Wall to Wall Workers - Part 3
May-6-2018-AM-Wall-to-Wall-Part-3.docxPosted by: craigaledbetter <craigaledbetter@...>
What A Church Can Do Together
We Need a Body That Works Together Like a Team
(Nehemiah 3)
May 6, 2018 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (1Corinthians 3:6)
A. There are so many benefits to being saved!
1. The priceless benefit of just being Forgiven by God
2. And… Justified – my sinful record has been deleted
3. Eternal life – no more death, or sorrow, or pain
4. We have a Home in heaven
5. Secure in Christ – the devil can't steal the gift of God from you
6. The Holy Spirit dwelling in you and empowering you to live the Christian life
7. A Peace that passes all understanding
8. A Joy that does not make sense – because it is God's joy in us!
9. And the list goes on and on
10. It is GREAT to be born again!
11. It is what a Christian IS
B. But what we can DO as believers is pretty awesome too
1. Not do on our own, - that would be prideful
2. But together, as a body of believers - as a team…
a. We can see marriages rebuilt
b. Lives put back together
c. Addictions put away forever
d. We can win the lost
e. We can start churches
3. Not as individuals, but together as a body of believers!
C. Our memory verse for LAST month (we are a little behind) focused us on realising that we need not only Paul's but Apollos' (1Cor 3:6)
1. Like we learned last week from Luke chapter 5, that that bed-ridden man needed not one, but FOUR helpers to carry him up onto that roof and let him down in front of Jesus!
2. As we study this book of Nehemiah, take notice that it was NOT just Nehemiah working away at clearing away all the rubble, and repairing every falled stone, and repairing every burnt gate
3. There were hundreds and hundreds of helpers spread out, working along side each other as one body, as one unit, as one people
4. And they got the job done
D. Oh if we only saw what WE could do TOGETHER
E. Nehemiah was determined to build a community of builders – not just builders, but builders who would work together to get the job done!
1. Neh 4:6 "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work."
a. WE
b. BUILT
c. The WALL
d. A mind to WORK
2. Ezra 4:3 "But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us."
a. WE
b. OURSELVES
c. TOGETHER
d. Will BUILD
F. In summary These men and women every day were…
1. Rising to every challenge – they just adapted
2. Working right next to each other
3. Using the materials at hand
4. Under the direction of one leader, Nehemiah
5. Labouring in so many ways
a. Still had to be husbands and wives
b. Still had to raise their families
c. Still had to feed themselves – no welfare
d. But now added 8-10 more hours of work – hard labour
e. As well as labouring in prayer (4:9) and making time to worship!
f. Just constant personal sacrifice
6. That's how the walls got rebuilt!
II. Message
A. Everyone was Created to Work (Genesis 2:7,8,15; 2Thes 3:10)
1. Life is WORK, folks
2. When you work, you are much healthier than when you are NOT working
3. God designed the human body to WORK hard
4. Used to be a general rule of life – everyone as expected to work
5. But not today – people want a basic income, welfare, no matter what
6. God has a simple command (2Thes 3:10) "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat."
B. We Are Saved TO Work (Eph 2:8-10)
1. There were 42,380 that had left Babylon 90 years earlier (Ezra 2:64), and had come back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, starting with the Temple
2. Those men and their families had been supernaturally freed from their captivity in Babylon, and allowed to go absolutely free, back to their homeland
3. Freed from captivity, bondage NOT to live in ruin and defeat
4. But to live as FREE men and women, right in the middle of the will of God, in the Promised Land
5. The SAME is true for every believer in this room!!!
a. This is no game; no place of entertainment; no luxery hotel to relax in – No!
b. It is a work in progress
c. And by the way, there is a lot of work to do here as a body of believers!
d. God designed all of life to be a life of work – a good thing!
e. God designed the Christian life to be a life of good works too! (Matthew 5:16) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
6. IN reality
a. Only a few of those 42,380 actually worked
b. And very little was accomplished in those NINETY years since first arriving!!!
c. Until Nehemiah showed up and got them working together!
C. We Are GIFTED to Work
1. You have got to see the people listed in this chapter by name and by group for what they are…
a. Ordinary men and women, sons and daughters – just people
1) Farmers, merchants, servants
2) Jewish Priests even
b. These were all people who were NOT talented in building superstructures like a 3km long, 15 foot high, 21 foot wide wall all around Jerusalem
c. Yet, here they all were, doing the work – as if they were meant to do it
2. Many people in this room have wonderful talents: Singing, Making money, Artistic
3. But so few realise that the moment they were born again, the Holy Spirit of God gifted them with some ability to serve others (Romans 12:4-8)
a. Rom 12:4,5 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
b. Rom 12:6-8 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us
1) Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
2) Ministry, let us wait on our ministering
3) He that teacheth, on teaching;
4) He that exhorteth, on exhortation:
5) He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity;
6) He that ruleth, with diligence;
7) He that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
4. Spiritual gifts are NOT to show off, or brag about, but SERVE and minister to people – as SERVANTS like Jesus was!
5. They were given to every one of us.. For us to do the WORK of the ministry
a. We imagine that church work, and spiritual work is way beyond most of us
b. Really?
1) How special do you think you needed to be to lay bricks one upon another?
2) How special do you have to be to carry a wheelbarrow back and forth?
c. The same is so true serving people
1) How hard it is to mow someone's grass for them, or to pop in and check on someone and see how they are doing?
2) How hard is it really to get a D1 bus license to help drive our church bus and pick people up for church? You don't need much talent!
