But despite these differences, there are some universal, core responsibilities of a family. For example: A family shares. They share a home together, they share food together, they share money, they share time and experiences. Sharing is a universal, core responsibility of a family. No mom or dad would refuse to share their home with their kids. No mom or dad would refuse to share their food with their kids. Sharing is just part of being a family. It’s one of those universal, core responsibilities that comes with being in a family.

So this morning, I want to look at some of the universal, core responsibilities that come with being part of the family of God. How are we to function as members of the family of God? What is expected of us? Even though different churches do different things in different ways, what are those things that are expected of every person in every church?

So, to find the answer to this question, I decided to do a online search. I went to Biblegateway.com (which is a Bible website that lets you search the Bible in many different translations or even languages). I search for two phrases. The first phrase I searched for was “one another” and the second phrase was “each other”. I wanted to find what instructions the Bible gives us for how we are to live in this family together. And what I found was quite interesting.

In searching for just those two phrases, one another & each other, I found 59 specific instructions in the New Testament regarding how we are to act within our church family. Now of course, some instructions were given more than once. So when you take out the duplicates, you’re left with 32 unique instructions for how God expects us to live in His family.

Now I’m guessing that you really don’t want to sit through a 32-point sermon. So we’re not going to look in detail at each one of these. Instead, we’re going to look at the three that seem to be repeated most often. If we keep getting the same instructions three or five or ten times, it must be important.

So the first frequently repeated instruction for living in the family of God is… To Encourage one another.

“Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” Ephesians 4:29

“So encourage each other and build each other up.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Encourage those who are timid.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25

One of our primary functions in the family of God is to encourage one another.

The word “encourage” is made up of two parts. The first part is simply “en” – which is a prefix that means “to put on” – like a coat or something. The second part is “courage”, but it means much more than just being brave. Originally, back in the Old English, the word courage meant “strength and zeal”. So when you encourage someone, you are literally putting on that person, strength and zeal.

So as a family, we are to put strength and zeal onto each other. But often, we do just the opposite. We tend to discourage – rather than encourage. We tend to strip away strength and zeal from people.

We notice their mistakes, instead of recognizing what they do right.
We point out their short-comings, instead of seeing where they excel.
We focus on their weaknesses, instead of praising their strengths.

But we don’t want to do that in our family. In our family, we want to build up – not tear down. Because encouragement is absolutely invaluable.

My mother tends to save everything. From coupons to  wrapping paper, old magazines & newspapers, birthday cards from years ago, and just everything. Nothing gets thrown away.

I am not like that. I will rarely save a coupon. I will never save wrapping paper. Birthday cards might stick around for a couple weeks. But before long, things like that just get tossed. I don’t want the clutter. However…

One thing that I just won’t throw away, is old notes of encouragement. For example, when I was in my mid-teens, my youth group went on a weekend retreat. And one of the activities was for everyone to write just a one sentence note of encouragement to everyone else. And the notes we wrote were really nothing profound, but I have kept those notes for all these years.

When I was in college, the student council had these little cards printed up that simply said, “Thinking of you” and then had a blank space underneath where students could write some sort of encouraging message to another student and then place the card in their mailbox. Even though we had a student body of only about 65, we gave out thousands of those cards over the course of the year, and I never saw anyone throw them in the garbage.

Why? Because encouragement is invaluable. Every time I read one of those old notes, it’s like putting on a coat of strength and zeal.

Can I encourage you… Let’s be a family that encourages one another. Let’s be a family that builds each other up. Let’s be a family that spurs each other on.

Carefully consider the words you say. Are they “good and helpful” as Ephesians 4:29 say “so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them?” Hearing people complain or talking negatively about others is not an encouragement. So be carefully how you talk.

Watch for opportunities to be an encourager. Look for ways that you can carry one another’s burdens. Few things are more encouraging than having a friend come along side you when you’re struggling. Let’s be a family that puts strength and zeal onto each other. Let’s be a family that encourages.

So that’s the first frequently repeated instruction for how to live in God’s family – Encourage One Another.

The second most repeated instruction for how to live in God’s family is: Live in Harmony with Each Other.

“Live in harmony with one another.” Romans 12:16

“I appeal to you…to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” 1 Corinthians 1:10

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.” Colossians 3:13

“Live in peace with each other.” 1 Thessalonians 5:13

And the list could go on. This is just a sampling. Time and time again we are urged to live in harmony with each other. And I think we’re reminded to live in harmony so often, because it’s difficult!

It’s not easy to forgive someone who has wronged you.
It’s not easy to get along with people who are different from you.
It’s not easy to give up your rights for the sake of unity.
It’s not easy to work with people that tend to grate against you.

But that’s exactly what we are called to do. I think Colossians 3:13 sums it up really well: “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.”

Do you do that? Do you make allowance for other people’s faults? For myself, too often I demand perfection of other people. And if they’re not perfect, I look down on them. Or I think less of them. Or I start to grow little grudges in my heart against them. And that’s wrong. That’s sin. That destroys unity and harmony.

I need to make allowance for other people’s faults – because God has certainly made a lot of allowance for mine.

And besides, don’t forget that we are going to spend eternity with these people, so we might as well start to get along now!

When Jesus was praying for his disciples and for everyone who would one day become a  believer, He prayed,

“May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” John 17:23

When we live in unity and in harmony with one another, that is proof to the world that the Good News that we claim we believe is really real. That there is a God and that He really does love us and that He really does make a difference in our lives.

So what message do we send the world when they see division in the church? Or when they hear us talking down about the people in our church? Or about the people in other churches? What messages are you sending?

“I appeal to you…to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” 1 Corinthians 1:10

So that’s the second most repeated instruction for living in the family of God. Now here’s the big one. This one is mentioned probably more than twice as many times as any other instruction in the New Testament. You can probably guess what it is: Love Each Other.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8

“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” 1 John 3:18

And I guess this is really a summary of everything we’ve talked about this morning. Living in harmony will not happen without love. True encouragement will not happen without love. We can not function as a family without love.

And I’m not talking about a lovey feeling. I’m talking about a self-sacrificing, putting others first, meeting other people’s needs kind of love. Love that has action behind it.

Our words can say that we love each other – but do our actions say that we love each other? Think about for a minute. What have your actions said to the people in this room this week? Have you put your love into action?

Or has your lack of actions said “I don’t care about you – You’re not important.”

As a Dad, I have to be careful not to get to busy for my kids. I can tell my kids that I love them all I want, but if I spend all day every day in the office or out and about away from them, then my lack of actions them tells them “I don’t care about you – You’re not important.” So I must back up my words with my actions.

And we must do that in the church as well. Don’t just tell people that you love them and that you care about them – prove it. Put some actions behind those words. Buy them a coffee, weed their garden, give them a phone call, invite them to diner – but do something.

Jesus didn’t just come to tell people how much God loves them – He showed them by serving the people around Him and ultimately by dying on the cross in their place.

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35

Our actions speak louder than words. So what have you been saying?

This week you will have many opportunities to show your church family how much you love them. As part of our whole church initiative, we’ve provided a few opportunities for you – Burger for a Buck tonight, Engagement parties this week – But you will also have all kinds of other opportunities to encourage one another, to live in harmony with each other and to truly love each other throughout your regular week. So let’s make the most of these opportunities. Let’s live like the family of God.

Engage Defined:

• To become involved in or participate in
• To pledge or to promise
• To assume an obligation
• To become meshed or interlocked
• To draw into

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at how we engage with God and I realize that we’ve only just begun to just touch on what exactly that involves, but I trust that God has stirred your heart a little so that you will continue to explore what it means to engage with God in a deep, significant way in your own life.

But now, once we’ve begun to engage with God, the next area we want to look at is engaging with God’s people. So here are our goals for the next month.

We want to become involved in or participate in the Family of God.
We want to pledge or to promise – make some level of commitment to the Family of God.
We want to assume our obligations as members of the Family of God.
We want to become meshed or interlocked with the Family of God.
We want to be drawn and we want to draw others into the Family of God.

Now when I say phrases like “becoming involved” and “making commitments” and “assuming obligations” – Most people’s brains start saying “Whoa Whoa! That’s starting to sound like a lot of work. That kind of stuff would take a lot of my time and I’m busy enough as it is.

And it’s true. Our schedules are full of activities. Most of us are not looking for more things to do. So why on earth would we want to become involved, make promises, assume obligations, get interlocked, or be drawn into anything!?

Why do we want to engage with God’s people? Wouldn’t it be easier if living life as a Christian was just between you and God and no one else had to be involved? Many people believe that, you know. Lots of people who profess Christianity believe that their relationship with God is their business. It’s just between them and God. They don’t need to be part of the Church. They can pray to God by themselves. They can read the Bible by themselves. They can even sing to God by themselves.

And that’s partly true. You can do all those things. So why on earth would you go through the hassle of being part of the Church? Because, let’s be honest – the Church isn’t perfect. It’s full of people who aren’t perfect. When people claim that the church is full of hypocrites – they’re right. It’s also full of liars, thieves, cheaters, swindlers, and otherwise down-right sinful people. Because we’re human. If it wasn’t for the grace of God, none of us could even think about going to heaven. And even now that we are saved and are being transformed into the likeness of Christ, we aren’t there yet and we still make mistakes. We’re still imperfect people.

