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Built to Last: Continued Building
May 5, 2024 · 52 min
Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub's sermon "Continued Building" emphasizes perseverance in faith, using Nehemiah's story to highlight the importance of following God's vision despite opposition. The sermon underscores the necessity of godly leadership, faithfulness to God's plan, and recognizing the significance of each individual's contribution to God's work. Ultimately, the sermon urges the congregation to glorify God, await heavenly unity, and continue building their faith in accordance with God's vision. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church May 5, 2024 · 52 min · BRAVE Church
Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub's sermon "Continued Building" emphasizes perseverance in faith, using Nehemiah's story to highlight the importance of following God's vision despite opposition. The sermon underscores the necessity of godly leadership, faithfulness to God's plan, and recognizing the significance of each individual's contribution to God's work. Ultimately, the sermon urges the congregation to glorify God, await heavenly unity, and continue building their faith in accordance with God's vision. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub's sermon "Continued Building" emphasizes perseverance in faith, using Nehemiah's story to highlight the importance of following God's vision despite opposition. The sermon underscores the necessity of godly leadership, faithfulness to God's plan, and recognizing the significance of each individual's contribution to God's work. Ultimately, the sermon urges the congregation to glorify God, await heavenly unity, and continue building their faith in accordance with God's vision. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise that is rightly due to your name and your name alone. It is an honor, Lord, to gather as your saints, to worship your name, to sing0:12 praises to you, to seek your face, and to now get ready to hear your living and active word. Lord, we thank you for your word because we believe as a people that every time that your word is faithfully and accurately0:22 proclaimed, that you are speaking. And so our prayer this morning, Lord, is speak for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to your0:34 heart, who will believe what he tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. As we've been in the book of0:46 Nehemiah, we've been talking about what it looks like when God gives us a vision for where he's leading us, and either we're leading or we're part of that vision. And as we follow after the Lord, and we take steps of0:56 faith, even when we see the Lord come through, and even when we see his goodness and kindness to us, and even when we see his favor on our life, we realize that when we walk in the ways of the Lord, there is1:08 increased opposition to us going the way of the Lord. There is also not only increased opposition on the outside, but on the inside, internal conflict can rise as well. Being a believer in any generation1:19 and living completely for the Lord is challenging. It's difficult. And yet, when we see the Lord do what he does, many times we begin to ask the question, okay, how much longer? How much longer do I have to do this? And1:31 sometimes, as Christians, we'll even say, can't wait till Jesus gets back, or I I can't wait to meet him. But what we're usually saying when we say that is not, I'm ready to go to heaven. What we're usually saying when
1:43 we say that is, I need some rest. I need a break. This is this is getting hard. Lord, help me to continue to do that. And so as we're talking about what God's vision is, we're talking about what God calls
1:55 us to do and how we individually and corporately are to respond. How is it that we can continue building? How is it that we can continue to go after the Lord when it becomes difficult? When we
2:07 have internal conflict? When there's increased opposition? When we're doing the things of the Lord? And if you've ever wondered like, how do I endure all the way to the end? I believe God has a word for you. I mean, even
2:18 Jesus in the New Testament said, who sits down to build a tower without counting the cost first for how much it's gonna take to build the tower. Because if you don't have the resources and the tower doesn't get built,
2:29 you're gonna be ridiculed saying that man didn't have the resources it took. And so many times, we're scared to take steps of faith because when we're taking those steps, we begin to think, well, how we gonna get there,
2:39 and and how we gonna do this? And we already did this much, but how do we keep going, and how do we continue to do what God wants us to do? I wanna encourage you this morning, if you're looking for a word on how you
2:49 continue going with the Lord, that God has a word for you. We're gonna be in Nehemiah chapter 7 this morning. Nehemiah chapter 7. And as you're turning there, you'll recall that Nehemiah has been doing the very things of
3:01 God. He's experienced God's favor. He's experienced God's blessing. He's experienced God's provision. He's put teams of people together. And as we left off last week, after waiting 130 years
3:13 in just 52 days of building, the wall is complete. But God is not done with what he wants to do. And so how is
3:25 it that we continue building? Now, I don't know about you, but because I preach through the word and I love the word, every word in the word is important to God. Therefore, it's important to us, and we're gonna preach
3:36 every word. But how many have seen the Food Network? Anybody seen the Food Network? You ever see that show Chopped? And in Chopped, they they give these 4 or 3 or 3 chefs, guess. They give them up 4 ingredients. They
3:46 give them like a a pineapple and a pop tart and liver and like a radish, and then they've got to turn that into something special. And I I watch that show. I'm like, that's all you got to work with?
