I Lead with Neighbors Extreme Ownership Sermon Series By Senior Pastor Tom Harrison. July 15, Nehemiah 3:22-32

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1 I Lead with Neighbors Extreme Ownership Sermon Series By Senior Pastor Tom Harrison July 15, 2018 Nehemiah 3:22-32 Offertory announcement: Asbury s mission is to Help Others Follow Jesus. Our Sermon Series is Extreme Ownership. We want to help every person take Extreme Ownership of their faith. Vaughn Story s Disciple Bible Study is such a way. He is an excellent teacher. He is passionate about it. He fulfills his purpose in life to teach the greatest curriculum about God s redemptive work. I would like for you to attend DBS. Here is a video that can help you do this. I ve had SO MANY PEOPLE tell me that DBS has changed their lives. (Brochures are available Bulletin tells you more info including you must attend a preview class.) We can only do this bc of your financial gifts. Your gifts Help Others Follow Jesus. We would not be able to do what we do if not for your generosity. Your tithes and offerings make an incredible difference. Thank you for Helping Others Follow Jesus. And now would you please stand for the doxology as we prepare our hearts to worship God through the giving of our tithes and offerings. JOURNAL: I hope you have access to a computer and will do word studies of scripture. The terms next to and after him repeatedly appear in Nehemiah 3. Who would build the wall around Jerusalem? Nehemiah planned and organized and broke tasks down into specific and manageable units. People took care of their own neighborhoods. Extreme ownership means I m not passive, or passive-aggressive (Cain is an example of passive-aggressive behavior). I get involved. I commit to the strategic mission of the leader. At Asbury it is Helping Others Follow Jesus. Followers engage and get the job done. If we don t understand our mission, our engagement is limited. The walls stay broken if we don t take responsibility to understand the mission or if we fail to work. Extreme ownership means I lead in my neighborhood, home, work, school, church, etc. I take care of what is next to me and connect with those after him in time and space. Jesus had a lot to say about neighbors and home, too.

2 APPLICATION: Jesus could do everything without our help. Why do you think He chooses/prefers to work with us and through us? Is it harder for you to do your part of the work, or to let others do theirs? What do you need to do differently? Nehemiah 1 introduces us to, Nehemiah, the cupbearer to the Persian king who was the King of the World then. Nehemiah learned from his brother who was visiting from Jerusalem about the tragedy that was happening in the home country. The gates/walls of the city were burned/broken down. This was an economic, political, cultural and spiritual nightmare. Nehemiah was devastated. His response shows his passion for his people, his inner motivation and his agenda. He wanted to rebuild the walls and repair the gates of Jerusalem. He was positioned for it, because he had the ear and respect of the king. When Nehemiah asked for the privilege to return to Jerusalem with the specific task in mind to repair and rebuild, the king was his advocate. Nehemiah 2 shows how he took responsibility. He developed a great support team. He collaborated with them and they gave great advice. He was disciplined and focused. He obsessed: rebuild the wall around Jerusalem and reform the Jewish people. Nehemiah 3 details the account of the wall building. The first people listed are the high priest/priests, includes governors and rulers of districts, craftsmen (perfumers and goldsmiths, and merchants, sons and daughters. Mostly they repaired or rebuilt the sections closest to their own homes. No one was too great or too small to contribute. Extreme ownership was not limited by external factors. It s like Mission trips people have different talents cooks, drivers, handymen, musicians, preachers. You are in charge of the floors, windows, doors Everyone knew what his mission was. The ESV says next to 15x and after him 16x. Nehemiah s name doesn t appear in Chapter 3 (there is another Nehemiah listed). Nehemiah listed all the peoples names and gave them credit. I counted 73 distinct names in chapter 3. He empowered them to do what they could do. (Do you think the wall all looked the same?) They all understood their mission. They knew what they were supposed to do. Opposition appears in chapter 4. Leaders must always expect sabotage. The work is disrupted. Nehemiah responds with prayer and action (armed themselves, set guards and continued to build. Nehemiah 6:15-17 So the wall was finished on the 25 th day of the month Elul, in 52 days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were

