Sermon Brief
Date Written: January 25, 2013
Date Preached: January 27, 2013
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Building with God
Sermon Title: Acting On God’s Plan - Pt 2
Sermon Text: Nehemiah 3-4 [ESV]
Introduction:
Nehemiah heard about Jerusalem lying in ruins and was distressed and heartbroken! He was led by God to assess the situation, confess his sin in prayer and God assured him that He was faithful and had not abandoned the people!
Nehemiah prayed for guidance from God and God opened the doors of opportunity for Nehemiah by providing resources from the most unlikely source… THE KING! .
Nehemiah rec’d letters of passage, a letter authorizing him to use the King’s forest for what he needed, time off from his job to do God’s will AND an armed guard ALL provided by the King through the mercy of God!
When Nehemiah arrives he surveys the damage for himself and then begins to lay out his purpose and plan to the leaders of the Jews within the city!
Opposition arises but Nehemiah convinces the Jews to press forward with their obedience and service to God by beginning the rebuilding of the wall… and last week we left off the story as the opposition was challenging Nehemiah and the Jews for rebuilding … they started rumors that the Jews were trying to usurp the King’s authority in this region.
Nehemiah rebukes those in opposition… but not in how we might have thought! Nehemiah does not use ANY of his records from the King giving him permission to do what he was doing…
Nehemiah proclaims that GOD is their provider and God will be their deliverer… and on top of that those in opposition will NEVER have a place or part in the city…
So what we have learned here is that Nehemiah issued a challenge to the leaders of the Jews AND to the people of Jerusalem… to rebuild the wall and the city in spite of all the possible difficulties that may lay before them!
These people are invigorated by Nehemiah’s positive leadership, take charge attitude and his complete lack of fear of those who oppose the rebuilding…
What we see here is a people who are ready to start something really big! Nehemiah knew he could not do it on his own. Nehemiah knew he could NOT accomplish by using a small team of people trained to build walls… Nehemiah knew that this was a project that was going to take ALL the people!
This was a project that was to be done TOGETHER and this is where we pick up the story here in the 1st part of ch3 where we get a sense of the excitement that had begun to overtake the people:
Together We Build – 3:1-4:6
1Then Eliashib the high priest ROSE UP with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. 2And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.
So we see that thru the unwavering faithfulness of Nehemiah to God’s calling and leadership, this challenge was met by the people with a great deal of enthusiasm and cooperation!
When we look at chapter 3 we see 32verses of cooperation and ‘togetherness’. This was something these people had never seen NOR experienced. They were banded together under the banner of God for a singular cause… to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem!
Nehemiah was the leader with the plan and he had created a sense of excitement among the people about this tremendous project… and here is the key element that we need to see!
The people were excited and moved by this vision from God, they did not question God’s calling, they did not moan over the enormous size of this project, they did not even cry out over who they KNEW would come against such a great plan!
These people did not see the glass half empty, but with God’s encouragement through Nehemiah these people saw the glass half full and beginning to fill up!
They banded together with each other under the banner of God’s calling through the leadership of Nehemiah to accomplish a task many believed before this time… to be unattainable! But NOW they trusted God and were pressing forward TOGETHER in task of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem!
We can look at ch3 and it reveals that there were at least 39 separate groups that worked on the wall. It does not give us the number of people in each group, but points us to the leader of these groups and gives us some information about each group.
When we look at ch3 we find that there were people from Jerusalem and four other local communities that were working on this project.
We find that there were people from at least seven different careers mentioned in this project. From the high priest to goldsmiths to perfume makers! From city leaders to temple servants… there were people from ALL sections of their society!
Brothers worked with brothers. Fathers worked with their daughters… they all banded together to work toward the job laid before them!
People this is a picture of where WE are as a fellowship. We have a HUGE project that lay before us. God has sent a leader here to lead you into and thru this project…we have establish that this project OR the ‘elephant’ in the room is all these empty seats that we see each Sunday!
Now I say that the ‘empty seats’ are the elephant in the room, but I want you all to understand that the issue here is not empty seats… the issue is the people who are NOT sitting in these seats…the people in our community that are do NOT know Jesus… the people in our community who are NOT worshipping anywhere…
The problem or the issue is how we have waited so long to address this issue… the people of Jerusalem had allowed their situation to drag on and on… so much so they felt helpless to change it!
We are in the same boat… this issue of ‘empty seats’ has been here so long that many of us feel OR have felt in the past that there is nothing we can do to change things!
But people I am here to tell you that God wants this church to flourish once again… but His desire is NOT that we flourish for OUR glory, but that we begin to grow and reach our community so that HE IS GLORIFIED!
God has sent me here… God has given me a direction and a path for our fellowship! My challenge to you is simply this… I need you ALL IN! I need this to be a TOGETHER moment for our church! We need to be like these people in Jerusalem… willing to join together for a common cause… and that common cause will bring glory to our Savior!
