Welcome to Big Valley Grace Community Church. If you are brand new, we are very glad you’re here. My name is Joel. I’d love to meet you. I’ll be standing right here after the service, and I’d love to welcome you personally, learn your name, put your name and face together, and give you a warm welcome on behalf of all of us.

Whether this is your first time or you’ve been coming for a few weeks and you’re still new to church, we are really glad you’re here. We hope today is a great encouragement to you.

We are in a series teaching through the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is about a third of the way through your Bible. If you have a Bible, I encourage you to turn there. If you are new to the Bible, the table of contents can help you find it.

If you need a Bible, we would love to give you one. We have Bibles available in our prayer room. If you need prayer, come to the prayer room after the gathering as well. We want to make sure everyone has access to a Bible, and it will be our gift to you.

There is something I experience almost every week at church, and I’m wondering whether anyone else experiences it too. I get a notification from my electronic devices telling me how much screen time I’ve had.

Apparently, I’m not alone.

What caught my attention is how ironic it feels to receive a notification about my screen time while I’m sitting in a worship gathering. So I started looking into average screen time.

Globally, the average is around six hours and forty minutes per person per day. Here in the United States, the average is even higher at approximately seven hours and eleven minutes per person per day.

Then I looked at another statistic from Lifeway concerning people who identify as followers of Jesus, attend a Protestant evangelical church, and regularly participate in church. About two-thirds of them say they spend time with the Lord every day, with the average time being around ten to thirty minutes.

That is an interesting contrast.

We average more than seven hours of screen time each day, while many Christians report spending somewhere between ten and thirty minutes intentionally with the Lord.

Now that I’ve made all of us uncomfortable, we’re going to lean into it because I’m looking at my own life too. I get the same notifications. And that is only one device. Then there are other devices, computers, phones, and everything else.

So here is the question: Do we really have time to spend with the Lord?

When there is so much to accomplish, can I really afford to stop working and spend time with God?

There is always a list of things we want to accomplish, a list of things we have not gotten to yet, and a list of things we failed to accomplish. Sometimes those lists become overwhelming. We can begin to feel like we are failing in what we are doing, what we want to do, and what we did not get done.

So when there is so much to accomplish, can I really afford to stop working and spend time with the Lord?

God has given every one of us the same number of hours in a day: twenty-four. He has given us the same number of hours in a week: 168.

But He has also given us an example through Nehemiah.

It is an ancient example, but it is incredibly relevant to our lives today.

Nehemiah chapter 2 tells us that Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem and remained there for three days. During the night, he went out with only a few men. He had not yet told anyone what God had placed in his heart to do for Jerusalem.

He quietly inspected the walls that had been broken down and the gates that had been destroyed by fire. He traveled through different areas around the city until the destruction became so severe that there was not enough room for the animal he was riding to pass through.

After inspecting the walls, he returned without telling the officials, priests, nobles, or others what he planned to do.

Then Nehemiah gathered the people and told them to recognize the trouble they were in. Jerusalem was in ruins, and its gates had been burned. He invited them to rebuild the wall so that they would no longer live in disgrace.

He told them about the gracious hand of God upon him and what the king had said to him.

The people responded, “Let us rise up and build.”

They strengthened themselves for the good work.

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem heard about it, they mocked and despised the people. They accused Nehemiah of rebelling against the king.

Nehemiah responded that the God of heaven would give them success. They were God’s servants, and they would rise up and build.

Then, at the beginning of chapter 3, Eliashib the high priest and the other priests rose up and began rebuilding the Sheep Gate.

That is the passage we are looking at today.

Our question is still this: When there is so much to accomplish, can I really afford to stop working and spend time with the Lord?

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

Nehemiah had been called by God to extremely important work.

If you have missed the previous weeks in Nehemiah, you can go back and watch those messages. The basic background is that Nehemiah was an Israelite living in captivity. He was serving as cupbearer to the Persian king.

God allowed him to hear that Jerusalem had been destroyed and that his people were living in shame.

Although Nehemiah was hundreds of miles away, the news broke his heart.

For four months, he prayed, fasted, wept, mourned, and planned.

Then God opened an opportunity for him to speak with the king. Nehemiah made his request, and God answered. The king provided what Nehemiah needed and sent him back toward Jerusalem.

Nehemiah transitioned from being the cupbearer to becoming the builder.

When he arrives in Jerusalem, the text simply says that he was there for three days.

What does a man who has spent four months praying, fasting, weeping, mourning, and planning do when he finally arrives at the destroyed city?

Probably more of the same.

