We were going to start a new series in our church today. And so weāre going to start a series on the Book of Nehemiah. Once a year we always look at a book of the Bible and just focus on that for a couple of months. Last year we did Songs of Ascent. Psalms 120 to 134 and weāve done James, Ephesians and Philippians.
For the next couple of months, weāre going to look at the book of Nehemiah and so, for those who donāt know who he is, Nehemiah was a guy that God used to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and so with that in mind, weāre going to read from Nehemiah chapter one verses one to three.
Nehemiah 1:1-3 NKJV
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, āThe survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.ā
Tied my message today is called position for purpose. Letās pray. Father, I thank you for your Word. I just ask and pray that today, you would instill faith in us Lord God. Faith to overcome those things which is still not happening for us. Faith to believe for great things in the future. I thank you and I praise you for that Lord in Jesus name. Amen.
When you read a book of the Bible or a or a letter in the Bible and that sort of thing, you often get the gist or the purpose of why theyāre writing it in the first couple of verses and so here in Nehemiah, we can see that he basically sets it up. We just pick up the story here. Nehemiah who is a cup bearer to the king had heard some news about the walls of Jerusalem still being broken down and so the entire book of Nehemiah is based around the project of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
Captive to Babylon
Now, to put it into context, essentially, the Jews had been in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. Then, at the end of those 70 years, a number of them left and went back to Jerusalem. Now, a whole lot of them didnāt go back. There was about 2 or 3 million Jews outside of Israel but only 50,000 returned and it was very much a remnant and so that was 70 years after the wars that originally broken down. Now, is 100 years after they had returned and the walls of Jerusalem were still broken down.
Surviving in the Promised Land
Jerusalem was supposed to be the Israelites promised land. You would think that if you stepped into the promised land that God had for you, everything would be going amazing but that is not what is happening to the Israelites at that time. Notice the language that is used in those first couple of verses. Theyāre talking about the people that are Israelites in their own promised land calling them survivors. I would have thought that if I was in the promised land that God had for me, Iād be doing more than surviving. Iād actually be thriving but thatās not whatās happening in their lives at this time. Theyāve stuck into Godās promise but it was kind of like incomplete. The walls of Jerusalem had still not been repaired for over a hundred and seventy years.
Waiting On A Miracle
Have you had like a partial miracle? Have you ever had like a breakthrough. Well, literally, God has done something for you that he said he was going to do but it was kind of like incomplete. 170 years, these walls had still not been rebuilt and in the book of Nehemiah, we see the story about Nehemiah rose up as a leader to see those walls rebuilt and they were rebuilt in 52 days. Thatās amazing. A hundred and seventy years of a broken promise. A hundred and seventy years of something being incomplete. You know, in that time, youād start thinking to yourself, is it ever going to happen? Is God ever going to do what he said heās going to do? And then you thought, well, itās been 170 years broken down. How long is it going to take for it to be rebuilt? 52 days.
Breakthrough In A Moment
You know what that tells me? It doesnāt matter how long youāve been waiting. It doesnāt matter how long youāve been waiting for God to do what he said he was going to do. When he decides to do it, he can do it in a moment. It doesnāt matter if the things been barren for 170 years. When God decides to produce the breakthrough, he can make happen really, really quick And that is the story of Nehemiah. Itās all about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
Four Reasons Why Nehemiah Was Used
Weāre going to have a look today based on chapter one. And basically itās called Position for Purpose. Weāre going to look at the four reasons why Nehemiah was used to rebuild the walls. Isnāt it interesting? Godās going to do something and then he sends a person. Sends an anointed man or woman of God. To do what heās called what to be the deliverer that the people to be and so weāre going to look for the rest of our time today at Nehemiah chapter one and the four reasons why Nehemiah was used to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
1. Passion
The first one is this is found in verse four of Nehemiah chapter one.
