Title of the message is After the Walls Building God's People.
The work looks finished at this point in time, at least on the
outside. The walls have gone up in the
city of Jerusalem, but God isn't done.
There is still much work to be done in the hearts and lives of
the people of Israel at this point in time.
Nehemiah Chapter 7 comes at a moment of success and like I
said, the walls have been rebuilt, the gates are now in
place, the the city seems secure, the opposition around
has has fallen silent somewhat, and if the book were to end at
chapter 6, we might think that the job was finished.
You go, OK, great, great story. Nehemiah came over from Persia
and he functioned as governor in Jerusalem and rebuilt the wall.
Great, great little story. But Nehemiah knows something and
then goes through him wants to speak to you and I about this
tonight. Nehemiah knows something that I
think many times we can be forgetful of and that is this
that God's work is never finished when the structures are
complete, but only when people are transformed.
So that's really what's before us in this chapter as as this
now transitions through to the the rest of the book of of
chapters one through to six being about rebuilding the walls
and the practical work there in Jerusalem and dealing with
opposition as a consequence of that.
And now from 7:00 through to the end of the book, it's about
rebuilding the people, about setting in place the very things
that we're missing that cause them to go into exile in the
first instant and led to the deterioration of God's people
there in Jerusalem. And the people of Israel are all
along God's chosen people and they were chosen to be a light
and an indication to the nation surrounding of what life was
like to be lived, loving God and serving him and honouring him
there to be a a people of attraction to say what is
different about the God that you serve.
And so now this is the work that is before us as we read in these
chapters. It's instructive for you and I
and the chapter might look if you've skipped ahead as another
list of names and there are plenty and we'll not read all of
them. So don't worry about that.
When I said 73 verses, Oh my goodness, I gave up the tennis
for this. But it is actually a blueprint
here for a thriving community. And that's what it's about.
It's about people. It's about a group of people
coming together to serve the Lord and honour Him both then
and now. So the big idea is this, after
God rebuilds, these people must reorder their priorities around
and we'll see godly leadership first.
We'll spend a bit of time in verses one to three.
Our first two points will be drawn out of those verses.
They need to rebuild around vigilant protection and not just
rest and hang back on their laurels and say, oh great, the
walls built, the gates are hung, That's it.
We're mission accomplished. And then we'll we'll see a
living legacy that carries us from verse 4 through to the end
of the chapter. So let's consider verses one to
three in our first two points in Nehemiah 7, again, I'm reading
new King James Version. It says, then it was when the
wall was built and I had hung the doors, when the gatekeepers,
the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, that I gave the
charge of Jerusalem to my brother Hananiah and Hananiah
the leader of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared
God more than many. And I said to them, verse 3, Do
not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot
and while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors and
appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at
his watch station and another in front of his own house.
We want to look at the first point being this that that
leadership is important when a people are coming to be
positioned for change and transformation towards
seriousness of a life lived loving the Lord and and so
leadership that fears God is put into place here by Nehemiah with
the walls complete. Nehemiah's first move is not
celebration. Hey, let's have a party.
Let's let's send out word to everybody and look at what we've
accomplished but appointment. So I I need to appoint some
leaders in some particular positions here in Jerusalem to
protect the people to bring about transformation says in
verse 2, I put in charge of Jerusalem this men of integrity
who feared God more than most. I want you to notice that
because Nehemiah when looking for people to appoint to
leadership, he's not looking for personalities.
He's not looking for people with charisma, with a whole heap of
social media followers. What he appoints and what he
looks for is faithful character, and especially mentioned is
integrity. Now, integrity is this.
It means reliability. It means faithfulness, it means
people who show up. It means dependability.
It meant that you could count on these individuals that were
appointed into these positions of leadership.
In other words, I imagine that when Nehemiah arrived and when
he was observing the different people that were out there in
Jerusalem that were helping in the building of the walls, that
the guys he appointed, I think were these guys.
They showed up each day with chow and sword in hand, ready.
Nehemiah, where, where are we repairing the wall today?
