5-28-2022 West Palm Beach 7th Day BAPTIST, Pastor Andrew “Reflect and Build” Nehemiah 2;1-20
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As members of the Church, I hope you have all been reflecting and building; these are positive actions. The word “reflect” deals with the past and the word implies both a present and a future application. The talk of building is exciting but the actual work is not always so exciting. There are three realities of building, three eventualities that we should expect and three inevitabilities that we should prepare for in the process of building for the future.
**Realities of Building/Re-building**
--------------------------------------------
1) There Will Be A Mess:
In any building activity or project, there will be a mess. Remember that it is always easier to start from scratch. It is easier to start from scratch then to take something that is already built and do re-modeling, renovation construction on it. We must ask “Is there still a need for what is going to be re-built and is there anything that is salvageable from what remains?” You must ask yourself “Are you really committed to the work that it will take to re-build?” If it is yes to these questions then you need to make a good assessment of what you have presently and what you will be building on.
As you reflect on the past, you are going to find that there are both positive and negative reflections. There is something that you will reflect on with pleasure and joy. But then there may be something that you reflect on that brings pain and hurt. In your reflections are there still some things that need to be torn down? Are you aware of some destructive habits and some un-Christlike attitudes? Or some actions or decisions in the past that need to be repented of? Does there need to be some healing from hurts and wounds? Are there scars on the church that need to be soothed with the balm of Gilead? My friends, building is messy.
In our text in Nehemiah chapter 2, it is important to understand what is happening. The walls of the city of Jerusalem have been broken down and lay in ruins. The crumbled walls represented a breakdown of their city’s life, their social life, their cultural life and a breakdown of their spiritual life. Today I ask you what is broken down in the life of the West Palm Beach 7th Day Baptist church? Your reflection has to deal with those things no matter how messy they may be.
1A: You must make an assessment: To make an accurate assessment you must be physically, mentally and spiritually ready. If you go to assess the situation all tired and unfocused, you will just hurt your assessment. This is why I believe God waited three days before He led Nehemiah go to look at the gates and wall. God wanted Nehemiah to rest for a few days after his long trip from Persia to Jerusalem.
So to make an accurate assessment you must be physically and mentally ready. And you must be unbiased. Nehemiah went by himself at night so he could see where everything stood without anybody else’s commentary. Leaders and pastors, you have to do this assessment on your own. Don’t delegate this task to another. In the wee hours of the night, just you and the Lord should spend time reflecting on the situation, on the condition of the church and let the Lord show you some things without any human commentary. Humans will tell you their own perspectives and will tell you their side of things and their opinion. But sometimes you have to just get with God and let God tell you.
To make an accurate assessment we also need to be focused but not obsessed. You need to be honest and accurate about the damage but don’t obsess over it. That’s called worrying and all that will build is ulcers! Focus on the task and not on the tragedy. Don’t be obsessed with what has gone wrong but focus on what can be done now to repair, to rebuild and to move forward. This is important so that there will be a renewal and another chance to do things better this time.
2) There Will Be A Need For Workers:
Knowing that you usually cannot build anything by yourself, you need to consider:
2A: Is the building activity of God? It is not of any single individual or personality or family.
2B: Are there other people who are burdened and know that the building needs to be done?
2C: Are you willing to deal with people and find out who are the ones that are really invested in this activity and project?
We need to ask God to show us those who are talented and able to do the work. While Nehemiah was assessing the situation, he was thinking of who was going to do what. God was putting people in his mind. We need to be part of the team. Nehemiah tells the people about the destruction and that the goal is to re-build the wall. Also give them a testimony of what God has done in your life. This is what Nehemiah did.
As part of the Church, you each have a part in it’s building for the present and the future. I’m here today to tell you that nobody is going to come from anywhere else to do the work. Nobody from Ft Lauderdale, nobody from Miami is coming. Nobody is coming from Washington DC SDB church to do the work at the WPB church. Nobody from the Seventh Day BAPTIST church in Wisconsin or elsewhere is coming to do the work. You got my point? It is you the West Palm Beach SDB members that have to do the work. Workers will not fall from the sky! Workers will not appear like UFO’s! Are you ready to do your part in the task of building? Your pastor cannot do the building or re-building by himself. Who is ready to sign up? There is messy, hard and tiring work that has to be done in building things. Everyone can make a contribution. Even if you think you are an outsider, you can make a contribution because eventually we want every outsider to become an insider. In any building project there is a need for workers.
