The Rock Church

What’s Your Distraction?

Nehemiah shows us something that most of us know — but don’t always want to admit. We rarely drift away from what matters because of just one massive decision. For the most part, we drift through small distractions, quiet compromises, and everyday busyness. And ultimately, those things slowly pull our attention away from God.

When Nehemiah heard that enemies had broken down the walls of Jerusalem, he didn’t just feel bad and move on. Instead, he sat down, wept, fasted, and prayed. The burden became personal. That is often where purpose begins. Not with ego, ambition, or trying to be impressive. But with letting God break our hearts for something that matters.

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Tony D'Amico

Pray and Post a Guard

Nehemiah 4:9 — “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.”

At our Men’s Nights this year, we’ve been studying Nehemiah. He returns to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall — and immediately faces opposition. Enemies threaten, intimidate, and scheme. Nehemiah’s response is one of my favorites in all Scripture: “We prayed to our God and posted a guard.”

That’s it. Prayer and action. Dependence and responsibility. They didn’t choose between spiritual and practical. Instead, they did both. Some people only pray. Others only act. Faithful believers do both.

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by The Rock Church

Lessons from the Life of Obed-Edom

Imagine along with me. You wake up to find someone has delivered the Ark of the Covenant (the sacred symbol of God’s very presence) to your house for safekeeping (by Amazon). That’s exactly what happened to a man named Obed-Edom. Well, not the Amazon part.
 
Let me back up a bit. King David and his men were transporting the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. A tragic incident occurred when Uzzah improperly handled the Ark and died (1 Chronicles 13). King David halted the Ark’s journey and left it in the home of Obed-Edom. What happened next has always amazed me:

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by The Rock Church

The Rule of Rehoboam

“When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him. … 5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” — 2 Chronicles 12:1,5

I recently read this story in 2 Chronicles 12:1-8. I encourage you to read the whole passage. In light of our King Jesus series, I thought there were some timely lessons from the rule of Rehoboam.

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by The Rock Church

The Walls of Self-Control

“A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.” — Proverbs 25:28

This verse likens us to a city. It’s certainly a powerful metaphor; we don’t often see it used in the Bible. I think a few themes from this verse are worth spending some time on. They’ll help us understand what can happen when we don’t exercise self-control.

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Tony D'Amico