Sunday Morning Sermon Series - Pastor Jeff Shipley (Date: 09/12/2021)

Now I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military size.

It wasn't the type of people. We're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah chapter 8. We're going to... This is the third series on the book of Nehemiah.

And... We're going to be talking about God's Word which leads to conviction which leads to joy.

Ladies and gentlemen. It was a privilege yesterday.

Absolute privilege to stand at this pulpit and to be a part of a going home service for a family.

A young man the prime of his life struck down by the entropy of this world and by a sinful broken human body but yet to be able to deliver the

Word of God with a hope and a grace that transcends anything this world can offer.

I hope you have that today. Now, I'm going to ask you today for a minute, especially those of you who are visiting.

Please put away sermon ideas. Please in your little brain right now put away the idea of churchy stuff.

I want you to hear the Word of God. Now, I grew up Catholic. Of course, it's not even fair to say because we go to church once a year sometimes twice.

Most of the people in this room are not Baptists. Most of the people in this room are first generation believers.

We got thugs in here. It's hilarious when I look at this place. We got law enforcement and drug dealers.

It's hilarious. We got drunks, prostitutes, everybody and their mama is here.

But see, we even got a few liberals in this place. Right?

A few liberals. We got some guys that are a little like loafers. You know what

I mean? We got some people that can't decide whether they're a male or a female.

We got some folks that are so far out in the left field, they couldn't find the Holy Spirit with both hands in the dark.

But you know what? No matter where you are today, I don't want to offer you a stupid

Baptist sermon. I want to offer you the life changing message of the Word of the Living God.

Please keep that in your brain as we move forward. Look at Nehemiah chapter 8.

Now let me do a quick review for those of you that haven't been here. We are about 1 ,000 years after the time of Moses.

You can look in Beautiful Miss, what's James' wife's name? Michelle.

Beautiful Michelle is redoing this timeline. But we are about 1 ,000 years after the time of Moses.

We're about 400 years before Jesus Christ is born. It's about 444 -445

BC and Persia, modern day Iran, has whipped Babylon modern day

Iraq. Remember what are the world powers in order? A, B, B, C, and R.

A, B, B, G, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then Rome. Okay?

We are in that Persian era. In a few in one generation a man called

Alexander the Great is going to come to power and he is going to unite the world with one culture, one language in which the

New Testament will be written in. That is the New Testament being written. Guys, Jerusalem, Israel, it once dominated the

Middle East in power under David and Solomon. It was a very wealthy and very powerful nation.

They walked away from the Word of God. They totally walked away from it and started believing in the humanistic ideas of who we are in ourselves rather than who we are in God.

And whenever a nation does that, especially one that has been founded on the idea of Jesus Christ, on the idea of following God's Word, once you leave

God's Word, you will begin to trump. Do you notice the correlation of which

I speak? Some of you don't watch the news, maybe you don't, but that's where America is today.

Now, I'm not here to try to save America. That's not my goal. My goal is to lift up Jesus Christ, let

God's people do what they want to do. But this is where Jerusalem is right now.

Jerusalem is a ghost town. It's lying in ruins. It looks like Milliton after a tornado.

Or even before a tornado. It looks like Frazier. It's just covered up nine ways

Sunday. And there's a bunch of Jews that have been taken prisoner to Susa, the capital of the

Persian Empire, and they're servants there. One of these guys is a cupbearer. His name is

Nehemiah. And his job is to taste the wine before the king drinks it in case it's poisoned.

And he sits there, he's a Jew, and he has some other Jews come up to Susa and he asks them, hey, how's

Israel going? They go, man, it's rough. It's rough. I mean, it's bad looking.

It's pretty rough looking. And Nehemiah goes, what's wrong? Well, the walls have torn down. They've rebuilt the temple under a guy named

Ezra, but they can't keep it nice because there's no walls to protect it. So Nehemiah goes to the king, a foreign king who has him in bondage.

And by the sovereignty of God, let me tell you something. Political parties and governments of the world are nothing but mere puppets in the hands of the sovereign

God. Nehemiah goes and says, hey king, I've got a deal for you. Let me go down to one of your former enemy strongholds and let me rebuild it.

