Practical Lessons for the Church from Nehemiah 3 | Beyond the Flannelgraph

In this episode, Brody gives some updates from SWO, reads encouraging podcast reviews, and offers advice on how to approach difficult family conversations.

Brody dives into Nehemiah 3, exploring the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. He shares key lessons like servant leadership, unity in the church, and how we should repair and rebuild in our own lives. Brody also talks about conflict, working together as a community, and how the church should stand out in the world.

Tune in for a mix of personal thoughts and practical biblical lessons for your walk with Jesus.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, in this episode of no Sanity Required we're
going to kind of be all over theplace just because I've got
several things I want to do.
I want to give you some updateson what's going on at SWO, talk
about some things that arecoming up, some updates on
things that have just happened.
I then want to read, I want togo through some of the reviews
people have left.
We're always asking you toleave reviews and we've had some

(00:20):
really encouraging reviews.
I want to share those with ourlisteners.
And then I've had some emailsand letters, actual handwritten
letter, one of them from alistener who's also a friend of
the ministry, who's actuallyserved at SWO for a season a
young lady and then some emailcorrespondence.
So I'm going to share a bunchof that.
So kind of two parts to thisepisode, I guess three parts.

(00:43):
We're going to look at a quickupdate what's going on at SWO.
We're going to read somereviews and just some
encouraging words and someemails that have come in, and
then I'm going to go throughNehemiah, chapter 3.
Today's episode we're going tosay is a Beyond the Flannel

(01:03):
Graph episode, and so when wecome back and get into that,
I'll explain for our newlisteners what that is.
We haven't done one of those ina little while and we'll
explain what that is.
Awesome feedback from the lastepisode, my conversation with
Rob Conte.
So thank y'all for the feedbackthat we got from that, and so
today we're going to put some ofthat into practice.
Just going to dive into theword of God, we're going to walk

(01:25):
through Nehemiah, chapter three, and I'll explain how we landed
at that in just a few minutes.
So thanks for joining us.
Welcome to no Sanity Required.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Welcome to no Sanity Required from the ministry of
Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters.
A podcast about the Bibleculture and stories from around
the globe.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay.
So I have got a little bit of ascratchy throat, so I've got a
bottle of water here.
I think it'll be all right andyou'll be to.
To nsr.
Let me explain to you.
We kind of we don't have formalcategories here, but we do.
We, you know, in in the introwe say that this is a podcast

(02:12):
about the bible and culture andstories from around the globe,
and when we talk about the biblethere's a couple of sort of
like subcategories that we'llput stuff in.
So we'll do episodes where wewalk through Bible stories, what
we would call narratives orstories from the scripture, and

(02:33):
usually those are stories thatare real familiar.
Sometimes they're not.
We've done some stories likethe.
Uh, there's a story that we didabout a prophet in Kings, in 1
Kings, who he got.
He was real faithful to theLord and then he just kind of
had a lapse in judgment and itcost him his life, and so it's a

(02:56):
story that's probably a littlebit unfamiliar with most people.
And so we did that in theBeyond the Flannel Graph series.
And then we've done, you know,we've looked at people like King
David Joseph very familiarstories from the gospel,
narratives of Jesus, and wherewe come up with the name Beyond
the Flannel Graph is when I wasa kid.
Those of you that are old enougha lot of you are not probably

(03:18):
old enough to know about this,but when I was little there was
something in Sunday schoolcalled flannel graph and it was
basically a construction papercutout puppet show kind of thing
that went on in Sunday schoolclasses and you had kind of you
had this like a bulletin boardthat had a piece of flannel or
felt over it and then theteacher would put up little

(03:40):
construction paper cutouts ofcharacters from the story.
And it's funny because Iremember and I might be wrong,
but my recollection is all ofthe people in the construction
paper cutouts were white.
And I remember getting olderand realizing most of these
people are Arab, middle Eastern,you know, palestinian, african,
so that was funny.

(04:02):
And then Jesus was always awhite boy, a white guy, in those
stories.
So that was funny.
And then Jesus was always awhite boy, a white guy, in those
stories.
So that was funny.
But anyway, not not beingcritical, just funny, just
interesting.
And maybe the people that wereputting that stuff together
we're trying to contextualize itto to mountain white, mountain
culture, I don't know, I don'tknow, but I realized that a lot

(04:24):
of that was very shallow.
So I don't want to be criticalof it.
It was very shallow, but it wasalso, as a little boy, what
introduced me to stories fromscripture.
And so the Beyond the FlannelGraph episodes are where we take
a biblical story and we reallydrill into it and try to go a

(04:45):
little deeper.
So we're going to do that today.
We're going to do it with thebook of Nehemiah, nehemiah
chapter 3 specifically, and I'mexcited about that.
Now, the other thing that I wantto do is I want to give you an
update on what's going on at SWO.
Real quick, we are winding downour winter season.
One on it Swo real quick, weare winding down our winter

(05:09):
season.
We've had, uh, we've, we'vebeen through three winter swos.
Uh, three, four, three man, Iget confused, but we've, we've
been through three winter swos.
I think we've been through ourcollege.
We had our college conference,um, which Rob and I talked about
in the last episode.
We've had, uh, what's coming upis our pure and holy retreat.
We've got that.
That's, and that's a winter SWOconference with, with an

(05:32):
emphasis or a highlight onsexuality and relationships, and
then that'll be followed by inmid February, on president's day
weekend, by our final winterSWO, and then I've got some
travel in there.
And then we've got, let's see,our spring retreat, which is a

(05:55):
single event, a one-weekendevent, it's a student ministry
event and we've got our Men's BeStrong Conference coming up in
March and then that will befollowed in April by our Women's
Respond Conference which, bythe way, we've been talking
about this but our adultconferences typically fill up
later.
But if you're not signed up tocome to Be Strong Men's

(06:18):
Conference in March or RespondWomen's Conference in April, get
signed up for that because westill have space, let me see.
Uh, I don't remember what ouravailability is, but I know we
still got a good bit of spaceand but those will fill up.
Uh, we always end up, I think.
I think we still have for ourbe strong conference, let's see,
we're right around.

(06:38):
We've, we're about 80% fullright now, um, and so it will
fill that up and end up withwith, um, probably a waiting
list.
So I would encourage you to toget plugged into that.
I respond women's conference isonly about 50% full right now.
But again, those comp, those,those adult conferences fill up
late, so make sure you come toto an adult conference this year

(07:00):
If you're one of our adultlisteners.
Um, even if you're someone whocomes with students as a leader,
those adult conferences are soencouraging.
So just a reminder that thoseare coming up.
We've seen incredible responsethis summer, this past winter,
over the course of this winter,which we're in the middle of
right now, and we've seenstudents' lives be really

(07:23):
impacted.
We've been teaching through thebook of Philippians and when
we're done with winter SWO, allthose teaching sessions will be
posted on the SWO uh teachingpodcast and that's just the uh
snowboard wilderness outfitterspodcast, which is you find that
the same place, you find this,this podcast, and it's just all
of our teaching content.

(07:43):
But then we'll come back onthis NSR platform and we'll do a
couple episodes where we walkthrough the teaching of.
We'll do a little bit deeperdive on the stuff that we taught
and worked through atWinterswove.
So, yeah, it's been awesome aswe've gone through Philippians.
It's such an incredible bookand the response has been

(08:05):
incredible.
I'm really thankful for that.
I want to read a few reviewsthat are very encouraging, and
so I want to share those withyou.
Okay, so the first review thatI want to read.
It says this is titled soEncouraging and Biblically Sound
and this is from Kaylee inColorado.

