WEBVTT 00:00:01.560 --> 00:00:08.160 Well, if you've got your bulletins with you this morning, you can open up to the inside and find some notes that go along with the morning message. 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:12.420 Before we dive into that, there's a couple of things I need to say. 00:00:12.620 --> 00:00:15.360 And if you guys you guys are recording this morning's message. 00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:15.580 Cool. 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:16.860 I say it on the record. 00:00:16.900 --> 00:00:17.640 So here's that. 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:25.460 On behalf of my wife and I, I just want to say thank you to you as a as a church family for all your prayers and the 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:28.050 way that you guys have been coming over and providing for us. 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:34.510 Stacy had a had to have an emergency C-section with the baby and so that, put you out for a little bit. 00:00:34.580 --> 00:00:38.190 And so you guys just coming over and providing meals for us has been very helpful. 00:00:38.220 --> 00:00:41.510 And so we're thankful for you guys as our family. 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:44.870 I've told you, as Stacy was pregnant. 00:00:45.120 --> 00:00:51.180 we've moved away from our family for the purpose of doing what we feel like the Lord has called us to do, moving from the east out here to the west. 00:00:51.660 --> 00:00:54.480 And so you guys, like it or not, have to become our family. 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:54.880 All right. 00:00:54.940 --> 00:00:55.100 So. 00:00:55.820 --> 00:01:00.600 So I just want to say, on behalf of Stacy and I to our adopted family here in Utah. 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:02.140 Thank you for meeting that need. 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:03.550 And we have that on record. 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:03.900 All right. 00:01:04.459 --> 00:01:11.480 And with, with, with that, I just want to say, when I know when most pastors have a young child coming 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:14.940 to their life, they throw all kinds of baby illustrations into the sermon. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:17.040 So I'm only going to limit myself to two today. 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:19.320 And you guys hold me accountable for that. 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:19.980 Okay. 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:23.420 But this morning we're going to continue the series as a church family. 00:01:23.740 --> 00:01:27.250 There's a there's a few things we'd like to do as we study together on Sunday mornings. 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:28.800 Sometimes we go through things topically. 00:01:28.940 --> 00:01:31.740 We study series that are significant to our lives. 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:34.080 We just went through a series called How Good Is It? 00:01:34.160 --> 00:01:34.520 Good enough. 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:40.870 We studied a series on prayer together, what it means to have a prayer life, and we've just entered into a series on the book of Nehemiah. 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:48.700 And the great thing about going through a book, my favorite thing to do as a pastor is we come on Sunday morning and we worship God together as to study through books of the 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:52.560 Bible, because your Bible should be something that you carry with you. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:59.000 And by the time we get done with this book of Nehemiah together, you guys should be able to have an understanding of what the book of Nehemiah is all about and how it can. 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:04.000 You can draw spiritual principles to your life, and even begin to share that with your family. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.440 And thinking of me having a young child, here comes one of my illustrations. 00:02:09.449 --> 00:02:16.580 It's great for me to be able to study that and share with him the book of Nehemiah together, just as a basis for us to understand where 00:02:16.580 --> 00:02:18.400 we've been as a as a church family. 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:24.060 The Nehemiah is about the rebuilding of a broken city and a broken people. 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:32.660 140 years before the time of Nehemiah, the nation of Babylon came into Jerusalem and to the to the people 00:02:32.660 --> 00:02:33.300 of Israel. 00:02:33.320 --> 00:02:35.940 And they took them captive, carried them off into captivity. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:41.580 And for 140 years the city of Jerusalem really virtually laid desolate. 00:02:41.620 --> 00:02:46.170 There were a few people who were left behind, but by all measures and means the city was destroyed. 00:02:47.700 --> 00:02:54.980 Medo-persia eventually conquered the nation of Babylon, and Nehemiah was one man who finds himself under 00:02:54.980 --> 00:02:56.260 the Medo-persian Persian rule. 00:02:56.520 --> 00:02:59.340 Directly below the king is what they call the cupbearer. 00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:04.090 Nehemiah is living in a town or a capital city of Medo-persia called Susa. 00:03:04.600 --> 00:03:07.450 It's just within about 100 miles of the city of Jerusalem. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:15.600 And something interesting about the life of Nehemiah that we learn in chapter one is after 140 years of this city lying desolate, all of a sudden 00:03:15.600 --> 00:03:19.140 Nehemiah's heart begins to break for the city of Jerusalem. 00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:24.360 It tells us in chapter one that Nehemiah weeps for that city. 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:33.200 Nehemiah gets news from friends who had traveled from Jerusalem, and his friends told him that the city still remains 140 years later, desolate. 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:36.980 But this wasn't any new news to Nehemiah. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:45.420 Nehemiah had already known what happened to the city of Jerusalem and to the people of Israel, and 00:03:45.420 --> 00:03:48.820 the news that he heard from his friends was familiar news. 00:03:50.260 --> 00:03:54.760 Life for the people of Israel, for the Jewish people, continues to stink. 00:03:56.880 --> 00:03:58.360 And Nehemiah began to weep. 00:03:58.940 --> 00:04:06.500 And the reason that Nehemiah began to weep is because God began to open up the eyes of the heart of Nehemiah, to 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:11.000 see the city of Jerusalem, the same way that God saw the city of Jerusalem. 00:04:12.480 --> 00:04:19.500 And just as Jesus journeyed into Jerusalem just before he was crucified on his on the cross, he wept for a city 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:20.820 who didn't know him. 00:04:22.820 --> 00:04:26.880 And Nehemiah began to carry that heart of Jesus for his people and for that city. 00:04:28.700 --> 00:04:36.560 Nehemiah was no doubt familiar with the Old Testament, and he understood that the Messiah was promised to come to Jerusalem, to 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:43.990 be within the nation of Israel, and to come from the throne of David and to die for those people. 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:53.400 Nehemiah desired it once again, as God desired for that city to grow, and for it to prosper, and for that Messiah to come and fulfill 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:58.280 his promises to the nation of Israel, but not just to the nation of Israel, to the entire world. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:03.660 140 years later, Nehemiah's heart broke for these people. 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:10.200 It tells us for the next four months that Nehemiah began to pray and to fast. 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:13.460 Nehemiah was put in a position. 