The Rebuilt Life - I

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God check out virtue our website for Christian women go to harvest.org/virtue coming up to bring glory over the rocket would help strengthen our ministries on an individual basis which pastors are missionaries or churches their ministry but every first his ministry because ministry is simply service over saying God you would be worrying for a reason that I am available to serve you and I want my life to bring more review and essentially to do was from God. Once we come to the Lord, our sins are forgiven and our names are written in the book of life. What's next, the Lord has a few suggestions and whether we should enter the pulpit drill press we deliver babies for bottled water. Whether we work inside or outside the home. God has worked for us to do right where we are from the book of Nehemiah today.

Pastor Greg Laurie what we prayed together.

Father were so glad today and we know that you will work that you want to do in our law and we know you are promises to given to us that are just waiting to be clay so we pray as we discover those as we talked about building our lives as we look of Nehemiah that you would speak to us through it. We commit this time a Bible study to you now in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. All right is ready to study the book of Nehemiah razor yet. Excellent excellent drug. Your Bible concerning quickly to Nehemiah chapter 1 Nehemiah chapter 1 of my not be a book that your all that familiar with it speeds 475 in my Bible. That's usually not the best way to find something. As you probably a different Bible that I got but done Nehemiah chapter 1 and the title of my message is the rebuild life. I want remind you that I always encourage you to read ahead. So for next time. Read Nehemiah 1 and Nehemiah to produce truth of the whole book that be the best thing you know is you look at America today. I don't know what we've ever been more divided or really divided along racial lines.

Racial tension seem to be at an all-time high were divided along political lines will we've always had political divisions but I can't think of a time over more divided than we are.

In this particular moment were divided along ideological lines that we see the breakdown and redefinition of the family and honestly that is at the root of a lot of our problems in America today. The increase in crime. The increase of drug use.

The increase of so many problems refacing can be traced directly back to the breakdown of the family that we have violence in the streets that we have threats to our personal and national security. What are we going to do to turn our nation around. Can we turn our nation around. I don't know what we've had more hurricanes either that a horrible hurricane season.

You just look at the complete devastation of these homes are. There was a home and now it's gone sometimes is a little bit of a foundation left but devastation. So how do you rebuild these cities will you do it one house at a time, or one brick at a time. If you will will that's really the promise before is in the book of Nehemiah. It's about the rebuilding of the city.

The rebuilding of a wall, but we can very easily draw parallel to our own life and I ask you today.

What state is your spiritual house in is it in good shape, or is it in a process of decay is it in the client is falling apart well will get to see a lot of parallels here between our lives and the story of Nehemiah. This is a story of one man who took action and made a difference. His name is Nehemiah and he literally rebuilt a nation. There's so much we can learn together in this book and we will learn together we can learn how to pray when there seems to be no human solution to our problem are you facing a problem like that right now there's no human solution will you learn what Nehemiah did when he was in the same situation working on how to deal with challenges spiritually as well as practically no sometimes really want to have a spiritual solution i.e. prayer we don't do anything. Sometimes you want to do something but we don't pray learn how the two go hand in hand will learn how to plan our work and work our plan and at the same time Truscott and really, the book of Nehemiah is in many ways a book about leadership so we can all learn how to boost morale when it's failing. How to build people up and get them on your team. Maybe you're a leader of your workspace. Maybe you're the boss man of the boss woman are you. Maybe you're a foreman on a worksite or maybe you're the teacher in the classroom or are you the person in charge in some way shape or form, but even if your lower down on the latter, you'll probably be a leader of some kind. One day, and it seems that everyone lead someone so there's lessons on leadership here as well. Will also learn together autoresponder personal attacks and react when the lies are told about you and your head lies told about you have never been attacked unjustly. Nehemiah phase that will learn how to react. But first we have to start a Leah little foundation here was some history of the nation of Israel, where they were out at this particular moment in time. Now of course Israel was established by God. Were and are gods chosen people. God ruled them through the various judges over time, but Israel wanted a king any granted their request and gave them a king after their own heart and his name was King Saul.

He was the People's choice and he wasn't a very good king. He started off well but he went off the rails and just his life was a disaster. So God picks someone himself. He was David the shepherd boy who is described after the man after God's own heart and under the reign of David Israel will they were in their glory days around the circumference of the city.

They build protective walls.

