12
Sermon Notes – unBroken
Big Idea: ________________________________________
________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Application:____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
ONE YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN - WEEK 23
Day 1: Day 2: Day 3: Day 4: Day 5: Romans 10:5-11:24; Ps 88:7–18
Romans 11:25-12:21; Ps 89:1–15
Romans 13-14; Ps 89:16–35
Romans 15; Ps 89:36–41
Romans 16; Ps 89:42–52
Discussion Questions – Nehemiah 13
• What are some things in life you can’t control? Does being out of control bother you? Why or why not?
• What’s the hardest thing about not being able to change someone’s heart?
• Review the story line of the book of Nehemiah. What’s happening in chapter 13?
• What did Nehemiah find when he returned to Jerusalem?
• Who was Eliashib? What role did he play in the mess Nehemiah returned to?
• How did Nehemiah respond to each wrong issue? Which response was your favorite?
• What good can come from recognizing we can’t change anyone’s heart?
• How does recognizing the above change your relationship with God? The way you pray? The way you worship?
• Who are you praying for now? What do you want to see God change in their life?
Monday – Control Freaks By George Volpe
“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.”
1 Corinthians 6:1
I remember asking the kids to turn off the lights when they left a room. And though I think they really wanted to obey; it just wasn’t foremost in their little minds. I ended up walking around shutting off lights time after time. All my demanding was not changing their heart. I just could not command the outcome. I had to admit that maybe someday it would be important to them, so eventually I just quit pestering them, and quietly walked around shutting off lights. Now they pay the electric bill, and they shut the lights off.
There are much bigger broken switches we would like to turn off but can’t. A wayward child, a miserable job, no job at all, a lifeless marriage, or a habit that seems insurmountable. How do we steer through those broken issues?
Steering a car is pretty easy. The car doesn’t resist when you turn the wheel. But living things are different. They don’t have steering wheels. They have hearts. That part of us we can’t see or touch, but we know is there. It’s the part of us that moves us to think, to choose, and to act.
We want to steer kids, spouses, managers, employees, friends, enemies ─ in short, everyone and everything around us. We do this because we think we’re right, and everyone else is wrong. We have built a fortress of justification, and if everyone just listens to us, the world is surely a better place. That kind of thinking is so pervasive, it is one mess after another just waiting to happen.
Very little in life is really within our control. And that includes the hearts of all those around us. What is within our control is the choice to either obey God and trust Him, or to go on an adventure for our own selfish satisfaction. We are meant to be workers together with God. We are not meant to lead our own way. He is. We are not responsible for results. He is. The grand plan for our lives is not ours. It is His.
I have planted many gardens in my life. Nothing beats fresh produce. But all I did was prepare the soil, plant seeds, water and wait. I could not guarantee results. The results are always in the hand of God. And so it is with people and the issues of life. We teach, we preach, we love, we give. We work with the God of Heaven, but the results will always remain with Him.
Read 1 Corinthians 3.
Tuesday By Kenny Tibbetts
Scripture
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
Pause
1. What is this passage about?
2. Applying the principle found in verse 21, how does God sometimes change our circumstances in order to change our hearts?
3. Can you remember a time something you treasured had to change in order that your heart could be changed?
Pursue
Take a few moments to memorize Matthew 9:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Pray
Pray that your own heart would not be clouded by treasures which cannot satisfy. Pray you would treasure the One who created your heart and knows it even better than you.
Wednesday – How Do You Want to be Remembered?
By David Dickmann “Remember me, O my God, for good.”
Nehemiah 13:31
As we finish the book of Nehemiah, I note that the last words of Nehemiah are, “Remember me, O my God, for good.”
This prayer of Nehemiah seems to me to be a fit ending to the life-story of a man devoted to prayer. The book begins with prayer as Nehemiah’s first act and ends with this short prayer.
I ask myself two questions: 1. The what question: For what do I want to be remembered? 2. The who question: Whom do I want to remember me? As to the first question, my thoughts have changed over the years. When I
was young, I wanted to be remembered for doing something great. Now, I didn’t have any idea what that might be. But when I came to Christ, I wanted to be remembered for doing something great for God. But as time went on, I realized my selfishness and my limitations. Much of my desire to do something great for God was not because I wanted God to be pleased, but because I wanted to look great in the eyes of people.