That they may have even been there early before Nehemiah
arrived and and had shown some initiative and started labouring
hard and and saw the purpose in the work at hand.
Why is it that they possess such integrity?
Why is it that they were reliable and dependable?
It says because they feared God more than many more than the
others around them. And some translations even have
it that they feared God above how they perceived others
perceptions of them. So their priority was how does
God view me? It's an interesting way to think
of it, and I think they're related.
Fearing God here means living with a sober awareness that
particularly now leadership is actually exercised before God,
that you serve in such a position that comes with a
responsibility unto God. You might serve other people,
you might be accountable to people, but ultimately such
people who are fearful of God more than many are those that
recognise that this role, that this task that I am about, I'm
responsible, I'm accountable to God, you know, So there's a fear
of God there in that. Now these attributes that
Nehemiah looked for that that that we're reading, I'll
certainly apply in a modern context to elders and pastors in
church. And we see that all through
Scripture. I think of the book of Acts in
chapter 6, when the early church was looking for people to
appoint to the service of the needs of what's called the
Hellenist, who were among the group there who were complaining
about the what they perceived to be the unfair distribution of of
the food and on all of the the other essentials that they
needed at that point. And so they looked for faithful
men that they could appoint. Stephen, the first martyr of the
church was one such, Philip another.
Think of Ephesians chapter 4 and first second Timothy and Titus
that outline the qualities, the attributes of what it means to
be an elder, to be a pastor, to be a leader of God's people in
such a fashion. But also I want you to see this
that that such qualities, such attributes apply to whatever
phase of life you find yourself in.
It applies to you tonight. If you're a parent, fathers and
mothers, you are leaders in your home.
Your children are watching. They're looking to you and, and
not for your perfection, but your consistency.
It's so important, you know, do they see repentance when you
fall? You know, Dad blew it.
I'm sorry. You know, Mum was wrong when she
said that or when she did that. And the way I handled it wasn't,
wasn't good. It wasn't right.
It wasn't appropriate. Do your kids hear that from you?
Do they see prayer as normal, not exceptional?
Wow. Mum's praying.
Must be something serious going on or is it just like mom's
praying again or dad's praying again, just par for the course
in the household? Do they see God feared in the
home more than comfort more than sport, more than success in in
the fields that the world estimates?
And so in looking at who Nehemiah appointed as we
consider points of application in our lives, it's it's parents
as godly leaders shaping households.
But you know, it's also this, it's also older believers
modelling faithfulness year after year after year, day after
day after day, serving the Lord, loving Him, honouring him.
Let let me tell you about what God has done in my life.
I hear that you're going through such and such an experience or
that you've encountered that. Let me tell you how God moved in
our life or what he did when we prayed, when we sought Him.
That's leadership, it's youth influencing peers.
Paul said to a young Timothy in Timothy, he said, Timothy, I
need you to be an example in your youth.
Don't let people despise you for your young age, but you, you be
an example unto others of what again life is like loving the
Lord, serving him and honouring him.
It's you and I as as professionals in our workplaces
functioning as Christians in those workplaces because we work
as unto the Lord. That's what the Bible tells us.
So leadership in Scripture is never about only a title.
It's about trustworthiness, it's about integrity, it's about fear
of God. And that's what Nehemiah looks
for in these appointments that he makes.
And then verse 3, notice that he was careful about some
instructions concerning the gate when it was to be opened.
It's to be open late, closed early, guarded deliberately.
And the city is protected in this, the people, the
inhabitants of it with the walls and with the gates in place.
But you know, it's still needed to be guarded.
There still needed to be a carefulness in this.
The strong walls would mean nothing if they were left
unattended. These gates with people posted
on there. And it's important because many
times in our lives, victories can be lost if left unguarded.
If we can rest on our laurels and say, God, you know, God
moved in in my life or in our family's life or in, in the
church's life back then. And people could have said,
yeah, God moved in our midst for the last 52 days.