And the king goes, oh, go, go. And in fact, I'm going to get some more protection with you.

I'm going to give you some money. Here's some lumber. Let me help you rebuild that place.

So Nehemiah goes about 800 miles from Susa to Jerusalem. Takes him about four months to get there.

He gets there and the people are just kind of, and they're just defeated.

They're eagles. They're just defeated, man. They're just beat up, defeated. There's no leadership.

There's no guidance. There's no nothing. And Nehemiah goes, hey guys, let's have a look here.

Let's have a look. Trips are like 41 track on three. We're going to redo this. We're going to rebuild these walls.

And they're like, yay! So they start rebuilding. And as soon as you start rebuilding anything, the people who have power in the ruins start to get intimidated.

Have you ever noticed that? Whatever change wants to show up, whenever God's people start wanting revival and change, you're going to come under affliction and persecution.

Mark my words. But they did it anyways. And here's what Nehemiah did. Obviously, he was not a card -carrying member of the

ACLU. Because this is what he did. They all said, we're going to kill you if you rebuild these walls.

Nehemiah said, everybody strap on a sword. If you're working with a hammer in one hand, make sure you have a sword in the other.

We are going to rebuild these walls. It took them 52 days. What they couldn't do in generations under proper leadership, it took them 52 days.

They rebuilt that wall. Now, here comes the hard part of rebuilding.

You see, they physically rebuilt Jerusalem, but they had to go take it a step further.

People, it is not the outside of your lives that need to be rebuilt. Listen to me.

If you're struggling with something in here, I mean, I'm looking around the room and I know some of y 'all are struggling with heroin.

Some of you are struggling with alcoholism. Some of you are struggling with identity image issues.

I'm going to give you the secret. Unless the Holy Spirit rebuilds the inside, you're never going to have a sustaining change.

I'm just here to tell you. You're going to have one of them religious emotional moments again and again and again.

If you're one of those people who are not solid in your Christian faith, you're one of those folks that say, well,

I feel like me and God are this far apart. And you try to keep having through music or through sermons or some religious understanding this culminating event that brings you back to God.

So you can start putting vowels on the end of God's name. You'll, God, God, and Jesus, and you can stop raising your hands and doing all, it's never going to last.

Because you're trying to manufacture an emotion rather than a repentant idea of the

Holy Spirit of God. You understand? You cannot reform, you must first be regenerated.

Alright? So that's what we're going to talk about today. They've got the laws rebuilt, and then in chapter 8, verse 1, let's read.

Chapter 8, verse 1. My, my head is this. Chapter 8, verse 1, they come together.

Now, look what it says. When they get together with God's Word, notice how they get together.

They get together all the people gathered together. Now, let me say this, ladies and gentlemen,

I actually asked one of our women, who I'm doing counseling with, I actually asked her, hey, would you mind getting up and sharing the testimony of your journey with our people?

Because I think you have something. I think you have some scar tissue that would benefit some of the people in our sanctuary.

This is what she said. After 17 years of me being your pastor, after me preaching about this for 17 years, this is what she said.

Can women speak in church? Amen. I don't know how many times, and I'm not mad,

I'm just frustrated. That's a good one. Come here.

Think about this, especially you people who are inundated in religion and tradition.

We just had a bunch of chicks up here singing. Nobody's got a problem with that, right?

Now, if you're an independent pastor, I'm sure you do. But for the rest of us normal people, no one's got a problem with that.

They are speaking and singing in a worship service. What about if one of them comes up here and says,

Can I tell y 'all what Jesus Christ has done in my life? Does anybody have a problem with that?

If you do, maybe wrote us right now in 64. Get a step. Because here's the deal.

When God calls His people together, I hate to tell you this, there ain't Methodist over there and Baptist over there.

When God gathers His people together, the women aren't sexuated. Is that Freudian?

Are separated over there, right? They're not separated in the kitchen and in the nursery.

Guys, the same spirit of God that is in me is the same spirit if you're a

Christian. If you're a Godless heathen, then I ain't talking to you. But if you're a believer, regardless of your gender, the same spirit of God is in me.

The same spirit of God is in you. The same calling of God on my life is the same calling of God on your life.

The same salvation, the same faith, the same Lord who is one over all.

