April 29, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm here to tell you there it's hope or broken
down life, a broken down family, a broken down church,
and even a broken down community.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Doctor Tony Evans explains how restoration begins with people who
are willing to be used by God.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
No matter what's falling apart in your life, God can
rebuild it if he can find a good person but
a good plan.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Following a plan
can be the key to turning an impossible task into
an undeniable success. Today, doctor Evans reveals how when God
empowers someone with a solid plan, he can bring lasting
(00:42):
transformation to areas of life that otherwise seem beyond repair.
Let's join him as he presents this biblical hope to
overcome our toughest challenges.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The beauty of Nehemiah is that he takes a big
problem and cuts it down the sides we found out
last time.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Then he spent three days devising this plan.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Chapter three, then, is a detailed account of how he
pulled this off, of how a man took a one
hundred and fifty year old problem and fixed it. In
fifty two days. Now, what's my principle. My principle is
simply as this. When God can get hold of a
(01:24):
good man who will develop a good plan, he.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Can cut down on the time.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
No matter what's falling apart in your life, God can
rebuild it in less time it took you to mess
it up. If he can find a good person with
a good plan. Now I mean to tell you there
is hope for a broken down life, a broken down family,
a broken down church, and even a broken down community
when God gets a good person with a good plan
(01:55):
going about it his agenda. I want to talk about
three things. I want to talk about three principles that
derived from this passage. The power of cooperation, the progress
of coordination, and the privilege of commendation. The first thing
he did was no the power of cooperation. And let
(02:17):
me tell you something. All these people in chapter three
were living in Jerusalem all the time. These aren't new
imports into Jerusalem. They were there all the time. The
only problem is they never hooked up. The solution was
already there. Neil Mayer tapped into a power source. He
(02:41):
discovered that he didn't have to find a solution. He
had to organize the existing solution.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
He had to take.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
People who were doing their own independent agendas, bring them
into a common purpose, unify them around that purpose, and
get a job done. And so he takes raw material
that had hooked up, links it up and accomplishes a
miraculous task the power of unity. There is unity, there
(03:11):
is power, and you cut time.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Fifty two days.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
He solves a one hundred and fifty year old problem
because he was able to get people in a common vision.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And the great.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Challenge of our day, whether it's family, church, or community,
is giving people a common agenda.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Suppose all the Christians decided that they were going to
create their own bank. Okay, all Christians said, all Christians,
we're going to create our own bank. You would outdo nations.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Because guess where everybody banks at some bank? And guess
those people who backing somebody come from out of some church.
Can you imagine what churches could do if churches pull
together and create their own economic base.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It would be a different ballgame.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Can you imagine what this church could do if we
just created a credit union to decide that we would
fund our own small businesses of people who are committed
to Christs and expertise nations would come to us to
find out how they could work with us, because they
wouldn't want to compete.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
With this larger group.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
But if you never get together, you never have to
worry about that, because once you don't connect, you don't
have power. You're on your own individual agenda and you
don't link up to an authoritative agenda. He understood that
he could change a city ne and Mayah did if
he could only get people to what hook up. Now,
(04:52):
there are a variety of people involved in chapter three.
Now I want to look at that for a moment,
because everyone is participating, but everyone is not doing the
same thing. Isn't that a biblical principle about the Body
of Christ, that we're all members, but we all don't
do the same thing. Yet one is not more important
(05:14):
or lowering importance than another. That everyone if they pitch
in what God has given them. And this applies to
us today because Peter says that we are a what
spiritual house, that we are the family of God, And
the same thing that Nehemiah does in the family of Israel,
the church is called to do in the family of
God erect a spiritual house. Now let's note first, Chapter three,
(05:39):
verse one. The first thing we note is that the
high priest.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Was there.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
In fact, when you look carefully, you find the high priest.
All over the place you find the high priest. In
verse one, you find the high priest. In verse seventeen,
they're called the levite. You find the high priest in
verse twenty two, after him the priest, you find a
high priest in verse twenty eight above the horse gate.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
The priest carried out repairs.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
The priests are there, in fact, the preachers priest are
there first because they are the first ones on the list.