So why do you want to engage with imperfect people? Why do you want to engage with the Church?

Take a look at this puzzle piece. This is one of those puzzle pieces that each of us held about four weeks ago when we started this series. And I think I mentioned this then, but you can’t really make a whole puzzle with just one piece. Try as you may, it just doesn’t work. Why? Because puzzle pieces are not made to function alone. That’s not their purpose. That’s not how they are designed.

And the same thing can be said of people. We are not made to function alone. We are not designed to live the ‘lone ranger’ life. Throughout Scripture God has set the pattern for us time and time and time again that we are not designed to function alone. Even back as earlier as Creation, we see that God did not create man to be alone.

Genesis 2:18-24
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,? and flesh from my flesh!?   She will be called ‘woman,’? because she was taken from ‘man.’”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

In one of the first recorded statements of God, God says “It is not good for man to be alone.” And there is a lot of truth packed in that statement that you can apply in many areas of life.

Now in this specific instance, God is referring to the marriage relationship – the cornerstone of the family unit. It is God’s design that people go through life – not alone, but together. It is God’s design that people raise a family – not alone, but together. In fact, God thought it was so important that we go through life together that He designed us in such a way that in order for us to have children, there has to be two people involved. That’s God’s design.

Why did He do it that way? Because it’s not good for man to be alone. Even God in Himself is not alone. Yes, He is one God – but there are three distinct persons in the Godhead – The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So if God Himself is made up of three persons, why do we think that we should be a solo act?

Scripture is clear that life is best experienced together.

Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

Ecclesiastes  4:9-12
Two are better than one,  because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down,  his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. ?But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered,  two can defend themselves. ? A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

I think this is why Jesus choose twelve disciples – not just one. This is why when Paul went on each of his missionary journeys, He did not go by himself, he always had a team. And this is why when you become a follower of Christ, you become part of the family of God. You become part of the Church.

Life is hard. It is full of challenges. It’s full of disappointments. It’s full of struggles. Especially as Christians who constantly go against the flow the of the world.

Jesus says in John 16:33…

“In this world you will have trouble.”

That’s a fact. Of course, Jesus is always with us and He is our ultimate source of comfort, but He has given us an amazing family to journey with us as we go through this difficult life. Our Church family is probably one of the greatest gifts God has given to us. Think about it:

It doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are. It doesn’t matter what country you come from or what language you speak. It doesn’t matter if you are dentist or a farmer – a lawyer or a tattoo artist. It doesn’t matter what mistakes you’ve made in life. When you become Christian, you become part of the world-wide Family of God.

You’re loved and accepted for who you are. You don’t have to be perfect. When you make mistakes, as we all do, there is forgiveness and second chances. When life deals you the hard blows, there are brothers and sisters there to come along side you and help you through. That’s what families do.

And that is exactly why, for the next month, we are going to put forth an extra effort:

To become involved in or to participate in the Family of God.
To pledge or to promise – make some level of commitment to the Family of God.
To assume our obligations as members of the Family of God.
To become meshed or interlocked with the Family of God.
To be drawn and to draw others into the Family of God.

Because, like we read in Ecclesiastes earlier, we don’t want to see anyone in our Family be the one to fall down without anyone to help him up.

We want to be a family that takes care of each other. We want to be a family where people don’t have to put on an act – they can be who they really are. We want to be a family that builds up and encourages those who are going through struggles.

So for the next month, we are going to look at how we can do that – how we can become that kind of a family. We want to get past simply shaking hands on Sunday morning and get to a deeper level of engagement where we can…

“Carry each other’s burdens.” Galatians 6:2
“Spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10:24
“Encourage one another and build each other up.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Will it take effort? Yes, it will. Will it require a significant investment of your time? Yes, it will. But will it be worth it – to truly engage with God’s people? Yes, it absolutely will.

So to that end, I want to close this morning with a few announcements. As part of our whole church initiative, we want to provide some opportunities for you to begin engaging with God’s people – And so, for the next month we will be throwing all kinds of engagement parties!

Now these aren’t “ENGAGEMENT” parties that you throw when two people are going to get married. These are just small group get-togethers where you can relax, be yourself, and have a good time interacting with other people in the Church. For example, one engagement party might just be sitting around the firepit one evening with another family or two. Another engagement party might involve three families going out for Chinese food. Another engagement party might involve a board games night. Or swimming, or bowling, or watching the football game, or fishing, or coffee at Tim Hortons. There are all kinds of options out there. We just want to provide plenty of opportunities for you to engage with God’s people.

So here’s how it will work: Every week, we’re going to try to have at least three engagement parties. I would ask that everyone try to attend one engagement party every week. I know that will require a bit of a time commitment, but as I said earlier, I think it’ll be well worth it. To help us stay a little organized, each Sunday we’re going to announce the week’s upcoming events and then pass out a guest list that you can put your name on so the hosts know about how many to expect. We’re a little late in the service to pass around the guest list this week, so I’ve got the guest list at the back and you can put you name down for one of the events as you leave this morning.
So to get us started, let me tell you what’s going on this week. You can find this information in your sermon notes.
…
Well, I hope you’re excited about these engagement parties and also about our Burger for a Buck events this summer. I am very excited to see what God will do among us through these events. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I think we’re going to grow a lot together. So let us pray…

Now a lot of what we’ve talked about so far has been kind of the prep work of engaging with God. Adjusting our perspectives – changing our attitudes. And of course, doing all those things is all part of the process. But today I want to get down to the meat of the issue. I want to talk about actual actions. Day by day, real life engaging with God. Like we talked about at the beginning of this series – becoming interlocked, like a jigsaw puzzle piece with our God.

Because I think that’s really what each of us want. We want to connect with God. We want God to be as real and active in our lives as He was with the heroes of the Bible. We want God to actually make a difference in our lives.

I guess I can’t speak for you, but I’m not content to stay like I am forever. I’ve got too many faults and flaws in my character. I want to engage with the One who created me, so that He can make me into the person He intended me to be, so that I can do the things that He intended for me to do. I want to engage with God.

And unless I’m wrong, I think that’s what most of you want too. So how do we do it? Once we’ve got that attitude of thankfulness and humble submission before God, then what? How do we engage with God on daily, real-life basis?

Well, the answer probably isn’t as complicated as we might think.

My wife and I met at camp. We were both camp counselors there for the summer of 1999 and so we spent the summer working together. By the end of the summer, I had determined that I wanted to get to know this girl some more. But we had a problem. Well, maybe not so much of a problem as an obstacle. Both of us were heading off to Bible college within a few weeks of camp ending. I was headed to northern Saskatchewan and she was heading to northern Alberta. If we couldn’t be with each other or see each other, what would become of our relationship then!?

Well, actually, it flourished! Through regular emails, lots of letters, and the occasional long-distance phone call, we dated each other from a distance and it was great! It didn’t matter that we only got to see each other every once-in-a-while. As long as we were constantly communicating in some way, shape, or form, our relationship grew!

And that’s exactly how we engage with God on daily, real-life basis! Constant communication.

God communicates with us in a number of ways. The primary way He speaks to us is through His Word – the Bible. It is in the Bible that God reveals Himself to the human race. But He also speaks to us in other ways -  through different people, books, nature, music, events, circumstances – God has all of Creation at His disposal to communicate with us.

We, on the other hand, have just one simple, yet effective way of communicating with God. That is what we call prayer. It is prayer that allows us to fully engage with the God of the universe.

So how does it work? How does prayer help me to engage with God? How will praying impact my life?

Well, let’s look at the lives of two individuals, one from the Bible and one from more recent history, and see how they engaged with God through prayer.

The first person we are going to look at is Jesus – after all, who would be a better example of engaging with God than Jesus Christ, the Son of God? If you read through the Gospels, you’ll find that Jesus was praying all the time.

But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. Luke 5:16

About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. Luke 9:28

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.  Luke 6:12

Now, wait a second… Jesus prayed to God all night!? When was the last time you prayed to God all night? I don’t know about you, but I usually spend most of my nights sleeping. But here is Jesus, so wrapped up in praying to God, that He either forgot to go to sleep, or He purposely fought the urge to sleep because what He was doing was so important.

Now, in my life, very rarely am I involved in something that is so important, so urgent, that it trumps my need to sleep. But it has happened occasionally. One of those times was when my children were being born. Another time, (and I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this), was when my wife, her brother, and I were playing a computer game together and we stayed up until 4:00am trying to beat the computer – which we eventually did, by the way. But when have I ever stayed up all night, because I was caught up praying to God?

But that’s exactly what Jesus did. And this isn’t the only time either.

After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Matthew 14:23

If you read a little further, you see that on this occasion, He only prayed until about 3:00am when He came down and started walking across the lake.

It seems to me that Jesus seems to know something about prayer that we don’t. Why would anyone stay up all night or even until 3:00am praying, unless they were convinced that it was absolutely essential. Absolutely worthwhile.

And perhaps that’s our issue. We’re not absolutely convinced that prayer really works. If we really believed in the necessity and the effectiveness of prayer like we say we do, I think we’d spend a lot more nights in prayer.