And look how wonderful it is the wall and the gates and if they
just sat back and relaxed. And that's, that's when the
enemy strikes, isn't it? We can never afford to drop our
guard in the battle that is the Christian life because the enemy
is like a roaring lion, constantly seeking those whom he
made a vow. So Nehemiah is very practical in
this point and it's very true in this sense for churches, it's
true for families, it's true for you and I as individuals.
I think many times we as parents, we can kind of work
hard to build good foundations in our kids lives while they're
young and we might send them off to Christian schooling, have
them involved in church and think about youth group and so
on. But we can, you know, as time
rolls around, get a little slack or relaxed in things and we can
neglect to guard what has been built.
You know, conversations go unmonitored, screens go
unchecked, hearts go unpasted. And so faith rebuilt.
And this is what it's about here.
Faith rebuilt after hardship must be protected.
That's what Nehemiah sees as important.
And growth in our lives after repentance must be guarded, must
be looked after, must be protected.
You see, success without vigilance breeds a spiritual
drift, and that truth applies to every stage of life.
No matter who you are, no matter where where you're sitting
tonight, you are here in this. You know young people tonight
the choices that you make when no one is watching will often
shape the direction of your life.
Singles professionals. Success without spiritual
vigilance can slowly erode the soul.
Parents again I've mentioned a little bit.
Foundations laid early need to be guarded intentionally for
years to come. You know, I, I thought when, you
know, commencing parenting with the kids that they, they needed
me the most when they were younger, You know, those primary
school years and especially in those toddler phases where
they're just so, so needy of you as parents.
But man, they need you in such different ways as they age, you
know, in different capacities and so on.
So our jobs never done and we need to guard that.
And older Saints, faith is to be watched even in later years.
You know, many falls happen not in youth, but after long seasons
of faithfulness. So, you know, it broke my heart
to read of a fellow whose readings I liked a lot who was
having a secret affair for eight years in his life.
You've heard of Philip Yancey, you know, and he was, I think,
68, the story went, when he commenced this affair.
Now, victory is not all lost at once.
It's lost when we stop paying attention, when we stop putting
guards in place. And the gates, they're not
closed permanently, but they are watched carefully here.
It's not like Nehemiah shut the city down.
He's not being oppressive in that.
And sometimes we can swing the other pendulum way, especially,
you know, as parents in our households, we can become very
oppressive. And no, you're not going here.
You're not doing that. You're not doing this.
And no one's coming over. And you can be like the gates
closed. But Nehemiah, he put some some
mechanisms in place to protect the inhabitants.
Watch carefully. There's cheques and balances put
in place because the walls don't protect themselves.
And likewise, faith is to be watched over.
Let's move on to the second point again in verses one to
three. It's that protection that guards
what matters is important. The gates represented entry
points into the city. And so they couldn't be careless
in that that was most often where when a city would come
under attack, that the the points would be harnessed to
break down the gates. So protection here isn't
paranoia on Nehemiah's part, It's Love.
Actually, you know, Jesus warned, Paul warned as well the
the early Church of wolves coming in sheep's clothing.
Nehemiah here, I think, models the same wisdom some centuries
earlier. And protection then isn't about
fear, but about faithfulness. So building on the appointment
of faithful leaders in verse one and two, Nehemiah now turns to
the practical mechanisms of protection, verse three with the
gates. But then in doing so, he made
some other appointments that are really focusing in on the
spiritual health of the people of Israel, of God's people.
Verse one explicitly lists some key appointments.
Notice the three roles named together.
He said gatekeepers, those who would control who and what
enters the city. And then don't you think it's
odd that early on in the re establishment of a city, he
goes, you know what we need musicians, singers, let's
appoint them, let's pay them, let's give them that, that
capacity to sustain what and what they were specifically to
be about was not, you know, to have music playing on the radio
there in Jerusalem, just to to provide the ambience and the
atmosphere, because that'd be nice while we're working.
You know, it was about the worship of God.
These were the singers and the leaders and the musicians who
would be there for corporate gatherings of worship, to remind
the people of God's faithfulness, to encourage and
stir up the hearts of the people, to to have their
affection and their energy brought unto God.
And then hand in hand with that Levites.