(08:25):
It says our church from Denver,colorado, sends students to SWO
every summer.
They absolutely love it.
Nsr is an amazing way for therest of us to get a tiny glimpse
into the humble and accurateteachings that happen there.
I learn new things and feelencouraged with each episode.
As a young parent and a familyministry staff member, nsr has
been a great resource for myselfpersonally and the families of

(08:47):
our church.
So thank you, kaylee fromDenver, colorado.
I know that church and love.
Those people had theopportunity to be out there and
actually share on a Sundaymorning this past fall.
Awesome, awesome church andvery encouraging.
Thank you, kaylee.
Kaylee, if you'll reach out tous through the email or text,

(09:08):
send us a text or a message wewill get you some SWO swag
because we read your review onthe episode here.
That'd be awesome.
Okay, next, this is from Isaiah.
It says I love NSR.
Brody heads up an amazingministry that has had a big
impact on my life from sixthgrade through marriage.
They have ministered to me.

(09:29):
Thankful for this ministry as Ilisten to NSR every week.
So, isaiah, you are listeningto this, no doubt in my mind,
because you say here that youlisten to it every week.
So thank you for that review.
If you'll hit us up, we'regoing to get you some swag.
Get Isaiah a new hat.
We you for that review.

(09:50):
If you'll hit us up, we'regoing to get you some swag.
Get Isaiah a new hat.
We got some really cool newhats coming out and so we'll get
one over to him.
Uh next, uh, this one is justsimply titled practical, and it
says very practical godlybroadcast.
And I don't know if thatmight've meant to say podcast,
but it says very practical,godly broadcast, very helpful
information for an, for anuneducated person.
I think formal education iswhat they're talking about here.
And that's from.
I Am With Croft, so thank you.

(10:12):
I Am Thank you so much.
I Am With Croft for that review, really grateful.
If you'll reach out to us,we'll give you some SWO swag.
It's going to be awesome.
And let's read one more here.
This is from JP.
It just says thank you, saysthis has been of such help to me
.
Thank you for your dedicationto reading from God's word, the
Bible.
I listen to you on the way towork and sometimes after I read

(10:35):
the Bible after work instead ofa documentary.
I've had to surround myselfwith God in my off hours because
I feel like my whole life is onfire.
So thank you for helping in agreat way with God's grace and
mercy getting me through eachday praying for you and your
staff.
That's from JP56465.
So, jp, thank you, and, jp, ifyou'll reach out to us via email

(10:55):
or text, we will hook you up.
We will hook you up.
I want to read.
So there's some reallyencouraging encouraging reviews.
That's on the Apple podcastplatform.
Now let me read a section ofthis was a lengthy letter that
we got that I got personally.
It says I've been enjoying itand I'm just going to read an

(11:16):
excerpt.
I've been enjoying the recentfamily episodes on NSR.
I had some thoughts andquestions from man.
This is faded, real bad.
It was written in pencil andit's a handwritten letter.
I had some thoughts andquestions from part one of
building a Christ-centeredfamily.

(11:36):
Okay, so this was a series wedid back at the end of last year
.
I wasn't sure where to sendthem, so I apologize if this
isn't the best way to reach you.
I've always admired your familyand the culture y'all have
created with your home, onewhere the Lord is the foundation
and where everyone is trulypresent.
Honestly, it's different fromthe environment I grew up in.

(11:56):
In many ways this is trickybecause I know my family is
wonderful and I love them.
But the older I get, the more Irealize that, if the Lord
blesses me with my own family,one day I want our home life to
look much different than minelooked.
I simply want more for my lifeas far as faith, family and
marriage go.
That being said, I don't thinkthe Lord wants me to wait until

(12:19):
I have my own family to be alight in the places he has me
now, specifically at home.
If I want to bear fruit in myfuture home, job and
relationships, I know I need tosow seeds.
I know I need to sow seeds now,right where I'm at.
But how do I do this if myparents don't share the same
vision?
How do I practically integratethose Romans 12 principles if my

(12:40):
parents aren't actively living,on mission, so to say?
I want to be a light andencouragement to them, but it's
hard to find effective ways todo that without seeming
judgmental or pushy man.
This is so good, pauls, thankyou.
I'm not going to say thisperson's name because I know her
and I actually know her familyNot real well, but I know them.

(13:03):
So I don't want Not real well,but I know them.
So I don't want to say her name, but I just I do want to say
and our team will reach out toher separately, but thank you
for sharing this.
I think this is something that alot of our listeners might be
able to resonate with.
This is very good and, I think,insightful, and I think it took
a lot of discernment andcourage to write this.

(13:25):
I want to be alive in anencouragement of them, but it's
hard to find effective ways todo so without seeming pushy or
judgmental.
I feel frustrated when I comehome from school where I have
wonderful community so thisperson's a college student where
I have wonderful community andpeople I can have meaningful
spiritual conversations with toa setting where there's no real
depth to our conversations andwhere screens keep us isolated

(13:48):
from each other.
I think a lot of familiesreally spend a lot of time on
Facebook and Instagram and see alot of times I'm paused here on
the letter, by the way uh, seea lot of families where
everyone's sitting around ontheir own phone but not really
communicating with each other.
Um, I can't exactly tell themto turn the TV off or put their
phones away.

(14:08):
Can I pause?
Let me answer that question bysaying I think that you could
have a conversation, maybe notin the heat of the moment you
don't want to, and maybe not inthe heat of the moment say, hey,
turn a TV off and put yourphones away, but maybe in the
heat of the moment, if it'sblatantly obvious that you're

(14:29):
being ignored and you're a humanbeing hanging out with your
family and your parents areignoring you, then maybe say hey
, guys, I've been home for thiswhole afternoon or this whole
evening and the TV's been on thewhole time and the phone's been
nonstop.
Or maybe you don't have theconversation.
Then Maybe it's something youcome back to in a time where you

(14:50):
just ask hey, can we sit downover a meal and talk about some
things I have on my heart and Ithink you do have to share.
You need to share your heartwith them about this, because
the question there, that lastsentence, was I can't exactly
tell them to turn the TV off orput their phones away, and I
think you can.
You just want to be gentle andtry not to be accusatory, or you

(15:14):
know they're they're probablygoing to have the tendency to
become defensive.
It's human nature to becomedefensive.
So be gentle with how you dothat, and I think you absolutely
can can do that.
Gentle with how you do that,and I think you absolutely can
can do that.
Um, so might be time to have aconversation to just say, hey,
when I come home, could we justnot turn anything on and just
play a game together?
Or I'll tell you sometimes justto sit and be together.

(15:36):
Um, as I'm recording this, uh,yesterday we were, uh my family
was all together.
We've had uh, we've had kilby,my daughter, who's going to be
on an episode.
They're going back here soon toafrica.
They've been home for theholidays and stayed over and
stayed the month of january,which I'm so grateful for.

(15:56):
Got to spend a lot of time withmy granddaughter.
Man, it's been awesome, it'sbeen so good.
They're getting ready to headback and every day we're trying
to make the most of the timewe've got, and yesterday my mom
and my folks were there.
My mom and stepdad were there,which I say stepdad, but he's
the only granddad my kids haveand know, so I hate to use that
word.

(16:17):
My folks were there at thehouse and then, uh, laylee was
there she had driven in fromschool.
She only goes to school an hourand a half away.
That's my, my middle daughter,um, and then kill me and greg,
and then me and tucker wasn'tthere, our oldest son, but, um,

(16:38):
kids were just all kind of theretogether and for probably two
hours we just sat.
We're just in the house justtalking and goofing off and
laughing, and it was just sowonderful, so good man, it was
so good.
We just sat and spent timetogether.
We didn't play board games, wedidn't turn on the TV, nobody
was on their phones, and it wasjust so refreshing and good.

