Let’s build it together!

Nehemiah 2.11-20

Nehemiah 2:11–20 NASB95

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass. So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work. Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.” I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” So I answered them and said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”

Intro:

What we desire to see develop in our lives and the lives of our family is determined by how we decide what has value!

Regardless of whether we birth our motivation out of pain or power......or even something else.....

At the end of the day what matters is what we consider to have VALUE to us in our hearts!

Barrels needed here......

Some things don’t matter to me...........

But.....

Some things absolutely matter to me.........

(pause)

And if you’re ever going to develop your life......

....you have GOT to determine what has VALUE and what doesn’t have VALUE

Some things should never make you cry.....

And then.....

there are some things that are worth every tear!

(pause)

Because once Value is discovered.......

.......the process of development starts to take over!

(pause)

In today’s text Nehemiah finds Value in the walls of Jerusalem....

(pause)

And so he prepares to discover how much value is remaining as it relates to the walls of Jerusalem by going there himself and visualizing the walls...

(pause)

Nehemiah 2:11 NASB95

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.

The journey of Nehemiah is emphasized here in verse 11.....

Nehemiah

.......and scholars suggest that it actually takes months to arrive at the city......

(pause)

.......and when he arrives his next action happens 3 days after rest.....

(pause)

I wondered if there was any significance with the travel time being 3 months and resting for 3 days.

And when I searched for biblical significance with the number 3.....I discovered that it pictures completeness.

(pause)

In my spiritual imagination......

I see a Nehemiah who was able to picture completeness over his 3 month travel to the city that allows for his mind and heart to patiently mature around the idea of what he was getting ready to see and do......

(pause)

Barrel - (Asparagus maturity)

I was reading something that said the US produces around 25,000-30,000 acres of asparagus with a value of $80-100 million.

And you would not believe the level of investment that is used when it comes to making sure this value of $80-100 million is realized at the end of the day from.....

.....irrigation to soil ph level.......to risk management.....

But what really blew me away was the fact that it takes 3 years for growth to really get started!

(pause)

So you’ll never be able to see Asparagus plants start producing without.....

Patiently waiting 3 years for them to grow and start producing......

(pause)

Freedom family here’s the first key I see in the text....

Any journey that has any type of real value towards development takes both time and patience

(pause)

Our problem sometimes is that we want the development........

.......but we don’t want the journey!

(pause)

.....we want the production

......but we don’t want the patience it takes in order for development to take place

(pause and expound)

Freedom family think about it.....

- How many people would be willing to patiently wait through what we have gone through in our 3 year journey?

And then......

- How many people would be willing to wait through some of the personal examples in your life that took time to develop?

(pause)

But what many don’t understand is that....

Production does not manifest without Patience...

(pause)

But how many know Production is worth the wait!

I kept reading about that Asparagus plant...

And even though it takes the plant 3 years to mature...

.....the plant can be productive for 20 years or more!

(pause)

And in order for our lives to Produce.....

.....we have to be ready for a Journey that requires our Patience....

(pause and shift)

Look at it now......

(Summary)

In verses 12 through 15.....

Nehemiah begins narrating how he Inspects the walls of Jerusalem......

And the first thing he says is that.....

He rose to his feet in the night secretly.....

Church family.....

There are some things that you can’t afford to expose to everybody in your early stages of development!

(pause)

Because if you did......

......possible opposition would stop your plans before you were ready to even put them in action....

(pause)

And according to the text.....

Nehemiah got up in the middle of the night with a few men......

(pause)

And some of you have a circle that’s too big to get your plan started!

(pause - I’m trying to help somebody in here)

And.....

I learned this a long time ago..........

(slight pause)

.........that everybody aint trying to help you!

(pause)

..........folk will smile in your face and the whole time they trying to stop your production.....

(pause)

......but I believe its the U.S. Marine Corps that says I’m just looking......

......For a few good men!

(pause and expound)

Look at it now.....

Nehemiah says....

He arose without telling anyone....

“what God was putting into his mind to do for Jerusalem!”

(slight pause)

In other words.....

God is the one who places the plans for Jerusalem in the heart of Nehemiah.

And what that means is that.......

The Holy Spirit is the one responsible for giving us the passion for God sized ideas

(pause and expound)

Look at it now...

....because in verse 13 Nehemiah give s us the direction he takes in order to complete his inspection.....

And when I studied his steps it was interesting to me that......

Nehemiah inspected the wall in a counter clockwise direction.

(pause)

And what that told me is that......

Sometimes Order can look Backwards!