Now why are the preachers leading the way in the
rebuilding of this community. I'll tell you why. Look at
verse one of chapter three. It says that the priests
were building the sheep gate. Now let me just pause
right there. The priests were building what the sheep gate,
(06:32):
What came through the sheep gate, what came to the
chief gate. That's not hard, is it. Well, the reason
why the priests were at the sheep gate is because
what the sheep came. The sheep were for sacrifice, So
the priests were at the sheep gate. The priests are
at the sheep gate, But notice what they're doing while
they're building it says they consecrated it. They consecrated the
(06:54):
wall to the tower of the one hundred in the
Tower of Hemyel. Now they are there consecrating. Why are
they consecrating? Listen to me.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
To keep the work having a divine perspective. They never
wanted the work to degenerate into pure construction. They never
wanted the work to degenerate into pure economics, politics, sociology,
or education. The work has to always be from a
divine frame of reference. The priests were there to make
(07:27):
sure people never lost sight of God.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
No matter what they were doing on the wall. You said,
it was possible they could have been working on the
wall and that just became a construction job. They were
working on the wall, and it just came Monday work.
But the prints were there to remind them you're building
the walls of God. You're fixing the gate of God.
The priests were there to give them what a divine perspective.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Whenever you're going to rebuild the community, the.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Most important institution in that community is the church. The
most important institution is not the bank. The most important
institution is not the social orders or the social organizations.
Don't get me wrong, they're very important. In fact, they're critical,
but they're not the most important institution. The most important
institution is the church. Listen, we have banks glore, we
(08:19):
have social organizations glore, yet we find ourselves still dissipating.
Why because the moral choices, the values that must be
operating in a community in order for it to survive,
in order for businesses to stay there, in order for
banks to do business, there has to be.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Set forth by a moral agency. And what better agency
is there to.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Take care of the character of the people who live
in the community.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Than the church.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
There are five reasons why the church is the most
strategic entity in community development and in the lives of
the people who live in the community. One, it is
the only social institution located in every community. No other
institution is located everywhere. Some communities don't have banks, they're
so poor. Some communities don't have social organizations, but every
(09:11):
community you can find has a church. Secondly, those people
who are part of that institution gathered together every week.
There's no group that has a group that meets fifty
two weeks out.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Of the year, no vacations.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
The church is the most consistent entity in a local community. Thirdly,
the church, whose people meet every week, have skills, gifts,
and abilities that, if they ever learned to use them
for God, could make a difference in the community if
they saw beyond their own educational purposes, their own financial desires,
and looked at a common way of making a difference
(09:49):
for God.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Fourthly, those churches already have buildings.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Many of the things that you need to do to
turn the community around can be done out of the
facilities that it already exists. If those facilities were used
more than on Sunday and Wednesdays, but became a weak
fare for development, impact, for education, for actualization, for information,
so that you could let the community know what God's
viewpoint and standards are. The character is everything. We need
(10:19):
a standard, and that standard must be a measuring rod.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And what the church does.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
For a community, it doesn't try to replace a bank
or replace a social entity. But what it does is
it infiltrate and influenced them so that they begin to
make their decisions based on a proper moral code. And
so the job of God's people, the church in particular
in a community.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Is to let it be known that there are standards.
There are absolutes, there are rights, there are wrong there
is truth, there is error. To let it be known
that everything is not nebulous enough for Grass.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
In a world that blurs the lines, God call his
people to stand for what's right, and Doctor Evans will
return in just a moment to show how Neemiah rallied
others to join him in that stand starting with some
unlikely allies. It's all part of Tony's powerful teaching series
walking us through the Book of Namiyah, a rich fifteen
(11:18):
lesson study and how God brings restoration and renewal through
faithful leadership and spiritual courage. We'd like to offer you
all the full length messages in this two volume audio collection,
along with our thanks when you make a generous contribution
to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. In
addition to the complete Namiyah audio series, we're excited to
(11:41):
include an added bonus, Doctor evans compelling book, One Nation
Under God. It's a timely, practical resource that shows how
we as believers can influence our culture for good, not
through politics, but through a kingdom first approach that starts
with each of us to take advantage of this special
limited time offer visitors today at Tonyevans dot org or
(12:06):
call us at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two
twenty two. That's online at Tonyevans dot org or by
phone at one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. Well,
right now, let's get back to doctor Evans with more
of today's message.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Neil Mayah begins to pull people together. He has the priest,
but look who else he has. In verse two, it says,
and next to him were the men of Jericho. Now
I know what you're saying, So what Well, guess what.
