Finding Boldness and Identity Through God
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "God gives each of us a voice to step into our destiny. And for Nehemiah there's a freedom and a power and a purposefulness with which he's able to step into this moment. The same is true for you and me in these various different ways. Now, here's the thing, you know, the culture around us, like, here's the question, because the reality is, even if someone is not a Christian, this message of self-belief and coming into our own is a message that we hear often." [20:09]
2. "The essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself. It is thinking of myself less. Gospel humility is not needing to think about myself, not needing to connect things to myself. Gospel humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness, the blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings." [29:38]
3. "It is the normal state of the human heart to try to build its identity around something besides God, whether it's our resume, our GPA, our LinkedIn profile, our Instagram followers, our career, our finances, where we are in the org chart. I can go on all day if you want me to, right? I mean, this is what we do as human beings. Center our identity on all of these different things." [26:54]
4. "How many of us today, like we find ourselves in a situation where we're overly anxious about certain things in our lives, or we find ourselves fearful about the future, about relationships, whatever it might be. Could it be that what we're trying to do is we're trying to build an identity in anything apart from God, build it on a relationship, build it on our performance, build it on our jobs. And meanwhile, the invitation today is, will you come and receive the gift, the blessing of self-forgetfulness, the blessing of being rooted in the God of heaven and a God who is great and gracious to you?" [32:37]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Nehemiah, he starts by basically saying, the Lord, God of heaven and earth. He's beginning to orient his life, his disposition on everything around him, on God. In fact, check out the rest of his prayer, right? He says, I confess the sins we Israelites, he goes into confession, but notice the posture of this confession. Including myself and my father's family have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your servant Moses." [24:02]
2. "Where does Nehemiah get the chutzpah, the boldness to be able to walk in with the king and be able to make these requests? It's because his groundedness, his sense of security doesn't come from himself or supportive community around him. While there may have been those things, it actually comes from a belief in who God is, that this great and gracious God is the God who is behind him for him. And it's armed with this knowledge of this kind of God that Nehemiah is able to walk into this story with this king." [25:24]
3. "Nehemiah was someone who probably played that game. But on this day, it's actually incredibly bold for Nehemiah to actually wear his heart on his sleeves and to be sad before him. And that's why he says, I was very much afraid. But look at what happens. But I said to the king, May the king live forever. I love that. Buttering him up a little bit. Then he says, Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" [05:08]
4. "Nehemiah, somehow in this moment, in this moment, he's able to occupy this space where he steps in to his destiny by using his voice. I know that for myself, I grew up kind of shying away from any kind of asking for things or asking for what I want or feeling almost ashamed to be able to say, may I have this? Part of that was I grew up in a family of four. So I had four brothers, or three brothers, rather. There were four of us, and I was the youngest." [09:20]
5. "And it's only when we can find in ourselves a security and a freedom in God that all of those trappings can begin to dissipate. Now, of course, not completely. We still live with anxieties and fears as we live in this world. But the invitation, like Nehemiah, is to root ourselves, to center ourselves in God. Not ourselves, not in the opinions of other people." [21:19]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "God gives each of us a voice to step into our destiny. And for Nehemiah there's a freedom and a power and a purposefulness with which he's able to step into this moment. The same is true for you and me in these various different ways. Now, here's the thing, you know, the culture around us, like, here's the question, because the reality is, even if someone is not a Christian, this message of self-belief and coming into our own is a message that we hear often." [20:09]
2. "The essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself. It is thinking of myself less. Gospel humility is not needing to think about myself, not needing to connect things to myself. Gospel humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness, the blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings." [29:38]
3. "It is the normal state of the human heart to try to build its identity around something besides God, whether it's our resume, our GPA, our LinkedIn profile, our Instagram followers, our career, our finances, where we are in the org chart. I can go on all day if you want me to, right? I mean, this is what we do as human beings. Center our identity on all of these different things." [26:54]
4. "How many of us today, like we find ourselves in a situation where we're overly anxious about certain things in our lives, or we find ourselves fearful about the future, about relationships, whatever it might be. Could it be that what we're trying to do is we're trying to build an identity in anything apart from God, build it on a relationship, build it on our performance, build it on our jobs. And meanwhile, the invitation today is, will you come and receive the gift, the blessing of self-forgetfulness, the blessing of being rooted in the God of heaven and a God who is great and gracious to you?" [32:37]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Nehemiah, he starts by basically saying, the Lord, God of heaven and earth. He's beginning to orient his life, his disposition on everything around him, on God. In fact, check out the rest of his prayer, right? He says, I confess the sins we Israelites, he goes into confession, but notice the posture of this confession. Including myself and my father's family have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your servant Moses." [24:02]
2. "Where does Nehemiah get the chutzpah, the boldness to be able to walk in with the king and be able to make these requests? It's because his groundedness, his sense of security doesn't come from himself or supportive community around him. While there may have been those things, it actually comes from a belief in who God is, that this great and gracious God is the God who is behind him for him. And it's armed with this knowledge of this kind of God that Nehemiah is able to walk into this story with this king." [25:24]
3. "Nehemiah was someone who probably played that game. But on this day, it's actually incredibly bold for Nehemiah to actually wear his heart on his sleeves and to be sad before him. And that's why he says, I was very much afraid. But look at what happens. But I said to the king, May the king live forever. I love that. Buttering him up a little bit. Then he says, Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" [05:08]
4. "Nehemiah, somehow in this moment, in this moment, he's able to occupy this space where he steps in to his destiny by using his voice. I know that for myself, I grew up kind of shying away from any kind of asking for things or asking for what I want or feeling almost ashamed to be able to say, may I have this? Part of that was I grew up in a family of four. So I had four brothers, or three brothers, rather. There were four of us, and I was the youngest." [09:20]
5. "And it's only when we can find in ourselves a security and a freedom in God that all of those trappings can begin to dissipate. Now, of course, not completely. We still live with anxieties and fears as we live in this world. But the invitation, like Nehemiah, is to root ourselves, to center ourselves in God. Not ourselves, not in the opinions of other people." [21:19]
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