Sermon notes - Rebuilding Jerusalem / Mobilizing the Church

• Over the past year the core leadership at Newlife has been formulating our core vision
  • Really it’s the vision Jesus gave us: to make disciples of all nations and bring them up into maturity
• We’ve been communicating this vision in different ways, but today I want to focus on what I believe it looks like for 2018
• I just have two words:

• I want to look at a story about Jerusalem that teaches us some practical things regarding how to mobilize the church

The Story

Introduction

• Remind of captivity
  • Kingdom divided after the death of Solomon
  • Northen Kingdom (Israel) became corrupt faster and was taken into captivity by the Assyrians
  • Southern Kingdom (Judah) became increasingly idolatrous
  • resisted the prophets and were taken by the Babylonians

• Black Obelisk (substantiates the biblical account)

The cities are left in ruins

• Two generations later
  • a small percentage returned with Ezra
• State of the city of Jerusalem
  • very few lived there (11:1–2) —rubble and desolation
  • a vicious circle, just like some inner cities have become
  • but vital if the Jews were not to become mixed in with the nations

Back in Babylon

• The Persian Empire had overthrown the Babylonians
  • The emperor Artaxerxes ruled from India to Greece
• Nehemiah’s job: cupbearer

1. The Events

• Nehemiah arrived and visited the walls
  • Four Km of them (had been up to 7m thick in some places about width of a regular street)
  • Heaps of rubbish (Read 2:11–16)

Jerusalem is a picture of the church, both worldwide and local

• He had opposition (2:19–20 Ancient archaeological records mention all three of these)
• He was wise (did this in secret)
  • Good organization, yet his confidence was in God
• So with great enthusiasm, they started to build

Depressing?

• Sometimes building the church is depressing
• Nobody would actually even live there to start with (chicken and egg)
• You may be wonderfully gifted at embroidery but when dirt needs shifting...
• Willing to be organized?
• Many of them worked long hours
• Many even left the harvest
• Yet God says that for everything we give up for him we will receive back many times more

• 4:1–3 mocks and ridicules
• v8 actual hostility
• v10-12 threats – low morale
• later told the authorities to try to get the work stopped
• later spread false rumours about an assassination attempt agains Neh to make him hide
  • Satan tries to shut us down by fear
• Then Satan tried another approach:
• Pretended to be friends
• Tried to turn friends against Nehemiah
• What is the remedy?
  
  1. Jesus said “Watch and Pray” See v.9
  2. They encouraged each other See v.14
  3. They were quick to help those under attack See v.16, 20

• The parts of our “wall”
• Gifts and interests

We want you to be the person God wants you to be. (+we will train and mentor you)

Updated on 2018-01-16 by Andrew Fountain