Leonard Ravenhill, author and evangelist of the last century, wrote a book called “Why Revival Tarries”. And in this book, He talks about prayer and the lack thereof in the church and I just want to read a couple of paragraphs of that book for you.

“No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shopwindow to display one’s talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off.

Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few prayers;… many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”

So maybe we need some convincing. Or perhaps we just need a few reminders of the power of prayer. One of my “Heroes of the Faith” is a man named George Mueller.

George Mueller lived in England in the 1800s and at that time, England was full of homeless children living in terrible conditions. So Mr. Mueller decided to do something about it. In 1834 he and another friend founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institution in Bristol, England, and their purpose was to establish Orphan Homes for the many homeless children in Great Britain.

They had no money and they determined that they would never ask any man for anything. They would only present their requests to God and trust that God would provide for them.

And so for 64 years, that was how George Mueller operated. In that course of time, he cared for and educated over 18,000 children; started 117 schools which educated over 100,000 children; distributed hundreds of thousands of Bibles and tens of millions of religious tracts; supported about 150 missionaries; traveled over 200,000 miles as a missionary himself; and shared the Gospel with over 3 million people around the world. And in all that time, he never asked for one penny from anyone, his children never missed a meal, and he never had a debt. All of that was accomplished through prayer alone.

Now do you think that that George Mueller felt connected with God? Do you think God was real in His life? Absolutely. George Mueller was a man who was deeply engaged with God.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Do we believe that? Do we REALLY believe that? When you pray, do you believe that your prayers are powerful and effective? Sometimes I don’t think we do. Often, I think we see praying about as effective as making wishes at a wishing well.

There is a story of a pastor who was making his regular rounds at the local hospital. As he was walking down the hallway, an unfamiliar lady in one of the rooms called out to him, asking him to come in.

“Me?” he asked.

“Well, if you’re a preacher, I want you.”

“Well, what would you like me to do for you?” He asked.

“Why, pray for me to be healed, of course!” said the woman, as if she was almost disgusted with his inquiry. Why did He have to ask? If you are sick and in the hospital and you call for a preacher, you’re calling for someone to pray.

So He prayed. She stretched and jumped up and yelled, “I’m healed! I’m healed!” And unquestionably, she really was healed.

The pastor went back to his car in parking lot – his heart pounding, his pulse racing – leaned his head against the steering wheel and said, “Lord, don’t you ever do that to me again.”

We laugh at this guy because He didn’t really think that God would answer his prayers. He didn’t believe that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.”

Think about this: If you knew that for the rest of your life, for every hour you spent in prayer, one person would be saved from a Christ-less eternity – how would that change your prayer life?

Do you believe that your prayers are powerful and effective? If so, what are you doing about it? Are you engaging with God and advancing the kingdom through your prayers? If not, why not?

After all, God has assured us in His Word that he hears our prayers and He will answer them.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15

So if we know that prayer is powerful and effective, and we know that God hears us and  we know that He delights in answering our prayers, then why, oh why, do we not pray so much more than we do?

My first thought is that we forget. We forget how important it is and how powerful it is. And we get distracted by life and all it’s busy-ness. Satan convinces us that we’re just too busy to spend that kind of time in prayer and that even if we did, God probably wouldn’t answer anyway.

So we settle for five minutes here, and five minutes there. And because we only pray a little, God is only able to answer a little. And that means we only see God at work a little and our relationship with Him only grows a little.

But what would happen if we start to pray more? If we prayed more, God could answer more. That would mean we’d see God at work more and our relationship with Him would grow… more!

The more we pray, the more God can answer. And the more God answers, the more real we see Him in our lives. In my experience, nothing strengthens my relationship with God more than seeing God answer my specific prayers.

It is my desire that each one here would be able to see God at work in your life in a very real way. So to that end, I want to give you three practical suggestions that you can apply to your prayer life.

#1. Pray a lot.
Do the Jesus thing and pray until 3:00am once in a while. That might not work very good all the time, but give it a try once. Or do the Daniel thing and pray three times a day. Or better yet, do the 1 Thessalonians 5:17 thing and

“Pray without ceasing…”

Give God lots of opportunities to answer your prayers and show Himself to be real in your life. Pray a lot!

2. Pray alone.
Jesus frequently went off by Himself to pray.

After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.  Matthew 14:23

Jesus also instructed his disciples to pray in private.

But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. Matthew 6:6

This is something I need to work on. I pray with my wife each day. I pray with my kids each day. I pray with different people throughout the week. But I need to spend more time by myself in prayer. This is where you can get really personal with God. You can say exactly what’s on your mind – and God doesn’t get offended. So take the time to pray alone.

Maybe you need to get up early. Maybe you need to stay up late. Maybe you just need to skip that tv show and go for a walk alone with God. But find the time to pray alone.

3. Pray together.
Just as important as praying alone is, we also need to pray together.

They all met together and were constantly united in prayer. Acts 1:14

Part of our mandate as a church is to pray for each other and build each other up. And the ten minutes we allot for prayer time in our Sunday morning service isn’t nearly enough. We need to regularly meet together with other believers in small groups and pray for each other. If you’re are not part of a small group that meets regularly to pray together, I challenge you to find one and get involved. If you don’t know where to look, talk to me and I’ll try to point you in the right direction. If you can’t find one that suits you, we’ll start a new one. But let’s start praying together.

Now this morning, we’re going to continue exploring how to engage with God. And I think it’s important for us to remember who God is. If we’re going to engage with God, we have to realize that God is not just another person. We tend to try to bring God down to our level. To think of Him almost as an equal.

But that’s not the case. Yes, we are created in His image, but He is so infinitely more in every way than we are. So to help us keep perspective as we endeavor to engage with God, let’s just look at some of the ways the Bible describes God for us.

Jeremiah 51:15-19 (New Living Translation)

15 The Lord made the earth by his power,
and he preserves it by his wisdom.
With his own understanding
he stretched out the heavens.
16 When he speaks in the thunder,
the heavens are filled with water.
He causes the clouds to rise over the earth.
He sends the lightning with the rain
and releases the wind from his storehouses.
17 The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power. 18 Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed. 19 But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists,  including his people, his own special possession.  The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!

Isaiah 40:12-26 (New Living Translation)

12 Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
Who else knows the weight of the earth
or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
13 Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord?
Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
14 Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice?
Does he need instruction about what is good?
Did someone teach him what is right
or show him the path of justice?
15 No, for all the nations of the world?  are but a drop in the bucket.  They are nothing more than dust on the scales.  He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand. 16 All the wood in Lebanon’s forests and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough to make a burnt offering worthy of our God. 17 The nations of the world are worth nothing to him.  In his eyes they count for less than nothing— mere emptiness and froth.
18 To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? 19 Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,  overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? 20 Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down!
21 Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?  Are you deaf to the words of God—the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant? 22 God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. 23 He judges the great people of the world  and brings them all to nothing. 24 They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up into the heavens.  Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another,  calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.

Romans 11:33-36 (New Living Translation)

33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
34 For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? 35 And who has given him so much? that he needs to pay it back?
36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

That’s our God. That’s the God that we worship. That’s the God who wants to engage with us.

The awesomeness of our God is mind-blowing! He is so far off our radar that we can’t even begin to comprehend how great He is. And yet He wants to engage with us. How do we approach a God like that? How do we connect with that kind of a God?

Throughout the Scriptures it seems that there is really is only one way to approach God.  Let’s look at a couple of verses:

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble,
but he keeps his distance from the proud. Psalm 138:6

He cares for the humble, but keeps his distance from the proud. What does that tell us about how we should approach God? We must come humbly. We cannot engage with God if we refuse to humble ourselves before Him. It says “He keeps his distance from the proud.” Do you ever feel like God is distant and far away… perhaps that’s the reason?

This principle of humbly approaching God can be found throughout the Scriptures. Let me give you just one quick example: God tells Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14 ….

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

God wants to engage with us. He wants to connect with us. But we must come to him humbly. This is why last week we said that worship in it’s most basic form is just saying thanks to God. It’s acknowledging God for who He is and what He’s done. And when we do that, that really puts in perspective who we are. When we start thanking God for everything He is and for everything He’s done, suddenly – we’re not quite as awesome as we sometimes think we are. We realize how small we are compared to God and how great He is compared to us. And that creates the perfect conditions for us to worship Him.

Over the past couple of weeks as I’ve been preparing for this series, I’ve noticed a common practice in many different places in the Bible used by people who wish to humbly engage with God. From Solomon to Ezra, From Daniel to Peter – whenever people earnestly want to meet with God – to engage with Him in a deep, significant way – they did one thing.

They got down on their knees in prayer. Kneeling before God is a simple but powerful act of worship.

Psalm 95:6 says…

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

Why? Because kneeling, bowing down is an outward sign of inward submission. It is physically showing that we recognize God’s authority over us and that we humbly submit to that authority.

King Solomon, perhaps one of the most powerful kings of Israel got on his knees before God. 1 Kings 8:54…

When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.

Daniel was on his knees three times a day before God. Daniel 6:10…

Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

And Peter, when he prayer that God bring back to life Tabitha who had died, prayed on his knees. Acts 9:40…

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.