Are you ready to begin building with God? Are you ready get started? I know that I am… I know that God is ready… the question is ARE YOU? Together with God we can build this church into a fellowship that reaches this community for Christ!!
The people were excited and ready to move forward, but there were those who were NOT so excited about this project. In fact we met these people back in ch2. They began their dissent then, but here in ch4 we find they begin to escalate their opposition to this project in many ways! Let’s look at 4:7
Together We Stand – 4:7-9
7But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. 8They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.
In v1 of this chapter Sanballat and Tobiah attempt to discourage Nehemiah and those working on this project by ridiculing their work… saying things like it was shoddy work, it was going to fall in even if a fox walked on it… trying to humiliate these people!
However we find that those attempts by the opposition did NOT work. The people were too excited and focused to be detracted by the opposition, and in v6 we find that the wall had been completed to half its height and the people and the project were moving forward… their jeers and insults had NOT worked, so the opposition had to move to the next level!
[show 1st highlighted version of this verse]
In v7-8 we find that they decided to take action! The first thing we see here is that they were VERY ANGRY! These people had NOT listened to them this time! For years they had been able to intimidate them into NOT building and NOT protecting themselves!
For years Sanballat and Tobiah had been able to force their influence on these people but this time it had NOT worked! This time they had defied their ridicule and opposition to their work! This made Sanballat and Tobiah and their friends VERY MAD!
[show 2nd highlighted version of this verse]
Being ignored like this put them into a rage that led them to the point where they made a decision to come against these people and attack them while they were working on the wall!
They wanted to assert their dominance over them and put them back in their place! How DARE they ignore us like this? How DARE they challenge our authority…is what they were thinking!
[show 3rd highlighted version of this verse]
But this attack would NOT be to kill them, but to cause confusion and cause the project to get off the tracks! If they could confuse the people and the leadership, they would NOT be able to continue!
People I am here to tell you that when the work of God is being done and when we begin to see God move and the results of God moving… the Enemy WILL come against us!
Satan has been able to cast his influence over this church for many years as it has declined and declined and NOW that we are ignoring him and now that we are following thru with God’s plan… this is going to ENRAGE Satan! It is going to enrage him to the point of attack!
He knows he cannot attack us and take our soul BUT what his attacks CAN do is bring confusion and discord among the members… this will cause anything we are doing to be put aside and NOT completed! Satan WILL try this… Satan WILL come against us…
I believe that right now, it is sorta like v1… the Enemy is in our heads and trying to discourage us with insults and ridicule. “Y’all will never be able to rebuild this church!” “you are NOT qualified to do this!” “Who do you think you are?” “The people of this community will never accept your church!”
But once we get moving forward… Once God begins to move in our midst and we begin to see the evidence of God’s work… the benefits of our obedience to God’s calling… We must expect that the Enemy is going to take it to the next level!
But I want us to look at v9 here…
9But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves. [leave this verse showing until I move to the next section!]
When we look at this verse we need to focus on 2 things. The first thing we must focus on is that when opposition and the threat of harm was raised… the FIRST thing Nehemiah and the people do is go to God!
This is really not surprising as we have seen that this was the normal practice for Nehemiah. It was how he lived his life and with HIM being the leader of this project, it is only natural that those following him would follow his lead here as well!
These people did not run, they did not abandon their post, they did not complain… they prayed! They trusted Nehemiah to lead them AND they trusted God to be there FOR them!
However, the 2nd thing we must recognize in this very important and transitional verse for this message IS that after they prayed THEY ACTED!
How many times do we pray and God lays on our heart what we should be doing, but we just don’t do it. It is sort of like the man sitting on top of his house after the flood! He prayed for God to rescue him… He heard in his heart that God had promised to rescue him and he would not let him die.
After this man prayed a neighbor showed up with his fishing boat, filled with his family and offered the man a ride. He told his neighbor he did not need a ride because God was going to rescue him! The neighbor insisted but the man would not budge, so the neighbor left the man on his roof.
Next a sheriff’s deputy came by on a boat and told the man that he was there to rescue him and to take him to safety. The man laughed and said, NO thanks, God has promised that He was going to rescue me so you can go ahead and help other people! I am going to be rescued by God!
The deputy tried to convince him but he would not change his mind so the deputy left. Later a Coast Guard boat showed up and told the man that they were sending for a helicopter to come in and take him out to safety…
They told him that the situation was dire and that flood waters were rising and that soon he would NOT have a roof to stand on because it would be underwater!
The man smiled at them and told them that God had promised him that he was NOT going to die and that God would rescue him… they could go rescue someone else but he did not need them.
It was not too long after the Coast Guard left that the flood waters overwhelmed this man’s house and he fell into the river and drowned.
In heaven, the man questioned God and challenged God by saying, “God you promised you would rescue me and NOT let me die… why did this happen?” God told the man, I sent three boats your way to rescue you and you turned ALL of them away…
People the point here is that when we pray and God lays something on our heart, He does so for a reason and that reason is to ACT UPON IT!