It was around 10 acres of strategic plan are surrounded by steep hills and these walls and for 40 years, Israel Dr., Jerusalem, thrive the day was getting old and then he was day was coming to an end, so he passed it on to his son Solomon and said Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with an undivided heart and Solomon started off so well known for his great wisdom. People came from around the world to sit at his feet, including the Queen of Sheba who said of him that happens not been told. Within Solomon began to compromise any started getting a bunch wives lots and lots of wives and then some concubines as well. If you don't know what those are, as pastor Paul afterward till it's link document Eddie was compromising in many of these were pagan women in the and it resulted in trouble. Coming right there in the throne, but soon Solomon died and then Israel split right into in the northern tribes are ruled by Jeroboam in the southern tribes are ruled by revocable abode tribes turn to idols and false God. The northern tribe fell 1st and they were taken into captivity by the Assyrians, the people of the northern kingdom were absorbed into the various cultures of the world, but the southern kingdom fell later and they were deported by the Babylonian so because they had this penchant for idolatry.

God says.

You want idols. They'll give you more idols than you can shake a stick at. Welcome to idols, central dialogue that's where they lived as captives for 70 long years that's in the book of Daniel was written. Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon number one of his advisors was Daniel and God humbled the great Nebuchadnezzar, and he turned to God, but he didn't successfully pass his legacy on because his grandson Belshazzar went out of his way to mock the God that his grandfather believed in you. Remember the story of Belshazzar drinking out of the vessels that were set aside for the worship of God and in mocking the Lord and then he saw a hand writing on the wall and God said you been weighed in the balances in you been found lacking because right outside of his kingdom was Cyrus and the Medo Persian forces were ready to come in and conquer Babylon. So now Cyrus is the king, and he gives a decree that the Jews can go back to Jerusalem.

So in approximately 536 BC, the first wave of Jews returned to Judah under Jerusalem. I know what some of you are thinking this is so over being I don't need a history lesson.

Actually, you do because the sender this history is his story. So we need to learn from history and so were this is setting the stage for what were about to read. We need to have contacts.

As we look at the book of Nehemiah together. So here the Jews out returning to Jerusalem. Though the repose by the Samaritans. They succeed in rebuilding the Temple and a number of years later, around 458 BC, a second wave of Jewish people return under the direction of Ezra Ezra was a priest. He was a spiritual leader, and upon arriving, the children of Israel were in a state of spiritual decline.

The problem was there was intermarriage with the pagan tribes intermarriage. By the way, God is not against interracial marriage is against interfaith marriage okay so this issue that anyone who makes an issue of interracial marriages know what they're talking about the big thing for God is that we find people that share the same faith that we share because I'll tell you what marriage is hard enough without adding the element of a nonbeliever to it.

This is why the Bible says don't be unequally yoked together with nonbelievers for what fellowship does like With darkness and you might say well I'm in a Marriott non-Christian guy and I'm a lead them to Christ.

Now concede that does occasionally happen.

But occasionally far more often what happens is instead of the believer pulling the nonbeliever up.

The nonbeliever pulls the believer down. That's what the Bible warns against that nothing happened to Israel there intermarrying with all these pagan tribes and so they're totally compromise and it's just a big mess. So Ezra calls these people out to repent and they did and then the Jewish temple was rebuilt but the walls of the city were in shambles. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of this message in just a moment.

It's reassuring when we read letters and emails from listeners who been helped by the ministry of Greg morning and a new beginning. Pastor Greg every morning on my way home from dropping my husband at work helped me to my hardest times.

I am a little boy with moderate and I lost my mom's cancer unit.

My soul has been so heavy every day you help me realize that God is claiming more than anything and he will take care of the rest.

My husband and son. Now let this continue in the car. Thank you for helping millions of people just like us were so grateful to hear how Pastor Greg's teachings help this young long if you have a story to tell. I hope you will contact us today. Email Pastor Greg at greg@harvest.org again, that's great@harvest.org Pastor Greg is laying the foundation study series in the book of Nehemiah.

Let's continue his message now called the rebuilt life so the temples rebuilt, but the walls are still in shambles.

It sort of like they started the job, but they didn't finish it, kind of like the way I clean thing right my wife.

She's very efficient as a cleaner.

You know, she shall make food for me to eat and she's cleaning the dish before I finished eating, I climbed partially in the dishwasher to finish it. It sprayed my face things like that.

