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The Bible Breakdown
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The Bible Breakdown
Nehemiah 03: Expect Hard Work
How can embracing hard work transform your journey towards fulfilling your God-given goals? In our latest episode, we explore the dedication and teamwork depicted in Nehemiah chapter 3, uncovering vital lessons on perseverance and collaboration. By examining the commitment of priests, goldsmiths, and perfumers in rebuilding Jerusalem's wall, we underscore the importance of a long-term vision and the reality that life's greatest achievements are seldom quick fixes. Expecting and embracing hard work is a key takeaway as we illustrate how significant accomplishments require unwavering dedication and mutual effort.
In addition to the hard work narrative, we delve into the strength and encouragement found in Nehemiah. Drawing inspiration from Nehemiah 8:10, we emphasize that "the joy of the Lord is our strength," even when the going gets tough. Reflecting on how God supports us in unseen ways during our struggles, much like the wall builders, this episode serves as a profound reminder of the resilience we can find in faith. Join us tomorrow as we continue our journey through Nehemiah, uncovering more insights on perseverance and spiritual fortitude.
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, nehemiah chapter 3, and today's title is Expect Hard Work, expect hard work. That's just going to be part of the process of what God wants to do in your life. We're going to get into that in just a moment because there's some hard work going on in Nehemiah chapter 3. But before we do that, as always, make sure you like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure that you are leaving us a five-star review. Also, we love your questions, we love your comments, your angry outburst it's all fun for us. Make sure you're leaving all of that on the YouTube channel and on the questions you can submit on the podcast. And, as always, make sure you're joining us at the Facebook group Bible Breakdown Discussion. Because I'm going to tell you something the more we dig, the more we find, and they're doing such an amazing job over there If you have your Bibles.
Speaker 1:I want to open up with me to Nehemiah chapter three. You know I'm going to make a personal kind of confession to you and that is this there are some people I know they love watching these TV shows that have, like you know, like 10 seasons and 30 episodes per season and it's like this journey, right, that by the time you are finished with this season or all these seasons, you know the characters, you feel like you're part of the story, right, and it's amazing. Can I tell you, I don't like those. I don't like those because they take forever to do it. My favorite thing is to watch a show that's like a movie, so it's two hours, two and a half hours and it's all done. At the very most I like watching one of those seasons that's like one season and it's like four episodes and you're done. I want to enjoy it, but I don't want to make a commitment. I want to be able to move forward.
Speaker 1:But the reality is is the real life story that we're living is closer to the long series than what I like, and if we're not careful, we can think of life as a two-hour block of time where everything just gets resolved and the bad guy is defeated, the hero gets the girl and everything. We all ride off in the sunset, but that's not the reality, is it? The reality is is life is difficult, Life is defeated, you know, the hero gets the girl and everything. We all ride off in the sunset. But that's not the reality, is it? The reality is is life is difficult, life is complicated, life takes hard work, and it's we. We tend to overestimate what we can do in the short term, but we underestimate what we can do through a lifetime of faithfulness. And so when we decide that we're going to stand up and take responsibility, as we learned in Nehemiah chapter one and then in Nehemiah chapter two we learned that we're going to have a personal vision for what God can do in our life then the next step, step three, is going to be the obvious Expect hard work. Nehemiah has traveled from Susa all the way to Jerusalem and now he's cast a vision to the people that we can rebuild this wall. And he's already noticed there's some people that don't like him for it. He don't care. But now it's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. So let's read this and see what happens, and see if God's word will speak to us and challenge us about what is in store for our lives and how. It is a beautiful thing when we realize that that is the path we take to experiencing all God has for us. You ready? Nehemiah, chapter 3, verse 1, says this.
Speaker 1:Then Elishab, the high priest, and the other priest started to rebuild. At the Sheep Gate, they dedicated it and set up its doors, building the wall as far as the town of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and the Tower of Hanel. People from the town of Jericho worked next to them and beyond them, at Zakur, son of Emri. The Fish Gate was built by the sons of Hennesah. They laid the beams, set up its doors and installed its bolts and bars. Meramoth, son of Uri, the grandson of Hakaz, repaired the next section of wall. Beside him were Malushim, son of Berechiah, and the grandson of Meshezebel, and then Zadok, the son of Benah, grandson of Meshezebel and then Zadok, the son of Benah. Next were the people of Tekoa, and, though their leaders refused to work with the construction supervisors, the old city gate was repaired by Jehoiada, son of Panessa, and Meshulam, son of Besediah. They laid the beams, set up its doors and installed its bolts and bars. Next to them was Melata, from Gibeon, jedon of Merermoth and people from Gibeon and the people of Mizbah and the headquarters of the governor of the province west of the Euphrates River. Next was Uziel, son of Haraniah, and the goldsmith Batrein, and he worked on the wall. Beyond them was Hananiah, the manufacturer of perfumes.
Speaker 1:They left out a section of Jerusalem as they built the broad wall. Rephahiah, son of Hur, and the leader of the half of the district of Jerusalem, was next to them on the wall. Next, jedahiah, son of Huraphaph, repaired the wall across from his own house. Next to him was Hethush, son of Hashabaniah. Then came Machalajah, son of Hiram, and Hushab, son of Pathmoab, and they repaired another section of the wall by the tower of the ovens. Shaluam, son of Halawesh, and his daughters repaired the next section. He was the leader of the other half of the district of Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:The valley gate was repaired by the people from Zenoa and led by Hunan. They set up its doors and installed its bolts and bars. They also repaired the 1,500 feet of wall to the dung gate. The dung gate was repaired by Malkijah, son of Rechab, the leader of Beth-Hadkarim district. He rebuilt it and set up its doors and installed its bolts and bars. The fountain gate was repaired by Shulam, son of Kolhoaz, the leader of Mizpah district. He rebuilt it, roofed it, set up its doors and installed its bolts and bars. Then he repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam near the king's garden, and he rebuilt the wall as far as the stairs that descend from the city of David, and next to him was Nehemiah, son of Azabuk, the leader of the half the district of Beth-Zur. He rebuilt the wall from the place across the tombs of David's family as far as the water reservoir and the house of the warriors. Next to him, repairs were made by a group of Levites working under the supervision of Rahum, son of Benai. Then came Hashabiah, the leader of the half-district of Keliah, who supervised the building of the wall on behalf of his own district.