This brings me to the second question, “Whom do I want to remember me?” Now, I think, we come to the more important of the two questions. If I am interested in what God thinks about me, if I want Him to remember what I’ve done and look on it with favor, then the first question will take on a vastly different set of answers than if I’m looking at humanity’s opinion of me.
In Chapter 13 of Nehemiah, we see Nehemiah going back to Persia and then returning to Jerusalem only to find the people reverting to their sin, even though they had seen the building of the wall and had heard the Law of Moses with their own ears.
Matthew Henry seems to connect Nehemiah’s first and last prayer in his commentary:
The best services to the public have been forgotten by those for whom they were done, therefore Nehemiah refers himself to God, to recompense him. This may well be the summary of our petitions; we need no more to make us happy than this; Remember me, O my God, for good. We may humbly hope that the Lord will remember us and our services, although, after lives of unwearied activity and usefulness, we shall still see cause to abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes, and to cry out with Nehemiah, Spare me, O my God, according to the greatness of thy mercy.
So, whom do you want to remember you? The answer to this question will determine what you want to be remembered for.
Thursday By Kenny Tibbetts
Scripture And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses. Exodus 9:8-12
Pause 1. Why does it seem like some people will never change?
2. Why is it so frustrating to try and make someone change?
3. How can we trust God to change someone’s heart after we have tried and failed?
Pursue Spend a few hours consecutively this week with absolutely no news or social media of any kind. Take a break from the constant opinions being shouted and trust that God is in control.
Pray Pray for the heart of someone you know who needs to be turned toward Jesus. Pray God would radically change their heart by filling it with love from and for Christ.
Friday – The Rest of the Story By Paul E. Collier
“Remember me, O my God, for good.”
Nehemiah 13:31
The victories in the life of Nehemiah were many! It is such a blessing to read how he stayed vigilant in spite of the opposition and finished the wall. His accomplishments inside Jerusalem were also impressive. But the story doesn’t end there.
That is where we want our stories to end, “happily ever after!” Our marriages begin as fairy tales and we talk little about how they ended. We brag about our children’s triumphs and remain silent when they fail. Reality sets in and we must deal with the disappointments, regrets and failures.
Nehemiah, in chapter 13, rolls up his sleeves and sets the details of the failures in the city in order. He deals with reality. He doesn’t give up. He won’t be defeated. Failure will not be the rest of the story.
The New Life Church in Asunción was the dream of all church planters. It was a growing, prospering, and dynamic ministry. It was one of the largest evangelical churches in the city. When we left Paraguay in 1999, we left a healthy church with two full-time pastors and a growing staff. Mission accomplished! We were so blessed as we began our ministry in Costa Rica.
Then our Nehemiah 13 was written. The senior pastor of the work in Paraguay began changing the biblical, sound doctrine he had accepted and preached for so long. He took a path of even publicly denouncing me and my ministry in Paraguay. His way would detour the future of the church. He eventually was removed from the ministry. How could it be? So much work in the foundation of the ministry seemed to disappear. It was difficult to accept.
What I learned was that God is not defeated in man’s failures. I continue to have several hundred Paraguayan friends on Facebook who I shepherded. Among them are pastors, missionaries, evangelists and pastor’s wives. They have remained true to the Gospel. How my heart is blessed by sharing with them the blessings of the Lord. God continues to write the story in the lives of faithful men and women in Paraguay.
Can you understand the heart of Nehemiah when his last words were, “Remember me, O my God for good?” He wanted to have a strong testimony to the very end of life. We don’t have to give up when things crumble. We can do our best under the Lord’s guidance and glorify Him. We need the tenacity and determination of Nehemiah to press on for good. We can do “all things through Christ who strengthens us!”
Weekend – Constant A Study in the Book of Romans
By Phillip Hamm
We’re tired of change. We’re tired of our bodies getting tired and sore. We’re
tired of our kids growing up. We’re tired of things breaking around the house. We’re tired of politics. We’re tired of the weather. We’re tired of changes in personnel at work. We’re tired of loved ones dying. The list just goes on and on.