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:20.520 It tells us in acts chapter 17 that God appoints all of our time and the exact moment and the exact place in which he desires for you to live, 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:22.700 because he has a purpose for your life. 00:05:24.260 --> 00:05:31.360 And Nehemiah, understanding his position, being right underneath the king as a cupbearer, knew that he was in a in a place in which God could work in his heart, begin 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:32.490 to work upon the King. 00:05:32.780 --> 00:05:36.060 That way he could go back to Jerusalem and see this city rebuilt for God. 00:05:37.760 --> 00:05:44.360 And so for four months Nehemiah fasted and prayed, and finally his day came before the king, and he went before the king, and he shared with the king. 00:05:44.380 --> 00:05:48.200 And the king literally says in chapter two, notice that Nehemiah's countenance was sad. 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:53.440 Being sad before the king was something that no one did in the time of Nehemiah. 00:05:53.440 --> 00:06:01.660 Because to be sad before the king was to show a display of dissatisfaction for the king's ruling and leadership, maybe 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:03.340 even treachery to who the King was. 00:06:04.840 --> 00:06:06.640 So the king had a lot of weight to bear on his shoulders. 00:06:06.700 --> 00:06:11.200 And you can imagine being the king of Medo-persia, all the enemies that you've made as you've conquered this nation. 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:15.090 If one person you want to be happy and satisfied with your life, it's got to be the cupbearer. 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:17.660 I mean, he literally hold your life in his hands. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:22.840 He is the one whose lips touch the drink before it comes to you to test whether or not it's poisoned. 00:06:24.520 --> 00:06:30.000 He could poison the king's drink, and the king notices that Nehemiah is sad. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:37.540 And so the king asks Nehemiah why he's sad, and the king is basically told by Nehemiah, I'm not too keen on your Middle Eastern policies. 00:06:39.420 --> 00:06:46.620 They don't please or satisfy what it is that I think I desire, and what it is that God desires for the nation of Israel. 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:55.420 And not only did he tell the King that he's dissatisfied, He had the courage to ask the king for 12 years off from his job. 00:06:55.520 --> 00:07:00.180 You guys think about that this week, asking your employer for 12 years off and see how that goes. 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:08.620 And then on top of that, he asks the king to provide all the financial support that's necessary to go back to Jerusalem, to build Nehemiah a house 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:11.500 to live in and to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. 00:07:13.080 --> 00:07:15.080 And the king said, yes. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:22.510 And so Nehemiah travels that hundred mile journey, which would have taken a few months to get all that equipment into the city of Jerusalem. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:30.020 And now he's got the task of explaining to the people, the 50 some thousand people who've made a journey from Medo-persia 00:07:30.020 --> 00:07:34.150 into back to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the city, but hadn't been able to do it to this point. 00:07:34.520 --> 00:07:40.420 He has the opportunity now to explain to these people that now is the time that they need to build. 00:07:42.380 --> 00:07:49.400 Just a few years later, the previous to this, Israel had attempted to rebuild the Jerusalem walls, but were stopped by the very same king 00:07:49.400 --> 00:07:51.280 who now is permitting them to build. 00:07:52.900 --> 00:07:59.820 So Nehemiah travels with all his equipment and begins to explain to the people of Israel God's desire for them to build. 00:08:01.460 --> 00:08:08.500 And today we get into chapter three, and I just want to tell you that chapter three is one of the most difficult portions of Scripture 00:08:08.500 --> 00:08:12.480 for all of us to look at together and share with you this morning. 00:08:13.580 --> 00:08:16.700 chapter three is really like reading from the Jerusalem phone book. 00:08:16.740 --> 00:08:24.240 I don't know if any of you guys have ever tried to come up with a message from a phone book before, but we're going to find in chapter three there are over 35 different names mentioned, 00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:28.460 42 different working groups mentioned, half a dozen different gates mentioned. 00:08:28.520 --> 00:08:35.559 Every time you see the word gate mentioned in the scripture this morning, just recognize it as a different portion of the city, a different area of the 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:38.750 city, like the northern side, the eastern side, the western side. 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:46.780 And as we begin to read this together, some of us will wonder why in the world chapter three is even in the book of Nehemiah. 00:08:47.560 --> 00:08:51.830 If you were to read some commentaries on Nehemiah chapter three, what you're going to find out is a lot of commentaries. 00:08:52.140 --> 00:08:53.620 Just skip over this chapter. 00:08:55.420 --> 00:08:56.540 But here's what I think about Scripture. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:08:59.720 All Scripture is God breathed. 00:09:01.160 --> 00:09:03.260 It is literally the words of God. 00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:06.840 And God has a desire for us to know his words. 00:09:06.860 --> 00:09:10.240 It's God's way of communicating to us who he is. 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:19.000 And I have a God given desire, I believe, for us to understand the totality of what the book of Nehemiah is all about. 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:25.600 By the way, I found out as I studied this and having not had a kid yet, there's my second illustration that's done. 00:09:25.660 --> 00:09:28.960 Chapter three is a great place to come up with baby names. 00:09:30.060 --> 00:09:34.730 So as we read this together, we'll find out this morning some good baby names you can maybe think of for your future. 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:42.380 And these people had the benefit of having their names in Scripture, because they were willing to sacrifice so much by giving up the 00:09:42.380 --> 00:09:47.360 rule under the Medo-persian rule to go back to Jerusalem and to the city that's desolate and attempt to rebuild it. 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:53.100 They made tremendous sacrifice as people for what they thought God wanted them to do. 00:09:54.880 --> 00:10:02.140 This morning, as we begin to look at this chapter together, there's one thing I want us to recognize and begin to see for ourselves as we examine these 00:10:02.140 --> 00:10:09.320 people in this passage of Scripture, and that is, we are preparing ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives. 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:14.880 Chapter three of Nehemiah kind of rings true with that theme for all of us. 00:10:16.100 --> 00:10:23.460 Just as Israel was preparing themselves for what God wanted to accomplish in their lives, we can look at the Scripture and examine and see what it 00:10:23.460 --> 00:10:28.900 is we can do to prepare to prepare ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives. 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:37.540 If you look in Nehemiah chapter two at the very end of chapter two and verse 18 and verse 20, Nehemiah, when he went into the city, and he begins to convince the 00:10:37.540 --> 00:10:40.180 people that, okay, we've had trouble in the past. 00:10:40.180 --> 00:10:40.440 Yes. 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:45.880 People outside of the city have given us difficulty in and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. 00:10:45.900 --> 00:10:46.360 The king? 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:46.480 Yeah. 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:48.320 He stopped us previously to this. 00:10:48.460 --> 00:10:49.940 But this time it's going to be different. 00:10:50.020 --> 00:10:51.560 And this time we should attempt to build. 