3) There Will Be Opposition:
In verses 19 and 20 of the text, it tells us that Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Amonite heard about the project to build. They mocked and ridiculed the Jews and Nehemiah. They asked them what they were doing and were they rebelling against the king of Persia. Nehemiah told them that the God of Heaven would give them success. We, his servants, will start re-building but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic rights to it. Anytime you begin to build or re-build something that is good, when you know that there will be opposition, you should consider these things:
3a. Ask Is this worth fighting for? Not every fight is worth fighting for. Nehemiah knew that this one was.
3b. Ask how will you hold up under criticism? Before you lead people into building, you must ask this so that you don’t get them started and then bail out of the building project. Nehemiah knew their would be criticisms but he wasn’t being led by the critics. He was being led by God. Don’t be driven by criticism but be driven by the Holy Spirit.
3c. Ask how will you respond to the enemy? Nehemiah responded by saying let them fight God. When the enemy comes, just set God on them. You don’t have to do the fighting, the battle belongs to the Lord! It’s not your fight. It is NOT your fight!
So WPB Seventh Day Baptist church, these three realities of building are facing you: the reality of a mess, the reality of the need for workers, the reality of oppositon. My encouragement to you today on your 30th year anniverasry, is that you should press through the building realities. Let the Lord GOD Almighty lead you like He led Nehemiah. Build the right walls of unity and harmony, love and peace and build walls of righteousness and holiness. Build walls of prayer and a wall of the Word of God. Build these kinds of walls and you can’t go wrong. I also want to encourage you to tear down walls of personal kingdoms. Tear down walls of pride and selfishness. Tear down walls of ingratitude. Tear down walls of fear and no vision. Keep building the walls of God.
If you have not trusted Jesus as your Savior then this is the first thing you must do today. Admit your sinfulness and accept what Jesus Christ did for you by dying on the cross for your sins. Receive Him into your life and that will put you in partnership with His building plan for your life. Nehemiah knew the realities of building but still led the people into re-building. You must look at the realities of building in your own situation. You must decide for yourselves, have you heard from God and are you in or out. You have to decide. God bless you.
AMEN
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As members of the Church, I hope you have all been reflecting and building; these are positive actions. The word “reflect” deals with the past and the word implies both a present and a future application. The talk of building is exciting but the actual work is not always so exciting. There are three realities of building, three eventualities that we should expect and three inevitabilities that we should prepare for in the process of building for the future.
**Realities of Building/Re-building**
--------------------------------------------
1) There Will Be A Mess:
In any building activity or project, there will be a mess. Remember that it is always easier to start from scratch. It is easier to start from scratch then to take something that is already built and do re-modeling, renovation construction on it. We must ask “Is there still a need for what is going to be re-built and is there anything that is salvageable from what remains?” You must ask yourself “Are you really committed to the work that it will take to re-build?” If it is yes to these questions then you need to make a good assessment of what you have presently and what you will be building on.
As you reflect on the past, you are going to find that there are both positive and negative reflections. There is something that you will reflect on with pleasure and joy. But then there may be something that you reflect on that brings pain and hurt. In your reflections are there still some things that need to be torn down? Are you aware of some destructive habits and some un-Christlike attitudes? Or some actions or decisions in the past that need to be repented of? Does there need to be some healing from hurts and wounds? Are there scars on the church that need to be soothed with the balm of Gilead? My friends, building is messy.
In our text in Nehemiah chapter 2, it is important to understand what is happening. The walls of the city of Jerusalem have been broken down and lay in ruins. The crumbled walls represented a breakdown of their city’s life, their social life, their cultural life and a breakdown of their spiritual life. Today I ask you what is broken down in the life of the West Palm Beach 7th Day Baptist church? Your reflection has to deal with those things no matter how messy they may be.
1A: You must make an assessment: To make an accurate assessment you must be physically, mentally and spiritually ready. If you go to assess the situation all tired and unfocused, you will just hurt your assessment. This is why I believe God waited three days before He led Nehemiah go to look at the gates and wall. God wanted Nehemiah to rest for a few days after his long trip from Persia to Jerusalem.