We need something to be reliable. We need something to be dependable. We
need something to be steadfast. Here’s the Good News; in a world that is constantly changing the Gospel remains constant.
Tomorrow we begin our summer series in the book of Romans. We will be reminded weekly that in a world that is constantly changing, the message of the Gospel remains the same.
In preparation for Sunday worship read Romans 1.
Announcements: 2020/2021 FBCP Budget
There will be a special business meeting today at the conclusion of the 11:30 Celebration worship service. Please join us in the Worship Center as we present the 2020/2021 FBC Budget. Copies of the budget are available to FBC members. Members may also receive a copy at the church office Monday-Thursday, 9 am-3 pm, beginning tomorrow, Monday, June 8.
A Q & A opportunity will take place on Sunday, June 14 at the conclusion of the last worship service. Please join us in the Worship Center.
A ballot vote with no further discussion will take place on Sunday, June 21 in each worship service.
In a world that is constantly changing the
Gospel remains constant.
Ladies Bible Study - Trustworthy
Six Week Bible Study of 1 & 2 Kings by Lysa Terkeurst Tuesdays at 9:30 am beginning June 9 Facilitated by Abby Hamm & Hope Tibbetts Registration is Required INVITE YOUR FRIENDS & DAUGHTERS! This is a great opportunity to have
a morning out if you are a young mom and a wonderful time to meet some women who have much life experience and receive some mentoring! If you are my age (seasoned) ─ we are still learning and walking the journey and your journey might just impact another life and God may change you.
Childcare will be available with Confirmed Registration Only. After you register, call the church office to request childcare for this class. (941-722-7795)
It is necessary for you to register or call the church office if you are coming. COVID has changed our world and we are trying to accommodate on every level. We will have masks available! The hardest part will be no hugging! Our Reopening Plan
In March, your pastoral staff made a decision we never dreamt we would ever have to make. For the sake of the health of our congregation, and out of respect for our elected officials, we chose to suspend church activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we have been praying over, and thinking through, the process of how, when given the opportunity, to reopen.
When Governor DeSantis announced his plan to slowly reopen businesses in Florida, we knew it was time to put our plan on paper and seriously pursue reopening the church. We have sought counsel from the Florida Baptist State Convention, our insurance company, CDC guidelines, and numerous leaders inside and outside the church. The three-phase approach is summarized in an image that follows and a detailed plan is available on our website.
We share your frustration in this crazy season, and we desperately look forward to worshiping together again. However, we also know the wisest thing to do is pursue that goal in a gradual and phased process. I have confidence in the other pastors, and the wisdom they bring to this plan. With that said, this is new territory for us. Thank you for your patience as we prayerfully and wisely attempt to slowly reopen our church for public worship.
Phase 2 (Current) This phase includes FOUR smaller, shorter live worship services on campus. Each service will be limited to 50% seating capacity. The rest of the building will be closed and inaccessible during this phase. No childcare, Bible studies, small groups, etc. will meet on campus on Sunday mornings during this phase. Online worship will continue to be offered for those who are more comfortable worshiping from home. For more specific details please click here to read the entire reopening plan.
8:30 – 9:15 Celebration 9:15 – 10:00 Encounter 10:00 – 10:45 Celebration 10:45 – 11:30 Encounter
Phase 3 (TBD) We will return to a normal schedule of events. Dates for this phase have not been set. Stay Connected Remember your neighbors, continue to share Jesus and help them wherever possible. If their needs exceed your ability to assist, give the church office a call and we will do our best to help you help them. • Invite your friends and neighbors to watch live services on Sunday at 9:15 or 10:45 am. We recommend staying consistent with our state officials’ guidelines of limiting the number who gather at one time.
• Have Bible studies in your home utilizing resources from RightNow Media • Reach out by phone to another church member or visitor to ask how they are doing.
Please continue to financially support your church and local charities as they experience an increase in requests for assistance from members and the local community.
You can give by using online giving, through the FBCP App, or mailing a check to: First Baptist Church 1020 4th St. W. Palmetto, FL 34221
You can communicate with us at 941-722-7795 or e-mail through the church website: www.fbcpalmetto.com.
