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When you've just suffered loss, crisis, or disaster, how can you get your life put back together? How can you become a rebuilder when you're still reeling from the loss? Tom Holladay shares from the Bible beginning in the book of Nehemiah how to be encouraged to become a rebuilder.
CATCHING UP/LOOKING AHEAD
CATCHING UP/LOOKING AHEAD
- If you’re meeting for the first time as a group, go around the room and share your name, where you were born, and something about your life.
- What picture comes to your mind when you hear the word rebuild?
KEY VERSE
The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding.
Remember, it’s not vital to get to every question every week. The goal is to find just one question that prompts some good discussion and encouragement.
- What is it that you would like to put together again?
- How do you find yourself reacting to your problems right
- now—with faith, doubt, fear, anxiety, hope, or some other
- response?
- Is there a place in your life where you are currently
- mourning a loss?
- How has prayer helped you see an opportunity for faith?
- What do you do when you don’t feel full of faith as you pray?
LIVING ON PURPOSE
God’s five purposes for each of us are evangelism, discipleship, fellow- ship, ministry, and worship. In this section, we’ll look at how we can take practical steps to fulfill one of those purposes based on the truths we’ve looked at in this study.
WORSHIP
WORSHIP
Plan to do a one-day fast in the week ahead or to have a more extended time in prayer if you’re not able to fast. Start by focusing on who God is and then open your heart to what he wants to impress on you about who you are.
A tip on this one: If all you’re hearing are negatives about you, listen more closely. God is love, and he has words of encouragement as well as correction for his children.
PRAYING TOGETHER
Ask for God’s strength and blessing in those “this is what I want to put together again” areas that each group member shared.
Creators & Guests
Host
Tom Holladay
Tom Holladay is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Tom’s passion in ministry is to help people discover a love for the Bible and an understanding of God’s truth that changes the way they live. In addition to his pastoral leadership and weekend teaching ministries at Saddleback, he assists Rick Warren in teaching Purpose-Driven Church conferences to Christian leaders all over the world. Books he has written include The Relationship Principles of Jesus, Love Powered Parenting with his wife Chaundel and (with Kay Warren) Foundations: Core Truths to Build Your Life On. He and Chaundel have three children and five granddaughters.
What is Putting It Together Again When It's All Fallen Apart: Saddleback Small Group Series?
Life crises can throw you into a tailspin, a lost job, a failed relationship, a struggling business, a financial mess. Where do you start? How do you pull it together? How do you begin again? Tom Holladay experienced a catastrophe first-hand when a sudden flood in California destroyed his home, his church, and the homes of many church members. Tom and his congregation had to rebuild, and they used the principles in the book of Nehemiah to get back on their feet. Now a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church, Tom will help you discover seven principles for putting it together again that will give you the direction you need to get rolling on that fresh start. Holladay will walk you through seeing every problem as an opportunity, facing the obstacles head on and taking your first step, knowing how to expect and reject opposition, build on your success, and dedicating yourself to the One who rebuilds our souls. The task of starting again can seem impossible. And sometimes you just need to rebuild your confidence and regain a sense of purpose. If you're trying to find the emotional energy, but you just don't have it in you, let Tom Holladay encourage you. He understands how difficult and rewarding the business of rebuilding is.
Download the study guide with each episode. And of course, check out the book "Putting It Together Again When It's All Fallen Apart" by Tom Holladay on Amazon or your favorite bookstore.
[Music]
hi everyone I'm Tom Holliday I want to
welcome you to this series of video
studies that go along with the book
putting it together again after it's all
falling apart if you have the book you
probably noticed at the back of the book
there are seven studies that go along
with the seven chapters and these are
the videos that go along with those
studies this is week one of those if you
don't have the book yet then I encourage
you to go out and get the book because
these are based on your reading the
chapter of the book and then discussing
it together with somebody else during
the week and if you don't have a group
yet if you're watching this all by
yourself I encourage you to go out and
get a group of course you could watch it
by yourself and hopefully God will give
you some encouragement
but the greatest encouragement comes
when you're studying this with other
people so if it's just one other person
even in your family or work at your
school your neighborhood just grab one
other person in your church and walk
through this together and let God
encourage you together through this so
this is week one we're going to talk
together in this week about how you and
I can be encouraged to be rebuilders in
the book we're looking at Nehemiah as
the example of a rebuilder and walking
through the book of Nehemiah
what I want to do in these seven weeks
is actually take a look at some other
places in the Bible where you see people
who are rebuilders or principles about
rebuilding because there's principles
all through the Bible about rebuilding
and these studies give us a chance to
look at some of those the other great
book in the Old Testament about
rebuilding if you look at a whole book
is really the book of Ezra in the book
of Ezra we're told about the robbery
building the Temple in Jerusalem which
happened about a hundred years or so
before Nehemiah goes to rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem so he gets some of
the same principles of rebuilding in
Ezra as you get in Nehemiah this week
just to begin I'd like to focus on two
simple verses from Ezra and just draw
some truths out of those about what it
means to be a rebuilder first Ezra
chapter 1 verse 5 says this then God
stirred the hearts to the priests and
the Levites and the leaders of the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to
Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple of
the Lord now notice that phrase God
stirred the hearts what does that feel
like when God stirs your heart what does
it feel like it's just it's this inner
motivation to do something that is good
and godly whenever you have an inner
motivation to do something good and
godly it's almost always God stirring
your heart and so you chase after what
God wants to do in your life you might
write this down
rebuilding happens when God stirs
someone's heart rebuilding happens when
God stirs someone's heart so that's why
the heart needs to be stirred you're in
this group you're watching this right
now you picked up this book because God
has stirred your heart so you're
