Sermon Notes – unBroken

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ONE YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN - WEEK 22

Day 1: Day 2: Day 3: Day 4: Day 5: Romans 4:13-5:21; Ps 84

Romans 6-7; Ps 85

Romans 8; Ps 86

Romans 9:1-10:4; Ps 87

Exodus 32-34; Ps 88:1–6

Discussion Questions – Nehemiah 6:15-7:4

� What stands out in this story?

� How has God used a difficult path to get you where He wanted you?

� How long did it take to finish the wall? Why did this frighten their enemies? (6:15-16)

� Read Leviticus 23:23-27. What was significant about the first day of the seventh month?

� Read Exodus 19:16-19. What was significant about the trumpets sounding?

� Why do you think the people stood when Ezra opened and began reading Scripture?

� Does it bring any peace knowing God has a plan for each of us through this season? How could this help someone who is overcome with fear regarding the virus?

� If God uses difficult seasons to get us where He wants us to be, where has God been moving you? What has He been asking you to do?

� How can getting back to ‘normal’ not be a good thing? What ‘normal’ things might God not want us to return to?

Monday – The Wall Was Not the End of the Story

By Paul E. Collier

“. . . but the people within it were few.” Nehemiah 7:4

The first verse of our portion today says the wall was finished. Nehemiah could retire in peace. Oh no, this was not the end, but just a transition point. The most important part was still to come. This wall was important. It provided the foundation of safety for the people inside. It also was used by God to discourage their many enemies. But more importantly, the enemies saw the hand of God in all of this! In the end God was glorified with the building of the wall.

In my time in Paraguay, I became friends with many of the missionaries working with the indigenous tribes. They were scattered across many parts of Paraguay with a heart determined to help people find Christ.

One of these missionaries was Bjarne Rolf Fostervold. His parents came to Paraguay from Norway to work with tribal peoples. If you follow Bjarne’s life you will see that he has spent many hours and years working with government agencies and groups associated with the Aché, the indigenous tribe he works with. One would question why he did not spend more time ministering to his people.

Bjarne needed to build a strong foundation to protect this tribe from poachers, land grabbers and unsympathetic governmental agencies. His hard work paid off. The tribe is strong, and many square miles of ancestral hunting ground have been preserved. Their educational system is outstanding. These people are trophies of God’s grace. Thank you, Bjarne, and your parents, for such a strong foundation.

Thank you, Nehemiah, for the strong foundation you established with the wall. Now the great task of filling the city with returning exiles was to begin. The people, and worshiping their God were the most important part of all of this.

We at times in Christian life seem to get bogged down in matters that are essential to the foundation we are establishing for our future. Some young people think Bible studies. camps and Christian fellowship are not that important. Not to mention, going to church!

Wait! All of this lays a foundation to find a Boaz and not a Bozo, a Ruth and not a Bimbo, to raise kids who love Jesus, to choose meaningful careers, to be salt and light in the world. In short, to glorify and worship God. All of us, young and not so young, need that foundation to thrive as followers of Jesus.

Note: Look up Bjarne Fostervold on Facebook. He is an outstanding photographer of the beauty of Paraguay and the Aché tribe.

Tuesday By Kenny Tibbetts

Scripture

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” Isaiah 48:9-11

Pause 1. What does this passage tell us about God?

2. How would this passage read differently if it were about anyone other than God?

3. What is God’s ultimate goal in the world? What is God’s ultimate goal in your life?

Pursue Come up with, and write down, three reasons why God is worthy of all your worship.

Pray Ask God to simply reveal more of Himself to you. Praise God for who He is and ask for His help in reflecting a heart full of worship in every area of your life.

Wednesday – Five Purposes for Suffering By John Piper, desiring God

“For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28 We seldom know the micro reasons for our sufferings, but the Bible does give

us faith-sustaining macro reasons. It is good to have a way to remember some of these so that, when we are suddenly afflicted, or have a chance to help others in their affliction, we can recall some of the truths God has given us to help us not lose hope.

Here is one way to remember: 5 R’s (or if it helps, just pick three and try to remember them). The macro purposes of God in our sufferings include:

Repentance: Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God. Luke 13:4–5: “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Reliance: Suffering is a call to trust God and not the life-sustaining props of this world. 2 Corinthians 1:8–9: We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Righteousness: Suffering is the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his righteousness and holiness. Hebrews 12:6, 10–11: “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” . . . He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Reward: Suffering is working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousandfold. 2 Corinthians 4:17: This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Finally, Reminder: Suffering reminds us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God’s condemnation but his purification. Philippians 3:10: . . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings.

So, it is understandable that the Christian heart would cry out in suffering, “Why?” since we don’t know most of the micro reasons for our suffering — why now, why this way, why this long? But don’t let that ignorance of the micro reasons cause you to overlook the massive help God gives in his word by telling us his macro purposes for us. “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11).

Read the article at www.desiringgod.org/articles/five-purposes-for-suffering.

Thursday By Kenny Tibbetts

Scripture “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26

Pause

1. According to this passage, why does God save anyone? Why did He save you?

2. Why are we so slow to give God the credit for what He has done?

3. What can you do today to give God the glory He is due?

Pursue Take a few moments and memorize verse 23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Instead of focusing on your shortcomings, focus on the “glory of God” Paul references.

Pray

Ask God to make you a reflection of His Glory. Praise God that He can even use deeply flawed people like us to accomplish His mission to spread His glory to the ends of the earth.

Friday – The God of the Covenant By David Dickmann

“And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.” Nehemiah 9:8

Four times in the book of Nehemiah the author uses the word “covenant.” Three of those times (1:5, 9:8, 9:32) it is used in reference to the God who keeps His covenant. Once (13:29), in reference to those who have defiled that covenant. In fact, throughout the Scriptures, God presents Himself as the God who covenants with His people.