The church will never be the church unless we're all gathered together.

Look here in chapter 8, verse 1. Real revival happens when real understanding of God's word is when we all come together.

Now look at this. When they came together, there was some respect. For the first time some people started to have some self -respect and when you have some self -respect, you're able to give respect.

First of all, look at what it says. They respected each other. Verse 2, it says, all the people gathered together to swear in front of one day.

They asked Ezra the scribe to read the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had given

Israel before the assembly of men and women and all who could listen with understanding.

Who deserves to be in this room? Who deserves?

We have some homosexuals in here. We need to run them out of here, little fruit loops.

Right? We have an ex -prostitute in here.

Right now? We got some alcoholics. Who deserves to be in here?

Here's the deal. Some of you people were raised to believe that there are good sins, little bitty sins, white lies, bad sins, and really bad sins.

I want you to notice something. God actually lists out seven sins that he hates.

You realize that? You realize that homosexuality is not one of them.

Now for you liberals in here that want to take a preacher and somehow validate your sinful life, come here.

Homosexuality is a sin. Don't try to explain it away. Don't sit there and go, well, I feel,

I think, nobody cares, especially God, but the opinion is God is very clear that it's a sin.

However, it's amazing, God says he hates a lying tongue.

Anybody ever not lied in here? You just did. You know what else he hates?

God, I hate this one. Gossip. Oh, man. How many of you old vats in here still live under that rebellious attitude of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s where that sermon's our first?

Did you see what she was waiting for? If God was hating you, best repent. How dare you?

How dare you? But you know the one I hate the worst? Talks about what?

What'd I say? Hey, man. God, if you hate blood, then why'd you make pork chops and other gravy so good?

Right? I mean, give me a break. You know, we all can't look like Evan. Where is

Evan? You holding your hand up again? You know, he's got 10 % body fat.

The way Evan touches his feet, he's like, uh. I wish I could be like that, you know.

But I can't. I struggle with pork chop. Guys, have a little respect for each other.

Have a little respect for each other. Oh, and by the way, you people that are divorced? Whoa! Man, I felt,

I heard the cushions of the chair go You're divorce may or may not be a sin.

There's two different provisions for divorcing God's word. We ain't gonna talk about it now. But let me tell you this.

Irregardless of where you're at in that. Yes, I said irregardless. Where you are in that is this.

Divorce does not disqualify you from the call of God. And it does not disqualify you from ministry.

Go work. Okay? They respect each other, but notice also this.

Look at that very next verse. I'm sorry, verse 5. So Ezra, Ezra and Nehemiah are contemporaries.

Think of Nehemiah as the book of Ezra, part 2. So Ezra's up there, he gives the preach, and when he opens up the word of God, you know what everybody does?

Verse 5. They all stood up. How much do you respect the word of God?

How much do you respect it? I'll be honest with you. I struggle when, on my desk,

Carrie, my assistant, knows this. If my Bible's on the desk, and someone lays something on top of it, it just irritates the fire in me.

I don't know why. I can't leave my Bible in my car all the time. I can't do it.

I feel bad. I get like 12 o 'clock at night. Oh, I'm going to go out and find my Bible. That's not the respect

I think we need to talk about. Here's how you respect the word of God. Use it, read it, and then obey it.

There's a lot of people that have external respect. There's a lot of people that have external respect.

But having an understanding of appreciation and giving true respect is needed out in the obedience that you give to the word of God.

But anyways, they had some respect of the word of God. Now look here in verse 6. Chapter 8, verse 6, we're doing verse by verse here.

Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform. By the way, this is a pulpit.

This is not. This is a podium. This is a pulpit. And the reason we have a pulpit is because of verse 6.

Verse 6, Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform made for this purpose. And these guys, these names,

I'm not going to try to pronounce, stood beside him to his right and his left. Verse, what is that, 5?

Ezra opened the book, blah, blah, blah, blah. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and when their hands lifted up, all the people said amen, amen.

And they bowed down and worshipped the Lord their God with their faces to the ground. You know what the word of God will bring to your life?

It's a little bit of praise. How many of y 'all struggle with praise of God? You are a bunch of liars.