00:10:52.880 --> 00:11:00.020 And the reminder and the power that Nehemiah gave to the people for them to understand that, yes, we're going to be able to accomplish this task that God has 00:11:00.020 --> 00:11:01.740 called us to, as found in verse 18. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:10.840 It says in verse 18, I told them how the hand of God had been favorable to me, and also about the king's 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:12.740 words, which he had spoken to me. 00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:17.600 In verse 20 it says, in the midst of opposition Nehemiah says this. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:22.280 So I answered them and said to them, The God of heaven will give us success. 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:28.680 Preparing ourselves for what God wants to do in our lives. 00:11:30.180 --> 00:11:36.530 Do you realize, similar to the nation of Israel, that God's desire for you is to give you success? 00:11:38.940 --> 00:11:45.240 God created you for a purpose God created you for a reason in which he desires for you to live in. 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:50.120 To understand his glory and be able to commune with him in a relationship. 00:11:50.460 --> 00:11:54.100 To have a life in God's eyes that would be considered a success. 00:11:56.120 --> 00:12:01.660 It tells us in Psalms chapter 119, verses 17 and 18. 00:12:01.660 --> 00:12:03.000 I believe it might be up here on the screen. 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:04.630 Oh, no it's not. 00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:08.060 It says, how precious also are your thoughts to me, O God? 00:12:08.660 --> 00:12:10.360 How vast is the sum of them? 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.520 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. 00:12:14.140 --> 00:12:14.800 When I awake. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:15.840 I am still with you. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.700 Search me, O God, and know my heart. 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:22.030 Try me and know my anxious thoughts. 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:23.840 See if there be any hurtful way in me. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:26.180 And lead me into the everlasting way. 00:12:27.560 --> 00:12:34.700 In first John chapter four and verse nine, it says, by this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent his only son 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:39.120 into the world so that we might live through him. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.860 God's love is manifested to you and that you might live through Jesus. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:53.030 God wants you to be successful in what the measure of his eyes calls success. 00:12:55.140 --> 00:12:59.360 And how do we prepare ourselves for that journey that God desires for our lives? 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:03.960 I'm just going to pull out three principles for us this morning from this passage of Scripture. 00:13:04.140 --> 00:13:10.880 And what I want to do is we begin to look in the scriptures, just simply read the first 20 verses to Nehemiah chapter three. 00:13:10.880 --> 00:13:12.660 Okay, so together I'm going to read this. 00:13:12.940 --> 00:13:13.840 I know some of these names. 00:13:13.940 --> 00:13:20.120 I'm not going to say the way that they were intended to be pronounced, but I'm going to say them with confidence and you're going to believe that's how it goes, right? 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.730 Then Elijah, the high priest, arose with his brothers, the priests, and built the sheepgate. 00:13:24.280 --> 00:13:26.340 They consecrated it and hung its doors. 00:13:26.680 --> 00:13:30.360 They consecrated the wall to the tower of the hundred and the tower of Hananeel. 00:13:31.140 --> 00:13:32.690 Next to him the men of Jericho built. 00:13:32.800 --> 00:13:34.840 And next to them Zachariah, the son of Emery, built. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.250 Now the sons of Hezekiah built for the fish gate. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.740 They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars next to. 00:13:41.800 --> 00:13:41.980 Them. 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:44.800 Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hazak, made repairs. 00:13:45.300 --> 00:13:46.540 And next to him is Shula Meshullam. 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:50.820 Excuse me, son of Berechiah, the son of Isabel made repairs. 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:54.380 And next to him Zadok, the son of Bina, also made repairs. 00:13:54.380 --> 00:13:59.660 Moreover, next to him the equites made repairs, but their nobles did not support the work of their masters. 00:14:00.780 --> 00:14:06.960 Jehoiada, the son of Jesse, and Meshullam, the son of Zechariah, repaired the old gates. 00:14:07.020 --> 00:14:09.860 They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. 00:14:10.420 --> 00:14:17.660 Next to them, Malatya and the Gibeonite and Jadon, the Maranatha, the men of Gibeon and the Mizpah also made repairs for 00:14:17.660 --> 00:14:20.100 the official seat of the governor of the province beyond the river. 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:24.620 Next to him, Uziel, the son of Hariya of the goldsmiths, made repairs. 00:14:24.660 --> 00:14:28.110 And next to him Hananiah, one of perfumers. 00:14:28.620 --> 00:14:29.760 Don't name your kids any of these names. 00:14:29.820 --> 00:14:30.780 I was kidding about that. 00:14:30.940 --> 00:14:34.850 Made repairs and they restored Jerusalem as far as the broad wall next to them. 00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:39.800 Rafiah the son of her, the official of half the district of Jerusalem made her prayers next to them. 00:14:39.940 --> 00:14:47.300 Jedaiah, the son of Muhammad, made repairs opposite his house, and next to him Hattush, the son of Hashminiya, made 00:14:47.300 --> 00:14:49.800 repairs. 00:14:49.900 --> 00:14:55.680 Malachi, the son of Hiram, and Hassum, the son of Metharme, repaired another section in the tower of furnaces next to him. 00:14:55.680 --> 00:15:02.760 Shalom, the son of Joash, the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, and his daughters Hanan and the inhabitants and Zechariah made 00:15:02.760 --> 00:15:03.940 repairs to the valley gate. 00:15:04.140 --> 00:15:08.410 They built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars, and the thousands of cubes of the wall to the refuse gate. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:13.920 Malachi, the son of reek of the official of the district of Beth Hakerem, repaired the dung gate. 00:15:13.920 --> 00:15:16.860 He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. 00:15:16.860 --> 00:15:21.140 Show him the son of Kohlhaas, the official of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate. 00:15:21.140 --> 00:15:28.360 He built it, covered it, and hung its doors with its bolts and his bars, and the walls of the pools of Shila at the king's garden, as far as the steps that descended from the city of 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:28.760 David. 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:31.630 After him Nehemiah, the son of Azubuike. 00:15:32.180 --> 00:15:39.820 This is a different Nehemiah, official of half the district of Bezer made repairs as far as the point opposite the Tomb of David and as far as the artificial 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:41.420 pool in the House of the Mighty Men. 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:45.980 After him the Levites carried out repairs under Rehum, the son of Banai. 00:15:45.980 --> 00:15:50.880 Next to him Hashabiah, the official of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for this district. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:16:04.420 After him their brothers carried out repairs under Bovi, the son of Henadad official, to 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:04.600 the other half of the district of Keilah. 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:05.140 Next to him, Ezra, the son of Jeshua, the official of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the ascent of the armory at the angle. 