So to make an accurate assessment you must be physically and mentally ready. And you must be unbiased. Nehemiah went by himself at night so he could see where everything stood without anybody else’s commentary. Leaders and pastors, you have to do this assessment on your own. Don’t delegate this task to another. In the wee hours of the night, just you and the Lord should spend time reflecting on the situation, on the condition of the church and let the Lord show you some things without any human commentary. Humans will tell you their own perspectives and will tell you their side of things and their opinion. But sometimes you have to just get with God and let God tell you.
To make an accurate assessment we also need to be focused but not obsessed. You need to be honest and accurate about the damage but don’t obsess over it. That’s called worrying and all that will build is ulcers! Focus on the task and not on the tragedy. Don’t be obsessed with what has gone wrong but focus on what can be done now to repair, to rebuild and to move forward. This is important so that there will be a renewal and another chance to do things better this time.
2) There Will Be A Need For Workers:
Knowing that you usually cannot build anything by yourself, you need to consider:
2A: Is the building activity of God? It is not of any single individual or personality or family.
2B: Are there other people who are burdened and know that the building needs to be done?
2C: Are you willing to deal with people and find out who are the ones that are really invested in this activity and project?
We need to ask God to show us those who are talented and able to do the work. While Nehemiah was assessing the situation, he was thinking of who was going to do what. God was putting people in his mind. We need to be part of the team. Nehemiah tells the people about the destruction and that the goal is to re-build the wall. Also give them a testimony of what God has done in your life. This is what Nehemiah did.
As part of the Church, you each have a part in it’s building for the present and the future. I’m here today to tell you that nobody is going to come from anywhere else to do the work. Nobody from Ft Lauderdale, nobody from Miami is coming. Nobody is coming from Washington DC SDB church to do the work at the WPB church. Nobody from the Seventh Day BAPTIST church in Wisconsin or elsewhere is coming to do the work. You got my point? It is you the West Palm Beach SDB members that have to do the work. Workers will not fall from the sky! Workers will not appear like UFO’s! Are you ready to do your part in the task of building? Your pastor cannot do the building or re-building by himself. Who is ready to sign up? There is messy, hard and tiring work that has to be done in building things. Everyone can make a contribution. Even if you think you are an outsider, you can make a contribution because eventually we want every outsider to become an insider. In any building project there is a need for workers.
3) There Will Be Opposition:
In verses 19 and 20 of the text, it tells us that Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Amonite heard about the project to build. They mocked and ridiculed the Jews and Nehemiah. They asked them what they were doing and were they rebelling against the king of Persia. Nehemiah told them that the God of Heaven would give them success. We, his servants, will start re-building but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic rights to it. Anytime you begin to build or re-build something that is good, when you know that there will be opposition, you should consider these things:
3a. Ask Is this worth fighting for? Not every fight is worth fighting for. Nehemiah knew that this one was.
3b. Ask how will you hold up under criticism? Before you lead people into building, you must ask this so that you don’t get them started and then bail out of the building project. Nehemiah knew their would be criticisms but he wasn’t being led by the critics. He was being led by God. Don’t be driven by criticism but be driven by the Holy Spirit.
3c. Ask how will you respond to the enemy? Nehemiah responded by saying let them fight God. When the enemy comes, just set God on them. You don’t have to do the fighting, the battle belongs to the Lord! It’s not your fight. It is NOT your fight!
So WPB Seventh Day Baptist church, these three realities of building are facing you: the reality of a mess, the reality of the need for workers, the reality of oppositon. My encouragement to you today on your 30th year anniverasry, is that you should press through the building realities. Let the Lord GOD Almighty lead you like He led Nehemiah. Build the right walls of unity and harmony, love and peace and build walls of righteousness and holiness. Build walls of prayer and a wall of the Word of God. Build these kinds of walls and you can’t go wrong. I also want to encourage you to tear down walls of personal kingdoms. Tear down walls of pride and selfishness. Tear down walls of ingratitude. Tear down walls of fear and no vision. Keep building the walls of God.
If you have not trusted Jesus as your Savior then this is the first thing you must do today. Admit your sinfulness and accept what Jesus Christ did for you by dying on the cross for your sins. Receive Him into your life and that will put you in partnership with His building plan for your life. Nehemiah knew the realities of building but still led the people into re-building. You must look at the realities of building in your own situation. You must decide for yourselves, have you heard from God and are you in or out. You have to decide. God bless you.
AMEN
