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What if I told you that there is a potential breakthrough available to you that would give you a 100 fold return on your life? I know "life" is a broad all encompassing word, but that's really what we are looking for -- the kind of life that goes broad and deep -- and far and wide. The kind of life that impacts every arena of my life, my relationships, my vocation, my causes and passions; my mental health and
physical health and relational health. Do you need a breakthrough to more life?

In the next four series, we will talk about four spiritual practices that I think will put us in a place where God's gracious hand is upon us. The first is saturation in scripture. We need more than bread! What will bring the greatest return for my life? In Mark 4:1-20, Jesus is suggesting it's listening to, learning from and leaning into God's words!

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Psalm 51 is all about sin. Well not just sin. It's all about sin and the overflowing, relentlessly overwhelming love of God.  Here's the deal, no one sins out of duty. We sin when we believe that God cannot satisfy my heart. There was a time in David's life where God was the all-satisfying pursuit of his heart. This writer of psalms. This warrior-poet-King with a huge appetite for life. This passionate worshipper of God.  There was a time in his life where he had lost everything that we would consider necessary for the good life. He was living in caves on the run from a King who wanted to kill him. Lost his family. Lost his home. Lost his freedom. 

But when you read the Psalms, you realize that when David had nothing, he realized God was his everything. God was his life. But then when he experienced success, he went from "God is my life" to "my life is good." Here's the deal, the point of Psalm 51 is not just that we would say no to sin. The point of Psalm 51 is that we gain the life that comes from saying yes to God!

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As we close this study of Nehemiah, I want to circle back to the simple, stubborn conviction that has been underneath everything: "If we’re not dead, He’s not done." Your story is unfinished. Our story, in our churches and neighborhoods, is unfinished. God uses holy discontent to get our attention and at this moment, He is inviting us into a season of returning, marked by repentance, prayer, fasting, and the Word. He places his gracious hand on people who own the rubble and chase him. And he writes his greatest stories in generous hearts that love people more than stuff and live like front-yard missionaries. That’s what I’m praying for us.

If you're listening to this podcast, you're not dead yet. And if you're not dead, God's not done!

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As we continue our review of Nehemiah, you'll hear me say, "Surrendering once is not enough. Repentance is a daily discipline." In other words, if you aren't finding time to shut down the busy and turn off the noise so that you can hear the still small voice of the Spirit of God, you're gonna drift back to the normal of sin. If you aren't joining with others in prayer; if you're not letting someone speak truth into
your life; if our Bible is as closed as our ears...we'll drift back to Nehemiah 13. Don't drift. Don't go back to normal. Surrender forward. 

You have to ask yourself, "Am I going to do what I've always done, or is it time for a change?" And I'm not talking about minor tweaks. I'm talking about changes that
go deep and disrupt the normal flow of life; changes that go deeper than sin management. I believe that if I want something different than I've ever had, I may need to do something different than I've ever done! Is it time for a change?

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Nehemiah starts with a leader who is willing to own the brokenness, not only his brokenness, but even his people's brokenness. This gives him a burden of repentance that leads him to prayer. Listen, we desperately need people who will own the brokenness of our communities in such a way that it give us a burden of repentance. We need to bear the burden of repentance for the church that's been running from the heart of Christ for so long.  We need to confess and mourn our sin. And when we do, repentance is so life-giving, when we mourn and fast and weep and confess, when we do that we're chasing God. We're chasing God for us and others. This is true repentance, chasing God. 

Repentance at it's very heart is the heart that says, "I will stop running from you God, instead I'm going to chase you...with all my heart." I want to be a God-chaser.
If we have an urgent desire that Nehemiah 13, not be our last chapter, we need God-chasers more than we need church-goers.

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Nehemiah 13 is one of my all-time worst chapters in the Bible. I knew it was  coming. It's not like I haven't studied or preached through Nehemiah before. Maybe deep down inside I was hoping God would change the ending before we got here. But here we are. It's not so much what chapter 13 contains that makes it my all-time worst chapter in the Bible. There are worse moments in scripture. But Nehemiah 13 is filled with the failure of God's people to love and follow God. Scripture gives us a deep dose of the reality of sin and failure in God's people. It's all over the Old Testament and it doesn't stop in the New Testament. 

Failure upon failure. Sin upon sin. God pursues us and we run. But to be honest, it's not the sin and failure that makes Nehemiah 13, my all-time worst chapter in the Bible. Listen to this episode to see what it is that makes it my least favorite chapter.

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This Psalm is not part of our series, but it's a great description of a life refreshed. This last weekend was CWOW weekend, which is a Sunday that we practice being the church rather than going to church. But this Psalm came to mind...

Psalm 133 is focused in unity, relationships. A few years ago, the surgeon general of the United States said that the greatest epidemic we are facing right now is an epidemic of loneliness. John Cacioppo, director for Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, is the world's leading expert on loneliness. In his landmark book, on loneliness, he describes how profoundly the epidemic of loneliness is affecting the basic functions of human physiology. He writes: "When we drew blood from our older adults  and analyzed their white cells, we found that loneliness somehow penetrated the deep recesses of the cell to alter the way genes were being expressed." In other words, when you are lonely, your whole body is lonely. Psalm 133 is a reminder of God's treasuring of community. We are created with a connection requirement! Let unity refresh your life!

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Nehemiah 12 is about a celebration and dedication. That word dedication means to set apart, to consecrate, to totally give over.  As the people were dedicating the  walls of Jerusalem, they were basically saying, "God everything inside of these walls belongs to you.  You are the builder of this city.  You are God of this city.  Not just the temple, the whole city.  The marketplace, the gates, the homes, the people, everything belongs to you." Dedication is more than a ceremony, it's a commitment.

But here's the deal when we commit our lives to God, our lives will make a difference in our world. We'll leave a mark. If I could choose the goal of my life, I want to leave a mark with my heart!

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Two things are taking place in Nehemiah 12, celebration and dedication. In this episode we'll focus on celebration. We celebrate what is important to us. What we celebrate tells the story of our passion.  So what do you celebrate? You know what I was thinking about this week? I was thinking that every celebration contains a story.  We celebrate stories, God-stories, places where God showed up in or through us.    

Nehemiah chapter 12 is about a celebration.  The people gather together to  celebrate and dedicate.  They are celebrating the places where God showed up in Jerusalem, where God showed up to rebuild their broken places... The wall's been built, the gates are hung...people have come to live in the city...and so they celebrate...because their city matters to them. Don't miss this, celebration goes deeper than having a party. It's all about gratitude. Living forward in faith finds it's fulfillment in looking back with gratitude.

Gratitude is a discipline we all need to practice!

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In Nehemiah 11, the walls are rebuilt, the people are getting rebuilt, but the city is empty and God has  redemptive purpose for this city, in fact for every city. And He has a redemptive purpose for your life. So here's what I believe. I believe that God determines the times and the exact places where we should live. If you live here, you are not a guest.  Where you live is your city and God has a redemptive plan for your city and He has a redemptive part for you to play in that plan.  

I believe that you are strategic to God's plan in the strategic region where you live. nd I don't want us to miss what He wants to do. So the question simply is this, "Will I love and serve my city? Will I love my neighbors all the way to Jesus? We are called to do good where we live!