00:16:05.140 --> 00:16:11.600 After him, Barak, the son of Zibiah, zealously repaired another section from the angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib, the high priest. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:14.840 There you go. 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:15.180 There you go. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.600 Wow! 00:16:20.020 --> 00:16:20.770 This is a difficult passage. 00:16:23.060 --> 00:16:30.060 This morning I just want to give you three principles from this passage of Scripture, and how we want to prepare ourselves for 00:16:30.060 --> 00:16:33.130 what God wants to do in our lives. 00:16:34.920 --> 00:16:41.940 The first part you're going to notice in verse one is they very pointedly shared to us, I'm sure we all remembered from that passage of Scripture 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:50.200 what was said first in this passage of Scripture that I find most significant to where Israel's heart is in these moments. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:57.540 It tells us in verse one, Then Elisha had the high priest arose with his brothers, the priests, and built the sheep. 00:16:57.870 --> 00:17:01.620 Be, excuse me, built the sheep gate, and they consecrated it. 00:17:03.540 --> 00:17:06.800 This helps us to recognize where Israel's heart is. 00:17:06.800 --> 00:17:08.859 In the moments that they begin to rebuild this wall. 00:17:08.859 --> 00:17:16.400 They don't see it as a people who are beginning just to rebuild a wall, because the focus is they start this endeavor together is to begin around 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.980 the temple and consecrating what it is they're about to do to God. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:26.300 It's something a desire for all of us to recognize as a church. 00:17:26.300 --> 00:17:33.440 And I think God communicates to us very beginning of Scripture in Genesis chapter two, is that everything in this 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:39.100 world that we do as people is spiritual, whether we recognize it or not. 00:17:39.100 --> 00:17:42.000 In our own lives, everything that we do is spiritual. 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:47.840 And we were created in this world as spiritual beings, in a physical world. 00:17:49.080 --> 00:17:54.760 Sometimes people get their perspective or ideas flip flop from what God desires for us to know and understand. 00:17:54.780 --> 00:17:59.180 Some people see us as physical bodies who happens to have a spiritual part. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:05.160 But when I read scriptures, what I find a lot of times is that we are spiritual beings who happen to have a physical body. 00:18:06.120 --> 00:18:14.560 Our physical bodies are the means by which our spiritual eyes are able to communicate and see and identify and relate to this world and 00:18:14.560 --> 00:18:22.080 the nation of Israel, at least in this passage of Scripture, as they begin to rebuild this wall, understand that everything in this world is spiritual. 00:18:23.740 --> 00:18:25.460 I don't have a spirit. 00:18:26.420 --> 00:18:27.100 I am a spirit. 00:18:28.780 --> 00:18:31.960 God created me both body, soul and spirit. 00:18:32.080 --> 00:18:33.860 It says in first Thessalonians chapter five. 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:42.040 In Genesis chapter two and verse seven, it says, the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils 00:18:42.040 --> 00:18:43.860 the breath of life. 00:18:45.360 --> 00:18:52.700 If you notice and read Genesis chapter one and chapter two, as he as he creates this world, and he creates the animal, animal kingdom, 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:59.980 and the plants and the vegetation and the and the water and the skies, God creates all of that by the word of his mouth. 00:19:01.520 --> 00:19:06.600 But when it comes to man and woman, it says that he shapes us with his hand. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.420 He creates us physically, but not only physically. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:17.620 God literally breathes his breath into our lungs, giving us a spirit. 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:22.220 So when God created the animals, God simply said it was good. 00:19:22.340 --> 00:19:26.160 But when God created man, he said it was very good. 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:35.440 God has given us a physical body to identify with this world in which he created, because we are spiritual beings in 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:35.800 charge. 00:19:37.760 --> 00:19:41.700 God told us to be fruitful and multiply and subdue this earth. 00:19:43.600 --> 00:19:51.100 It is our responsibility as people, whether we realize it or not, to recognize that everything in this world is spiritual, because 00:19:51.100 --> 00:19:55.080 all things in this world are to point to the glory of who God is. 00:19:56.900 --> 00:20:04.040 It tells us in Romans chapter one that where we fell as creature, as creatures created by God, is that we corrupt the image 00:20:04.040 --> 00:20:07.200 of God and we exchange his glory for corruptible images. 00:20:07.220 --> 00:20:08.890 I have the power to turn lights off. 00:20:08.900 --> 00:20:09.000 Oh! 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:19.660 My spiritual life perceives things through this physical world, and we are intended by people to see the spiritual 00:20:19.660 --> 00:20:26.920 meaning behind everything that we encounter in this life, even if it's to the point of just building a wall. 00:20:29.080 --> 00:20:32.550 I was thinking about this week as I studied this portion of scripture in Israel. 00:20:32.860 --> 00:20:33.700 Just building a wall. 00:20:33.840 --> 00:20:34.940 That's all it was a wall. 00:20:35.040 --> 00:20:40.660 They had the opportunity to miss the spiritual blessing that God wanted to work in their lives, but it tells us that they didn't miss it. 00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:44.520 In verse one, they understood from the very get go of chapter three as they were getting ready to build. 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:45.640 God was behind them. 00:20:45.700 --> 00:20:50.720 So the first steps they wanted to take as people is they wanted to consecrate the work that they were about to begin. 00:20:52.840 --> 00:20:59.900 I thought about Jesus's life in the Bible isn't real clear in what Jesus did in his 00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:01.420 life for the first 30 years. 00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:05.840 It wasn't until the last three years that we have written in the Gospels all that Jesus did. 00:21:05.840 --> 00:21:10.040 Because Jesus is primary purpose was to come to this world and die for our sins. 00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:16.120 And so the Gospels communicate that last three and a half years of his life and ministry for us to understand that, yes, Jesus was that ultimate sacrifice. 00:21:16.560 --> 00:21:18.120 Yes, Jesus died for your sins. 00:21:18.140 --> 00:21:19.920 Yes, you have a great hope in him. 00:21:20.020 --> 00:21:22.390 And Jesus did everything that he was promised to do in the Old Testament. 00:21:22.780 --> 00:21:24.220 That's good that Scripture communicates that. 00:21:24.260 --> 00:21:27.160 But what about the first 30 years of Jesus life. 00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:30.200 Was it unholy? 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:33.980 Was it insignificant or unimportant? 00:21:34.060 --> 00:21:35.400 You can't say that about Christ's life. 00:21:35.620 --> 00:21:41.890 Everything that Jesus did, even being a carpenter, even demonstrating a life of integrity and growth, it tells us that he grew in knowledge and wisdom. 00:21:42.220 --> 00:21:44.240 Jesus lived a consecrated life. 00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:49.880 Israel is living a consecrated life. 00:21:52.280 --> 00:21:56.740 The Bible tells us, excuse me, that consecration is not the Bible. 00:21:56.800 --> 00:22:02.460 Webster's dictionary tells us that consecration means dedicated to a sacred purpose. 