I preached today in Bluffton (Church of the Cross Buckwalter Campus) and then had lunch afterwards with Josh and Cali Cooke who are the new part time youth pastors for the church. Josh runs a coffee shop near the church and Cali runs a music therapy studio next door to it. Great folks!
Anyway, I mentioned in a previous post that I would comment on this sermon afterwards, so here it is…
I find it most helpful to look at the structure of a passage in order to get to the real meaning and significance. For Nehemiah 8:1-12 I noticed a flow that I put into words using a memory device. The flow I pointed out as: The Anticipation of the people gathered, the attention paid to the subject, the adoration in response to what they hear, and the affection or emotions that they leave with. Then I walked through those four and drew out three principles which were…
1. Reading and teaching God’s word is an act of worship.
2. God’s word is central to the restoration of our relationship with him.
3. Faith is passed thru generations by hearing God’s word, learning the meaning, and putting it into practice!
The sermon bounced back and forth between describing the event in detail with elaboration on the meaning or significance behind it and contemporary application to our lives and worship in particular. I put a strong emphasis on helping them see that the reading of the book of the Law of Moses was about redemption and God’s desire to be in relationship with his people. This was part of the restoration of Israel after the exile. I would post the whole thing but it is 2200 words long.
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