Collective Church

Every day we should be thankful for the freedom we're privileged to enjoy in our great nation here on earth.  But this is the day that our nation celebrates our independence our freedom as a nation.  
During His earthly ministry, when Jesus began to reveal Himself as the Messiah, he said "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and re every of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free." Luke 4:18
Focus On The Family says, "in the 'land of the free' we often confuse the true nature of freedom.  For many of us, freedom has become synonymous with personal independence - the ability to make our own decisions and choose our own path in life, to do whatever we want, whenever we want....But this is no the freedom that Jesus promised us." 
Today we're going to look at Three Truths About Freedom in Christ.

There are so many godly, biblical virtues listed all throughout the book of Proverbs.  Yet so often they are forgotten in our world and in our culture today.  Sadly, even in our churches as well.  Today we're looking at the biblical forgotten virtue of Purity.

There are so many godly, biblical virtues listed throughout the book of Proverbs.  Yet so often they are forgotten in our world and in our culture today.  Sadly, even in our churches as well.  Today we're wrapping up this sermon series with the biblical forgotten virtue of Integrity.

There are so many godly, biblical virtues listed all throughout the book of Proverbs.  Yet so often they are forgotten in our world and in our culture today.  Sadly, even in our churches as well.  Today we're looking at the biblical forgotten virtue of Honor.

There are so many godly, biblical virtues listed all throughout the book of Proverbs.  Yet so often they are forgotten in our world and in our culture today.  Sadly, even inner churches as well.  Today we're looking at the biblical forgotten virtue of Loyalty.

We are all different types of people.  We all have different personalities, backgrounds and circumstances, but we all have at least on thing in common; at times we all get angry.  There are two types of anger, righteous and unrighteous anger.  The difference between the two is how you choose to handle and process your anger as a child of God.  As we continue through the book of Nehemiah we'll look at how to pray through your anger.

There are several major themes throughout the book of Nehemiah.  Vision, Difficulties, Repentance/Revival, Prayer, which is what we are really focusing on in this series, and lastly, Leadership.  Thank you to Terry Kimbrow, President of Central Baptist College, for bringing us today's message about the Six Leadership Qualities in Nehemiah.

1. What breaks your heart?
2. Be willing to wait on the Lord.
3. Build a strong team
4. Learn to delegate
5. Be prepared for opposition
6. Invest personally and sacrificially

After Nehemiah pours out his heart to God, he receives divine direction from the Lord.  He then goes before the king to ask for help to carry out the plans that were laid before him.  As we read through Nehemiah 2 today we'll make the following observations...
- Nehemiah admitted his fear but didn't allow fear to cripple his faith.
- He prayed during his conversation with the king.
- He prayed for God's help.
- Nehemiah left the results in God's hands.
- He gave credit to God.

Questions To Consider...
1. Is there a task God wants you to do, but fear is holding you back?
2. What is it that you've been planning for but haven't been prayerful about?
3. What is it that you need to bring before the God and ask him for his help?
4. What is it that you need to give God credit for?

All throughout the book of Nehemiah we get a glimpse of this ordinary man's extraordinary prayer life.  As we move forward in this series  we will explore the themes of his prayers.  This week we begin the series with Nehemiah's prayer in chapter one.  This prayer came after hearing of the destruction and turmoil in his hometown, Jerusalem.
 

We're wrapping up our four weeks series this week.  We know that God sent Jesus, Jesus sends us and He also sends the Holy Spirit.  Drawing from scripture, we'll look at how the Holy Spirit helps us and the ways that the Holy Spirit guides us.