Ever thought of a bird! A hymn writer sung, " Kanyoni keyakagira nyumba na kanua na gatiri na kiuga ta kia nguku, na ithui twi na moko meri na tutingihota gwaka kanitha wa Mwathani." ( A bird build its nest with the mouth and has no stature like a hen, but we have two hands and we are not able to build the House of our God). We must take the challenge from birds and do all within our powers to work hard in all spheres of our lives and particularly for our God and His Church.
The book was written by Nehemiah with Ezra probably serving as the editor. The Southern Kingdom Judah fell in to the Babylon Empire in 586 BC. Under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the children of Israel were taken to exile in Babylon. Early in 535 B.C. Zerubbabel returned with the third group of exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem to build the city walls.
Nehemiah is the last of the Old Testament historical books. It records the history of the third return to Jerusalem after captivity, telling how the walls were rebuilt and the people were renewed in their faith.
PRAYER AND FASTING
When Nehemiah heard the problem his brethrens in Jerusalem were in, his first response was to mourn, fast and pray before the God of heaven( Neh 1:4). Nehemiah asked that God would be attentive to his prayer. Nehemiah first confessed the sins of Israel, including his sin and his father's house, which they has committed against God. We might wonder what sins Nehemiah had to confess, perhaps he had not done very much to help, prayed for them as faithfully as he could have. The Bible do not tell us. The point is that Nehemiah took responsibility of his sins's and the sins of others. Real leaders take responsiblity of their sins and then confess them. Again we look to Jesus as a shining example of leadership. He could have said,"look at the mess those people have gootten themselves into" instead he confessed our sins... He suffered and died for sins he did not commit. His love empowers us to do the same thing to shoulder responsibilities that might not be ours to get involved in other peoples problems.
PREPARATION/PLANNING Nehemiah 2 :11-16
Planning is a very important factor in any assignment or work. Nehemiah demonstrated excellent leadership. He was spiritually ready to heed God's call. He used careful plabnning team work, problem solving, and courage to get the work done. Although he had tremendous faith, he never avoided the extra work necessary for good leadership. Preparation is an important aspect of any project. Nehemiah took three days to evaluate the situation. gather a small group of intimates and to form a preliminary plan. Parents how often do you take sometimes "off" to prepare to raise your children. Do you take time to evaluate how you are doing in this important task? Do you gather a group of advisers to help you in this big job?
Do we prepare to reach out with the Gospel? Have you sat down to actually identify people you know who do not know Jesus? Have you spent time thinking about how you can best present the plan of salvation to someone else? Most of all have you prayed that God would give you opportunities to talk about him that he would send the Holy Spirit to bless the words you use? Have you prepared to be abetter friend, a better worker, a more faithful church member? This quiet time away to prepare is very vital. Even the great leaderss in the Bible had time awya to prepare. Moses spent 40 years in the desert. david spend years in caves and foreign countries waiting for the day he would be a King. Paul spent time in Arabia preparing for his life's work. How well are you preparing? God choose us from all eternity not even Adam and eve's dramatic plunge into sin could destroy God's vision for the future. The people he had planned to love become his sworn enemies when they fell into sin. That includes us! by ourselves we are offensive to God, it is not just that we sin, we are sin full' and yet God continued to prepare to bring us to his family. He made sure that the Jewish nation arrived in Palestine. He kept te family line of the savior intact for thousands of years! He prepared the world for the arrival of his son, everything was just right when Jesus was born. God had prepare well to launch the greatest, "Project" in the history of the world. "HOW WELL ARE YOU PREPARING?"
Before jumping into a project, follow Nehemiah's example and plan ahead. Check your information to make sure your ideas will work, be realistc. Then you will be able to present your plan with confidence.
LEADERSHIP
Everyone is a leader in his/her own right. If you are not a leaders here at the church you might be at work, among your friends or at home, or school. Most people think of leadership as a few people at the top of an organization making decisions while everyone else follows them. That's is not healthy leadership at all. as someone has rightly stated, REAL LEADERSHIP means providing the atmosphere, the motivation and the tools necessary for everyone to take control of things, really it means making everyone a leader in their particular situation. That is true whether we are talking about a business, a school, ahome, and especially in a church. God want each of us to be able to say, "God has given me thses gifts and thses opportunities. I am going to take charge and serve my Lord." That is leadership, all of us are leaders in this sense. Nehemiah demostrate leadership qualities through his compassion, confession,and courage, also by his ability to plan, prepare, motivate and face oppostion.
PEOPLE WITH A MIND TO WORK Nehemiah 4:6; Nehemiah 2:18
As Christians we are called upon to be people with a mind and heart to work. ready and eager to work for our family, Church, society, Nation, and for our God. The people in Nehemiah's time were able to rebuild the demaged wall of Jerusalem in a record 52 days because they worked heartly and willingly. We too can do exploits for our God if we are to work eagerly and with our abilities. we should not lose faith or give up, but we must persevere in the work. If God has called you to a task, determine to complete it, even if you face oppostion or discouragement. LET US RISE UP AND BUILD and let us strength or hands for the good work. The rewards of work well done will be worth the efforts.
GOD WILL FIGHT FOR US Nehemiah 2:19; 4:20, 6:16
Nehemiah and his people faced strong opposition. In the face of all this they had strong conviction and deep faith in God. Sure enough God fought for them and they overcame all the obstacles and opposition. In every worthwhile project there will be Sanballats, Tobiahs and Geshems who will deride and despise. They will say what is this thing that you are doing? Yes, what are they building? If foxes goes up on it, it will breakdown their stone wall! But like Nehemiah let us stand firm and continue with the task at hand, let us reply, "The God of heaven will make us prosper and we us his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right of memorial in this project." OUR GOD WILL FIGHT FOR US."
CHALLENGE
We have been challenged and encouraged. It is now our time to stand firm, grow deep roots and move out for God. After 1 year we are now ready to feed on solid food( every challenge), we are now ready to start producing evangelists, prophets, Apostles, pastors, missionaners, teachers, prayer warriors, worshippers, singers and all. In the words of Paul by the time we celebrate our second anniversary most of us ought to be teachers, not like little children tossed about by any form of doctrine.
"LET US RISE UP AND BUILD!" AMEN
"All borrowed ideas are acknowledged and highly appreciated."
Sermon compiled by Rev John Karanja Kamau.
Sermon first preached on September 07, 2003. King'ong'o Parish First Anniversary. At P. C. E. A King'ong'o Church. Nyeri Presbytery. Nyeri. Kenya.
August 14, 2020.
