Nehemiah 11-12
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Good Morning! So good to be in the house of then Lord this morning, turn with me in your Bibles this morning to , we are continuing our study of the book of Nehemiah. Only one more week left were gonna close it out next week with chapter 13 and were going to cover two chapters this morning.
It was a few years ago that I was on vacation in destin with my dad and stepbrother and all the families got together. We decided to visit a local church on Sunday. I dont get preached to very often and it felt wrong for me not to be in church on Sunday I wanted to worship so we got up everybody else stayed in bed, and that was fine, but my brother and I visited this church.
It was on their bulletin that I saw the most awesome thing I have ever seen. On the back of their bulletin was at the top as the title it said Ministers: and below there was this massive list of names. It was actually the names of every member of that church, then there was a seperate section that had as its title PASTORS and then the staff of the church was listed.
I thought to myself this is awesome whoever did this is dead on point.
I had someone ask me one time how long I had been in the ministry, and I said since I gave my life to Jesus Christ since 2005. I asked how about you?
My freind kind of hung his head sheepishly and said no I am not in the ministry. I looked at my friend and told him since I knew he was a believer in Jesus Christ, and I said listen to me you are in the ministry every bit as much as me.
He looked at me and he said I would never ever go into the ministry, I said no heres the thing, are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus?
“Well yes”
Are you serving in your church?
“Well yes”
Well then brother then you are in the ministry, if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ and you are using your time talent and treasure to build the kingdom of Jesus Christ then you are a minister.
Unfortunately there is a tragic misconception in the church today… there is this tragic misconception that ministers are those who get paid and that’s it.
That’s a lie, look around the room there is a room full of ministers here, WITHOUT EVERY MEMBER BEING A MINISTER THE WORK OF GOD CANNOT GET DONE.
Our church is just like any other church in that we are healthy only when we are plugged in giving of our gifts resources skills and abilities to serve one another and the world around us.
To the degree that our people are involved in that way, it is to that degree that we are healthy. Now we come and we have this beautiful picture of the people of God coming together and they are doing ministry.
Now let’s set the stage and remember where we are in the story:
Backround:
Backround:
Our man Nehemiah was an awesome leader he had the ability to look beyond himself and see the needs of the people of God for decades to come. When he heard that the wall was lying in ruins, he breaks down and he weeps and he realizes the reason why the walls are torn down is because we as your people God we have been disobedient we have turned our backs on you.
So he confesses his sins and the sins of the people and he begins to make it right before God supernaturally he begins to move towardthe mightest person at that time King Artaxerxes whom Nehemiah worked for.
God softens the kings heart and allows the isralites to go back home and rebuild the wall surrounding Jerusalem, you cannot rebuild the city of God without first rebuilding the wall so thats where you start.
Without walls you are a defenseless city, so for the last few hundred years the city has laid there in ruins until Nehemiah he begins this building project. The wall is complete and now you would think that there would be people lining up and saying I wanna be a part of that I wanna be a pioneer I wanna be one of those who is a rebuilder.
Not at all, if you can imagine a city that has laid in a heap for nearly a hundred years buildings torn down, rubble everywhere, trash piled in the streets, what kind of person would want to give up all that they had to moveinto a city like that and help rebuild it?
Not many people at all, what we have here is a little recipe for effective ministry. If you are a believer in Jesus you are a minister so let’s talk a little but about being effective in the ministry.
EFFECTIVE MINISTERS ARE WILLING TO LEAVE THEIR COMFORT ZONES
EFFECTIVE MINISTERS ARE WILLING TO LEAVE THEIR COMFORT ZONES
THATS TOUGH!
Whats so hard about having all the blessings we have in America is that it just makes life so dadgum convienient and the danger for you and for me is to become settled in that convenience. So often God will call you out of your comfort zone into that space, where you are really, really dependent upon Him
You cannot walk in faith and comfort at the same time. So how are they gonna do it? Nehemiah knows that this is going to be a big challenge how are we going to rebuild this city knowing that there are people who are going to have to transition from comfort, to sacrifice.
Now the leaders of the people stayed in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots for one out of ten to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine-tenths remained in their towns.