considering what it means to rebuild one
of the questions in the group guide that
you're going to be looking at together
this week is the simple question what is
it that you want to put together again
well even as you answer that question
you're gonna be taking a look at where
has God stirred your heart where has God
spoken to your heart about the
possibility of rebuilding in your life
it starts with God stirring your heart
and then the other verse I want to take
a little bit longer look at is Ezra
chapter 3 verse 3 that verse says this
even though the people were afraid of
the local residents they rebuilt the
altar at its old site then they began to
sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar
to the Lord each morning and evening
notice even though they were afraid they
rebuilt the altar you might write this
down it's often less frightening to stay
where we are than to face the fear of
change and if you're going to rebuild
you have to change something that means
something's gonna change you rebuild
from a disaster even you're changing
you're putting it into place again but
especially if you're rebuilding in a
relationship things have to change and
that is frightening it's often less
frightening to stay where we are than to
face the fear of change so I want to
honor you I honor you for picking up
this book for watching this video for
being in this group for we've been
thinking about changing your facing the
fear of change even from the very
beginning they faced the fear but the
only way to face your fears
with faith by knowing that God's gonna
be with you knowing that you're not
alone you have to have something that's
greater than your fears and God is
greater than your fears once you'll
notice something else in this verse it
also says they rebuilt the altar before
they rebuilt the temple and began to
make sacrifices on it well the altar was
what the temple was all about it housed
an altar where they made sacrifices for
the sins of the people if you've studied
the Bible you know that those sacrifices
look forward to the sacrifice that Jesus
was someday going to make for us so the
purpose of the temple was to house the
altar to make the sacrifices so before
they even built the temple they built
the altar they began with the purpose
for which the temple was going to be
built they built the altar before they
built the temple and they also built the
temple we find out before they rebuild
the walls when you think about what
needs to be rebuilt in your life you got
to think about what is it needs to go
first what's the purpose of what God
wants to do when you think about what
God wants to do first and not what you
want to get done first then often you
get things in the right priority I often
find when I want to rebuild something I
want to get it done fast and so I
rebuild what's easiest some sometimes
not what's most purposeful not which
most what is most important but when you
start to listen to God about rebuilding
you're gonna motivate you to rebuild in
ways that you might not have otherwise
rebuild in ways they're gonna last
they're gonna have purpose not what's
fastest but what is most important not
what makes me feel the best Emotiv Lee
but what brings his purpose back their
most powerfully now when you take a look
at how God wants to rebuild in your life
we've been reading this week if you read
in the chapter about how to mourn how to
fast how to pray all of those are about
getting in connection with God if you're
going to rebuild it starts with this
connection of God if your hearts going
to be stirred it's going to come by
connecting with God and that often comes
through mourning and fasting and praying
this is why it's so important to mourn
in fast and pray it puts you in a place
where God is able to stir your heart it
gets you to a place where able to face
your fears it puts you in a place of
worship where
to put what God wants first and out what
you want first that all comes out of
worship so as you think about taking
some time to mourn and fast and pray I
know to some of you your personality is
no I got a dig right in I got to start
rebuilding right now but if you don't
take time to listen to him first you're
gonna head off in a direction where you
might get the project started but it's
never gonna get finished so take that
time to connect with him first and as
you do that you're gonna see some
powerful things happen in your life now
before we end I want to say a word to
those of you that I know are hurting
because I know when we talk about
rebuilding there's hurt you may have had
the loss of some things some building
has been lost a home has been lost you
may have had the some loss of a business
or it might be the loss of a
disappointment something that's been
lost in your life that you had hoped
would happen a dream maybe the loss in a
relationship there's pain in that and I
just want to let you know that God
understands that God cares about the
hurt that you're going through when God
motivates and directs and empowers us to
rebuild it's not out of a heart of just
saying hey I can do this and all
everything's gonna be fine no it's out
of a heart that God is hurting with you
and for you and God wants to bring his
purpose back into your life I want to
remind you if you're hurting right now
of a verse that you may have heard from
the Old Testament
Psalm 30 verse 5 says weeping may last
through the night but joy comes with the
morning the end of the story of your
life has not yet been written and the
joy of heaven is coming there's no doubt
about that for all of us but there are
also joys that God has for your life on
this earth he has a purpose for your
life there's no loss there's no mourning
there's no pain that can take away his
purpose for your life so you lean on
that right now and my prayer is that God
will use you as a group together with
each other to share the hurts in your
lives in order that you can encourage
each other in ways that you can be in to
experience God's great strength for your
lives God's hope for your lives so
that's what I want to pray for as you
start this time together would you let
me pray for you lord I pray for this
group it is my prayer that as they talk
together about what we learned from
Nehemiah what we learned here from the
book of
from other people in the Bible that God
you would bring hope into our hearts you
give us the strength to rebuild you give
us the strength to see things happen
they could only happen by your hand I
asked for miracles to happen in this
group beginning with the miracle of your
presence the miracle of knowing that
you're with us through everything and
then out of that bring every other
miracle all that you want to do so you
can show the world what you're like we
begin in this place god of quietness
before you asking you to stir our hearts
we ask it in Jesus name Amen we'll enjoy
talk in the next few minutes in your
group I always encourage groups don't
feel like you have to get to every
question that's on the list there if you
get one question that gets you talking
that's more than enough so if somebody
feels like no we got to get to every
question tell them no no no not every
question just one question that gets us
talking about what can God do in our
lives that gets us encouraging each
other about what can God do in our lives
enjoy your group time together