3:58 That's how I feel about Nehemiah chapter 7. Because when you read it, you're thinking if your normal bible reader, when you get to Nehemiah chapter 7, you probably read the first 5 verses and maybe the last 1 and you
4:09 move on. But I wanna tell you every word in the word of God matters and we're gonna go through it this morning to see why it is that we need to continue on with the Lord. And if we're gonna continue building what the
4:21 Lord wants us to build, what is it that we need to champion for God to use us individually and corporately in this generation? And the first is this, that continued building champions
4:33 the establishment and instruction of godly leadership. If you're gonna continue building for the Lord, you're you're gonna need to champion the establishment and instruction of godly leadership. Notice this in
4:45 chapter 7 verse 1. Now when the wall was rebuilt, so now it's rebuilt, and I had set up the doors and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed, then I put Hanani, my brother, and
4:56 Hananiah, the commander of the fortress in charge of Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many. Then I said to them, to those 2 men, do not let the gates of Jerusalem be
5:08 opened until the sun is hot, and while they are standing guard, let them shut and bolt the doors. Also, appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each at his post and each in front of his
5:20 own house. Now check this out. For 130 plus years, we've been waiting for the wall to get rebuilt. In 52 days, it's rebuilt. And now it says, now that the wall was rebuilt, you would think it would say, was done,
5:32 and I put up my feet, and I got on social media, and I started watching football. No. Now that it's done, I'm gonna tell you, now that the wall's built, we're just getting started for what God wants to do.
5:44 If you're still breathing, God has purpose for your life beyond what you've currently done right now. It says, when the wall was rebuilt and he had shut the doors or he set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the
5:55 singers and Levites were appointed, which tells me this. Normally, gatekeepers and the Levites, they were all in charge of the temple, and what what's he using them for? He's using them all over. Why? Because primarily,
6:06 when it comes to the things of God, worship needs to lead out. And he's using all those who instruct them in the worship of the Lord to be helpful around the wall for what's needed. And then he selects 2 men.
6:18 He selects 2 men. Notice who he picks. He picks Hanani, his brother, and Hananiah, who's the commander of the fortress and puts them in charge of Jerusalem. Why? Because he was a faithful man and feared God more than
6:30 many. What did he do? He feared God rather than people. He was faithful in the things of the Lord over a period of time. When it comes to the establishment and the instruction of
6:42 godly leadership for God's community, the selection of leaders is important. The first way to find a godly leader is to look at his or her spiritual track record. Here's what Nehemiah teaches us through the
6:54 spirit of God this morning. Find faithful men who fear God. Find faithful men who fear God. See, the fear of man can be a snare. If you fear what other people think when you're taking steps of
7:06 faith, it's always gonna cause problems. It's always gonna let you down because you're always gonna hear a voice in your saying, why are you doing that? How come you're doing that? You shouldn't be and if you listen to
7:15 the voice of people and you try to keep people happy, you can't continue to sustain faithful steps with the Lord. So find people that have a spiritual track record of caring more about what God
7:26 thinks than what the people around them think. Amen? Why? Because God's community needs that. He needs faithful leaders that do that. Find people who have been
7:38 serving faithfully, not people who talk about wanting to be leaders. People that talk about wanting to be leaders don't even know what a leader is. Leaders are just servants on steroids.
