Downtown Community Church

Everyone who wants to live a Godly life will experience pressure. In fact, every personal failure of ours comes about by succumbing to the pressures of life. We all come to situations that seem like they are lose-lose. Nehemiah 6 gives us an extraordinary example of how to stand under pressure. Nehemiah connects who he is to what he does. His answer to temptation is “Should a man like me do this?” This is the correct response to pressure. Pressure tests our identity, not our ability. When we give into pressure, we identify as people who crumble under pressure. When you feel you are choosing the best of 2 bad decisions, knowing your identity creates clarity. Knowing his identity kept Nehemiah committed to the mission. Nehemiah and the people completely rebuilt the wall in 52 days, and the surrounding people perceived that it was a work of God. When we know who we are, we are able to complete works that are clearly of God. Send us a textSupport the show

The entire purpose of this sermon is to show you the importance of getting connected into groups. The importance of community is a principle that applies to you whether you believe it or not. In Ecclesiastes 4, King Solomon teaches why it is important to be surrounded in community. Two people can work better than one can by themselves. When one person falls, it is good to have another to help them up. In a world that is exceedingly filled with projecting an idealized version of ourselves, it is exceedingly important to be deeply known by others. If our struggles are not known, we cannot correct them. If you want to grow spiritually, you must be known by others spiritually.Send us a textSupport the show

If you’ve ever tried to accomplish anything of significance, you are aware of our tendency to be distracted from important work. For almost everything in life, it’s easy to get distracted. If we could ever truly accomplish the most important things before anything else, it would change our lives. Nehemiah stands as an extraordinary example of refusing to be distracted, as he says, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down,” (Neh. 6:3). We all have a great work to prioritize. The reality is that we are going to say no to something. So, why wouldn’t we pre-decide what we’re going to say no to? It may be your marriage, your schooling, your Bible reading, or anything else that is your “wall”, your “great work”. Because Jesus died for it and called us to it, we are able to say no to lesser things to say yes to the great work we have before us. Send us a textSupport the show

When we hear a call to justice, we are often stirred up in emotion, as we all believe that service to the marginalized and vulnerable is important. Yet, we don’t often have a sustained sense of immediacy towards such passions; we have difficulty having obedience in the same direction over a long period of time. What we find when it comes to having the right actions towards justice is that what we do is the outcome of why we do it. For Nehemiah, his reason for working toward justice was simple: it was because of the fear of God.  Put differently, when we see who God is we will do as God says.  Furthermore, because Nehemiah’s actions lined up with his words, he had moral authority, and people listened to him and did what he said. We should have a view of who God that leads us to obey what God says. Send us a textSupport the show

God’s people are called to apply pressure to places that are devoid of His justice. We are commissioned to be God’s representatives for justice on Earth.We can often use politics and other guises to hide behind the call we have to administer justice. The injustice we see in the world should bother us. In Nehemiah chapter 5, Nehemiah fights injustice by applying pressure emotionally, mentally and physically. This response changes the injustice around him. We should allow ourselves to be burdened emotionally to the point that we treat our lives as “no longer our own”, the same way Jesus did. Send us a textSupport the show

Most of us see other people’s needs to gain more resiliency, but can be blind to our own. We have a tendency to quit on tasks in the “messy middle” once we’ve gotten tired from the work we’ve already done, but the end is not yet in sight. In Nehemiah 4, Nehemiah models obedience in the process of building the wall while trusting God with the finished product. When we focus on the product, we gain a false sense that we are the ones in control rather than God. We are able to fully engage in obedience while remembering that the Lord controls the outcome. Because God wants relationship with us, and relationships are always about the process rather than the product, we gain resiliency by enjoying and engaging with God on a daily basis. Send us a textSupport the show

Influence, by definition, creates resistance. We expect resistance in order to grow in the physical realm, but are often surprised or stifled when we face spiritual opposition. In order to be successful in the face of opposition, we must be resilient. According to a 2019 Barna Research study, only 10% of 20-29 year-old confessing Christians in the U.S. are resilient disciples of Christ. The reality is that most of the resistance we face as believers is not functional opposition, but an accusation against what we are doing. When we reframe opposition, it gives us an opportunity to build resiliency. The beginning of Nehemiah chapter 4 highlights the opposition faced by the repairers of the wall and what their response was. Nehemiah models prayer and trust in God as the overseer of all opposition (Neh. 4:4-5), and the people model a response toward work regardless of the resistance (Neh.4:6). Our first step to being resilient is shedding our fear of resistance to gain a mind to work in the face of opposition.Sen

Nehemiah Chapter 3 is a chapter that is all too often glossed over.  It is mostly a list of names, gates, and sections of the wall that were repaired.  However, it’s hard to overstate the significance that the people of God actually began to do the work that God called them to. We have, for far too long, lacked meaningful engagement in the work of God.  In this sermon, we unearthed the reason why we often don’t engage in the work that God has called us to.  In Nehemiah 3:11, there is a man named Malchijah working on the wall who was previously listed in Ezra 10.  Ezra 10 tells us how men from the nation of Israel were taking foreign wives which had historically been a catalyst leading to the worship of false gods.  Apparently, the problem was so wide spread it took 3 months to deal with all the marriages.  What’s worse is a few who were sons of priests were listed by name, and in verse 31 Ezra documents Malchijah as being guilty of this sin.   However, Malchijah repented of this sin and didn’t let what happen

We often believe that influence is based on position or opinion. The person with the highest position of authority or with the most extreme opinion are often seen as the most influential. However, we gain true influence through our actions that add value to others. Nehemiah models how to influence others by acting in a way that adds value to others. Send us a textSupport the show

There’s a dichotomy that every influencer has to face, we must be patient and prayerful, but not passive.  People who excel at patience also tend to be passive.  Conversely, people who aren’t passive also tend to not be patient.  In scripture God often gives a burden or calling in a way that requires patience before action.  Yet, when the patient person is called to action or the action person is called to patience, they both feel the same thing…tension.  We want to resolve the tension, but the tension is good. When we resolve the tension too quickly, we lose something.  For the patient person it might be we dismiss it and never act.  For the action person it may be jumping in without a plan and without a dependence on God.  When we manage the dichotomy of being patient but not passive it creates an opportunistic dependency which is the bedrock of uncommon influence.Send us a textSupport the show

We are, as Christians, called to be influencers in our culture and our world. But how do we define influence? If society's influence is defined by the impressiveness of who is influencing, how does Jesus define it?With this series, Uncommon Influencers, we will break down the book of Nehemiah to learn what Scripture tells us influence looks like.Send us a textSupport the show

James 2:1-14Send us a textSupport the show

Luke 16:1-11Send us a textSupport the show

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Phil 2:1-11Send us a textSupport the show

In week two of our “Broke” series, we dismantle the “when I get _____, then I’ll _____” assumption, and learn what Jesus taught us about how we should manage what we’re given right NOW.Send us a textSupport the show

In the kickoff to our series called “Broke,” we ask the question, “What is it about money makes us love it so much?” Jesus gives us the answers why, and shows us why we’re meant to search for these things in Him, and not wealth. Send us a textSupport the show

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Romans 12:1-2Send us a textSupport the show

Ephesians 4:11-15Send us a textSupport the show