Seven Mile Road

In this sermon, we come across one of the most hilariously anticlimactic sentences in Scripture, as Nehemiah tells us flatly that “the wall was finished in 52 days.” They did it! And fast!! Wow!!! Nehemiah also notes that they did it “with the help of our God.” This thought provides us with an understanding that God - no, for real, God - is involved in our work.

Doing the right thing the right way is not easy, and the calls to turn us aside from the work takes many forms. This week in Nehemiah 6 we see natural inclinations can be the drive to ignore what God has said. This pressure could disqualify or nullify the work, so the risk is great.

In this sermon, we kick off Advent marveling how the gospel welcomes and unites people across all socioeconomic realities. As we see the birth of Christ heralded to both “shepherds” and “wise men,” we are reminded that God’s grace is for all the people, just as the angel said. We’ll reflect on this truth and think about how it must shape the culture of Seven Mile Road.

In this podcast, we walk through the thought process that went into preaching through the story of Nehemiah opening his table at his expense to bless others.

As we’ve preached through the book of Nehemiah, we have seen courage from the people of God as they join in on the work and face external opposition. This week, our story starts to take a turn and we see that the people of God are facing the internal threat of sin in the community. We get to see the difficulties and beauties with confronting sin and repentance. 

Several years ago we resolved at Seven Mile Road to “not play scared.” In this sermon, we finish our look at the fourth chapter of Nehemiah and see a beautiful example of what this looks like. Although surrounded by enemies and badgered by some of his countrymen to quit, Nehemiah won’t do it. Instead, he implores the people to trust God and stand strong.

Nehemiah wasn’t five minutes into his work before the haters started in on him, jeering, questioning, threatening, and attacking his good work. Opposition from the world is a sine qua non for anyone who is about the advance of the gospel. In this sermon, we learn how Nehemiah's responses to those who opposed his work of reform can shape ours.

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