The Wall

Flint Hills Association Meeting

Our Part 03-27-2022

Danny asked me to give this message and he gave me some insight into what we would be highlighting at this meeting

I began to pray about this and this is where we landed

It seems so obvious but it is worth saying

We can do more together than separately

That idea is through scripture

And more often than not in church life it is the exact opposite

Nehemiah 3:1–10 NASB95

1 Then Eliashib the high priest arose with his brothers the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and hung its doors. They consecrated the wall to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel. 2 Next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built. 3 Now the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. 4 Next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz made repairs. And next to him Meshullam the son of Berechiah the son of Meshezabel made repairs. And next to him Zadok the son of Baana also made repairs. 5 Moreover, next to him the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not support the work of their masters. 6 Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. 7 Next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, also made repairs for the official seat of the governor of the province beyond the River. 8 Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah of the goldsmiths made repairs. And next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. 9 Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. 10 Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs.

For the rest of the chapter is who built the wall around Jerusalem

Understand that you and I are all responsible for the communities God has called us to serve and we are to do that and do it well

And if we were honest we have done that

We have taken ownership of those communities and worked in them

Maybe we have done that by ourselves

We have looked at our communities and thought or felt that we have to do this by ourselves

We are left to ourselves to build our own wall

And when we do that all we are doing is building concealment for ourselves

In Law Enforcement we use cover or concealment

Concealment only hides you

Where as cover gives you protection

If each of our churches and ministries builds their own wall

All we have is a bunch of free standing walls that really don’t do anything for protection

When we read scripture we see the exact opposite that as churches we are to work together for Kingdom Building rather than church building

That is what those builders of the wall had, they had a kingdom building mentality rather than a self preservation mentality

We know that we are part of something bigger

When we decide to have a kingdom mentality and work together do we see what we can do

Because we have invested in these ministries we heard from this afternoon

That is what a kingdom mentality looks like

To invest in each other and work together to advance the Kingdom

I was asked to lead us into guided prayer this afternoon