The Hammer & Sword - Part 1

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
Nehemiah 1:1-3

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’
Nehemiah 1:8-9

I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 2:3-4

• Permission to leave his position for a time and rebuild Jerusalem
• Letters of safe passage
• Timber from the king’s forest

God prepares us to act boldly in obedience.

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”
Nehemiah 2:17-20

Haters gonna hate

And next to them

• UNITY
• RESPONSIBILITY
• ACCOUNTABILITY

You don’t have to carry your burdens alone.

When we help carry each other’s burdens, everyone carries less.

Christianity cannot be an occasional additive to our lives.

There were plenty of people that didn’t help Israel rebuild.

Not everyone present is willing to participate.

If we are not willing to serve, how can we ever lead?

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25

I want to build beside you.

When church is only something that happens on Sunday, we are all missing the benefits of community.

God uses the burdens on our hearts to shape us.

God calls us to step out boldly when He presents us with opportunity.

God calls us to unite and work beside one another to build and defend.