Seriously, I do. Is it okay? Hi, my name is Jeff. Okay, so can we all be honest for a second?

Alright, let me, some of you may know what you're going to talk about. Watch this. Have you ever been singing a song and said something in your mind that this song isn't doing nothing for you?

Have you ever been trying to decide where to serve God based upon the worship service of a church?

Have you ever sat there and been singing and see someone else praising God and go,

I wish I could be like that? Okay, well maybe you're a perfect Christian and you need to be the best.

Here's the problem. You know where real praise comes from? It's not the music.

I can tell you. Trust me, I can take one.

Maybe I shouldn't go that far. We can take Master of Puppets and put

God's word to it and I can praise. Maybe I'll be doing it like this. But I can praise

God. It's not the music, guys. Music does not determine praise.

If your heart is not already ready when you show up, it ain't going to be ready near the middle of a song.

People, it says enter your courts, enter the courts with thanksgiving in your heart.

When you want to praise God here, it's got to start out there. We have an

MMA ministry where we train guys to fight. Right? We train them to fight. I used to tell them all the time.

Sweat here so you won't bleed over there. Ladies and gentlemen, you want to start praising and worshiping

God? It's going to come to a place where you obey God's word and then the praise and worship is an overflow of that which already exists on a

Sunday morning. You try to manufacture it by emotion in here, it's going to be dead before you walk out that door out there.

Book it. Is that too much truth for you? Some of y 'all look at me like you don't know what

I'm talking about. Well, that's probably because you're not a Christian, so hold on. I'll get to you in a second.

Guys, you Christians, you know what I'm talking about. Quit trying to live your life spiritually by your emotions.

Emotions are a formal way to guide your life in Christ. Guys, praise.

When they opened God's word, they didn't have glitter bombs and smoke machines and lights and fancy orchestra.

They simply opened God's word and the people lifted their hands in the air. Oh yeah, Baptists, they went to the hospital.

Lifted their hands in the air and said, Amen! Amen! By the way, Amen is

Hebrew. What's it mean? So be it. We believe we agree with what you're saying.

So God's word is paramount. Now notice this in verse seven. Enter Sunday school teachers and ministers.

Verse seven, look at this. So they were reading God's word and these guys, once again, doesn't matter what their names were, who were

Levites, explained the law to the people as they stood in their places.

Now this is two -fold. Number one, an entire generation of Israelites had grown up learning a language other than Hebrew.

The language that was most commonly spoken in this area at this time was Aramaic.

In fact, Aramaic became a sub -common language that even in Jesus' time they were still speaking, okay?

And so the word of God was written in Hebrew, in Yiddish, right? It was written in Hebrew, not

Yiddish, but Hebrew. And so as we're speaking, people are walking around and they're simply going,

Do you understand what he's saying? If you don't, let me explain it to you. God, isn't that cool? I mean, dang, what would happen if Vicki didn't understand what

I was preaching and like she looked over at the person sitting beside her and go,

I don't understand what he's saying. If that person was able to lean up and go, come here, Vicki. If that actually happened,

I'd be okay with that. Seriously. Pastor John's sitting here, there's

Melanie, here's someone from Preacher. Guys, she doesn't understand anything probably.

Guys, it's okay.

Listen, ministry doesn't happen on that pulpit. It happens between believers down here.

Okay? You don't go to church. Ecclesia is a state of being.

It's not a location. If someone's struggling in here and they say, I don't understand this, then explain it to them.

So, as they're walking around God's word, people who didn't understand they're translating it but they're also explaining it.

So we have God's word and God's word will always lead to conviction.

Watch with me real quick, verse 8. They read out the book of the law, translating, giving the meaning, so the people could understand what was read.

Vicki, I want to tell y 'all something. You ought to be proud not of me, I'm a dork, but you ought to be proud of your associate pastor in this place.

You got a 23 -year -old, you got a 22 -year -old, you realize we have an associate pastor, a youth minister, and a youth staff that only one of them could actually rent a van to drive when they took the youth to Florida?

That's how young they are. That's how young they are. You know what's amazing about that?

Is I have been working in churches now for 30 years. I preach and speak all over the world.

I have pastors, I literally have three pastors right now, one from Knoxville, one from Atlanta, and one from Pakistan that I talk with every week.