Levites were those that were the teachers of the scriptures, of
the law, of the Bible, who would offer the sacrifices, who would
preserve the doctrinal purity of the people.
So these aren't random add ONS that Nehemiah is thinking.
You know what we need? Because we need to pay the
Levites, We need to pay the singers.
No, Nehemiah isn't just securing a physical city again.
He's safeguarding the spiritual health, the vibrancy of the
people, a covenant community, a body of believers.
So the walls and the gates protect the body physically, but
these appointments protect the soul spiritually, and that's
what it's about. So without them, Jerusalem could
stand strong outwardly, physically, yes, but be decaying
inwardly. Exactly what happened in
previous generations when false teaching, when idolatry, when,
when compromise came in unchecked.
So Nehemiah knows that more than the gates are important, I need,
yes, gatekeepers. I need the singers, the
musicians, we need the Levites as I like a church with great
facilities. We can have air conditioning, we
can have walls, we can have, you know, new buildings coming in as
our plans are this year. And it can be impressive on the
outside, but vulnerable within without the right guards and
checkpoints. The same enemy that Nehemiah was
dealing with here who mocked the builders in Chapter 4 and
schemed in Chapter 6, they would try to infiltrate and they would
do so to try and bring in false teachers, divisive influences,
you know, moral compromise or, or spiritual apathy.
So the principle carries over into the New Testament.
We read again and again and again.
And I think you're, you're seeing the, the modern
connection to who these gatekeepers, who these
musicians, these singers, who these Levites and teachers are
the gatekeepers in the body of Christ.
You know, the scriptures tell us are the elders, the deacons, the
ministry leaders, the, the mature believers who discern who
or what influences the community, the body of believers
of God. If they say no to false
doctrine, toxic relationships, or cultural idols that erode the
faith, the musicians, the singers, it's pretty obvious The
worship leaders, the composers, the the singers, the
songwriters, anyone who helps the church sing truth and
declare that in our hearts and without our voices unto the
Lord. And guard against shallow
sentimental worship by anchoring it in scripture and doctrine.
The Levites, the teachers are the pastors, the Bible study
leaders, the the Sunday school, the youth group teachers, the
mentors, the parents who faithfully teach God's word,
preparing truth, cripping believers to stand firm.
And we'll see that in action next week in Nehemiah chapter 8.
It's one of the greatest chapters.
Read ahead. It's so beautiful.
But here's what I want you to see that every Christian, you
and I plays a part in this protective ministry.
Protection is not just the job of the professionals alone.
It's the shared responsibility of all of us as the body of
Christ. Now, when each of us faithfully
gathers. And guards our assigned gate.
The whole community thrives, protected, blessed, worshipping,
growing, growing, honouring God. So whatever you've been called
to, may I encourage you tonight in this to serve faithfully in
the role that you have been appointed in the body of Christ.
And when we studied through First Second Corinthians, we
learnt about the different members of the body, right?
That we're not all ears, that we're not all noses, that we're
not all eyes and some are visible and some are invisible,
but they're all an important part to play.
We can't all be an eye, We can't all be an ear.
That would be an odd looking body.
We need everybody to play their part as as a member of the body
for the protection and the guarding and the blessing of the
body of believers. So guard personally Philtre what
shapes your thinking, your music, social media friends that
you associate with guard what forms your affections guard what
enters into the home and guard corporately.
We we pray for the church. Lord God, I pray for the body of
believers at Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour support and
encourage the leaders and the elders and support the the
worship team and, and sit under sound teaching and and be a
student of the word yourself. So overall in Nehemiah in these
first 3 verses and we're going to move on now from verse 4 to
the end of the chapter. I want you to see in this that
protection isn't about fear. It's what not Nehemiah is is
urging here and pushing, but it's about faithfulness.
Nehemiah appoints these roles so that the city could be rebuilt
and importantly, that the inhabitants of the city could
grow spiritually and thrive spiritually.
So in the same way, the body of Christ, we need to guard what
matters most so that we can remain spiritually healthy and
effective for the gospel. All right, last point.