Jericho is located a good ways the way from Jerusalem.
(12:44):
These are the commuters. These are the people who didn't
live in the neighborhood. They didn't live in Jerusalem, because
these were the men of Jericho. They commuted to Jerusalem
to do their business and to have their circumstances. But
yet when it came to erecting the wall and building
up the citadel of God's presence, the men from Jericho
(13:05):
showed up.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
What am I saying.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I'm saying that there's a place in building God's status
and standard, not only for the people who live in
the direct proximity. But for the people who commute long distance,
for those people who come from the other side of town,
there's a place on the wall for you. There's a
place to use your skill and your contribution.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
You see.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
The great problem we have is that people often move
away from where the need is greatest. Well, that's okay,
as long as you're going to drive back in and
let your.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Presence be felt.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
That's okay, as long as you're going to come back
and let the strainths that God has given you be felt.
Whether the need is greatest where the walls are torn
down and the gates are burned with fire. So we
see that the men of Jericho commuted to make their
presence fell.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Not only that, in verse nine, officials were there. It
says in the middle of the versity office of half
the district. And if you read through here verse twelve
the official of half the district, you keep seeing in
verse fourteen the official of the district. In other words,
the officers were there. You see temple servants and city guards.
(14:15):
There's room for everyone on the wall.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
But the idea is there must be a unity to
establish His mechanism of ministry to people and of impact
into community. That is what God is after. But you've
got to be hooked up to do it. Next, we
want to look at the progress of coordination. We have
the principle of cooperation, but let's look at the progress
(14:38):
when you coordinate that. I'm talking about organization. Now, let
me quote a Verse to you One Corinthians fourteen thirty
says all things must be done decently and in order.
Everything you do must have a plan to it if
you want God to bless it. A lot of people say,
while I'm praying about it, well, what's your plan? Me
(15:00):
your business plan? I don't have one. I'm trusting the Lord.
God does not bless nothingness. God blesses something. In fact, even.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
The death of Christ was playing because the Bible.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Say is in the fullness of time. Jesus was born
of a woman under the law. It was all planned.
When they tried to get Jesus to show his dity
too early, Jesus said, by time has not yet come.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
It's not yet part of the what plan. Now here's
the key to any plan.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
You make a plan like you eat an elephant in
manageable sections. Okay, if somebody said I want you to
eat this elephant that's too big.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
For some of us.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
It's too big, it's too much out of it, so
you gotta get it one piece of a time. What
near Mayah does is he breaks the wall into manageable sections.
You know what they've been doing for one hundred and
fifty years saying it's too big.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
The walls, all the walls are down, it's too big.
And that's what some of us do.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Our marriage is too bad, o our kids are too bad.
My life is too bad. This church is too bad,
this community is too bad. Absolutely if you're looking at
the whole elephant. But if all you're dealing with is
the toenail, now we can talk. Because you can manage
(16:34):
your toenail. You can manage maybe a foot. You can't
handle the elephant. This world has is a mass. And
if you look at the world, you'll say it's too big. Now,
if you check out your block, if you look at
the peace, that you can handle. The genius of Nehemiah
is that he put a big problem in bite sized chunks.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
That's all you gotta do.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And a couple comes to me for counting and says, looks,
we have been miserable for five years for five years.
We've hardly talked to one another, badly touched one another
for five years. We have just been totally ruined and
it cannot work.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
What they're telling me is the elephant's big. I've got
to move the discussion away from how big the elephant
is to how we can carve him up. How we
can take the list of ten problems, work on one
at a time in such a way that we can
adduss it.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Because when you do, you can take one hundred and
fifty years and turn into fifty two days, because that's
how long it took them to build the wall. You
can resolve problems quickly when you do them properly. So
Niel Mayah Niamayah also has a hierarchy. He has leaders
of groups. He has a number of different groups.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Here. I need to say something to the men. Men
men o. All these lists have men's names in them.
(18:10):
These guys were there all the time. Yeah, man, we
gotta do something about these walls. Walls like that when
my daddy was alive. I don't want to leave these
walls like this for my kids. These walls are down. Hey,
listen to me.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
If you're gonna rebuild a community, you've gotta have some men.