Most of them, most pastors today, they have a minimum of a master's degree.

Most of them, a Ph .D. or D .M. in ministry. It's hilarious.

Guys, our Sunday school teachers are more educated scripturally than most pastors are today.

I'm not joking. I'm not kidding. You realize when you hear a sermon at this church or teaching at this church, it has been retranslated back into the original languages as much as possible to not just be able to give a three -point homily, but to give you a meaning and an understanding because that's what

God's Lord has commanded us to do. God says that you teachers, you teachers are going to be held to double accountability than everybody else.

I don't know about you, but I actually believe what's written in the Word of God, and that gives me awe. You are blessed.

Guys, God's Word will lead you to a conviction, but that conviction has to start with a proper understanding.

Number two, watch this. Conviction always Come here. Conviction. Watch what this does.

Conviction can lead to change if there's repentance in between.

Okay? I actually had a guy tell me a couple weeks ago, can you stop using such big words? These aren't big words, guys.

They're Bible words. Okay? I'm using God's Word. If you want to change, you first have to be convicted, but watch this.

Unless there's repentance, nothing is going to change. Look here.

Look here. Verse 9. This is, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep for all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.

How many of you have ever walked down the aisle and asked Jesus Christ in your heart? Both.

Four people? Really? Give me a break. How many of you have ever felt convicted and walked down here and you cried and prayed some prayer and you walked out that door?

Come here. There is nothing wrong with mourning and weeping. There is nothing wrong with a conviction feeling the burden of sin.

But don't let it happen at the moment when God is trying to destruct you. Listen.

It says right here, for there to be real change from God's Word, you've got to hear it too many times.

Churches, preachers, and pastors, and people measure the reality of conviction based upon the emotional response.

I know how I got saved. Guys, I'm a crack addict, right? The chick I was living with came home and said,

I got saved. I go, what's that mean? She goes, I talked to this preacher. I got saved.

I'm like, what are you talking about? So I called the church up. I said, yeah,

I need to talk to that preacher dude. He goes, sure, come on down. So I drove out to Fisherville Baptist Church back in 1988 with my big old mobile.

My acid stone wash jeans. My hair in a ponytail. My shades on.

My metallic black t -shirt with sleeves rolled up. Cigarette hanging out of my mouth.

Walked up in that church smoking and said, I'm here to talk to the pastor. See, I was fit to set that boy straight.

Forty -five minutes later, I'm on my knees and I said this. God, I couldn't even get the word

God out and I broke. Broke. Never did coke or crack again.

I've been sober for 30 years. Listen to me for a second. That emotion and that power didn't change my life.

The causality of that was a conviction and a desire to change, i .e.

repent of my sins. Repentance isn't a verbal or emotional decision only.

You see, it's a changing of one's mind from a changing of one's heart which will lead to a changing of one's actions.

When someone sits there and says, well, I'm a Christian. You are? Really? What's changed in your life since you've been saved?

Nothing. How long have you been saved? 20 years. You are not a Christian. And then they will say this every time.

Judge not lest you be judged. You're an idiot. And your arrogance and pride are going to send you straight to hell in the hand basket.

And you think that I'm joking. You think this is something that can be laughed away. You're going to be standing before God one day.

Not in a church. He ain't some misty white dude with a long beard. In the reality of the creation of the universe, you're going to come face to face with a holy

God that you have spurned and rely on a prayer or an emotion or a church membership to get you into heaven.

Matthew chapter 2 will say, people will come to me that day and say, Lord, Lord. Jesus will come and go, who are you?

And this is what they will say. Listen to what they say. Lord, we fed the poor.

Lord, we healed the sick. Now listen to this one. This one chills up your spine. Lord, we cast out demons in your name.

Jesus will turn and look at them and say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you.

Some of you people are playing religion church games and you're wanting to come to Jesus Christ on your terms.

That is not repentance. It's not repentance. You do not deal with God.

You do not give him half the sin of your life and keep the other half because you are not submitting to the

Lord Jesus Christ. You're submitting to Jesus Christ. You're having an emotional church decision rather than a full surrender and a change that will be evident by the power of the

Holy Spirit. Now I know some of you in here find this offensive. You are the one

I'm talking to. More importantly, you are the one God's talking to this morning. You are so inundated within the control of the aspect of your religious understanding that you are going to condemn yourself and your family to eternal lake of fire based upon your arrogance and pride.

