Let Us Rise Up

and BuildNehemiah 2:11-20

Heritage Addition church of Christ

By Jim Bradshaw

Sunday Evening, February 15, 2015

Let Us Rise Up and Build

What Can I Do to Help the Church Grow?

Nehemiah 2:11-20

Let Us Rise Up and Build

We Must Understand the Urgency to Grow

Neh 2:12 NKJV Then I arose in the night, I and a few

men with me; I told no one what my God had put in

my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal

with me, except the one on which I rode.

Let Us Rise Up and Build

We Must Understand the Urgency to Grow

Mat 6:31-34 NKJV "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What

shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we

wear?' (32) For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For

your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

(33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be added to you. (34) Therefore do

not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its

own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Acts 22:16

Let Us Rise Up and BuildWe Must Recognize that WE are in Distress;

Rom. 3:23, 6:23

Neh 2:17 NKJV Then I said to them, "You see the

distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its

gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the

wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach."

The Lord’s church has not grown in U.S. in nearly 40 years

Let Us Rise Up and BuildWe Must Recognize that WE are in Distress;

Rom. 3:23, 6:23

Joh 17:20-21 NKJV "I do not pray for these alone,

but also for those who will believe in Me through

their word; (21) that they all may be one, as You,

Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may

be one in Us, that the world may believe that You

sent Me.

Let Us Rise Up and BuildWe Bring Ourselves Reproach when we do not bring

our best before God

Neh 2:17 NKJV Then I said to them, "You see the distress

that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are

burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem,

that we may no longer be a reproach."

Neh 2:19 NKJV But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah

the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it,

they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this

thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"

We must always give our Best; Col. 3:17; 3:23

Reproach – Object of contempt, scorn or derision. (Webster’s

1828)

We Rob God When We Do not Bring our Best

Let Us Rise Up and Build

Look at Abel

Gen 4:4-5 NKJV Abel also brought of the firstborn of his

flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his

offering, (5) but He did not respect Cain and his offering.

And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

Heb 11:4 NKJV By faith Abel offered to God a more

excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained

witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and

through it he being dead still speaks.

We Rob God When We Do not Bring our Best

Let Us Rise Up and Build

Look at Abel; Gen. 4:4-5; Heb. 11:4

Mal 3:8-10 NKJV "Will a man rob God? Yet you have

robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?'

In tithes and offerings. (9) You are cursed with a curse, For

you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. (10) Bring all

the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My

house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If

I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out

for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to

receive it.

But How Do We Rob God; 2 Cor. 5:7

Let Us Rise Up and Build

We Need to Know that to Build is a Good Work

Neh 2:18 NKJV And I told them of the hand of my God

which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words

that he had spoken to me. So they said, "Let us rise up and

build." Then they set their hands to this good work.

Neh 2:20 NKJV So I answered them, and said to

them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us;

therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you

have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."

Let Us Rise Up and Build

We Need to Know that to Build is a Good Work

1. God will prosper us

2. Mar 10:28-30 NKJV Then Peter began to say to Him,

"See, we have left all and followed You." (29) So

Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you,

there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters

or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My

sake and the gospel's, (30) who shall not receive a

hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and

sisters and mothers and children and lands, with

persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

3. Let Us Rise Up and build the church in Booneville

Let Us Rise Up and Build

We Need to Know that to Build is a Good Work

Eph 2:19-22 NKJV Now, therefore, you are no longer

strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints

and members of the household of God, (20) having been

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus

Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, (21) in whom

the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy

temple in the Lord, (22) in whom you also are being built

together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.