Speaker 1:Next down the line there was his countryman, led by Benuia, son of Hinnadad, the leader of the other half of the district of Keleah. Next to him, ezar, son of Jeshua and the leader of Mizpah, repaired another section of wall across from the ascent to the armory, near the angle in the wall. Next to him was Baruch, son of Zebi, who zealously repaired an additional section from the angle of the door of the house of Elishab. The high priest, merimah, son of Uriah, and the grandson of Hechos, rebuilt another section of the wall extending from the door of Elishab's house to the end of the house. The next repairs were made by the priest from the surrounding region. After them, benjamin and Heshua repaired the section across from the house, and Azariah, son of Mereshia, the grandson of Hananiah, repaired the section across from his house. Next was Benuai, son of Hedad, who rebuilt another section of wall from Azariah's house to the angle at the corner. Pelal, son of Uzziah, carried the work from the point opposite of the angle, in the tower that projects up from the king's upper house beside the court of the guard. Next to him was Pediah, son of Perosh, and with the temple servants living in the hill of Ophel, who repaired the wall as far as a point, across the water gate to the east and to the projecting tower.
Speaker 1:Then came the people of Tekoa, who repaired another section across the great projecting tower, over the wall of Ophel, above the horse gate, the priest repaired the wall. Each one repaired the section immediately across from his own house. Next, zedok, son of Emer, also rebuilt the wall across from his own house, and beyond him was Shemiah, son of Secaiah, the gatekeeper of the east gate. Next, hananiah, son of Shemaliah of Hunan, the sixth son of Zeloph, repaired another section, while Meshulam, son of Berechiah, rebuilt the wall across from where he lived. Son of Berechiah, rebuilt the wall across from where he lived Malachias. One of the goldsmiths repaired the wall as far as the house for the temple servants and merchants across from the inspection gate, and he continued as far as the upper room at the corner. The other goldsmith and merchants repaired the wall from the corner to the sheep gate.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a lot of people doing a lot of work. And here's the thing when Nehemiah encouraged them, hey, we can rebuild this wall, it wasn't just a good idea, but it was going to require everybody to roll up their sleeves and get to work. And what I loved is that nobody expected Nehemiah to do it by himself, but it took everybody. And so what they did was kind of get in your head, everybody took a section of wall. Instead of everybody just starting at the same place and going, they all took different sections. I've seen this a lot of times.
Speaker 1:Whenever you ever you ever helped somebody move, and if you're not careful, everybody will. You know, there'll be 10 people there to help somebody move, and if they all just start in the same room like, okay, let's all start in the living room, well, what you're going to end up having is you're going to have like two or four people that have something to do and everybody else just stands around and watches. But for those of us who've moved way more times than we should have, what they'll do is is they will pair people up hey, you two and you two and you two, and usually trying to find people that are you know, two guys are about the same amount of strength, they can pick up the same stuff, and two, you know two ladies who can do this, and two whatever, just just whatever that is and say, okay, you guys go to the bedroom, you guys go to the living room, you guys go to the kitchen, and everybody just kind of disperses and what happens is is you're able to move the house, you know, a lot quicker. That's exactly what they're doing to the wall. They tell people, or they've told the people you take this section and this section and this section and then together we're all going to build the wall together and it's going to take hard work.
Speaker 1:Well, can I tell you something that when you decide that you see something and it burdens your heart and you say, you know what, I got a big idea that God can do that. So I'm going to, like in Nehemiah, chapter one, I'm going to take responsibility. I'm your huckleberry, I got this. Well then chapter two you realize it's going to mean that we're going to have to get a vision for what God's going to do. And then now chapter three is going to realize it's going to take some hard work, and it's not just going to be hard work, but you're going to need a team of people around you so that you can make this happen. And so what does that mean for us? And that is this to do what God's called us to do.
Speaker 1:It will always be harder than you thought, it will always take longer than you thought, it will always take more help than you thought, but it will be more amazing than you can imagine. I want to encourage you with something. If you feel like that it's just taking a long time for God to do what he told you he was going to do, taking a long time for God to do what he told you he was going to do, that doesn't mean that he's not been faithful. If it's taking longer, if it's costing more, if it's requiring more patience, if you're needing more help than you thought, you might be right in the center of what God's wanting to do, because what God wants to do in your life most likely will be harder than you can imagine, it will cost more than you can imagine, it will take more people than you can imagine, but it will be more amazing than you can imagine. So if you find yourself experiencing a hard season where you're just having to just do hard work, don't give up. You might be doing exactly what God has called you to do. Let's pray God.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, for lessons like Nehemiah, chapter three, that they remind us that sometimes life is hard but that doesn't mean you're not in that hard, that you're with us and you're doing something more in us than we can see at the time. Lord, as they're building this wall, they probably can't see the end from the beginning. They just see the work. But you did. You saw the end from the beginning and I'm thankful that you see the end from the beginning in us too. We celebrate you today In Jesus' name. We pray Amen. And what God's Word says in Nehemiah 8, verse 10, don't be dejected, don't be sad, don't give up in the hard work. Why? For the joy of the Lord is your strength. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Nehemiah, chapter 4.