Nehemiah 1:4 NKJV
So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
The first reason why God used Nehemiah is number one passion. Passion. Nehemiah started a burden for this project. Now, the interesting thing is, Nehemiah knew that the walls were not rebuilt. Itās not like, you know, that this was some sudden catastrophe and the walls were broken, you know, a couple of months before. No, no, no. Theyād been not been rebuilt for 170 years. His whole life, Nehemiah would have known that the walls of Jerusalem were not rebuilt but something happened to him this time when he heard the news. Something happened on the inside where he realized enough is enough. Somebody has got to do something about this. Who is going to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem?
God Stirring Passion
What was happening? God was putting a passion and a burden in his heart because God was about to call Nehemiah to be the person to do the job. You can always tell when Godās stirring you up about something because you get a passion or burden for something that no one else cares about. Have you ever had that happen? Well, youāve had a burden or a passion for something and you get upset at everyone else because no one else really cares. You know whatās happening? God is putting in your heart. To stir you up to do something about it.
God always puts things in our hearts before he sends us off on a direction. Bible tells us in Psalm thirty-seven verse four.
Psalm 37:4 NKJV
Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
That is not saying that whatever we want Godās going to automatically give us. It says delight yourself in the Lord. He gives you the desires of your heart. He starts putting desires in your heart and those are the things that he wants to see come to pass in your life. The Bible tells us Proverbs three and six,
Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
See that? Heās directing your paths by what he puts in our hearts. And so God decides itās time for something to happen and a burden and a passion starts rising up in the life of Nehemiah. Interestingly enough, God puts the burden into someone whose life is actually pretty good. I can imagine if you were living in Jerusalem with those broken walls being faced by them every day. Youād be upset about it. You know, it affects your life personally. You know, itās touching on you and itās affecting you. Wanna do something about it? But thatās not Nehemiah. Nehemiah is doing well. Heās actually the cup bearer to the king. Heās living in a citadel, the Bible says. Heās actually living in the palace. I mean, you could not rise any higher in society than what Nehemiah had actually risen to.
Protected and Safe
The walls of Jerusalem were broken if the walls are broken down it means enemies can attack at any time but it doesnāt affect Nehemiah. Nehemiah is actually living in a citadel. Heās protected. Heās safe. But he is the person that God is starting to stir up to do something for somebody else. You know what that tells me? It might come a time in your life where everythingās fine. You got your finances in order. Youāve got your plan. Familyās doing well. Your health is well. You may not have a need. That does not mean God is not going to use you somebody else. Sometimes when everything is going well, God will use you to help somebody else.
The Goal Is Not A Perfect Life
The goal of the Christian life is not to have my life perfectly fine. That is not the goal of the Christian life. The goal of the Christian life is to be used by God in whatever way he wants. My prayer and desire for every person in our church is that you do well, that youāre prosperous, that youāre healthy, that your families are doing well, but that is not the end goal. The end goal is to see a generation of people, cities and nations touched by the power of the presence of God and heās going to use people who are doing fine and stir us up. Thatās why youāre getting passions for things and it doesnāt really affect your life. The Christian life is a kingdom. It is not about us.
To Be Used By God
The goal of the Christian life is not to have everything going well in our life. Thatās a byproduct. The goal of the Christian life is to be used by God. Sometimes itās so easy how sometimes we can start getting a little bit selfish and not even realize it. We can start getting a little bit self-focused. I love the story about a church in South Australia. Itās called Paradise Church and it was called Paradise because that was a suburb itās in you know. The people say, mom, you love yourselves. You know, you call yourself paradise and that was actually the suburb that the church was in and itās now called Influencers Church and really the most well-known leader of the history of that church is a man by the name of Pastor Andrew Evans and Pastor Andrewās preach at our church a number of times actually. He lives here on the Gold Coast.
Just like every other retired pastor and that sort of thing. Itās and so he was the man who really took that church and took it to new levels and so his father was a well-known preacher, man by the name of TL Evans, Tommy Evans and he was really known for this saying that he used to have and say, you know, I donāt believe in much but I believe in the Holy Ghost. He was known for that and so he was in his church and then Pastor Andrew had two sons who are very well known today Russell and Ashley Evans and weāve had Pastor Russell preach in our church. preach last December. Heās the pioneer of Planet Shakers.