She's always cleaning cleaning efficient cleaning eyelet messes store up the other doesn't get to my office and just looks like a bomb went off in their notebooks tacked on books and papers and all these things and so I sent him the get it right today and so I got it all sorted out, but I just looked at like two or three little piles. I said I get to those later.

You know what happened right now those files are big piles and… God is a look before and after start all over again. That's with Israel look like that's a Jerusalem look like they got some things done but they didn't get all the things that so enter Nehemiah. He's a man that God is going to use he's not a priest like Ezra. He's what you would call a layman. Unlike the term layman myself.

It sort of a term that used to describe someone who is not quoted in ministry." I think sometimes you might think what pastors are missionaries or people that work for churches there in ministry, but but actually I flip burgers or I work in the corporate world or or I'm in construction and are I'm in education so I'm not in ministry. All contract which is French for snails with garlic, no that's a start up no every Christian is in ministry, in the sense because ministry is simply service over saying God you put me where I am for a reason that I am available to serve you that I want my life to bring glory to you. So God didn't pick another priest to finish the job. He picked a different kind of guy who was part of what we might think of today as the presidential cabinet. He picked Nehemiah was the right man on the right place at the right time. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. It was the leader of the Medo Persians.

This would be like being may be the chief of staff to the president of the United States you control access to the oval office up you want to see the president you go to the chief of staff. If you wanted to see King Artaxerxes.

You went through Nehemiah. This had to be a man, that the king could trust actually had to be a man, that the king liked because he spent a lot of time with them because whenever food was served at the king Nehemiah either first and basically Nehemiah died, the king would not eat the fruit and it would be the cupbearer a new one. Rather then he would drink of the cup for the king would drink about. But in time he became the confidant of the king, he became the counselor to the king in many ways, he was the second most powerful man in all of the nation at this point. So a very successful job and a super cushy one at that.

And you would want to jeopardize it but despite this luxurious life. Nehemiah was concerned about others.

That's where his heart was in a perfect world, he didn't want to be in the palace.

He wanted to be in the temple.

In other words, he had the finest this world has to offer what he wanted to be with God and with God's people, and he cared about them is that how you feel during the week. You know, maybe at work or school or whatever you said. I can't wait till Sunday were going to worship the Lord working to get into the word of God, you look forward to it like the psalmist who said I was glad when they said in the me let us go to the house of the Lord is that you felt when you came to church today. Are you glad to be in the house of the Lord.

Right now, if so yeah that's good. Listen to this, when you're living a godly life, you will want to be with godly people person when you're living a godly life you want to be with godly people let me turn it around. If you're not living as godly of a life as you want to.

You will not want to be with godly people. So basically Nehemiah saying yeah this is nice living here in the palace next to the king, but I care about God's people know sometimes people say things like I love Jesus I just can't stand the church. That's like the stupidest thing ever.

By the way is if you love Jesus, you will love his people don't say you love Jesus. If you don't love his people. For some, 420 says of a person says I love God, but hates his brother, he's a liar of a person does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he is not seen. Nehemiah love God and be loved. His people, his fellow Jews, so he asks about them. So were in Nehemiah chapter 1 starting the verse one by the way I'm reading from the new living translation in late autumn in the month of Kislev you know that month right just length that would be around November to December on our calendar in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes rain. I was at the fortress of Susa Annan. I want to.

My brothers came to visit me with some other men would just arrived from Judah. I asked him about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and how things were going in Jerusalem.

They said to me, things are not going well for those who return to the province of Judah are in great trouble and disgrace the wall of Jerusalem is been torn down and the gates of been destroyed by fire. There so Nehemiah was deeply moved and touched by this. He thought I'm in this position I'm in for a reason. He decides he's going to bet the farm and go for broke and leverages position of influence and go to King Artaxerxes and try to fund the building program to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem. He realized he was wearing was because God wanted him there. Have you ever stopped and thought about the fact that you are exactly where you're supposed to be right now I'm right here right now in church yes wherever you are. This is where you should be, but it's also true of the neighborhood you're in, or the workspace herein other campus.

