It’s not about a wall

If you are familiar with the book of Nehemiah, and I asked you what the teaching of the book was, you’d probably respond, “Nehemiah and the re-building of the wall around Jerusalem.” Most people would. But it’s not. Nehemiah is about God building a people — God’s people.

For almost 200 years, God’s word, God’s law, God’s worship, God’s will and God’s work had been ignored. In Chapter 8, the people ask Ezra the High Priest to read the word to them and they stand for six hours and listen intently to it. That blesses my heart…that people would actually ask for and then listen to the word of God. Today’s congregations can’t wait for the pastor to finish his message. The people of Nehemiah’s day couldn’t wait for the message to begin. Maybe that is one reason our world is in the mess that it is in. At any rate, they got excited about God’s word.

Nehemiah teaches us three things. First, we need to passionately appreciate the word of God. (Nehemiah 8:1) The people “asked” for it. They stopped their work, came to town and asked Ezra to read God’s word to them. Why is that so important? If you want a great marriage, your marriage must be rightly related to the word of God. If you want a great family, your family must be rightly related to the word of God. If you want a successful business, your business must be rightly related to the word of God. If you want a church that God is blessing, your church must be rightly related to the word of God. There must be a desire to get into the word of God and these people’s hearts were turned towards God.

Secondly, Nehemiah teaches us that we must personally appropriate the word of God. What do I mean by that? (Nehemiah 8:1) The people came together as one. They worshipped God, they heard the word and they said, ”Amen.” There are Christians today who carry their Bibles, but they don’t care for their Bibles. They say they believe it, but they seldom read it. They don’t get into their Bibles, so their Bible doesn’t get into them. Until we get serious about God’s word, it will remain an un-cashed check in our lives.

And finally, Nehemiah taught them to practically apply the word of God in their lives. (Nehemiah 8:13-18) God wants to build His people. He wants us as Christians to mature in our faith and to know what we believe.

Charles Stanley said this, “God is a lot more interested in building you than He is in building the Church.” See, God has given each one of us Kingdom Work to do and He expects us to be busy with doing it. We cannot do God’s work until we know God’s will. We will not know God’s will until we read God’s word. Get out your Bible, dust it off and get back into the word on a regular basis. It will change the way you live.

Pastor Thad Gifford is lead pastor of the Crossroads Community Church of Madison County, 62 E. Second St., London. He can be reached at (740) 852-7800, e-mail him at sermon8er@aol.com or at their website www.3c-church.org.