The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-07-22
SERMON TO THE FIREMEN.
Preached by Rev. W. A. Lutz at the
Lutheran Church.

Lutheran Church.
Rev. W. A. Lutz preached to the
fremen of Winston-Salem, at the
Lutheran church, Sunday morning.
He announced his text from Nehe-
miah All: "They which builded on
the wall, and they that bear burdens,
with those that laded, every one with
one of his hands wrought in the work,
and with the other hand held a
weapon"
Mr.. Lutz was attired in handsome
clerical robe. 1t was gift from a
friend in Pennsylvania and was re-
celved by the Lutheran pastor only
few days ago.
The following is synopsis of Mr..
LutZ'S sermon:
Jerusalem was captured by Nebuch
adnezzar in 597 B. G. He carried away
AZ, $50 prisoners, including all Of the
Royal family and the Priests and Lee
yites, thinking he would crush the
spirit OF the people completely. But
Gods children are not easily crushed
So in $50 B. c., he revisited Jerusalem,
burned the town, with it's temple,
threw down the wall and left 1t des-
olation. In less than so years this
enemy of the church was himself and
his people captured and crushed by
Gods own servant, Cyrus, so named
before his birth. He attempted to
rebuild Jerusalem and return ed to Ezra
with LII Priests, Levites and Royal
descendants.
He was unable to accomplish this
work because Of the mixed marriages.
1t was shown that the people thought
more about building their own ceiled
Ia nd
lected the worship of God, the temple
service and the rebuilding OF the wall
around the city. Nehemiah, a cap
tive slave who was cup bearer to the
King, though a descendant of David
hearing of this neglect OF Gods cause,
wept bitterly but goes to God in pray
er and kept on at his work. For three
months he waited to see Gods hand
and was greatly surprised when Ques-
toned by the King as to the cause of
his sadness. To hear the King say he
had appointed him Governor of Ju-
dea, and would furnish him letters
to all the other Governors to pass him
safely, and letter to the keeper Of
the Kings forest to furnish him all
Of the timber he wanted, and handing
him purse of money and ordering d
part of his army to give him protec-
tion.
THE CAUSE OF THIS.
The cause of this is first Nehemiah's
faith and prayer, zeal and work, and
second, the influence of Queen Esther.
who sat on the throne by the side Of
her son, Artaxarzes.
You will notice that Nehemiah
depended solely on prayer. The an
swer to this prayer stirred up most
bitter enemies in the persons of San
ballat, MOabite, and TUbiah, an
AmmOnite. The lesson to be learned
here is-flrst: Ask great things of
God; depend upon God to fight your
battles-believe that you will get
what you ask for, but rest assured
there will be a Sanballat. and To-
vent you from working for the Lord
Let US notice the different efforts Of
this willy enemy of Gods child. They
first laughed Nehemiah to scorn;made
sport of his efforts. Called him weak
and said a fox walking on the wall
would throw it down. Nehemiah d.
vides the wall into AZ sections, and
puts squad Of men on every Sec
ton.
The next attempt of the enemies
was to frighten them with threats, but
Nehemiah prayed and the work went
on. The enemy next planned to fall
upon them and destroy the peo-
pie Of God at night. God
thwarted this by apprising Nehemiah
Of their plan. He now prays and
watches and man is at his side to an
nounce the approach of the enemy
with bugle blast, but he keeps the
men at work on the wall.
THE LESSON.
The pastor to build successfully
must keep all the members at work.
God has no use for an idler in his
kingdom. The account tells US that
they worked from the early morn un-
til the stars appeared. Never took off
their clothes, except to wash them.
Worked with one hand and held their
weapon with the other and kept a
sword buckled at their side.
CONCLUSION.
Let every pastor, like Nehemiah,
have the house of God and Gods cause
heavy on his heart and trust God to
fight his battles. Let the member of
his congregation work armed with
the sword OF the Spirit, which is the
word of God, to build up his portion of
Gods Kingdom, and soon the wall of
protection around the church will be
complete and prosperity, JOY and hap
piness reign.