(17:02):
So it's definitely worthtalking about.
Just so refreshing and good, soit's definitely worth talking
about.
Okay, let's, let's uh, let'swrap up this letter.
That is so good.
I find myself putting up wallswith my parents because of this
disconnect and I often feeldefeated and hardhearted towards
them.
Attempts at spiritual or evenday-to-day conversations often
fall flat or result in hurtfeelings, so I find it hard to

(17:23):
let them in on.
What's going on in my heart andlife.
Is this just how it has to be?
Unless they grow in their faith, will I always have to maintain
those boundaries to avoiddisappointment?
How can I push them in a lovingand gracious way?
Man, let's pause again.
Those are great questions.
So is this just how it's goingto be?
She asks, and I would say no, Ithink, because your parents are

(17:45):
professing Christians.
I think you can press into thatand and you need to have a
conversation with them, and Ithink it needs to be a
conversation where you set asidea time and you make it clear to
them hey, I want to have someserious talk with y'all.
I'm an adult now, I'm no longera child and I've got some

(18:05):
things that just have on myheart, and I think you start
that conversation by expressinghow much you love them, how much
you appreciate them.
I would start by saying thanky'all for loving me so well.
Thank you for raising me andthe nurture and the admonition
of the Lord, thank you forhaving me in church and and
teaching me who God is andpointing me that way.

(18:27):
You know so.
So don't start off with anythingthat feels critical.
Start off with appreciation andpositivity and then, I think
shift cause the question therewas.
Well, I always have to maintainthose boundaries to avoid
disappointment, so shift towardsum, guys, I just I got to share

(18:48):
what's on my heart.
I feel like we're shallow.
We can only go to a veryshallow depth when it comes to
real conversation about what'sgoing on in my heart and where
the Lord is in our family.
I feel like you know, and youjust kind of share your heart,
but do it gently, because yousaid how can I push them in a

(19:10):
loving and gracious way?
And I think that's how you doit.
But now here's the thing that Ithink you've got to know about
post a conversation like this.
So, after you have thisconversation, there's something
that I think you've got toprepare your heart to do, and
that is don't rehash it withthem, don't bring it back up.
And so a couple of veryimportant points here.
If you need to sit down thisgoes for any of our listeners If

(19:32):
you need to sit down and have aconversation with your parents
or with a spouse Now we'retalking about people who profess
to be Christians If you haveparents that aren't believers,
then this doesn't apply to you.
It would be a differentconversation.
But this person has a mom and adad who attend church for the

(19:52):
most part, most weeks.
They profess to be Christians,they say the blessing over the
meals, et cetera, but there'snot a lot of depth, et cetera,
but there's not a lot of depth.
And so when you have thisconversation, you have to remove
your own expectations.
And you have this conversationfor three reasons, and I want to

(20:13):
put it in this order becausethis will temper your
expectations.
You're not first having thisconversation for your own self.
You're having it first andforemost to honor the Lord.
Second, because you care aboutyour parents and you want them
to have a deeper, moremeaningful relationship with the
Lord.
And then, third, you are thirdin this so I can get some things

(20:45):
off my chest, or so I can maybemove beyond some disappointment
I'm having.
Then, if they don't respond theright, the way that you're
hoping they will, then you'rejust setting yourself up for
further disappointment.
Anytime we approach somethingin a more self-preservation kind
of mindset or way, then we setourselves up for disappointment

(21:10):
because we're establishingexpectations that may not be met
.
So I hope that makes sense.
So have the conversation but beready to walk away from it when
you're done and not revisit Ifthey don't respond.
Well, then you've done what youneeded to do to be faithful to
the Lord, because what'sstirring this in your heart, I
believe, is a sincere love forthe Lord and you want them to

(21:30):
grow in their faith, and so that, ultimately, is between them
and Jesus, it's between them andthe Holy spirit, but you can
speak into that.
So so, uh, she she wraps up bysaying I guess I'm seeking
advice on how to live my lifelife fully surrendered to the
Lord and fully present andengaged at home, if my parents
don't share that same vision yet.
So last question I'll answerhere is how do you then you've

(21:51):
got this intense love for theLord, this intense love for
scripture?
You're growing, you're goingplaces in your own walk with
Jesus.
How do you, if they're not onthe same page, how do you, how
do you interact with them?
Is what that last question is,cause I think a lot of us, we
know what this is like, whereyou're so serious about, uh,

(22:12):
your walk with the Lord and it'sthe thing that that motivates
and drives you in every part ofyour life.
Um, but how do you, how do yougrow in relationship with others
that aren't growing inrelationship with Jesus.
Because there's a principle, Ithink, in the Christian
experience which is the more yougrow in your relationship with
Jesus, the more you grow in yourwalk with Christ, then the more

(22:36):
meaningful your relationshipswith other people that are
growing are going to be, andthen the less meaningful your
relationships with people thataren't growing are going to be.
So for an example would be um,you got, you got two brothers
and they're super close andthey're young adults, you know
they're 18 to 20, 21, somewherein there, and they've they grew

(22:57):
up together, they're a year ortwo apart, really close, and
then one of them really beginsto pursue Christ and the other
one is a kind of marginalChristian, and what happens is
the one that's really pursuingChrist is going to find deeper,
more meaningful relationshipswith other people that are
pursuing Christ, and maybe hisrelationship with his brother.

(23:18):
It's not that it stops beingmeaningful, it just doesn't have
the same depth.
And so it almost feels like yougrow a little bit apart from
your brother and you grow moredeep relationships with brothers
in Christ, and so that would bean example.
I've seen that happen a lot.
So maybe you know, I think oftwo cousins that grew up really
close they're the same age, Ithink, a couple months apart

(23:40):
played ball together once youknow, did everything together
growing up.
Played ball together once youknow, did everything together
growing up, constantly stayingover at each other's houses um,
just super close.
They're cousins but they'rebest friends.
One of them pursued and andboth were christians, but one of
them really pursued christ andthe other one not so much once
they hit adulthood and they justkind of grew apart.
Now that's different from if,again, if you have a family

(24:02):
member that's not a Christian,they're lost and they don't
profess to be a Christian.
I almost feel like that can be alittle easier because you can
find commonality in things thatare not the things of the Lord.
You know, favorite sports teamor a hobby, something like that.
So anyway, it can be tough.
This is a very difficult thing,especially when you're dealing
with your parents, where youwant to stay engaged, but the

(24:26):
depth of your relationship withChrist sort of has gone to a
place that theirs hasn't.
And that's not being judgmentalor condescending, that's just
the reality.
So I would say, just be gentleand accept that there may not be
quite the depth you're hopingfor in those relationships.
Give them an opportunity tohear your heart, but do it

(24:47):
gently and don't setexpectations that will be unmet
and then just know.
The reality is that the moreyou walk with Jesus, the deeper
you press into the things of theLord.
Then you're going to turn toother people who have that same
commitment and that's where yourdeepest relationships are going
to be.
She closes.
Thank you, guys, for the workyou do and the love you have for

(25:08):
the Lord and his people.
You've shown me that theChristian faith really is a
practical, day-to-day thing thatshould impact every aspect of
my life Living, every aspect ofmy living.
Y'all are awesome.
And then she said I'm soexcited that you get to
celebrate the holidays withKilby Greg and baby Alma.
I've loved all the pictures Ithink she's talking about

(25:31):
through, probably, social mediaMerry Christmas.
So this came in just beforeChristmas and, sorry, I'm just
now getting to it.
We are just so busy and and soa lot of this is overdue because
of the the lineup that we'vehad.
So thank you to that person.
She knows who she is and shelistens, and I want to say to
her that we, the Holloway family, love you and the Snowbird

(25:54):
family love you and you do havemeaningful relationships here
that will will always be hereand uh.
So swing by the house sometimewhen you're in in the area,
swing by when you're in Andrewsor when you come to a SWO event.
Let's connect and hopefully youcan come to one.
I haven't seen you in a while,but thank you for the letter.

