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This is day four together of week four of our look through the book of Nehemiah.
We're talking about the principle of dedication, the seventh principle we learn
from Nehemiah about how to rebuild, how to recharge, how to re-energize in your
life. Yesterday, we talked about the fact for what you rebuilt to stay rebuilt
and fulfill the purpose for which it was rebuilt, you have to dedicate it to
God.

And we focused on the truth that dedication starts with thanksgiving. As you
continue to look at chapter 12 of the book of Nehemiah, you learn some other
things about dedication. You learn also that dedication requires purification.

In chapter 12 verse 30, "When the priests and the Levites had purified
themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall. "
They purified all that was a part of this dedication celebration. Purification
is an important part of dedication.

So let me ask you a question. How do you purify yourself for God's purposes? You
purify yourself for God's purposes by recognizing what Jesus did for you on the
cross.

The truth is you don't purify yourself. He is the one who purifies you. So you
recognize what Jesus did for you on the cross.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, you are allowing God to take out of your
life those things that don't belong in your life. You're growing in a process of
sanctification where God is making you more and more like him. But it all
started with what Jesus did for you on the cross, his forgiveness, the life that
he gives, the resurrection life that he gives.

So because of what he did on the cross, you are allowing God to take out of your
life those things that don't belong in your life, that's purification. But just
as importantly, you're allowing God to put into your life those things that he
wants in your life. Purification is just not doing certain things.

Some people think if you're truly pure, it just means you don't do this, you
don't do this, you don't do this, you don't do this. If that was true, the most
pure people in the world would be dead because they don't do anything. No,
purity has to do with what you don't do, the sins that you don't commit.

But it also has to do with what you choose to do, the obedience that you have in
your life. Purity is seen in what you pursue. What are you chasing after in your
life?

If you're trying to be pure by just not doing certain things, you've missed most
of what purity is all about. It's seen in what you pursue. Dedication and purity
is seen in what you pursue.

And that purity comes into your life through what Jesus did for you on the
cross. Do not try to purify yourself. You can't do it.

You cannot do it because you're impure. Something that is impure cannot make
purity. But Jesus is pure.

Jesus is perfect. So when you look to him and what he did, when you recognize
what Jesus did for you, that is your purification. He is your purification.

And dedication requires that purification, that looking to him, recognizing what
he did for you on the cross. That's the second thing that Nehemiah teaches us.
And then Nehemiah in his example teaches us the third thing about dedication.

Dedication results in giving. One of the ways that you express dedication is by
giving back to God out of what he's given to you. God rebuilds your marriage,
not just so you can enjoy that marriage for yourself but so that you can now
give back to God out of that marriage.

God rebuilds your family so you can give back to God out of that family. God
rebuilt your career so that now you can give back to God out of that career. "He
rebuilt your finances.

" Not just so that your finances would be more healthy, so you could be proud of
your finances, "He rebuilt your finances so you can give back to God out of your
finances. " "He rebuilds a life. " He reenergizes your life so you can now give
back to him.

Giving is at the heart of dedication. Giving of your time, your possessions,
your talents, your concern, that all adds up to giving yourself. Now listen to
how they gave and what they gave because there's some straightforward lessons
for us here about giving.

In chapter 12 verse 43, starting in verse 43, "And on that day they offered
great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and
the children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard
far away.

At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the
contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes. From the fields around the towns
they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the law for the
priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and
Levites. " And then in verse 47, "So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah,
all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers.

They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside
the portion for the descendants of Aaron. " Now listen to what they teach us in
these verses about giving. Four things.

First you see that they gave the portions required by law. That's a reminder
that we give obediently. The reason we give is because God challenges us,
encourages us, commands us to give.

Jesus says, "I didn't come to be served, I came to serve and to give my life as
a ransom for many. " He wants us to give. God wants us to give because he's a
giver.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. He wants us to be
like him, so he wants us to give. So you give out of this sense of obedience to
God.

It's not out of a sense of requirement to the church or duty to the church. It's
out of obedience to God that we give. They gave the portions required by law.

They gave obediently. Notice also that they appointed some to be in charge of
the gifts. They not only gave obediently, they gave responsibly.

When they gave, it wasn't just throwing money at something and they sort of
gathered it up from the ground later, hope they didn't lose any. No, they gave
it in a good, responsible way. And there were some that were in charge of the
gifts that made sure that those gifts were used by God.

That no temptation came in and somebody took the gifts and used them for
themselves. So for instance, in our church, like many churches, we never let one
person handle any offerings at any time. It's always two people together because
when you have two people together, you make sure that there's no cause for
temptation at any time.

That's giving responsibly. In your own life, you look at how do I give in a way
that God's gifts that I'm given can be used in the most powerful way? And I
would say to you the most powerful way that God's gifts are used is through his
church.

The body of Christ showing the love of Christ in this world, there's no greater
giving than that. Third thing we learn from them is that they all gave. They
gave cooperatively.

It wasn't just, "Oh, there's a few rich people over here they need to give and
we can all benefit from that. " No, they all gave. They recognized the principle
of sometimes we feel like if somebody has a lot, they can give a lot.

But Jesus teaches us very clearly those who seem to have the least, who can
really give the most. The most honored sacrificial gift ever was the widow's two
pennies, two mites, two small coins. Jesus said no one's given like her because
she gave everything that she had.

So when you think of giving and you think, "I don't have enough to give,"
recognize that God is not looking at the amount. He's looking at your heart.
That's why you give in the first place because he wants what the gift
represents.

He wants your heart obediently, sacrificially given to him. So they all gave.
They gave cooperatively, recognizing that they all had a part in what God was
doing.

And then the final thing we learned about giving here is that they offered great
sacrifices on that day. They gave sacrificially. They gave not just out of a
sense of, "Well, let me just add this up on a piece of paper.

What's the least I could possibly give? Okay, that. Or maybe I'll give a little
bit more than the least I could give, but I certainly can't give that amount
because then I wouldn't be able to do this or I wouldn't be able to do this.

" What does it mean to give sacrificially? It means there's some things that
because you give, you're not going to be able to do. At least when you give, you
think you're not going to be able to do that.

So one of the ways you know that you're giving sacrificially is as you give, you
recognize there's a vacation we're going to have to change. There is a purchase
we're going to have to put off. There is something that we're not going to be
able to do because we are doing this.

But when you do that, recognize that Jesus teaches us very clearly that whatever
we give up in this world, he'll give us a hundredfold in heaven. In fact, he
says even on this earth, he'll give it back to us. So the sacrifices that we
make, he blesses in return.

But in the moment of giving, there is this moment of sacrifice. So how do they
give? What can we learn about giving?

They gave obediently, they gave responsibly, they gave cooperatively, and they
gave sacrificially. Giving is a part of having a spirit of dedication in your
life. Purity, purification is a part of having a spirit of dedication in your
life.

Let's take these to the Lord. Let's talk to God about our Father. Thank you for
what Jesus did on the cross.

That is our purification. Not what we do, not what we do even as believers, not
even the greatest ministry that we do that cannot purify us. The impure cannot
make something pure, but Lord, you are pure.

And so we look to you for our purity, to what you have done for us, what you
have given for us. And out of that sense of purity, Lord, we pray that we would
have a giving attitude. Help us to give obediently and responsibly, give with
other people, give sacrificially, give joyfully, because we know, Lord, how much
you've given for us.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, join us tomorrow.

We're going to see one final lesson about dedication as we end our study of the
book of Nehemiah.