7:50 It means, are you faithful in your service? Watch what people do. Let people be tested. That's why the New Testament says, when it comes to the selection of elders, don't be hasty in the laying on of hands. Don't don't
8:02 put them in leadership too soon. They became a Christian last year. Don't make them an elder just yet. Right? And sometimes we talk it this way as Christians like, oh, if so and so got
8:13 saved, if if so they're so gifted, they're they're so great. If they got saved, they'd be such a benefit to the church. No. If so and so got saved and was born again, they would be a babe in Christ and would need to grow
8:25 in the faithfulness of the Lord until they were able to be used in service to him in a greater capacity. New believers start out as newborns. Right? And here's the
8:37 problem in our culture. Most of our culture falsely believes that worldly influence and giftedness equals spiritual maturity and godly leadership. Let me just tell you this. Worldly influence and giftedness does not
8:49 equal, nor does it have anything to do with spiritual maturity and godly influence. Notice who Jesus picked as his 12 apostles. He didn't pick anybody that had worldly influence, and he certainly didn't pick that many
9:00 gifted people. Who did he pick? He picked people that he knew would follow him all the way to the end. There were time even in John chapter 6, I think it's verse 66, where he looks at the disciples when everybody's
9:10 leaving and he says what? He doesn't say, don't go. I need you. He looks at them and says, you're not gonna leave too, are you? Because you can because I don't need you.
9:23 Peter says, where else are we gonna go? You have the words of life. Right? What was he looking for? He was looking for spiritual maturity. He was looking for people that were gonna be faithful all the way to their the
9:32 end. Many that were gonna end up giving their very lives for him. That's what he was looking for. Godliness, integrity, loyalty, faithfulness, people who would serve the Lord. You say,
9:44 well, how do you find those kind of people? Time. You you find them in time. What I find is that most of us as Christians handle prosperity fairly well. You get a raise, you celebrate
9:55 it. Thank you, Jesus. We tell our spouses. We we tell our friends. We might go buy some new things. You get engaged or you get married. You celebrate. You tell everybody. You get a new job. You tell
10:07 everybody. Anything good. We tend to handle prosperity okay, but it's when trial hits. It's when turmoil hits. It's when tribulation hits that you really begin to see what a
10:19 person's made of. Trial and tribulation is the squeezing of a person to see what's truly gonna come out on the inside. The only way you can prepare for a trial is today for what's about ready to come. You can't prepare
10:30 for the trial when the trial's happening. When the trial's happening, it's just showing what's on the inside of you. What comes out during a trial is genuinely what's in the heart of the person going through it.
10:42 So give people time. Watch them go through a trial, And then you can ask people whether that's a personal trial or a corporate trial in the in the church or in in your job or in school or where
10:54 in your neighborhood when you go through something like that. How do they handle the trial? How do these people or how do these individuals handle something when it doesn't go their way or when they're told no? Do they
11:05 respond this way? Do they complain? Do they whine? Do they argue for their own way? Do they gossip and speak with other people? Do they rally people to their own way of
11:17 thinking? If they do, you know this, they're very spiritually immature. That's how spiritually immature people respond. Why? Because spiritually immature people think trials are about them, and they're not getting their
11:29 way, and so they have to fix everything to make sure it goes their way. But spiritually mature people realize when they go through a trial, that God providentially is the 1 that brought it so that they can grow in
11:39 maturity, that they can grow in grace, they can grow in knowledge, they can grow in wisdom. So while they don't enjoy the trial, they're thanking God in the trial, and they're responding differently.