(26:14):
I hope this was anencouragement, not just to you
but to others that might've beenlistening.
Okay, all right, let's, uh,let's pause right here and I'm
going to, um, organize somethings here, some notes and
things, and I want to walk youthrough this Nehemiah three
stuff that um, uh, it's funnyI'm recording this a day before

(26:35):
I'm going to be speaking onthese things, but you're going
to be hearing it sometime afterI've spoken.
So, um, you're getting tobasically hear my practice run,
um, but by the time you listento it, it'll all be said and
done.
So, anyway, let's, uh, let'sturn, let's, let's pivot, shift
directions a little bit, and nowlet's get into Nehemiah three.
Okay, so, nehemiah three.
Let me set the stage as, evenas we've come off these uh, last

(27:00):
couple of weeks of talkingabout the importance of
scripture and how we study it.
It's important to take Nehemiahthree in context.
So, super fast background towhat we're getting ready to get
into is this there was anancient civilization.
It was a nation that hadestablished the greatest
government in the world, thegreatest kingship in the world,

(27:23):
the greatest system of worshipthe world had ever seen, the
greatest influence and spread tothe rest of the world, and that
ancient civilization was calledIsrael.
Israel was a nation that Godraised up out of the other
nations of the earth so thatthrough that nation, he would
bring salvation to all nations.

(27:45):
And so that's the story of theOld Testament of the Bible.
And there was a time wherethose people that made up that
nation turned away from God and,as a result, they disobeyed
God's laws, his instruction,they broke away from the form of
government he had established,they broke away from the system
of worship he had established.

(28:06):
They stopped obeying him, theystopped listening to him he had
established.
They stopped obeying him, theystopped listening to him and, as
a result, just as God hadpromised, these people came
under the hand of God's judgment, and what that judgment looked
like was that they lost theirautonomy and power and influence
as a nation.
They became a nation of slavesto other greater, more powerful

(28:30):
nations.
The problem is, these othergreater, more powerful nations
were pagan, they were notChristian or they did not
worship the one true God.
And so one of those nations wasa world power called Persia.
Think of from about 700, 800 BC,through a couple hundred years,

(28:51):
a few hundred years after thetime of Christ, so for about
over a thousand years the worldhad a succession of empires that
sort of ruled and dominated thefirst one.
There was one empire called theAssyrian Empire.
They were like the Mongols,they were barbaric and kind of
crazy.
They just ruled and reignedover other people, and that was

(29:14):
the first nation that started tobring God's judgment on Israel.
And that was like 700 yearsbefore Christ.
And then about 100 years later,about 100 years later, they
fell to the Babylonian Empireand that empire then began to
rule and govern over God'speople.

(29:36):
And that's where you can readabout some of that in the story
of Daniel, the book of Daniel.
But that was a short-livedempire or world power.
Now, they were verysophisticated and advanced for
that time, but then theycollapsed and they fell to the
Persian empire.
You may have heard remember backin school, the Medo-Persian,
the Medo-Persian empire, theMedes and Persians, and then

(29:57):
they ruled for a good bit longerand they continued to oppress
God's people.
But it was during that timethat God started to restore and
reestablish a few things withhis people, but what he would do
is he would not reestablishtheir governmental prominence.
So, in other words, under thePersian empire, god's people

(30:19):
were allowed to begin to worshiptheir God the way they were
commanded by their God toworship.
They weren't allowed toestablish a king and a
government and a military and toreestablish themselves as a
nation, but they were allowed toreestablish their system of

(30:40):
worship.
And that Persian empireeventually would fall to the
Greek empire, which wouldeventually split and fragment
and divide, and then the worldwould see the rise of the Roman
empire, which is the empire thatwas in place when Jesus came
into the world.
So we're going to jump into thisstory in Nehemiah.
Nehemiah takes place when thatthird kingdom, the Persian

(31:02):
empire, was in power, and whathad happened during that time is
that Jewish people had beenassimilated under Babylonian
empire and Persian empire Kings.
They had been assimilated intoBabylonian life or Persian life,
and so, for instance, daniel,under the Babylonian empire,

(31:22):
became um, the secretary ofeducation and then, when the
Persian empire took over, he wassuch a gifted guy that he
became the chief justice of whatwould be their version of the
Supreme court, and so he hadvery influential positions.
But he was a Jewish guy, but hewas in the Babylonian and
Persian empires.
Well, Nehemiah was a guy who,like Esther, had a very

(31:46):
influential position in thePersian empire.
You remember the story of QueenEsther, which we're going to do
one of these days.
We're going to do a Beyond theFlannel graph on Queen Esther.
She was a Jewish girl thatbecame queen.
Nehemiah was a Jewish dude thatbecame the cupbearer to the king
, which means he tested theking's food and drink to make

(32:09):
sure he wasn't being poisonedthe king's food and drink to
make sure he wasn't beingpoisoned.
Back then there was so muchthat went on where kings would
be double-crossed and executedand there were coups and there
were rebellions and people werejockeying for positions.
So there's all these storiesfrom all kinds of different
empires and dynasties andmonarchies where one person

(32:32):
becomes King by killing offtheir siblings or something like
that.
You know that you there's somany old stories of of that.
Look like that, and so thisKing.
He had, uh, what most Kingswould have.
He had a cup bearer which was ataste tester for his food and
drink, and this guy, nehemiah,was the taste tester.
So this guy, nehemiah, was thetaste tester.

(32:52):
So this guy, nehemiah, had avery prominent role with this
Persian king.
And Nehemiah goes to thisPersian king and he is so
downcast because he has heardthat the city of his people, the
capital city of his people,hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of miles away, 800miles away, the city of

(33:13):
Jerusalem is in ruins.
The wall that protected thecity has collapsed, it's fallen,
they've been ransacked andattacked and there's just
disorder and chaos.
And it's kind of like if youthink about what's going on in
Haiti right now or in parts ofSudan, kind of like if you think
about what's going on in Haitiright now or in parts of Sudan,

(33:35):
it's chaos.
I read last week where Rwandahad invaded the Congo and
there's just crazy fighting inthe streets and you end up with
sort of this warlord anarchy andthat was happening around
Jerusalem and there was nostability for the people.
And so Nehemiah was devastatedby this.
I mean, he was just wrecked, hecouldn't hide it and the King
knows it, he recognizes it, andso he says hey, what do you,

(33:57):
what do you want to do?
And Nehemiah says I need okay,I'm gonna speak my heart here I
want to go and and and rebuildthe wall and establish some
security for the people ofJerusalem these are my people
and for us to be able to worshipand experience the way of life
we believe that Yahweh hascalled us to.
I need to go back and do thiswork.

(34:17):
And so the king says yeah, yeah, we'll do it.
As a matter of fact, how muchtime you need?
And it's going to be severalyears.
So the king gives Nehemiahseveral years of leave, he gives
him documentation that willprotect him as he travels
through the empire and thathe'll have work orders to be
protected as he does the work.
No one can speak against theking's orders.

(34:38):
And so Nehemiah goes back.
He gets back to the city, hesort of evaluates what needs to
be done and he mobilizes theteam, and then the people of
Israel come together and theybegin to work to rebuild the
wall around the city ofJerusalem.
Once that wall is up, it willrepresent that God has

(34:59):
reestablished worship andcertain aspects of Jewish life,
and it would give them hope thatGod was still in control even
though the people had come underjudgment and no longer had
total autonomy.
So that's sort of the setup incontrol even though the people
had come under judgment and nolonger had total autonomy.
So that's sort of the setup.
And so Nehemiah 3 is anincredible chapter, because it

(35:22):
is the chapter that begins thestory of the people putting
their hands to the work andbeginning to rebuild the wall,
and so I want to work through itand give you I don't know like
five principles that I thinkwill be helpful for us as
believers in 2025 this week.
Um, so we'll work through it.
Nehemiah, chapter three uh,beginning in verse one, it says
then Eliashib or Eliashib Idon't know how you pronounce his

(35:43):
name the high priest rose upwith his brothers, the priests,
and they built the sheep gate,they consecrated it and set its
doors.
They consecrated it as far asthe tower of the hundred and as
far as the tower of Hananel.
So first thing that happens isthe priests begin the work.
This guy, eliashib, was thegrandson of Jeshua, who had

(36:05):
overseen the temple constructionin Israel.
So this guy was not just a highpriest, but he came from.
He probably had some age on himat this point, but he also had
an incredible ancestry, um, butI want you to notice that he
gets in on the manual labor andhe takes his team, and these
priests don't have any sense ofpride or entitlement.

