Sunday Evening sermon at the Heritage Addition church of Christ, 2-15-15

1. Let Us Rise Up
and Build
Nehemiah 2:11-20
Heritage Addition church of Christ
By Jim Bradshaw
Sunday Evening, February 15, 2015

2. Let Us Rise Up and Build
What Can I Do to Help the Church Grow?
Nehemiah 2:11-20

3. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Must Understand the Urgency to Grow
Neh 2:12 NKJV Then I arose in the night, I and a few
men with me; I told no one what my God had put in
my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal
with me, except the one on which I rode.

4. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Must Understand the Urgency to Grow
Mat 6:31-34 NKJV "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What
shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we
wear?' (32) For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For
your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
(33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you. (34) Therefore do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its
own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Acts 22:16

5. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Must Recognize that WE are in Distress;
Rom. 3:23, 6:23
Neh 2:17 NKJV Then I said to them, "You see the
distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its
gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the
wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach."
The Lord’s church has not grown in U.S. in nearly 40 years

6. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Must Recognize that WE are in Distress;
Rom. 3:23, 6:23
Joh 17:20-21 NKJV "I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who will believe in Me through
their word; (21) that they all may be one, as You,
Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may
be one in Us, that the world may believe that You
sent Me.

7. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Bring Ourselves Reproach when we do not bring
our best before God
Neh 2:17 NKJV Then I said to them, "You see the distress
that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are
burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem,
that we may no longer be a reproach."
Neh 2:19 NKJV But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah
the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it,
they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this
thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"
We must always give our Best; Col. 3:17; 3:23
Reproach – Object of contempt, scorn or derision. (Webster’s
1828)

8. We Rob God When We Do not Bring our Best
Let Us Rise Up and Build
Look at Abel
Gen 4:4-5 NKJV Abel also brought of the firstborn of his
flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his
offering, (5) but He did not respect Cain and his offering.
And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
Heb 11:4 NKJV By faith Abel offered to God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and
through it he being dead still speaks.

9. We Rob God When We Do not Bring our Best
Let Us Rise Up and Build
Look at Abel; Gen. 4:4-5; Heb. 11:4
Mal 3:8-10 NKJV "Will a man rob God? Yet you have
robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?'
In tithes and offerings. (9) You are cursed with a curse, For
you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. (10) Bring all
the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My
house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If
I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out
for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to
receive it.
But How Do We Rob God; 2 Cor. 5:7

10. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Need to Know that to Build is a Good Work
Neh 2:18 NKJV And I told them of the hand of my God
which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words
that he had spoken to me. So they said, "Let us rise up and
build." Then they set their hands to this good work.
Neh 2:20 NKJV So I answered them, and said to
them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us;
therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you
have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."

11. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Need to Know that to Build is a Good Work
1. God will prosper us
2. Mar 10:28-30 NKJV Then Peter began to say to Him,
"See, we have left all and followed You." (29) So
Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you,
there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My
sake and the gospel's, (30) who shall not receive a
hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with
persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
3. Let Us Rise Up and build the church in Booneville

12. Let Us Rise Up and Build
We Need to Know that to Build is a Good Work
Eph 2:19-22 NKJV Now, therefore, you are no longer
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and members of the household of God, (20) having been
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, (21) in whom
the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy
temple in the Lord, (22) in whom you also are being built
together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.