These people prayed to God for His protection but they also listened to God and began to PREPARE for their own defense! You see God wants us to be involved… it is not that God cannot do it all, but God wants our hearts and entire being involved with Him and His plan!
There are times when God will choose to do things on His own, but for the most part God wants our participation to reveal our willingness to be obedient and faithful to His calling in our lives!
These people prayed that God would protect them and then they ROSE up and became vigilant in the cause of protecting each other… but here is ONE more very important feature to this response by the people!
I want us to notice what these people did NOT do when this threat was made real to them… they did NOT stop the progress of the building of the wall!
They continued to work toward the purpose and plan God had revealed to them! YES, opposition came their way, but that did not stop them from being obedient and seeking to finish what God had begun in them!
This is where our hearts MUST be! This is how we are going to have to react to opposition! Whether the opposition is mockery or ridicule… whether it is a threat of violence and harm… Opposition will come and usually it is going to come from a face or source you least expect it from…
This opposition we will face is not here to just discourage us from growing and reaching this community. This opposition will seek to destroy us and our witness… and stop what God is doing in its tracks!
But we must be like these people… we must FIRST go to God in prayer! That is where these prayer teams I mentioned last week will come in handy! If we have someone praying ALL the time for the ministries of this church then it is going to be a force for Christ in our community.
Go to God in prayer, but also we must realize that EVERYONE must be involved in ministry… in some form of outreach or ministry for the body of Christ! We must ACT on our prayer… we must ACT on our calling from God!
The people of Jerusalem acted by continuing to build the wall while posting guards and learning to work while protecting their families!
People we must go to God in prayer and then we must learn to ACT on what God has called us to do… We must learn that in the face of opposition we must STILL be obedient to God’s calling on our church… on us as individuals!
I asked if you were ready to build with God? I also want to ask you are you ready to STAND with God…stand in the gap for God and also do the work He has called you to do?
I know God is ready for us to step UP as a fellowship! I know I am ready for our fellowship to take that step of faith and become a fellowship that stands in the gap AND moves fwd in its service to God – regardless of the situation!
These people were TOGETHER as they built…
These people were TOGETHER in their stand against opposition…
But finally this morning in the last few verses of ch4 we find how these people were TOGETHER as they persevered in spite of all the things against them!
[show verses 14-15 now…leave up until noted in sermon to clear screen]
Together We Persevere – 4:14-21:
14Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” 15When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall.
Nehemiah knew the fear that lay in the hearts of these people. After all they had tried to build once before but were bullied into stopping… they felt this task was FAR too great to even try it, so when the Enemy began to be so brazen and forward…
Nehemiah knew it was going to scare some of the people and that he may lose many of them out of this fear they had about these men and their people!
So in v14 we find Nehemiah calling the leaders together for a pep talk! Once again we find Nehemiah assessing the situation before acting! This is a great template for ALL of us to apply to our lives… before we act we must know the entire situation.
But Nehemiah called these leaders together and encouraged them one more time! Basically what Nehemiah was telling these people was this: “…people don’t let some human cast fear into your hearts, you are backed by the God of the universe who has already provided you with MANY more resources and results than you could have ever wished for… DON’T be afraid!”
These people learned that anything worth doing is going to take HARD effort AND that there will always be opposition to that effort! Have you ever heard the phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished!”
Well when we begin to do good for God by being obedient to His calling, you can know that Satan is going to throw the book at us… He is going to come against us with a vengeance and we must be ready physically, emotionally AND spiritually!
When we serve God…we will be opposed, but what we can learn from these people and from Nehemiah is that when opposition comes (and it WILL come) that we need to persevere! Go to God in prayer, allow Him to lead and guide us… assess the situation and then ACT as God has called us to act!
Persevere! Stick to it! Don’t give up! Never say never! This is the attitude and traits we MUST have to move forward with God’s plan for our church!
[clear screen and get ready for Hymn of Confession song]
People I challenged us to baptize 24 people by the end of this year… that is a HUGE challenge and it is a challenge that is GOD sized! But understand it was something God laid on my heart and it is NOT a random number!
This number of baptism was NOT my idea, it was a figure that was impressed upon me by God… it is a HUGE challenge for us as a fellowship! But we must understand that this challenge CAN be met… we CAN see 24 people baptized, but…
It is only going to happen if we ALL get involved, if we ALL stand together and if we ALL persevere thru! God wants us to succeed and God wants to see 24 more souls enter His kingdom… so it does not matter how BIG the mountain looks to US, this is a God thing, but we MUST be involved!
Are you ready to build? Are you ready to stand firm in that building process? Are you ready to stand and persevere even when things look grim and hope is waning? I am ready, will you join me?
GIVE EVANGELISTIC INVITATION HERE
To those of you here who are NOT part of God’s family… those of you who have NOT accepted Jesus as your savior, I want to share with you that seeing you meet and accept Jesus as your Savior that IS our plan today… that IS our focus… that IS our attitude!
2000 yrs ago Jesus died…