We'll spend a bit of time on this legacy that remembers that
registers and responds. Verse four and five we'll read
and then we'll we'll move through the remaining verses
touching base on a few of them. Says Now the city was large and
spacious, but the people in it were few and the houses were not
rebuilt. Then my God put it into my heart
to gather the nobles, the rulers, and the people that they
might be registered by genealogy.
And I found a register of the genealogy of those who had come
up in the first return and found written in it. 1st floor kind of
sets the scene, provides the tension for us.
The city was large, it said spacious, but there were few
people in it. Walls without people are hollow.
You know, there's times through the week coming into the church
here and you know, we're, we're just setting some things up and
doing some work and without the people and it's, it's kind of
empty. I love the vibrancy of the body
gathered here in this place. And so Nehemiah now pauses and
the progress is there, but he's remembering and reflecting the
past. And it said, verse five, my God
put it into my heart so that now we know that what Nehemiah's
actions and what he's about here are directed by God.
He says, I found the genealogical record of those
who'd come prior in the exile and where it says, my God put it
in my heart. This is often how God speaks,
not through spectacle, but through scriptures, through
prayerful prompting, through wise counsel, and through
present need. That's what's happening here.
Now we're going to look and there's a long list of names,
and it's not a filler. It's not like, you know, God the
Holy Spirit was going. I need to kind of flesh out two
or three pages, you know, just to fill up space.
I'm kind of running out of my word count and the publishers
pushing me for this deadline. I need to pump out the words and
that's not what's going on. These names are important.
It's an honour roll. It says.
I found a register of the genealogy of those who'd come up
in the first return. And this is actually copied
almost verbatim from the book of Ezra, which is the book prior to
Nehemiah here in chapter 2. Ezra was a priest Will will come
across him in a few chapters time.
He'd been sent earlier to help rebuild the temple and then it
says and found written in it verse 6.
These are the people of the province who came back from the
captivity from Babylon, the Persian Empire, at the time of
those who had been carried away, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon had carried away and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah,
everyone to his city. Verse 7, Those who came with the
rubber bell were these eleven guys.
Let me read them quickly because that's how you do it fast,
confident when you don't know how exactly to pronounce them.
Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Ramaya, Nahemani, Mordecai,
Bilshan, Mitzbreath. Big VE.
I like that one. Big VE.
That's, that's a name for a dog. If you're ever looking for a
dog, give me a big VE Nihum and banar, the number of the men of
the people of Israel. Verse 8, the sons of Porosh,
2172. Verse 9, the sons of Shephatiah,
372. Verse 10, the sons of Arah, 652.
So we're not going to read all these names, but we are going to
read a few of them because I want you to notice something in
this. Some of these families have big
numbers. That's a big Christmas do for
some of these. In verse 11, look at this the
sons of Pahath, Moab, of the sons of Joshua and Joab 2818.
Verse 17 The sons of Asghad, 2322, and this one.
Verse 38 The sons of Senna, 3930.
But by comparison, some families were tiny.
Verse 25 The sons of Gibeon 95. Verse 28 The men of Beth as
Meveth 42. Verse 33 The men of the other
Meebo 52. So here's the point.
It doesn't matter if there's a whole crowd of people with you
or if you're practically going it alone.
When you're serving God, all that matters is what you're
doing. Whether these families had many
people with them, or only a few, at some point all of them had
set off to the unknown, living in in Babylon, surrounding areas
in the Persian Empire, and headed back to a city that
they've never seen, they'd heard of in stories told amongst the
people. Or if they'd visited, they
hadn't seen it in years. And they arrived back
altogether, some large families, some small, just to be there for
whatever God might do in and through them.
And that might be you tonight. You might come with a family
and, and be blessed in that way. And, and it's large and you have
that, that blessing of, of, you know, the Blood Brothers,
sisters, parents and so on coming together and worshipping
and serving the Lord. And you might come and you might
be the only one in your household.
But if you're coming to serve the Lord and to love the Lord
and to honour him, and to present yourself and say here I
am, Lord God, use me, God knows your name, you're numbered
amongst these people. It's a valuable and worthwhile
commitment in service of him. And so God is saying in this
list of names, these people mattered.
