Nehemiah 8-9

I had the privilege to preach for the English Congregation this Sunday. Below for your reading and Bible study enjoyment is the outline of my sermon on Nehemiah 8-9.

IV. Prerequisites for Understanding the Word of God
1. Hunger for it
2. Put yourself in a postion to receive and respond to it
3. Work at it until it’s meaning is made clear
V. 7 Necessary and Inevitable Responses to Understanding the Word of God
1. Understanding the Word of God must devastate you (8:9)

2. Understanding the Word of God must cause you to celebrate (8:10-12)

3. Understanding the Word of God must create compassionate fellowship (8:10-12)

4. Understanding the Word of God must produce obedience (8:13-17)

5. Understanding the Word of God must realign your religious traditions (8:17-18)

6. Understanding the Word of God must move you to confess your sins (9:1-4)

7. Understanding the Word of God must bring about a renewal of Covenant Faithfulness (9:5-38)

FINISH THE PRAYER! PUT YOUR HISTORY IN THERE! CONFESS THE WAYS YOU HAVE TURNED YOUR BACK ON GOD, AND REMEMBER THE WAYS THAT HE HAS DRAWN YOU BACK TO HIM!
NO GREATER EXPRESSION OF GOD’S LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS AND INEXHAUSTIBLE GRACE THAN THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST!

Take this time to respond to God’s Word. Hopefully God has made some things clear to you this morning. This is an opportunity to express to Him in writing how His word has Devastated you, Given you Joy, inspired you to seek and maintain compassionate fellowship, how it has produced in you a desire to live a life of radical obedience (get specific), caused you to rethink and reflect on your religious traditions, how it has moved you to confess your sins, and how the inexhaustible Love and Grace of God has given you a foundation by which you can renew your promises of faithfulness to Him.