Conviction leads to change. Last thing. Conviction also does this.

Here's the good news. It leads to glory. Guys, I will never share with you,

I've never shared with my wife nor my children nor any of you except those guys over there.

There's a few things that get in your heads. Never will. Never will.

I don't have to celebrate sin to prop up grace. And I'll be honest with you.

It's a little bit embarrassing. It really is. But let me tell you something about joy.

Christians, listen to me. I know there are people that say, what's the little story?

Who was the girl about that guy that yells? You were telling me a story about someone said the church.

Oh, Angela. Somebody, she was cutting their hair and she was all excited about her new church family and she was like, man, my preacher yells and she goes, oh, you go to Witten?

Oh, yeah? Is Candace here today? No, she's at her Robert's parents church.

That's good. That's good. Guys, I know, is there a problem?

Does someone need to be beat up or shot or something? No, sir. Okay, okay.

Just checking. Well, that's just kind of obvious. You start sneaking down the aisle. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's true.

Watch this. Let me tell you something about conviction. I know I yell and preach hard. And it's just because of this.

I'm passionate about truth and trying to wake the church up out of the 150 year hiatus we've given up for religion, right?

Because I've seen religion killed instead of more people healthy growing up and living. And I'm passionate about that.

But understand this. I also yell about this. The joy of the

Lord is your strength. Y 'all focus right here. I don't know. It doesn't matter. We got people.

I promise you the safest place in Memphis. Relax. Listen to me for a second.

You should have more knowledge of the grace of God in your life than you do of the failures of your life.

Okay? If you are constant looking at your failures, you and I need to have a conversation.

Because you're never going to know the power of being a strong Christian if you're always looking at your past mistakes.

Now, there are still things that I sit there and, I mean, I do it all the time. You know, I'm laying in bed in that twilight moment right before sleep and I think about something

I did and I literally go, Oh! Can I believe I did that? Maybe y 'all don't do that, but I do.

You know? I sit there and I'm like, God, what were you thinking? You're an idiot!

God! And if that's all I ever did, I would never be able to get up here in the church.

Guys, some of you doubt your salvation not because you doubt the power of God, but because you're so focused on your failures and shortcomings, you cannot see the grace of God in your life.

Stop it! Now, there's a time for mourning. If you go to chapter 9, verses 1 through 3, you see the very next chapter, you see the repenting, but it's not always a time to live in the sorrow of a past sin.

Once you've repented, let it go! Watch this! It says right here in verse 10.

Listen. Verse 10. It says this. Go and eat what is rich, and drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our

Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your stronghold. Guys, walking around in sackcloth and ashes and feeling the sting of past failures is never going to matriculate you, or it's never going to allow you to be sanctified to another maturity level.

Okay? Guys, it's hard. If you really had the conviction and discipline of God, it's not just simply a, bad boy.

Man, it hurts. Trust me. I got the scars to prove it. I get it. But you've got to start living in the grace of God.

God's Word does bring conviction. Oh, but the Word of God brings joy in the morning.

There might be a pain and a suffering today. The sting of God's belt may be bruising that ego of pride of your area, but in the morning, listen to what

God's Word says. It says this, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then

Christ died in vain. God's Word is simply this. It is at the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.

His compassions fail not. Praise God, they are new every morning, and great is thy faithfulness.

Understand, it is the joy of the Lord which is our strength. It's not our legalistic adherence.

Adherence to something. It's not the church that needs to be known for what we're against. It needs to be known for what we're for.

And what we are for is loving the brothers and sisters of Christ in the ministry of reconciliation, bringing about maturity in God's people, and in that, there is no greater joy on this earth.

I'm here to tell you this, church, if you feel bored in life, you need to get into ministry.

If you are in a place where your life, your spiritual life is stagnant, it won't be by a song or sermon, it's going to be by repentance and then ministering to something else.

If you're looking for that joy of the Lord to be your strength, start serving something else other than yourself, and I promise you, it will show up in spades.