(36:26):
Um, this is servant leadership.
So the priests begin the workand they work to reestablish
what's called the sheep gate,and they not only work to
establish and rebuild the sheepgate, but they consecrate it,
which means, before they startthe work on the rest of the wall
, they build the gate that wasused to bring the sacrificial

(36:47):
animals into the city and theydedicate this to the Lord.
So I think there's a statementthe sheep gate is set apart and
dedicated to the Lord by thepriests who establish the work
of rebuilding this, this wall.
That's the first thing thathappens, and the statement is
hey, we're going to do this andwe're going to honor the Lord

(37:07):
and the priest, uh, lead the way, and I just love this.
And so then it says in versetwo next to the men, next to him
, the men of Jericho built, andnext to him, uh, zachar the son
of Emory built.
So you got people from Jerichothat come in and start building
in this.
Now, what this does is thisshows you that if you look at a
map, you've got the city ofJerusalem and as we work through

(37:32):
this story, people from aroundJerusalem are going to come
together to help the people inJerusalem build the city.
So the work was not only doneby people who lived within the
city.
You know, jericho is asignificant I mean there's
several stories that happened inJericho.
You've got the walls of Jerichothat fell down hundreds of
years before this story thatwe're reading.
But then also Jesus goes toJericho.

(37:54):
That's where the story ofZacchaeus happens.
So Jericho was pretty close toJerusalem.
It was just kind of an outlyingcity just outside of Jerusalem.
But to me it's significantbecause there's a human tendency
to just want to be involved inthe things that benefit you
directly.
But I love this because this isa powerful principle.

(38:15):
One of the effects of followingJesus is you're going to have a
desire to help others directlyand to do things in your own
life that are going to impactthe greater work of the kingdom
of Jesus, and so the people ofJericho sort of display that,
which is.
I love that.
And then the work continues.
The sons of Hasenah built thefish gate.
They laid its beams, set itsdoors, its bolts, its bars.

(38:36):
Next to them, merimoth, the sonof Uriah, son of Hachaz,
repaired, and next to them,meshulam, the son of Berechiah,
son of Meshezebel, repaired.
And next to him, zadok, the sonof Banna, repaired.
So something now jumps out thatI want to point out, and that
is this the word repaired isbeing used now and that becomes

(38:58):
the theme of the chapter.
Now there's another place wherethe word rebuild or restored
will be used, and those are twodifferent words with two
different significance.
There's there's significance inboth of those that I want to
point out, but the word repairedis used here and it and it's
kind of the main theme of thechapter.
So here's a, here's adefinition for what that word

(39:21):
repaired means in the scripture.
It means to make firm or makestrong.
It doesn't necessarily meanthat everything's being put back
the way it was.
So, if you could kind ofimagine, they may not be
building the wall back to itsformer glory in terms of
architecture and beauty and thetrim work, and what they're
doing is they're they're,they're making it firm and

(39:43):
strong.
So there are no frills, nofancy schmancy.
No frills, no fancy schmancy.
Let's build a wall that servesa purpose, to enable us to
return to obeying and followingthe Lord in the way that we live
within this city.
So I think that's significant.
You've got a couple guys' namesmentioned there Maramoth and
Malkijah.

(40:04):
Those are guys that show up inthe books of Ezra and Nehemiah,
that had a significant role umin in in Jewish life in the city
of Jerusalem, and that guy,merrimoth, will actually repair
another section down in verse 21.
Um, so you've got people fromdifferent walks of life now

(40:27):
coming to work with the priest,their repair and they're they're
really fortifying sections ofthe wall, even though they may
not put it back to the way itwas ornamentally or
architecturally, as far as whatit looks like, but they're
establishing a strong wall.
They're there.
This is no frills.
They're putting it back withwith bolts and bars and and, and

(40:48):
a strong structure is going inplace with bolts and bars and
and, and a strong structure isgoing in place.
And one of the things that uhstands out to me now for versus
in is that no one here has asense of entitlement.
There's not a mindset ofentitlement.
You don't have the priestsaying, well, we only do
priestly things.
You don't have this guyMerrimoth, um, and this guy
Malakai, just saying well, we,we're pretty important people

(41:09):
here.
You know, ezra can vouch for us.
We're not going to do this kindof work.
We need the labor force to dothis and we've got to do other
things that are more religiousby nature or governmental by
nature.
It's just everybody's jumpingin and doing the work.
There's no sense of entitlement.
I think that's significant.

(41:31):
And then in verse 5, it saysthat Techoites repaired, but
their nobles would not stoop toserve the Lord.
So you've got conflict fromwithin.
Now, as you study the book ofNehemiah, there was conflict
from the outside.
There was a couple of guys thatthat led, sort of a coalition
of people that opposed to thework, so much so that eventually
the people that are rebuildingthe wall will have to rebuild
with their swords at hand.

(41:55):
So while they're mudding andlaying brick, they're armed,
ready to fight in case theconflict from the outside comes,
and they have to fight for theproject, the work that they're
doing, for the project, the workthat they're doing.
But here you've got internalconflict, which I think is a
pretty important principle andreminder that even in really

(42:17):
solid ministries, even in reallysolid churches it's not
uncommon to have to overcomeinternal resistance and conflict
, and here it's not justconflict.
I think you've got somethinglike either laziness and
arrogance, where more of thework and burden is being put on
some because others won't pulltheir own weight, or I don't

(42:39):
know, there's different theorieson this or you've got
legitimate conflict internallywhere someone's trying to
undermine the work I'm not sure,but one or the other In the
MI3,.
The way this is playing out isthat the way they overcome it is
that everyone just puts theirheads down.
They just grind away at thework.
They don't stop and complain,get caught up in the drama that

(43:01):
these men might have created.
They just stay focused and Ilove that.
So they continue working.
Verse 6, they put together thecity gate.
Verse 7, some more people arebeing named individually, but
there's also some folks in verse7.
It says the Gibeonite, melatiahthe Gibeonite and Jadon the

(43:24):
Maranathite, the men of Gibeonand of Mizpah, the seat of the
governor of the province beyondthe river.
So now you've got people from agood ways outside of the city
that have.
Apparently there's a provincialpalace maybe, where the Persian
governor would stay when he wasin the province of the region.
The people from that city havecome to help as well.

(43:45):
So again, you've got peoplefrom all around coming to help.
So a really cool picture of how, when God puts a task in front
of people, if everyone will takepart in the common work that
God's called them to, so muchcan be accomplished.
And then get to verse 8, and weget into a goldsmith and a
perfume manufacturer.

(44:06):
This is cool.
It says Uziel, the son ofHarahiah, goldsmiths repaired.
Next to him, hananiah, one ofthe perfumers, repaired, and
they restored Jerusalem as faras the broad wall.
So you've got a group of guysthat do the next section.
These are guys who weremerchants, they were from the

(44:28):
trades, they were localtradesmen, business owners,
merchants, and they're gettinginvolved, doing their part.
And I love it because at thispoint what we've got is we've
got everyone is kind of pitchingin, no matter what their
background is.
And it's interesting because inverse eight something jumps out
.
It says they restored Jerusalemas far as the broad wall.