You've gotta have some men you gotta have And ladies,
don't don't get me wrong, you're still strategic. I'm not
in any way down playing you, but I am saying
that you never were supposed to do it alone.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
You must have some men who are gonna take that place.
So if you're gonna rebuild families and rebuild communities, you're
gonna have to have men.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You're gonna have to have men to be surrogate fathers
for fatherless males.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You're gonna have to have men to take their rightful
place of.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Responsibility using the gifts that God has given them. You're
gonna have to have men to stop giving excuses and
you know, letting everything come first. There's a place for sports,
there's a place for entertainment, there's a place for all
of that.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
But all of that is secondary to your manhood.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, Manhood is the ability to take responsibility for the
challenges that you face. That's manhood. Manhood is the guts
to be responsible. And so Neelmyah got the men. The
implication is the women were ready to go, where were
(19:44):
the men? So he sets in progress. Neil Mayah comes
up with an amazing plan. Now, another thing Neiarmyah did
was he lined people up according to natural connectors. For example,
I mentioned this already if the verse one of chapter
three were lined up by the sheep gate, because that's
where they did their business taking in the sacrifices.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, not only that, but please notice something very very interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Verse ten, we find that Jadadaya made repairs opposite where
his house.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
You find in verse twenty three that Benjamin, the two
young men here made repairs in front of their house.
Verse twenty four that there is repairs at the house.
Verse twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
The priests carried out repairs each in front of his house.
I'm saying that that's not just dropped in there because
nim I didn't have anything to say. He connected them
either with their profession, their skill, their interest, or their location.
He gave them a reason to want to work. Now,
(21:04):
why would you set a man near his house for
three reasons? Number one, time he doesn't have far to
go to work, so that means he can give more
time to getting the job done. And the more time
he gets to get the job done, the quicker the
job will get done. If a man is fixing the
(21:25):
wall outside of his house, that's gonna be a well
fixed wall. See, if he's fixing the wall that's gonna
protect his house, then he's gonna fix that wall the
best he can possibly fix it, because that's his house
on the line. If you're fixing the wall in front
of somebody else's house, you may say, well, I hope
you make out.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
But if it's front of your house, if it's for
your protection, if it's in.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Front of your house, the whole family can get involved.
It can be a family enterprise. It can include everyone
because it's this accessible to everyone. And guess what your table,
That'll be a family discussion, Dad, how's a wall going well?
Because you keep running into it? So you position people's
ability in proximity to their interests. You give them something
(22:11):
that benefits what's important to them, or in business they
call it. It's got to be a win win deal.
You give them an investment in it. The Amayah is
a master craftsman.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Here.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
You notice he keeps saying almost in every verse verse two,
and next to him, verse four, and next to them,
verse five, and next to him, verse seven, next to them,
verse nine, next to them, verse ten, next to them
verse twelve, and next to him all.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Through this, what is he doing. He's closing up all gaps.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Wherever somebody stopped, somebody else started.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
In other words, he's covering all the bases. He's making
sure he's got enough help to make sure nothing is missed.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
As a church, we've got to do that. We've got
to look after the flock that God has given us
and cover all of our basis. Sometimes you may miss a.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Gap, but as soon as you see it, you've got
to plug it in with somebody else who can come alongside.
I like the word next to next to me is
come alongside, Come alongside, and that's what Christians are supposed
to do. Come alongside.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
One a minute, doctor Tony Evans, reminding us that the
church is strongest when we stand beside one another and
fill the gaps together. Now, don't forget. Today's lesson is
part of Tony's captivating series on the Book of Nehemiah,
and as I mentioned earlier, you can get the full
(23:38):
length version of all fifteen messages in this two volume
audio collection when you make a donation to support our
mission of spreading biblical wisdom and renewal, plus as a
special bonus, you'll receive doctor evans insightful and practical book,
One Nation Under God. Call us today to make the
arrangements at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two.
(24:01):
Our resource center is open twenty four to seven, so
you can reach out any time of the day or night. Again,
that's one eight eight hundred three two two two. Or
visit us online at Tonyevans dot org. You'll find all
the details right on the homepage. Again, that's Tonyevans dot org.
(24:21):
There are times when you try to fix what's broken,
only to hear people say it can't be done. But tomorrow,
doctor Evans will show how faith can be the key
to success when you're up against worldly resistance and criticism.