He prays. He observes. He plans. He sees Jerusalem with his own eyes for the first time.

If you are part of the workforce, you understand jobs, job descriptions, workplaces, expectations, and hopefully compensation.

That is part of the reason why, when you ask someone how they are doing, one of the most common answers is, “Busy.”

We are busy.

We have work to accomplish. We have expectations. We have responsibilities. We have a list of things we are doing, things we want to do, and things we did not get done.

So again, do we really have time to stop working and spend time with the Lord?

Proverbs says to commit our work to the Lord and our plans will be established.

The first thing we learn from Nehemiah is to commit your work to the Lord in prayer.

Before leaders take powerful action, leaders turn to God in prayerful solitude.

Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, stays there for three days, and then goes out secretly during the night with only a few people.

He is not surrounded by a huge entourage. He is not announcing what he is doing. He has not yet told everyone what God placed in his heart.

He had spent four months praying, fasting, weeping, mourning, and planning. During that time, God birthed a mission inside him.

Now he has arrived in Jerusalem and can see the situation for himself.

But he still does not immediately announce his plan.

Charles Swindoll wrote a book called Hand Me Another Brick, which has been one of the resources used in preparing this teaching series. In it, he makes the observation that respect is not gained through constant hurry and activity, but through what a person does when no one else is watching.

Nehemiah is being established as a leader, but for these three days he is quietly inspecting the situation.

That raises an important question for us:

What is God doing in me privately?

Yes, we gather for corporate worship. We sing together. We study God’s Word together. We serve, give, fellowship, reach, and grow together.

But what happens when I am alone with God?

What is God doing inside me privately when no one else is around?

Nehemiah engages in prayerful solitude.

One of the things prayerful solitude allows God to do is carefully inspect what is happening inside us.

Nehemiah physically inspects Jerusalem’s walls.

But if the walls of Jerusalem had been Israel’s only problem, they would actually have been in fairly good shape. They would simply need to rebuild the walls.

The physical walls were not the first walls that had fallen.

The walls of their hearts had fallen first.

The Israelites stopped obeying the Lord. Their spiritual condition eventually resulted in judgment and exile.

The broken state of Jerusalem reflected the broken state of the hearts of the people.

So Nehemiah is inspecting physical walls, but those walls represent something deeply spiritual.

If you want God to inspect the walls of your own heart, Psalm 139 provides a powerful prayer:

Search me, God. Know my heart. Test me. Know my thoughts. See whether there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.

The question is:

What is God revealing in me?

Nehemiah inspects the walls to understand what is broken.

When we go to God in prayerful solitude, we can ask Him to reveal what is broken in us.

Nehemiah’s inspection reveals tremendous destruction.

Jerusalem’s walls are broken down. Its gates have been burned.

Those walls represented safety and protection. Jerusalem had once been viewed as a powerful and nearly impenetrable city. It was the city of David, the city of Zion, and the location of the temple.

The gates represented access and control.

When the gates were open, the city leaders could control who entered and who left. When the gates were closed, they controlled who stayed inside and who remained outside.

But those gates had been burned.

The destruction was so extensive that Nehemiah could not even travel completely around the area on the animal he was riding.

Sometimes our lives feel like that.

We experience circumstances so devastating that we cannot even fully comprehend the damage.

We may understand part of what happened, but not all of it.

We can see some of the destruction but cannot yet grasp how extensive it really is.

Some of you know exactly what that feels like.

You have experienced something so damaging that you could not even make your way mentally or emotionally around the entire situation.

Nehemiah’s prayerful solitude reveals the brokenness, but it also begins informing the plan.

For three days, Nehemiah quietly inspects the city.

God reveals the condition of the walls, and Nehemiah begins developing a plan for addressing what he sees.

He still has not told everyone the plan.

But God has already begun birthing it inside him.

Nehemiah is committing his work to the Lord in prayer.

So ask yourself:

What work do I need to commit to the Lord in prayer?

God has given every follower of Jesus work to do. Scripture teaches that He has prepared good works in advance for us to walk in.

Maybe you need to commit something in your personal life to prayer.

Maybe there is work concerning your family.

Maybe it involves your job or vocation.

Maybe it involves friendships or your community.

What work do you need to commit to the Lord?

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

But Nehemiah also committed his work to the Lord in purpose.

Purpose answers the question: Why am I doing this?

When leaders turn to God and commit their work to Him in prayer, God begins placing a fire in their hearts concerning the meaning and purpose of the work.

Jesus did this with His disciples through what we call the Great Commission.

