER because there are no walls anymore.

ALL AROUND US are individuals...marriages...and families that are in DANGER because the walls are down and they don’t even understand why.

Question: Can I still be ‘broken’ by the pain of life?

-When I hear of a hurting marriage

-An abused child

-A lonely widow

Dr. Tony Campolo said: “We are caught up in a particular point in our national life in which we are not only terribly materialistic, but worse than that, we’re becoming emotionally dead as a people. We don’t sing, we don’t dance, we don’t even sin with much enthusiasm. There is deadness everywhere. High schools are apathetic. Colleges are apathetic. Worst of all– churches are apathetic. If WE are no longer alive– what hope is there for the world?”

So check this out. Jerusalem’s Walls are down. What is a Wall, what does a Wall represent. It represents, Protection, Obedience, Balance, Blessings, and Boundaries, because outside of those walls is the enemy.

Now what has happened is that we have seen the walls, and we think that we are being held back from something much greater for us. Thinking if we get over the wall, or tear down the wall, if I compromise my life nothing will happen with me I will be ok. (This kind of reminds me of the story of Adam and EVE)