Nehemiah: A Heart For The City
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles, uncategorized Tags: Bulletin Articles on the Heart
I love Nehemiah. I love his determination, his ability to lead, and most of all, his heart. Nehemiah has the heart of Jesus. When he heard the news about Jerusalem’s condition and that the walls were broken and the gates were burned, Nehemiah would break down and cry (Nehemiah 1:1-4). His spirit was burned by those living in brokenness. This burden will lead to action, action will lead to revival, All because one man had the courage to do something!
Scientific Laws of Revival:
1) Objects at rest tend to stay at rest.
Did you know that the people had been living in the ruins for almost 100 years? The exiles returned to Jerusalem in 536 B.C. and Nehemiah begins his ministry in 445 B.C. Revival will not happen by accident. There needs to be a force, a motivation to get the people to move.
2) Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
The word is “momentum.” In sports, you will see a team all of a sudden gain momentum and run over its opponent. A locomotive train at rest can be held in place by a single 2 x 4 board. A train in motion can bust through a reinforced concrete wall.
3) For every action, there is an opposite reaction.
You would think that everyone would want revival. Sanballat and Tobiah were enemies of good. They try everything to discourage, intimidate, and ridicule the people of God (Nehemiah 4).
Our city is no less spiritually broken than Jerusalem was in Nehemiah’s day.
May God give us the spirit of Nehemiah! (Nehemiah 5).
—Jerry Hodge, via the Montana Street Bulletin