Planet Shakers is very contemporary. you know, it can be you know, very youthful, that sort of thing can be quite loud and all that sort of stuff and in their youth group at the time at Paradise, I think Ashley was running the young adults and Russell was running the youth and they just once said, you know, we gotta have music thatās cooler. If you going to reach this generation and louder. So they started changing the music and the youth group and that sort of thing and then all of a sudden you know other people in the church didnāt like it.
You know because it wasnāt their style. You know they didnāt think there was any anointing on it. And so they changed music and all these kids are coming and giving their lives to Christ getting saved and transformed and that sort of thing and so you know and it was interesting. Heās the Russellās grandfather Pastor Andrewās father Tommy Evans used to go to youth every week. And heād sit on the front row. And heād have earplugs in right? Cuz it was so loud. And you know and all his friends were complaining. You know that youth music. You know thereās no anointing on it. They should be singing hymns and all that sort of stuff. and heās on the front and heās weeping every week at youth. Because heās saying this is God. Godās reaching a new generation.
He didnāt like the music. But he knew it wasnāt about him. The Christian life is not all about us. Weāre pretty good. But a burden can come and say thereās more that need to know him. There are people that are not in the same position that we are. And God can give a gave a passion to a man like Nehemiah whose life already pretty good. Passion was the first reason why God used Nehemiah.
2. Because of a Promise
The second reason is this. Iām going to read a number of verses here. Verses five to eleven.
Nehemiah 1:5-11 NKJV
And I said: āI pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my fatherās house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, āIf you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.ā Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.ā For I was the kingās cupbearer.
And I, Nehemiah said I pray Lord God of heaven, oh great and awesome God. You keep your covenant and mercy with those who love you. And observe your commandments.
Heās setting God up here. Heās saying, you know, your God, youāre the God who keeps promises, right?
Please let your ear be attentive and your eyes open. Donāt close your eyes to us, Lord. That you may hear the of your servant, which I pray before you now, day and night. For the children of Israel, your servants, and confess the sins of children of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Both my fatherās house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you. Have not kept your commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which you commanded your servant, Moses.
So heās repenting, heās saying, Lord, weāve done wrong, I repent. Then he says in verse eight.
Remember I the word that you commanded, your servant Moses, saying, if youāre unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the fatherās part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.
Whatās he saying? Heās saying, God, you remember how you said that if we were sinful, youāll scatter us to the nations. Well, thatās already happened. But you also said that if we repent, youāll bring us back. Thatās what I want to bring up with today he says.
Now these are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by a great power and by your strong hand. Oh Lord I pray please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant. And to the prayer of your servants who desire to fear your name. And let your servant prosper this day I pray and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.
Whatās he doing? Heās reminding God of a promise that God had made. He had confidence that this project will be done. Not because of his own strength. But because he knew that God had made a promise to his people. That he was going to bring them back to their land prosper them.
The second reason why God used Nehemiah is because of a promise. A promise. A promise that God made to his people. It wasnāt a promise that God made to Nehemiah personally. It wasnāt a favour that he was going to do for Nehemiah rebuilding the walls. It was a promise that he made to Godās people. See what Nehemiah understood was this. That God is true to his word. If he says something heās going to do it. The Bible says that God is not a man that he should lie. The Bible says that he cannot lie.
So he knew the whole reason why. I know this is going to happen is not that thereās anything great about me or this is a personal project. But because this is a promise that God has made to his people. And he knew that his God was a promise keeper. Interestingly enough for 170 years the promise wasnāt completed. But notice this. He doesnāt allow that length of time to dissuade him from bringing it before God as well. Because he knows for of days is a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day and the promises of God, it says in Hebrews 11:6 are inherited through faith and patience.
Hebrews 6:11-12 NKJV
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
God Is A Promise Keeper
And so he said he brought this promise back to the Lord knowing that God is a promise keeper. The whole reason why God was raising Nehemiah up was because God himself made a promise. Without a promise from God the task would have been impossible. Without a word from God, he would have been able to do it. Thatās why when God gives you a word, heās given you the key to do things that are impossible.