00:22:04.420 --> 00:22:11.500 In First Corinthians 1031 it tells us, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, whatsoever you do all of it to 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:12.480 the glory of God. 00:22:13.620 --> 00:22:20.870 Paul declares this within first Corinthians chapter ten, because Paul understands that we as people, whatever we encounter in this world, all of it is sacred. 00:22:21.980 --> 00:22:24.920 All of it should be consecrated to the glory of God. 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:27.140 All of it is spiritual. 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:36.120 Whether it's building a wall, whether it's working in your normal job, whether it's being a mother at home, taking care of the kids, all of it is 00:22:36.120 --> 00:22:38.660 intended by God to be seen through your spiritual eyes. 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:41.540 All of it brings him glory. 00:22:45.300 --> 00:22:48.620 We dedicate to a sacred purpose. 00:22:50.060 --> 00:22:54.520 We have a way of dividing with our minds what is significant in life and what isn't. 00:22:54.520 --> 00:22:57.600 We come to church on Sunday and this is a sacred moment. 00:22:57.700 --> 00:23:00.820 But we leave for Monday and it becomes a secular world. 00:23:03.060 --> 00:23:10.920 Jesus, when he walked this earth with his disciples, took every moment to teach spiritual truths in his disciples as they encountered life events. 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:18.140 Because Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that everything you encounter is spiritual and everything you encounter is significant 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:19.180 to the glory of God. 00:23:21.060 --> 00:23:23.500 One of the beautiful things of what consecration offers. 00:23:24.800 --> 00:23:27.350 This is an invitation for God to move. 00:23:28.520 --> 00:23:30.700 This should become a habit in your life. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:34.700 Consecrating to God's purposes. 00:23:34.840 --> 00:23:41.900 Anytime a major event happens in your life, like the nation of Israel building a wall, you should take the opportunity to understand and recognize that God has created me 00:23:41.900 --> 00:23:42.900 in a spiritual being. 00:23:42.940 --> 00:23:46.040 He's given an opportunity here for me in my life to see him work. 00:23:46.120 --> 00:23:51.160 And so I'm going to dedicate and make sacred the purpose of what God is attempting to offer. 00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:56.080 Now, I know I said I can't give any illustrations of this from my childhood anymore. 00:23:56.120 --> 00:24:03.480 So let's just arbitrarily say anyone who has the birth of a kid when that child is born, God has passed a 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:09.360 torch of responsibility to you as parents to see that child is raised in his understanding and truth. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:19.360 When Grayson was born this past week, Stacy and I took the opportunity of recognizing that this is a beautiful gift that God has 00:24:19.580 --> 00:24:25.120 given to us and that we should take the opportunity to consecrate what he's doing in our lives. 00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:31.660 It's simply yielding to God and saying, God, I understand that everything in this world is spiritual. 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:33.200 Everything in this world has its purpose. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:34.740 I understand that you're in control of it. 00:24:34.800 --> 00:24:37.960 And so, Lord, I'm just subjecting myself to what it is that you want to accomplish. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:46.020 It is yours before you can even begin to inherit the blessings of what God wants 00:24:46.020 --> 00:24:48.960 to bring in your life, to grow in that relationship, to live in that purpose. 00:24:49.420 --> 00:24:50.740 You guys got to let them have control. 00:24:51.940 --> 00:24:53.120 And I'm not saying you're not. 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:58.780 But every day as human beings, we fight the battle of living for the world or living for Christ. 00:24:59.520 --> 00:25:06.540 And the battle is won as we take the opportunity to consecrate those moments to God, waking up every morning and saying, 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:08.160 God, today is your day. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.880 Whatever direction you desire for me to take however high you want me to build this wall. 00:25:12.100 --> 00:25:13.800 God, let me do it according to your will. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:15.780 This is yours and this is sacred. 00:25:18.260 --> 00:25:20.220 It's an invitation for him to move. 00:25:20.220 --> 00:25:23.420 And it tells us in Romans 12, you guys are probably familiar with the passage. 00:25:24.040 --> 00:25:31.080 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice to him, 00:25:32.840 --> 00:25:36.240 giving God the invitation to move in our lives should be our habit. 00:25:37.660 --> 00:25:38.740 Consecrate your steps. 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:43.760 And you know the nation of Israel, because they were able to do this, and they were giving God control as they began to build this wall. 00:25:43.780 --> 00:25:50.900 It tells us in the book of Nehemiah, it only took 52 days to literally build a wall that was 14ft high and three feet wide. 00:25:52.140 --> 00:25:55.340 50,000 people surrounding this city building this wall together. 00:25:55.340 --> 00:25:57.060 And they were able to do it by God's power. 00:25:57.060 --> 00:26:03.840 It tells us in Nehemiah chapter two, and they followed in that power as they consecrated their lives to the service that God has called them to live. 00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:08.400 The results of a consecrated life. 00:26:10.060 --> 00:26:12.180 Israel found what it would bring. 00:26:12.180 --> 00:26:13.020 If you refuse. 00:26:14.380 --> 00:26:19.560 It's Israel because they decided not to give their lives to God, because they decided to disobey God and live for whatever their desires were. 00:26:19.620 --> 00:26:24.760 They fell into a pit of sin and despair and were eventually led into captivity under the Babylonian rule. 00:26:26.100 --> 00:26:29.920 It tells us, during the silent years of Israel, right after the captivity, when they come back. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:33.200 God no longer speaks to the nation of Israel because Jesus is about to come. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:40.160 But while the nation of Israel was in captivity, we had all kinds of world religions begin to start Confucius, Buddha, Socrates. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:42.930 All of them began to teach during the time that Israel was in captivity. 00:26:44.120 --> 00:26:46.620 God's glory wasn't being pronounced through the nation of Israel. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:51.440 People couldn't see God in his glory through the people that were supposed to be following God. 00:26:52.580 --> 00:26:57.000 And in so doing, people began to seek truth in their lives, begin to seek and follow after other religions. 00:26:57.120 --> 00:26:58.600 And so thus they started. 00:27:00.140 --> 00:27:07.060 There's a quote that says, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. 00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:11.190 We talk about the opposite of consecration. 00:27:11.600 --> 00:27:13.760 That's the type of life that we're referring to. 00:27:15.520 --> 00:27:18.380 The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. 00:27:19.860 --> 00:27:23.520 And sometimes you'll hear people say that I'm not just I'm not interested in spiritual things. 00:27:23.520 --> 00:27:30.520 Well, it's too late because God has already created you as a spiritual being, and he's got a purpose and significance 00:27:30.700 --> 00:27:31.820 for your life. 00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:38.880 You think about what it means not to live a consecrated life to God. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:48.180 You know, they say, statistically, a child who grows up in a home of alcoholics has a higher likelihood 00:27:48.180 --> 00:27:49.400 of becoming alcoholic. 00:27:51.020 --> 00:27:56.740 A child who grows up in an abusive home has a higher percentage of one day becoming abusive himself. 00:27:58.040 --> 00:28:05.120 A child that grows up in a godless home, or parents who don't treat God 00:28:05.120 --> 00:28:08.200 as if he is significant to their lives and don't consecrate the moments. 