Jesus declared that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. He commanded His followers to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything He commanded.

Then He promised to remain with them always.

That gave the disciples purpose.

Jesus was telling them: I am in authority. You are working for Me. Go make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them to obey My commands. And remember that you will not do it alone because I will be with you.

That is the Great Commission.

It gives meaning and purpose to the work of every follower of Jesus.

At Big Valley Grace Community Church, we have a five-year vision called “Devoted Day by Day in 2030.”

As part of that vision, we asked God to show us some big, God-sized goals.

One of those goals is to see 2,030 people baptized for Jesus Christ over a five-year period.

Why would we set a goal like that?

Because Jesus gave us the Great Commission.

Maybe God allows us to baptize 203 people.

Maybe He allows us to baptize 2,030 people.

Maybe He allows us to baptize 20,300 people.

I do not know the final result.

The results belong to God.

But I can be confident about the purpose.

Jesus told us to make disciples and baptize them.

So let’s set a big goal around something He has clearly told us to do.

The result is up to God.

Our responsibility is to get to work.

Commit your work to the Lord in purpose.

He is the One who gives the work meaning.

At this point in Nehemiah’s story, we see him transitioning from spiritual solitude into spiritual leadership in community.

He has been quietly spending time with God.

Now he begins speaking about what God has called him to do.

One of the common fears followers of Jesus experience is simply being afraid to talk about Jesus.

We sometimes want people to know we follow Him, but only under certain circumstances.

Nehemiah has reached a point where what God has placed inside him is burning so strongly that he has to speak.

He tells the people, “You see the trouble we are in.”

Jerusalem is in ruins.

The gates have been burned.

Come, let us rebuild the wall so we no longer suffer disgrace.

God has stirred something inside him through prayer.

Now that purpose becomes motivation.

Nehemiah is not afraid to acknowledge the problems.

He says, in effect, “We are in trouble.”

He does not arrive in Jerusalem and begin condemning everyone for destroying their lives.

He does not stand at a distance pointing fingers and explaining how everyone else caused the problem.

Instead, he says, “This is our problem.”

Remember, he had been living in another country.

Yet when he arrives in Jerusalem, he immediately identifies with the people.

He uses words like “we,” “us,” and “together.”

He acts like an owner.

He sees himself as part of the problem and part of the solution.

“You see the trouble we are in.”

“Come, let us rebuild.”

“So that we may no longer suffer disgrace.”

That gives meaning to the work.

The rebuilding matters because it will affect their future.

When the wall is restored, their circumstances will change.

When a leader receives a burning passion from God, that leader should also give God credit for it.

Nehemiah tells the people about the gracious hand of God upon him.

He tells them how the king responded.

He gives God credit for the success.

God showed him mercy.

God opened the door.

God provided what was needed.

And when someone spends time with the Lord, receives a God-given passion, and begins giving God credit for what is happening, something often happens to the people around them.

They become inspired.

Other people begin believing God too.

The people respond to Nehemiah by saying, “Let us rise up and build.”

They strengthen their hands for the good work.

Nehemiah committed his work to the Lord in prayer.

He also committed it to the Lord in purpose.

So we should ask ourselves:

What is my purpose?

Why am I getting out of bed?

Why do I go to work?

What is the meaning behind what I am doing?

Commit your work to the Lord in prayer, but also commit it to Him in purpose.

During the gathering, we also heard from one of our global mission partners in Germany, who explained how their ministry context resembles Nehemiah’s situation.

The area where they serve played a major role in the Protestant Reformation and the translation of Scripture into German. Yet over generations, secularism, liberal theology, and communism contributed to widespread rejection of biblical faith.

Today, many people there identify as atheists and know very little about Scripture.

Their ministry seeks to inspire, encourage, and equip Christians to rebuild spiritually what has been torn down.

Proverbs says to commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established.

So we commit our work to Him in prayer.

We commit our work to Him in purpose.

And third, we commit our work to the Lord in protection.

When leaders spend time with the Lord, receive a fire in their hearts, and begin moving forward with purpose, they should expect opposition.

If you want to lead your life for Jesus Christ, expect an enemy who does not want that to happen.

If you want to influence others for Jesus, you may encounter people who oppose you.

That means we need to commit our work to God for protection.

Sanballat and Tobiah return in the story, and now Geshem joins them.

Throughout Nehemiah, these people repeatedly oppose the work.

If we are going to follow Jesus, lead ourselves faithfully, and influence others for Him, we need to understand that there is an enemy who does not want that to happen.

There is also a world system opposed to the ways of God.

