Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Neh. 2:11-20 June 1, 2025

Message: “Building the Walls!”

by Pastor George Gnade

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Introduction:

1. Last week we learned how King Artaxerxes of Persia gave Nehemiah permission to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls that had been broken down and burned when King Nebuchadnezzar had taken the Jewish nation into captivity. 

a. That happened around 587 B.C. Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem in 445 B.C. 

b. That is a very long time. While the temple was finally rebuilt in 520 B.C., the walls and the gates had never been restored.

2. The city looked a mess and was certainly not a safe place to live. When Nehemiah’s brother came from Judah and told this to Nehemiah, God laid it on his heart to go and do whatever he could to rectify the situation. That is where our passage that we are studying today begins.

3, Let us consider the process that was helpful to Nehemiah.

A. Obviously, before you can begin to build, there are steps you need to take to prepare to do it.

1. The first step Nehemiah took was to pray and fast and seek guidance from the Lord (Neh. 1).

2. The second step was to find the courage to ask the king for permission to go. By God’s grace, the king and queen granted him permission (Neh. 2:6). 

3. The third concern was to determine where the material for the job would come from. Praise the Lord, the king agreed to provide for those needs (Neh. 2:8). 

a. So Nehemiah began his journey and arrived in Jerusalem.

b. But when he arrived, in the beginning, he still did not explain to the people why he came.

B. That is because there was no way to do the job without carefully examining the damage that had been done.

1. He chose to do this at night when no one would know what he was doing. He did this on horseback and observed all the damage so that he could plan how to proceed.

2. He also did it quietly because the people living around them were “much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites” (Neh. 2:10).

a. In plain words, their neighbors didn’t want them to regain their power.

b. They liked the fact that they sort of towered over them and indirectly controlled them. 

3. This is an important lesson for us too. Because when- ever you are called to serve the Lord, the devil will always try to stop you. 

a. So it is important to evaluate what you are going to do before you do it, asking God for wisdom when you do it. b. Then when the enemy comes, you will not be sur-prised and at least be emotionally prepared for what could happen next. 

C. Finally in Neh. 2:17, he challenged all the people to help him rebuild the wall.

1. This was the time to tell them how the king was helping him to help them. They already knew the trouble and disgrace they were experiencing. But with God’s help and their help, he believed this could be done.

a. In plain words, he was now trying to get them to buy into the project. That is always good advice for our churches. 

b. You can have a good idea, but unless you can sell the idea to others, it will probably not get done. 

2. For years my previous church wanted to build an addition on to the church. But finances and trouble from within the church kept stalling the project. 

a. But God used me to unite the church. And suddenly, before I was ready, the church felt the time had come. Sure enough, the leaders sold the idea to the

 congregation and together God helped us do a huge project we could never have done when they were divided. 

b. This was something they always wanted to do, but it took the right timing and the guidance of the Lord to do it.

3. In Neh. 3, we learn how everyone helped, each group doing a different part of the wall, especially their part of the wall. Before they knew it, the project was half done.

D. Just when things are going well, that is when the opposition is most likely to arise.

1. As soon as the project was started, their neighbors mocked them. In Neh. 4: 3, they said : “What are they building? If even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” These were their attempts to break their morale. 

a. But when the project was halfway completed, in vs. 8, we learn how they “plotted to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.”

b. Even then Nehemiah was not discouraged that easily. In vs. 9, we are told how “we prayed … and posted a guard day and night to meet the threat.”

2. Unfortunately, their neighbors did succeed in scaring and discouraging some of the Jews. Call this opposition from within. 

a. Paul warned about this in Acts 20:22-31. Satan will always try to attack us from within as well as from without. 

b. After more prayer, Nehemiah gave more careful instructions on where to protect and defend the people as well as the project. 

3. And he replied to those who were scared: “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes” (Neh. 4:14).

a. In Neh. 4:15, it says the enemy heard that their threats had been thwarted. And God’s people “all returned to the work on the wall.” 

b. But this time, they carried their weapons with them. Half would stand ready to fight while half continued the work on the wall. In plain words, they took the enemy seriously, but they did not let the enemy keep them from doing the work God called them to do.

4. This reminded me of Eph. 6:10-18 where Paul encourages Christians “to put on the whole armor of God that you may withstand the tricks of the devil” (vs. 11).

a. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of darkness, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (vs. 12).

b. In plain words, if we do the work of the Lord, we should expect Satan to try to stop us. But if we put on the armor of God, Jesus will protect us.

5. This armor protects the heart, protects your mind, as well as where you go and what you do. It includes faith, God’s righteousness, God’s Word and prayer. And if we do all that God encourages us to do, we will be “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). 

E. Finally, the enemy tried to scare and threaten Nehemiah himself. 

1. Someone was paid to tell Nehemiah he had to hide in the temple because they “were coming to kill him; by night” (Neh. 6: 10).

2. But in Neh. 6: 11, he replied: “Should someone like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!”

3. May God give us the courage to be like Nehemiah. 

In conclusion:

1. And so it was that with the help of the Lord under the leadership that God provided through Nehemiah, the work on the wall never stopped. 

2. And we are told in Neh. 6:15, that “the work was completed … in 52 days!” 

3. “And when all our enemies heard about this and all the surrounding nations saw it, our enemies lost their self-confidence because they realized that this work was accomplished with the help of our God” (Vs. 16).

4. Jesus has given us the great commission to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel” (Mark 16:15). All of us are called to do whatever we can do wherever God has planted us. By God’s grace with Jesus help, we too will succeed. Amen.