Your Honor, wherever you might be you. It's all men of again just change my circumstances. Did it ever occur to you that you are where you're supposed to be. Nehemiah realizes a God put me here to do something with this position is given to me started. Great series examining the leadership of an example of Nehemiah. There's much more to come here on a new beginning today study is titled the rebuilt life and you can get an instant replay online@harvest.org or call us for a permanent copy on CD R number is 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 and it's a real privilege to have authors Jay and Catherine Wolf with us today. They penned the inspiring book called suffer strong. It deals with Catherine's near fatal brain stem stroke and the way they cope with her disability and grown in ways that wouldn't have otherwise been possible.

Just let me ask you a question as some may hear the subject of your book suffer strong and think, oh, it's simply adopting a positive mental attitude or you know what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

You know those common axioms.

But as I read your book that misses the point. Yeah exactly think for us.

The upending of our life was what helped us to understand the upside down kingdom of God.

So often you know we project God in our own image. We think that the ultimate end goal is his health and wealth and comfort and and the whole message of Christ subverts all of its as you been given what you been given so you can get away, to the glory of God. You can so you can help it for you are going through all these things that look like the end of your story but it's a new beginning. If you have eyes to see it that way, I think. So often, and even the Bible.

I think the command to remember is in the Bible. I think it's five times more than the command to believe and maybe even two times more than the command to trust certain to me, that shows that this opportunity for us to remember the story we arty know the story that were arty part of this arc of a narrative that God is at work doing in the world that you know may it may take some different specifics but really were all living out the same story in a way of God bringing new life or there should only be death of him. Healing through our brokenness and that that to me is so powerful to realize that we can think back to our past and find got it working. It to have this new kind of bravery to live into an unknown future. I mean we, you know, come to this place. After many years of really wrestling with and through this new life we never imagined living in a you know, just as an aside, it took I took a couple years even come up for air or an answer to Sanyo. The mother from the stroke was like. Glory to God like you know I love my new calling is awesome like it was a real you know it was in upending how much He Means Five Yeah Good I Fly Here I so I Want You to Just Give People Permission to Grieve the Loss. Yes, I Think of Jesus, Crying out, It Lazarus Is to Me. Near the End of That Story, but He Was Grieved with the Suffering in the World and so I Think That's a Very Appropriate and Necessary, but Not to Stay There Forever to Find That the Place of Our Wounding.

In Fact, I Believe, Is Part of Another Person's Feeling That When God Has Allowed Us to Experience Him in the Midst of the Dark Places That We Then Have an Opportunity to Go Back to Those Places and People Will Listen to Us Differently Because We've Been through It and Then We Come out on the Other Side of It and and so This Is the Cycle That God Invites Us to of You Know I Love the Term of Jesus Being the Wounded Healer in the Suffering Savior. You Know There's Just This Sort of This Paradoxical Sense of the Whole Sermon on the Mount of the Kingdom of God and Ended up Ends All the Ways We Think of It It It Has To Either Be Good or It Has To Be Hard on Those Are Mutually Exclusive and Are Separate, but the Gospel Says on This Side of Heaven.

It Can Be Really Hard, but That Doesn't Mean That Is Not Also Good Because This Is a Canister and Got His Writing and Second Corinthians 12 Nine Is Saying That It's Not in Our Competence in Our Own Strength That We Find God's Power to Be Made Perfect, but It's in Our Weakness so We Get to Choose Which Lessons We Want to Take Away from Her Story to People Can Look at the Exact Same Picture and Tell Totally Different Stories and so I Can Say You Know What I've Been to Find Got My Story and That's Can Actually Even Assigned to Say That That Changes the Way Our Brains Believe Our Future like We Might Tomorrow May Be the Worst Day or the Best Day. It Also Might Be the Last Day You Will Know This Is the Kind of Reality Were All Facing Mother Willing to See That We Are Not, but I Can Leave the Got Is Gonna Show up Again Because He Has in the past Such Good Insight. That's Jay Wolf and He and His Wife Catherine Are the Authors of Suffer Strong. You Need to Have This Book on Hand. If You're Not Going through a Tough Tough Life Challenge Right Now.

Tomorrow You May Be or Have It on Hand for That Friend or Family Member Who Just Doesn't Know How to Make It through Another Day.

Again, It's Called Suffer Strong and We Want to Send It to You to Thank You for Your Investment in Keeping Pastor Greg Studies Coming Your Way Each Day. Can We Count on You As a Partner in This Ministry Effect If You Could Help on a Regular Basis.

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