(44:49):
We said earlier, sometimes yourepair but sometimes you rebuild
, and that's what's happeninghere.
The terminology in verse 8 isthat as they're rebuilding this
portion of the wall, theyactually reroute it.
And I think what happens isthey move the wall in, so they
shrink the size of the city alittle bit, but they bring the

(45:12):
wall into a more strategic highground.
And so they're recognizing, hey, we need to be efficient and
strategic.
And so they rebuild a sectionof the wall.
And so, again, sometimes we'rerepairing, sometimes we're
rebuilding.
I think there's some really goodapplication that we could just
pause and say, hey, in your lifeare there times where you need

(45:32):
to repair, are there times whereyou need to rebuild?
You know, you think of, uh,relationships that are damaged.
Can we, can we put that backthrough the work of
reconciliation, or do I need torebuild it altogether?
You know areas of our liveswhere typically, um, we just
need the Lord to do a work.
You know, in our lives, andanyway, that's just kind of

(45:54):
those two words stand out to merepair versus rebuild.
Okay, then in verse nine we getthe first uh, this guy's like a
I would call him a town count, acity councilman, or a
commissioner, a Countycommissioner.
His name's refi, and it saysthat next time, refi, the son of
her, the ruler of half thedistrict of Jerusalem, repaired.
So you've got, you'll see thisover the rest of the chapter.

(46:17):
County commissioners, mayors,rulers of separate parts of the
city all come together to dotheir part.
And then, verse 10, this guy,jediah, the son of haramath,
repaired opposite his house.
So now you got people startingto work just in their front yard
.
They're, they're, they'reworking right around their house

(46:37):
.
Verse 11 you got a group ofguys that finish their section
and then they move, grab theirtools, move on and help some,
some guys on another section,verse 12 you've got a guy who's
working with his daughters.
So you've got just differentsnippets of Jewish life where
people from every walk of lifeagain are jumping in and doing

(46:58):
the work.
And then you get to verse 13.
It says Hanun and theinhabitants of Zenoa repaired
the valley gate.
They rebuilt it and set itsdoors, its bolts and its bars
and repaired a thousand cubitsof the wall as far as the dung
gate.
So Hannon's team repaired thishuge portion.
This guy, hannon, or Hannon, isa huge portion of the wall,

(47:18):
probably 500 yards long.
You're talking five footballfields.
And then the other thing is,these guys didn't live there,
they came from outside of town.
So, like verses 9 through 12,you've got people just kind of
doing the section right in frontof their house and then verse
13,.
You've got guys coming from allaround, from way outside of the

(47:39):
city and they come in and theyrepair 500 yard section.
So you know, we saw a while agoyou got a group of guys that
move and rebuild an entirely newsection of the wall.
These guys probably were justrepairing a large section of the
wall because of how much workthey got done in the same amount
of time, massive portion of thewall these guys came in and

(48:01):
helped to repair.
It makes me think of something.
There's a couple of things thatstand out to me based on kind
of where we are in western NorthCarolina with all the flooding
that just happened.
We had, you know, last fall wehad crazy floods here that were
the effect of a hurricane thatwent through like south Georgia,

(48:25):
north Florida, and what we gotwas massive flooding.
You know, a lot of people saidthe hurricane hit us.
I don't.
I don't mean I don't know if ahurricane can hit the mountains
North Carolina, but I know itrained like crazy.
I mean whole sides of mountainswashed away and we got out and
started when, when all the youknow, the water sort of subsided

(48:46):
and I mean it was crazy.
I've never seen anything likeit there.
The Pigeon River runs throughthe town of Canton, where my
brother and a bunch of mybrother I got a brother and a
sister and several cousins thatlive in Canton and Clyde, north
Carolina and where the PigeonRiver runs through that town.
The Pigeon River was up 26 feet, so you figure that out.

(49:10):
You know, if the banks are 10feet higher than the river
normally, then above the banksyou had 16 feet of water across
the.
You know.
So it was to the it was.
It was in the attics of homes.
It was crazy.
Like you know, a lot of us I'msure saw some of that on social
media or on the news or whatever.
This is crazy, just terrible,terrible flood damage and had to

(49:32):
wait till all that watersubsided.
Then we went over and startedworking just to and not even
rebuilding just getting mud outof houses, trying to get people
to a position where then theycould rebuild.
And now the rebuilding hasstarted.
It's been an ongoing work onone project, but we spent a
month just getting mud out ofhouses and ripping insulation

(49:52):
out from under mobile homes.
We went into a couple oftrailer parks and the SWO team
was just ripping and gutting anddealing with just a massive
cleanup effort.
And something that stood out tome was the cooperation of these
communities.
Everybody was pitching in.
We met people from Mississippiand Colorado and Virginia and

(50:15):
Missouri that had come down.
I have a friend from Kansasthat said, hey, what can I do?
And he purchased a side-by-sideUTV so that we could take it to
one mountain community so thatthey could distribute firewood
to people, because so muchpeople's wood sheds have been
washed and they had lost theirfirewood.
These people lived along riversand creeks and then it's going

(50:38):
to be five months before theycould get power back to these
these communities, some of thembecause of where they were
located just crazy.
But seeing everybody pitch inand you see what people can
accomplish when there's no prideand everybody's willing to
pitch in.
Now it's funny because there'salso always going to be people

(50:58):
that are trying to work an angleto profit off of something like
this and we saw some of thattoo.
There's one area called GreenMountain which is in Yancey
County, north Carolina, north ofAsheville, and it got several
friends up there, a pastorfriend, timmy Burnett, who has
members that live up in thatarea and we were joking one day

(51:20):
because some folks were up there.
You know people, people were Imean 99% of people were were
there to help.
But you got that one group ofpeople that are trying to cause
problems or profit off of thecalamity and there's a
self-appointed militia up there.
These guys call themselves likethe green mountain, maybe the
green mountain militia, I don'tremember, but my buddy called

(51:41):
them the gravy seals.
He says bunch of good old boys.
They're the gravy seals insteadof the Navy seals.
They're up there defending, youknow, the homes that have been
devastated.
But you heard about a lot of thestories are all over the place
during the flooding where thereare people that were using that

(52:02):
to rob and pillage and loot, butthe majority of people were
coming together to work andsomething that stood out to me
is people who are Christianswere working together in the
most cooperative and beautifulway.
It's really cool.
I saw one group of believersthat were volunteers.
I went by a house one day andcame back by that same house two

(52:22):
days later and it lookedcompletely different.
They had gutted, cleaned,restored and were already back
to rebuilding it and it was justcool to see what 15 men and
women who love the Lord and werecommitted to helping just some
random people that they saidwe're going to help this house,
these are the people we're goingto help.
So it was a really coolcooperative effort and I don't

(52:44):
know that's what made me thinkof it.
There was sections of this wallas you're reading the MI3, like
these guys that just built a500 foot section or repaired a
500 foot section.
You're like man, that's crazyhow fast they did that.
But there were.
After that flood, I drovethrough an area one day where I
thought it'll be months, if notyears, before this is all put

(53:06):
back.
Roads washed out, you had thatfour wheel drive and then you
had to take secondary roads andlogging roads to get around.
And I'm telling you, in threeweeks time you could drive
through there.
They had restored the road andthey had gotten.
It was just crazy seeing howfast people were working around
the clock.
So that's what it made me thinkof.
It's kind of like a freshrecent example or illustration

(53:28):
to me.
And so got all these peoplejust working, working, working,
working.
And then verse 16, another umcommissioner, one of the city
commissioners, um and then fromafter verse 16, it seems to
shift from um and and focus moreon people's homes and like

(53:49):
local things, the the first partof the chapter is the big
projects, big sections of thewall, the gates that are being
rehung, and then it shifts overfrom about verse 17 to the end
of the chapter.
It gets more into just thetedious work of restoring
people's homes, local landmarks,things like that.
And when it's all said and done, what it seems like happens is