Have you ever had God make you a promise or command you to do something that you thought I canāt do this, the people around you thought you couldnāt do it and it looked impossible. Well, thatās what God does. When God says something, itās going to come to pass. Think about when God created the Earth. The Bible says on day one, God said, let there be light and there was. With his word the only thing he created on day one was light. Over the next few days, he created other things but then on day four, he created the greater and the lesser lights. The greater and the lesser lights were the sun, moon, and stars.
So, watch this. God created light on the first day but didnāt create the sun til the fourth day. Now, thatās not possible. That canāt happen but it doesnāt matter if itās not possible. When God says something, itās going to come to pass and Nehemiah understood that even though it looks impossible, even though itās been a 170 years, if God says it, I believe it, and that settles it, itās going to come to pass. Itās the same with promises that God has made over your life. God has made you promises and it feels like Iāve waited a long time.
When God Speaks It Will Come To Pass
Well, Iām here to let you know, you havenāt waited a 70 years and God may have made you a promise a long time, but it can still come to pass. Today, I want to provoke you. Today, I want to stir you up to remind you of some of the things God has promised you. Promised over your family, promised over your business, promised over your health. Even if it hasnāt come to pass yet, be like Nehemiah. Remind God of the promise that heās actually made over your lives. Because when he says something, itās going to come to pass.
Thatās what the Bible tells us in second Timothy to wage warfare with the prophecies made concerning us.
1 Timothy 1:18 NKJV
This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
What does that mean when youāve received the prophecy and a promise from God? I keep all my old prophecies. I line them up and I write them down and I actually have them on a file and every often I listen to them. The amount of times Iāve had a prophecy and it hasnāt come to pass for a number of years. Just recently I ran a thing for our movement called Emerging Leaders.
Itās a camp. And itās a leadership camp for you know senior pastors and that you know top emerging leaders from the ages of 18 to 30 to come and do this course with me. And so we did it last week and last two weeks actually did it at Proserpine in the Whitsundays last week and then the week before actually went up and did it at Mount Tambourine and there was a young man there that I knew from 12 years before because I lectured him at Bible College and you know youāre old when you havenāt seen someone for 12 years and theyāre still young enough to go to that camp.
But anyway and I remember when I had lectured him that he actually had given me a prophecy. We did a thing when the class when we were at Bible College I would get all the students and said okay weāre going to do a thing weāre going to prophesy over each other and so and then a bunch of students were prophesying over me and we recorded it. And a couple of months ago I found it on my phone. And I listened to the prophecy from this young man. And at the time he was saying things, I thought, well, thatās not going to happen. Is it possible? And that sort of thing. I listened to it the other day and everything he was saying was coming to pass. 10 years later.
Just because youāve waited a long time doesnāt mean itās not going to happen. When he makes a promise, itās going to come to pass. The reason why it happens is because He made a promise. God is not a man that he should lie. That promise he made you, that prophecy that youāve got that youāve written down. Start getting out and start declaring it. Get it out and start declaring it and start getting an agreement with what God has spoken over your life. The second reason why God used Nehemiah is because he made a promise.
3. Position
The third reason why God used Nehemiah is this. Iām only going to read half a verse for this one, okay? and itās chapter one verse eleven B. So, when you write down B, it means itās the second half of the verse, okay? And it says this,
Nehemiah 1:11 NKJV
O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.ā
For I was the kingās cup bearer. I was a kingās cup bearer. The third reason why God used Nehemiah was position. Nehemiah is actually in a position to do something about it. You know, I would imagine that heās not the only person with a burden. I would imagine the 50,000 people in Jerusalem at the time would have carried a burden. They would have been praying. They would have been stirred up about it. They would have been upset. But they werenāt really in a position to do anything about it. They were so downtrodden. There was just no way they could do anything about it. But now thereās another guy that gets a burden.