11:53 Here's how you know a mature saint. Do they seek the Lord? They pray. Do they read the word? Do they submit to Christ's authority? Do they cast all their burdens on him and take all their
12:05 emotions and all those things like, Jesus, you gotta take this? Do they trust God for the best outcomes? Do they believe that God's providential, that God's sovereign, that he's working it all out. Because when you're
12:16 spiritually mature, here's what you say when I go through a trial. You say, God, you get to determine the outcome. You get to determine where this goes. This is not a situation I would have wanted to be in. I didn't
12:26 choose this. You chose it for me, but I thank you that you think I'm mature enough to handle it. Help me make sure that in the trial, I'm listening to you, and I'm being obedient to you, and I'm honoring you, and I'm
12:38 loving you, and I'm serving you, and I'm treating the people around me the way you'd want me to treat them. And that's how you know who spiritual leaders are. When you find people like that that don't get their way, and
12:50 yet they're saying, it doesn't matter what my way is, Lord. Because the Lord says, your ways are not my ways. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. My thoughts and my ways are way higher than your thoughts and your
13:02 ways. Like, if God only did the things we want God to do, our life would look very, very different because there's so many times we wouldn't choose the way it's going. And so we beg God to change our circumstances
13:14 when God is sometimes saying, this is the 1 I had for you. This is what's gonna mature you. This is what makes you a better servant of me. Now think about it, saints. Those of you who are mature believers, isn't
13:25 it true that sometimes the most awful situations you've been through, the ones you would never choose, the ones when you went through them that you sought the Lord, you prayed, you submitted to his authority, you endured
13:35 through it, isn't that what built you the most? Isn't that what matured you the most? Isn't that the 1 you look back on your life and said, thank God I had to go through that. Man, I don't ever wanna go through something
13:45 like that again, but it it matured me. And that's the kind of leaders you're looking for, and that's why when it comes time when the walls built and they're getting ready to continue what God has for them, he started
13:57 looking for faithful men who feared God rather than the people. Another way to ask is how long has this person consistently pursued the Lord? How
14:09 have the people around this person that's been discipled by this person pursued the Lord? How mature is their sphere of influence when they're speaking into other people? How mature is their wisdom and leadership in the
14:19 Lord? Know, the book of James says, you you you tell me about your faith. I will I will show you my faith by what I do. Faith without works is dead. Find people who have
14:31 consistently exercised faith. Now why do we need godly leaders? Why do we need godly leaders in God's community? Because God chooses godly leaders in his community to provide instruction. He's given them
14:43 instruction, the walls built. And in verse 3, he gives them instruction. Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are standing guard, let them shut in both the doors. Also, guards
14:54 from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, at his own post and each in front of his own house. Hey, only open the doors at certain times. Guard it when you do. Guard the doors. Guard your homes. Protect. Why?
15:05 Because anytime you're gonna walk with the Lord, you need to be in protection mode because every time you walk with the Lord, the enemy wants to destroy what you're doing. So be on the alert.
15:18 Be on the alert. Be sober minded. Why? Because when you take steps of faith, the enemy takes notice and tries to destroy what you're doing. This is why the apostle Paul plead with
15:29 the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, because he knew that they were called to protect the house of God. In Acts chapter 20, starting in verse 29, he says, I know that after
15:41 my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw the disciples after
15:53 them. What was the apostle's main concern? It wasn't outside the church. Where was it? Inside. What was God saying? We need godly men to bring instruction inside the
16:05 church. Why? Because there will always be those inside the community of God that will try to rise up and draw people away from God and draw people after themselves. So be careful, but make sure you
16:16 understand when it comes to being part of a community of God, which today is the the church, make sure you champion the establishment and instruction of godly leadership. It's
16:28 important. Nehemiah knew that. Jesus knew that. The apostles knew that, and God's telling us today, when you're part of a Christian community, look for and champion the establishment and instruction of godly leadership.
16:40 Number 2 is this. When it comes to continued building, when it comes to going after the things of God, you need to champion the fulfillment of God's vision for his covenant children. You need to champion the
16:51 fulfillment, not not just what God said he could do. You need to champion the fulfillment of it, the fulfillment of God's vision for his covenant children. Notice verse 4. It says, now the city was large and spacious.