00:28:08.280 --> 00:28:10.060 What does that produce in this world? 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:17.620 Do you see the significance of consecrating the steps that God has laid before you. 00:28:20.340 --> 00:28:23.370 No one does the nation of Israel consecrate in verse one. 00:28:26.760 --> 00:28:30.000 I want to look at what the nation of Israel talks about the most in this passage of Scripture. 00:28:31.560 --> 00:28:38.770 You notice, as we read that lengthy portion together, there was a lot of one significant word that kept popping up next to or after or beside them. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:42.080 They kept referring to the people who were working with them. 00:28:43.060 --> 00:28:46.700 Israel is, by and large, a cooperative community. 00:28:47.860 --> 00:28:50.660 These are words of a cooperative community. 00:28:51.780 --> 00:28:53.240 As funny as we look at the word community. 00:28:53.560 --> 00:28:57.490 You can't have the word community without common unity. 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:03.200 God desires for his people to work as a common unity. 00:29:03.280 --> 00:29:05.960 And Israel understood what God was trying to do in their lives. 00:29:06.020 --> 00:29:13.220 As they consecrated, they became a missional people relationally working next to or after one another, theologically Connected 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:17.280 to one another as friends, working together for a common purpose. 00:29:20.080 --> 00:29:25.740 God's desire not only for the nation of Israel, but for us, is to work as a. 00:29:27.020 --> 00:29:31.490 Excuse me, a cooperative community for his plan, for his purpose. 00:29:32.900 --> 00:29:37.960 It tells us in Hebrews chapter ten, do not forsake the assembly of one another together. 00:29:39.400 --> 00:29:43.980 So as a church family, we have a missional idea of what it is that God wants us to do. 00:29:43.980 --> 00:29:49.200 We think that the purpose of life, according to Mark chapter 12, 29 and 31 is relationships. 00:29:49.460 --> 00:29:53.640 It tells us, Love God with all your heart and love others and loving God. 00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:55.880 We begin to love the things that God loves as well. 00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:56.920 And that is loving others. 00:29:57.900 --> 00:30:01.220 God created his church and he says the gates of hell will not prevail against this. 00:30:01.320 --> 00:30:06.140 This was God's missional community created to carry out his functional purpose in this world. 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:13.960 If you want to get a part of what God is doing, and you want God to be a part of your lives, and you desire for God to work in your hearts and your minds, you've got to be 00:30:13.960 --> 00:30:17.420 a part of the community where God is moving his church. 00:30:18.820 --> 00:30:21.640 If you really want to love God, you'll love his bride. 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:29.760 The Bible illustrates his church as his bride, and it tells us that he literally shed his blood. 00:30:29.800 --> 00:30:30.780 He gave his life. 00:30:30.800 --> 00:30:37.260 In Ephesians five four, that bride tells husbands to love their wives in the same way. 00:30:37.320 --> 00:30:44.340 But you should love the church in the same way that Jesus did, to the point that he gave of his total self to the benefit 00:30:44.340 --> 00:30:45.540 of the body. 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:51.540 So the Bible uses selective terms to refer to what the church is. 00:30:51.560 --> 00:30:53.680 He calls us a body working together. 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:56.240 He calls us a church, which is an assembly. 00:30:56.260 --> 00:31:03.840 He refers to us all collectively as a bride, a cooperative community with 00:31:03.840 --> 00:31:10.840 common unity for us to set ourselves up to be successful in what 00:31:10.840 --> 00:31:12.260 God desires for our lives. 00:31:12.320 --> 00:31:17.720 Not only do we have to consecrate, but we need to get with the people of God who are desiring to accomplish what God desires. 00:31:19.560 --> 00:31:24.990 Second Timothy 222 says, flee youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, and peace, as are all good things. 00:31:25.380 --> 00:31:28.760 Then it says, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 00:31:32.060 --> 00:31:37.140 You know, my tendency is, when I am by myself, I. 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:38.440 Revert to sin. 00:31:40.280 --> 00:31:40.880 Think of me. 00:31:42.280 --> 00:31:43.780 Live for whatever I want to live for. 00:31:45.620 --> 00:31:49.840 Desire what it is that I desire and who cares about whatever else. 00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:57.820 But there's something about the people of God whose ambition and desire is to walk with God that encourages me down that same path. 00:31:59.660 --> 00:32:01.440 And I'm no different than any human being. 00:32:01.500 --> 00:32:04.900 Paul said that the law, the purpose of the law caused him to sin more. 00:32:04.900 --> 00:32:10.040 In Romans chapter seven, just seeing the rules of the law drove him so crazy that he just wanted to break those rules. 00:32:12.280 --> 00:32:13.720 And we don't live according to rules here. 00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:15.000 We live according to God's grace. 00:32:16.540 --> 00:32:21.420 But the body of Christ holds one another accountable towards God's call. 00:32:23.260 --> 00:32:25.550 I love the way that Nehemiah did it in this passage of Scripture. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:29.900 If you saw in verse one, do you notice where the priests built? 00:32:32.260 --> 00:32:33.540 They built next to the sheepgate. 00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:35.210 Do you know what priests sacrifice? 00:32:37.660 --> 00:32:38.120 Sheep? 00:32:39.660 --> 00:32:43.060 You know what the priest would be interested in seeing built first on that wall? 00:32:44.340 --> 00:32:45.000 The sheep gate. 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:47.790 It was next to the temple, and it brought in their livelihood. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:52.640 As Nehemiah selected the people to build these walls, he assigned people to particular positions. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:56.620 And guess where he put them to build next to the places of interest. 00:32:57.640 --> 00:33:00.800 If your home's here, you're going to build here because you're going to protect your home. 00:33:01.100 --> 00:33:05.000 If you're a priest, go build up by the temple, because that's what's interesting to you, and you want to protect that. 00:33:05.900 --> 00:33:13.080 If you live outside of the gates and you're going to run into the city of Jerusalem, if someone comes to attack it, we want you to come and build the place that you're going to run to 00:33:13.080 --> 00:33:13.480 first. 00:33:14.800 --> 00:33:16.870 The body of Christ really works the same way. 00:33:17.320 --> 00:33:22.700 By God's grace, he moves in your heart, in your life, and the Bible tells us he literally gifts you for areas of ministry. 00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:25.600 God's desire is for you to serve him. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:31.380 It says in Ephesians chapter two and verse ten that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. 00:33:32.540 --> 00:33:33.920 He saves us by his grace. 00:33:34.020 --> 00:33:37.800 But he's got a plan for you to live, for him, to follow after him. 00:33:37.800 --> 00:33:41.500 And in following after him, you really learn what a relationship with him is all about. 00:33:43.380 --> 00:33:45.900 You get the opportunity to serve in a place of interest. 00:33:47.080 --> 00:33:48.860 We don't tell you where to serve God. 00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:53.220 I mean, you can serve it collectively within the church. 00:33:53.220 --> 00:33:54.620 You can serve it outside of the church and reach the lost people. 00:33:54.740 --> 00:34:00.260 But God's called you to serve in some capacity in form, and he's given you the gift to do it. 00:34:01.740 --> 00:34:06.040 And as he's given you a gift to serve him, what area of interest do you have? 00:34:06.040 --> 00:34:13.159 And just like the nation of Israel working as a cooperative community, Nehemiah put him in places that they were skilled and desired to 00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:14.120 see this wall complete. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:23.300 We as a church have that giftedness to fix, and I love the way that they rebuild, because 00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:27.330 it tells us in this passage of Scripture that what they did was repair. 00:34:29.739 --> 00:34:30.920 They didn't start over. 00:34:31.699 --> 00:34:32.739 And that feels good to me. 00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:35.820 They weren't interested in starting over. 00:34:35.860 --> 00:34:42.250 You know, when I first became a Christian, I always looked at myself and thought, what in the world is God going to do with a person like me? 00:34:43.520 --> 00:34:45.199 I hated to talk in front of people. 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:53.330 And so I thought, if there was like a closet, I could participate in some sort of activity, where I wouldn't get noticed. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:55.239 That was where God wanted me. 00:34:57.160 --> 00:35:00.820 But he taught me something about his relationship and power and working in our lives. 00:35:01.980 --> 00:35:07.240 So God's not interested in necessarily thrown out the bat, but he's able to repair what's there. 00:35:08.940 --> 00:35:15.960 Isaiah chapter nine and verse six tells us that he is a wonderful counselor, meaning he's the best counselor you're 00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:16.460 ever going to have. 00:35:16.580 --> 00:35:17.940 He is an everlasting father. 00:35:18.380 --> 00:35:20.740 He is the Prince of Peace. 00:35:21.700 --> 00:35:28.920 And if there's anything in my life that can come and repair and heal the needs that I have, the Bible tells us in Isaiah nine, 00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:29.760 it's Jesus. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:38.420 Life is about picking up and reusing the broken pieces. 00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:48.540 And if I were honest with wanting God to work in my life and I came to know him and I still even to this day, as I come before God and I 00:35:48.540 --> 00:35:54.040 consecrate those moments, I say to God, God, I'm still that broken piece. 00:35:57.500 --> 00:36:04.620 God is in the business of repairing what's broken, And God is able to heal those needs. 00:36:06.100 --> 00:36:10.380 It tells us that he, as a nation of Israel, they began to use the old stones. 00:36:11.860 --> 00:36:17.620 I love, as I've learned about my relationship with the Lord, that God loves to take his kids to work. 00:36:17.640 --> 00:36:18.580 You ever think about that? 00:36:19.220 --> 00:36:21.240 I mean, God literally could step in and do a job better. 00:36:22.220 --> 00:36:24.000 But that's not what the Christian life is about. 00:36:24.180 --> 00:36:26.040 God loves to take his kids to work. 00:36:26.100 --> 00:36:30.900 He loves to show them what he's doing, and he loves to let them be a part of it. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:35.840 If all of us waited for somebody better to come along to do the job, the job would never get done. 00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:44.400 The wonderful thing about it is when we step out in faith and we begin to work in that job, we learn to trust in Jesus more and grow closer to him greater. 00:36:45.600 --> 00:36:52.640 You know what preaching on Sunday drives me to do for 20 hours a week, I spend worried about the message, and then for 00:36:52.640 --> 00:36:54.800 the next 20 hours I spend writing the message. 00:36:55.500 --> 00:37:00.980 You know, because to this day, it's still not comfortable for me to stand in front of groups and talk. 00:37:01.320 --> 00:37:01.860 Believe that or not. 00:37:05.220 --> 00:37:06.800 But God does a repairing work in me. 00:37:09.140 --> 00:37:10.900 And it's the same with everyone here. 00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:14.620 God wants to use you. 00:37:16.560 --> 00:37:22.980 God will take whatever broken piece that you feel that you are, and use those old stones to build that new wall. 00:37:24.780 --> 00:37:30.400 God has created you for a purpose, appointed you in a time, and he has that desire in your life. 00:37:32.040 --> 00:37:35.020 He loves to take his kids to work and let them be a part. 00:37:37.340 --> 00:37:44.960 You know, as I think about repairing, I think about the idea of our church with relationships, loving God and 00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:45.620 loving others. 00:37:47.260 --> 00:37:52.980 I thought about the most significant thing that we as people oftentimes work to repair is relationships. 00:37:54.260 --> 00:37:59.840 You know, 95% of all counseling needs before a counselor deal with relationship issues towards somebody else. 00:38:01.540 --> 00:38:03.580 And I thought about this nation of Israel working together. 00:38:03.620 --> 00:38:06.680 They probably had their fights with one another. 00:38:07.320 --> 00:38:14.890 But when it came to doing the job that God had called him to do, it says that they worked next to one another or after one another or beside one another. 00:38:15.540 --> 00:38:20.320 And I thought about the relationships in our lives and understanding as a Christian, what God has called us to do is repair those relationships. 00:38:20.700 --> 00:38:26.380 The Bible literally says, if you've offended a brother and you're coming to worship, leave that offering that you're about to worship to him. 00:38:26.500 --> 00:38:30.920 Go and make right that relationship with that brother that needs reconciled and come back and worship. 00:38:32.140 --> 00:38:32.610 That's pretty good. 00:38:32.960 --> 00:38:38.200 I thought, God wants me to make my relationships right when I've wronged somebody that's just like Jesus. 00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:40.870 But the Bible also goes on a step further. 00:38:42.420 --> 00:38:49.780 It says, if a brother has wronged you and you know that brother has wronged you, and there is a rift 00:38:49.780 --> 00:38:57.020 in your relationship and you are about to worship, it tells you in the book of Matthew, literally leave that house of worship, leave that opportunity 00:38:57.020 --> 00:39:04.160 that you're consecrating in those moments to God, and go and find that brother and make that relationship right, even though he's the one that 00:39:04.160 --> 00:39:04.940 offended you. 00:39:06.540 --> 00:39:07.860 That is a tough pill to swallow. 00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:17.580 But there's something that rings true with a statement like that for us to repair the work that God has called 00:39:17.580 --> 00:39:18.620 us to do. 00:39:20.140 --> 00:39:24.830 We have to be a cooperative community, and we've got to be in a common unity. 00:39:27.240 --> 00:39:28.600 God doesn't work in that tension. 00:39:30.460 --> 00:39:36.430 And for us as a group, to consecrate what God wants us to do together, we've got to gather together. 00:39:36.500 --> 00:39:41.760 Lay that down and seek to work through relationships in Christ. 00:39:44.380 --> 00:39:48.660 Last point I want to make this morning is something that was said powerfully. 00:39:52.340 --> 00:39:59.380 In verse 14 Says Malchijah, the son of Reck of the official of the district 00:39:59.380 --> 00:40:03.060 of Beth Hakerem, repaired the dungate. 00:40:04.160 --> 00:40:06.980 He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars. 00:40:08.720 --> 00:40:12.360 I love the identity of the person here that's building the dung gate. 00:40:13.920 --> 00:40:18.720 You can imagine as a kid, let's say four generations from now, you're in the city of Jerusalem and the walls are being built. 00:40:18.720 --> 00:40:23.740 And so it's time as kids to learn about the history of the city and the history of Nehemiah. 00:40:24.150 --> 00:40:31.200 And so all of you leave that day for a field trip, and you begin to walk the journey around the wall, and your teacher begins to explain, because he's an older fellow and 00:40:31.200 --> 00:40:37.180 he understands everything that built and all the sacrifice that people made, as 50,000 people came back from Persia and built this wall. 00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:43.400 And he explains to the kids, there's where it started, over there with the priests as they built the sheepgate and consecrated to God. 00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:49.260 We believe that's why God did such a great work in our lives, because we're about making him our first priority and what he wanted to accomplish. 