The Cup Bearers Responsibility
Nehemiah. And heās the cup bearer to the king. Heās one of separation from the king. King Artaxerxes I was the kingās name. He was actually in a position to do something about it. I would imagine that at this moment, Nehemiah suddenly realized why God had promoted him like he had. Think about it. Heās a Jewish man serving a Persian king. And heās the cup bearer. Now, you need to understand, heās more than a waiter. The cup bearer was a very high office. The person who brought the king his cup, his wine, had to be highly trusted.
Because one of the assassination attempts of kings at the time was poisoning their drinks. And so you needed someone who was impeccably trustworthy to come and offer the king his cup. Thatās a really high ranking place for a foreigner. You had to be completely trustworthy and had to have impeccable character. Isnāt it interesting that Nehemiah rose to that point? To that place. Of being that close to the king. You know I can imagine his family saying mate Nehemiah howād you do it? Howād you get in that did we network at the right event? Were you schmoozing? How did you do it? Did you slide into his DMs and ask if you could become the cup bearer? Like, what actually happened?
I can imagine him thinking. So, I think, I donāt know. I guess lucky I guess. Just blessed. The guyās doing well. Heās living in the palace. All his needs are met. And now, heās serving. This is about as high as a foreigner could rise in that society. He was right at the top of the tree and there would have been part of him and the people around him saying, man, you know, this guy, heās just blessed. You know, heās just, I guess, heās just one of Godās favourites. Heās just special but I think at this moment, when this burden came and he said, on the cup bearer to the king.
Okay. I get it now. I now know why Iām on this position. I now know why God has blessed me. All along, I thought God has blessing me just for me. I thought he was just pouring out his favor on me just for me. Now, I realize why. Iām in this position because God has called me to be a deliverer for my people. There is a purpose behind every job and occupation. We have this thing called the people called the sacred secular divide. This is sacred. This is spiritual and this is secular but what it does, it divides your life up too much.
People start saying, well, sacred, I come to church on Sunday. Thatās what I do. Thatās my spiritual bit and then I go do my job and thatās you know, just how I make my dough. Thatās just how I make my living. No, no, no, you need to understand. If youāve put your hand in the hand of the Lord, he is guiding and directing you and putting us in different positions for a purpose. Youāre not in your job just to make money. Youāre not in your job just to be a blessing to your family. Although, all those things are good. Youāre also there for a divine assignment. God has put us in positions for particular reasons.
Some of you God has blessed you for a particular purpose to be a blessing to the kingdom of God. Some of you God has put you in a position because heās going to use you to reach a group of people that wouldnāt been reached otherwise. Yes. Have you ever had that happen to you before? Youāre praying, a job comes and then you step into that job and you thought, if I had known it was going to be like this, I donāt know if I had taken it. Why are you in that job? Because God has called you.
Thereās a group of people there that donāt know his name. Thereās a group of people there that need to know the Lord and heās actually called you there for such a time as at heās positioning you for purpose. Interestingly enough, Nehemiah was in the position because of his character and his integrity. You had to have impeccable character and integrity to be in that position. You know what that means? It means in order to fulfill the destiny that God has for our lives. We have to have good character and good integrity. Itās more than just our gifting.
You know, youāve heard of the old saying that your gift will determine how high you rise but our character will determine how long we stay there and he would not have been in that position of influence and power without having impeccable character. Bible tells us in Romans five three to five.
Romans 5:3-5 NKJV
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
I call that the destiny equation. Itās like the key components to fulfilling your destiny. And he says tribulation so sometimes trials. God allows us to go through trials. The Christian life is not one where just everythingās perfect and easy. And we go in tribulation which produces perseverance. Thatās how weāre supposed to respond to trials. Perseverance, character. So thatās how character is formed by going through a tough time. But then it says character produces hope and hope does not disappoint. Itās a double negative. Hope appoints.
A Character To Handle What God Has
What does that mean? It means youāre now ready for the divine assignment. Yes. But you need to have character first. Thatās why have you ever noticed? You give your life to Christ. He starts messing with your business. Start pinpointing personal areas of your life that he wants to change and youāre like, hold on Lord, donāt you love me? Yes. Donāt you have a plan for my life? Yes. But Iāve got in order to fulfill that plan. Thereās some areas of your life we need to change. So that your character is one that youāre able to handle what God has.