17:03 They built this wall. Inside the wall, there's this large and spacious city in Jerusalem, but the people in it were few and the houses were not built. So they built this wall,
17:14 but there's very few people living there and the reason they can't live there is there's no houses built yet. So all they've done is build a wall to protect the city which currently doesn't exist. Then my God put into my
17:26 heart to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be enrolled by genealogies. Then I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up first in which I found the following record. So notice
17:38 this. As Nehemiah says, then my God put it into my heart. Now the bible tells you, don't follow your heart. The bible says the heart is wicked above all things, and who can understand it? What does it mean here when it
17:50 says, God put it in his heart? What do we know about Nehemiah? All the way back in Nehemiah 1, what is he doing? He's a prayer. He's praying. When you seek God for what God
18:01 wants, oftentimes, God puts things on your heart for what God wants. That's what he does. Nehemiah is not just saying, well, I feel like we should do this. Nehemiah has a track record of faithfully seeking the Lord in
18:13 prayer, and so when he says, God put on my heart, he's saying, I've been seeking the Lord and here's how he's led me. And we know the Lord's led him to do that because what he's gonna do is he's gonna go through the
18:24 genealogy of those who have been faithful, who have been full Jews, who now are coming back to the city, who have been in captivity for a long, long time. And this is so important that you would follow
18:36 after the Lord even after you continue to build. Why? Because God told Nehemiah to go back and build. But notice this, Nehemiah's calling was never just to rebuild the wall. If you ask people out in society, ask
18:47 Christian, what's the book of Nehemiah about? Building the wall. It's about building the wall. It's about that's part of it. But notice this. In Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 3, when he starts learning about what was going on
18:58 in Jerusalem, Nehemiah writes, they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with
19:09 fire. So the walls burned down and the gates the gates have been burned with fire. The walls are broken down, the gates are burned with fire, but that's not why he's going back. He's going back because the people are in
19:20 great distress and reproach. Notice this, Nehemiah did not go back to rebuild the wall, he went back to remove the reproach. Nehemiah did not go back to build a structure,
19:31 Nehemiah went back to rebuild God's people. A building can accommodate some of the things God wants to do, but the building isn't the only thing. Nehemiah is building the wall for the purpose of
19:43 what? God's people to be the fulfillment of all that God wants. Just because they built the wall in 52 days, it doesn't mean people looked on and said, okay, you're still a reproach, but you got a nice wall.
19:55 He built the wall so they could protect the city, so that he could build the people, so that the nations would look on and see that the Jews, the nation of Israel, was God's chosen people. That's why they built the wall.
20:08 So Nehemiah is not done because the wall got built. That was just 52 days. That started the process of what Nehemiah was trying to do, which all along was what? To remove the reproach of Israel, to make God's
20:20 people look good. What's God's plan today? God's plan today for his church is to grow his people so that God looks good. That's why he built his church. It's not about a building. It's not about where
20:32 you meet. It's not how many people come. God can be faithful to smaller churches. God can be faithful to bigger churches, but it's about those who are there who are glorifying the God of the universe so that when people
20:42 look on, they say, the God of the universe is alive in that place. And this is why it's important because it's pretty easy when you start taking steps with the Lord where you say things like this, we're doing okay.
20:54 We're we're doing good. We're we're off to a good start. That's fine. But is that the fulfillment of the vision? No. It's the start. Just because Nehemiah's established the wall doesn't mean the vision's been fulfilled.
21:05 The Jews have become the reproach to all the other nations. The wall was just the start of what God wanted to do. Nehemiah prayed. God continued to lead him. See, God wanted to build a nation, not a wall.
21:18 What's he about today? God is trying to build his church. He's not looking to build buildings. Buildings can facilitate what God's doing, but he's not looking for a quote unquote successful church or
21:29 more people. What's he looking for? He's looking for the fulfillment of the great commission. To do what? Go and make disciples. Where? Of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the father,
21:41 son, and the holy spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you and, hey, I'll be with you always to the end of the age. What's the purpose of the church? The fulfillment of that, that people in every
21:53 tribe, tongue, and nation would hear the gospel, and those who respond to the gospel would have a place where they can grow to the fullness of all that God wants them to be so that they too can be set on mission to go
22:03 out into the world. The goal is not that you, quote, come to church. The goal is that you glorify God in the church are built up by the church so that you can go out and advance the kingdom in the world. Amen? Amen. And
22:15 that's what Nehemiah was trying to get his people to see. That's what he was doing. So Nehemiah wants to gather God's people. Why is he gonna look to this genealogy?
22:27 Because he wants God's covenant children. He wants Jews. He doesn't want to just populate the city. He wants to populate the city with God's covenant people.
22:38 Translation, the church, by definition, are the called out ones. The called out ones are those who have repented of their sins and believe in Jesus and are following
22:50 after him. The church by definition is Christian. The church is for Christians. We gather as Christians
23:02 to glorify the Lord. That's the purpose. It's not about getting more people to come. It's not about getting everybody who hates Jesus to walk through the doors. It's getting people that love
23:13 Jesus to gather, to seek Jesus, to glorify Jesus, to stimulate our heart more for Jesus, so we'll live on mission for Jesus 1 more week. That's the purpose of the church. And
23:25 oh, how we have it backwards. We think we need to try every gimmick, every thing, every, you know, nuanced way just to get people to come. I don't want just anybody to come. I want more Christians. Well, how are we gonna
23:37 get more Christians? By going out and sharing the gospel and seeing them converted so he can bring more people in. So he goes looking to history. It's important that we understand
23:49 that because some churches have made the wrong decision. When a church makes a decision that its purpose is to entertain the goats rather than shepherd the sheep, all hell breaks loose.