THE PEOPLE STAYED IN JERUSALEM, stop there that’s where it beings all the people were back and they determined that they needed to draft a covenant and who are the first names on that covenant saying to God we wanna walk in obedience to you we wanna keep your laws and your statutes, we wanna obey you.
Who was the first one?
Nehemiah grabs the pen first and says I am putting my name down first, I will be the one at the top of the list and essentially what that was, was a form of accountability, so the people could look at the covenant and know that the vision and the goal was to obey God totally.
In every way… Let me tell you something church, we are inside of our little bubble, and we do not see the state of the church in the US as we should see it. The church is in shambles the only reason we can’t see it is because there are lights and oranization and programs and there is all this affluence but let me tell you guys something, there are some things you just have to trust your pastor with, things aint all sunshine and rainbows, in the US we as a church have failed to obey the great commission.
Churches are good at making church members but are not so good at making disciples, and if you were to see churches in America from the Lords perspective you would city His Bride His holy City the New JERUSALEM the church laying in ruins and God is looking for someone to stand in the gap and begin to obey the great commission.
Just like these people in Nehemiah we want to look beyond ourselves, we want to be obedient to God fully but there are some things we have to fix. Not just here but every church in America is revisiting the Great Comission and what it means and how we can do it better. Why?
Because the church is in ruins.
Our desire if we are saved should be to obey God at all costs.
Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, the leaders of the people say we will do it. We will sacrifice our time and our energy and our comfort and we will set up tents inside the wall and we will start to clear out the trash and remove the rubble so that God’s holy city can begin to be rebuilt.
The success of the rebuilding of the wall which ultimately lead to the rebuilding of the city, which ultimately lead to the rebuilding of the people rises and falls with leadership.
Nehemiah understands that as the leader he can only set the example, it inst always that people follow..
Now the leaders of the people stayed in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots for one out of ten to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine-tenths remained in their towns.
Nehemiah is thinking if we can get about 10 percent of the people inside the walls thats a really good start for this rebuilding project. How did they do it?
THEY CAST LOTS
This involved either small stones or small sticks, that were put in a bag it was kinda like drawing straws, and this was the way they tried to determine God’s will.
They would pray and they would reach into the back and you would grab a stick or stone and they had some way that they determined who moved to Jerusalem and leave your home behind and you were gonna help in the rebuilding project.
So you have to give these people credit because when they picked the short stick they did it. They moved inside the city… and the people blessed all the men who moved inside the city then you have this group who actually said yeah we will do it we will do the hard pioneering work.
Alot of people are willing to be a part of God’s plan but very few people wanna be pioneers. Everybody wanna be a settler, not many people wanna pioneer something, because there are so many unknowns and we as people do not like unknowns we like all the answers out front.
I am sure these people had valid questions like how is this gonna work what happens if we leave this comfortable way behind and try this and something goes wrong, it is gonna cost us, its gonna be tough.
But pioneers are awesome they are the people who are willing to sacrifice for the kingdom of God. This reminds me of what the apostle Paul said in
We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
2 Corinthians 6
He says we dont wanna be a stumbling block to anybody, so heres what he is saying. Were gonna take it on the chin, were gonna sacrifice alot of comforts alot of personal freedoms, so that the Kingdom can be advanced.
BY GREAT ENDURANCE
This isn’t a sprint it will take time and effort
(continue reading)
We live in a culture and society that lives in the pursuit of pleasure and possessions and we have the tendency to look at what other people have, and think look what they have look what they own look at who they are it seems like they have everything.
Its those who have Jesus who say I have everything, It is those who so long as they are being obedient to Jesus they honestly believe they have all they need.
Paul is the guy who in prison says even though I am in prison I am more free than most on the outside. He is talking about in his soul there. You know when you sell out and give everything to Jesus and join with Him in His plan, you may sacrifice alot but you feel more free than most people around you.
These are remarkable people these people are the pioneersand they dont really see it yet but about 400 years later guess who is gonna come rolling into Jerusalem?
Riding on a donkey?
Jesus, how did that happen it started right here with these people. Then you get a long list of names its a census of sorts but it says these are the people who are here to protect as well as rebuild.
Not only did you have to be willing to sacrifice you had to be willing to risk your life, look before the wall your responsibility was to hold off small bands of theives and robbers, but now that you have a wall built your gonna have to defend yourselves against armies and world powers.