I want to encourage someone today. Some of you going through a difficult time that it wasnāt your making. It wasnāt like you created an issue and youāre going through a tough season. The Bible says we can glory and tribulation because of what it produces in our life. If youāre going through a season like that, I want to encourage you this morning. Youāre one step closer to fulfilling your divine assignment. Your one-step closer so you just keep on persisting and come through because God is doing a work on the inside to position you for greatness just like Nehemiah.
God wants to use every single person here, whatever sphere that youāre in to do great things for God and the way that we get there is through divine purpose and through development of character. So many times, your life may, so many times, so many, you know, in our lives, there can be times when all of a sudden, a whole lot of things make sense.
Blessings For Purpose
Look at the story of Esther. The Bible says that she basically won a beauty pageant and she then became the queen of the nation. And then there was a moment where her people, the Jews, were actually under attack. And she had a decision to make. Do I stick my neck out? And try and save them? Or do I just keep myself safe and continue on? Her uncle Mordecai said God has raised you up for such a time as this. To whom much is given, much is required, friends. And the blessing that we experience and the good things that God does in our lives are all for purpose.
4. Position
And the reason why God used Nehemiah because of position. He was positioned for it. And the fourth thing is this. Same verse. Itās actually Nehemiah one verse eleven B.
Nehemiah 1:11 NKJV
O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.ā
For I was the kingās cup bearer. To rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, especially as theyāve been broken down for 170 years, itās not cheap. If it was easy to do, they would have already done it. You needed a lot of resource to actually make that happen. And Nehemiah was basically one step away from the government purse. And so the fourth reason why God used Nehemiah was because of provision. He had access to the resource needed to expand extend the kingdom of God.
The Bible says the world of the generous gets larger and larger. The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. One of the keys to an expanding life, one of the keys to an expanding kingdom is actually generosity and resource. Otherwise, other people would have done it before. Otherwise, those people who are just purely survivors, God made the same promise to them. They would have had the same passion and burden but they werenāt adequately resourced to be able to do it. So, he has the audacity to talk to the king of another nation and ask him for the resource to rebuild another nation.
Position To Access Resource
It was not going to help King Arctic Xerxes. It was not going to benefit him in any way. But God used Nehemiahās position to access a resource needed to be a blessing to someone else. There will be times for every single one of us. Where the Lord will tap us on the shoulder. And he will say you know what? Everything Iāve blessed you with? Everything Iāve given to you. I now need it for us. I need some of it for an assignment. It may not be for you personally but thereās another group of people that canāt do it on their own. And Iām going to tap you and heās going to tap us on the shoulder and say I want you to help them. To be able to help them rebuild those walls. Even though weāre living in a place with a nice citadel and nice walls.
One of the most joyous things I think that weāve achieved over the last four and a half years. And everything God has done is a miracle. Weāre incredibly grateful. But one of the things that has been a special joy was actually taking over the church and Saint George. The church was called Outback Life Church for many years and then Nathan Waters came and the previous pastor had left. Nathan Waters was a member of the church and he was an elder. He was caretaking the church and he felt to call it back to life church. The reason was because it was dead.
The church was down to seven people. They hadnāt had a kids program run for over 5 years. That had a lot of people leave over the years. They still had some buildings. They had two buildings. One generation builder building. One generation sacrifice to establish a kingdom work in that town. And then the next generation another pastor built a second building. Now those buildings were empty. I remember I felt God speak to me.
We try to get us a pastor for that senior pastor for that church. Iād sent out 30 personal texts to pastors I know around Australia who had been telling me they wanted a pastor at church, be a senior pastor. Every single one of them said no to me. So I thought somebodyās gotta go and do something about this little place. And so I remember we went out there and I went midweek and I spoke to the church there. Thereās the leader the church. Thereās about three of them. We had dinner and I explained what we were trying to what weāre wanting to do and they didnāt understand why we would take over.