When I was kid I grew up in a little country church very much like this one. And one thing that I remember about that church was that, when we had Wednesday night prayer time, every person in that church – no matter how old or young they were, got down on their knees to pray. You don’t see that very much in churches anymore – but I think it’s an important practice.

Not that the action of kneeling is anything special. Praying on our knees does not give our prayers special power or extra influence over God. But what it does, is it reminds us who God is and who we are and it prompts us to engage with Him with an attitude of submission.

And it’s that attitude of submission that will transform the way you worship – the way you engage with God. In fact, when you approach God with an attitude of humble submission, everything you do becomes an act of worship.

Singing is worship as you praise the Almighty God.
Prayer is worship as you bring your cares and confessions to your Creator.
Listening to a sermon is worship as you submit your life under the authority of Scripture.
Giving in the offering is worship as you give back to the giver of every good gift.
Communion is worship as you declare God’s completed work on the cross.

But it all must be done with an attitude of humble submission to God. So this morning, as we continue worshiping God through sharing communion together, I’m not going to ask you get down on your knees as we pray – though I would certainly recommend that you do that at least once this week in your personal prayer time. But for now, I just want you to take a moment to examine your attitude right now. Are you approaching God with an attitude of humble submission? Are you willing to submit every area of your life to his authority? Are you willing to get on your knees before Him? Because that’s what it takes to engage with God.

So for the next few weeks we’re going to start by looking at how we can engage with God. Just think about that for a moment – Engaging with God. Being interlocked like a puzzle piece with God. Don’t forget who God is! He’s the God who created everything by just saying “Let there be…”.

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6

It’s amazing to think that the God who created the universe by just saying a few words – it’s amazing to think that THAT God, that all-powerful being wants to engage with you.

You might think, “Of all the billions of people on the earth, why does God care to engage with me?”  Well, to God, you’re not just Human #6328974515. God knows your name. He made you. He determined exactly who you would be before your were born. He created you as an eternal being for the sole purpose of spending eternity engaged with Him.

Doesn’t that just blow your mind? God. All-powerful. All knowing. Perfect. Sinless. Absolutely Holy and Righteous! And He wants to spend eternity with YOU! With ME!

What is He thinking!?  I guess He’s thinking that we are His creation. He are created in His image. And what He creates is always very good – despite what we may think about ourselves. So because God created us, He loves us like crazy and wants to spend eternity engaged with us.

That is so cool. I think I could end the sermon right here and we could all spend the week just marveling at God’s great love for us. But on the other hand, we can’t just stop there. Engagement is a two-way street. God has certainly done his part to engage with us – but it’s up to us now to engage with Him.

So how do we do that? How do we engage with God? How do we truly connect with Him? It’s hard enough to truly connect with other human beings that we can see and touch and talk face-to-face with. How do we connect with an all-powerful spiritual being that we can’t see face-to-face?

I believe that engaging with God begins as just as simply as meeting your neighbor in the grocery store.

To test that theory, I’m going to need some participation. I need two volunteers. (Have them come up.) Ok, [person 1], I want you to pretend you’re picking up a few items at the grocery store. As you’re doing that, your neighbor, [person 2], comes in to the store too. Then you guys just take it from there and we’ll watch to see how this pans out. {I presume that at some point they acknowledge each other’s existence in some way…  As they do, stop them and explain.}

Did you notice what happened there? The very first thing that happened that allowed them to connect with each other, was that they acknowledged the other’s existence. [Replay what happened] That’s the starting point. You cannot connect, you can not engage without first acknowledging each other’s existence. I know that seems really basic and common sense, but that’s our starting point.

That’s the first step in engaging with God too. First, we must acknowledge His existence. We have to acknowledge that He is real and that He is who He says He is. You will not be able to engage with someone if you do not believe they exists. That’s why it says in Romans 10:9…

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That’s acknowledging who God is and what He has done. Engaging with God begins when we come to that point where we say, “Yes, God is real. He is who He says He is and I want to enter into a relationship with Him.”

That is the starting point of engaging with God. But that’s ONLY the starting point. We can’t stop there. That just prepares us to engage with God. True engagement with God only begins when we take the next step. And what is the next step, you ask? Well, let’s look up Romans 1:19-23….

19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  Romans 1:19-23

It’s clear from these verses that you can know that God exists, and still be very far from engaging with Him. Knowing that God exists is the starting point, but true engagement only begins when we worship Him. Look at verse 21.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  Romans 1:21-23

That sounds a lot like North Americans, doesn’t it? Knowing God exists, but refusing to worship Him.Thinking up foolish ideas of what God was like… I think this is where many, many people in our North American culture get stuck. They believe in God, but they refuse to worship Him as God. A poll done in Canada last year said that 76% of Canadians believe there is a God. That’s a lot of people who believe God exists. But how many people actually, truly worship Him?

And I wonder if this is why we have churches that are full of people who feel like they simply are not connected with God? That God doesn’t seem real in their lives? They know God exists, but for some reason, something is just missing. Well, perhaps the reason they don’t feel engaged with God, is because they do not worship Him.

Now some of you might be a little confused when I say that. If these are good, church-going people who sing the songs and hear the sermon and give their tithe every Sunday morning, how can I say they do not worship God?

Well, perhaps I need to clarify what I mean by worship. Let’s look at Luke 17:11-19.

11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:11-19

That Samaritan gives us a perfect example of worship. He didn’t attend a special church service. He didn’t sing along with a live contemporary worship band or even the CD in his car. What did He do? Verse 15 & 16…

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.

That’s worship. That’s engaging with God. It’s giving God the credit that is due Him. It is praising God for who He is and what He has done. In it’s very simplest form, worship is just saying, “Thanks” to God.

Do you want to connect with God? Do you want God to feel real in your life? Then start saying “thanks”. Start thanking God for who He is and what He’s done. Start worshiping Him in everything you do.

Because I think if we were to be honest with ourselves, we’d have to admit that usually, we’re pretty self-centered, ungrateful people. I know that’s my tendency… But how many good things has God given us that we simply take for granted? How many times do we focus on the negative stuff and ignore at the great stuff that God has done for us?

One of the reasons I think King David had such a close connection with God is because of His continual attitude of thankfulness to God. Just look at a few of the psalms.

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Psalm 105:1

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Psalm 118:28

Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 106:1

If we were to start thanking God for everything that He has given to us, for every blessing that He has showered upon us, God would become so real in our lives so fast – we couldn’t even imagine. We would see God at work everywhere. We would see his loving care for us everywhere. We would see His involvement in our lives everywhere.

So I challenge you this week: Begin to engage with God- start saying thanks. Start noticing all the good things that God has done and is doing in your life. Stop focusing on what you don’t have or what’s not going right. Instead, focus on the literally thousands of blessings that God has poured into your life and how He has taken care of you and brought you this far. If you do that, I am confident that God will seem more real to you this week than He ever has before!

So, on that note, I want to close with two things. First of all, as the music team comes forward for our closing song, I want you to notice on the bottom of your sermon notes sheet, there is a list of four things you can do this week and I want you to notice item #1. Make a list of 100 things to thank God for. This is not a difficult task and I would encourage every one of you to take the time to do this sometime this week. In fact, if you really want God to seem real to you this week, double that or triple that. Or even come up with 100 things every day. And then be sure to take the time to actually thank God for the things on that list.

The second thing I want to do, as an exercise of thankfulness and engagement with God, I want us to have a time of popcorn praise. This is a time of one sentence prayers of thankfulness to God. Thank-you God for your forgiveness. Thank-you God for always being with me. Things like that. In just one sentence, thank God for who is or what He’s done. Feel free to go more than once if you like, but just one sentence at a time. The idea is that it’s like popcorn, our praise to God just popping up all over the place.

So let’s bow our heads and offer up some popcorn praise to our God and then I’ll close in prayer and then have the music team lead us in one final song.

As I mentioned in the introduction this morning, over the next four months we are going to looking at how we can become a whole church. We want to take full advantage of the opportunities that God is sending to us to expand His kingdom, but we can’t do that as a broken church or a fragmented church. We have to do this as a whole church.

Now there are two aspects to this idea of a whole church. The first aspect that I want us to look at is the idea of unity. Moving beyond our differences and focusing on what we have in common. This is exactly what we read in our passage earlier.  1 Corinthians 12:12-13

12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

Yes, there are many different parts, but we make up one body. Does everyone still have your puzzle piece? Can you take it out and hold it up for me to see for a minute? (Earlier, I had invited everyone in the congregation to come to the front to take a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that I had put together earlier…)

One of the biggest issues that I’ve wrestled with as a pastor over through the past two years is this issue right here. God has a lot of different puzzle pieces. And I don’t always know how they fit together, but I know that somehow they do. Just like the verse says…

Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

Isn’t that awesome?! We can be totally different – yet because of Christ, we can be united as one. We can get together and worship the same God. We can go out into our community and together serve the same God.

Sometimes we focus on how we’re different. How we’re not the same. We take out our puzzle piece and compare it with the guy beside us. Oooh, you’re shape’s a little different, and my colors aren’t the same as yours – I’m not sure we can work together.

No, that’s hogwash. Of course, we can work together. We’re part of the same puzzle. If all the puzzle pieces looked exactly the same, you wouldn’t have much of a puzzle, would you?