Their obedience mattered, their sacrifice mattered.
Think of maybe what many of them had back in Persia and they
travel months and then they arrive at Jerusalem with the
walls deteriorated in such a fashion.
And, and they, they lump there with all their belongings and
go. There's a certain pioneering
spirit that needed to be amongst them of trust and, and faith in
God that well, it might not look like much, but this is what God
has called us to and, and we're committed to put our hand to the
task and to serve God in this. And so that's why their names
are listed. Names matter to God.
And I think that truth lands everywhere here tonight because
you know, children, many times you can feel unseen.
I've been coming along to this church for my whole life, 10
years and they still don't know my name.
Hey, boy, hey kid, how are you mate?
Names matter to God. And I think parents, this is a
huge reminder to you and I, your, your children live in a
world that constantly reduces them to performances, to to
grades, to how they are in sport or their popularity or
achievement. But you know this, God doesn't
treat his people just as numbers.
He knows their names. It's recorded for us in His word
here and we're reading it in 2026.
I bet you these people when they were trotting their way from
Persia into Jerusalem, never thought that in Secret harbour
in WA in 2026 they're going to read my name.
So these names represent people who left comfort in Babylon to
return to hardship in Jerusalem. And again, life was easier
there, but it's better here for them as the people of God.
And this is a powerful lesson, again, for families.
Following God does not promise ease, but it does promise
meaning. But also these names here are a
reminder to not just families, but to, you know, adults here in
our myths whose faithfulness feels unnoticed, to singles who
sometimes feel overlooked, to elderly Saints who wonder if if
their season is over, how does it remind us that because God
again recorded their names. And likewise you, you need to
know tonight that you are known by God, you belong to God.
And just on that belonging, I want you to notice something in
verse 61 and verse 64 and 65. Verse 61 says, and these were
the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub Adon
and Imab, it says, but they could not identify their
father's house nor their lineage, whether they were of
Israel. So there's this group that's,
you know, from areas and maybe as the people from Babylon were,
were journeying through and, and word gets around about they're
going to rebuild that these people, they hear it.
Oh, well, let we'll go too. And they join in and well,
they're curious or they just think, you know, I'm tired of
where we're at. And anyway, whatever reasons
they, they join in, but their lineage couldn't be ascertained
as to whether in fact they were of tribes of Israel.
And then verse 64, these sought their listing among those who
were registered by genealogy, but it was not found.
Therefore they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled.
And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the
most holy things till the priest could consult with the Urim and
the Thummim. So that was a means of
consulting direction and leading from God back then.
So some in this list of names from verse 4 through to the end
of the chapter and those pointed out here, they could not prove
their identity, who they were, where they'd come from, who they
were connected to, their ancestry.
And they were restricted as a consequence, not as punishment,
but for clarity. And so in that know this, you
cannot serve boldly if you are unsure where you belong.
And here the chapter quietly points us to Jesus, the true
high priest who secures our place before God and writes our
names in his book, just as they were to a wait for the the
priest to come with the Urim and the Thummim.
The principle is not exclusion, it's identity.
And so in other words, there are many times over the years, and
I've seen it in years of ministry and and in Christian
service, where people have have come and they've put their hand
to the task, but they don't belong to the body of Christ
because they're not believers. They're not saved and they've
they've had some kind of appeal or attraction to what's going
on. And you know, I'm able bodied
and I'll help and I'll serve and I'll do such and such.
But they're not rightly a part of the body of Christ to serve
in such a capacity because their identity is not sure in, in
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
And I think parents, you and I, we need to know the greatest
gift that you can give your children is not moral behaviour,
but gospel assurance that your kids know who Jesus is, what he
has done, and and then therefore what they do is because they
belong to him. And ultimately our confidence
does not rest in our family line, but in Christ, the true
high priest who secures our place before God.
So if if we're looking to serve in the church in the body of
believers, we go am IA believer, am IA follower of Jesus Christ,
do I belong is my identity in him.