Be sure to join us for that
I'm here to tell you there it's hope or broken
down life, a broken down family, a broken down church,
and even a broken down community.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Doctor Tony Evans explains how restoration begins with people who
are willing to be used by God.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
No matter what's falling apart in your life, God can
rebuild it if he can find a good person but
a good plan.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Following a plan
can be the key to turning an impossible task into
an undeniable success. Today, doctor Evans reveals how when God
empowers someone with a solid plan, he can bring lasting
(00:42):
transformation to areas of life that otherwise seem beyond repair.
Let's join him as he presents this biblical hope to
overcome our toughest challenges.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The beauty of Nehemiah is that he takes a big
problem and cuts it down the sides we found out
last time.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Then he spent three days devising this plan.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Chapter three, then, is a detailed account of how he
pulled this off, of how a man took a one
hundred and fifty year old problem and fixed it. In
fifty two days. Now, what's my principle. My principle is
simply as this. When God can get hold of a
(01:24):
good man who will develop a good plan, he.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Can cut down on the time.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
No matter what's falling apart in your life, God can
rebuild it in less time it took you to mess
it up. If he can find a good person with
a good plan. Now I mean to tell you there
is hope for a broken down life, a broken down family,
a broken down church, and even a broken down community
when God gets a good person with a good plan
(01:55):
going about it his agenda. I want to talk about
three things. I want to talk about three principles that
derived from this passage. The power of cooperation, the progress
of coordination, and the privilege of commendation. The first thing
he did was no the power of cooperation. And let
(02:17):
me tell you something. All these people in chapter three
were living in Jerusalem all the time. These aren't new
imports into Jerusalem. They were there all the time. The
only problem is they never hooked up. The solution was
already there. Neil Mayer tapped into a power source. He
(02:41):
discovered that he didn't have to find a solution. He
had to organize the existing solution.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
He had to take.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
People who were doing their own independent agendas, bring them
into a common purpose, unify them around that purpose, and
get a job done. And so he takes raw material
that had hooked up, links it up and accomplishes a
miraculous task the power of unity. There is unity, there
(03:11):
is power, and you cut time.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Fifty two days.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
He solves a one hundred and fifty year old problem
because he was able to get people in a common vision.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And the great.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Challenge of our day, whether it's family, church, or community,
is giving people a common agenda.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Suppose all the Christians decided that they were going to
create their own bank. Okay, all Christians said, all Christians,
we're going to create our own bank. You would outdo nations.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Because guess where everybody banks at some bank? And guess
those people who backing somebody come from out of some church.
Can you imagine what churches could do if churches pull
together and create their own economic base.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It would be a different ballgame.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Can you imagine what this church could do if we
just created a credit union to decide that we would
fund our own small businesses of people who are committed
to Christs and expertise nations would come to us to
find out how they could work with us, because they
wouldn't want to compete.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
With this larger group.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
But if you never get together, you never have to
worry about that, because once you don't connect, you don't
have power. You're on your own individual agenda and you
don't link up to an authoritative agenda. He understood that
he could change a city ne and Mayah did if
he could only get people to what hook up. Now,
(04:52):
there are a variety of people involved in chapter three.
Now I want to look at that for a moment,
because everyone is participating, but everyone is not doing the
same thing. Isn't that a biblical principle about the Body
of Christ, that we're all members, but we all don't
do the same thing. Yet one is not more important
(05:14):
or lowering importance than another. That everyone if they pitch
in what God has given them. And this applies to
us today because Peter says that we are a what
spiritual house, that we are the family of God, And
the same thing that Nehemiah does in the family of Israel,
the church is called to do in the family of
God erect a spiritual house. Now let's note first, Chapter three,
(05:39):
verse one. The first thing we note is that the
high priest.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Was there.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
In fact, when you look carefully, you find the high priest.
All over the place you find the high priest. In
verse one, you find the high priest. In verse seventeen,
they're called the levite. You find the high priest in
verse twenty two, after him the priest, you find a
high priest in verse twenty eight above the horse gate.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
The priest carried out repairs.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
The priests are there, in fact, the preachers priest are
there first because they are the first ones on the list.
