Join us here on Sunday at 09:15AM for the English Sunday message and the Chinese message at 10:45AM . Or join us on our Youtube Channel Facebook Live .

(08/28/22) Dio Yang
Rethinking Nehemiah (2 of 2)

Hymn # 678 I love Your kingdom, Lord

Review: God’s Timeline of Recovery of the Testimony Among the Israelites:

1900 BC Abraham called to leave Ur
1490 Moses led Israelites out of Egypt
1010 David established the kingdom of Israel
930 Israel kingdom divided
721 Northern Kingdom fell by Assyrians

608 Babylonian Exile began
586 Southern Kingdom fell by Babylonians, Jerusalem sacked

538 Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem (Zech 4:6)
536 Temple foundation laid
521 Temple building restarted
517 Temple completed

478 Esther made queen of Persia (Esther 4:14)

458 Ezra returned to Jerusalem (80 years after Zerubbabel’s return) (Ez 7:10, 10:1)

444 Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem (14 years after Ezra’s return)
444-5 Wall rebuilt in 52 days (70+/- years after the temple was completed)

The Spiritual Meaning of —

The Temple : God dwells in the church
— The Holy Spirit is the Presence of God in the church
The Wall : Testimony of the church
— Christ is our testimony
The Word : The Word of God is life
— The Word of God is the foundation of renewal

Some Spiritual Principles and Their Practical Working Out

1. The temple before the wall:
No Presence, no testimony.
With Presence, testimony with power

Practice: Return to the first love (Rev 2:4-5)

2. The spiritual renewal before the wall dedication:
Material is a meaningless shell without spiritual substance
Testimony of the church must have spiritual substance

Practice: Begin with loving one another (2 Jn 1:5)

3. The need of leadership: Without a leader, everyone does as he sees fit (time of the Judges)
Prayer — to wait for God’s direction
Inspection — to be aware of the reality of the circumstances
vision casting — to unite and to inspire the people of God
spiritual warfare — to discern and stand against the spiritual foes

Practice: Courageous servant-leadership (Joshua 1:6-7, Mat 21:25-28)

4. The role of the body: (Neh 3)
Unity in the Holy Spirit — oneness in vision and goal (Eph 4:1-6)
Personal responsibility — be accountable to God and to the leadership (Gal 6:1)
Mutual support — bearing each other’s burdens ( Gal 6:2)
Put on the full armor of God — for the victory of the kingdom of God (Eph 6:10-13)

Practice: Personal commitment — one for all and all for the Lord

Hymn # 641 Jesus, I have promised

Speaker: Dio Yang

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. In-Person Meeting: In order to ensure we operate in a safe environment, we ask all visitors to observe the following tentative rules and guidelines when coming to our church physical meetings (updated Aug 2022):
   1. There is no age limit for children to come to the church. Parents are encouraged to bring their children to come to worship together. However, Sunday school and nursery are not available. Parents need to accompany their young children while they are inside the church building.
   2. For brothers and sisters who desire to join the Chinese Sunday Worship Service, please make reservations by calling Sister Kate Chiang at 626.757.6992. Reservation is not required for joining the English Sunday Worship Service.
   3. Face masks are recommended.
   4. Temperature check is required upon entering the church
   5. Wash your hands upon entering the church
   6. Keep social distancing
2. Prayer Meeting: Prayer Meetings are Tuesdays from 8:00 to 9:15PM, joining via Webex for the combined session of the meeting (Meeting number: 627 564 274 Password: 4000). We are using Zoom for the English group session, please reach out to Richer for login information.
3. Offering: If you would like to make offerings, you can send your checks to: Home of Christians, L.A., PO Box 507, Monterey Park, CA 91754. Our accounting department will handle the offering every Sunday from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM.
4. Feature Pages: Checkout our worship YouTube channel for our latest music productions. Also checkout the two new webpages on the Chinese site featuring hymns and the sharing of our brothers and sisters.
5. Howto: There are several ways to watch the HOC Sunday Sermon. Here are two methods
6. Bible Reading Plan: For 2022 Bible-in-a-year reading, we will be reading a chronological plan. We will follow “Wondered by the Word — The Bible in a Year” and will read through the Bible in a year, chronologically. With a reading plan, we can keep one another accountable in our Bible reading. For more details or to join the plan, click here.

See our sermons page for past sermons.