Normally, when a church takes over another, itās generally to swallow up their assets but this church didnāt have any assets. So, they were wondering why I was doing it. One of the leaders said to me, Iāll pop waters. He said to me, pastor Ben, I got one question. I said, sure, what is it? And he goes, why? Why do you want to do this? And I said, I donāt know. I just, something bubbling away on the inside. There was a passion and so, we did that and then installed Nathan and Kirsty as a campus pastors and we found out later the church had buildings on government land I just assumed that it was unavailable for us to purchase and one day, Nathan was talking to Rob Geluck, our business manager here and mentioned to him that a few years before, the church had the council, sorry, the government had offered the land for to the church to buy.
The church couldnāt afford it and so Robert said to Nathan, well, how much did they ask for? Thereās a couple of acres and they said, $40,000 So, praise the Lord. You buy a couple of tiles here on the Gold Coast for that and Rob told me, he said, what do you want to do? I said, we want to go back and talk to the government. I went back and talked to the government and said, church is interested in buying it, still for sale. They said, yes. Grew, you know, added 50%. Went from $40,000 to $60,000 and that sort of thing and so we, I came and I brought it here.
So, a group of people got nothing to do with them. I said, this is what I want to do. We want to buy that. Itās one thing to buy the houses but the Bible says, Godās got promised land. And so, just one fell swoop. Few people here got together said itās done. Wow. Praise the Lord. And none of you have been. You can go anytime. and itās like kingdom. Because we had the resource to help another place with its walls that were broken down. Amen.
Couple of weeks ago they had a kids fest like what we do here. And as I told you before, the church was down to seven people. Just last week they had over fifty. Praise the Lord. It’s got a kids program running every week. Completely self-sustaining. All glory to God. It wouldnāt have happened if a group of people that didnāt live there hadnāt decided. You know what? Weāre going to resource. Yeah. Weāre going to provide. For something that some of us are never going to see.
And I know thatās not how the world operates. But it is how the kingdom operates. So Iām so proud of every single one of you. God used Nehemiah. He used the man and how do we know that? Game of passion. Game of passion to and God had a promise. And Nehemiah was in position right there right time. His life all of a sudden it made sense. And he had access to the provision that was needed. To rebuild these walls in 52 days. That have been broken down for 170 years. Amen? And maybe youāve got something broken down in your life. Maybe something incomplete. Youāve got a partial promise come to pass but not the full thing.
Philippians 1:6 NKJV
being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Bible says, he begun a good work and you shall bring it to completion, my friends and we always pray about the series that weāre going to do and I even Iāve been thinking Nehemiah and Iāve mentioned it to the team. Everyone of them see we need to do Nehemiah and I think the reason why is because there are some people with some half-baked, half-finished promises. Theyāve been waiting a long time and God is saying, now is the time. Amen. Your walls are about to be. Youāre going to go from surviving to thriving, my friends.
Why? Because our God is a promise keeper. Amen? And so maybe this morning, that resonates with you. Maybe youāre hearing the same, Ben, thatās for me. I feel like Iām kind of in my promised land but Iām just surviving. Iāve stepped in but the walls are still broken down. I want to pray for you, friend. Seasonās about to change. So, can you just close your eyes for a moment? Bow your heads and if youāre hearing a sign thatās made. Thatās where Iām at right now. Iām half in but not the whole way.
If that is you slip up your hand say thatās me. Our walls are broken down still. Iāve stepped on the land. But the walls are still up. Father in Jesus name I pray for every person with their hand raised. I thank you Lord. He who begun a good work in them shall bring it to completion. I pray for a rapid completion of the work. A rapid rebuilding of these broken down walls Lord God. You would not put them in the land without the walls being lifted up and I pray for every single person I declare an open change of season. What theyāve been waiting for. What has been fallow is now about to be fruitful. I speak it and I declare it right now in Jesus name. Everyone said? Amen. Letās give the lord a hand of praise. Heās awesome.