When Nehemiah prayed to God, as recorded in 1:5, he directed his prayer to the “LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.” It is not just a great and awesome god, but the “LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant.” It is to a God who keeps His promises to Abraham and to his descendants.

It is to a God who cannot lie; it is to a God who, more than a millennium earlier, made promises to Abraham regarding the land of Canaan. He reaffirmed those promises to Isaac and Jacob, reaffirmed them to Moses and then to David. It is to the God who had the words of that covenant recorded in the Scriptures, the Scriptures which Nehemiah knew, to whom Nehemiah directed his prayer. And, it is through the content of that covenant that Nehemiah had the faith to make his request to the God who keeps covenant.

God, whose word cannot fail, fulfilled Nehemiah’s request because it was in accordance with the content of the word that Nehemiah requested and acted. The great feats of courage and faithfulness Nehemiah displayed in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem were the evidences of God’s faithfulness to His covenant and Nehemiah knew it.

It is the same with us, only better. We have God’s covenant, which has now been fulfilled in Christ. Jesus called it “the New Covenant in My blood.” That which was foreshadowed in the Old Testament is now fulfilled in the New. The One who sealed the terms of the covenant with His blood, the only One who is worthy to open the book and break its seals, has completed all the terms of that covenant and has risen from the dead.

Like Nehemiah we have a written copy of the covenant. If we are to pray in accordance with God’s will; if we are to labor in God’s work, if we are to keep His covenant with us and not defile it, we must know its content and act accordingly.

Let us read the Bible in faith, let it teach us to pray, and let us act in accordance with its instructions.

Weekend – unBroken By Phillip Hamm

There is something in us that wants a story to wrap up nicely. The main character needs to find true love, the soldier needs to return safely from war, and the team needs to win the big game. Whatever difficulty the characters had in the story are overcome by the time the story concludes. It is the happily ever after ending we all want from a movie or a book.

But our lives tend to go differently. Some of you have been struggling with kids who keep making the same mistakes. You have given a good portion of your life punishing, threatening, and coercing them into healthy behavior. But the moment you are not looking they are right back at it. Some of you are even married to people like this. For years you have wanted nothing more but for your husband or wife to share your faith and your love of God. You have had them listen to sermons, brought literature home, and had many uncomfortable conversations. But alas, nothing has changed.

The stories of our lives do not always end happily ever after, and the stories of the Bible don’t either. We watch as Bible characters make horrible decisions that cause them to suffer for years. We watch as people die, people leave, and people betray. We read Scripture hoping all the loose ends are tied up only to come to the end and find, sometimes, they aren’t. We have to conclude that we do not have power to change hearts. That is God’s domain.

In preparation for Sunday’s worship read Nehemiah 13.

Our Reopening Plan In March, your pastoral staff made a decision we never dreamt we would ever

have to make. For the sake of the health of our congregation, and out of respect for our elected officials, we chose to suspend church activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we have been praying over, and thinking through, the process of how, when given the opportunity, to reopen.

When Governor DeSantis announced his plan to slowly reopen businesses in Florida, we knew it was time to put our plan on paper and seriously pursue reopening the church. We have sought counsel from the Florida Baptist State Convention, our insurance company, CDC guidelines, and numerous leaders inside and outside the church. The three-phase approach is summarized in an image that follows and a detailed plan is available on our website.

We share your frustration in this crazy season, and we desperately look forward to worshiping together again. However, we also know the wisest thing to do is pursue that goal in a gradual and phased process. I have confidence in the other pastors, and the wisdom they bring to this plan. With that said, this is

new territory for us. Thank you for your patience as we prayerfully and wisely attempt to slowly reopen our church for public worship.

Phase 2 (Begins May 31) which includes five smaller, shorter live worship services on campus. Each service will be limited to 50% seating capacity. The rest of the building will be closed and inaccessible during this phase. No childcare, Bible studies, small groups, etc. will meet on campus on Sunday mornings during this phase. Online worship will continue to be offered for those who are more comfortable worshiping from home. Please wait until 10 minutes before each service to enter the building.

8:30 – 9:15 Celebration 9:15 – 10:00 Encounter 10:00 – 10:45 Celebration 10:45 – 11:30 Encounter 11:30 –12:15 Celebration

Phase 3 (TBD) We will return to a normal schedule of events. Dates for this phase have not been set.

Stay Connected: Remember your neighbors, continue to share Jesus and help them wherever possible. If their needs exceed your ability to assist, give the church office a call and we will do our best to help you help them.

• Invite your friends and neighbors to watch live services on Sunday at 9:15 or 10:45 am. We recommend staying consistent with our state officials’ guidelines of limiting the number who gather at one time.

• Have Bible studies in your home utilizing resources from RightNowMedia • Reach out by phone to another church member or visitor to ask how they are doing.

Please continue to financially support your church and local charities as they

experience an increase in requests for assistance from members and the local community.

You can give by using online giving, through the FBCP App, or mailing a check to: First Baptist Church 1020 4th St. W. Palmetto, FL 34221

You can communicate with us at 941-722-7795 or e-mail through the church website: www.fbcpalmetto.com.

2020/2021 FBCP Budget There will be a special business meeting on Sunday, June 7 at the conclusion of the last worship service. Please join us in the Worship Center as we present the 2020/2021 FBC Budget. Copies of the budget will be available to FBC members beginning Sunday, June 7. Members may also receive a copy at the church office Monday-Thursday, 9 am-3 pm, beginning Monday, June 8. A Q & A opportunity will take place on Sunday, June 14 at the conclusion of the last worship service. Please join us in the Worship Center. A ballot vote with no further discussion will take place on Sunday, June 21 in each worship service.