Now why are the preachers leading the way in the
rebuilding of this community. I'll tell you why. Look at
verse one of chapter three. It says that the priests
were building the sheep gate. Now let me just pause
right there. The priests were building what the sheep gate,
(06:32):
What came through the sheep gate, what came to the
chief gate. That's not hard, is it. Well, the reason
why the priests were at the sheep gate is because
what the sheep came. The sheep were for sacrifice, So
the priests were at the sheep gate. The priests are
at the sheep gate, But notice what they're doing while
they're building it says they consecrated it. They consecrated the
(06:54):
wall to the tower of the one hundred in the
Tower of Hemyel. Now they are there consecrating. Why are
they consecrating? Listen to me.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
To keep the work having a divine perspective. They never
wanted the work to degenerate into pure construction. They never
wanted the work to degenerate into pure economics, politics, sociology,
or education. The work has to always be from a
divine frame of reference. The priests were there to make
(07:27):
sure people never lost sight of God.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
No matter what they were doing on the wall. You said,
it was possible they could have been working on the
wall and that just became a construction job. They were
working on the wall, and it just came Monday work.
But the prints were there to remind them you're building
the walls of God. You're fixing the gate of God.
The priests were there to give them what a divine perspective.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Whenever you're going to rebuild the community, the.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Most important institution in that community is the church. The
most important institution is not the bank. The most important
institution is not the social orders or the social organizations.
Don't get me wrong, they're very important. In fact, they're critical,
but they're not the most important institution. The most important
institution is the church. Listen, we have banks glore, we
(08:19):
have social organizations glore, yet we find ourselves still dissipating.
Why because the moral choices, the values that must be
operating in a community in order for it to survive,
in order for businesses to stay there, in order for
banks to do business, there has to be.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Set forth by a moral agency. And what better agency
is there to.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Take care of the character of the people who live
in the community.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Than the church.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
There are five reasons why the church is the most
strategic entity in community development and in the lives of
the people who live in the community. One, it is
the only social institution located in every community. No other
institution is located everywhere. Some communities don't have banks, they're
so poor. Some communities don't have social organizations, but every
(09:11):
community you can find has a church. Secondly, those people
who are part of that institution gathered together every week.
There's no group that has a group that meets fifty
two weeks out.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Of the year, no vacations.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
The church is the most consistent entity in a local community. Thirdly,
the church, whose people meet every week, have skills, gifts,
and abilities that, if they ever learned to use them
for God, could make a difference in the community if
they saw beyond their own educational purposes, their own financial desires,
and looked at a common way of making a difference
(09:49):
for God.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Fourthly, those churches already have buildings.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Many of the things that you need to do to
turn the community around can be done out of the
facilities that it already exists. If those facilities were used
more than on Sunday and Wednesdays, but became a weak
fare for development, impact, for education, for actualization, for information,
so that you could let the community know what God's
viewpoint and standards are. The character is everything. We need
(10:19):
a standard, and that standard must be a measuring rod.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And what the church does.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
For a community, it doesn't try to replace a bank
or replace a social entity. But what it does is
it infiltrate and influenced them so that they begin to
make their decisions based on a proper moral code. And
so the job of God's people, the church in particular
in a community.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Is to let it be known that there are standards.
There are absolutes, there are rights, there are wrong there
is truth, there is error. To let it be known
that everything is not nebulous enough for Grass.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
In a world that blurs the lines, God call his
people to stand for what's right, and Doctor Evans will
return in just a moment to show how Neemiah rallied
others to join him in that stand starting with some
unlikely allies. It's all part of Tony's powerful teaching series
walking us through the Book of Namiyah, a rich fifteen
(11:18):
lesson study and how God brings restoration and renewal through
faithful leadership and spiritual courage. We'd like to offer you
all the full length messages in this two volume audio collection,
along with our thanks when you make a generous contribution
to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. In
addition to the complete Namiyah audio series, we're excited to
(11:41):
include an added bonus, Doctor evans compelling book, One Nation
Under God. It's a timely, practical resource that shows how
we as believers can influence our culture for good, not
through politics, but through a kingdom first approach that starts
with each of us to take advantage of this special
limited time offer visitors today at Tonyevans dot org or
(12:06):
call us at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two
twenty two. That's online at Tonyevans dot org or by
phone at one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. Well,
right now, let's get back to doctor Evans with more
of today's message.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Neil Mayah begins to pull people together. He has the priest,
but look who else he has. In verse two, it says,
and next to him were the men of Jericho. Now
I know what you're saying, So what Well, guess what.
