Nehemiah 4-16-23
Rebuilding • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 10 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
“The Wall is finished…”
“The Wall is finished…”
Our theme for this year is “The Church and me in 2023”. We will be focusing on Church outreach and our involvement in God’s Church.
The Church and Me in 2023
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
We are in a series simply titled “Rebuilding”
Through this series we study Nehemiah and his mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
With this we will see how to apply the techniques and lessons learned in Nehemiah to our lives today.
How to rebuild, restore, and renew our lives, our ministry, our church, and our relationship with Christ.
We are in chapter 6 and we will be continuing where we left off, starting in verse 15.
15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. 16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. 17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. 18 For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. 19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
*open prayer*
15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.
“so the wall was finished”...
We start off today with a nod of victory.
“Pastor, wasn’t the whole point of all of this work to build up the wall around Jerusalem?”
Well yes, but, just because that work is done, does not mean “the” work is done!
Often times as Christians we get sucked into tunnel vision.
Even the church as a whole, we see one objective, and when that is complete, we move on.
“welp, my work is done, time for a vacation”
As you may have noticed, we are only half way through the book of Nehemiah....
Nehemiah has 13 chapters.
We see the finishing the wall is the Nehemiah’s whole story...
It is a big part of it, for sure, but Nehemiah has much more to tell.
The same is true for you and I in here today.
Writing this sermon, I think about all the years of godly work accomplished by the people in this very church.
Just taking a quick survey.
Let’s keep this simple and narrow this down to specifically a church type ministry.
Lets look at the piano players, deacons, pastor, singers, teachers, ushers, or any other offices.
If you have served in any of those type of capacity, would you please put your hand up?
How many have been serving in one or more of these positions for 10 years?
How about 20?
30?
50 or more?
The point is not to praise any certain people, or make others feel bad, the point is there is a lot of experience even in this very room today.
With all those years and with all that accomplishment, I can’t help but notice you all are still here today...
God has not called you home yet.
Why?
Because God is not finished yet.... and He is not finished with you yet!
Some of you may only be half way through your book!
With that, let’s get into our study this morning...
52 Days!
The walls were destroyed for over 100 years, and yet what was deemed impossible by all those that previous tried, was complete in only 52 days.
Why had this task not been completed years sooner?
Its easy to say “God’s timing”.
And while that is true, studying a little deeper, we see a specific reason.
Wish- feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that is not easily attainable; want something that cannot or probably will not happen.
All those in the past knew the issues from the broken walls, they experienced first hand how that ruined peoples livelihoods.
One thing they had in common is they all “wished” the walls were rebuild...
And that is where their mindset stayed.
How many of us get caught up in the same mindset today.
We see a mighty work for God is needed, yet we get caught up in only wishing it would get done.
Nehemiah will never be remembered as a man that stood by “wishing” the work would get done.
He is a man of prayer, and a man of action.
Nobody cares to read a book about “people wishing things got done”.
Think about all the people God could have used to rebuild the wall, yet they were too stuck in the status quo.
“Its too ambitious of you to effect that kind of change”.
“it will never get done”
“why even try, here is reason x, y, and z, of why any attempt is futile”
That same mindset is the reason why the bible preaching churches are closing up all over the place!
It is the same reason why drugs have taking control of our kids.
Why in 2007 drug poisoning became the leading cause of injury death in Ohio.
That trend has continued ever since.
In 2020 alone, Ohio had 5,017 people die from overdose...
That is with narcan flooding the country in an attempt to save lives.
Think about how many people that is...
At 35 people, that is 143 Calvary Baptist Churches.
Gone in one year in Ohio alone.
Our country does have a mind problem, we have a spiritual problem.
There is a deficiency of Jesus.
And the church is asleep at the wheel.
Almost bragging about how much “work” we have accomplished...
All while the world literally goes to Hell.
They are running full sprint in that direction...
And we have Christians “wishing” revival would happen...
My friends, I am glad Nehemiah’s story doesn’t end with the wall.
There is something here for us today.
God is not done,
and He is not done with you.
There is a reason each and every one of you are in here today.
I don’t care how young, how old, or how busy your life seems.
God has a ministry for you.
What is your plan?
To sit back wishing someone would do the work,
or are you ready to get serious about ministry?
Nehemiah was not a special case.
He was just willing to surround himself with likeminded people.
Those with a heart to serve God.
If you stick around the “well wishers” and “good luckers” don’t be surprised if you live your life and not get anything done.
It is for this reason we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
We should be moving together, in one accord.
Diligently seeking out God’s will for our lives, and our ministries.
The same God that used Nehemiah to fix a 100 year old problem in less than 2 months is the same God that is on the throne today!
HE is the same God we serve today.
Think about this, Nehemiah spent 4 months in prayer over this task.
Just to even begin...
He did the leg work, he planned, organised, and made it all happen.
Nehemiah spent twice as long praying over the task as he did completing the task.
The spiritual battle was greater than the physical battle.
There was more work that needed to be done in prayer.
That is the difference between the church and the world.
We see and hopefully understand, there is a spiritual battle taking place around us.
When we engage our enemies in a spiritual battle, we can see the effects physically.
Which is why Paul tells us the put on the “whole” armour of God, not just parts of it.
Nehemiah had won a major spiritual battle, lets look what happens next.
16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
They were cast down in their own eyes...
Their enemies were brought down a notch or two...
They were disheartened.
There was not physical battle here, this was just a group of people coming together to build a wall.
This was a spiritual battleground.
The fight was tough, and hard fought.
We see God got the victory, as even the enemies here acknowledged.
They perceived that this work was from God.
We need to understand this was not the work of man.
There is a difference between the work of man and the work of God.
His fingerprints are all over this.
This task was filled with impossibilities.
There was no shortage of excuses as to why it “could not be done”.
Yet as we see, with God, all things are possible.
When God does a work in your life, you can be assured your enemies will take notice.
There is something greater than you or I at play.
Let’s read on.
17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. 18 For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. 19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
The enemies were even inside the walls themselves.
Embedded within the very city.
People got fixated with how important Tobiah was.
He had ties to all the right people, in all the right places.
He was even recommended to Nehemiah...
(reported good deeds before me).
Many of these nobles got so comfortable with how things were, they were blinded to the evil work and intentions of Tobiah.
Tobiah “looked good”. He was observed as doing so many good deeds,
yet it took someone outside to see through the wickedness that was a part of the city for so long.
Sad to say, the same story is true in many churches all across the world today.
Brothers and sisters in Christ welcome the enemy in with open arms, and blind themselves of the wicked deeds.
The wall is finished, but the spiritual battle rages on...
There are more amazing things yet to come in the life of Nehemiah.
What about you?
Is God doing a work in your life today?
Is He “finished” with you, or is he just getting started?
What is your relationship like with him today?
Do you know him as Lord and Savior?
In a moment we will have an alter call.
A time set aside to do business with the Lord.
If you don’t know Him as savior, would you step out and walk down the aisle and allow one of us today to show you how you can know for sure were you will go if you were to die today?
You could always sit there, wishing for change in your life.
Hoping it will magically get better.
Or you can take the first step toward Jesus.
Come today.
*Close Prayer*