24:03 Christians begin to ask silly questions like this. Is it wrong for me to wanna be fed? Is it wrong for you to wanna eat? Of course, you're supposed to be fed. That's the purpose
24:15 of the church. Jesus told Peter 3 different times, feed my sheep, tend my lambs, feed my sheep. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know. You need to be fed. And God's appointed pastors and teachers in the body of
24:26 Christ to feed his sheep. If you're not eating, you're starving. And the Christian church as a whole in North America is starving because so few people want to open up the word of God and just proclaim
24:38 it. See, today, I'm here preaching the word for the saints to hear the voice of the Lord. Now if you're here and you recognize while hearing the voice of the Lord and you examine
24:50 yourself and you realize I'm not in the faith, then repent and follow Jesus so that you can. But my first and foremost message is for those that love Jesus. I mean, the church exists as an outpost for the
25:02 gathering of saints and for the purpose of glorifying his name so that we're built up so we can live on mission. It's not gathering so that goats come in and give us good opinions about what they think the church should
25:12 be. Amen? Amen. And this is what Christ wants for us. The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Church, by definition, is
25:23 believers. If you're a believer, that's why we're gathering here, because 1 day we're gonna gather with men and women and boys and girls from every tribe, tongue, and nation to do what? To glorify God and enjoy him
25:34 forever. And until that time, that's what we're doing here for the purpose of doing what? So that when we leave the gathering and we disperse out now what are we doing? We're so filled with the love and passion of
25:46 God, we could take the gospel out to those who don't know him. And we could proclaim the gospel, and we could love the unlovable, and we can pray for those who persecute us in the belief that our God is alive and will
25:56 lead other people to himself. And then we invite him in to come worship with us. I mean, isn't it true that when you're going through a hard time as a believer, there's something about gathering with other saints and
26:06 singing praise to his name and hearing his word, and it refreshes you and encourages you, and you say, I can do it 1 more week. I can make it 1 more day. I can make it through the afternoon because I was at church today.
26:17 That's the purpose, It's to build 1 another up in the body so that we can be sent forth on mission, and Nehemiah wants to make sure that he's not just bringing people in to populate the
26:29 city, but he's bringing the right people in that are covenant children of God so that God can dwell among those people. And when saints gather, those who call on the name of the Lord,
26:41 it it doesn't matter where we gather. When when saints gather, the presence of God is there. And whether you're in this building in Inglewood, whether you're in Colorado Springs, whether you're watching online, whether
26:49 you're in Westminster, there's nothing magical about our buildings. It facilitates ministry. It's helpful. Most of us would prefer to be indoors when it's minus 20. Most of us prefer to have a comfortable place to sit.
27:01 Mean, it facilitates ministry, but when the church leaves the building, there's no presence that's here that's really, really special. Nothing special about the building. There's something special about the image
27:13 bearers of God who have been born again, who desire to gather together for his glory. That's where the manifest presence and power of Jesus are. Amen? Amen. And Nehemiah understood that. So he's gonna go back to
27:25 this genealogy. He's gonna go back to this genealogy in verses 6 and following, and he's gonna tell us that point number 3 is that continued building will champion the
27:37 belief that history that a history of faithfulness matters to the Lord. If you're gonna continue to grow with the Lord, you need to understand that a belief that a history of faithfulness to the Lord matters.
27:49 It matters. A long stretch of time. Now, we're gonna read through this because this is the the word of God. I promise you I will not pronounce every name correctly. I've even listened to an audio bible a few different
28:00 times this week, and even some of the audio bible spokesmen don't pronounce all the names correctly. But we're gonna go through this because I want you to hear the word of the Lord for about 3 or 4 minutes as we spell
28:11 this out and see what God has to say because this is the genealogy that Nehemiah looked at and that he came up with to see the history of faithfulness to the Lord. So take a deep breath and let's dive in.
