Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Neh. 11:1-6; 12:27, 31, 40, 43        

June 29, 2025

Message: “Starting Over!”    

by Pastor George Gnade

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Introduction:

1.When the people of Judah returned to their own land after the captivity, it was like starting all over again.

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah were written to explain how this new beginning took place. 

a. It all began around 536 B.C. when Cyrus the Great was led of the Lord to give the Jews permission to return. At the same time, he ordered them to rebuild the temple of their God.

b. But whenever God is at work, Satan seeks to interfere. As a result, the work on the temple was hindered several times. But the temple was finally completed around 516 B.C.

2. Ezra returned to Judah around 457 B.C. and was used of God to help keep the Jews on track. Please notice that that was almost 60 years after the temple was completed. 

a. Then around 13 years later, the Lord moved in the heart of Nehemiah. If you remember, he was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes, which explains why he had not returned to Judea earlier. 

b. But when he learned from his brother how the walls of Jerusalem were still burned down and in ruins, he prayed and asked the king for permission to go and rebuild the walls.   

3. And in the Book of Nehemiah, we learned how he accomplished this task.  Once again, there was plenty of opposition but he did it in faith, believing God would help him. Miraculously he organized the people and completed the walls in 52 days. This is where Neh. 11 & 12 that we are studying today come into the picture.

 4. While the temple had now been completed and the walls finally rebuilt, Jerusalem was still half deserted. 

A. Let us begin today by discussing this problem.

1. Until the walls were rebuilt, their neighbors continually harassed them.

a. In plain words, it was not safe to live in Jerusalem. Even while the wall was being rebuilt, these neighbors threatened them over and over again. If you remember, they had to carry weapons in one hand and work on the wall with the other. 

b. But all of their neighbors scare tactics did not stop the work because God was with them. 

2. Now that the people could live safely in Jerusalem, Nehemiah felt led to organize an effort to fill the city with more people.

a. In Neh. 11:1, it says: “Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem …” In other words, they set the example. 

b. They in turn asked the rest of the people to “cast lots to bring one out of every ten to (join them and) live in Jerusalem” too. 

3. The rest were allowed to remain in their own towns. But in Neh. 11:2, it says: “The people commended all the men (with their families) who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.”

So we could say the city was finally filled with people like a normal city that could function like a normal city.

4. I think there are some valuable lessons for us in all of this.  In our day, the Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of all those who love the Lord. And depending on where we live, we are strongly encouraged in Heb.10:25  “to meet together” and to “encourage each other” and “all the more as we see the Day (of Jesus coming again) approaching.”

a. Satan is in the business of attacking our churches and he often succeeds in hurting us and even scattering us. 

b. And it often takes a lot of time and work to regroup and become effective again.

5. Christians also get so wrapped up in the things of this world that churches often stop growing and seem to forget their primary purpose should be to find ways to keep growing.

a. Other churches committed to the gospel of Christ do grow and even plan to start new churches by sending some from their own church to help the new church.

Some churches do this very effectively over and over again.

b. Figuratively speaking, Christians often find themselves rebuilding God’s spiritual temple and rebuilding God’s walls so that the growth of the church never stops and will never stop until we have brought the gospel to the ends of the earth.

B. That brings us to Neh. 12 where the Jews under Ezra and Nehemiah’s leadership dedicate the walls of Jerusalem.

1. I have been in churches that have taken on large building projects. Upon the completion of the project, we would hold a dedication service.

a. The larger the project, the more significant the dedication service was. 

b. The purpose was to dedicate the completed project to the Lord. 

2. The purpose was to remind all of us in the church as well as those outside looking in that everything we do is not just for selfish purposes.

a. It is for the Lord and the work of the Lord so that more and more people might come to know the Lord.

b. It is also one of the important ways that we can acknowledge that we could never have done this without His help. 

c. In my last church, before I retired, located  in Sidney, OH, we completed a huge addition that cost us over $400,000. But we forget to include money for furnishings. 

d. Amazingly, a local company in the area happened to be expanding and gave us almost everything we needed from what they wanted to get rid of!  We all knew this was God’s way of supplying for all our needs. No wonder we wanted to dedicate our new addition to Him.

3. That was equally true of this project to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. From the beginning to the end, the Lord provided and the Lord helped them succeed.

4. In Neh. 12: 27-43, we learn all about the dedication service for the new walls.

a. One large choir went on top of the wall and led a group one way around the city while another did the same thing but led their group the other way. 

b. In Neh. 12: 43, it says: “And on that day, they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and the children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

In conclusion: 1. I like the song that says: “To God be the glory great things He has done…” I am sure that is how Ezra and Nehemiah and the people felt on this occasion. 

2. But of course, the song writer had something even greater to celebrate. The song continues: “So loved He the world that He gave us His Son who yielded His life as an atonement for sin, and opened the Life-gate that all may go in.”

3. That is the good news that we celebrate. That is what our churches are called to preach so that the whole world may know and hear about Jesus. May we never forget who we are and what God has called us to do. Amen!