3) I have found that whatever needs to be done, there should be an abundance of helpers – volunteers – not because they are talented, but because they have servant hearts ("a mind to work", Neh 4:6)
4) So, the problem is rarely IN-ability, it is NO HEART for work!
6. Every believer in this room is gifted with some special ability to minister, help, serve, benefit, build-up, improve someone else!
7. You will never know what it is until you just start serving and helping
D. We Are Called (Commanded) to Work TOGETHER
1. Now it gets hard!
2. Look at all the work being done by GROUPS of people – not by individuals…
a. Neh 3:1 "Eliashib and his brethren the priests"
b. Neh 3:2 "the men of Jericho"
c. Neh 3:3 "the sons of Hassenaah"
d. Neh 3:5 "the Tekoites"
e. Neh 3:7 "the men of Gibeon"
f. Neh 3:7 "the men of Mizpah"
g. Neh 3:12 "And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters."
h. Neh 3:13 "the inhabitants of Zanoah"
i. Neh 3:18 "their brethren"
j. Neh 3:22 "the goldsmiths and the merchants"
k. Along with all the 38 families listed
3. Everyone worked – not just a few (Neh 5:16; 6:3)
4. They had to work under Nehemiah – just a man – not a perfect leader, but the one God had given them
5. These all had to get along, had to work alongside each other
6. Everyone had a place, a portion of the entire project
a. Not doing their own things, in their own time
b. But doing things on a schedule, at set times, together
c. As a body – needing every person – no one was insignificant, any more than your little pinkie or nose hairs are insignificant! Eph 4:16 "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
d. Like a farm (1Cor 3:5-9) – some doing this, and others doing that…
e. Like a sports team – all in their places, working together for the goal
1) No one player can score all the points
2) The BEST teams, the winning teams work well TOGETHER
f. As a big family – taking care of each other's needs as they worked – loving one another
7. That is what a church is – all four things, all at once
a. Working together
b. On our portion of the wall, so to speak – right here in Ballincollig
c. Under the direction of OUR head, the Lord Jesus – the head of each and every true church throughout the world
8. Folks, God saved us to work TOGETHER – as a church, as builders, servants, repairers, helpers, ministers of one another
9. Paul was never alone serving
10. Jesus trained twelve men to work together to turn the world upside down
11. And I am telling you, that when we do work TOGETHER, there is such a joy, and a buzz, and a thrill that only a winning team can describe!
E. We Are Blessed WHEN We Work Together (Neh 2:20)
1. Nehemiah knew the blessings of work
a. His faithful work as a servant of king Artaxerxes in Nehemiah chapter 1 had paid off with a good testimony that enabled the king and his wife to trust him and put him in charge of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem!
b. He knew that God would bless their efforts
1) Because it was not just for themselves – it was for God
2) And it was for generations to come – and God blesses that!
2. He knew the promises of Proverbs – written 500 years earlier by king Solomon
a. Pro 10:4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
b. Pro 10:16 The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.
c. Pro 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.
d. Hey! Hard work pays best!
3. The apostle Paul knew it too! He put it this way…
a. 1Cor 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
b. Col 3:22-24 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
c. There is a reward for doing things just for Jesus!
4. We are blessed when we are all labouring together as one (1Cor 3:6-9)
F. We Will Reap If We Faint Not (Gal 6:9)
1. There was a constant push from the outside, from the enemy, to quit (Neh 4:10-12)
a. It is happening everywhere
b. People quit reading their Bibles – shame on you!
c. People quit making it a priority to get their kids out to church, and under preaching and being taught to think outside of the box of the world
d. People quit on their marriages, on staying away from sinful habits
e. People quit just about everything good unless they feel like doing it
f. So churches are not being started, the churches that are going are being ignored, and left to die
g. Every church dies when its people neglect to do the work that is needed for it to thrive!
2. Nehemiah knew that if they just stayed the course, just kept working, and didn't quit, they would FINISH the wall (Neh 6:15)!
3. Well, There is a reward for finishing in the Christian life
a. 1Co_15:10 "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
b. Paul reports in 2Tim 4:7,8 "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."
c. That didn't happen by accident!
d. Act 20:22-24 "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."
e. Hebrews 6:10 "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister."
f. Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
4. I am living, and labouring, and striving to live for those kind of rewards
5. What are YOU living for?
III. Invitation
A. We Are Saved TO Work
B. We Are GIFTED to Work
C. We Are Called to Work TOGETHER
D. We Are Blessed WHEN We Work Together
E. We Will Reap If We Faint Not
F. So, What are YOU waiting for?
1. "I" am just waiting for everyone in this room to… sign up for work
a. Not to BE saved…
b. But because you have been saved already, and now want to live for Jesus!
2. You see, Works can never save anyone
a. Not even the best works, most religious, most passionate
b. They are all worthless compared to Christ's works
c. ONLY HIS life, and death and resurrection can save you!
3. But once you have been saved, born again, converted into following the life and words of Jesus Christ, you are supposed to sig up for duty – to find something to do for the kingdom of God!
G. So, it's time for everyone to make some decisions
1. That's what you do every time you copme to church – you and I are faced with a choice – a decision
2. Today, it is to choose…
3. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for yourself – not expect your godparent's faith, or your parent's faith to get you into heaven, but to decide to follow Him YOURSELF and be born all over again on the inside!
4. To join this church – make it your church – be a member of the body of Christ right here in Ballincollig
5. And to get busy doing something as a servant of Christ for the kingdom of God
a. No matter how hard it may be
b. No matter the struggle and sacrifice
c. No matter what you may have to do without (i.e., like your Sunday evenings and Wednesday evenings for Bible training)
d. No matter WHO you may have to work with!
e. No matter how long it takes!
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