Jericho is located a good ways the way from Jerusalem.
(12:44):
These are the commuters. These are the people who didn't
live in the neighborhood. They didn't live in Jerusalem, because
these were the men of Jericho. They commuted to Jerusalem
to do their business and to have their circumstances. But
yet when it came to erecting the wall and building
up the citadel of God's presence, the men from Jericho
(13:05):
showed up.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
What am I saying.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I'm saying that there's a place in building God's status
and standard, not only for the people who live in
the direct proximity. But for the people who commute long distance,
for those people who come from the other side of town,
there's a place on the wall for you. There's a
place to use your skill and your contribution.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
You see.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
The great problem we have is that people often move
away from where the need is greatest. Well, that's okay,
as long as you're going to drive back in and
let your.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Presence be felt.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
That's okay, as long as you're going to come back
and let the strainths that God has given you be felt.
Whether the need is greatest where the walls are torn
down and the gates are burned with fire. So we
see that the men of Jericho commuted to make their
presence fell.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Not only that, in verse nine, officials were there. It
says in the middle of the versity office of half
the district. And if you read through here verse twelve
the official of half the district, you keep seeing in
verse fourteen the official of the district. In other words,
the officers were there. You see temple servants and city guards.
(14:15):
There's room for everyone on the wall.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
But the idea is there must be a unity to
establish His mechanism of ministry to people and of impact
into community. That is what God is after. But you've
got to be hooked up to do it. Next, we
want to look at the progress of coordination. We have
the principle of cooperation, but let's look at the progress
(14:38):
when you coordinate that. I'm talking about organization. Now, let
me quote a Verse to you One Corinthians fourteen thirty
says all things must be done decently and in order.
Everything you do must have a plan to it if
you want God to bless it. A lot of people say,
while I'm praying about it, well, what's your plan? Me
(15:00):
your business plan? I don't have one. I'm trusting the Lord.
God does not bless nothingness. God blesses something. In fact, even.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
The death of Christ was playing because the Bible.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Say is in the fullness of time. Jesus was born
of a woman under the law. It was all planned.
When they tried to get Jesus to show his dity
too early, Jesus said, by time has not yet come.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
It's not yet part of the what plan. Now here's
the key to any plan.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
You make a plan like you eat an elephant in
manageable sections. Okay, if somebody said I want you to
eat this elephant that's too big.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
For some of us.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
It's too big, it's too much out of it, so
you gotta get it one piece of a time. What
near Mayah does is he breaks the wall into manageable sections.
You know what they've been doing for one hundred and
fifty years saying it's too big.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
The walls, all the walls are down, it's too big.
And that's what some of us do.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Our marriage is too bad, o our kids are too bad.
My life is too bad. This church is too bad,
this community is too bad. Absolutely if you're looking at
the whole elephant. But if all you're dealing with is
the toenail, now we can talk. Because you can manage
(16:34):
your toenail. You can manage maybe a foot. You can't
handle the elephant. This world has is a mass. And
if you look at the world, you'll say it's too big. Now,
if you check out your block, if you look at
the peace, that you can handle. The genius of Nehemiah
is that he put a big problem in bite sized chunks.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
That's all you gotta do.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And a couple comes to me for counting and says, looks,
we have been miserable for five years for five years.
We've hardly talked to one another, badly touched one another
for five years. We have just been totally ruined and
it cannot work.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
What they're telling me is the elephant's big. I've got
to move the discussion away from how big the elephant
is to how we can carve him up. How we
can take the list of ten problems, work on one
at a time in such a way that we can
adduss it.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Because when you do, you can take one hundred and
fifty years and turn into fifty two days, because that's
how long it took them to build the wall. You
can resolve problems quickly when you do them properly. So
Niel Mayah Niamayah also has a hierarchy. He has leaders
of groups. He has a number of different groups.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Here. I need to say something to the men. Men
men o. All these lists have men's names in them.
(18:10):
These guys were there all the time. Yeah, man, we
gotta do something about these walls. Walls like that when
my daddy was alive. I don't want to leave these
walls like this for my kids. These walls are down. Hey,
listen to me.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
If you're gonna rebuild a community, you've gotta have some men.
