Where did these bricks come from?

Did you know that all of the brick that makes up the walls of this building were donated?

We now they were donated by a person who didn’t go to the church, and the only note I have as to exactly who He was, from a reflection of the time,is a reference to his race, and his character calling him nice, and his job.

I don’t know what that man did in his life, but I know that his act of generosity, has been blessing for over 60 years.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one who was generous. The majority of this building was built by volunteers. The entire structure was built and is still held together by the giving by people to God of their own money and time.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend about legacy. We talked about our failures, our sins, our mistakes, how even our successes could depending on the perspective of a person be seen as a mistake. Our conversation went over decades and it all talked about building. We thought we were building something for our fame or something that would last but what we found is that the only thing that lasts is our gifts to God. The gifts we made of ourselves, from what God made available to us and then God made so much more.

A man in the 50’s had some extra bricks. Many of you came to know God better, saw your purpose in life, changed your goals to make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, which impacts your relationships and even the lives of your enemies as we love God and love others. Because a man took what He had and gave it to the Lord

Legacy is the building of something that lasts. Only the Lord lasts: yesterday, today and forever.

Today we look at people who gave to the Lord and God gave them a legacy.

Nehemiah 3:1 CSB

1 The high priest Eliashib and his fellow priests began rebuilding the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building the wall to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated it.

We have been talking about Nehemiah

History

Transition: God inspired and strengthened them.

Nehemiah 2:18 CSB

18 I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me. They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened to do this good work.

Nehemiah is about faith, the act of believing and living in that belief as if it is already true. The Jews beleived God would build the wall. All the permissions would happen. The blessings would happen.

The high priest and his fellow priests became part of the legacy when they gave of themselves to build the wall.

Explain: High Priest

Faith requires that we take responsibility to do what God has asked us to do.

Rebuilt the Sheep gate

There are very few gates that can be found today and this gate happens to be mentioned another time in the Bible

John 5:1–9 CSB

1 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” 8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath,

-Did you see the sheep gate

the man believed in a stirring of the waters

Prompt dependency is waiting so others do for you.

Their is the trap in our disabilities, that others need to take care of us and so we wait on others and do not do what we can do.

. Matthew 7:7

Matthew 7:7 CSB

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

There is a necessity to our faith that requires a will for us to desire God.

In my job, I try to find the things my students need so they can take responsibility. Accomodations and Modifications. A student who is constantly moving may need to have things that constantly move so that he can stay in the same space ot behave and learn the lesson. A student who cannot speak cannot answer questions unless they are given a way to communicate that everyone can understand that doesn’t require them to speak.

Yet, I know require the student to give an answer, because they have a way to give an answer. Their disability has been reduced or even eliminated as a barier to their work.

We didn’t think of that on our own, God does that for us.

Romans 8:26–27 NIrV

26 In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak. We don’t know what we should pray for. But the Spirit himself prays for us. He prays with groans too deep for words. 27 God, who looks into our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit. And the Spirit prays for God’s people just as God wants him to pray.

God speaks our words for us, YET we are still called to pray.

Asking of God is your responsibility. Acknowledging that you work for God, God is the provider, and God is the one who gives the victory.

Jesus, God himself, walks by the sheep gate, to the disabled man, and asks him what does he want. The man has to ask. The man doesn’t tell Jesus what he wants but instead he tells him about a process he can’t participate in.

Jesus sees through to what the man really wants. Jesus prays for the man when the man actually failed.

It’s ok, our God doesn’t need us to make the perfect potion, He wants us to take the responsbility of the relationship.

Nehemiah was asked what He wanted

God asks us to take the responsibility of prayer and asking what we want

Then Jesus told him to stand up. A normal easy task, but incredibly difficult for some. Yet Jesus told him to do it, what he was demanding others do for him in order for him to get well, Jesus gave Him the healing to do himself but only if He would do it.

My friends, many of you know yourselves by your problems, but Jesus healed you. It is ok to no longer be known by those labels. It is ok to stand up and walk. It is ok to walk in the place you only imagined of one healed and delivered.

Perhaps you can go out with no more treatment. Perhaps you can go out because of the God given treatment. This is both healing! We can walk in victory and healing.

Remember Nehemiah built a physical wall because this is what God told them to do, building a wall was not seen as a lack of faith, but an action of faith.

Then Jesus told him to stand up. A normal easy task, but incredibly difficult for some. Yet Jesus told him to do it, what he was demanding others do for him in order for him to get well, Jesus gave Him the healing to do himself but only if He would do it.

Healing comes from asking of God. Healing comes from belief that God heals. Healing comes from faith responsibly doing what God shows and tells us to do.

Brother Victor told me about an answer to prayer in his life yesterday.

Let us worship God for who He is and Yes, let us worship God for what He does. Who was responsible for building the sheep gate that led into the temple, those responsible for worship - Eliashib and his fellow priests.

Nehemiah 3:1 CSB

1 The high priest Eliashib and his fellow priests began rebuilding the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building the wall to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated it.

Conclusion

Today God has spoken to you. You have a chance to respond and today I want to walk you through something we studied in the devotional we did this past week.

What is your current legacy? What will remain if you are gone?

What will you ask of God?

What responsibility does God want you to take?