(pause)

But God aint never put nothing in my mind that didn’t move me FORWARD.........

(pause)

God is the only one that can tell me to do something that aint NOBODY else doing.......

.........that after a while EVERYBODY else wish they was doing.....

(pause)

I stopped following PEOPLE over God a long time ago.....

(pause)

Because what I found out is that God will put the right PEOPLE in my life to help me develop

.........when I follow the direction of the HOLY SPIRIT.

And that means sometimes......

You’ve got to move COUNTER CLOCKWISE

or.....

COUNTER CULTURAL

in order for God to show you what needs to be DEVELOPED in your life!

(pause)

Watch this......

Verse 14 says....

....that when Nehemiah gets up to the Fountain Gate and the King’s pool, that there is nowhere for his horse that he’s riding to pass.

Meaning that there is a blockage in his path.

(pause)

And the reason that there is a blockage in Nehemiah’s path is because when the Babylonians destroyed the city.......

....all of the buildings on the east-side of the city had been connected and made into row houses.......

......so when the wall was destroyed all of the buildings fell down this slope that was next to this part of the wall.....

(pause)

And some of you may be trying to figure out how to get around some things that have blocked your path......

Because there’s so much stuff keeping you from moving in a certain direction......

(pause)

And so......

.........how do we get around pathway blockages..

According to the text in verse 15....

Nehemiah got around his blockage by going up by the ravine and then entering the Valley Gate again and then returning.....to inspect the walls

(pause)

And watch this......

.....this ravine is described in the Hebrew as a

.....river valley or a deep trench in the land where a river used to be.

That would mean that Nehemiah would be at a lower level while he is doing this inspection..

(pause)

But even though he is at this lower level......

......in my spiritual imagination he is gaining a detailed view of the wall that he never would have been able to see if there had not been a blockage in his path.....

(pause)

And sometimes

......its those blockages in our lives that help us to see better.

.......its those blockages in our lives that causes us to retrace our routes and see more of the details of what God is getting ready to work on through us.

(pause)

Because if the truth be told....

......You would have never looked at it like you looked at it

........until you had a blockage that forced you to go another way!

(pause and expound- Preach Baker!)

Look at it now.....

Nehemiah 2:16 NASB95

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.

Nehemiah 2.16

Nehemiah 2:17 NASB95

Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”

According to the text....

Nehemiah now announces his plans to the people that he briefly mentioned in verse 16......

He says to the people.....

“You understand the disaster that we are in!”

(pause)

And here’s what I love about Nehemiah’s first words...

Because he doesn’t say....

“You understand the disaster that you are in!”

He says.....

You understand what we are going through.

And this is major because Nehemiah shows up with the King’s support.....

Looking like a Governor more than he looks like a Servant.....

But he wants them to know......

......this is not something that you are going through by yourself

.......I’m connected to this just as much as you are.

(pause)

Jerusalem is destroyed!

In other words....

We all got a problem.......

(pause)

And I believe that this was as important to the people as this was to Nehemiah.........

.........because they both needed to know that what they were getting ready to do was going to require EVERYBODY working together

(pause)

I heard one scholar say....

One man can have a vision but it takes a team to make it happen!

(pause)

And I see Nehemiah explaining the problem to this team of people....

.....and then putting the challenge forth to this same team of people.....

(pause)

And according to the text he says there’s two reasons why you should join me in this challenge....

Reasons

The hand of my God has been favorable to me.

The King’s words have been spoken to me.

(pause)

My family and I just recently watched the movie Harriet.......

.....which is based on the life of the Heroin Conducter of the Underground railroad....

…Mrs. Harriet Tubman

(pause)

And there’s one scene where she is returning to get her family........

......to lead them north to FREEDOM

(pause)

And they get to a place where they’re stuck running from the slave masters trying to catch them and a body of water that looks like they can’t pass over.....

.......and in this scene God stops Mrs. Tubman and tells her to pass through the WATER....

(pause)

.........but the only problem is that it does not look like they should be able to make it over

....and so those she came to set free

.......are ready to go another way...

(pause)

But because God was her GUIDE........

.......she starts WALKING.....and WADING through WATER

(pause)

Because what she understood was....

The hand of God has been FAVORABLE to me.....

(pause - I’m starting to get HAPPY!)

FREEDOM.....

The hand of God has been FAVORABLE to us over this 3 years......

And in the words of NEHEMIAH.......

“Let us RISE..........and BUILD TOGETHER!”

[Look for the “Strengthening of Hands”]

.......................CLOSE and COMPLETION...................