00:40:50.120 --> 00:40:51.530 And the wall continued to be built. 00:40:51.760 --> 00:40:55.620 And there's the fish gate over here, and the wall continued down and down there. 00:40:55.620 --> 00:41:00.700 We're not going to make the journey down here, but there was a little piece built and built, and we're just not going to be in that area. 00:41:00.700 --> 00:41:01.940 And the kids just begin to say, why? 00:41:02.140 --> 00:41:02.980 Why do we want to go down there? 00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:04.000 Well, that's the dung gate. 00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:06.900 We don't want to get your school clothes dirty. 00:41:07.980 --> 00:41:09.460 It stinks down there. 00:41:10.820 --> 00:41:12.430 And one of the kids begins to pipe up. 00:41:12.460 --> 00:41:13.920 Well, tell us about the dung Gate. 00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:16.580 What was what was so significant about the dung game and what? 00:41:16.820 --> 00:41:17.980 What purpose does it serve? 00:41:17.980 --> 00:41:19.100 And he begins to share that. 00:41:19.100 --> 00:41:26.380 Well, the dung Gate, even though all this was built, one of the most fascinating things that happened as the city of Jerusalem was built was that the dirtiest 00:41:26.380 --> 00:41:30.580 part of the wall was built by one of the largest leaders within the city. 00:41:31.500 --> 00:41:34.040 Micaiah was the official of the district of Beth Hakam. 00:41:35.500 --> 00:41:40.580 One of our leaders took upon himself to take the lowliest position that you would ever want when you're building a city wall. 00:41:40.600 --> 00:41:42.740 I mean, nobody wants to build the poo poo gate, right? 00:41:45.160 --> 00:41:47.380 Third illustration I know my kids are great at this. 00:41:47.380 --> 00:41:50.750 He's an open dung gate, and I don't want to get anywhere near that. 00:41:51.940 --> 00:41:59.760 And in verse 14, it tells us that Malchijah, in understanding what the Dung Gate was, took 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:02.090 it upon himself to build him. 00:42:05.140 --> 00:42:08.660 A good leader is always willing to lead with humility. 00:42:11.460 --> 00:42:16.740 Sometimes we think about what God has called us to do, and we prepare ourselves for the journey that God has for our lives. 00:42:17.480 --> 00:42:19.250 And we think about doing that as a community. 00:42:20.460 --> 00:42:21.620 We think about doing that as a church. 00:42:23.500 --> 00:42:32.940 It requires certain people at particular moments to take a leadership step and lower themselves for 00:42:32.940 --> 00:42:34.600 us to begin our relationship with God. 00:42:35.060 --> 00:42:42.200 It really took Jesus from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, to come to this world and literally humiliate 00:42:42.200 --> 00:42:43.360 themselves for us. 00:42:45.020 --> 00:42:51.120 And in his leadership, we grow together and in his leadership we have hope and we have freedom. 00:42:52.640 --> 00:42:59.200 And Jesus has to take something as torturous and ugly as a Roman cross and make it the symbol of our glory. 00:43:02.080 --> 00:43:09.380 Malchijah took a dung gate, and he taught us in a practical way further about 00:43:09.380 --> 00:43:12.340 what it means to lead with humility. 00:43:15.700 --> 00:43:19.900 We as a church family are only going to go forward as far as we humbly lead for our God. 00:43:21.940 --> 00:43:29.020 When people offend us or say things that wrong us, we seek to reconcile that community of relationship and in humility we lead. 00:43:30.560 --> 00:43:34.820 Do you know the word human comes from the Latin word, which also relates to the word humility. 00:43:37.780 --> 00:43:43.900 As human beings, the word humility, or the word human is to reflect us the lower position that we have before God. 00:43:46.120 --> 00:43:49.610 We are his servants and he is our king. 00:43:51.780 --> 00:43:56.880 A lot of times we reflect on him as a loving father, but still Scripture declares he is also our King. 00:43:58.760 --> 00:44:00.800 And so humbly we are to serve. 00:44:04.960 --> 00:44:08.680 How do we prepare ourselves for what God wants for our lives? 00:44:11.080 --> 00:44:16.400 Leading without humility will stop us from doing what God desires in our lives. 00:44:18.240 --> 00:44:25.540 See, God is preparing in all of our lives to begin a journey to begin in our lives of movement, if we would just surrender ourselves to 00:44:25.540 --> 00:44:26.440 him. 00:44:27.660 --> 00:44:31.570 Nehemiah recognized before the nation of Israel it wasn't anything different than they shouldn't understand. 00:44:31.800 --> 00:44:34.080 God wants to move in your life. 00:44:35.420 --> 00:44:42.620 In chapter two and verse 18, God had blessed them with the opportunity, had blessed Nehemiah with the opportunity to come to Jerusalem and rebuild those 00:44:42.620 --> 00:44:45.040 walls he had gifted him. 00:44:45.080 --> 00:44:52.240 And he tells the enemies of Israel in verse 20, God is going to do this work in our lives and as 00:44:52.240 --> 00:44:55.460 a church, God has promised you the same thing. 00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:05.500 The Bible tells us that the gates of hell will not prevail against the power of the church, and Christ as 00:45:05.500 --> 00:45:08.140 individuals has set you free. 00:45:09.980 --> 00:45:14.040 Do you understand what God wants to do in your life? 00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:18.060 He's got a wonderful plan for your future. 00:45:20.220 --> 00:45:25.080 He's given you the invitation to follow after him as you consecrate yield your life. 00:45:26.620 --> 00:45:30.680 He desires for you to connect with his community, to grow with one another. 00:45:30.680 --> 00:45:35.790 And it's a wonderful thing because we get to work next to one another in the gifted areas that we desire. 00:45:36.040 --> 00:45:38.780 And he can use any old stone to get the job done. 00:45:41.000 --> 00:45:48.060 God desires to work through your life, but in humility we subject ourselves to one another. 00:45:50.180 --> 00:45:57.240 You know what picture that paints for us as a church family, a powerful community that lives for Christ? 00:45:57.640 --> 00:45:58.510 You know how I know this? 00:45:59.060 --> 00:46:06.120 Because the nation of Israel was able to rebuild all the walls in Jerusalem within 52 days as they subjected themselves under 00:46:06.120 --> 00:46:07.420 what we've talked about today. 00:46:09.020 --> 00:46:09.660 That's how God moves. 00:46:11.800 --> 00:46:12.440 Make it a habit. 00:46:14.220 --> 00:46:19.330 Make it a habit in your life to just give him control and follow after him in his steps. 00:46:19.620 --> 00:46:23.460 Let's pray together. 00:46:27.480 --> 00:46:35.360 God, I thank you that you have set us free and the power of your word and 00:46:35.360 --> 00:46:41.720 all these names we read about today, because all those names came together for one purpose in you. 00:46:43.600 --> 00:46:47.340 And they thought about their city, Jerusalem and God. 00:46:47.380 --> 00:46:51.770 As we look at Nehemiah, these broken people and this broken city, I think about Lehi. 00:46:53.560 --> 00:47:00.720 I think about northern Utah County and God, I think about us being here at this appointed time for a specific 00:47:00.720 --> 00:47:01.080 purpose. 00:47:03.140 --> 00:47:05.560 And, God, you've made us giants for your kingdom. 00:47:07.040 --> 00:47:08.520 If we would just stop and let you have control. 00:47:11.280 --> 00:47:14.620 I pray that we're not selfish in our relationship with you. 00:47:16.160 --> 00:47:23.400 God, we understand what it means to walk after you, to be a part of your community, and to take a stand. 00:47:24.720 --> 00:47:30.480 To let you work in our lives, to heal the brokenhearted, to heal a city, to heal a people and allow them to follow after you. 00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:33.780 Thank you for setting us free. 00:47:35.020 --> 00:47:35.950 God, I pray that you bless. 00:47:36.500 --> 00:47:37.020 Bless our week. 00:47:38.300 --> 00:47:42.470 May we be an encouragement to one another throughout this week and we just ask it in Jesus name. 00:47:43.220 --> 00:47:43.720 Amen.