3 afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Why was Nehemiah so successful? 3 reasons: #1.) His PASSION. Not passive. He cared. He felt. He prayed. He obsessed about rebuilding the walls. He got to do what he loved doing. His passion became contagious. If you don t feel passionate about something, turn off your screens and get on your knees and ask God to break your heart for the things that break His. #2.) His PURPOSE. Whereas his passion was what he felt, his purpose was not for him it was for others. Our passion needs to be lived out with others and confirmed by the Body of Christ. Sometimes people have a fleeting passion that comes and goes. Or if I have a passion to sing opera, that needs to be confirmed by others. He knew his mission and he locked in exclusively on it. He helped them focus upon what needed to be done. He would rebuild the wall. He didn t say, Let s go fix the Temple, too. Let s do one thing. He helped them understand his priority. He gave them clarity. He had a passion, but his purpose helped him to contribute to something much bigger than himself. #3.) Their PRACTICE. They took extreme ownership. They worked. It was dangerous. They had enemies who wanted to stop them. They owned it. They did the work. Application: Asbury s mission = Helping others follow Jesus. This asks every member to engage with our mission. We ask our members to be leaders. Leadership is simply using our influence. We all have influence (with family, friends, neighbors, at school and work, on social media and here at church, too). We don t have to have a microphone, a title, a desk to help others follow Jesus we need to use what is already before us - our influence. Nobody is too great or too small. We re not limited by stage or age because the Lord can use each of us, if we have a mind to work. Extreme ownership means I lead in my neighborhood, home, work, school, church, etc. I take care of what is next to me and connect with those after him in time and space. We aren t building walls, but we are building bridges. Nehemiah had Extreme Ownership. He started with compassion (for those who are lost, unchurched or de-churched). He prayed, planned and acted. Dana & I saw a wonderful movie, Would you be my neighbor? It s the story of a Presbyterian minister, Fred Rogers. For Mr. Rogers, his neighbors were children. He loved kids. He insisted that the feelings of children are just as powerful and

4 just as strong as that of adults. He didn t build walls, he tore them down. He was a man of incredible influence. Though he died in 2003, PBS continues his legacy of teaching and loving children with Daniel Tiger. I know about Daniel Tiger because my granddaughter loves him. We even went to a Daniel Tiger show at the PAC with a hundred other 2 and 3 yr olds. Mr. Rogers has a LOT to teach. This is my favorite quote of his: From the time you were very little, you ve had people who ve smiled you into smiling, talked you into talking, sung you into singing and loved you into loving. So, on this extra special day, let s take some time to think of those extra special people. Some of them may be right here; some may be far away. Some may even be in heaven. No matter where they are, deep down you know they have always wanted what was best for you. They have always cared about you beyond measure and have encouraged you to be true to the best within you. Let s take a minute to think about them now. We probably don t need to build a physical wall around our city in fact, we probably should focus upon tearing walls of division down. The point of this sermon isn t about brick and mortar but about flesh and blood. We begin with children. I hope that Nehemiah and Mr. Rogers inspire us. I deeply want our children, students and adults to Follow Jesus and to HELP OTHERS FOLLOW JESUS. Following Jesus gives us forgiveness of our sin, gives us other Christians called the church to be with, gives us a passion and a purpose and a practice, and gives us eternal life. I am filled with hope. This work energizes me. I feel that helping others follow Jesus is about giving life, here and now (helping people to live better and more meaningful lives) but also about helping people live better into eternity. We don t have to spend a lot of money or go overseas to Help Others Follow Jesus. The opportunities are right before us. In fact, they are sitting right beside you. Have you gone to the trouble to learn their names? Do you know who is sitting next to you? Helping others follow Jesus is right in front of us. But we must take Extreme Ownership of it. We must not sit back in a lawn chair or Lazy Boy and watch everyone else work. We ve got to take initiative. We ve go to row the boat. We ve got to use our influence to lead others. They may be children or teens or adults or senior adults. We must exert Extreme Ownership. We ve got the bricks; not to throw at others, but to build. We begin with our children. We show compassion

5 and kindness to others. We show up. We work. There is a place for you. We need you here. If your heart is as my heart, please lend me your hand.