But yet we see this in the church quite often. We see church splits over minor details. We see churches of different denominations in the same area that all but ignore each other. We see conflict between the older and younger generations because they do things so different from one another.

God has all kinds of different people in His church. We worship God differently. We serve God differently. We even understand God differently. But because we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, we can worship and work together. Each of us has an important place in the family of God. And when we realize that, God can do some amazing things through us.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Psalm 133:1 KJV

It’s just the sweetest thing for people to do things together in unity. So that’s the first aspect of a “whole church”. Moving beyond our differences and focusing on what we have in common.

The second aspect of a “whole church” is being a church that fulfills the whole purposes of God.

Now, to help me explain what I mean by this, take out that yellow DNA paper in your bulletin and look just under Philosophy and Purpose paragraph for the statement “ The church that is in love with God will express that love in the following five areas:”

A whole church is a church that successfully balances those five areas. Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, and Evangelism. Because together, those five things make a complete, repeating loop.

Worshiping together leads to fellowship. Fellowship leads to discipleship. Discipleship will result in ministry. Ministry will lead to evangelism. And Evangelism will lead back to worship. And that’s how the church grows. When all five things are happening in balance, you will have a healthy, whole church.

But what happens when you have a church that really focuses on just one thing… let’s say worship? All the church’s energy and resources go into creating an awesome worship experience. They have the best music and the best worship leaders and the best Sunday morning service ever. But they neglect to make disciples. Is that church fulfilling the whole purposes of God?

Or if you have a church that really focuses on fellowship. They have the best potlucks and youth group get togethers. They meet in each other’s homes all the time. They just love being together! But they never get out into their community for ministry or evangelism! Is that church fulfilling the whole purposes of God?

Do you see what I’m saying? There’s a balance there. Let me put it on a personal level… I don’t want to neglect any part of God’s purpose for me. For example, I don’t want to focus on being the best pastor this church has ever seen and neglect being the Dad that God wants me to be to my kids. That would not be fulfilling God’s whole purpose for my life. I need to have a balance there.

So that’s the second aspect of a “whole church”: Fulfilling the whole purposes of God.

Now that we know what a “whole church” is, how are we going to get there? How can this group of very different people get to be a whole church? What are the practical steps we can take to get us there?

In a nutshell, I propose a four part strategy. Four Levels of Engagement.

We want to engage with God
We want to engage with God’s people
We want to engage with our community
We want to engage with the world

The key word in each of these is “engage.” It’s one thing to talk about doing these things on Sunday morning, and it’s another thing to actually do them. Becoming a whole church will not happen by simply talking about it. We need to actually engage.

If you look up the word “engage” in the dictionary, you’ll find several definitions and all of them are exactly what we want to do:

Engage Defined:

• To become involved in or participate in
• To pledge or to promise
• To assume an obligation
• To become meshed or interlocked
• To draw into

With all those definitions in mind, when we talk about becoming engaged with God, or engaged with each other, or engaged with our community, or engaged with the world – suddenly, there is a lot less talking and a lot more doing.

Engagement at all these levels requires a great deal of intentional effort. It doesn’t come naturally or easily. But it is absolutely necessary and absolutely worth it.

When we become engaged with God, our Sunday morning services stop being just a routine, going through the motions service. But instead, they become deeply, meaningful encounters with God.
When we become engaged with God’s people, we get beyond coffee and potlucks and experience true, life-changing community together.
When we become engaged with our community we stop being just one of those religious people that spout off Christian catch phrases, but we become real people who really care and who might just have some real answers.
When we become engaged with our world, missions becomes more than just newsletters and sending the occasional cheque overseas. It becomes you getting your hands dirty and being personally involved with something that God is doing miles away.

Engagement is when we stop coming to church and start being the church.

One of my favorite definitions of engage is “to become meshed or interlocked”. And that’s one of the reasons why you’re holding that puzzle piece this morning. Just like the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle interlock with each other perfectly, I want to challenge you to become interlocked with God, interlocked with each other, interlocked with our community, and interlocked with our world.

There is so much more to being part of the church than just having your name on a membership list or attending weekly meetings. If you want to experience what that “more” is, then I invite you to become engaged. Engaged with God, engaged with each other, engaged with our community, and engaged with our world.

To close our service this morning, I want to do three things. First of all, I want to ask our senior pastor to come up here and lead us as a church in a prayer. We want to commit to God that we will become engaged. We will not just warm the pews on Sunday morning – we will become engaged with God, each other, our community, and our world.

And after He does that, the worship team will lead us in a few more worship songs and as we sing, I’m going to ask you to come back up to the front and put your puzzle piece back in the puzzle as a symbol of your commitment to becoming engaged, or interlocked, in these four different areas. I won’t dismiss you in any order, but as you feel ready to make that commitment, come on up and put your piece in the puzzle. If you can’t remember exactly where your piece goes, that’s fine, just lay it on the puzzle and we’ll work it in later.

And yet, through our discussion of this topic, I believe will better understand how to reach our community. I believe we will better understand how to grow as a church and as individuals, and I believe we’ll better understand the God who created us and loves us like crazy.

The topic that I want to discuss today is Facebook.

For those of you who know what Facebook is, you may wonder why it’s our topic of discussion today.

For those of you who have no idea what Facebook is, let me try to give you a summary:

From it’s own description of itself, Facebook is a website that helps you connect and share with the people in your life. But it is not just any old website. It is now the second most visited website in the world – second only to Google – and will likely become the #1 website within a month or so.

Currently it has over 350 million users. That’s how many people use this website. So what exactly do 350 million people use Facebook for? Well, just to give you an example, let’s say I log into Facebook. The first thing I might do is to update my status. Your status is basically meant to be a brief description of what’s going on in your life at the moment. So for my status I write might write “Dave is preaching a sermon about Facebook.” The when my friends log on to facebook, they will see that I’m preaching a sermon about facebook.

So after I update my status, I can read all the statuses of my friends. I might see that Greg just aced his chemistry exam and my mother-in-law is enjoying her time in Arizona. People can also post pictures or videos on facebook. So I might see a picture of my cousins from down in the states or I could watch a video that that my friend from Australia took of his new baby.

Then there are a whole slough of other features. So I might be reminded that my college buddy’s birthday is tomorrow and I might send a message to Grady asking him if he wants to come over for coffee tonight or I might even play a game of risk online with someone.

And that, in a nutshell, is Facebook. In a matter of minutes, I’ve caught up and re-connected with friends and family from around the world.

Now, my purpose this morning is not to promote or discourage Facebook use. Instead I want to use Facebook as an illustration of an increasingly important spiritual reality.

Consider this: Canada currently has a population of 34 million people – over 14 million of those 34 million people use Facebook. That’s nearly half of our population. Nearly 50% of all of Canada is using Facebook. Clearly Facebook is offering something that people want.

You have to realize that Facebook has only existed since 2004 – that means it has grown from 0 to over 350 million people in just six years. That is incredible! Imagine if the church grew at that rate!

Clearly Facebook has found something that people desperately want. So what is it? What is this draw to facebook that seems to have universal appeal? After all – it’s not just college kids using facebook. It’s moms & dads, Grandmas and Grandpas, uncles and aunts, teenagers. And it’s not a North American thing either. Turkey has 17 million users, Indonesia has 14 million, the Philippines has 8 million, Mexico has 6 million, India has 5 million. What is it about facebook that has world-wide appeal to people of all ages? What is Facebook offering that is drawing millions of new users every week?

Believe it or not – Facebook is offering the same thing that the church is offering. Facebook is offering something that each one of us desperately need. It is offering the very thing that we were created to have. Would you like to know what it is? Facebook is offering community. I’ll explain what I mean in a minute.

But first, think about the word community for a minute. In fact, let’s do a little etymology. (That’s the study of words.)

The root word of “Community” is “commune”. This can be broken down into two parts. The first part is the prefix “com” which means “together” or “with”.  Then the second part, for those of you who have played “UNO” or have ridden a “unicycle”, you know that “une” means “one”. So we have “together” or “with” plus “one”

So community is to be “one with” or “one together”.

When we speak of the people who live around us, we talk about our community – we are one group of people living, working, and playing together with each other. That’s our physical community. We are one with them.

When we celebrate communion, we celebrate the fact that we share in the death and resurrection of Christ – being “one with Christ”. That’s a spiritual community.
Now the reason that Facebook has become so fantastically popular is because it offers us community. It offers us the chance to interact with others that would normally be impossible to connect with on a regular basis. And so it creates a new sort of community. We can be one with literally the rest of the world. And that strikes a  real chord with us humans, because community is the very reason God created us.

God created us to be together with Him. The whole theme of the Bible is that God is with us. We talked about this earlier. To Abraham God says – I am with you. To Joshua – I am with you. To Gideon – I am with you. To the nation of Israel God sends Emmanuel – God with us. Before returning to heaven, Jesus declares “I am with you always.” God wants to be with you. He wants us to share life together with Him. He wants us to have community with Him.