Lastly, the chapter ends from verse 70 through to the end here
with this generosity it says, and some of the heads of the
father's houses gave to the work.
So Nehemiah looks out, identifies need, and sees that
man, this need to rebuild and to provide and supply to get this
city back, vibrant and spiritually healthy.
It's going to come with cost, with finances needed and
required. And so some of the heads of the
father's houses gave to the work, says verse 70, the
governor gave to the treasury 1000 gold drachmas, 50 basins
and 530 priestly garments. And we look at that and we go,
we don't know what that is. Let me tell you, it's a fair
amount. Verse 71, Some of the heads of
the Father's houses gave to the treasury of the work $20,000
drachmas, 2200 silver miners. Verse 72.
And that which the rest of the people gave was 20,000 gold
drachmas, 2000 silver miners, and 67 priestly garments.
So verse 73, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the
singers, some of the people, the nethanim, those who helped serve
in the in the ministry of of the sacrifices and the worship of
God and all Israel dwelt in their cities.
That's how the chapter ends. The leaders gave first notice
the order there, the families followed and everyone gave
according to their means, not equal amounts, but equal
participation. Recognising that in order for
these gatekeepers, for these singers, these musicians, for
these Levites to function in their roles, we need to enable
them to do that. So let's let's give to help
supply that. So some gave more, others gave.
But in all of this, there was no fundraising pressure.
It was an act of worship that the people did unto Lord at this
time in their in their history. And God's work then is resource
through God's people here, not because God lacks provision, but
because he forms his people through generosity.
And again, parents, it's, it's another formative moment in this
as we're we're thinking about applications for this.
You know, your children are learning about what matters most
often about where your money goes.
They learn priorities from your calendar.
They learn values from your budget.
And when children see generosity, they learn that the
church then is not just a service we consume, but a
mission that we share in and are part of.
So giving is not about meeting a need, it is about shaping a
heart. Giving shapes a heart.
Isn't that what Jesus said? Jesus said that where our
treasure is there our heart will be also.
And so Nehemiah records these gifts not to pressure future
generations, but to to submit a question.
Will this generation care as deeply as the last one did?
And there's the legacy in that. Legacy is not about what we
leave behind. It's about what we pass on.
It's deliberate. It's intentional.
And this is what Nehemiah is about here in this chapter.
So tonight God invites you and I into his work.
If you're a young believer, you you learn that faith involves
sacrifice families. We we model generosity together
in our workplaces in all that we have.
We understand as the Bible teaches us, that we're stewards
of what God supplies for eternal purposes.
And even retirees can continue to invest in the Kingdom beyond
working years. Nehemiah 7 teaches that once the
walls are finished, the real work begins.
It's about people. It's about growing spiritually,
It's about loving the Lord, It's about serving Him.
It's about living for Him. And so God builds his people
through. We saw faithful leadership
through vigilant protection and then living legacy.
Not what just you leave behind, but being intentional about.
This is who we are. And this is what I want to pass
on should the Lord tarry to future generations of believers
that this is what it is like loving the Lord and serving Him.
And again, all of this finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the faithful leader. Jesus is the true gate.
Jesus is the great High Priest. Jesus is the one who knows us by
name. So wherever you are tonight,
young, old, single, married, settled, searching, the
invitation is the same. In this guard what God has
built, Remember who you are in Him.
Invest your life in what lasts. Walls can be built quickly.
But God is still building a people who belong to him.
Let's pray. Father God, thank you again for
another wonderful passage out of your word tonight.
Your word is timeless. It's not just about what
happened. It's about what always happens.
It's so relevant and so real for our lives today.
It's Your living, breathing word, so we pray that what you
have taught us tonight through it and would sink into our
hearts. The seed of your word would bear
much fruit for your glory and our good in our lives.
May be Lord be your people busy about what you have called us
to, trusting in You, worshipping you, honouring you.
Thank you Lord God for each person here tonight.
May you bless their hearts. May you guide them and direct
them and do a great work in their lives.
These things I pray in Jesus name.
God's people said I'm in.