28:23 In verse 6. These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away and who had returned to Jerusalem and
28:34 Judah, each to his own city. Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Ramiah, Nehamani, Mordecai, Bishan, Mitzporeth, Bighvi,
28:46 Nahum, Vinay. Now listen. Why is this a big deal? Think about this. These are children that have grown up in a foreign culture. All they know about Jerusalem, all they know about the surrounding area of Judah is what
28:57 they heard from their mom and dad or their grandma and grandpa. They've never been there. They they've never seen it. They've heard how good it was, and they know that they're in captivity because they disobeyed the
29:08 Lord. They've been told the Lord's good, we haven't been good. The Lord warned us over and over again to follow him. We didn't follow him. The reason we're living under king Nebuchadnezzar, the reason things are so
29:17 difficult for us, the reason that our lives are so difficult and we're on this foreign soil has everything to do with us. If we can ever make it back, God promises to bless us, and he promises in his word,
29:29 he's gonna bring us back, so someday it's coming. Now, these are the people that have been listening to that for years that when they get the opportunity to go back, what do they do? They go back. Now, that may not sound
29:41 like a big deal, but if you're used to living somewhere for a period of time and that's where you shop and those are your friends, and that's where you go to work, even if it's not so good, it's kinda like being in a
29:51 fishbowl. You don't know what it's like to even be wet. So when it comes to going back and doing the things of God, there could have been every opportunity to say, you know what? It's not great, but it's not bad. I don't
29:59 I don't know if I wanna go start all over again, and yet, what do you see? You see faithful Jews going back and doing what the Lord wants. Let's read about them. It says, right before verse 8, the number of the men of
30:09 the people of Israel, the sons of Parash, 2172, the sons of Shephatiah, 372. The sons of Eros, 652. The sons of Pehath, Moab. The sons of Jeshua and
30:21 Joab, 2818. The sons of Elam, 1254. The sons of Zathu, 845. The sons of Zakkai, 760. The son
30:33 of Benue, 648. The sons of Bebai, 628. The sons of Az Gad, 2322. The sons of Adon, Aikim,
30:43 667. The sons of Bigvi, 2067. The sons of Adon, 655. The sons of Adar of Hezekiah, 98. The sons of Hashem,
30:54 328. The sons of Bezzi, 324 the sons of Hiraph, 112 the sons of Gibeon, 95 the men of Bethlehem
31:06 and Netiphah, 188 The men of Anathoth, 128. The men of Beth Asmoveth, 42. The men of Kiriath Jirem, Sherepath, and Birath,
31:18 743. The men of Ramah and Gibah, 621. The men of Michmah, 122. The men of Bethel and Ai, 123. The men of the other Nebo, 52. The sons of the other
31:30 Elam, 1254. The sons of Harim, 320. The men of Jericho, 345. The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 721. The sons of
31:42 Sena, 3930. How we doing so far? We're doing good? We're gonna talk about why this is in the scripture in just a second because now we're getting to the priest. Notice what it says. The
31:53 priest, the son of Judah of the house house of Jeshua, 973. The sons of Emir, 1052. The sons of Pasher, 1247. The sons of
32:05 Harim, 1017. Here come the Levites. The Levites, the son of Jeshua and Kadmiel, and the sons of Hodeva, 74. Now the singers. The singers, the sons of
32:17 Asaph, 148. The gatekeepers, the sons of Shalom, the sons of Adar, and the sons of Talmon, the sons of Ekub, the sons of Hatiyah, the sons of Shobai, 138. Now we have the temple
32:29 servants. The temple servants, the son of Ziha, the son of Heshuffah, the sons of Tabath, the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padan, the sons of Labanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of
32:40 Shammai, the sons of Hanam, the sons of Giddell, the sons of Gehar, the sons of Rehab, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nikoda, the sons of Gazam, the sons of Uzzah, the sons of
32:52 Peseth, the sons of Besai, the sons of Menuam, the sons of Nephushim, the sons of Bakbuk. Finally, I can pronounce 1. Bakbuk. Alright. Sons of Bakbuk, the sons of
33:03 Hakuffa, the sons of Harar, the sons of Basilith, the sons of Mahida, the sons of Harsha, the sons of Barakos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Tema, the sons of Neziah, the sons of
33:15 Hatapha. Now let's keep going. Here we go. The sons of Solomon's servants, the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sarephath, the sons of Parida, the sons of Jailah, the sons of Darken, the sons of Gedel,
33:27 the sons of Shephathah, the sons of Hattel, the sons of Pokereth, Hazebim, the sons of Ammon, all the temple servants, and the sons of Solomon's servants were
33:37 392. Now Thank you. Now let me tell you why I read that.