Right from the beginning in Genesis when God created the first man, he declared that it was not good for man to be alone. (In Genesis 2:18; 21-24)

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”  21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,? and flesh from my flesh!? She will be called ‘woman,’?  because she was taken from ‘man.’”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

After God created Eve from Adam’s rib, God and Adam and Eve all enjoyed the perfect community, but only for a time. Before long, that perfect community was broken by sin. Remember how Adam & Eve hid from God when He came along looking for them? And then they tried to pass the blame to each other? They were no longer “one with God”. They were separated from him and from each other.

You’ve probably heard the expression that “Everyone is born with a God-shaped hole in their heart.” It’s true, but let me tell you a little bit more about that hole. This hole is the desire for intimacy – the desire to know and be known by another living being. It is the desire for community – to once again be “one with God”. Of course, this hole can only be filled by a personal relationship with God and I should mention that if you’ve never entered into that personal relationship with God, then please see me after the service and I would be happy to talk to you about how you can fix that problem.

You can clearly see this “God-shaped hole” in this generation of kids and young adults today and you can see how they are desperate for community. Their lives are ruled by their cell phone. They can’t bear to miss one call or one text message. The worst thing you could do to a teenager today is take away his cell phone. The second worst thing would be to take away his Facebook. Being in continual contact with their friends gives them a sense of community.

But it’s a shallow community at best. Sure there is constant contact, but it’s hardly intimate. It’s like the small talk you have with the gas pump attendance. It’s communication – but it does nothing to satisfy that deep down inside need to share the real you with someone else.

And the ironic thing is, the very things that people cling to for this shallow community are the very things that are keeping them from authentic community. At youth group this Friday half the kids were playing a game and half the kids were on their cell phones. Instead of playing the game and interacting with each other and sharing their life with each other in that way, their eyes and attention were glued to their cell phones. Ignoring the people that were actually in same room as them, they were lost in their little bubble, texting away on their phones. Their attempts to gain community are actually keeping them from it. Kids spend way more time on Facebook and their cell phones then they do talking with their parents or their siblings, and often even their friends. And in that way,  they become even more starved for authentic community and thus push themselves even farther from it. It’s a vicious cycle.

But what does that have to do with us? Now that we have this information, what do we do with it?

I think this gives us a fantastic look at what the church is going to look like in the near future – what our church needs to look like in order to reach this next generation. This is extremely important because our world is changing faster than we even realize and if we want to be effective, we need to understand our culture.

Many of the things that the church used to do are simply not effective in reaching this generation because things have changed so much so fast.

For example in recent years one of the main tools the church has used has been programs. Programs for kids, programs for young adults, programs for singles, whatever… The problem is that now people are far too busy – the last thing they want is three nights a week of church programs. People want less in their schedule – not more.
Another key tool has been music. You can see that in the popularity of the Hillsong church or the other mega churches where worship is a major production. But today, if people want to listen to that type of music, they’ll just download whatever they like to their iPod and away they go.

We have to stay up to date with our culture so what we can meet them where they are. So knowing that this generation is starving for authentic community gives us a fantastic opportunity to introduce them to Christ and help them restore that authentic community that God create us to have with Him.

But now here’s the hard part – how do we show our physical community that we have the authentic spiritual community that they desperately desire?

Because I’ll be honest with you – they don’t see authentic community in church.
What they see is sitting in a pew for an hour on Sunday morning.
They see more demands of their time and money.
They see frowns at their bad habits.

That’s what they see. No wonder they aren’t flocking to the church. But do you know what would cause them to flock to the church? Let’s take a hint from Facebook – if it can grow from 0 to 350 million by offering a shallow community, what would happen if the church could model authentic community with each other and with our God?

The church would explode! It would be pentecost all over again. Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t you love to see God totally transform our community?

If you do, then let Him start with you. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that if I want God to transform my community, then He has to transform me first. If I want to be a model of authentic community, then I need to have that authentic community first with my God. I can’t be a Sunday morning Christian. I need to get beyond the small talk in my prayers. I need to have an intimate relationship with my God. When I have that, then I can share that with you. And when we have that, we can share that with our community.

Jesus talks about this in John 17 when He prays for his disciples and for all those who would eventually become his disciples (that includes you and me).

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

Jesus is praying that we experience true community. That we would be one with each other and with God. Just as God intended when He created us. And look what will happen when we do – verse 23.

May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

When the world sees authentic community among us – then they will know that the “Good News” is true. That God did sent His Son. That there is forgiveness for sins. That God does love every single person. That we can have a real, deep, intimate relationship with our Creator!

So I challenge you to consider your own relationship with Christ, because we have to have authentic community with our God before we’ll have authentic community with our world. First of all, do you have a relationship with God? Have you accepted God’s gift of Salvation? Have you accepted his forgiveness for your sins? If not, that’s step #1.

Step #2, are you growing in your relationship with Him? Are you taking time to get to know Him through His word and through prayer? Are you letting Him transform you into the person He made you to be? Are you seeking out his will for your life and are you obeying Him as He guides you?

There are no magic steps to getting to know God -  no more than there are magic steps to getting to know a friend. It’s just time and effort. Lots of time I wish I could just do A, B, and C, and whammo – I become a super Christian! But it doesn’t work that way. Life is our opportunity to develop and build our personal relationship with our Creator. There are no shortcuts or formulas. Just you desiring to get to know your God.

Do you desire to know your God? Then pray with me this morning…

We can learn a lot of stuff about God just in the very first verse of the Bible.

First of all, we need to know what the word “create” means? To make out of nothing.

Humans can not create things. We can take something and form it into something else. We can build things, compose things, assemble things, shape things – but we cannot create things.

But God creates stuff. Out of nothing. It’s not even hard for Him. He just says the word and BAM it’s there.

Look at this salt. One little grain of salt has about 12(+17 zeros) atoms in it. God made all those atoms out of nothing. If there are that many atoms in one grain of salt imagine how many atoms are in this salt shaker…. In this church building…. In the entire earth. That’s a lot of atoms that God just made out of nothing.

But God didn’t just make the earth – he made the heavens and the earth. Scientist have found a star that is so huge that you could fit 7 quadrillion earths inside it. If earth was the size of a golf ball, this star would be the height of Mt. Everest – about six miles high. And that’s just one star out of trillions. And God just created all that out of nothing.

That kinda puts things in perspective, doesn’t it. God’s amazingly powerful. Do you think a God like that is capable of taking care of you? Do you think a God like that can handle your problems?

Genesis 18:14 – “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”

Our toughest problems are a cinch to God. A God that creates planets out of nothing is not intimidated by any obstacle.

So can I make a little suggestion? Let God handle your problems. Now, He might not do things the way you want them done, but you can be assured – God can take care of problems. You can give any situation to God and He is well capable of handling it.

Now you might think, “Well, if God is really that powerful and awesome, what makes you think He would ever care about my problems?”

That’s got to be the most amazing thing about God. Even though He can create monster stars out of nothing like that [snap], He cares about you even more than you care about yourself.

He made you. He made all those stars for you. He died on a cross so that you could be with Him. He loves you like crazy – more than you can ever imagine! He doesn’t care how bad you’ve messed up, he doesn’t care what lousy things you’ve done – He is just waiting for you to trust Him with your life so that He can show you what life is really all about.

To me, that is far more mind-boggling than the fact that God can create stars out of nothing. God loves me. He loves you. He doesn’t just tolerate us. He loves us like crazy! That’s amazing!

Now there are some other lessons we can pull from this verse, but for the sake of time, I want to just focus on one more – but before I do, I just have to share this mini-lesson with you. It will only take a minute.

The word create is the root word for creative. Is God creative?!? Think about how He made elephants and giraffes, and beluga whales and ducks and monkeys. Think about how He came up with the idea of taste and then made lemons and peaches and strawberries. Think about how He made those majestic mountains and waterfalls, and beautiful sunsets and flowers and autumn leaves. That’s creativity!

I have to shake my head at people who think heaven will be boring. Some people thing heaven is just a bunch of people sitting on clouds playing harps? The Bible doesn’t say that. In fact, from what I know about God and his creativity, He’s going be blowing my mind with awesomeness every moment of eternity! Every moment will be the most exciting day of our lives. But that’s just a mini-lesson that I had to share with you.

There is just one more lesson from this verse that I want to share with you. That is, it’s all about God. Who created the Heavens and the Earth? God did. Look at the rest of chapter one of Genesis. How often do you see the word “GOD”? It’s in just about every verse – 30 times in 31 verses. Why is that? It’s all about God. Genesis isn’t the story of creation – it’s the story of God.

In fact, the entire Bible is all about God. It’s not about Moses or Elijah or even the Isrealites. It’s the story about God and what He’s done and who He is and how He wants to be with us. That’s why the Bible starts off with “In the beginning God” – and I could add “In the middle God” and “In the end God”.

And it’s not just the stories in the Bible that are all about God – all of history is about God. Even the story of your life is ultimately about God. Now what do I mean by that? How is the story of your life ultimately about God?

Let me ask you a few questions:

• Who create you to the the unique person that you are? – God
• Who has sovereignly controlled every event of your life? – God
• And one day when you die, who will you stand before and give account to? – God

You see, life is not about getting a good job with a steady paycheck.
It’s not about having a big house and long vacations in exotic places.
It’s not about being someone important like a movie star or big time CEO.
Because at the end of your life here on earth – none of that will matter. The only thing that matters then is your relationship with….. GOD! It’s all about God.

