To the Wall

I.                     ME

a.        Church Planting

b.      Different from other churches

c.       Church plants are/should be the natural out growth of obedience to Jesus Christ

“^1aGo therefore and ^bmake disciples of ^call the nations, ^dbaptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, ^aI am with you ¹always, even to ^bthe end of the age.”^[1]

d.       Mission of Discipleship

II.                   Losing Focus

a.        Let’s face it, being part of a church plant is hard

b.      Lack of resources

c.       Lack of structure everyone has to work

d.      Frustration and tiredness

e.      Seems like everything is set against us

f.        The task of church planting and being obedient to the command of our Master Jesus Christ is not easy. 

III.                 Nehemiah 4

a.        People in Nehemiah’s day in a similar predicament as us.  Had a difficult task and mission.

v. 1-6

    1   ¹Now it came about that when ^aSanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews.

    2   He spoke in the presence of his brothers and ^athe ¹wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the ^2bdusty rubble even the burned ones?”

    3   Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—^aif a fox should ¹jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

    4   ^aHear, O our God, how we are despised! ^bReturn their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity.

    5   Do not ^1aforgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have ²demoralized the builders.

    6   So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a ¹mind to work. ^[2]

a.        When faced with opposition they stayed focused on the mission.  They rallied to the wall and kept their minds focused on the mission and the one who gave the mission to them. 

b.      Didn’t turn their focus and energy on the people mocking them or the problem.  Turned to God.  Relied on God.

c.       Kept on keeping

v.  7-11

7 ¹Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the ²repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry.

    8   All of them ^aconspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. ^[3]

    9   But we prayed to our God, and because of them we ^aset up a guard against them day and night.

  10   Thus ¹in Judah it was said,

“The strength of the burden bearers is failing,

Yet there is much ²rubbish;

And we ourselves are unable

To rebuild the wall.”

  11   Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work.” ^[4]

a.        Persevered in the task at hand

b.      The task took time

c.       They were on guard at all times

d.      They prayed/depended on God and each other

v.  12-15

  12   When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “¹They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,”

  13   then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the ¹exposed places, and I ^astationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows.

  14   When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “^aDo not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and ^bfight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.”

  15   When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that ^aGod had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. ^[5]

a.        Remember the battle belongs to the Lord

b.      God frustrated the plans of the enemy

c.       Each one returned to his work

IV.                 To the Wall

a.        What is our wall?  Just like the Israelites we need to know what our mission is.  We must be focused on our mission and give all of our attention to the mission giver.

b.      Our wall is Epic church, our mission is making disciples at Epic Church.  The giver of our mission is Jesus Christ

c.       The blessings of Jesus Christ can’t be fully experienced outside of the mission of Jesus Christ

-Ephesians 2:10

“For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we might walk in them.”

d.      We must persevere because the race before us is a race of endurance.  Making disciples takes time.  The call to make disciples is a command to make intentional relationships.  Called to live life together.  Life on life is the only way to do discipleship. 

e.      Relationships take intentional work.  “Teaching them to observe.”  That indicates intentionality in our relationships.  Not just hanging out. 

f.        We all have relationships, so you know that the quality and strength of your relationship is directly proportional to the amount of work you put into it. 

g.       The Picture we see in Nehemiah is that of individual children of God praying, relying on God and relying on one another.  We need to do the same.  If we don’t we will never be successful in completing our mission. 

h.      The final point is that everyone returned to their work.  Everyone had a job.  Everyone participates.  Not all of us will have the same job.  Not all of us will preach, sing, or teach.  Praise God!  It says in God’s word that only some are given to particular tasks and gifts.  But all of us are gifted.  If you are a believer, a child of God.  If you’ve placed your trust in Jesus Christ then you’ve been blessed with gifts to serve and build up the body of Christ. 

i.         How are you using them? 

j.        How do you say thank you?

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¹ Or Having gone; Gr aorist participle

^a Mark 16:15f

^b Matt 13:52; Acts 1:8; 14:21

^c Matt 25:32; Luke 24:47

^d Acts 2:38; 8:16; Rom 6:3; 1 Cor 1:13, 15ff; Gal 3:27

^a Matt 18:20; Acts 18:10

¹ Lit all the days

^b Matt 13:39

^[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mt 28:19–20.

¹ Ch 3:33 in Heb

^a Neh 2:10

^a Ezra 4:9, 10

¹ Or army

² Lit heaps of dust

^b Neh 4:10

^a Lam 5:18

¹ Lit go up

^a Ps 123:3, 4

^b Ps 79:12

¹ Lit cover

^a Ps 69:27, 28; Jer 18:23

² Lit offended against

¹ Lit heart

^[2] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ne 4:1–6.

¹ Ch 4:1 in Heb

² Lit healing

^a Ps 83:3

^[3] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ne 4:7–8.

^a Neh 4:11

¹ Lit Judah said

² Lit dust

^[4] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ne 4:9–11.

¹ So Gr; Heb omits they...up

¹ Lit bare

^a Neh 4:17, 18

^a Num 14:9; Deut 1:29, 30

^b 2 Sam 10:12

^a 2 Sam 17:14

^[5] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ne 4:12–15.