Bulletins - Cornerstone Independent Baptist Church (Enola, PA)

All I Ever Want To Be
Review
Turn to Nehemiah 3.
Let me remind you of where we are at in this history: the rebuilding of the wall has begun! Nehemiah assigned specific groups or families to rebuild portions of the wall. It was an organized effort. We saw that we must be organized and intentional in every area of our lives, including our spiritual lives.
Secondly we saw that someone had to rise up, pick up their tools, and start working. Eliashib the high priest did just that. He lead the priests to rebuild the sheep gate. Men must be leaders in doing the work of God which is the will of God. As long as you are busy doing God’s will, you will be busy doing God’s work.
Introduction
Today in Nehemiah chapter three where we are going to see two final principles from this text that we need to live by in our lives.
We’re going to see the first principle by considering…
Next slide here:
The people of the work
There were all kinds of people involved in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. I have no doubt that many of the people were used to working with their hands like farmers, builders, and stonemasons, but strangely, they’re not mentioned here. Instead, we find a number of people here that - at first glance - you wouldn’t expect to see them with their sleeves rolled up and sweat on their brow.
Next slide here:
Priests and Levites - Nehemiah 3:1.
Growing up, probably like a lot of young people, I had this idea that pastors were strange people. They were just different - and a little scary. Part of that was because usually I saw my pastor on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s and whenever I saw him he had a tie on. Besides, anytime you interact with a pastor you run the risk of being turned into a sermon illustration!
I think I almost went into a state of shock the first time I saw my pastor in more casual attire at a church work day and he was out helping spread the mulch around the church building. I didn’t know pastors could operate a shovel! I didn’t realize that pastors mowed their own yards! It was quite the epiphany when I realized that pastors do all the stuff around their house that people normally do!
I don’t know but perhaps thats how the Old Testament Jews looked at their priests and perhaps it came as a real surprise when Eliashib was the first to begin rebuilding the wall.
Next slide here:
Eliashib: God restores
That’s exactly what God intended to do to the wall of Jerusalem and He wanted to use some real people to make it happen.
Show slides of the city walls.
Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives
Modern Jerusalem - Old city
Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day
Eliashib and the priests did something unusual as they built the sheep gate. It says that they built the sheep gate and “they sanctified it.” This is the only time that this is mentioned in the building of the walls.
Next slide here:
Sanctify: to set apart, to declare that something is consecrated unto the Lord.
Now in the Old Testament you usually see people or objects being sanctified unto the Lord. But gates? Not so much. This was rather unique.
Eliashib and the priests built the gates and then they dedicated them unto the Lord!
“This sheep gate and these walls and these towers are the Lord’s! This is His work, these are His walls, and this is all for His glory!”
Application: Christian, that’s how you need to live every single day of your life. In all that you do, your objective, your motive should be to bring glory to God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV 1900
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
No matter what you are doing, you should always bring glory to God!
If you are working, it should be with diligence and a good attitude!
If you are eating, you should express your thankfulness to God the provider!
If you are relaxing after a long day of work, how you spend your time and how you are entertained should not displease Him in any way!
Bring glory to God’s name in everything you do, Christian, even if it’s just laying one stone upon another and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
Next slide here:
Government Officials - Nehemiah 3:9, 12, 14, 16-19.
Several rulers of districts (e.g., Rephaiah of the district of Jerusalem, Shallum of the district of Mizpah) repaired large sections.
Many government officials became involved in the work, but there were a few who did not - verse five.
The nobles of Tekoa wouldn’t lift a finger to help the cause.
Next slide here:
Guilds and Tradesmen - Nehemiah 3:8.
Goldsmiths and perfumers are specifically mentioned, showing involvement from artisan guilds. Merchants also helped, especially in sections near the markets and gates.
The business owners of the community pitched in and helped build the wall!
Next slide here:
People from Surrounding Towns
Men from Jericho, Tekoa, Mizpah, Zanoah, and other places helped with various sections.
Next slide here:
Families and Individuals
Children - verse 12
Gibeonites - assimilated non-Jews - verse 7
Nethinim - assimilated non-Jews who served the priests and Levites in menial tasks - verse 26
Priests, government officials, business owners, families, including sons and daughters, and even some gentiles, who were probably converts to Judaism, these were the people involved in the work of building the walls. The people of the work did the work together.
Application: The parallel to the New Testament pattern of the local church could not be more clear. The New Testament pattern is that in the local church, people of all classes, all backgrounds, and all ages come together as one in Christ and do the work of the ministry together.
Church families should work together
Church families should worship together
Church families should stand against false doctrine and sin together
Church families should weep and share burdens together
Church families should pray together
Church families should rejoice together
Church families should learn together
Church families should enjoy God’s blessings together
We may have all different backgrounds. We may have all different careers. We may have all different places in life. But we are one in Christ.
So we see the people of the work, secondly…
Next slide here:
The labor of the work
I have some fond memories of working on dairy farms in my high school years. I had a good experience working on dairy farms. It taught me a lot.
Winter often meant working inside and repairing things in the barns. Springtime and warmer weather meant getting back outside - fixing fences and gates, sometimes building new fences.
Summer, it was just hot. I grew to enjoy it but a couple of episodes of near heat stroke while working outside will dampen your enthusiasm for being outside.
Harvest time and the fall season meant long hours. The work had to get done. There wasn’t another option. You just worked as hard and as long as you could.
That’s probably what it was like as they built the walls. It was some long, difficult days of real work. Several words are used to describe the work.
Next slide here:
They built the wall - Nehemiah 3:13
This description is found seven times in the chapter.

