Restoring The Wall Series, Part 2. Uniting

RESTORING THE WALL Series: 1. Repenting, 2. Uniting, 3. Restoring
Nehemiah 2:18-19
18 And I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let’s arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”.

INTRODUCTION: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN THIS LIFE IS HARMONY WITH GOD.
Everyone is quick to give their opinion because we live in a world full of them. Truth is highly lacking. In God’s word we find our true north. That’s right, in every season, God’s Word is timeless and relevant. What God has to say about a matter is very important. When on our own we don’t know what to do, or when we can’t come to an agreement with others—always go to God. We can all stand and trust in His Word as a firm foundation. It keeps us centered in His will and Kingdom because it doesn’t swing right or left. You see, God doesn’t want us to just do what is right because our right might not be right for others. This is why we need to go to God to know to do what is righteous according to His Word. God’s truth over opinions is the next step to prioritize, including our own opinion. This comes easy, once we commit to a harmonious life in the Lord. The connection with God UNITES us.

RESTORING THE WALL Series: There are several things that can help us accomplish steering our government back to God’s ways. In the last newsletter, we talked about the continuing connection by REPENTING to restore the walls of our hearts. The next step is how we need to UNITE to protect the most sacred, our heart. This is what I want to talk to you about. In this series, I will only touch on Repenting, Uniting, and Restoring to accomplish a full restoration. Today, we will talk about UNITING.

2. UNITING Nehemiah 2:4-8
a)4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?”…
b)5…I request that you send me to Judah…that I may rebuild it.”
c)6 Then the king said to me…“How long will your journey be, and when will you return?”…
d)7… let letters be given me … so that they will allow me to pass through until I come to Judah,
e)8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper…so that he will give me timber to make beams for the
gates…for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will go.”
f) And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.

Years prior Ezra was called to restore the Temple after the Babylonians, an enemy of God’s people, had destroyed it. Here, Nehemiah was called to restore the walls to protect the most sacred, the restored Temple. Nehemiah had already established the connection with God when he repented as explained in Part 1 of this series. Look how everything fell in place after repentance: King Artaxerxes UNITED with Nehemiah when he said “What would you request?”, agreeing that he would go to restore the walls of Jerusalem. In addition, the king agreed to provide letters, for a free pass to his destination, for free timber to make beams for the gates, walls, and to build Nehemiah a house. This is why the king granted all that was needed to restore the walls, because God’s good hand was on Nehemiah.

REPENTANCE triggers UNITY. Notice how God Works for the people’s best interest by calling Nehemiah to rise for the occasion to restore the wall. After Nehemiah and the king UNITED, the people came together as well.

Nehemiah 2:18-20
18 And I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let’s arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work.
19. . . they mocked us and despised us . . .
20 So I answered them, “The God of heaven will make us successful; therefore we His servants will arise and build . . .”

This triggered the people to UNITE by saying:
a)“18… “LET’S arise and build…”
b)‘’18… So THEY put THEIR hands to the good work.”
c) “20. . . God . . .will make us successful . . . we . . . will arise and build . . .”

As with Nehemiah, we need this UNITY to restore the walls of our hearts by connecting back with God. You see, the walls of our hearts have been destroyed and the enemy waltzes right in to destroy the most sacred, the temple in us, our altar, our heart.

1 Corinthians 6:19
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Babylon is the symbol of the wickedness and evils of the world, fornication and abomination. Our lives are our temple, the most sacred in us that the enemy has invaded. Many years have gone by and we can see the walls of many lives destroyed, we see the enemy waltzing through the walls of our lives without resistance. This is why we don’t see fathers as head of households and see single parents raising their kids. This is why our kids lose themselves in the world of drugs, alcohol, and to a confused sexual identity. No one is rising to initiate any restoration. Many are now calling good evil, and evil good. “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:2-4)

Those that have REPENTED have established a new connection with God, now we need to RISE in UNITY to help our government get back to God’s ways. UNITY brings what it takes to protect our most sacred treasure, our altar, our Temple, our hearts.

One of the most beautiful and fulfilling things in this life is the harmony we can enjoy in the body of Christ. “The Church”, whose primary desire is to “seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and this is comforting to know. Knowing that there are others who think like us, who have the same struggles, and who want to contribute to the building up of “The Church” at large and not destroy it, but bring peace, blessing, and encouragement to all who desire and think alike.. 1 How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! (Psalms 133:1)

When my wife and I got married, just as a man and a woman marries, according to God’s Word, and when a marriage works just the way God wants, we experience a minute taste of what heaven is like. I say the same thing about harmony in “The Church”. If things in “The Church” go as God has planned, the relationship we have with God and other people in Christ, is a small sample of what we will have in heaven: love, harmony and peace. When there is harmony, much is accomplished because we are all on the same page, in unity, in one accord. Our primary desire will be to connect with God as we urgently UNITE to restore the walls of our lives, our communities, our State, and our nation, the same walls that we have allowed the enemy to destroy.

Without REPENTANCE there is no connection with God, and without GOD there is no UNITY, and without UNITY nothing can be RESTORED.

Next week we will continue with the “Restoring the Walls series” with the third point: Restoring
By Pastor Jorge Tovar