Restore, Rebuild, Rededicate (Nehemiah 6,7,8)

Walk in Obedience

Restore, Rebuild, Rededicate

We are in the middle of a series, on the book of Nehemiah

This series is about Restoration, Rebuilding and rededicating

The message for this morning is

About walking in obedience.

The story of restoring, rebuilding and rededicating of Jerusalem begins in the book of Ezra also written by Nehemiah.

God raised Cyrus

Cyrus the Great, Persian King, He was the monarch who ended the Babylonian captivity. He reigned from 559-530 BC He was also known as Cyrus II.

150 years before Cyrus was born Isaiah the prophet, prophecy about him by name. Later Jeremiah also prophesied about Cyrus,

In the first year of his reign God led Cyrus to decree that the Temple in Jerusalem should be rebuilt

They began the work, and took their time rebuilding Jerusalem,

Several years later; Nehemiah receives news that the walls of Jerusalem were broken and the gates were burned the people were under distress.

Nehemiah went before the Lord, he repent for his sins and of his forefathers, received God’s forgiveness, and favor then Nehemiah received the blessings and the materials he needed from King Artaxerxes, he went back to Jerusalem to encourage the people to finish the work they had begun.

They began the good work, in unity everyone, high priest, priest, merchants, they were all working in some part of the wall and gates, the women were also included, some began repairing their own homes. Only the nobles of Tekoa would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors, they were too proud.

The message for this morning is

About walking in obedience,

Now we are in chapter 6, I will talk briefly about 6, 7 and 8

In the book of Nehemiah, we see two consistent themes reoccurring, the favor of God, and the harassment of the enemy.

God’s favor as they continue to walk in obedience, the job was getting done, the walls were getting complete, the people were moving in unity, the enemy began to fear them.

but we also see that as the people worked hard doing the will of God, their enemy continue to harass them in every way they could, they did not stop.

Let’s pray

To walk in obedience we have to do three things.

1 Keep focused on what the Lord asked us to do.

Neh 6:1 Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, although at that time I had not set up doors in the gates,

Neh 6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying, "Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono." But they were planning to harm me.

Neh 6:3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to [meet with] you?"

God’s desire for our relationship with Him and Jesus is expressed by king David in one of his prophetic psalms 23

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Psa 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me], [Eze_34:11-31] I shall not want.

Psa 23:2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still and quiet waters. [Rev_7:17]

Psa 23:3 He refreshes and restores my soul (life); He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Psa 23:4 Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me.

Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed and refreshed my head with oil; My cup overflows.

Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the LORD.

Psa 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psa 23:2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

Psa 23:3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

Our Heavenly Father wants to bless us.

Psalm 23 is probably one of the most well-known passages in the bible, many people know John 3;16 but psalms 23 is used in every funeral, including movies on tv.

It was written about 1000 BC by King David

David was a Shepherd himself; he wrote from that perspective.

The Lord is my shepherd, all of us have a shepherd,

Who is your Shepherd?

is of great importance that we make Jesus our Shepherd our Lord.

Joh 10:11 I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His [own] life for the sheep. [Psalms 23; Isa_40:11]

we don’t need to answer that right now, but ask yourself this question Is Jesus your lord, is he your shepherd?

Teaching for many years, I have found many who were courageous enough to ask and answer this question,

Some acknowledge that they were their own shepherds they did whatever pleased them,

others that they were following what was more popular, what pleased their friends,

some they just don’t want to follow any rules, something inside of them wants to rebel.

This is a relationship that Jesus offers to you and me every day, yes we have the option to choose.

When Jesus is my Shepherd I shall not want, lack anything

Psa 23:2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

He makes me to lie down, he is watching over me

He leads me besides still waters, a sheep is dumb enough to get into rough waters and drown, down the river

Psa 23:3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.

He will restore my soul, and will lead me in the paths of righteousness

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

If I’m in eminent danger, or just receive a medical report that is a sentence of death, I will fear no evil because Jesus is with me.

Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

The lord prepares a table before us, in the presence of our enemy.

While I’m facing my enemy the Lord prepares a table for me, with everything I need emotionally physically and spiritually.

Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

2 Resist the enemy

Sanballat was a Samaritan leader an official in the Persian empire Tobiah, was an Ammonite official, Gueshem the Arabian friend of Sanballat.

But these 3 men in this story represents the consistent harassment of the enemy in our lives, remember what Peter said in

1Pe 5:8 Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.

1Pe 5:9 But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack--rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.]

The enemy of our souls is always around us trying to discourage us from doing what God has asked us to do. If we are not committed to do the will of God he is not going to bother you, he may use you to harass and discourage others.

The answer to the attacks of enemy, is exactly what Nehemiah did

“Walk in obedience”

Neh 6:3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to [meet with] you?"

This is the same answer we must give to our enemy; I don’t have time to stop and listen to what you have to say. Resist the enemy

Neh 6:4 They sent word to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same way.

Whatever the Lord is working in you or through you keep going

Jas 4:7 So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.

Of course they did not stop

Neh 6:5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand.

Neh 6:6 In it was written, "It is reported among the [neighboring] nations, and Gashmu is saying that you and the Jews are planning to revolt, and that is the reason you are rebuilding the wall. And according to these reports, you are to be their king.

Neh 6:7 Also [it is reported that] you have appointed prophets to make a proclamation concerning you in Jerusalem, saying, 'There is a king in Judah!' And now these things will be reported to the [Persian] king. So come now, and let us consult together."

Neh 6:8 I sent a message to him, saying, "Such things as you are saying have not been done; you are inventing them in your own mind."

The enemy creates stories and will accuse you

Of course we need to be careful that we don’t allow the enemy to seat at our table and steal from us.

I just finished reading a book from Lui Giglio on this topic, he wrote about two years ago , but I felt the Lord wanted to speak to me through it. Pray that He will speak to you.

The enemy is always trying to take a seat at our table , his goal is to rob us from what our heavenly Father has for us.

Our loving father wants to restore our soul

Jesus sacrifice was perfect, forgiving our sins, from the past, present and future,

we believers ought to believe our sins have been forgiven past, present and future (Romans 4:6; Colossians 2:13; 2Corinthians 5:19). Omniscience means that God knows things in all tenses, he knows your past, present and future sins.

The enemy will try to cover you in shame

He will remind you of what you did in the past and accuse you of you are doing now, it doesn’t need to be horrible sins, disobedience, thoughts, behaviors.

If you are hearing in your thoughts that, you are a looser and God is done with you, that you never going to change, the enemy has a seat at your table.

The enemy will lie to us about how people sees us.

He will tell you that nobody likes you,

Don’t give him a seat at your table.

If you choose to make the Lord your shepherd, you will lack nothing He will restore your soul and lead you into the paths of righteousness.

Chapter 7 they completed the work in 52 days, chapter 8 Ezra read the book of the law of Moses and they receive it with gratitude

3 The reading of the word

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Psa 119:105 Nun. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

To walk in obedience we need to

1 Keep focused on what the lord asked us to do, 2 Resist the enemy, 3 read the word of God.

All this is possible when we make Jesus the Lord of our lives

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.