Next slide here:
They set up the gates - Nehemiah 3:6
This description is found six times in the chapter.
Usually, the gates were the section of the wall that was most heavily attacked when a city was under assault. When the Babylonians attacked the city, they burned the gates with fire and so the gates had to be completely rebuilt and rehung.
I always enjoy watching a master carpenter practice their trade and turn a lowly piece of wood into something beautiful.
When my family and I lived in Kinston, NC, we had the opportunity to visit small town about 30 minutes north called Ayden, NC. It’s home to some of the best Eastern Carolina BBQ that you can find where they cook the whole hog at a little restaurant called the Skylight Inn. One time we went up to Ayden and visited a Christian gentleman that had a woodworking shop.
Stepping onto his property was like stepping back in time. It was awesome. It was rural Americana at its finest. He gave us a tour of his shop and my kids were wide-eyed the entire time.
He would take all different kinds of woods - all different colors and hues - and turn them into charcuterie boards, tables, lampstands, and so much more. He sold the charcuterie boards at a friend’s shop up in the mountains of Boone, NC. It was just amazing to see what he would produce from some basic pieces of wood.
We don’t know much about these people, but I can imagine that there were some woodworkers who stepped up and put their skills to use and fashioned the new gates for the city walls.
Application: I’m not sure what skills you have but I am certain of this, God wants to use you and your skillset for His glory and in His work.
Next slide here:
They laid the beams - Nehemiah 3:6
They redid the framing for the gates and then secured the gates with locks and bars. Locks refer to the sockets into which the bars were fitted so as to bar the doors when closed.
Next slide here:
They repaired the wall - Nehemiah 3:22-24
Next slide here:
Repair: to make strong and firm, to strengthen
This is the most common way that the work is described in this chapter. Thirty-five times Nehemiah says that they repaired the wall. All around Jerusalem lay the ruins from when Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the city 140 years earlier in 586 BC. Now it was time to rebuild and strengthen the walls again. They weren’t interested in a quick fix. Their city’s line of defense was at stake and they intended to do it right the first time.
Some people, after they finished one section of the wall, started working on another - Nehemiah 3:5, 27.
One man is described as working especially hard - Nehemiah 3:20.
Next slide here:
Earnestly: to burn, to be incensed, angry, zealous
Application: This was real work. This wasn’t a 9-5 job. This wasn’t a project where you work on it when you feel like it. This was a season of work that included long hours and a few extra blisters on their hands.
If you’re going to do the Lord’s work, be all in! Be committed to the work. Sometimes - I don’t believe all the time - but sometimes, serving the Lord is going to mean long hours and weary bodies. When that happens, remember that your objective is not to please me or anyone else, it is to please Jesus and to prepare for the day that you stand before Him.
Matthew 6:20 KJV 1900
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Conclusion
Real People; Real Work: that was the human component that was needed to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day.
Jesus made the promise, “I will build my church.” He has made the commitment to build His church, but He delights to work through a human component to do it. We are that human component that Jesus delights to use in building His church.
If you like hearing a choir at our church - then someone has to sing in it.
If you like having children’s ministries, then people are needed to teach it.
If you like attending special activities for different age groups, then someone has to plan it.
As we are on the verge of summer activities, let’s busy ourselves with the Lord’s work.
Tell others about our precious Jesus that you love so much.
Invite others to our services and activities where we gather as a family to live our faith.
Let’s enjoy the summertime to come and let’s enjoy working together for the glory of God.
Invitation
Motives in ministry
Zeal in serving the Lord

Review

Introduction

Conclusion

Invitation