2004-10-03 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Nehemiah 9:1-6

1. Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
2. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
3. And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God.
4. Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God.
5. Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

In 1 Kings 8:27, as King Solomon prays during the dedication of the beautiful new temple in Jerusalem, he asks: "...will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?"

Eph 3:20 tells us that God is: "...able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..."

The heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, these walls around us cannot contain Him, and He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, ...but we have the power to tell Him, "No." If we choose to hold our peace, He is perfectly capable of causing the rocks to cry out His praise (Luke 19:40), or the trees to sing out at His presence (1 Chr 16:33). If we choose to withold praise and thanksgiving, if we choose to only serve Him part-time, or if we choose the things this world has to offer, God is perfectly capable of taking the very dust under our feet, or even the stones that make up the foundation under this building, and from them He can raise up a whole new nation of people just to worship Him (Gen 2:7, Luke 3:8). He has all this power, so much that it cannot be defined in human terms, but He loves you so much that He gave you the power to say, "No." Sure, He made you, and He can un-make you real fast, but true love is what He has for you, so if you really don't want to submit yourself to His will and His working in your life, you can tell Him, "No," ...and you know what He'll do? He'll find somebody else who will. With or without you, His plan is going forward, and you've been given this one precious life so you might make a choice: Do you decide to say, "Here am I, Lord," or do you say, "Lord, I've got some other things I need to do right now. I'll catch up with you later." Now, I want you to think about this: Whether you realize it or not, you're faced with this decision, this choice, many times during the course of a single day. What kind of attitude do you have whenever it happens?

We all have a tendency to think that we're something special, that somehow God is blessed when we come to church on Sunday, but Nehemiah 9:5 says that all our blessing and praise put together falls short of His glorious name. We can bless and praise until our faces turn purple, but it will never reach the glory of His name. So we should just stop trying? Heavens no, but worship does require an attitude adjustment. Without love, anything we try to do won't amount to a hill of beans (Psalms 40:6, 51:16, Hosea 6:6). His desire is that we come to know Him, that we become one with Him (John 17:22-23), and that we choose to tap into His power... you remember... the power that works in you and through you, but it's more powerful than anything you can ask for or even imagine to ask for.

As Nehemiah chapter nine begins, these people had just heard the reading of the Bible for the first time after many years of captivity. They were preparing their hearts for worship, to come back into fellowship with God, and that's what we should be doing at this time. It's time to adjust our attitudes. God wants to be in constant communion with us, but we have a choice to make.