I think of a few prestigious people like Princess Diana or Michael Jackson. They had wealth and fame – all the things the world seems to value. But when they died – none of that mattered. All that matters for them now is their relationship with God.

Now I don’t know where each of you stand today. I don’t know what your relationship with God is like, or if you even have one. But I can tell you this – there is a God who created the heavens and the earth. And He loves you like crazy and wants nothing more than to be with you for eternity.

If you have never trusted in Jesus to forgive your sins and you’ve never entered into that relationship with God, can I encourage you to do that today? You don’t need to be perfect – God’ll help you with that later, but for now He just wants you to take the first step.

And for those of you who already have a relationship with Christ, I have this question for you: What have you been doing with your life?

It’s easy to forget that life is all about God. Life is distracting and we lose focus on God and we work to gain that which has no eternal value. My father-in-law has a saying that I’ve come to appreciate. “It won’t matter in a thousand years.” When tractors break or the crops get hailed out – It won’t matter in a thousand years. Think about that – what have you done this week that will matter in a thousand years?

Think about how you’ve spent your money… How much of your money goes towards nice things for you that are here today – gone tomorrow? How much of your money goes towards things that will have eternal impact?

Or how about your time? What percent of your time is spend getting to know God or helping others get to know God? And what percent of your time is just lost?

Maybe think about your skills, talents, and abilities. How do you use them? Do you put your skills and abilities to use for God? Or are they really just wasted?

Don’t think that I’m preaching against buying nice things or going golfing or anything like that – those things are all fine and good. But just keep in mind that you only get one life to live – and only the things that you do for God will last. I can’t speak for you, but I don’t want to waste my life. I want to live my life to the fullest and have the maximum eternal impact that I can. I want to do lots of things that will matter in a thousand years. I want God to use my time, my money, my talents and abilities however He sees fit so that somehow God’s purposes will be accomplished through me.

So I want to leave you with this question: How will you live your life? Will you live it for yourself – filling your life with stuff that simply won’t matter in a thousand years? Or will you live it for your Creator – the God who creates monster stars out of nothing, and who loves you like crazy? The choice is up to you.

But for today, we are going to look at two verse in chapter 6, verse 15 & 16:
So on October 2nd the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.

From these two verses we can draw four principles that we can learn about God’s work.

#1. God’s Work Is Not Hindered By “Impossible”
Building a wall around the city was no easy task. Not only only did they have to build the wall, they had to first clear away the rubble from the old wall, and they had to stand ready for attack while they were building. Remember how their enemies were threatening to attack them?

Nehemiah 4:16 says “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other”

This was not easy work. It would be difficult with two hands, let alone just one. Even the workers said in chapter 4:10 “We will never be able to rebuild the wall by ourselves.”

But somehow, they got it done in just 52 days. Why? God’s work is not hindered by “impossible”. How many other times in Scripture has God done the impossible? Let me give you just a few examples:

• The Israelites are trapped between the army of Egypt and the Red Sea – what does God do? He cuts a path right through the sea for the people to walk across on dry ground.
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo get thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to worship a statue – what does God do? He protects them from the fire so that they don’t even smell like smoke.
• Jesus is teaching the multitudes out in the countryside and there is only a little boy’s lunch to feed 5,000 people. What does God do? He somehow stretches that food so that everyone is satisfied and there is plenty left over.

And that’s just a sampling. Even today, God does the impossible. How many times has God done seemingly impossible things in your life?

When I was about 12 years old, I was bringing a tractor back home from a field a couple of miles away. I don’t know too much about mechanics and hydraulics and such, but from what I understand, this tractor had a button on the floor that would release the hydraulic pressure in the tractor to make it easier to start the engine or something like that. Of course, when you do that, the hydraulic steering doesn’t function properly until you press the button back in.

Well, I had no idea about any of this, so after my dad or my brother started the tractor, I got in and started driving the tractor without pressing the button in. I started off just driving straight down the road, but I had only gone a short way when the tractor started drifting towards the ditch. Well, I tried to adjust it’s course, but the steering wheel wouldn’t move and the tractor just kept going forward – closer to the ditch all the time.

Had I been a little wiser, I might have popped it out of gear and put on the brakes or even shut off the engine. But being just 12 years old and being gripped with panic, I just continued to fight with that steering wheel all the way down the side of the ditch.

Now here’s where the “God doing the impossible” part comes in. The ditch dropped off very steeply, and as I slowly drove down the side of the ditch, the laws of physics say that the tractor should have rolled. But, somehow it didn’t and the tractor eventually came to a stop as the tractor bucket dug into the bank on the other side and there was no real harm done.

But ever since then, my family always jokes that I must have a fat guardian angel who sat on the tractor’s fender, keeping it from rolling over. But really, we believe God intervened and did the impossible.

A few years ago when our girl was just nine months old, she became very pale and had no energy. So we took her to the doctor and he ran some tests. Later that night he called us and told us that her red blood cell count was very low. Well, we took her into the hospital and after they checked her out they very quickly transferred her to the intensive care unit in the children’s hospital.

We had no idea what was going on, and neither did the doctors. In fact, we never did figure out what caused all that to happen. But God knew all about it. Although our little girl was extremely sick and the doctors had no idea what the trouble was, God took care of her and us and He did what seemed impossible and she got better.

Jesus said in… Matthew 19:26 “with God all things are possible.”

It may seem impossible for our little church to change our community. Sure, maybe we can impact two or three families, but to change our whole community… Impossible. But that’s ok. God likes impossible. God’s work is not hindered by “impossible”. In fact, impossible just shows people how great and how mighty and how awesome God really is.

Are there a few impossible situations in your life? Maybe an impossible relationship? Or an impossible financial situation? That’s ok. God likes impossible. And perhaps He’s allowed this impossible situation in your life to show you just how awesome He is. God’s work is not hindered by impossible.

#2. God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.
This is actually the famous motto of Hudson Taylor, who was a missionary to China for over 50 years in the late 1800s and who founded the China Inland Mission. And he knew what He was talking about. Within one year of founding the China Inland Mission, he had 24 missionaries and had raise nearly a quarter million dollars. You can see why he could say “God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.” If you’ve never read the story of Hudson Taylor, I encourage you to do so. His life is a fantastic model of trust in God and zeal for winning the lost.

But lest I get sidetracked, we’re talking about Nehemiah, though I think he shared the same motto.

Remember back when Nehemiah was still in Susa talking to the King about coming to Jerusalem? Nehemiah requested that the king supply him with letters that would ensure him a safe journey, as well as timber for the wall, the fortress, and his house. And why did the king grant his requests?

Nehemiah 2:8
“And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.”

God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.
This should be a great encouragement for us. Whatever projects and activities God directs us to undertake, if we do things His way, we will never lack His supply.

But I should make a couple of clarifications. First of all, it’s got to be God’s Work. Not our work. Not what we think might be God’s work. But God’s work. If He wants something to be done, he will always supply whatever is necessary to get it done.

The second clarification is that it must be done God’s way. Think about Jericho – God wanted them to take the city, but what if they had just laid siege to the city and done things their way? Would God have blessed their efforts? No. It has to be done God’s way.

But when you do God’s work, in God’s way, you will never lack God’s supply.

If our camp needs counselors for this summer, won’t God provide them?
If our worship service needs people with musical abilities, won’t God provide them?
If our church needs dollars to build a facility, won’t God provide them?
If, when we talk to our neighbor about Christ, we need the right words, won’t God provide them?

God’s Work, Done in God’s Way, Will Never Lack God’s Supply.

#3. God’s Work Makes an Impact.

Nehemiah 6:16
“When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence”

When this wall was completed in just 52 days, things changed. Before this, Jerusalem was a symbol of disgrace. For over 100 years it had laid in ruins. The few exiles that had returned were seen as weak, defeated people. But not anymore. When the surrounding nations saw how quickly they built the wall, despite great opposition, they became afraid and lost confidence. God’s work had made an impact.

And God’s work makes an impact today too. God doesn’t do things for no reason. He doesn’t give us things to do just to fill time and keep us occupied. No. God gives us work to do that will make an impact.

And that might be a good measure of whether or not we are doing God’s work. Is what we’re doing making an impact? As a church, are we making disciples? Are we bring people to Christ? Are we sending out missionaries? Are we building up the body of Christ? Are the things that we are doing making an impact? If not, maybe we’re not doing God’s work. Maybe we’re just doing our work. Because God’s work makes an impact.

I think we really need to constantly evaluate what we are doing as a church to make sure that we’re doing God’s work – not ours. I don’t want to waste my time, my resources, and my efforts doing things that God hasn’t asked me to do. Because those things aren’t going to make an impact. I want to do God’s work, because God’s work makes an impact.

#4. God’s Work Brings God Glory.

Nehemiah 6:16
“When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”

Who gets the glory? Was it Nehemiah? Was it the builders? No. It was God who got the glory. And that’s exactly how it should be.

It’s a hard thing to learn in our world of me, me, me that its not all about me. It’s all about God. Even as Christians we have a hard time remembering that.