So we should expect opposition.

But there is an important warning here.

We must also make sure we are not creating unnecessary opposition ourselves.

We need to remain aligned with what God is doing.

We need humility.

We need repentance.

We need to confess sin, receive the forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love of Jesus, and submit ourselves to His teaching and to the Word of God.

We should encourage one another to live this way so that we do not become part of the opposition to what God is doing.

But if we are following Jesus faithfully, we should still expect resistance.

Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem criticize Nehemiah’s vision.

They mock the people.

They despise them.

They accuse Nehemiah of rebelling against the king.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Do you really think you can accomplish this?”

“Are you committing treason?”

Jesus warned His followers that persecution would come.

He said those who are persecuted because of righteousness are blessed.

He said that when people insult, persecute, and falsely speak evil against His followers because of Him, they can rejoice because their reward in heaven is great.

The Bible does not say persecution is fun.

It does not say being insulted is enjoyable.

It does not say false accusations feel good.

But it does say that when those things happen because of faithful identification with Jesus Christ, there is a great reward.

So if you are experiencing persecution because of Jesus, or people are falsely speaking against you because of Jesus, that can actually be evidence that you are moving in the right direction.

Another thing opposition does is clarify who is truly on the team.

When God gives someone a burning passion and they begin pursuing His mission, opposition often reveals who supports the work and who stands against it.

Nehemiah responds by relying upon God’s call.

He tells his opponents, “The God of heaven will give us success.”

His confidence is not based upon their approval.

Whether he succeeds is ultimately in God’s hands.

Nehemiah knows who he is.

“We are His servants.”

Therefore, “we will rise up and build.”

Their opponents have no legitimate role in the work because they are opposing what God has called His servants to do.

Jesus said that not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of His Father.

If you are going to follow Jesus and lead for Jesus, expect opposition.

But here is an encouraging thought:

Opposition creates an environment where leadership can rise.

At the beginning of chapter 3, Eliashib the high priest rises up.

Nehemiah had already stepped forward and taken the risk of leading.

Now someone else stands up beside him.

And Eliashib is not alone. Other priests rise with him.

Then they get to work.

They begin rebuilding.

Nehemiah was not alone.

Leadership rose in the face of opposition.

Maybe you are facing resistance to something God has called you to do.

Perhaps this is your moment to rise up.

Maybe God is calling you to lead, speak, encourage, or help someone else step forward.

You can say, “We can do this. We can follow the Lord. God is with us.”

Nehemiah committed his work to the Lord for protection.

So ask yourself:

Where do I need to trust God for protection?

Maybe you are dealing with fear.

Maybe there was a time when you were not protected, and that painful experience is part of your story.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to entrust your work and your future protection to the Lord.

Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established.

Commit your work to the Lord in prayer.

Commit your work to the Lord in purpose.

Commit your work to the Lord in protection.

You have a work.

Every follower of Jesus does.

God has prepared good works in advance for us to walk in.

Those works may look different for every person, but God has work for each of us.

So what is the work you need to commit to Him?

As a church family, we also have work to do right now.

One immediate opportunity is inviting people to Neighborhood Sunday.

Why do we call it Neighborhood Sunday?

Because we want our neighbors here with us on Sunday.

Let’s get practical.

If we are spending more than seven hours a day on screens, why not redeem some of that screen time for Jesus?

I do not know exactly how you are spending those hours, but I am guessing not every minute is being used for Jesus.

So let’s redeem some of it.

Use your phone.

Use your computer.

Use your text messages.

Use social media.

Use the tools available in our culture and redeem them for the mission of Jesus.

For perhaps the first and last time, I am going to tell you to pull out your phone during church.

Scan the code.

Follow the link.

Text someone.

Tell them, “I want you to come to church with me next week.”

Maybe they have told you they will never walk into a church building.

Perfect.

We are going to be outside.

Invite them.

Post something.

Send a message.

Redeem your screen time.

Take some of those hours and use them for Jesus.

And if you did not bring your phone to church, good for you.

Then pray.

Pray about what God wants to do in the coming week.

It is time to act.

There is a hurting world right around us.

The walls are broken down.

The gates have been burned.

People need hope.

So let’s do something.

Let’s invite people.

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Father God, help us commit the work You have given us to You.

Help us embrace the plans You want for our lives.

May we commit our work to You and allow our plans to be established by You.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Church family, invite people. Invite, invite, invite.

If you want to meet our missionaries, they are available in the lobby.

If you need prayer, our prayer team is ready.

Church family, we love you, and we will see you again real soon.