I'm Following Jesus – Page 1664 – Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Thursday, September 26, 2019
Chapters: Nehemiah 1-4
Message: Let Us Build Up The Wall of The Church

Hello My Friend,

My church is going through some growing pains, we have been short handed on workers, but by the grace of God, He is seeing us through. Amen! Satan is the one who divides the church, he fills minds up with fear, doubt, pride, shame, even worse, assumption, and it throws the whole congregation in an upheaval. Before you know it, you have a broken church, and walls in serious need of repair. It is not always an easy task when God calls you to serve Him, we are few in number, stretched to limit, and working overtime to make sure that the congregation’s spiritual, mental, and physical needs are met. And yet, there is no greater joy than seeing our hard work pay off through the ones who have no idea what we go through for them. “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:” – Hebrews 11:32-35.

The Book of Nehemiah is the sixteenth book of the Old Testament/Bible and contains thirteen chapters. The author of the book is Nehemiah and it was written to the Jews. The timeline for these events is approximately 446 BC to 434 BC. The purpose of the book was to continue showing the history of Israel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem after their captivity was lifted. What we are to learn from the book is that there will always be opposition whenever we choose to serve God, but we can endure it by fearing God and trusting Him. About ten years after the temple in Jerusalem had been rebuilt, a relative of Nehemiah’s arrived and told him of the dire conditions that there.

“And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.” – Nehemiah 1:3-6,10-11.

“mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,” Our churches are broken, filled with people living in sin, fear, pride. We need some serious God time to mourn, and to fast and pray for them. The problem is that we are trying to do this by ourselves, and we need God’s help and direction on this, after all, this is His Church, He would know how we are to handle it. And by the way, if they leave the church, for no other reason than their own pride, then perhaps it is for the best, pride has no place in the church. “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” – I Corinthians 3:4-9.

“and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” God gives us all different tasks to help Him in His ministry, and we shall receive compensation for our labor, but it is all for one purpose, to bring the lost to Christ. We are not the ones who save them, we lead them, God is the one who saves them through their faith in His Son alone. Amen! Nevertheless, we are here to serve God wherever He leads us. Now, Nehemiah, still devastated at the news about Jerusalem, got the attention of the king as he served him, and Esther being there with him.

“And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.” – Nehemiah 2:1-6,12,17.

“this is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” We should have sorrow of the heart for our churches, as we seriously need to rebuild the walls that are in great need of repair. And I am not talking about physical walls, I am talking about spiritual. The world has crept into the churches, and it is so bad that the world is even telling them what is acceptable for them to preach. It is time for God’s faithful, who have been living in fear to step up, and help rebuild the walls to get the world out. “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” – Luke 10:2-3,9-11.

“And heal the sick that are therein,” Our biggest task of all is that we lead the sin sick to Christ, and then guide them afterwards. It is not always easy to do this as many will reject Christ. We are responsible for the ones God places in our hands to guide them to Christ, and in the way that He wants them to go. Something incredible happened when Nehemiah encouraged them to rebuild the walls, they all came together as one.

“Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel. And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord. And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David. After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Bethzur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty. From above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his house.” – Nehemiah 3:1,5,12,15-16,28.

“Then Eliashib the high priest rose up” Every family, played a part in helping to rebuild the walls. No one fought with each other or felt more superior over the other, they all worked together. This is the way we all should be as a church family. Last night at church, after the kids were taken home and most of the congregation was gone, a few of us talked together and came up with a plan to get others involved and already someone stepped up to help. We are not here to lift up the pastor, the teacher, the singer, or anyone else on a pedestal so high that you cannot see them, we are here as one, in fact, to lift up each other. “And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.” – I Corinthians 4:6-10.

“that we also might reign with you.” Think about it, saved, born again Christians are one, if one falls so do the rest of us. We are to stick together, lifting each other up, and doing what God has called us to do without fear or pride hindering us. We are spectacles, fools, to the world and they will never understand why we serve a God we cannot see, and they do everything they can to hinder us from serving Him, but we must stick together because we are all that we have. Nehemiah and his small group of people were determined to get the walls built around Jerusalem, but every where they turned they were faced with opposition, not only from the enemy, but some fellow Jews too.

“But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us. So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.” – Nehemiah 4:7-9,14-15,20-21.

“and fight for your brethren,” We are only strong if we stick together as one, and fight for each other. I do not care what local church you belong to, we ought to still be united as one. For instance, all Independent Fundamental Baptist churches knowing each other, following the same doctrine, and being there for each other, even if it is just in prayer. Again, our churches are broken, and we need willing saved, born again souls to step up and unite as one to help rebuild them, not take charge of them, to fight for them. If there is one thing I have learned over the past few years it is that the more opposition I face the more I know I am doing what God wants me to do. Do I always agree? No. I have kids that come to church for the sole purpose of disrupting the class. I also know those kids are hurting at home, they need love, guidance, and someone willing to fight for them. As long as they see me they know I will always be there for them, if they learn anything, it will be that I love them. And let me tell you, they love me back in their subtle, and laughable ways. WE ARE ONE CHURCH, so, be there for each other.

“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” – James 5:12-16.

Jesus Christ Magnified: “Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.” – Nehemiah 2:20.

Today’s Prayer: God, As Your child I know I can do all things through Christ, but I have let fear, lack of faith, and opposition discourage me into giving up on Your promises and succumbing to the temptations of the world. Thankfully, You never give up on me, and are eager to get me back on my feet, and looking for that hope that only You can give. Lord, give me Your power to break through any opposition, to have confidence in You, to trust You in every decision I make. Help me to let go of anything that keeps me from moving forward, and let me not only walk by faith, but doing by faith also. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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