Introduction [Rise up and rebuild the church! (Nehemiah)]

Introduction

 

 

 

The church is crumbling right now. The church is not only collapsing morally or ethically, but also biblically.  In other words, the church now does not know God (Isa. 45:4, 5).  The reason is because they rejected the knowledge of knowing God (Hos. 4:1).  Not only the saints, but also the pastors rejected the knowledge of God (v. 6).  As a result, the more we increase as we ignore the commandments of God (v. 6), the more we sin against God (v. 7).  Also, the church is not preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the church.  Rather, the church now preaches “a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6-9).  And now the church is accepting that different gospel well (2 Cor. 11:4).  Also, the church is not living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ (Phil. 1:27).  In other words, the church does not stand with one mind and cooperate for the faith of the gospel with one will (v. 27).

 

Although the whole church should become a church that fulfills only the Lord's will with one heart, now each church is doing things according to their own will and their own opinions (Deut. 12:8, Judg. 17:6, 21:25).  If this is not a broken church, what is it?  Therefore, the church must collapse.  The church must be thoroughly broken and destroyed.  A church that is not centered on the Lord must collapse.  The church that rejected the knowledge of God must collapse.  The church preaching a different gospel must be destroyed.  The church that does not live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ must be completely destroyed.  And as we see the collapsed church, we must cry out to God who is full of mercy.  We must tear our hearts and confess our great sins to God and repent.  And we must return to God.  Then God will forgive all our sins.  God will restore us.  God will use us to rebuild the Lord's church.  With God's good hand helping us, we will rise up and rebuild the Lord's church.  The Lord will raise up among us exemplary leaders like Nehemiah.  The Lord will raise up the Lord's workers to build His church.  The Lord is with all of us and will rebuild the Lord's church in the face of any crisis or adversity.  Therefore, we must rise up and rebuild the Lord's church.  We must participate in the work of the Lord building His church (Mt. 16:18).  Join us, but especially we must return to the Word of God.  And we must yearn for the revival of the Word.  Therefore, we must experience the power of the Word.  We must experience the power of the gospel again.  And the power of the gospel must be revealed through our church.

 

As I began to serve Victory Presbyterian Church by God's grace, I preached on the book of Nehemiah among the 66 books of the Bible.  The reason I chose this book is the Lord's promise to my heart, “… I … will build my church...” (Mt.16:18).  The Lord brought me back to Victory Presbyterian Church with this word of promise and started the ministry.  At that time, the Lord gave me a desire to meditate on Nehemiah.  So, I preached it every Sunday and the Lord began to break me down first.  Also, the Lord began to show breach in my heart and life (Neh. 4:3).  In the midst of this, the Lord gave me grace (5:19) and gave me the assurance that the Lord is accomplishing the work of building His church (6:16).  With the conviction that Victory Presbyterian Church is the Lord's church, and that the Lord will build it (Mt. 16:18), I have started to serve the church, which is the body of the Lord, and have come thus far.  I hope and pray that I will continue to hold on to the word of promise of the Lord and serve the church with faith.

 

 

 

 

 

Serving the Lord’s church, Victory Presbyterian Church, which the Lord is building,

 

 

 

 

 James Kim

(August 2015, Thinking of Victory Community)