(54:16):
the wall of the city is restoredand or repaired, but it is
shrunk in size and circumferenceand diameter.
So you've got a sure, strong,smaller section of the city
that's in come, you know,encompassed by this wall, but
it's consecrated to the Lord.
When it's all said and done andthey're able to, I mean in
verses 17 through 21, you've gotthe Levites, who are the

(54:39):
priests, and another citycommissioner that all come
together to do this massiveportion of the work.
I mean I think how encouragingit would have been to see these
pastors and priests and leadersin there doing the work
alongside of uneducated people.
And then you've got, even inverse 22, these surrounding

(55:00):
areas, these rural pastors thisis after him the priests, the
men of the surrounding arearepaired.
So something I saw during thiswork, hurricane relief work was
pastors and leaders and churchesfrom all around the country
came in.
And I appreciate that verse 22,where these rural pastors and

(55:20):
priests came to help, because,as a rural pastor in a small
rural community that's dominatedby high levels of southern
Appalachian poverty, this kindof resonates with me.
These people were justeverybody's doing their part and
and there's power in that theLord blesses it and uses it.
And so I think that you knowwhat you get in this Nehemiah

(55:40):
three story is a picture of howChrist wants the church to serve
the community, and that's whatthey did here and that's what
we've been able to see over thelast um, you know, the last few
months since the floodinghappened.
But anyway, I want to, I want togive you some things that stand
out to me.
So this is what I really wantto get at with Nehemiah three.
I want to get to to sevenprinciples.

(56:01):
Let's see seven.
Did I write down seven?
I got seven.
Seven principles, seven thingsthat stand out.
So if you're a Christian, aChrist follower, you're a child
of God.
Let me give you seven things tothink about.
First, the spiritual leader setthe example of the work.
So in the first verse you'vegot the priests I mean this
really well-known priest,eliashib, who's the grandson of

(56:24):
Jeshua this is like this is abig-time family in Israelite
life and they set the example bydoing the work.
And in doing the work theyestablished the Sheep Gate,
which is the gate that kind ofrepresents salvation for Israel
and sacrifice and is pointingpeople to Jesus, and so that's

(56:53):
the most important part of thisproject for the people.
Next, the second thing is thatpeople from every category and
walk of life helped out, notjust the work of ministry
professionals.
So the first two points to meare you've got the pastors and
priests doing the work, andthere's a lesson in that, in
that they're not entitled, theydon't think, oh, I just stay in
my office and prepare sermons.
You know the old misnomer thatpreachers and pastors only work
one day a week, which is crazy.

(57:14):
But then you've got themputting their hand to the work
and leading by example.
It's true servant leadership.
So the first component to ahealthy community effort um,
whether that's communitycommunity or the church
community is that the spiritualleaders set the example of the
work.
But then the second communityis that the spiritual leaders
set the example of the work.
But then the second thing isthat people from every category

(57:36):
and walk of life helped out.
It's not just the work ofministry professionals,
everybody pitches in.
You've got local rulers andcommissioners and councilmen,
and then it even.
It even seems like the thePersian empire probably used
local Jews to govern differentdistricts and regions and I

(57:59):
think those people would havehad a a lot of opportunity for
um to be entitled.
You know what I mean.
Like if, if the Persian empiresaid to you hey, we're going to
give you a nice house to live inand we're going to give you a
pretty good little salary and weneed you to keep order and
you're part of, you're part ofthe empire which is in this

(58:21):
section of the city of Jerusalem.
Just kind of keep things, thatguy would would easily be able
to have a sense of entitlement.
But we don't see that here.
Everybody's pitching in.
The third thing is along thoselines is the unity of the people
.
By not having a sense ofentitlement.
Everyone was sort of unified inthis work, saying what can I do
, how can I help, and I thinkthat's like true unity in the

(58:45):
body of Christ will lead tocooperation and work together.
And people, you know we'regoing to work together.
We'll use our.
We'll use our gifts and talents, god's talents that he's given
us, to help one another to bebetter, to do better.
We'll be united in the mission.
You go read Romans 12, threethrough eight.
It starts let love be genuine,um have brotherly affection,

(59:09):
outdo one another in showinghonor, and it's like this really
cool picture of cooperation inthe body of Christ.
So people, not only do they nothave a sense of entitlement,
but instead they have a sense ofunity.
How can I work for the greatermission, the greater good?
I think there's a lesson inthat Number four.
We considered that the idea ofrepair versus rebuild.

(59:29):
Sometimes we need to repairwhat's in our lives, what's
broken.
Other times we need to startover, need a fresh start.
Maybe maybe you've gone througha completely destructive
marriage and and now you're adivorced person, kind of going
what, what do I do?
Where do I go?
You need to, you got to startover.
You're going to start over,you're going to rebuild, but but

(59:50):
then maybe there's someone elsewho, your marriage is not in a
good place and you both need tocommit, to work through some
things, and you need to work torepair your marriage, and maybe
it's just one of you islistening to this and the
question will be what can you doto repair what's broken?
Or maybe you need to work torepair a relationship in your
life that that is damaged?

(01:00:10):
Um, sometimes we need to workto repair a relationship in your
life that is damaged.
Sometimes we need to repair,sometimes we need to rebuild.
And then the next thing isthere's three more is we need to
expect conflict?
If we're going to be obedientto do the work of the Lord,
there's going to be conflict.
In verse 5, we saw that therewas internal conflict, but then,
as we unpack the rest of thebook of nehemiah, there's a good

(01:00:30):
bit of external conflict.
So you need internal unity andexternal support, because
there's going to be internalconflict and external conflict,
and so conflict is going to bethere.
Just expect that you're goingto face conflict in your life as
christians.
One of the beautiful thingsthat that we have is the ability

(01:00:51):
, the wisdom, the direction,instruction in scripture to deal
with conflict, to addressconflict, conflict resolution is
something that's um, that'savailable to us as believers.
We have instruction inscripture.
So what we have is we haveinstruction on how to deal with
conflict, but we also have theHoly spirit in us to guide us

(01:01:12):
through the dealing, theconflict resolution.
So expect conflict, don't freakout when there's conflict.
That's part of life, that'sjust part of that's how it works
.
Number six Um.
So I said there's seven,there's six, I'm doing six Um,
and so the last one number sixis God's name is not mentioned

(01:01:36):
anywhere in Nehemiah chapterthree, rather Not in the book of
Nehemiah, but in Nehemiahchapter three.
So as we go through thischapter where they're rebuilding
, we never see the name of Godmentioned.
So this makes me think of thissort of balance in the body of
christ, or in the christianexperience, not the body of

(01:01:56):
christ.
In your life as a christian, youcan hold to a high view of the
sovereignty of god and stillbelieve that god works through
the hands and hearts andobedience of people who are
willing to do the task that heputs in front of us.
So it's kind of like we pray,trusting in the sovereignty of
God.
So we pray and ask God to dothings because we believe he has

(01:02:18):
sovereignty and providence andauthority to do things, but then
we get to work because webelieve he's put responsibility
on our shoulders.
And so there's this.
There's this thing that you seein the MI three, where the
people are working hard to dothe work, but they're not
working pointlessly.

