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Parkview Assembly of God
Nehemiah- Reviving the burnt stones
Sunday, July 17th 2016
Locations & Times
Parkview Assembly
235 Polly Drummond Hill Rd, Newark, DE 19711, USA
Saturday 11:59 PM
God of The Underdogs Series
Nehemiah- Reviving the burnt stones from the ash heap
1) Opposition-Sanballat & Tobiah
These folks are called “Border Bullies” and they’ll always show up when you are on the brink of reaching your destiny.
Nehemiah 4:2-3 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”
Oppression
Nehemiah 5:1-5
And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. 2 For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”
3 There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”
4 There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”
First we see a breech in the wall in Jerusalem, an opening, an open door, if you will, in the nation, enabling the enemy to enter in.
And because of the broken down walls it led to the enemies oppression.
A) Hungry-Neh 5:1-2 Lack of food, needed assistance because there were no jobs left in Jerusalem.
B) Mortgage Crisis-Neh 5:3
Like Fannie-Mae & Freddie Mac were the mortgage holders in Jerusalem and the bubble popped and God called Nehemiah to fix it.
C) Tax Issue-Neh 5:4 – Passed the tax debt on to the next generation, and they knew it. Other men own our land and property. China & Saudi Arabia are buying up the land in places like Michigan to start their own communities, then will come their own laws.
Now the God of the underdogs steps in –because He’s had enough!
And He appoints and anoints a ruler with some fire in his bones, someone who will speak the truth and set the captives free, because that’s what apostolic leadership does.
3) Obstacles (show stones in front of your)
-Nehemiah 4: 10-20
10 Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”
11 And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”
12 So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.”
I.e.- how are we supposed to build the wall , our enemies are at our back
13 Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
15 And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. 16 So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. 17 Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. 18 Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
19 Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
Burden was heavy-both physically & spiritually.
Laborers got tired, and the enemy was plotting.
Nehemiah –“gets some worshipers and me some warriors”
Nehemiah- Reviving the burnt stones from the ash heap
1) Opposition-Sanballat & Tobiah
These folks are called “Border Bullies” and they’ll always show up when you are on the brink of reaching your destiny.
Nehemiah 4:2-3 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”
Oppression
Nehemiah 5:1-5
And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. 2 For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”
3 There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”
4 There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”
First we see a breech in the wall in Jerusalem, an opening, an open door, if you will, in the nation, enabling the enemy to enter in.
And because of the broken down walls it led to the enemies oppression.
A) Hungry-Neh 5:1-2 Lack of food, needed assistance because there were no jobs left in Jerusalem.
B) Mortgage Crisis-Neh 5:3
Like Fannie-Mae & Freddie Mac were the mortgage holders in Jerusalem and the bubble popped and God called Nehemiah to fix it.
C) Tax Issue-Neh 5:4 – Passed the tax debt on to the next generation, and they knew it. Other men own our land and property. China & Saudi Arabia are buying up the land in places like Michigan to start their own communities, then will come their own laws.
Now the God of the underdogs steps in –because He’s had enough!
And He appoints and anoints a ruler with some fire in his bones, someone who will speak the truth and set the captives free, because that’s what apostolic leadership does.
3) Obstacles (show stones in front of your)
-Nehemiah 4: 10-20
10 Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”
11 And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”
12 So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.”
I.e.- how are we supposed to build the wall , our enemies are at our back
13 Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
15 And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. 16 So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. 17 Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. 18 Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
19 Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
Burden was heavy-both physically & spiritually.
Laborers got tired, and the enemy was plotting.
Nehemiah –“gets some worshipers and me some warriors”