33:50 Here's why I read it. Because every single name matters to God. Now I get that those names to us don't mean
34:02 a whole lot. That when we're doing bible study reading and we come to Nehemiah 7, we glance at it and like, okay, I get it. But if you take the time to read it, you realize every name matters to God. You know what that
34:12 tells me? Your name matters to God. Isaiah 43 says, fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. I know your name. Now, think
34:24 about what it would have been like for Israel at the time to hear this read. If you were there, you'd wanna know about your family. Not only would you wanna hear about your family, you would wanna know, did they count
34:33 everybody in my family? Is everybody included? That's why there's 316. There was 745. There were 2172. Why? Because every name matters because every person matters. Now you think about this,
34:45 man, why is that a big deal to me? Because if you've repented and believe, your name's been written in the lamb's book of life, and I can tell you, you'll wait for a long, long time to hear your name called. Will you
34:53 not? I mean, when I get to heaven, I don't care if it takes forever, and I don't even care if Jesus can pronounce the last name Schwarzentraub. I'm in. And maybe I'll even learn how to pronounce it when I get
35:04 there. Every single name matters. Your name matters. You were created in the image of God, and God knows you by name. And even if you never repent and believe in him,
35:16 you matter to God. Amen? That cool? Every name matters. You know, yesterday I was at
35:28 I was at Saturday prayer, and I was picking up 1 of these cards. I had several cards I was praying for, and on 1 of the cards, it didn't say who it was from. It didn't say what the prayer request was. There were just 17
35:39 names written on the card, And, I took a picture of the card and I prayed for every name. I didn't know 1 of the 17 people. But, as I was praying, I said, God, you know every single person
35:51 I'm praying for by name, and not only do you know their name, you know every need that they have, and you know what they need. And I was I was interceding. I interceded for all 17 names asking the Lord to reach down with
36:02 a touch of his holy spirit to let them experience the fullness of Jesus. Why? Because I know that every name matters to God. I don't need to know every request. I don't need my God knows every
36:13 request. I'm mouthing God. You know this person? You know her. You know him. God's I know him. I know exactly what I need to do. Thanks for praying. I got this. Right? Every name matters. Let me give you a second
36:25 1. Every ministry matters. Every ministry matters. Did you notice we had sons, we had priests, we had Levites, we had temple servants? I mean, you had people
36:37 in the book of Nehemiah that worked on the wall, designed the wall, carried supplies, established worship, protected the wall, built the wall, encouraged people in the wall. Every single ministry matters. You know what
36:48 that tells me? In the way that God gifted you and in the way that you serve him, it matters. It matters. I mean, if you think about the people that have the greatest impact in your life, you never think about their
36:58 title. You always think about the way in which they helped you and you always call them by name. Right? It's it's your baseball coach when you're in little league. It was your teacher when you were younger. It was your
37:09 mom or it was it's your dad. It was it's never somebody off in the distance. Maybe they've been of help to you in some way, but it's always the people up close and personal that have ministered to you that make a
37:19 difference. Every ministry mattered in Jerusalem. Can tell you something else? Every ministry in the church matters too. If it's your first time here, the parking lot crew matters.
37:30 Amen? If you've never been here before, signage matters. People that welcome you at the door matter. Ushers matter. Worship team
37:42 matters. Preaching matters. Serving our kids matters. Encouraging people to walk through the door matters, and we could go on and on and on and on. Everything that you do unto the
37:54 Lord matters. There's nothing too small. And by the way, it's not about what other people notice about what you're doing, it's that God sees that it matters.Show more
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