(01:02:38):
They're working because theybelieve God's called them to it
and that by his sovereignty he'sgoing to bring about the result
that that he intends to bringabout.
So, uh, let me, let me read.
I'm going to close this chapterby reading from a commentator.
This guy's name is MervinBrenneman, new American
Commentary, and I love what hesays.
Just to kind of wrap all thisup and give us some application,

(01:03:01):
despite its mundane appearance,because if you read through
that chapter, I'm not going tolie.
It's 32 verses where it's likeso-and-so built this part of the
wall, so-and-so repaired thispart of the wall, so-and-so had
daughters and they worked onthis part of the wall.
It seems mundane, but thechapter is more than a
construction record.
Although the walls and gateswould serve a military purpose

(01:03:24):
and we'll see that if you go onto Nehemiah, chapter 4, you'll
see that the book's concern forseparation from pagan influence
suggests it had symbolicsignificance.
You read, read about that inNehemiah 13, verses 19 through
22,.
Rather than simply providingsecurity, the walls encouraged

(01:03:45):
in the people of God a sense ofidentity and distinctiveness.
So here's what it all comesdown to the wall represents
identity and distinctiveness anda degree of separation from the
world.
They're living in the midst ofthe Persian Empire, but there's
a distinctiveness and aseparation from the Persian
Empire.
Their restoration alsorepresented a reversal of the

(01:04:06):
humiliation of defeat anddestruction suffered because of
Israel's sin.
Like the restored temple, therebuilt walls would assure the
Jews of God's redemptivepresence among them.
For the Christian, however, thecontinuing demonstration of
God's powerful and lovingpresence is the cross, and so
what he's saying in his point ofapplication is in the midst of

(01:04:29):
this pagan culture, this paganempire called the Persian empire
.
God's people are living withinthe Persian empire, but the wall
represents distinction,distinctiveness and separation
from the world.
You see this in Corinthians,when Paul writes to the
Corinthians in that pagan citywhere they were completely

(01:04:50):
surrounded by pagan worship Comeout from among them and be
separate, commit no uncleanthings, surrender yourself,
consecrate yourself unto theLord, be holy as he is holy.
This is what the scripture willteach, and so one of the
greatest principles for theChristian is to know.
We live in a fallen and brokenworld.

(01:05:10):
This world is not our home.
We live in a fallen and brokenworld.
This world is not our home.
We live, we live in thedarkness and I and man, you see
Christians freak out.
Like you know, we've just comethrough an election cycle.
You go back 2023 and 24.
It seemed like Christians arefreaking out left and right.
Um, because the world is is somessed up and we don't trust
government and we don't Listen.

(01:05:31):
The Jewish people were livingunder Persian rule.
They lived in the world, butGod restored this
distinctiveness.
God's people will always beseparate from the world.
There's a distinction, there'sa distinctiveness.
We got to be careful that wedon't try to make ourselves
oddly separate from the world.
You know what I mean.
I heard a recent preacherprominent preacher say he wished

(01:05:53):
President Trump would stopcussing and I thought, well, I
get what he's saying, but do weneed to say stuff like that out
loud?
You know, I don't know if theguy, I don't know if I've heard
different opinions about ifTrump is a Christian, an actual
born-again Christian, or not.
I don't know about if Trump isa Christian, an actual
born-again Christian, or not.

(01:06:14):
I don't know, but we can'tstart implying that people that
are not part of the body ofChrist behave like they're in
the body of Christ.
Listen, we live in a fallenworld and as Christians, we need
to focus on living in the worldbut not being of the world.
Loving the world for what weoffer the world, not for what
the world offers us.
I think that's a distinctive inthe building of the wall that
we see there Now.

(01:06:35):
Brenneman continues this chapterand this is where we'll wrap it
up.
I know it's been a long episode, but I knew it was going to be.
I warned you.
So Brenneman continues.
This chapter also containsimportant teachings for
Christians today.
Here's some things that itcontains.
One reason the work progressedwas that everyone took part,
from rulers and temple personnelto merchants and citizens with

(01:06:57):
their families.
Even the people from thevillages who lived a distance
from Jerusalem also helped.
They felt part of the community, even though they personally
received fewer direct benefits.
Mcconville suggests that theircooperation on the wall is one
of the Old Testament's finestpictures of the ideal of
Israelite brotherhood.
Even their enemies were amazedat the results, in order not

(01:07:22):
only to survive but also to beeffective in the midst of
opposition from a hostilesecular culture.
The church must exhibit acooperative spirit.
Another reason for the Jews'success was Nehemiah's wise
delegation of labor.
He knew how to choose leaders,delegate authority and also many
built the part nearest theirown house.

(01:07:42):
A leader must take into accountfamily and incentive factors in
planning and delegatingresponsibility.
Take into account family andincentive factors in planning
and delegating responsibility.
So got all this wrapped up inthis like things that we can
apply today is that faithfulbiblical leadership in the local
church is the delegation ofresponsibility, the preservation

(01:08:04):
of families.
But how do we get familiesinvolved?
You've got all these thingsthat are displayed in the MI3
that I think can be helpful forus.
So, cooperating together asChristians, let's work together
to impact the culture.
Let's build a sort of sanctuary.
Let's put up the wall like thechurch should represent some

(01:08:26):
degree of separation from theworld, security in the world.
The church ought to represent aplace where the body of Christ
might come together and not onlyworship and fellowship together
, but experience, like when youcome to church on Sunday or you
go to youth group on Wednesdaynight or small group in
someone's home.
That should be a time and amoment where you're stepping out

(01:08:48):
of the world and into sort ofthis special sanctuary of
fellowship and friendship andbrotherhood where you encourage
one another, help one anotherand then you work together to
say what's the mission of thechurch and how are we going to
impact our community?
How are we going to go reachpeople?
How are we going to take theinfluence and spread of the
gospel into the world?

(01:09:09):
So in the church we're onmission together.
We're working together.
There's conflict resolution.
Sometimes there's conflict fromthe outside, sometimes there's
conflict from the inside.
Sometimes you can reconcilethat conflict, sometimes you got
to move on and leave somethingbehind.
But always the church is onmission and we come together in

(01:09:32):
church on Sundays and in homegroups and community groups and
fellowship.
We sit around a meal together.
Whatever there's an opportunityfor us to genuinely truly be
united in fellowship with God'speople, with the goal of, I
think, the three big goals.

(01:09:52):
Number one honoring the Lord,bringing glory and honor to the
Lord and reflecting what thekingdom looks like, what
eternity is going to be like.
Number two, encouraging oneanother and building up the
church and establishing a placewhere there's sanctuary, there's
separation and distinction fromthe world.

(01:10:13):
That is healthy and good, notcondescending and judgmental,
but where we genuinely canexperience some freedom from
just the stress and pressure ofthe world around us and not be
completely consumed by andthreatened by the chaos of the
world.
Us and not be completelyconsumed by and threatened by
the chaos of the world.
And then, number three, a placewhere we launch the work of the

(01:10:35):
mission of Jesus into the world.
You know, god's called us to beseparate, to come out of the
world, but he's also called usto impact the world, to shape
the world, to change the world,to love the world with the love
of Jesus.
Those are the things I thinkthat we learn from this
incredible story.
Do you need to repair, do youneed to rebuild?

(01:10:56):
And, as a church, what are yougoing to do to encourage one
another, to build community andto impact the world in a way
that brings glory and honor toGod?
Hope you got something out ofthis.
Beyond the flannel graph, we'regoing beyond the surface
meaning and trying to look at astory, a narrative in scripture,
and learn from it.

(01:11:16):
It's been really helpful for meand I really want to implement
some of this stuff in my ownlife and then also just
rethinking how I view church andthe impact that we can have in
our community.
So that's that Love andappreciate all of you, the fact
that you listen, reading thoseat the beginning of this thing,
reading those reviews and emailsand letters and things like
that Just that's why we keepdoing it.

(01:11:38):
We know God's called us to it,but we also know that it's being
effective and we're seeing agreater and broader spread and
impact.
Impact the results that we'regetting back from these
different platforms that thepodcast has shared on have been
staggering and shocking, and soI'm excited that God's using it.

(01:11:59):
Hope it's an encouragement toyou this week.
So let's be the church, let'simpact the world with the gospel
and glorify Christ in doing it,and we'll see you next week.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
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