I have a book written by a Christian author entitled, “It’s Not About Me”. And what’s funny about this book, is that right under the title on the cover, in great big letters it says “By Max Lucado”.

Have you ever tried going for a certain period of time without saying the words, “I”, “me”, or “my”? It’s just about impossible. I would challenge the youth that from now until the end of our Sunday School class after church to try not to use those three words – I, me, or my. I bet no one can do it.

But it really isn’t about us. It’s about God. History is HIS STORY. We exist to bring glory to God. Our church is here to bring glory to God. You were put on this planet to bring glory to God. And when we realize that, everything changes.

• Imagine if you spent your money, not for you, but for God. How would that change where your money goes?
• Imagine if when you talked to people, you talked not to make yourself look good, but to make God look good. How would that change your conversation?
• Imagine if when you decide how to spend you time, you spent your time not doing things for you, but doing things for God. How would that change your daily schedule?

Psalm 29:2
“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name”

In other words, bring God the glory that He deserves. It’s a tall order, but the challenge for you and for me is to live our lives not for our comfort, not for our pleasure, not for our fulfillment – but to bring glory to God in everything we do.

Because, after all, doesn’t He deserve it? The more I get to know God and the more I see what He’s done, the more I realize just how great and awesome He is and much he deserves all the glory that I can possibly give Him.

Just consider this: The God of the universe who made everything in existence, who lovingly created me, (knit me together in my mother’s womb according to Psalm 139), who, even though I rebelled against Him and insisted on doing things my way, He died on a cross as man – taking my punishment, so that if I just believe and accept what He did, I can have eternal life with Him in Heaven.

That’s the God I serve, and that’s the God that deserves all the glory.

And I’m very excited to share with you the next part of the story. It’s my favorite part and I think the lessons that we learn from it are very applicable to everyone here. So let’s jump right into it.

Nehemiah 4:1-3
Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, 2 saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?”

3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”

God put it on Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the wall, God moved the king as to allow Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem, and God put everything into place so that the walls of Jerusalem can be rebuilt for the His glory. So what does Satan do? He tries to stop it. Doesn’t Satan work the same way today? When God is doing something, Satan tries to get in the way. And he uses the same tactics back then as he does today too. So we are going to look at three of Satan’s tactics to stop God’s work. The first tactic he employs is discouragement.

Here he uses Sanballat and Tobiah to mock the Jews, to make fun of them, to laugh at them. Does Satan still use that tactic today? Do Christians get mocked, laughed at, made fun of because they follow Christ? Just ask any Christian teenager.

We shouldn’t be surprised when this happens. Jesus said…

Luke 21:17 - “All men will hate you because of me.”

The Bible never teaches that following Christ makes life easier. In fact, it promises us that we will have trouble – we will be persecuted. We will be mocked, laughed at, and made fun of. Well, what do we when that happens? What did Nehemiah do?

Nehemiah 4:4 – “Then I prayed….”

That’s the answer right there. THEN I PRAYED…. Nehemiah didn’t make any snappy remarks back at them. He didn’t punch them in the head. He didn’t tell their parents what jerks they were being. He simply prayed to His God. After all, isn’t God big enough to handle them? Isn’t He wise enough to know how to deal with them?

After Nehemiah’s prayer, what does it say in verse 6?
At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm.

Prayer foiled Satan’s first attempt to discourage them. But Satan doesn’t give up easy, so he went a little further. Verse 7-8.
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.

If mocking didn’t stop them, then the next step was an all out attack. That oughta discourage them!

And I want to warn you this morning, be ready for Satan’s all out attacks.
1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Satan’s not going to take it easy on anyone for any reason. He is our enemy and he is out to destroy us.

But look at how Nehemiah responded: verse 9.  “But we prayed…”

It seems so simple, doesn’t it? We don’t we do it more often? I think we really underestimate the power of prayer.

James 5:16 - “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

When trouble comes – let’s pray. When discouragement comes – let’s pray. When we want to take on a great project for God – let’s pray! When we are just living our daily life – let’s pray! The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective because we have a God who hears those prayers and HE is very powerful and very effective.

Well, Satan wasn’t done with discouragement yet. If he couldn’t discourage them from the outside, he’d discourage them from the inside. Verse 10.
Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.”
Complainers. Satan loves complainers. Nothing saps your strength and motivation like a complainer. That’s why God has commanded us to give thanks in every situation.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Complaining and thankfulness simply can’t co-exist. So Satan brought out the complainers, but that wasn’t all. Verse 11-12.
Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.” The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!”

So now we have complaining on the inside and threats of attack from the outside. What does Nehemiah do? Verse 13-14.
So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows.

Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”

He took the necessary precautions and address the people. He said “Don’t be afraid. Remember the Lord.”

Those are great instructions for us too in whatever situation we are in. “Don’t be afraid. Remember the Lord.” How can we be afraid when we remember the Lord? If God is for us, who can be against us?! After all, our God has unlimited power. Our God has unlimited wisdom. And as our heavenly Father, He loves us more than anything. If we can remember that when we go through times of discouragement, Satan won’t be able to keep us down or keep us from accomplishing God’s purposes.

Well, after discouragement didn’t stop God’s work, Satan tried the next tactic. Jump over to chapter 6:1-4
Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained—though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates. So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to harm me, so I replied by sending this message to them: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”
Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.

Did you notice the tactic here? Distraction. Nehemiah, come over here and have a meeting with us. We want to talk to you for a while.

I am convinced that Satan uses this tactic big time today. How many sports events are held on Sundays? How many kids hockey practices are on Sunday morning? Or perhaps a little more subtle, how many dads put more time and energy into their cars than they do into their kids? How many Christian people don’t participate in church life because of all the other things they fill their lives with? The list could go on. Our lives are filled with distractions. And it’s not necessarily bad things either – but they are things that keep us from focusing on God and on what He would have us do.

Jesus talks about distractions when he tells the parable of the sower and seed. You remember how the seed fell on four types of soil (hard soil, shallow soil, thorny soil, and good soil).

Mark 4:18 explains
The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.

I think that sums up many church-goers in North America. They hear the word of God, but it’s quickly crowed out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. That’s not how I want to be. I want to be like Nehemiah.

Look how Nehemiah responds to his distraction: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”

We need to learn to say this more often to the distractions around us. We may not be building a great city wall, but we are engaged in a great work… Everyday we should be growing closer to God and doing our part to expand the kingdom of God. When Satan sends things to distract us from that work, we need to say “No, I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”. (Incidentally, did you notice that the name of place where they wanted Nehemiah to come was “Ono”? That’s how we need to respond to distractions. Oh No!)

Are there things in your life that are keeping you from doing God’s work? Are there distractions that are keeping you preoccupied with the wrong things – perhaps not bad things, but not the right things. Do the cares of this life take up so much of your time and energy that you have nothing left to give to God? Perhaps it’s time to start saying no to the plains of Ono!

Well, ol’ Satan wasn’t done yet. He’d tried discouragement. He’d tried distractions. There was one more tactic to try. Let’s read about it in

Nehemiah 6:10-13
Later I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home. He said, “Let us meet together inside the Temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.”

But I replied, “Should someone in my position run from danger? Should someone in my position enter the Temple to save his life? No, I won’t do it!” I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.

No one but the priests were permitted by God to enter the temple, so for Nehemiah to hide out in the temple like Shemaiah suggested would have been sin. That’s the third of Satan’s tactics to disrupt our work for the Lord. He’ll discourage you, he’ll distract you, and he’ll tempt you to down right sin.

This tactic is effective because the consequences of sin are sure.
Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

I think every so often we need to be reminded of the seriousness of sin. As a solemn reminder this morning, I want to give you a list of some of the consequences of sin.
#1. Sin grieves God.
#2. Sin harms your relationship with God.
#3. Sin gives Satan an opening in your life for further sin.
#4. Sin is punished by God.
#5. Sin hurts others.
#6. Sin harms your witness for Christ.
#7. Sin makes you settle for less than God’s best.
#8. Sin has natural consequences.
#9. Sin results in guilt and misery.

You can see why sin is such an effective tactic of the enemy. It is extremely destructive. And although God is always ready to forgive us, the consequences of sin remain. As Christians, when Satan tempts us to sin, we need to respond exactly like Nehemiah in verse 11. “No, I won’t do it!”  That’s how we are to deal with temptation. No. I won’t do it.

James 4:7
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Submit to God. Resist the devil. That’s how Nehemiah did it. Satan tried to discourage him, to distract him, and to cause him to down-right sin. But each time, Nehemiah submitted to God and resisted Satan. We need to follow the exact same pattern.

When discouragements come – pray. When distractions get in the way – say no. And when temptation comes, submit yourself to God and resist the devil.

They seem like very simple responses – pray, say no, submit to God, resist the devil – but they are very powerful and effective in thwarting Satan’s tactics. As I mentioned before, we are not building a great city wall, but we are engaged in a great work – that is to please and serve our Heavenly Father. Satan will do all that He can to defeat us and to make us ineffective. But we know his tactics, and more importantly, we know that our God is way more powerful than the enemy and has in fact, already defeated Satan.

Isn’t that an encouraging? Though we will fight against Satan as long as we are on this earth, we are fighting on the winning side in a battle that has already been won!