You've gotta have some men you gotta have And ladies,
don't don't get me wrong, you're still strategic. I'm not
in any way down playing you, but I am saying
that you never were supposed to do it alone.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
You must have some men who are gonna take that place.
So if you're gonna rebuild families and rebuild communities, you're
gonna have to have men.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You're gonna have to have men to be surrogate fathers
for fatherless males.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You're gonna have to have men to take their rightful
place of.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Responsibility using the gifts that God has given them. You're
gonna have to have men to stop giving excuses and
you know, letting everything come first. There's a place for sports,
there's a place for entertainment, there's a place for all
of that.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
But all of that is secondary to your manhood.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, Manhood is the ability to take responsibility for the
challenges that you face. That's manhood. Manhood is the guts
to be responsible. And so Neelmyah got the men. The
implication is the women were ready to go, where were
(19:44):
the men? So he sets in progress. Neil Mayah comes
up with an amazing plan. Now, another thing Neiarmyah did
was he lined people up according to natural connectors. For example,
I mentioned this already if the verse one of chapter
three were lined up by the sheep gate, because that's
where they did their business taking in the sacrifices.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, not only that, but please notice something very very interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Verse ten, we find that Jadadaya made repairs opposite where
his house.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
You find in verse twenty three that Benjamin, the two
young men here made repairs in front of their house.
Verse twenty four that there is repairs at the house.
Verse twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
The priests carried out repairs each in front of his house.
I'm saying that that's not just dropped in there because
nim I didn't have anything to say. He connected them
either with their profession, their skill, their interest, or their location.
He gave them a reason to want to work. Now,
(21:04):
why would you set a man near his house for
three reasons? Number one, time he doesn't have far to
go to work, so that means he can give more
time to getting the job done. And the more time
he gets to get the job done, the quicker the
job will get done. If a man is fixing the
(21:25):
wall outside of his house, that's gonna be a well
fixed wall. See, if he's fixing the wall that's gonna
protect his house, then he's gonna fix that wall the
best he can possibly fix it, because that's his house
on the line. If you're fixing the wall in front
of somebody else's house, you may say, well, I hope
you make out.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
But if it's front of your house, if it's for
your protection, if it's in.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Front of your house, the whole family can get involved.
It can be a family enterprise. It can include everyone
because it's this accessible to everyone. And guess what your table,
That'll be a family discussion, Dad, how's a wall going well?
Because you keep running into it? So you position people's
ability in proximity to their interests. You give them something
(22:11):
that benefits what's important to them, or in business they
call it. It's got to be a win win deal.
You give them an investment in it. The Amayah is
a master craftsman.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Here.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
You notice he keeps saying almost in every verse verse two,
and next to him, verse four, and next to them,
verse five, and next to him, verse seven, next to them,
verse nine, next to them, verse ten, next to them
verse twelve, and next to him all.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Through this, what is he doing. He's closing up all gaps.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Wherever somebody stopped, somebody else started.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
In other words, he's covering all the bases. He's making
sure he's got enough help to make sure nothing is missed.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
As a church, we've got to do that. We've got
to look after the flock that God has given us
and cover all of our basis. Sometimes you may miss a.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Gap, but as soon as you see it, you've got
to plug it in with somebody else who can come alongside.
I like the word next to next to me is
come alongside, Come alongside, and that's what Christians are supposed
to do. Come alongside.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
One a minute, doctor Tony Evans, reminding us that the
church is strongest when we stand beside one another and
fill the gaps together. Now, don't forget. Today's lesson is
part of Tony's captivating series on the Book of Nehemiah,
and as I mentioned earlier, you can get the full
(23:38):
length version of all fifteen messages in this two volume
audio collection when you make a donation to support our
mission of spreading biblical wisdom and renewal, plus as a
special bonus, you'll receive doctor evans insightful and practical book,
One Nation Under God. Call us today to make the
arrangements at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two.
(24:01):
Our resource center is open twenty four to seven, so
you can reach out any time of the day or night. Again,
that's one eight eight hundred three two two two. Or
visit us online at Tonyevans dot org. You'll find all
the details right on the homepage. Again, that's Tonyevans dot org.
(24:21):
There are times when you try to fix what's broken,
only to hear people say it can't be done. But tomorrow,
doctor Evans will show how faith can be the key
to success when you're up against worldly resistance and criticism.
Be sure to join us for that
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