Thats why as you read through this list your gonna find men who are called men of valor, why? Because these dudes are courageous, these are the ones who are saying alright you guys build we will fight we will defend.
while some of the descendants of Judah and Benjamin settled in Jerusalem):
Judah’s descendants:
Athaiah son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, of Perez’s descendants;
Nehemiah
You see the name Mahalalel?
This name means GOD ILLUMINATES
We dont have time to go through all of these names
Priests, Levites, soldiers, overseers, gatekeepers, advisors, farmers,craftsmen
Heres the point the majority of these people who did something great for God were people who used what God had given them and so it is with us.
Effective ministers will use what God has given them.
Effective ministers will use what God has given them.
Use what God has given you it doesnt matter if your a 10 talent person or 1 be faithful with what God has entrusted to you!
Some of you are 10 talent people I am a 1 talent guy some fo you are 5 I am 1 talent guy. The point is be faithful with what you have been given.
I love this passage because Paul describes the church as a body some of us our mouths, some are shoulders, some are feet, and the body functions rightly when all of the members of that body come together in unity.
Were all ministers
My deep prayer for our church is that you would not come to see this as a place where you belong but that this would be a place where you would find the joy of serving the Lord by using your giftedness for the glory of God.
When we come together there is alot of ministry that can be done, and it cannot all be accomplished by those who are paid, we can be out front we can be encouraging, we can do everything in our power taking every single phone call we can, going to everything we can, visiting every time we can, counseling everytime we can late into the night early in the morning but we will never get it all done.
But Ephesians tell us that it is our first priority to equip the saints to do the work of ministry, thats you guys. That is to do the ministry!
Then we get into chapter 12 and essentially what this is, is Nehemiah recording the last 90 years of the priesthood and he des that to help the people understand that this has been there history and whats about to happen next which is the dedication of the wall its gonna be lead by the religious leaders and he takes them on a journey going back and he says this
These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra, the priest and scribe.
These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
So he Chronicles them up to their present time. For this purpose
And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.
Heres what they are gonna do GIVE THANKS WHEN THANKS IS DUE
When your heart is filled with thanksgiving for the people around you it is very difficulty to take them for granted for your wife for your kids for your friends, for your church it is very hard to take them for granted.
Nehemiah said look it is time to give God thanks because only God could do this.
23 musical instruments are mentioned in the Bible and they are using everyone of them.
The ultimate goal of worship is not entertainment it is to glorify God through music. They are about to enter into worship but their point is to say thank you God for what you have done.
But before they do that
And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites;
also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem.
So if your gonna worship God you gotta have the Levites in place you gotta have the priests and the singers ready to go. God is not ready for your worship unless He has already gripped your heart.
And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.
Effective ministers purify themselves
They come in repentance and rid their lives of things that ought not be there.
Its one thing to put our hands up and sing the songs especially when we know the words its another thing to remain in a constant state of repentance.
It is important that our hearts remain in the right place with God. Before I come before Him in worship so these guy purify themselves now back in the day this would have lasted a week where they would have had these ceremonial cleansings and they would have fasted and refrained from things in life and prayed, then they purified the people.
They also purified the gates and the wall they did this by taking branches of hyssop and dipping it water and just kinda spirnkling it around the place.
what is purification for us?
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Thats where it starts
The best process for worship the one God might be waiting for is not this (hands up) Its this (on knees)
It is this recognition God what you require is not just obedience for obedience sake but you are really after our hearts.
The more serious we take the things of God the more dust we get off of the feet of Jesus the more our hearts are alinged with Him.
We end up becoming true worshippers who worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
They get it before we have this celebration let’s get it right.
Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate.
And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah,
At the Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east.
The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall,
and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard.
Nehemiah
So then he takes the other group and he marches up the other side
So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me;
Nehemiah 12:
as well as the priests:
Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin,
Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah,
and Hananiah, with trumpets;
Nehemiah 12:
(Football game)
And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.
Nehemiah 12:
Everybody doing their part.
WE ARE ALL MINISTERS
To advance the kingdoms of God
I want you to pray for God to reveal to you how you can serve God in your life as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
